Bryce = Batman

Bryce was asked to be Batman for his work at CBCC (Comprehensive Blood & Cancer Center). Bryce tells me that since they treat cancer patients, they try to make Halloween a fun event for those that are treated that day.
I will let Bryce post any corrections/clarifications that need to be made.

Bryce made this costume from scratch. The body suit is for biking and the Speedo is a Speedo. He made the Batman emblem also. The amazing thing to me is that the hat and arm guards are made from cereal boxes and duct tape. Don't tell me that a Bachelor's Degree in Physics is a waste of time!



All dressed up and ready to go Trick-or-Treating.
In case you are as ignorant as I am, this is the original Batman - gray and black, and not just all black.



Yes, he made the cape from a $9 piece of fabric.


The Bryce Batmobile (Bratmobile for short)

Blake's Birthday Bash

As promised, I took my camera to a family event. It happened to be Blake's Birthday Bash at the park. Everyone who is anyone was there.



This is Bryce, Lila, Tawna, Brian and Blake. We call these candid shots. That is why Brian is looking away and Tawna is trying to flip me off.


It is always good to be the prettiest girl at the party, even if your mouth is full of grapes. No offense to any of the other ladies. I just have my biases.


Like I stated, "everyone who is anyone."



Blake got his cupcake, so nothing else matters.

September & October

I haven't taken any pictures in a long time. I am committed to doing better in the future, but for now I will just have to write about the last two months. It might be boring but at least you will have a parents journal about what it is like to be old.
8/27 Krista got her patriarchal blessing. Sue and I were able to accompany her, as we have for almost all of our children. It was a special evening for us all and the blessing that Pres. Zimmerman gave her was wonderful and full of hope and promise for the future.
8/31-9/8 Tawna enrolled in LDS Business College. Three went to Utah and only two came home. The school is great and Tawna is anxiously engaged in her new path. We are thrilled to see her move on with her life. We had a great time while we were in Utah with the Buchanans, The Landon Allreds and Gma. It was quite a whirlwind because we had to get Tawna registered, buy books and a computer and find a place for her to live. I don't remember much else because I was so focused on having Tawna taken care of before we left. We did get to see Landon & Sarah's new house - very nice, we had dinner with Gma and Tracy's family (we played Rage and the best man won), Scott took me to a UofU/Utah State football game (loved it), celebrated Ava's birthday with Mac 'n Cheese. That is all I remember. OH WAIT! I saw BYU beat Oklahoma. It was great to have two weeks in the sun before going back to the doghouse.
9/15 Sue and I went to a Rotary Dinner at Woolgrowers. It cost $70 but it was worth it. I enjoy being with good, charitable, non-LDS people. Sue is helping me to be a little more social. At the dinner, I talked to the Foster's, who joined the church, were married in the temple and then went inactive. I am their Home Teacher but they don't allow me to visit. They are very nice people and very cordial but they do not want any church contact. It was nice to see my HT family in person. I mail them the 1st Presidency Message every month.
9/17-18 Sue and I went to South Lake Tahoe for my Independent Energy Producers meeting. I go to meetings and Sue shops and hikes. We do have some quality time in the evenings and on the 5+ hour drive. We thought of you all and the wonderful time we had at Tahoe with you.
9/25/09 Sue and I visited my cardiologist. He says that I am doing very well, or as he says, "I couldn't be more pleased." I could, but I want to have a 25 year old body again. He also said, "You might live your whole natural life and not need a heart transplant. We'll see." We also went to downtown LA to have lunch with my attorney - a business trip, you know. Then we went to the temple and had an enjoyable evening.
9/29/09 Zachary Scott Buchanan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to Alicia & Scott.
10/3/09 We enjoyed General Conference. After Priesthood Meeting we had the Aaronic Priesthood and their dads over for dinner, as we always do. Sue cooked ribs and everyone loved them.
10/4/09 Enjoyed the rest of conference. I will remember Elder Holland's talk forever. It was thrilling.
10/5/09 Sue left me on some boondoggle.
10/10/09 YOUR MOM CAME HOME FROM UTAH - something about a baby, Charlie, Pat, Zachary. I am little fuzzy about that.
10/10/09 The BYU Alumni Association of Kern County sponsored the BYU Ballroom Dance Company. The performance was fantastic and we raised over $4,000 for our Replenishment Grants. We had two great guys stay with us, a dancer and a tech. The tech, Ian I think, stayed up and watched the taped BYU football game with us. They came to our ward the next day, gave a fireside, and left for LA on Monday. Thanks to Sue, the house was ready for them. Right, Sue????
10/13/09 Krista's Choir Concert and dinner. It was very nice and I worked in the serving line. Sue was the BOSS.
10/15/09 Cogen Classic Golf Tournament - Since I don't play, I drove the drink cart and played Bobby Boucher.
10/17/09 Laura arranged for us all to go to the BYU / San Diego State game. Everyone went except Evan because he was working. We also visited the Jorgensens and they fed us lunch. It was good to spend time with them. We had a great day and BYU won!
10/22/09 We went to a United States Marine Band concert with the Hays. We had a great evening. Tawna came home for a visit. She is doing well and is happy.

