Rick & Judy Bair

Monday, June 10, 2024

Saturday, we celebrated Rick & Judy Bair’s 50th wedding anniversary. I could write a page or two about Rick & Judy but we were asked to write something about them so I will just include what Lisa and I wrote. They are good people.

This is what I wrote:

Rick & Judy Bair

While I remember Rick and Judy from years ago when we both were raising our children, it wasn’t until Jeff and Tiffany started inviting us into their home that I really got to know them. Rick and Judy were an integral part of the Andrew family, and they quickly became an important part of our lives as well. While it soon became apparent to me that Rick and Judy have very different personalities, their love for their children was obvious. Rick sits back and quietly watches everyone but says very few words. When he does say something, it is usually profound, and everyone stops to listen to what he has to say. Judy on the other hand is continually busy helping wherever she sees a need and she is talking the entire time. She shows her love for her children and grandchildren by becoming very involved in their lives. I have learned a great deal by watching both of them interact with their family.

I consider it one of my greater blessings that Rick and Judy have become friends of mine and I admire them both for the love they have for their children and the love that they have for their Father in Heaven. Their faith is solid, and their lives are great examples for anyone who is near them. Above all, their love for each other is a shining example that all of us can work towards.

Happy Anniversary Rick and Judy.

Your friend,

Fred Leavitt

This is what Lisa wrote. You can tell she is much better at this than I am.

June 6, 2024
Dear Rick and Judy,

Some of my favorite memories of the two of you are all the dinners and laughs we have shared at Tiffany and Jeff’s. I also enjoyed the times we were all together at Zander’s football games and I look forward to more of those times spent with you. The temple lessons we shared with Zack were very special. I’ll treasure all these moments with both of you.

I consider you both family and feel blessed that we’ve had this opportunity to really get to know each other. You know how much I loved RaNae and I know how much she loved both of you and your family. She talked about you all the time. I feel closer to RaNae through you, and I can’t help but think that she has brought us together. It makes me smile when I think about it.

Judy, I love how willingly you share your testimony and what you’ve been learning through your gospel study. I also admire the service you render to those who could be easily forgotten.

Rick, what I love most about you is your silent strength and support. I can feel your testimony through your spirit and in the way that you support all of us around you. I also love your awesome smile!

I love and admire you both and am a better person because you are in my life.

Happy 50th Anniversary!! I’m so happy we can celebrate you both!

Love always,

Lisa xxoo

--------------------trivia--------------------

only 8% of US marriages make it to 50 years

only 2% make it to 60 years

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I Sunk a Cruise Ship

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Because we only have three Deacons this year, we often meet with the Teachers for various activities. One of the Teacher advisors is Richard Olds. Richard is a fighter pilot who flies F-18’s. He is also an instructor. Richard arranged an activity for us to fly F-18’s in their flight simulators on the Miramar Marine Corp Air Station. We were also able to tour the air traffic control tower on the base. It was amazing. 

We weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the simulators but let me tell you what I was able to do in the ten minutes allotted to me in the simulator.

On the runway I gave it full throttle and headed out to sea, quickly breaking the sound barrier. I then came around and headed for downtown where I fired a missile at the tallest skyscraper I could see. I then headed out to the bay and fired a missile at a cruise ship headed out to sea. I then came around and flew underneath the Coronado bridge. After pulling up to about 20,000 feet I spotted another ship and dive bombed down towards it, fired a missile and realized I had underestimated how quickly I could pull up the plane and drove my plane into the bay.

The simulator was setup for rookies like me so after bouncing around on the surface of the bay, I again took to the skies, circled around downtown and headed north to Penasquitos. I saw Black Mountain, estimated where our house was, went supersonic and headed towards what I thought was our canyon.

The plan was to fire a missile at our house, but I was going so fast the I couldn’t get a shot off in time. I ended up flying about 500 feet over our house at 600 mph. I then went out to sea, swung around towards Miramar, and landed my jet on the right-hand runway. Now I want to go fly the real thing.

After our time on the simulators was up, we headed to the control tower and checked out the control center and the surrounding air base. It was an amazing experience.

--------------------trivia--------------------

The farthest eastern point in the US is Point Udall (in the Caribbean) 

and the farthest western point in the US is also Point Udall but in Guam. 

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Dad, Tell Me About the Time…(30)

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Who are your closest friends today?

I don’t really have any friends that I hang out with other than mom. I don’t feel like I’m missing anything, but who knows. I have several friends that I love to chat with when we see each other at church or at other gatherings but maybe I should try and get together with them to do something once in a while. I’m not even sure what we would do.

