I just noticed that I haven't had any entries here for over five months, and it's mostly because I always like to include a photo or two and I have been having camera problems. My digital SLR has had problems with the software and won't recognize the lenses on the camera, thus everything that is automatic, including the focus, speed and light has not been working. I have sent it in twice, and hopefully it is now fixed.

A lot has happened since my last post; Thanksgiving and Christmas, the birth of a grand daughter, a couple of deaths in the extended family, the ups and downs of the economy and how it has affected our company, etc.. In the mean time, I have been a little involved in facebook and I waste too much of each day checking in there. For every good thing that you read, there are about 10 things that are marginally interesting or just plain dumb. I have decided to check it once a day, and never at work.

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. Even though the funds available for Christmas were a little tighter this year than seasons past, everybody seemed to appreciate the gifts under the tree and I don't believe anybody felt deprived. What was really special is the number of children and grandchildren that shared our holidays with us. We were able to visit Mao and Cathy just before Christmas and get hugs from Hunter and skeptical stares from Isabella. We also travelled to North Carolina to visit Sam and Lindsey and their boys and see their new little Ruby. We also opened a few Christmas presents with them. We then spent Christmas with almost everybody else. Besides Adam and J.R. and their families that live in our area, we were lucky enough to have Ashley & Todd and the boys, Sunny & Steve and their 6 youngest, and also a surprise visit from Lindsey & Harmon and their kids. Sunny and Steve and their family spent most nights at the Price family beach house, and Harmon and Lindsey and their kids spent a couple of nights with us and the other nights at a good friends beach condominium. We would often have breakfasts as a group and evening meals together. Nancy and I would make daily food runs to Costco, and we would fill our garbage cans with paper products, etc., about every two days. When garbage day arrived I had to deposit the overflow that wouldn't fit into our cans into three different neighbors cans that were sitting out by the curb.

What great fun we had and what beautiful grandchildren we have been blessed with. It was total chaos at times, but what wonderful chaos. It is so nice to be able to spend time with the little ones that we don't get to see often enough. There were a couple of things that stand out in my memory. One, is seeing about 16 or 17 grandchildren in my pool all at once. The other was our lunch at Ruby's cafe in Laguna Beach up on the open air room above the cafe. There were children everywhere and lots of smiles and laughter. What great memories!

We have a new year in front of us and I hope that we will all have the things we hope for and accomplish the things we have set out to do. I gave a talk in church a couple of weeks ago and spoke about the resolutions we should make if we truly want to be happier in the new year and for the rest of our lives. It was built around four distinct areas. I suggested that we all resolve to do the following: Resolve to expand our intellectual horizons and to increase in wisdom by reading out of the best books. Be resolute in preserving and strengthening our physical health. Resolve to be truer friends and become socially acceptable to people of high standards. And finally, to grow spiritually and increase in favor with God. I hope that my children and my older grandchildren will review this and determine ways that they can apply this in their lives.

I have also resolved to be a better blogger. My camera is now working properly and I will make better use of it. I will also spend less time watching t.v. and wasting time. It is going by way too fast.

An Incredible Story!

This is truly an incredible story!

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down it's foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but the possibility of being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over near to where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant. Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peters legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Road Trip

I've decided that if I can't be a cowboy and own a horse, maybe I should buy a Harley and live my mid-life crisis that way. There are always going to be a few detractors that will say it's too late for a mid-life crisis and that there is no way I will live to be a hundred and twenty eight. Others, (Nancy in particular) will say that there is absolutely no way I am going to get a murder cycle. And others, like my buddy Gary Hadley, who has more toys than F.A.O. Schwartz, will help me pick out the model and color and then order one for himself.

What inspired this latest of my many delusions was our ward 50's party. As part of the decorations they brought in a pretty nice bike for people to have their pictures taken on. It wasn't a Harley, but it served the purpose. When I put on that leather jacket and the "do rag" I heard a voice in my head saying "you can live this dream". I also heard Nancy whispering in my ear to "not get any crazy ideas". We'll see which voice wins out.

