The Whole Family Together, After Church

It is so great to have Walker and Jennifer and Atticus back in the US after their year long travels in Europe, etc. And we were so blessed to also have Courtney join us from her schooling and working in California. Oh yes...we like Belle, too.  :)

New Years Eve, 2016

We really enjoyed spending time with some of our church friends (Gonzalez and Biangel families) to bring in the new 2016 year. We played some games, ate some amazing food, and told happy and fun stories to each other. 

Happy New Year!

Mid-December Christmas Activities

It was not easy for the four of us to all agree on the right tree for our Christmas celebration. I thought that maybe majority would rule, but Belle insisted on unanimous consent. Courtney later observed that our family quartet, that night, was composed of two opposers (A & B) and two compromisers (C & S). 

The girls shared some laughs while waiting for our Stake Choir and Orchestra performance of excerpts from the Messiah. Audrey was one of four piano accompanists to the choir. If you look closely at Belle and Audrey in the picture above and below, you will see that they smile and laugh exactly the same. 

The girls in our family are so pretty. Christmas time is family time. Put those together and what makes more sense than a family portrait whenever you get the chance? Loving these girls, and loving Christmas.

Thanksgiving fun with family

Halloween Reveals True Personalities

We put on costumes that revealed our true "inner selves" this Halloween Holiday. Audrey is an Egyptian Princess, and Steve is a nerdy guy with poor dental hygiene. 

Grand Pacific Glacier, Glacier Bay Alaska

Craig, Linda, Audrey, and me on our Oosterdam balcony, in front of the mile wide and 250' tall Grand Pacific Glacier. Moments after this picture we heard the loud canon-fire-sounding noise of the ice cracking, followed by some ice "calving" into the ocean.

Who is Who?

The Actors' Playhouse

We had a great time at the Actors' Playhouse.  It was great to see live performances.  Comedy skits and musical numbers, talented professional actors.  I am looking forward to seeing other live performances in the future.

After the show we ate delicious gourmet pizza at La Tagliatella, just down the block and across the street from the theater.  It was decorated with ornate wood carvings and matching fancy wrought iron.

It was great fun, spending time with just Audrey while our children are far far away in distant parts of the nation and the world.

101 Gators :)

Half way through the fifteen mile ride is a rest area with a 50 foot viewing tower, and on last Saturday,   alligator #101 to greet you.  Shark Valley.

Swim Party at Friends' House

  

Family Fun at Fort Lauderdale Beach

We had fun in the water at the Fort Lauderdale Beach this Saturday.  Audrey coaxed the girls into jumping into waves and I practiced using my new water-proof camera (Father's Day present).

No Sharks, No Valley

Audrey, Steve, and Belle at Shark Valley in the winter of 2012.  It was a long and hot bike ride, but even suffering can be fun when we do it together.

Imagine My Embarrassment..

Dear Dad, 

I had tried to write a letter to you on your birthday, but I found it too hard to see through the tears.  It's a couple of weeks later, now, and I thought I would share some stories with you that I know you would appreciate.

When Audrey opened the special ZIGGY calendar that I got her for Christmas (it's a tradition to get her a ZIGGY wall calendar each year, something from her childhood that she likes, but it has gotten harder to find them over the years) she was a little surprised to notice that the cover picture for the new calendar was remarkably similar to the cover picture of the calendar from last year.  In fact, it was identical.  How strange, I thought, that the calendar people would make such a mistake.  Even weirder that they would make the unthinkable mistake of printing the wrong year on the cover, too.  Her new 2012 calendar had 2011 in big numbers on the lower left hand corner of the cover -- how bizarre!  Wait -- you mean that I bought a 2011 calendar for a Christmas present in December 2011 and paid extra to have it expressed shipped so that it would arrive on time?!