Probably my closest friend today would be Jeff Andrew. That is kind of a recent thing and we do get together occasionally to work on our yards and houses, and I guess that counts because it is something we both enjoy.

Next would probably be Dave Evans because we have a lot in common. I did go and join him and Richard Henry to do some woodworking one evening. I know they like to whittle little birds out of wood. I think I would enjoy that.

Then there is Craig McPhie. I have no idea what we would do together but we both love to talk about new technology. I should probably involve him more on my smoker work. I know we would both love that but right now it needs to be moving at a faster pace and if we got together, it would really slow down. We would visit too much.

There is also Gus Zanini. Gus and I don’t talk much but one time we went on a bike ride together and it was a lot of fun. He was actually testing me, to make sure I was good enough to go on a youth bike ride. I passed. I believe there are a group of guys who go out on Saturdays. I like to work in my yard on Saturdays but maybe it would be good to go for a bike ride once in a while.

How do you maintain this relationship?

Other than visiting when we see each other, I don’t maintain these relationships. Maybe that needs to change.

Who is your oldest friend? Share a memory you had with them.

I assume that this is asking who has been my friend the longest and not who is the oldest person who is my friend. If it is the former and if I don’t include my brother Lester, then my oldest friend would be Tom Crooks. I have already shared many memories of things that Tom and I have done but let me retell one of those stories.

To start my pigeon collection, we would go out to an old, abandoned farmhouse in the middle of the night with flashlights and gunny sacks. We would climb into the attic and shine our lights on birds that would roost there. The birds would be transfixed on the lights, and we could simply reach out and grab them, shove them in the gunny sack and haul them off home.

In addition to pigeons, there would also be several sparrows roosting in the attic. One time we grabbed a few sparrows and snuck into the High School Gym and released them in the gym. Those sparrows hung out in the steel beams in the ceiling of that gym for quite some time before they got them out of there. Or maybe they finally died of thirst, I never thought of that. That would be sad. Hopefully they left the doors open and the birds flew out.

What kinds of things do you like to do when you are together?

As I said, we usually just talk when we get together, but I think I will try and change that and start whittling birds, building decks and patio’s, starting some science projects, like making a hydrogen generator and going for bike rides. That sounds like a lot of fun.

I think all of them would like to help me put some solar panels on my patio cover. That is a project that involves science, home improvement and carpentry.

What traits do you value most in a friend?

Well, obviously they need to have some common interests but beyond that they need to be kind and have your best interest at heart. That, of course, goes both ways. I need to have their best interest at heart as well.

Dad, Tell Me About the Time…(29)

Friday, February 16, 2024

FRIENDS

Who was your best friend in elementary school?

I have no idea who my best friend in elementary school was. At that age I seem to remember just hanging around with the kids in our neighborhood. Diana Palmer lived across the street from us, and I thought she was really cute. Eric Brooks lived on the corner down the street and Dale Jensen lived up the street about three houses. I do remember we all played kissing tag at one time. We also built a lot of snow forts.

In middle school?

That would be about the time that I met Tom Crooks and Ricky Cahoon moved into town just a block down the street. We did just about everything together.

In High School?

It was me, Lester, Ricky, and Tom until we all graduated and left town. Here we all are today.

Do you still stay in touch with any of your childhood friends? 

I am terrible at staying in touch, but we do share the occasional text messages and emails. I haven’t actually seen Rick for years but I saw Tom in Calgary a couple of years ago.

-------------------trivia--------------------

People with more moles are more likely to get skin cancer but the cancer they get is less aggressive. This means that if you have more moles you have a longer life expectancy.

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Dad, Tell Me About the Time…(28)

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Did you ever skip school? How old were you and what did you do instead?

I will just copy what I wrote on November 8, 2023

One other experience I had in Junior High School is when Lester, Tom and I (and maybe Rick Cahoon) played hooky. We road our bikes out to the St Mary’s bridge on Highway 5 a few miles north of town. We played in the river and had a great day. No one ever questioned where we were and why were weren’t at school. I never played hooky again either because I didn’t want to miss too much school.

What year did you graduate from High School?

June 1976

How many people were in your graduating class?

I don’t remember the exact number but about 120. It was the largest graduating class in the history of Cardston High.

What is the highest level of education you received?

I received a Master of Science in Electrical and Computing Engineering from the University of California, San Diego on June 15, 2001.

Did you attend college or receive any technical training after high school? Where did you go? What did you study?

After high school (1976/1977) I did one year at BYU in Civil engineering.