If you have read this far, you must have a lot of time on your hands.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

Hollah!!!!!

Alicia------------Jessica
Scott-------------Sarah
Teresa------------Bryce
Steve-------------Laura
Laura-------------Teresa
Brian-------------Landon
Jessica-----------Krista
Landon------------Tawna
Sarah-------------Steve
Bryce-------------Alicia
Evan--------------Scott
Tawna-------------Brian
Krista------------Evan

Between $25- 30. Hollah.

Triumphal Return

This is a rather fuzzy picture of Piko's Triumphal Return from a walk this morning. It was taken on the Blackberry and I am afraid the lens has too much lint from being in my pocket.
Nevertheless, it is important that those who have a bad attitude are educated on the merits of Piko. This would apply to anyone who calls pretty Piko a "RatDog."
These were reactions of unbiased people we met in Laurelglen today.
1. A man walking on the sidewalk called Piko a "good dog." (I think he was grateful that she didn't bark at or bite him.)
2. Our neighbor wanted to arrange a play date for Piko and her little dog.
3. A lady with two standard poodles said, and I quote, "You have the cutest little dog."

SO THERE!

August 2009

We are only half-way through, but August has been a busy month. We got to see everyone except the Hughes and Buchanans.


You might notice that Jessica visited. She also brought her previous roommate, Cristi - apparently there wasn't enough room for both of them in the photo. We had a great time, especially since Cristi insisted that she see everything Bakersfield. I took them on a tour, with Piko, of Laurelglen one morning to show them all the houses of all the people I hometeach and our Stake President. We also went to the Crystal Palace. She told us that Bakersfield was not as bad as Jessica's trash talk. What??!!


Evan came home from BYUI so he could make some money while he is vacationing. He is working in a packing shed. WHOOHOO! We celebrated his birthday in this photo. After looking at the picture (and most pictures of him), you will probably ask, "Is he special?" We think so.


This is a picture of the birthday bash, but not everyone is on the correct side of the camera. Landon & Sarah and kids visited for a week. You will notice Aiden on the big table and Sarah consigned to the little table. Scott Starkey and the Skinners also showed up to celebrate.

I have no pictures of Krista, Tawna or Bryce. For pictures of Krista, just visit Facebook. BHS starts soon. Tawna was working at Camp Kern for a month. She is home now, getting ready to go to school at LDS Business College.
We don't see much of Bryce. He is working at a cancer clinic and spends a lot of time climbing, biking and hanging out. We are still waiting to formally celebrate his birthday. He did get his present though.

July 2009

After doing a lot of traveling in May and June, we decided to just stay home and enjoy the Bakersfield summer. We were lucky enough to have some visitors. Mark & Jenny Peterson & girls stopped on their way to see Don and Terri in San Diego. It was nice to see them again. They said on their blog that it was 110 degrees, but it was only 108.




Two beautiful mothers, Granddaughters of George & Colleen - Laura Skinner and Jennifer Peterson. (And one fat little Lila)




Sue made sure that the families were all fed and that they had an air conditioned house where they could escape the heat. I think it only gets to 50 degrees in Canada, where they live.