I mentioned that the party was a 50's theme. You can't tell that by my outfit. I wore my wranglers and cowboy boots and topped it off with a hawaiian shirt. When people questioned my choice of clothing, I just told them that I was quite certain that this was what a hawaiian cowboy looked like in the 50's. They couldn't argue with that logic and I was far more comfortable than a lot of people in their tight blue jeans and phony side burns.

Anyone for a road trip?

Birthday Girl!

Today is Nancy's birthday and for the last couple of weeks I have been planning a surprise birthday party for her. Because this birthday is a milestone sort of day, she was not particulary keen about even acknowledging the day, let alone having a surprise party, so it came as quite a shock for her. I won't mention exactly how old she is, but it is the square root of 3600. I contacted a bunch of our old friends and arranged a dinner at the El Adobe de San Juan Capistrano. Nancy thought we were meeting J.R. and Casey, and Adam and Jennifer there for a quiet dinner, but when she arrived she was greeted with a chorus of "Happy Birthday" by most of our dearest friends. We had a wonderful dinner and she was roasted/honored by comments from each of them during the meal. She was very pleased and enjoyed it immensely. At the end of the meal our servers had her don a sombrero for another chorus of "Happy Birthday". It created the perfect photo op. She's pretty cute for someone who is 8.5714 in dogs years.

Easter, San Clemente

On Easter Sunday we were lucky enough to have some of our children and grandkids join us for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt afterwards. Nancy prepared the traditional ham, but with a new sauce as well as a new version of honey yeast rolls, both of which were a hit with everyone. We had Adam, Bailey, Jennifer, J.R., Casey, Mackenzie, Kayla, Ethan and Casey's sister Amy and her two children Brendan and Erin join us for dinner. Nancy puchased about 75 plastic Easter eggs that had to be stuffed with various forms of chocolate, miniature candy bars and jelly beans, so I become the official egg stuffer for the afternoon. Adam, J.R. and I then hid the eggs and candy bars in the back yard for the kids to discover.

Earlier in the day, we attended our Easter services at church. We enjoyed some great talks and lessons at church. I even succumbed to my version of "Catholic Guilt" and sang in the choir. I did it for the Christmas program as well. The choir director invited me to sing with them on a regular basis, but I told her she had come to the well one too many times.

March Update

Seeing Sunny's recent post motivated me to update my blog. If she has time to do it, then I should be able to take a few minutes to update mine. The last 30 days or so has been quite busy. We had a visit from Sunny & Steve and the three little ones, We took a trip to Utah where we attended the Draper Temple open house with Rosemary. We also had a wonderful time in Park City where we stayed in one of the luxury condos that Harmon's company built. We played in the spa and the heated swimming pool with the Toblers and I even went skiing for the first time in about 25 years.

My brother, John, joined us for the day. I managed to get down the hill several times without any broken bones, and finally figured out how to get up after falling. I was impressed with Lacey's ability to ski and enjoyed watching her fearlessly charge down the mountain. While we were on the mountain, Nana stayed home with the little ones and played in the spa.

On the way to Utah, we stopped to visit with Mao and Cathy and see Hunter and their new daughter, Isabella. She is a beauty and Hunter really loves his baby sister.

We also had a visit from Harmon and Dan who came to California to participate in the sealing of his sisters two adopted children. (I'm not sure what that flag is all about, but they carried it with them wherever they went). We went to their meeting on Sunday to witness the blessing in their ward. We have had additional visits from Jade, who was here for a little break, and from Alex Patterson and his friend and Hillary Jones and a couple of her friends who were here for spring break.

When we got back in town, we got to celebrate Kayla's fourth birthday. She is such a cute, spunky birthday girl!

In the mean time, Nancy and I continue to keep fairly busy with all that we have to do. In addition to my work, I serve in the temple on Tuesday evenings, teach the High Priest group on Sundays, teach a temple prep course on Sundays, serve as the 11 year old scoutmaster on Wednesdays and teach a class every Wednesday night to the single marines down at Camp Pendelton. Nancy's responsibility as Relief Society President keeps her busy constantly, and occasionally provides me another opportunity to assist.

My Three Sons

During the Christmas Holiday, we had Sam and his family in town and he put together a flag football game with his family and friends in the Long Beach area and invited J.R. and Adam to play. I rarely get a chance to see the three of them together and we had a great time. My little boys have grown into outstanding young men and fathers.