From August 1977 to August 1979, I served a mission in Belgium. I studied in the Language Training Mission for two months before flying to Belgium. I studied Flemish (Dutch).

I then attended the University of Alberta from September 1979 to June 1981. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering.

From September 1996 to June 2001, I went part time to UCSD and received a Master of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

-------------------trivia--------------------

Every three months, America throws away enough aluminum to rebuild the entire airforce fleet of planes.

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Dad, Tell Me About the Time…(27)

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Were you in any clubs in high school?

See my answer to the previous question.

Who taught you to drive?

I’m not sure. My first memory of “driving” was when I was about five years old. Greg was throwing hay to some cows in a field, and we had a big old one ton truck pulling a flatbed trailer with hay bales on it. Or maybe he was throwing bales onto the trailer, I’m not sure. In any case, the truck had a manual throttle and he pulled out the throttle so the truck would drive quite slowly, and stood me on the seat of the truck and told me to follow the furrows in the field.

We did that and he was doing his thing on the trailer and when we got to the end of the field he would hop in the cab and turn the truck around and then repeat.

When I was about twelve, we lived in Waterton, and I was the laundry boy, so I had to go and get dirty sheets from the chamber maids. To get sheets from the Ponderosa Motel I had to drive the car down to the Ponderosa, and throw the sheets into the back seat of the car and drive it back. I don’t remember who made sure I could drive, but it was probably my mom or one of my sisters. All I know is that I made the drive (only a few hundred yards) several times a day and, on occasion, I may have taken a bit of a detour (a few miles around town).

When I got my learners license at fourteen, I was already very comfortable with driving but by law I needed an adult in the car with me and that was mostly mom.

Did you ever attend any school dances? Which was your most memorable and why?

 I never missed a dance, church dance or school dance. I loved the idea of dancing with a girl but all I ever did was stand against the wall for an hour until there were a bunch of people on the dance floor and then I would look for a girl who was pretty and by herself and then I would ask her to dance. I was so scared. Some would give me a resigned, pitiful look but only a few rejected me. I would never talk during the dance because I was far too scared but also because the music was so loud, we couldn’t hear each other anyway.

What made this process so hard was that the girls were never alone. They would always form a herd and I was terrified that a girl would reject me, and the entire herd would laugh or give me that disgusted look I so often got.

On occasion, a girl wouldn’t run the instant the song ended, and we would dance a few dances.

The most memorable dance was one time I was standing by Tom Crooks and the main door to the gym opened and a streaker ran through the crowd and out an emergency exit. All he had on was a ski mask and running shoes. What is funny is that everyone knew who he was.

My other memorable dance was my graduation dance where I actually asked a girl to go to the dance with me. Her name was Dorene Card, and it was definitely a pity dance. I’m glad she was nice to me. We didn’t talk much but I had fun. I don’t think she did, but she was good about it. 

-------------------trivia--------------------

The name Jessica was created by Shakespeare in the play Merchant of Venice.

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Dad, Tell Me About the Time…(26)

 Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Were you ever bullied in school? If so, what did you do?

Bullied is probably a strong word for what I went through. I was teased a lot. The teasing happened during elementary school and junior high but in High School I was mostly just ignored. I was never beaten up and of the three fights I actually got into, they were not with the popular guys and I won two of them.

Share a memory you have from your school days.

Didn’t I just talk about this? Oh well, let me come up with another story. My Biology teacher was mister Shaw and he loved me, and I loved him. I actually got a 100% in Biology 30 (that would be like AP Bio). He was the ultimate environmentalist (I was going to say “tree hugger”) and continually preached that to us. He was LDS but refused to toe the “culturally” expected line. He would only have two kids because to have more would eventually overpopulate the world. He loved horses because on a hiking trail their poop would eventually turn into a soft covering on the trail but hated cows because their “cow pies” would never be acceptable. He called roadkill “sail bunnies” because road kill was usually rabbits and in time they could be thrown like a frisbee. He hated California because it represented everything that he found hateful. Overpopulation, pollution (in those days LA was covered with continuous heavy brown smog) and people who were famous for ridiculous reasons such as movie stars and professional sports.

If anything was stupid or made no sense, he would call it “Micky Mouse”. For example, if someone gave a dumb answer to a question, he would say that it was a micky mouse answer. I had a hard time getting Mr Shaw out of my mind when we decided to move to California.

I remember one time when we were studying genetics, we had a couple of aquariums full of fruit flies in the classroom. Over time, several fruits flies escaped, and they were all over the classroom. He told us that fruit flies were clean and carried no diseases and if he caught anyone killing a fruit fly, he would dock points from their grades.

