Christmas 2010

We really love getting all of your Christmas greetings. I am sorry that we are not as consistent with sending you ours. Our two biggest news items this year are: Ailsa’s return from a successful mission; and Todd’s release from the calling of Bishop.

It is fitting that Ailsa got to serve a mission to Spanish speaking people. After all she is our “Sister Salsa.” We were happy that she had to learn a language, but, were a little reluctant to just send her out to any old dangerous place in the world. Since her return she has filled us in on all the scary details that the youth of the Church gratefully do not send home in their weekly missionary letters. Now we know that Houston, although not terribly remote, is dangerous enough. One of her areas (Greenspoint) was lovingly refered to as Gunspoint by the missionaries. But, the neighbors take the sisters under their wing and protect the “church ladies.”

Ailsa picked up some good cooking skills and recipes from her friends in Texas. She can now make a pretty hot homemade Salsa (too hot for me!) This fall we had an abundance of tomatoes to process into Marinara sauce (a recipe from Todd's mission in Italy) and also Salsa (from Ailsa’s mission.) One day Todd came home from work, tore off a huge chunk of Italian bread, dipped it in the sauce and stuffed it in his mouth. Yes, he had mistaken the hot salsa for Italian sugo. And, no he won’t make that mistake again.

Last March after 387 years serving in the local Bishopric, Todd was released as Bishop. Not only was there an audible relief from our household, but from the whole ward as well. Truthfully, it was a pleasure and an honor to serve the Church in this fashion. Todd had a nice six week sabbatical from work last winter. But, he ended up with pneumonia at the same time. So mostly, he just stayed around the house, put a new tile floor in the master bath and cleaned the carpets, among other things.

Lenore has been teaching at the Prosperity Learning Center for the last year and half. She loves this job, and we feel it is right down her alley. We have noticed a marked decrease in her pontificating at home since taking on this role.

Jensen is at BYU and really enjoying herself. Unfortunately, at this point, she has plenty of credits. But, we really don’t know for sure what she will graduate in. She really has become a bright spot of sunshine in the home. She is lots of fun. We try often to remind her and Ailsa that to graduate to the next stage in life (the Mrs. Degree) they will need to develop relationships with boys that extend beyond the “parallel playing” stage.

Laney is fast becoming too big for her breeches. Last Christmas she asked the Santa at our ward Christmas party for, “harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan.... And, world peace.” (See Miss Congeniality) She is a great student and regularly gets all “A’s” on her report cards.

We now officially have a clowder of cats in our household: Tom, Diggy, Bella (usually called Beller, pronounced with the British intrusive “r”), and Cissy. We have had to register as a shelter with the local RSPCA and obtain special Health Department dispensation. None of us has the heart to deny a new kitten or a stray that may cross our paths. And they seem to do so often.

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and hope that you take time soon to contemplate the special gifts of our families and this beautiful world we live in. God is great and has blessed us all so richly.

The Lillywhites

TSAint

The problem with our ever-worsening approach to “safe” air travel since 9/11 is, in an effort not to offend a small, but relatively easily traceable minority, we are offending everyone else. Don't spend precious traveler time and TSA resources looking for the tools and instruments that might be used in an  attack, look instead for the people who would carry out the attack.

River/Thanksgiving 2010

My sister Kim and her husband Ed are so nice to open up their Colorado River home every once in a while to our family gatherings. It is lots of fun and a great chance for the cousins to associate. The family reunion feel from the movie “Dan in Real Life” is not far from what we experience, without anyone shouting “you.... are a murderer of love!” and singing “Ruthie, Pig face Draper.”

We had been looking forward to this latest trip for some time. Ailsa was now home from her mission, as was Lauren. Grandma's health isn't great. It was difficult for her to make the trip. But, it may soon become impossible.