Audrey and I went to a performance of the Capitol Steps at the Broward County Performing Arts Center.  We had been looking forward to the show since Christmas, when she had given the tickets to me for a present.  We paid for parking and worked our way to the front door where an usher looked at our tickets and directed us to a particular entrance.  There, another usher scrutinized our tickets and showed us to yet another entrance.  At that point the usher read our tickets and removed the end-stub from them, motioning us toward a doorway.  More ushers, more ticket showing, more directions, right to our very seats R 111 & 112.  I joked to Audrey that they seemed a little over-attentive.  It was not long, however, before I was in a conversation with a lovely couple that were looking for seats R 110 & 111.  Simultaneously, Audrey was talking to a couple that were looking for seats R 112 & 113.  Weird, we thought.  I finally offered to let one of them sit in my lap for the performance when someone pointed out that the date on our tickets was different from theirs.....it was a Friday night, and our tickets were for Saturday.  Audrey and I, and 37 ushers, had all not noticed that we were there on the wrong night!!

Courtney and her roommates were excited about the prospect of taking a meditation class in their second semester at BYU.  They had been looking at classes together and pondering the scheduling possibilities for weeks.  Meditation excited them, because of the obvious possibility that they could simply sit and not do anything for the class.  It wasn't until actually reading the course description and curriculum that they came to realize that the class was not mediTation, but was mediation.  Funny how your mind can play tricks on you....

I follow routines to protect myself from myself.  As an example, every time I get out of my car my keys go into my right front pocket so that I am certain that I don't lock them inside, and if I need to leave the car running I always roll down my window.  So when I got gas I followed my routine: keys, wallet, swipe card, enter zip code, place nozzle, no smoking....  but then I deviated.  My truck was so dirty and I was not in a hurry, so I washed the windows.  In fact, I took extra long to wash the windows and made them pretty dang     clean.  But I had taken so long that by the time a turned my attention back to the pump, it had turned off.  It had not just clicked off, I had taken so long that it had completely turned off:  there was no topping-off, there was no receipt option, it was just dead.  So I replace the nozzle and went inside and got my receipt.  Reading the receipt I realized that I had purchased over 24 gallons of gas for my 21.2 gallon gas tank.  I instantly realized that the gas-station was ripping me off, as I had seen a 60 Minute expose' on just such dishonest gas stations (15 years ago).  I looked for the 800 # on the pump to call for consumer protection, and not seeing it took pictures of the specific identification plates on that pump.  Driving away angry, I fumed over my next steps -- write a letter, call the local news station.....  I got back into my truck after a short errand, and was floored when I looked at the gas gauge that showed empty!!!!  How could that be?  Did I manage to somehow pump the fuel into a different compartment??!!  I KNOW all that gas wasn't on the ground..........  and then I realized what you all already know -- I had never turned the pump on in the first place.  I had forgotten to select the grade of gasoline to be pumped and had gone straight to washing the windows.  Imagine my private embarrassment......

I called Tim and told him that I would be coming to Davenport around the weekend of Feb 19th, the one year anniversary of your funeral.  I was extra excited because I was going to be there in time for Sister's  birthday on the 17th.  No, her birthday is the 4th, he said.  No, it's the 17th, I said -- it's right here in my contact information about her.  "Hey Kathy, this is a dumb question, but is your birthday the 17th?" I asked her in a later phone call.  She responded with a good-natured, kind-hearted, ever-patient, maybe-I-should-be-offended-but-I'm-just-so-used-to-it chuckle "No, Feb 7th."  Imagine my embarrassment...........

So, Dad, I know that you CAN imagine my embarrassment in all these situations, and I can hear your kind and gentle laughter joining mine as a laugh at myself.   I can also hear you saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your daughter, my sister, Kathy.  

As for me, embarrassed or not, I wish for you, Kathy, a very happy birthday.  They made little girls right, 38 years ago, when you were born.  In you, my big sister, is the best of the best of us, as I am always reminded of the many virtues of Grandma Agnes when I am around you.  Or to paraphrase you, "I may be a mangy brother, but I loves ya!"

And by the way, thanks so much for teaching me how to be a baby when you were my 6 year old sister!  You're the best, Kath!  Happy Birthday!!!!!

Frisbee Fun

An empty church gymnasium makes a great frisbee playground...

 

And an even better helicopter flying space!

Belle did a fabulous job of flying the aircraft.  I stink at it.