A Glarious Farth!

It WAS a glarious farth, to be sure! I hope the parade goers will relate their hilarious adventures with the announcers. Everyone eventually ended up at Emily's pool for an afternoon of swimming, visiting, and grilling. Kris and I, Trevor, all of the Ensigns, the Hastings (joined by Todd and Courtney), the Phillip Taylors (joined by Mia), Stephen and Ann, the Steve Taylors, and Millie and Holden (Colton was feeding rich folks) had a fun afternoon and evening. After the BBQ, as twilight set in, we moved to Em's front yard for homemade ice cream, cookies and cookie bars of various stripes. After lots of bocci balls, running races, several exhaustion-induced cries, and the Air Force flyover (Em's house is right in line with the stadium), darkness fell and fireworks lit up the night. The fireworks were splendid, but the real show was Jayson, Phil, Steve, and Trevor, the official pyromaniacs, who were transported back to their youth, their missions, and who-knows-where-all else. They were like kids. It was a fun holiday get-together.

Anna and the little peeps headed for the parade

The cousins waving "HI!" to Finn in AZ

Madeliine and Lucy Jane: thick as thieves

Some of the Aunties staying cool

Grammy eating Clara's sugar

Auntie Ann cooling her heels...literally

Just like Stadium of Fire, perhaps even better

Maren, Gavin, Finn, Harry David, Katy Kathryn, Will and Jaime, we missed you.

OXO

Dad, David, Dickie, whatever

Sleepover + A Small Rant

The young Hastings were VERY excited for a sleepover at Grammy and Pop-Pop's. As soon as dinner was finished, Tucker asked if he could put his pajamas on. I could see it was time to get the air matress set up. Clara's mama made her a bed on the floor in the corner. It looks cozy, but didn't work all that well.


The boys were happy as clams on the HUGE air matress. Lucy Jane slept on the window seat.



So now they are off to the parade. Kris and I are, as usual, skipping the parade and will make potato salad and cookies prior to joining the others at Emily's later. I tried the parade again last year. It was exactly as I remembered: hot and boring -- way too many commercial floats and politicians that I don't want to see. All I need is some bag pipes, a couple of good bands, some beautiful horses and some homemade floats with sweet girls and handsome youths from your ward that you might even know.

When we were young, the parade was much shorter and the floats were all made by wards and one or two creative businesses (such as Dixon Taylor Russell). They were created by poking paper napkins into chicken wire that had been molded over a frame on somebody's truck. Every kid had a new cap gun, and to a little kid like me, the sound of hundreds of caps going off at once was thrilling. Huck Snow, the Chief of Police, beloved of all Provo school children (he regularly visited the grade schools), was cheered with great vigor. He was generally the only important politician in the parade, and he was just there as a policeman.

I also remember with great fondness when the fireworks were a public spectacle and not reserved for Sean-Hanity-loving Utah-Valley Yuppies who can afford to take thier offspring to the Stadium of Fire. For a few years, the public fireworks were actually set to music that you could listen to on the radio. I am saddened that the celebration has been hijacked by money-grubbing capitalists. Oh Provo, oh Provo, where did you go wrong?

No worries. The best part is still being with the family and lighting sparklers on the front lawn.

Missing those who aren't here.

Dad, David, Dickie, whatever

Let the Celebration Begin!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Anna, Lucy, Tucker, Anders, and Clara have come to spend the night before all the celebrating begins. Everyone is very excited for the festivities. Lucy is excited about swimming at Auntie Em's pool tomorrow. Tucker is really looking forward to the fireworks tomorrow night. Anders can't wait to swim at the pool. Clara is anticipating a good drink of momma's milk. Anna is excited for the homemade ice cream. Pop-Pop is happy to have most of the family together.


In preparation for the celebration of the birth of our nation, we hung the flag on the front porch. Everyone helped, even Pop-Pop who was tall enough to reach the hooks.


The Hastings cousins want to wish Finn and Harry David a very happy day. We will miss you, but will see you soon in Cedar City!

Happy 4th of July!