I hadn't given much thought to possible weather problems for our trip. The weekend of 20-21 November had seen a snowstorm with pretty good accumulation. Then approaching “our” travel day of Tuesday 23 November (evidently, pretty much everyone else's too) the weather people started predicting a huge blizzard for northern Utah. I was supposed to leave work at 1pm go home and pack and Laney was getting out of school around 3pm. I was hoping to leave as soon as possible after that to avoid the storm. I kept looking at weather maps on line and it appeared that if we could get away by 3-4 at the latest we might be fine. It looked like the snow wouldn't go down south very far, or at least wouldn't do so until we were safely in Saint George. I figured if we could get to Holden without trouble, we would be fine.

Needless to say I was quite stressed getting home and packing and finishing up everything at home. I had to get a package together and take it to the Post Office. So we really didn't get away until 4pm. It is nearly impossible for me to pack ahead of time (the night before, or the morning of) at least I am never able to do it. Kim and Kristin called often wanting to know if we got away, and should Katie and Hannah try to drive it. Really, the only traffic we ran into was around Spanish Fork (ha ha I just wrote Fark, Freudian?) Kristin decided to leave and was probably minutes ahead of us on the road.

We stopped in Fillmore at the Burger King for dinner. Fillmore needs more choices. It was freezing and blowing really hard. But, no snow so far.

As it was, the “Blizzard of the Century” never really materialized and there was much hype for nothing. There was some precip. But, not nearly as much as the prior weekend. However, In defense of all those weather people. It was concerning because if there had been much more snowfall, it would have been a huge mess. The difference was the high winds. It would have been a nightmare on I15 south with all of the Holiday travelers.

We rolled into Saint George around 9pm. Kristin had decided to go on. They arrived in Saint George around 8 pm and weren't tired, so they drove straight through to Parker. We had our usual fun visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. In the morning it took us a little while to get up and going. I think we didn't leave until 10am. We had arranged to swap cars with the puggas and fold our seats down in the Explorer for Grandma to lie down on. We hoped that would not hurt her back too much. We were supposed to stop every hour or so for her to get up and walk around.

Grandpa really likes the In-n-Out Burgers, so we stopped in Henderson (both ways) to eat there. My dad is a fine driver. But, sometimes when I am following him I wonder if he has recently finished a refresher course at Bob Bondurant's school of evasive driving. JK, I'm just a little too non-aggressive in the caravan mode and often let people in between us right before crucial course changes.

At the In-n-Out, grandma saved us some seats and we were right next to two different families who struck up conversations with us. The one lady told Lenore she looked like Anne Hathaway. She's been told Marie Osmond and Teri Hatcher, and one other (who escapes me right now) in the past. But, not Ms. Hathaway. Anyway we got to talking to this family and it turned out the lady was Jeff Barton's sister. And then the other lady was a nurse who used to work with Jeff. Small LDS world. Jeff's sister texted him right then to let him know who she was eating lunch with.

We religiously avoided purchasing much gas in Needles or Vidal Junction. It was about $4.00/gallon. My dad put in 10 gallons in Needles. He thought we had started with a full tank and then after he realized that we hadn't, didn't think we could make it all the way to Parker.

We arrived in Big River around 3pm. Just enough time to settle in and buy what we needed for the Thanksgiving meal at the Safeway. The weather was lots warmer. The whole time we were there it was in the low 60's and was supposed to be a little cloudy. But, was largely just sunny.

Thanksgiving day I went for a ride in the morning. Nothing major, less than 30 miles. The weather map said there would be some wind. And it was bad in Parker. The ride wasn't too bad though. For about the first five miles after I turned around, I literally was leaning into the wind. But then it let up and the ride was mostly very comfortable.

When I got back from the ride, Jensen and I went shooting with grandpa. Ed and the others had already left to get set up. We had about 7 or 8 of us there. Nice thing, there was no lack for guns, so no waiting around to shoot. This wasn't a long range area so we had our spinner target set up only about 40 yards away. Jensen hit it with her rifle and almost put a hole right through it. So we retired it to use later at a greater distance.

