Twenty Nine Years of Joy

Twenty nine years ago this morning Lisa and I were married. What a wonderful experience it has been. I don't know where time goes but it seems like only yesterday that we were kneeling across the alter from each other. I love to sit back and think of everything we've accomplished together and by far the thing I'm most proud of is our family. What wonderful children we've been blessed with and what good people they've grown to become. If I were given the opportunity to change anything in my life I don't think I would change a thing. I am a lucky man. Since I'm making this trip down memory lane I thought I'd give you all a chance to share in some of my memories from that blessed day twenty nine years ago. Here are a few of the pictures from our wedding album. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Canada - day 4 - June 29, 2010

Tuesday was the Zoo. We've all seen zoo's and we've all seen hippo's and giraffes and gorilla's so I won't share any of the pictures of the animals. I found the two legged animals much more interesting anyway. As I was going through the pictures I commented to Lisa how I didn't have a single picture of Brandon. She reminded me that Brandon stayed home from the zoo to study for his Patent Bar exam. He's really stressing that exam and almost stayed home just so he could study more effectively. Let's all pray from him so he can make up for the time lost from studying

while he played with us.

I think he studied a lot less than he promised himself (and Serene) that he would.

The weather was gorgious and I almost felt like I was back in San Diego. It was a perfect day for the zoo. Lisa's Dad also came out from Vancouver Island to see all of us. We're glad he came and I think he enjoyed the grandkids and the great grandkids.

Evan is studying the map so he can tell us where to go. He actually knew the area very well. He goes to the zoo a lot.

There were a lot of babies on this trip. Each of the kids were very well behaved the entire time but the problem is they all took turns. One would cry and as soon as he calmed down another one would start up. I've never heard so much crying.

Kira and Evan listening to the recording that tells about the exhibit.

Have you seen those National Geographic videos that show how monkey's will pick the lice off of each other and eat them. I think that is what is going on here.

Grandpa Shaw and his girls.

Sarah with a giraffe in the back ground

Serene and a very well behaved Sydney. It was a long day for these kids but they had fun until the end.

Another tired (but well behaved) baby.

Kira and Evan riding a lion.

A kangaroo and it's baby

Sarah and Sydney feeding the ducks.

Me and some of my girls

One very tired Hayley.

I have to tell a story will this video. Evan was giving Alycia a ride on the back of his wheel chair when he stopped to look at something. After a couple of minutes he says to Alycia, "get on my back, it's time to go!"

Canada - day 3 - June 28, 2010

Monday was spent at Kira's lake. In Calgary they have a bunch of "Lake Districts". They dig a huge hole in the ground and pile all the dirt into a large hill nearby. They then make a tobogganing hill out of the pile of dirt and build a bunch of houses around the lake. The community that Kira lives in is called Auburn Bay. She has a very nice house right now but since Evan ill require some special consideration as he gets older they just bought a lot and will customize a new house. As you can imagine the houses that border the lake are very expensive but every once in a while they have a piece of beach that is shared by several houses. Due to some very fortunate circumstances (or as I believe, divine guidance) they were able to buy a lot that shares a beach. Since their house is the closes to the communal beach it is just as if they have their own private beach. Justin spent the morning working on everyones teeth (in case you didn't know he's a dentist) while the rest of the family spent the morning at the beach. He gave me a crown, Serene got a root canal, Alycia had her teeth cleaned and Brandon had a cleaning at Justin found seven cavities. Justin managed to fill three of the cavities but it looks like Brandon will be making another visit to Canada in the next few months. Just saved us several thousand dollars and while I know he is glad to contribute is own time he still has to pay his staff and buy supplies. He may have saved us thousands of dollars but this still had to cost him hundreds of dollars. Justin, you're a good man. Thanks again for this wonderful act of kindness.

Poor Justin missed out on all the beach activities. Brandon and I managed to get down there in time to get in a canoe ride around the lake. We gave Evan a ride and he was quite enjoying his Pirate Ship ride.

After Justin finished up everyone they took us all to show us their new lot. Right now it is just a dirt patch and in the picture you can see just how close it is to the lake. They can have their own canoe and stuff and in the winter they use a Zamboni to smooth out a path around the lake. In the picture after the dirt lot you can see the green space they have between the houses and the lake. This area is shared by the five or six houses that share the community dock. They certainly have a nice location.

After we all saw Kira's new lot we headed out to have dinner with Grandma Leavitt. Kira had made a pot roast that we took out so we didn't create too much work for Grandma but she still went ahead and made us a ton of home made donuts. Boy were they good. I ate way too many. We sat and visited for most of the evening and then took some pictures on her deck. She lives on top of this beautiful hill out in the country and the view she has is stunning. She also has a beautiful house. It was wonderful to spend this time with Grandma.

Kira's lot, see how close it is to the lake?

The green space between Kira's house and the lake. The fence behind the bench is Kira's yard. Pretty nice eh?

Grandma and her great grandchildren. We had to have the mothers in the picture or those kids would just scatter. It was very difficult to keep them in one place for more than a few seconds.

Lisa and I with Grandma Leavitt. After my mother passed away Dad married Maurine Williamson who had been widowed years earlier. Maurine was actually my mothers cousin, her mother was a Lybbert.

