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. 

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

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.

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

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.

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