When I returned, Laney was waiting for me to go canoeing. The water was quite low and there was an island exposed that she wanted to explore. We rowed out there and claimed it “Calizona” for God and our country. We picked up a number of the clam shells that littered. I did a little SUP on the way back. But, it spooked Laney and the craft wasn't too stable. It's a good thing Lenore was waiting for us at the dock because being daft AND blind I was looking further down river for it. And besides we needed someone to chew us out for not wearing life vests. (I doubt the water was deeper than four feet.) It was very beautiful.

Thanksgiving meal was very nice. All of the usual food. Two roasted turkeys. Ed decided not to do the deep fry thing, for which I am glad. There was lots of yummy pecan pie and chocolate pecan pie too. the evening was just relaxing.

Friday Stuart and I went for a bike ride together. Well, sort of. He is stronger and fresher than I am/was, and went off the front. At times he was a good kilometer ahead of me. But, he did work me and it felt good.

Friday afternoon we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was OK.

By Saturday morning about half of the family had gone. Ed got us up early to drive in the desert out to his long range shooting area. We spent a couple of hours there. The Explorer is great in 4wheel drive. We did a lot of shooting at 110 yards. Jensen's rifle is fun. I like it a lot. Once you get the sighting figured out, it wasn't too difficult to hit a 6inch target at that distance. Meanwhile, Ed was shooting a 7mm bolt action at targets up to 900 yards.

Right when we returned back at the house, Stuart was leaving on a bike ride. He offered to wait for me. I told him to go on ahead. I went out on route 62, the road that follows the river on the west side going north. I have ridden this route at least two times before. Note to self: this route is no longer safe for cycling, if it ever was. There were a couple of times where because of the condition of the road and the traffic, if I made one false move, I was toast.

Stuart took the same route all the way to the dam and came back on the east side. He was gone a long time and then started to fall ill. He called his family to come rescue him with about 2 miles to go. Pushed too hard, started to feel dizzy.

We bundled up the car and started our trek home arriving in Saint George about 8pm. We had intended to stay the night there and go to the puggas ward and then home in the afternoon. But, as we entered the city Lenore noticed a travel advisory road sign about an approaching winter storm. It was hard to decide what to do, knowing how accurately the previous storm had been predicted. But, we looked online and it was supposed to be steady snow starting in the night and continuing through the day on Sunday. While it didn't seem dangerous, it did appear that driving would be annoying in those conditions. So , even though no one wanted to. We loaded in our car and headed back to Murray, making it home at a little after 1am.

Having returned home “early” from our vacation, we decided to extend it through Sunday by going to Leslie's ward for SS and Sacrament meeting and we had a lovely farmer breakfast in the morning.

All in all it was a wonderful time. The weather was gorgeous. Made it very difficult to traipse back to Salt Lake. The cousins all got along wonderfully, no drama, no fuss. It really is a joy to see that they like each other.

Drowsy driving: Twice at least while driving, both on the way there and on the way back, I nearly lost it. It's getting so I can close my eyes for the briefest scintilla of a second and when I open them up again, it feels like I was almost out. It is very scary. Both times it wasn't late at night, only about 6-7 in the evening. I remember this happening only once when I was young, driving back late at night from the Capistrano area. Need to come up with a solution. May have to go back to eating sunflower seeds while I drive.

Stake Play - A Tale of Two Brothers

While growing up, it seems our Stake often put on a play. It wasn't a yearly event. But probably at least every three years. I was in one at about the age of 10 or 11. I played the Stuart in “All in Favor.” Stuart dies in the play.

There were others as well. While I was on my mission they did Oliver and later Fiddler on the Roof. My dad was directly involved with both.

Our Stake here in Murray hasn't done anything since time immemorial in this field. I had grown to think it was just as well. Having been involved in ward leadership for a looooong time. I was more geared toward spiritual rather than social activities. Well, you can have a social activity that serves a spiritual purpose.

Early in the year I learned that the Stake was planning on doing a play, and it would be original. I figured I would just try to avoid it. To tell the truth, I figured it would probably be amateurish and provincial. When I was called as the Stake Music person the Stake Presidency implied that I might be involved in some way with this production because of my calling. Then, at the funeral of June Pope early in September, we ran into one of the writers/organizers of the play at the Stake Center. She informed me that I was being conscripted into the production. I figured I could go along with benign reluctance.