What was your best subject at school?

Apparently, it was biology. I got a final grade of 100%. I did get “A’s” in Chemistry and Physics as well though. I also got “A’s” in auto mechanics and drafting.

Just for comparison, the only “F” I ever got was in PE when we were doing wrestling. What a disgusting sport. I couldn’t stand the thought of grabbing onto some guy’s sweaty body. Ugh.

What was your least favorite subject in school?

After that last question you might think I would say PE, but I actually loved PE and being physical. I just hated wrestling. My least favorite subject was social studies. At the time we were only required to take one social studies class so that is all I took. As I’ve grown older, I have begun to love history and psychology and I feel I missed out on some good information. To be honest though, I wouldn’t have appreciated it in high school.

Did you participate in extra-curricular activities?

There weren’t any extra-curricular activities that I was interested in participating in. The year after I graduated, they started a biology club that I would have joined but it was a year too late for me.

--------------------trivia--------------------

The Oxford English Dictionary includes over 600,000 entries and each entry includes the history of the word. It has 23,730 pages and is printed in 20 volumes.

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A Day with the Taylors

Friday, May 17, 2024

Mom decided to take yesterday off work so we could spend the day with Sarah’s family. The plan was to hike Torrey Pins. We were going to hike up to the top of the hill, over to the stairs leading down to the beach and then back to the car. We decided to take a detour. 

Near the top of the hill, we took the Guy Fleming trail. All of the hikes in Torrey Pines are amazing and we haven’t been on this one for a while.

Ezzy was fascinated by everything, especially this lizard. We had a very rainy spring and the flowers and cacti were all blooming. It was a beautiful hike.

Overlooking Torrey Pines beach.

Our next stop was the Rose Garden in Balboa Park. I have seen this place as we’ve driven by, but I have never stopped before. It was amazing and much larger than you would think by looking at it from the street.

I’ve never thought much about Roses, and I’m surprised that most of them don’t smell. The ones that do smell, however, smell wonderful. Mom and I decided that we’re going to dedicate a small part of our yard to a Rose Garden. I love this white rose and it smells great. It is called a Sugar Moon and is a candidate for our garden.

The best smelling rose I have found so far is called a Double Delight and we already have one in our yard. In is a beautiful rose and a great smelling rose.

Our next stop was the playground at La Jolla Shores. We spent a little over an hour there and then came home. It was a long but very fulfilling day.

--------------------trivia--------------------

All people with blue eyes are decended from one person 

who lived thousands of years ago.

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Samarah

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Last week, Sam and Sarah decided that they would make a trip out to San Diego to see us. It was a last-minute decision, but I am glad they are here. They arrived yesterday morning and it is the first time I have ever seen Skye. I think it has been a year since I saw them last.

I picked them up in the morning and after lunch we headed to the beach. We went to the playground at La Jolla Shores. That is the best family beach. They have something for everyone.

We did pretty much whatever Ezzy wanted to do. She went down the slides, played on the swings, built (and destroyed) sandcastles and waded in the water. It was a fun afternoon.

At the beach there were hundreds of these pretty but weird shell-like things. They were transparent and quite pretty. I googled this picture and learned that they are called Velella Velella or more commonly known as “By-The-Wind Sailor”. They are beautiful. They are related to jelly fish, and they just float on top of the water and that clear shell-like thing sticks up in the air like a sail letting the wind blow them wherever it goes. It is just sad that the wind blew them all onto the beach.

--------------------trivia--------------------

The distance from Main to Africa is the same as the distance from Florida to California. 

Yes, Maine is the closest US State to Africa. 

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Mother's Day

Monday, May 13, 2024

When Lisa and I got engaged I was a poor college student. It was also 1981. In addition to my poverty, both gold and diamond prices hit a high in 1981 that they have still never seen since. 

In other words, Lisa’s wedding ring is a very high-quality ring, but her diamond is about the size of what our kids have as accent stones. I love Lisa’s ring, but I’ve always felt bad that I couldn’t get her something more. It was about our tenth anniversary that I started suggesting that maybe we upgrade the stone in her ring, but she would have none of it. It was her wedding ring, and she was going to wear it until she dies. I backed off a bit, but still, from time to time over the years I have suggested upgrading her ring.

Over the last few years Lisa has been unable to wear many of her rings because arthritis is swelling the joints in her fingers. Back in November, Lisa decided to take them in and get them expanded so she could wear them again. As she was waiting to be helped, she was wandering around the store looking at rings and she totally fell in love with one ring in particular. She told me that it would not replace her wedding ring, but she would love to wear it on her right hand. After years of urging her to “upgrade” her ring, how could I say no? 

