210.5 up 3.5
What a great long weekend. As you could tell from Fridays post, Lisa and I went to Brandon and Serene's graduation at BYU. Brandon will be working for Mark and Dixie this summer so they are flying directly to Alaska meaning we had to move all their stuff (including their car) back to California and store it for the summer. It was quite a feat. Have you ever tried to put six gallons of dirt into a five gallon bucket? That is what I did. I'm kicking myself that I never took a picture of our van. To make it even more exciting, Alycia had her entire life's possessions in Utah with her so had we to bring half of it back with us as well so that her and Ben would have a chance of getting all of their stuff into the car when they come home later this week. Every cubic inch of the van was filled including the passenger seat. I had a huge car top carrier on the van and it was filled. The back of the van rode no more than three inches off the road and I was really worried about the springs. Brandon's car didn't fair much better, the trunk was full to capacity, the back s
eat was full to capacity and the passengers seat was filled as well. In fact, Lisa got pulled over by a cop on the way home (she had a headlight out) and Lisa looks at the cop and points to the passenger seat and says, "Do I really have to get the registration out of there?" She pointed out that it wasn't her car and she was just moving a student home from school and he let her off with a warning. I think he could tell she was telling him the truth. As you can tell by my weight, I wasn't a good boy this week. I actually ate very responsibly but I REALLY like BYU chocolate milk. It is so good and I probably drank a gallon all by myself. To make it worse, I didn't run either. Other than that I was pretty good. So I guess I fell off the wagon but I'm back on and today I ran and that was tough since it was over 90°F. Lisa's Dad also showed up to surprise Brandon. That was pretty cool and he fell in love with Serene (this was his first time to meet her) and he especially fell in love with their baby. I suppose you all know my kids but just in case, in the picture from left to right is Brandon, Ben, Boyd Shaw and Alycia. So Wednesday we drove to Utah, Thursday was convocation, Friday Brandon walked at 8:00 and Serene walked at 5:00, Saturday we loaded up the van, drove to Ephraim and loaded up the car and the car top carrier and then drove to St George. Before we left Ephraim, Lisa and Alycia went to a movie while Ben and I went and killed clay pigeons with his shot gun. That was quite fun. Since we were both quite sleep deprived we slept in Sunday morning and then drove the rest of the way home. That isn't much fun driving two vehicles but we both had cell phones and we kept each other awake. Today was back to the grind.
Today was a nice relaxing day after the whirl wind week we have had. For me it started early. Brandon had to head back north to continue earning money for his very expensive law school tuition and his flight left at the insane hour of 6:30 AM. That meant he had to be there by about 5:00 which meant that we had to get up around 4:15. It was sad to see him go and I know it was tough for him too. He left his darling wife and little girl behind so we could get a chance to see them for a bit after the commotion of last week all settled down. I'm so glad that they are going 
to be living within a reasonable distance to us next year. I expect we will be making a few trips to Malibu. I then came home and promptly went right back to bed. Our church meetings this year don't start until 12:30. That makes for a nice and peaceful morning but you have no day left after you get home and eat dinner. While I was sorting through the 700 pictures that I took yesterday Grandpa was teaching Kira how to play the bag pipes and Peter, Justin, Alex and Sarah played a rip roaring game of "Settlers of Catan". That really is a fun game and I wanted to play but sometimes there just isn't enough hours in the day.
It has also the first time that Grandpa and Nana have been able to see Evan so we made sure we too a four generation picture. Grandma Shaw had her four generation pictures at Christmas time when everyone was home. The first Sunday of every month is a "Fast and Testimony" meeting at church. This is different from other meetings in that members of the congregation who feel so inclined can get up and express their feelings over the pulpit. The Fast part is because we go to church fasting and the testimony part is because we normally testify to the divinity of God and Jesus Christ. This Sunday was especially wonderful because all of our children who were there (Kira, Alex and Sarah) took the opportunity to bear their testimonies. Brandon had already left for Alaska, Ben was on his honeymoon and Alycia had to work but it was still very cool. I really wanted to get up and say something but I think if I had it would have only detracted from what my wonderful children had said so I stayed put. It was a wonderful and relaxed morning, a beautiful service and afterward we polished off a huge roast. Later in the evening we had another sad event. We had to drive Justin, Kira and Evan to the airport and send another portion of my heart off on an airplane. It's just too bad we have to work. It is very clear to me that true happiness in this life comes from our children.