We had about 6 weeks of rehearsals and it got pretty busy and intense near the end. I didn't have a huge part. But, after awhile I realized is was kinda important for two reasons. I played the Bishop and early on at the Sacrament meeting he explains the schedule for he rest of the week which lets the audience know what is going to be happening and gives them a framework. Then in my next scene, I have a line that is meant to prick the spiritual conscience of one of the main protagonists and also the audience.

It was a story patterned after Shakespeare, where a family get split apart by tragedy and then comes to find one another again. Yes, there are intentional spiritual analogies and some very contrived devices to split them apart and keep them apart until the punch line. But, Shakespeare did that a lot too.

We had two performances, on a Friday and then Saturday. President Daw wasn't able to be there the first night, He was out of town. But, after the Saturday performance, he was so impressed that he scheduled another performance two weeks later. The script and story were very well done. The people who played the main parts were very talented, especially Mark Brousseau who played the father. Teal Buchi was coerced into playing one of the identical twin brothers, and he came through wonderfully, really responded to the challenge. The Hillcrest ward contributed a lot of talented people as well: Kevin Westenskow (a real movie star, who did a wonderful job as Mayor Snore,) Brooklyn Brewer, who was born for the stage, Jenny Simmons ditto, Jackie Westenskow on par with her husband. There were others as well.

I played the Bishop and I had some funny bits. But, I felt I had to be real careful about turning it into the “Bishop in the dunking booth.” The Sacrament meeting scene could have gone overboard. We wanted to poke a little bit of fun at ourselves and our leaders. We had to reign in some ideas. I was a little bit afraid of a solo dance scene I had to do, that it might border on detracting from the office of a Bishop. But, I think it turned out okay.

In the end it was a lot of work. But, I was really re-converted to the idea that these types of activities do have their role in the Church. It really serves to unify the Stake, not just the players. The youth responded wonderfully and will draw upon the strength of the friendship bonds they formed for years to come.

Wreck 2010

Because I am a weight weenie and I am emulating one of the set ups that Lance used on a bike in the TDF, I use a downtube shifter for my front chainring. I also don't shift the front chainring very much (hardly at all) so it seems a little silly to devote the weight and sophistication of a fancy Campy Ultra shifter to its use. I have noticed sometimes the chain will drop to the smaller chainring on its own. I think what happens is on occasion when I take a drink from the water bottle, I will slightly nudge the shifter and over time it is in a position to shift on its own.

Saturday I went for a ride and this is what I remember and have pieced together from the evidence: As  I approached Winchester on Ninth East the light was red and then turned green before I had to stop. I charged away from the light pedaling out of the saddle. The next thing I know, I am dreaming and wake up in the bike lane portion of the street in front of the Red Cross building. There were at least three people around me, and I suggested that we get out of the road. They told me I wasn't moving anywhere. I was in and out for a while. I remember EMT's in the ambulance asking me things. I was able to rattle off my SSN (not sure I should have done that.) But, I had trouble remembering what the date was. I finally figured it out.

They took me to IMC Emergency and set me up in a room. I called Jensen at home. She said mommy and Ailsa were on their way over to the hospital. Then they hauled me off to xray where they took a lot of pictures. By the end of that I was pretty consistently staying coherent and I was pretty sure nothing was broken, so I was a little anxious to get out of there. The concussion wasn't as bad as in 2002. They cleaned up my wounds, gave me some percocet after offering a couple of times. They put two little stitches in my eyebrow (Laney took them out last night) after I waived off the shot of lidocaine.

This was the shape of the bike: Chain was off. Handle bars and stem turned 90 degrees clockwise on the fork. Small patch of tread on the front tire peeling off. Small wobble in the front wheel coinciding with said patch of tread. Front of brake levers scratched up. Other than the head wounds as shown in the pictures. I separated my AC joint on the left shoulder and had a nasty scrape on the top and back of it. Also a bruise on my left elbow. Nothing much else. No hands scraped as if trying to catch myself.