The specifications of the diamond are:

Round Brilliant
6.01 x 6.03 x 3.7mm
Carat weight 0.82
Color grade F
Clarity grade VS2
Cut grade ideal
Polish excellent

Unlike many diamonds, my diamond is a very young diamond. While most diamonds were born over a billion years ago, mine was born on October 6, 2023, right here in the good old USA.

It was not an inexpensive ring and I have been paying for it since last November, but I was able to buy it in time for Mother’s Day. She was totally surprised. She had no idea I was paying it off and was about to suggest that we see if we could get her deposit back. Even when she opened the box and saw that it was jewelry she assumed it was a necklace or some other type of jewelry. I made her cry.

I also made her a big breakfast. It included pancakes, bacon, sausage, omelet, toast, cereal, fruit, oatmeal, and yogurt. After church I barbecued some pork chops. I think she enjoyed Mother’s Day this year.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Many stars have diamond cores. 

The biggest known diamond in the universe weighs 2.27 thousand trillion tonnes, 

or 10 billion trillion carats. 

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Millennial Choirs & Orchestras

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Ever since Kira started grad school, she has played professionally in one or more orchestra’s. In Gainesville during grad school, she played in two orchestras. When they moved to Alberta, she played in the Red Deer Orchestra. When she moved to Chandler, she looked for an orchestra she could play in professionally but so far hasn’t been able to find one. She actually does still play in Red Deer, but she would obviously like something closer to home.

Mom suggested that she try out for the Millennial Choir & Orchestras (MCO), but she was reluctant to because it wasn’t “professional”. She finally decided to send in an audition tape, and she was accepted as first chair oboe based on the tape alone. Normally, if she passes the tape audition, she would go in for an in person audition but they accepted her sight unseen.

She loves being in the MCO and says that it is as professional as any orchestra she has played in. I haven’t seen Kira play in a “real” orchestra since she was in Gainesville eighteen years ago. She had a Christmas performance, but we were unable to get tickets. That is why we jumped on the opportunity to see her when tickets came out for another performance a couple of weeks ago.

It was a quick trip because I wanted to be back for our ward conference on Sunday. We drove out Friday morning (April 26), did initiatory in the Gilbert Temple as soon as we arrived, crashed Pipers crazy birthday party with her friends, and spent the rest of the evening with the kids. Justin and I went for a run Saturday morning after which we went to a birthday breakfast with Piper, went to Jack and Freddies baseball game, checked out Ben’s garden and tortoise, went for dinner at the Organ Pizza place and then went to Kira’s performance.

After the performance we hugged and kissed and said goodbye to the family and visited way too long and then headed home. We hit the road at around 10:30 at night and arrived home around 4:30am Sunday morning. It was all worth it. Her performance was amazing.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Les Miserables is actually played several BPMs faster than it was writren. When played at the as written tempo, Les Mis runs about 3:20. They have to push the tempo because at three hours the orchestra will stop playing, as their union rules prohibit shifts longer than 3 hours. If you've ever seen Les Mis in person, you may see that bows are done to a recording because the show has run long and the orchestra has packed up and left.

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Narcolepsy

Wednesday, April 16, 2024

After the eclipse, we assumed the fun was all over, but we were mistaken. Griffin still had a surprise for us. We had been at the other house and as we entered Brandons house Griffin left. We exchanged a few words and then went in.

Kira was right behind us, but she never did come in. After a bit we went to see what had happened to her and there she was sitting next to a sleeping Griffin. We knew that Griffin was narcoleptic, but it was weird seeing him lying there. Kira had come across him like that and called Brandon and Ally and they told her to stay with him but don’t move him.

It started to rain so I headed out with some coats to put over him but just then Brandon and Ally got home. We carried him into the house and let him sleep it off. I guess it is not uncommon for narcoleptics to have night terrors and after ten or fifteen minutes Griffin suddenly jumped up and started thrashing around. We were afraid he was going to hurt himself, so Brandon and Ally restrained him. Well that just made him become rather violent.

I was headed out with the kids to buy some Chic-Fil-A but got called back to help with Griffin because he was getting more and more violent. At one point Ally got hurt and she went and got some handcuffs and we had to restrain him. We also tied up his legs with bungy cords. It took maybe another fifteen minutes before he finally came around. At one point poor Griffin said, “Am I ever going to be able to live on my own?” It was really sad.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Mount Rainier in Washington, Mount Elbert in Colorado and Mount Whitney in California are all within one hundred feet of each others height. 

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