An Amazing Two Weeks

Monday, June 22, 2026

Wow, the last two weeks have been crazy but fun. I am exhausted and a little sunburned, but I feel quite fulfilled. It is going to take me a few days to relate everything but let me give you a brief recap.

Wednesday, June 10 Sterling, Chris and I rode with the Deacons to the beach. We were going to ride through the canyon but there was a rather scary brush fire in the Canyon on the Monday and they wouldn’t let us ride through the canyon so we ended up riding on the bike path.

Thursday, June 11 Sterling, Chris and I drove the deacons to Palm Springs, and we rode up the tram up the mountain and hiked into Round Valley.

Friday, June 12 We hiked to San Jacinto Peak (10,834 ft) and back to our campground.

Saturday, June 13 We hiked back to the trolley station and drove home. I then attended Mark Ma’s graduation from UCSD and then Lisa and I met with President Mauseth who released me as a second councilor in the Bishopric.

Sunday, June 14 I was released in Sacrament Meeting and Jeff Andrew is our new Bishop with Dan Cho as first councilor and Jeff Millard as second councilor. Lisa and I were trained as volunteers at the temple, and we got the house in shape for Alycia and her family to arrive on Monday

Monday, June 15 Alycia and her family arrived.

Tuesday, June 16 Mom and Alycia took the kids on a Torrey Pines hike and then to the beach. Alycia met up with a friend. Trevor and I worked until 5:00 and then joined up with them at the beach. Alex and his family arrived at 12:30 in the morning.

Wednesday, June 17 Trevor collected trash, Queen Lisa, Princess Lisa and Alycia took all the kids to the Children’s Pool while Alex and I worked. As soon as Alex was done one of his morning meetings we joined up with them and went to Old Town. That evening Alycia and Trevor headed to the Legoland Hotel.

Thursday, June 18 We went with Alex and his family to the Temple Open House and then to the zoo. Alycia and family spent the day at Legoland.

Friday, June 19 Alycia’s family headed to Sea World while Mom and I hung out with Alex and his family while they packed to head to Las Vegas. We then joined up with Alycia and her family.

Saturday, June 20 We did the Temple Open house with Alycia and her family and then Alycia and her kids headed for home. Mom and I then went to the Highland Games and manned a booth for the RSCDS (Royal Scottish Country Dance Society).

Of the last fourteen days I have spent the majority of nine of those days outside. Even having emptying most of a can of sunscreen I have a special glow about me but thankfully, my sunburn is mild enough that it hasn’t disrupted any of the fun. A day in the sun really saps your energy.

We are now alone, we’re exhausted but our hearts are full.

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

For a brief period of time, Pepsi had the sixth largest navy in the world. In 1989 the Soviet Union traded a fleet of subs and boats for a whole lot of soda. The new agreement included 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. Pepsi immediately sold them to a Swedish company for scrap. 

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Forty-Five Years

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Last Saturday was our forty-fifth wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married for forty-five years. In my head I am forty-five years old.

I clearly remember the first day that I met Lisa. It was at church on the first day I moved to Edmonton to attend the U of A. I was with Greg and Gaylia’s family and Lisa came up and introduced herself to me. She was friendly and kind and she had a very effervescent personality. To make it all better, she was also beautiful. I could tell that she loved life. I can’t believe I talked her into marrying me.

It didn’t take long before we realized that we belonged together. Our views on life, religion and raising children align very well. Our personalities are almost completely opposite but I often think that is a good thing. We strengthen each other where we are weak. Lisa is outgoing and quick to make new friends. I am quiet and reserved and quite content to be a loner. I can’t be a loner while married to Lisa. She makes me a better person.

Lisa on the other hand stresses about everything that isn’t going the way she thinks it should. I can usually calm her down and help her relax.

Looking back on my life I can’t imagine what it would have been like without her. We have built many memories together and the very best memories include her and the six wonderful children we have raised together.

We have shared and overcome every challenge we have been faced with and we have done it together. We have comforted each other through many trials and carried each other through times of grief but we have also shared every joy together.

While Lisa will never enjoy Star Trek as much as I do and I will never enjoy a Hallmark movie like she does, I am happy to sit down and watch a Hallmark movie with her and she will actually take me to Star Trek concerts and we have gone to every Star Trek movie together when new movies come out.