This is what we have pieced together: as I was pedaling hard away from the intersection, my chain dropped off the crank. I had taken a drink right before I think. Anyway if the derailleur was slightly off and if I pushed hard I could torque the frame enough to bounce it off the chainrings. After that I came down on the handlebars and since the bike was rocking back and forth the front wheel went sideways (the tread peeling off the tire) and/or I grabbed a bunch of brake levers and the wheel went sideways. Regardless of the order, at that point I wasn't going to make much more forward progress and I went over the bars, landed on my head first, rolled onto my shoulder and the bike probably came down on top of me.

I could have easily hit my head hard enough (even with a helmet on) to kill myself. In which case, in retrospect I would have simply awakened on the other side, slapped myself on the forehead and said, “I must have done something stupid.” No pain, no anxious anticipation of the end.

The injuries settled in over time. Right now is 5 days after the fact and my shoulder hurts a lot. So, though nothing broken, I do feel like I got worked over by a couple of thugs.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Letter of Thanks to the Editor @ Deseret News

Click Here.

San Clemente 2010

Since we didn't get to go to San Clemente last year, we were really looking forward to going this last August, especially since Ailsa would be with us. We had taken a day or two at the end of our River vacation last year to visit with Wade and Kimberly in Orange County and we spent about 2 hours at San Clemente during that time. And then when Lenore and I were in Orange in January for Meredith's wedding we stopped by for less than an hour. These short stints may have only made us want our normal vacation even more.

Sometimes in Southern California it occurs that the weather in June is not that great for the beach. Sean told us that January was hotter this year than June was. And “June Gloom” this year carried all the way through July as well. We were lucky that the weather was probably about as good as ever during our two weeks this year. The big difference was that the water temperature was quite a bit lower than normal. All during our stay I don't think it got above 63-65. It can often be in the low 70's. However, I have to say the last couple of days when I went in the water. it was very refreshing.

My cycling didn't do that well last year, partly due to some health issues. I've done quite a bit better this year. I've tried a couple of times to accomplish a ride that will make it into my top 10 speed list. I have failed on about 4 tries. I have made a couple of 45 mile rides in the high 20.0's for speed. Which I feel pretty good about, considering how difficult it was for me to do the 60 mile 20MPH ride I did in 2006.

On our way to San Clemente we stopped in Saint George on Friday night to rest with my parents. On that same day, I think, I got the idea of getting up early Saturday morning and trying once again for a ride higher than 21.32 MPH on the River trail. I had trouble getting to sleep that night and probably only got about 3 hours sleep. Anyway, I had a good ride. But, missed the mark by .5 MPH. Despite all this, I really didn't have much trouble staying awake for the remaining 6+ hour drive to the beach. I say plus because it should have only been about 6 hours. We ran into traffic on the 5 and it was very frustrating.

The first couple of days in the apartment were VERY cramped with the number of people. It ended up that most everyone came at the beginning instead of the second week this year. We managed.

I think we only got in two maybe three different days of surfing. Between this and that, it didn't seem to easily fit in with our wants and schedule. Anyway, I did have fun at it. But, just barely. Sean has a foam board from Costco that he let us use that really was fairly nice. Good for people to learn on. There were shark sightings in the San Onofre area and several stingray stings in the T-street and Pier areas. So, some of the children were tentative about going in the water.

I had both my bike and the tandem there and managed to get in 7 rides in the first 8 days until I messed up my back carrying stuff and big surfboards around and on the beach.

One evening during the first week we saw a recumbent bicycle contraption parked across the street. He was pulling a trailer and had something like a bowery frame above the bike with lights on it. At first glance Lenore thought it was a UFO. The next day on our tandem bike ride with Ameer (must have been Friday, 13 August) We ran into this guy as we were returning, at the place where the trail meets the freeway (right here). He was stopped and looked like he needed help. He was asking about the trail. He had an accent that sounded German to me. So I offered to try to speak German. He said he was French and had come down from Canada. I asked if he spoke Quebecquois. He didn't seem to like that suggestion. So, I gave up and let him try to speak English. He gave me his card. Turns out he was from France, thus the repulsion at the Quebecqouis. He was in the middle of a trip from Canada to South America. His website is here. We exchanged some pleasantries and admired his bike and went on our way.