The pool did get used.

June Babies

These are pictures of our June babies.

Tawna turned 20 on June 12th.


Krista turned 17, today, June 29th. She had her cake yesterday. She is celebrating by staying inside to avoid the 106 degree day.

Wrap Up

Proof that I did attend the convention.


Our route home was through Frankfurt, Germany. Steve Hughes was there but he never came to see us, so we flew home.
We flew on a Lufthansa Airlines Air Bus. It was so nice. There was room to walk, hot towels before meals, they fed us twice, we watched 4 movies each, and all at the same price charged by US Airways (Airworst).


This is Greenland. It was settled by the Norwegians in 800 AD. Obviously, global warming has turned it white.

Warwick Castle

One afternoon, we took the train to Warwick to see the famous castle. It was built by William the Conqueror in 1068. It was used as a fortress and then as a house until the 1700's.



The inside.




The outside.



An archery demonstration.



This is a trebuchet, a really effective catapult. They had a demonstration that threw a fireball about 200 yards. It was cool.

Birmingham, England

The Convention was at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), so a couple of nights we took the train into Birmingham for dinner and sight-seeing. Buses took us from our hotel to and from the NEC.



This is Victoria Square, at the end of a food faire where we ate Indian food, ice cream, candies, cookies - you know - health food.



Roger, taking the Birmingham bull by the horns.




An outdoor Shakespeare production.

London, England

We rode a bus 2+ hours, each way, to see London. When we got there, we took a tour bus to see the tourist sites. We saw everything that people talk about, at a distance. Other than two stops, we spent the day on buses.




This is Sue looking at the Thames River. We listened to a recorded tour guide. Sue said that if she had the camera, she would have taken a picture of me looking at my watch because the bus was running off course and late, due to some demonstration downtown. We did make it back in time for the return bus, barely.




We enjoyed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace with thousands of our best friends.




Apparently, they hired this band to play for the ceremony.



This is Sue posed at the Lord Baden-Powell statue, in front of the building dedicated to him. It is a conference center and hostel.

Coventry, England

My Rotary Club paid for Sue and I to attend the Rotary International Convention in Birmingham, England, since I am the in-coming president of our club. We stayed in Conventry, which is a suburb about 15 miles away. Our hotel was in a very rural area. It was a nice place but the bed was very uncomfortable until Sue put the duvet (a soft quilt) under us and the bottom sheet on top.



I wasn't going to pay $20 every time we wanted to go somewhere, so we took the bus all over. This is the stop closest to our hotel, about 3/4 of a mile away.





This is Sue and the Lady Godiva statue in Coventry, where she rode through the streets naked to protest taxation by her husband. I don't think the concept will be making a comeback.
We spent some time downtown to buy food and a white shirt for me. I forgot mine. We visited the Coventry Cathedral which was bombed in WWII. We also ate a "carvery" which is the typical English restaraunt. It was meats and vegetables. We also had Yorkshire Pudding, which is pancake dough baked in a muffin tin. Then you fill it with meat and peas and lots of gravy.





Don't be surprised if you see this hairdo on Sue. She had me take the photo for hair styling reference.

New York City

After the graduation, your mom and I headed to New York to see Jessica, including a 9 hour wait in the Richmond Airport because US Airways overbooked our flight and the next two after us. We finally made it about bedtime. Landon and Evan drove the next day to NYC on the way back to SLC. Yes, they were going the wrong way, but it all worked out in the end.
While we were in NYC, we rode the bus and the subway alot, went to a play, visited the financial district, ate at Chocolate by the Bald Man, went to the Brooklyn Bridge and just had a great time with 3 of our adult children.


While Landon and Evan were in Washington DC, your mom and I got to visit Jessica in her classroom. She is a very good teacher and her students respect her. We really enjoyed the visit and your mom brought pencils for everyone that had "California" written on them. Jessica will be graduating with her Masters in Education this summer. Since she teaches ESL, she probably could teach anywhere. She has chosen to stay at the same school for at least one more year. We are proud of her accomplishments, both in and out of school.