The kids and Lisa and I with Grandma.

Sarah in an old log cabin that is on the property.

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

The average baby will cry 20 minutes before giving up and the average parent will last 13 minutes before giving in.

---------------------------------------------

Canada - day 2 - June 27, 2010

Sunday morning I slept in. Thank goodness Kira's church didn't start until 11:00. Even still, I slept so late that I was rushed to get ready in time. Sunday was pretty much a lazy day for most of us. The girls all had a girls activity planned so Brandon, Justin and I came home and watched Argentina slaughter Mexico in the FIFA games. Brandon was quite subdued and Justin was surprisingly sympathetic. For those who may not know, Justin went to Argentina on his mission and Brandon went to Mexico. Also, for those who may not know, I went to Belgium on my mission (Dutch speaking) and Holland is in the finals so I've beat them all. After the soccer game Justin barbecued hamburgers and invited Hans over and we played games all night long. He had a new game called "Ticket to Ride" that we played. It was a good alternative to Settlers of Catan. We played until the girls came home much later than I was expecting and then I read book two in the Hunger Games series. It is almost as good as book one.

Since not much happened on Sunday I didn't take any pictures so I decided to share some meaningful pictures I took from other days. The

top picture is the Wild Rose. It is Alberta's provincial flower. The second picture is of lilac bushes at Grandma Leavitt's house. The last picture is of Vimy Mountain. I think this is my favorite mountain in Waterton Park. I looked out my bedroom window at this view for much of my life growing up. I've stood on the peak of this mountain and it is a spectacular view from up there.

Just as an aside, I felt a pretty good earthquake here yesterday. It sort of freaked me out because I was starting up our vacuum hot press at work and this is a fairly substantial machine. It can squeeze parts to about 50,000 pounds per square inch while simultaneously heating it up to 2,000°C (3,600°F) while in a hard vacuum. It draws tremendous power so you have to be careful when you start it up or you can do some major damage. I was just turning up the power when suddenly there was a loud bang and the ground shook. It took me a minute or two to realize that I hadn't caused the shaking.

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

Earthworms are not native to America. They were carried here in the mud on early immigrants boots.

---------------------------------------------

Canada - day 1 - June 26, 2010

What an exciting, fun, memorable, spiritual and exhausting week. I seriously took over a thousand pictures and I could write volumes but since no one wants to read a book I will try and keep this concise and only do a day at a time. I also don't have time to write too much and so I can only do one day at a time.

The adoption for Kira's second child, Landon, was final last month so she was then able to have her baby sealed to their family in the temple and also have him blessed in church. Of course we wanted to be a part of all that so we planned a trip to

Canada. Since we would be driving right through Utah we also invited any of our kids who could

make it to come with us. Brandon is interning in Utah for the summer and between work and studying for the patent bar he couldn't make it but Serene and her girls could. Ben is interning in Mexico City for the summer so he wasn't able to make it and Sharley couldn't make it either. Trevor was working so he was out but Alycia was able to get the time off from her work and summer classes so she is up for the trip and of course Sarah came. The day before we left Brandon figured he had made sufficient progress

in his work and studying that he could come after all. As it turned out we have eight seat belts in

the van and eight people were coming so it was one full van especially with two car seats. While it did get intense once or twice no one killed each other and we are all still on speaking terms. The drive was long but very much worth the trip.

With the girls we stopped often to let them unwind and so Serene could nurse the baby and although this made the trip longer it also made it bearable. We left San Diego late on Friday, June 25th because we helped out Alex Jafek with his

Eagle Scout project. We owe Alex big time because he's tutored Sarah in math all year and while I'm sure he enjoyed the tutoring her he still helped her turn what was looking like it might be an "F" into a "B". He has also helped her a lot through some other tough times so we were more than happy to help him with his Eagle Project.

The drive to Utah was uneventful since we had an entire van for just the three of us but once we arrived in Utah it got a bit dicey. Luckily we had a cool car top carrier that we could use to throw all of the luggage up on top. It did drop my gas mileage from 25 mpg to 20 mpg but there was

no other way to get everyones luggage to come along with us.

I had almost forgotten just how beautiful the Rockies are. Driving through Montana reminded me just how much I loved growing up in the mountains. I do miss those mountains but I do not miss the Alberta weather.

Arriving at the border was another experience. It was kind of strange to see the Canadian Flag everywhere but as we were approaching the border someone remembered that Brandon's last minute decision to join us happened so quickly

that he wasn't able to get his passport which was in Malibu. We were all hoping that they wouldn't keep him at the border while we went on without him. The customs agent did seem quite perturbed but didn't give us any trouble.

After crossing the border we still had another four hours of driving before we pulled into Calgary at somewhere around midnight. Kira was very surprised to see Brandon and his presence also messed up all her plans. She had beds laid out all over the house and each bed had towels, wash clothes and water bottles neatly folded for each of the guests. She even had a candy on each

pillow. Unfortunately for Brandon, he didn't have a bed or a candy. He ended up on a couch somewhere. I was in the basement so I'm not sure where he slept. Kira also had a big pile of food downstairs for all of us to munch on at our own pace. She was well prepared for us and her preparation made everything even better. We were all very excited for the week. We were also very ready for that comfortable looking bed.