After the back incident I was laid up for about 2 days and was lucky to get back down to the beach and in the water. I didn't do any bodysurfing. It felt like my back might not like it.

We left Friday evening about 8:30pm to drive to Saint George, partly because of Ailsa's Homecoming on the Sunday after we returned. We felt it would be best to be able to spiff up the yard and make some other preparations. That worked out well. It took a lot of stress off. But, we ran into very frustrating traffic into Las Vegas at 2 in the morning. Between that and the pain meds and muscle relaxants, I was quite the zombie driver for the last hour into Saint George.

Recent Trip to Saint George

Jensen's early birthday present.

      37.055084   -113.635918

Lenore's new do.



A very hot day on a hike to the Saint George Temple Quarry.

Youth Conference

Lenore on the zip line.

Memorial Day 2010

It ended up to be an okay weekend.

Friday night, Lenore and I went to see Bounty Hunter at the dollar theater. It was just okay. And it's a good thing we got there when we did we got the last two contiguous seats in the third row. The theater filled up. It really was amazing how much I did not laugh during this movie. We picked up Big Daddy's pizza on the way home.

I rode Saturday morning (under constant threat of worsening weather) for 40 miles. I only felt two raindrops. The weathermen seemed to think the weather was going to be worse. We did some work around the house and Lenore and I went out in the evening with Steve and Michelle Young. We went to see Iron Man 2 (which again was okay, not nearly the ride that the first one was) and then ate at the Five Guys hamburger place afterward. It was just slightly better than okay.

Monday morning I drove  down to the Legacy parkway trail to do a 50 mile ride. There were quite a few people on the trail. I didn't have too much trouble with traffic except two yahoos came at me two abreast inside the long tunnel. I don't know what the one rider expected me to do. I yelled at them. I saw a guy on a very low riding handcycle that at first I thought I was going to be able to catch. He seemed to be a little bit more apt to maneuver through that traffic quickly than I was. Then at my first turn around I had a flat tire. So, I rode gingerly back to the Farmington Train station and sat down on a bench and fixed the tire. No more problems after that.

There were a couple of times where I had pretty good speed for extended periods because of favorable winds. But, I was expecting that wind again for the last 5 miles and it didn't materialize. I think the overall impact of the wind was negative. Still I managed to maintain slightly over 19mph and I felt pretty good doing it.

When I got home I did some more yard work with Jensen. Lenore had already spent a couple of hours in the yard. Then I helped Geri put in her window air conditioners. Then it was off to aunt Bless' for the "pool" party.

The whole day was cloudy with nice enough temperatures. We got a small window of sunshine while at the pool. Good thing because the water temperature was only about 58. I went in and Ameer and Laney..... on air matresses. I did get to enjoy the Sun a little. But, we need to get that water warmed up.

Places in my Mission

Google maps and Street View are amazing.

First apartment in Torino.


First apartment in Genova. It's been extensively updated.


Second apartment in Genova.


Apartment in Milan.


Second apartment in Torino.


First apartment in Cremona.


Second apartment in Cremona.

Something to Say

After reading the Articles of Confederation a week or two ago, one idea that comes to me is why are our Senators and Congressmen paid uniformly through a body of the Federal Government? Utah Senators and Congressmen should be paid by their state and their benefits set and regulated perhaps by their State Legislature. Same thing with the State Legislators. Perhaps it would be best if their pay and benefits were established by and paid out from their own districts. So each level's benefits were set by and came from the level it serves. This way they might feel somewhat more beholden to their constituents and somewhat less to the Federal. It almost seems like a conflict of the idea of Balance of Power to have them set their own pay and be paid by a central (federal?) body.

