Mesa

Recorded April 28, 2022

We’ve been trying to get to Mesa to visit Ben and Sharley since last November but between one thing or another the trip keeps getting postponed. On the weekend of March 19 we finally made it. Mark was very excited because it is one more state that he has now visited.

It was a total coincidence but that same weekend Justin and his kids came for a week long visit as well. Kira stayed home for the weekend so she could play in a concert and arrived on Monday. I think this might be the first time Justin has travelled alone with his kids. Kira has done it many times. We had planned to go on a few hikes but we didn’t have time for all of that so Saturday we visited the newly renovated Mesa temple. We were going to come for the last day of the open house but instead we ended up making a trip to Utah so we could attend Aunt Nola’s funeral.

It was sad we missed the open house but I’m glad we were able to make the funeral.

The temple grounds are lovely and they had many interactive things for the kids to do and the visitor’s center but perhaps the best part was the BYU Creamery. They didn’t have BYU chocolate milk but we all enjoyed the ice cream.

For dinner we tried to go to this very cool looking barbecue place but the wait was way too long so we ended up going to a Farm place that we have been to many times. You can't go wrong there. 

It also had a pretty long line so I watched the kids while the parents bought the food. 

They weren't very impressed with my babysitting skills but the kids had a lot of fun in the dirt. 

Mormon Battalion

Recorded April 24, 2022

On January 29 it was 175 years to the day that the Mormon Battalion reached San Diego. To celebrate the occasion the Mormon Battalion visitor’s center had a big celebration in Old Town.

Our good friends Randy and Kathy Madsen used to live here and they came for the occasion. They always get into these fairs. They had a big parade and Randy was one of the color guard.

They also had a show with a special choir. If you look at the picture Craig McPhie is in the choir on the front row farthest to the right.

They even sent an apostle to represent the church.

They finished up with some cultural dancing which was pretty cool.

The Crowleys

Recorded April 27, 2022

On Sunday, February 13^th Alycia and her family came to visit for their spring break. We had a good visit. On that first day we all went for a short walk through my favorite running trails. The tunnels.

Mom did have a tough time walking however with two children clinging to her the entire way.

Sawyer helping me make lemonade from our delicious lemon tree.

Grandma reading stories and singing songs with the grandkids.

You can just see how much they love her.

On Monday Alycia and Trevor treated us to free tickets so we could go to Sea World with them. It was a lot of fun.

Of course we had to sit in the splash zone but we stayed in the safer part and we only got a little bit wet.  

On Wednesday Alycia and Trevor left us and departed for Disneyland. I went for a run and met this guy on the trail.

I was running up a hill and not paying attention and landed my foot within two inches of him. It startled both us and I jumped two feet to the left and he jumped two feet to the right and went rolling down the hill. He rattled like crazy which startled me even more. I’ve seen a few rattle snakes over the thirty years I’ve lived here but I’ve never heard one rattle before. This guy was probably the biggest one I’ve seen as well.

He looked angry and I was grateful that I didn’t get bit. It is hard to tell from the picture how big he was but I’m guessing that he was about five feet long and maybe 2 inches in diameter.

Dixie & Mark

Recorded April 14, 2022

On January 24th Dixie and Mark arrived. They used to always work a visit in with us when they had to attend a concrete conference in Las Vegas during January but this year they didn’t have a conference and it was just a visit to see her brother and to enjoy a subtropical environment. We decided that this time we wouldn’t just stay in the house and visit but we’d get outside and see some things.

The first day we went to Torrey Pines beach but Dixie had recently had surgery so we kept the hiking to a minimum and just enjoyed a beautiful view and the sunset.

Tuesday we went to LaJolla Cove and saw the Sea Lions and everything else there is to do in that beautiful area. 

We then decided to go visit the Midway Museum. We could have spent a lot more time at the Midway but as we were leaving someone told us that since we were later in the day we could come back the next morning for free. Lisa had school but that worked great for Dixie, Mark and I.

We then decided to check out the Hotel Del and once were there we were googling a good place to have a nice dinner with a beautiful atmosphere. 

We decided on a place and then googled where it was. It said it was 500 feet away. I looked up and there it was right across the street from where we were parked. We had a lovely dinner at the Blue Water Boat House.