Having said that, there are many things that we both love to do. When I was at BYU I audited a Ball Room Dance class and I taught Lisa everything that I could remember. While that isn’t much, we love to waltz, Samba, Cha Cha, Latin Hustle and others but we have excelled in Swing Dancing. We would Swing Dance with our kids and our kids would swing dance with each other. More recently we have joined a Scottish Country Dance group that we both love.

We also love being outdoors. We go to the beach; we used to go skiing often (but not so much once kids came along). We love to go hiking and often go for walks. Walking on the beach at sunset can’t be beat. Lisa also ran with me in several races but due to her Mortens Neuroma she could never be a serious runner.

We also love singing. We have always attended our Ward Choirs together and in our younger years we occasionally sang in our Sacrament Meetings together.

While Lisa would like to travel a lot more than I care to, we do love to travel and while we hope to travel more as we enter retirement, we have been able to travel to England, Scotland, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico and many of the US States together.

I guess what I’m saying is that Lisa is a part of who I am. Our lives are intertwined and I can’t imagine life without her. I am excited about spending more and more time with her in the future and my heart swells as I imagine spending the eternities with her. If the last forty-five years have been remarkable, I can’t imagine what it will be like in the eternities as we build worlds together.

I love her more than I could possibly express, I am blessed that my Father in Heaven brought her into my life and I am excited for the next forty-five years together. Well, forty-five years may be a bit ambitious, but I’ll take as many years as I can get. Happy anniversary sweetheart.

As I was sorting through pictures I came across many more than I need for a post but I thought I’d share them anyway because I received so much joy in reminiscing over them.

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

Decades of research show a powerful link between a healthy marriage and physical/mental well-being. Married individuals generally live longer and have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, depression, and cancer.

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Spring Tea Dance

Monday, June 1, 2026

Saturday was our spring Tea Dance for our Scottish Country Dance group. We just finished our third year of dance classes and I’m just now starting to feel like I’m becoming an OK dancer. Until recently, if we were doing a dance that is new to me, it would take several tries before I could catch on, but in the classes, you don’t get several tries. You walk through it and after a couple of walk through’s they dance the dance and then you move on. In the beginner class they focus on the steps and a few simple figures and in the intermediate class they learn all kinds of new dances, but they move rather fast.

At the last big dance party we did, I found out about an app where you could download videos of the dances for upcoming events. The dances are all rated as being easy, medium or hard. I picked the dances I wanted to do and made sure I didn’t dance the dance just prior to the one I wanted to dance. I sat through the dance before the one I wanted to participate in and went through the video repeatedly until I had it stuck in my brain. It worked very well and I had a great time, but I only got to dance half the dances.

For the tea dance, both of our classes focused on the upcoming dances, so I was relatively prepared and then I used my app to embed the dance moves into my brain. I danced every dance and had a blast. It was a very fun weekend. That dance was in the Balboa Park Club building and the atmosphere was amazing. I also got to wear my kilt.

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

The first collection of Scottish Country dances was publish in 1724. 

Those dances (and the music) are still danced today.

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Renaissance Fair

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Sunday was a relaxed day. We went to church with Brandon and his kids and then we hung out and enjoyed each other’s company. If I remember correctly, Sydney hung with us for a bit and then disappeared to another graduation party.

We played games and I set up a water jet “T” ball sprinkler thing that was quite fun. It was also fun just hanging out with the grandkids.

Monday was our last day in Texas. Sydney and Hayley were YCL’s for their girl’s camp and headed to camp Monday morning. Lisa and I drove them to their drop off point and hugged them both goodbye. We then packed up the rest of the kids and headed to a Renaissance Fair that was going on.

The Fair was pretty much a twin to the ones they have in Phoenix but perhaps a little bigger with a few more attractions.

It was also hot just like the one in Phoenix. We had a lot of fun. Brandon slaughtered anyone who would accept his challenge in sword fighting... 

and the girls got their hair braided.

As we were walking to our car to go home, we saw a huge thunderhead coming our way. Our car wasn’t close, so we kept gauging the distance. Luckily, we were unlocking the car when the rain started coming down. It was a fun day but as soon as we got home, we loaded up the car, kissed the kids goodbye and then Brandon and Ally took us to the airport. For some reason it feels like we’ve been gone for a month. I guess that’s what happens when you’re having fun.

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

While Mt Everest is the tallest mountain when measured from sea level. Mt Chimborazo in Ecaudor is the mountain that is closest to space. Because the earth bulges at the equator, sea level in Equador is higher than sea level in Tibet.