Apparently, the Wienermobile knew that your mom was leaving Savannah and headed to NYC because it followed her.


Landon, Evan, Jessica and the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park, just down the street from Ground Zero and Wall Street.

Law School Graduation

Landon's graduation was a wonderful event. It was outside and it was drizzling until the program started - then someone turned the drizzle off. We chose a spot in the back under a tent.


This is what it looked like from our location when Landon was presented with his diploma and "hooded."


The happy family, ready for a new commencement.


Evan, your mom and me with the new graduate.

Charlottesville

On May 15th, we headed to Landon's graduation from the University of Virginia Law School.


Your mom took a little time to play ball with Aiden behind Landon & Sarah's apartment complex.


That night, we went out to the graduation dinner party with Landon, Sarah, Jim, Char, Evan and your mom and me.


Then to the graduation dessert party, in the rain.


This is Sunday on our short walk from the apartment to the campus for the graduation ceremony. We went to Sacrament Meeting at a ward in Charlottesville earlier that day.

It's My Birthday

I just downloaded the pictures from my camera and I found these two that your mom took on my birthday.



This one is me cleaning the pool filters, even though it was still cold enough that I needed long pants and a coat. After I completed the job, your mom and I went to LA to see my transplant cardiologist. Dr. Kobashigawa said that I am so stable that he is putting my transplant status as "Inactive." Which means that I am still on the list but I won't be offered a heart until my status is changed. Dr. Kobashigawa assured me that there will be a heart when I need one. I failed to get that guarantee in writing. Darn!



We celebrated that night with a cherry pie (baked by Marie) with a BIG 5 and seven little candles.

Savannah

We arrived home from Savannah on Sunday night and are getting ready to leave for VA and NY on Friday. I would show you some pictures of what we did but, as I am accustomed to doing, I left the camera at home so the battery could charge. I was thinking ahead but not clearly enough when we got up at 4 am to catch our flight. These are some memories.
1. It was great to see the Hughes family again. It has been a long time since we have seen Steve. They are doing great and we had a great time with them.
2. We attended their ward twice but the second time we had to leave early to catch a plane. We did get to hear the first speaker on Mother's Day who used Rose Kennedy as his example of motherhood. He is a political science professor at the university in Statesboro.
Remember that everyone is entitled to MY opinion. If you want to hear what I thought of his talk, just let me know.
3. We went to Steven's and Natan's baseball games and enjoyed the afternoon with them.
4. I went to my continuing education classes and they were BORING. Why would anyone want to be a CPA?
5. Your mom spent her mornings walking around downtown Savannah and we went to the Hughes house at night.
6. I was kind of low key because I didn't feel like my normal self.
7. We went to the beach on Saturday. It was a zoo! Parking was the worst part. The kids had fun in the ocean and we had a huge seafood platter for dinner. The place brings out one big platter of food and the table has a hole in the middle with a trashcan underneath, to push your garbage into. A roll of papertowels to clean-up. They also have alligators to watch and feed. It was a cultural experience.
8. We sat on the Hughes front porch in white rocking chairs and watched a thunderstorm. It was awesome.
9. We spent two nights at the waterfront in Savannah. One with Teresa and the boys and one with Steve and Teresa. We watched some HUGE ships passing by.
10. It was a wonderful trip!

Open Mouth Kissing and stuff

When you tell Tun-uh to smile, this is what you get. I'll try to practice with her.

Fun Fotos

So the grandkids stayed the night at our house for Spring Break. Your mom put them to bed and went shopping and Krista was out playing. So, after the 10th time of them coming out with some complaint, I took over. I took my spot where they could see me and I could tell them to "BE QUIET!" I was also the guard to keep Killer Piko away from them. That is the reason for my position in the door.
Then, I did what I do best, I pondered the eternities and the meaning of life and how I could best share my insight with the world. Anyway, your mom came home and thought it to be worth a picture.



Your mom convinced Lila that conference is best enjoyed in a reclining position.


Blake must have been impressed by the message on tithing.


AHHHH, the only way to inner peace.