The next morning Lisa went back to work and Dixie, Mark and I headed back to the Midway. Finally it was time to say goodbye to them and I headed back to the real world.

Before I go though I have to share this picture of Lisa getting ready to take off from the Midway aircraft carrier.

Chris & Claudine D'Hondt

Recorded April 13, 2022

Brandon had a client in Belgium who really needed him to attend some meetings so in late January he flew off to Belgium and his client put him up in the best place in Ghent. As it turned out, Ghent is only five hours from Friedberg so Brandon asked if Alex would drive out to see him. It is also only a few minutes from one of my favorite couples in Belgium, the D’Hondts.

I sent a message to Brandon, Alex and the D’Hondts asking them if it would work out and to my great joy it did.

The plan was for Brandon and Alex to go touring on Saturday and then make a quick run down to Dunkirk on Sunday but unfortunately Brandon was unexpectedly stuck in meetings all day Saturday so Alex and Lisa checked out a few of the major World War 1 battle sights where Lisa’s great grandpa Shaw actually fought. I’ll bet James Shaw couldn’t have dreamed that a hundred years later his great, great, great Grandson would walk through what might have been the very same trench where he was cold, wet and wounded. It is sobering to think about. 

They also checked out the Grote Markt in Brussels which is well over a thousand years old.

So Sunday, January 23 came and that is when Brandon joined them and they visited the D’Hondts. After that they checked out Flanders field. Flanders field was actually in my area and I tracked all around it. 

They then all piled into Alex’s car and headed down to Dunkirk, another famous battle scene where thousands of allies died and the famous evacuation took place. Mom and I really need to get over there and see some of these battle sites.

Dislocated Finger

For those who may not know, Brandon and Serene divorced last February. Just after Christmas I went out to help him as he moved out of his house on January 6th. He didn't really need physical help but I was there for moral support. That has got to be a very difficult task.

Brandon had found a very nice apartment that was only a couple of miles from his family and his apartment was brand new. He is on the second floor which made moving in a bit more difficult but it keeps him away from all the traffic and he has a balcony that overlooks the central courtyard which has a huge pool. Not much fun in January but it will be great in the summer.

We moved while the kids were in school so that would be less traumatic and just as we had everything moved in we went outside to meet a moving truck which was delivering his furniture when I stepped half on half off the curb and tripped. As I landed I put my hands out to catch myself and rolled forward on my hands bending my finger back. I felt the finger pop and stood up to see this.

I didn’t know if it was broken or dislocated but the first thing I thought was that I had to get my ring off. Alas, it was instantly so swollen that I didn’t have a chance. Brandon gave me his car and I left him to take care of his furniture and off I went to the Mansfield Methodist Hospital which was very close to his apartment.

I told the nurse at the reception desk that I didn’t mind waiting but I really didn’t want the lack of blood going to my finger to make me lose my finger. They put me at the head of the line and before long I was in the examination room.

The nurse came in with a small Dremel tool but it was killing me to put the little protection plate under the ring so they wouldn’t cut my skin. I finally asked if I could just cut the ring off myself. She handed me the machine and told me to have at it. It was sad but a huge relief to have blood flowing once again to my finger.

They X-rayed my finger and confirmed that it was dislocated with a tiny evulsion fracture so he froze the finger and pulled on it to set the joint. I was sure glad the finger was frozen because he pulled very hard about five times before he got it set. He splinted the finger and told me to have my doctor check it out once I got home. The pain went away quickly but only now in April is my finger nearly back to normal.

Hawaii Day 8

February 27, 2022

Sunday morning was a sad day. We got up early so we could clean out the car we had borrowed, pack up our bags and get ready to head home.

On the way out of the base Matt drove us through an airplane museum which was quite fascinating. We had a quick layover in Maui and then soon arrived in San Diego. While we were sad to leave Hawaii, it is always good to be home.

Hawaii Day 7

 February 26, 2022

Saturday was another great day. This day was special because Lyndsey and her family joined us.  They loaded up their three kayaks and off we went to Kualoa Point which is the nearest beach to Chinamans Hat. Chinamans hat is actually called Mokolii but everyone calls in Chinamans hat because it kind of looks like a chinamans hat.