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Mammoths

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Saturday, we headed to Waco. Lisa had given us three options, 1) go to a craft show at a Christian compound, 2) go to a Mammoth museum and 3) go to a Texas Rangers museum. We made it to the compound and the Mammoth museum but ran out of time before we could go see the Rangers.

The compound was fascinating. A religious group in New York wanted to live simple lives, bought some property near Waco and moved there.

They built houses on the property, and they do their best to live simple lives and make what they need themselves.

They were selling things like leather goods, blacksmithing, candle making, wood working and home-made clothing. It is the kind of life that I think I would enjoy. The most interesting thing to me is that they have the only water driven mill in Texas that is in operation and milling flour. It was working while we were there.

The mill was built in 1760 in New Jersey and fed the American army led by George Washington during the revolutionary war when they were starving during the winter of 1780-81. In 2001 the mill was moved to Texas and restored.

We then headed to the Mammoth museum; it was also fascinating. The first mammoth was found in 1978 and since that time around 30 mammoths have been found all in a very small area.

They figure that a herd of mammoths, including several babies, were watering at the creek and were caught in a flash flood. They refer to the herd as a nursery heard. The owner of the property wanted to support the discovery, so he donated this portion of his land to the city of Waco in 1996 and in 2009 they built a shelter over the site and opened it up to visitors. It was a genius decision because they now have an income from the visitors, they have an air-conditioned shelter where they can work, and the bones are protected from the weather. We all enjoyed the air conditioning immensely. It is an active archeological site.

They told us that they are looking at everything around the bones including what spores are in the soil so I knew it must take a long time to remove all the dirt. I asked how long it took to dig out the bones, and the guide told me that she was there for eight hours when I guy was working on it and after an eight-hour day he had removed a half inch of soil in the small area where he was digging.

On our way home I got to visit my first Bucc-ee’s store. It really is quite amazing. They have everything you could want at a gas station. They must have had fifty islands with gas pumps, and the store was more like a Wal Mart than a gas station. They have everything from clothes to some rather amazing food. Once we got home Sydney headed off to a couple of graduation parties she wanted to attend and we played in the yard and ate some of Brandons amazing brisket.

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

Birth rates in the 1980's was about 70 births per 1,000 women. Today it is 11. Teen births have dropped by 70% and the age group most likely to have a child are women in their 30's.

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Sydney’s Graduation

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Last Friday was Sydney’s graduation from High School and we wanted to be there for her. Thursday evening Jeff & Tiffany drove us to the airport and we had an uneventful trip to the Dallas–Love airport. Brandon picked us up and it was after 1:00 am when we climbed into bed.

Friday morning was a nice, relaxed morning and then we headed out to Sydney’s graduation somewhere around 2:00. Other than the fact that Sydney was there, the best thing about the graduation is that it was in an air-conditioned auditorium. We were quite a way back so the pictures aren’t great, but we could see her clearly enough.

Funny story about Sydney, a couple of weeks ago she was told she was getting an award, but she wasn’t told what the award was. Her and Brandon went to the award ceremony and they kept announcing awards, but her name was still not called.

They always save the most distinguished awards until the end of the ceremony and finally she is awarded the Magna Cum Laude award. The funny part is that she had no idea what a Magna Cum Laude award is and no idea that she was getting one. She is a very smart girl.

For those who may not know, the Magna Cum Laude (Latin for “with Great Praise”) award is given to those who are the smartest in the school. Suma Cum Laude is for the kids with the highest GPA (kind of like a gold medal), Magna Cum Laude is the next highest (like a silver medal) and Cum Laude is lowest of the smartest (like a bronze medal).

Each school does it differently, some schools base it on percentage of the students (Magna Cum Laude would typically be the top 5 to 15% of students) and other schools base it on the GPA (Magna Cum Laude would be those with GPA’s ranging from 3.7 to 3.89).

I don’t know what Sydney’s school does but in either case, she is a smart girl.

We then went to a graduation party for Sydney at Serenes house. She had a lot of friends there. We gave her some BYU Idaho paraphernalia and then Lisa gave her a bracelet with a glass bead that contains some of her mother’s (GG’s) ashes. It was rather special.

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

It is estimated that 25% of the people who are in a vegetative state

are fully concious and aware of their surroundings.

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