Diktat

I don't like it when Lenore tries to limit my sodium intake. Why should I like it when the FDA steps into her place. Now, if the Government had some sort of interest in my health..... Oh Wait!

Creamy Boy

Drawing of Great Grandmother Olga Lindgren Wade by Grandfather Edward Boone Wade

Honeyville (Hunsakerville)

This is the old Lillywhite family stone house between Honeyville and Brigham City in the Calls Fort area.

Ross Wight (first cousin once removed in ascendancy) son of Lucille Lillywhite Wight sister of Joseph Clinton Lillywhite, my grandfather.

The world struggles to find spirituality where it lies only shallowly.

Draw a Line

"They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far and no further!

Pictures From Ailsa

Is Acheron in Texas?

More pictures here.

Ailsa's Book

We have self published a book for Ailsa. See the badge in the left hand column at the top of the blog. I wanted to document another drawing of hers that she sent home from Texas.

Meredith's Wedding

We had a really fun but quick vacation/California wedding trip on 7 - 10 January. We left Jensen and Lane at home. Jensen has a Friday class that she shouldn't miss and they were both testing in King Fu on Saturday. They didn't want to miss that. Lane got her blue sash. Jensen is now 2nd degree red and Chantal got her Black sash.

We left on Thursday shortly after Lenore got home from Kimber. The drive down to Saint George only took a little longer than 3.5 hours. We had a very nice dinner with grandma and grandpa. In the morning it was decided that we should just drive down to California together rather than separately. I was glad. We got into Orange County around 3pm and just went straight to Kim and Ed's house. The weather was very nice. I was sure this would help my pneumonia. We had made arrangements to stay with Sean and Jenny.

The "meet the families" dinner was very nice. We just stayed at Kim's and had pizza. I visited the chickens in the coop. After the party we left grandma and grandpa at Kim's and drove to Sean's. We got to meet again their beautiful cat and meet for the first time their three legged dog, Riley. We enjoyed a nice couple of hours just chatting. Riley, unsure of me at first, warmed up to me and kept asking to be petted.

The next morning was a beautiful 80 degree Southern California January day. We decided to drive into Laguna. And then we just followed our noses south until we ended up in... yes, you guessed it San Clemente. We had to dip our toes in the water. It wasn't too bad. I was kicking myself because the waves looked very fun. Especially at the beach just down the hill from the old chapel. I hadn't brought my wetsuit or even entertained the thought of surfing because I expected the weather and waves not to be so inviting. Oh well.

Sean let us "borrow" his fastrak transponder so we could use the the toll roads. Good thing, after eating at Pedro's tacos we high tailed it north back to Sean's. We got to save about 10-15 minutes on that leg. We quickly changed our clothes and then again saved another 10-15 minutes to the Newport Beach temple. It is very close to Sean's house. I think it is okay to speed on the way to the Temple as long as you signal your lane changes. I told Sean if he gets a ticket in the mail showing me going 85mph, he should plead ignorance.

The sealing ceremony was very nice, although somewhat long. Poor Ed had given up his seat to Lenore and after a while he was sweating and didn't look good. I tried to rehearse in my mind all that I knew about resuscitation. It was good to see Dave Cluff and the Rozsa boys and their pretty wives. The boys all look great, very distinguished. Not many people pull grey off very well. One had a beard. I'm going to guess it was Doug. He looks a lot like the "world's most interesting man" on the Dos Equis commercials.

After the sealing we went back to Kim's for a couple of hours. The reception was very nice, got to see Toni Trumbo and some other old friends and family. We left at about 8:30pm and drove back to Saint George. I didn't sleep much on the drive. We had too much fun coming and going, just visiting with the folks. We went to their ward Sacrament meeting and SS on Sunday morning. A very fun and interesting time in their Gospel Doctrine class. Then we drove home to Murray in time to pick up the kids and go to Midvale for dinner with the Smiths. A very nice but quick trip.




Cat had to try on Ailsa's costume green contact lenses. You can hardly see them in the picture. But, it's a really good picture of Cat. She is using it as her Facebook profile pic.