The plan was to kayak out to the island and then hike to its peak and that is exactly what we did. It was a rather short hike but we were scaling cliffs. At one point they had a rope to help with the climb.

When we reached the island we found this guy sun bathing on the beach. With all those warts and growths he kind of looked dead but since he wasn’t there when we came back, I assume he was just fine.

The view from the top was amazing. We enjoyed the view for ten or fifteen minutes and then headed back down. It was quite an accomplishment for Lyndsey’s little Pyper who must have been about four years old and actually for Lyndsey as well who just a year ago was over three hundred pounds.

From the Island we headed up the coast and had a bowl of shaved ice and spent some time on Hukilau Beach. The shaved ice was soooo good. I really wished I had one every day I was there instead of just the last day.

We then headed home and got ready for our big night out. Because of their great hospitality and for all the money they saved us, we wanted to take Lyndsey and Matt out for a nice dinner.

We finally decided on Haleiwa Joes. What a wonderful meal and what a wonderful location. I had the biggest prime rib I have ever seen and it was melt in your mouth delicious.

After we had completed bloated ourselves we headed home but once we got on base Matt stopped and showed us where he works. He is in charge of delivering power to the military. I think we often take it for granted that all of our outlets will have electricity when we need it but it is actually quite complicated and requires that the source matches the load in every respect. You not only need to match the power delivered by the frequency, but the phases and the voltage must also match. It is really quite complicated and that is what Matt does

Family History Fair

Last spring our Bishop told me that he would love to have a Ward Family History Fair. That seemed like a lot of work to me, so I suggested that we get the Stake involved and make it a Stake Family History Fair. He responded that he really would like to keep it to the ward. Well after a lot of planning and a lot of work and a lot of fear we had our Ward Family History Fair last Saturday (9/24/22). It turned our really well and I’m kind of pleased with myself.

The Bishop opened the fair with a ten minute introduction in the chapel where he also suggested that we turn on our “Relatives Near Me” feature in the Family Search app. I was surprised to learn that I had two third cousins there. One I knew about and that is Lacy Hilton descended from CFB and Antoinette Lybbert through their daughter Esther Anthonette but the other one was a guy named Jeff Millard. I said to Lisa, “who is Jeff Millard?” and then I hear a guy in the row behind us say, “that would be me”. It turns out that he is also decended from CFB and Anthonette Lybbert through their daughter Mary Sophia Elizabeth Lybbert. It just so happened that I wore my CFB reunion shirt to the fair so of the names listed on the back of my shirt decendents from three of their children were at my humble little History Fair.

After the Introduction we split into workshops. We had Family Search 101, DNA 101, Memories, Indexing, and Children Activities. The classes were each 25 minutes so you could take two classes and then we all met in the gym where the booths were set up. We had two kinds of booths, we got some families to sponsor a booth about one of their countries of origin. We had…

Germany                        Oldenwalder
Wales                             Hilton
Mexico                          Gastelo / Cano
China                             Lew / Chang
Norway / Sweden          Burstedt / Larson
Belgium / France           Bush
Denmark                        Hunsaker / McPhie
Scotland                         Linnell

We also had fun and informative booths…

Compare-a-Face           Anette Agaard
Where Am I From?      Lisa Leavitt
Photo Booth                 Youth
Start your tree & Print a Temple Card    Fred Leavitt
Temples                       Missionaries
Wedding Pictures

The country booths were far more popular but the “Where Are You From” map was a hit and ‘Wedding Pictures’ were fun. People brought a wedding picture taken in front of the temple where they were married. No one was able to recognize the Gills.

Mandy & Peter did Germany

 

York & Gloria Lew did China

 

Vicky Bush did Belgium but I did contribute my wooden shoes, a few books and some Smurf’s.

 

The Gastelo & Cano Families did Mexico


The booths were all very good and quite popular but these are the pictures that I have. I think the country booths drew the most interest.

Actually that isn’t entirely true. We also asked volunteers to bring food samples from one of their ancestry countries or even a country of interest. I took sugar waffles from Belgium. The food was amazing. I even got a chance to taste Haggis. It wasn’t as bad as its reputation.

All in all I think the Penasquitos Ward Family History Fair turned out well.