Sunday Night Fever

Emily and Jayson hosted a lovely family dinner at their home. When the after-dinner chat was finished and the kids had come in from playing, Emily put on a very compelling ditty called something like "Sucking Too Hard on yer Lollipop," by someone called Mika or something like that. I mean, really, do you expect me to be able to remember all that stuff? So, anyway, we were expecting to see Lizzy perform, but the whole room ended up reeling and rocking with the joyful girations of many small and not so small people. Now that's the way to finish the Sabbath with joy and rejoicing!

Dad, Dickie, David, whatever

P.S. That's Meagan's sister, Mia in the back. She is here visiting for a few weeks.

The Full Taylor

Our friend and former neighbor, Marcie Jones, contemplating a remodel of her house in our neighborhood (actually across the street from Phil and Meagan's house), discussed possibilities for the remodel with Emily. She was conflicted about whether to really tear into it, dig a basement and do a thorough remodel, or just push out the back. She said, "I don't know if we should just add on the back or do a 'Full Taylor'," referring to our major project as well as Tom and Katy's demolition and rebuild.




So, for Father's Day Emily and Jayson made me a DVD of the "Full Taylor." It is spectacular, with a start-to-finish montage of the demolition and construction of our house as well as a very impressive before-and-after sequence of the interior and exterior views. I was most pleased and grateful!





Thanks to Emily for creating and adding the YouTube video; that was a great boon to a technologically-challenged fogey!

OXO

Dad, David, Dickie, Whatever

Happy Fathers Day -- Early

So, on Saturday I went to Costco with Uncle Stephen. As we entered there was an enormous display of digital cameras. Mom and I had looked at cameras a few weeks ago thinking that we might want something more compact than our old, but extremely reliable and beloved, Olympus 4.0 megapixel digital to take to England with us. We were overwhelmed by the selection and walked away empty-handed.



As Uncle and I stepped up to the display, he grabbed a camera and said, "This is the camera you want." It was a Panasonic Lumix with 10x optical zoom (magnifies 10 times), 7.25 megapixels, and a huge LCD screen that every person older than 40 not only wants, but needs. It has a lens made by Leica, the famous German camera makers. The rest is made in China, of course, but za lens, ohhh zat lens, it is CHERMAN!

I was put off for a short moment by the name Lumix, which if said with a good flat American schwa (the "uh" sound all nonstressed American vowels assume), sounds like lumox -- you know, as in, "You big stupid lumox."

Well the Lumix is now mine: an early Fathers Day gift from Kris. I spent several hours digesting the instructions and now have a fairly good basic knowlege of how to work the little sucker. One of the best parts is that the charger will handle between 110V and 240V, so all I will need in England is an adapter for the plug -- wahoo!

Uncle Stephen was so envious that Ann took him back to Costco and bought him and early Fathers Day present as well. We must have our Lumoxes (lumoxen?) engraved so we can tell them apart, n'est ce pas?

Watch for new photos at a blog site near you.

OXO

David, Dad, Dickie, whatever.

A Quick Trip to Arizona and Texas

Kris and I returned yesterday from a fun trip to Arizona to visit with Grandmother Boynton and the family in Mesa as well as Maren and Gavin and family in Phoenix. It was a very enjoyable trip even though it was a little late in the season to catch the really nice weather. We also went to Houston for Hilary Gibbs Brown's wedding.

We went first to see Maren and Gavin for a couple of days. They had just moved into their house and Kris and I were able to stay in their temporary housing just a couple of blocks away. It was VERY nice -- like a really nice hotel. We had a fun day at the Tempe IKEA where the Youngs bought all kinds of wonderful things for their new home: a fantastic entertainment center/bookcase, a desk for their office, a dresser and chest of drawers for their bedroom, and several plants and accessories. It really was an all-day event.

We moved from Peoria to Mesa and spent a few days with Grandmother. We were able to spend some time with Chip and Sandy and saw Mark and Nancy as well. I helped Chip with some color selections for his media production facility which is undergoing some refurbishment.


We went to see Pirates III with Chip and Sandy and Grandmother. We all enjoyed it. Toward the middle of the week we took Grandmother to see the Young's new place and she an Kris helped them hem and hang their new IKEA draperies. We also had dinner at the Texas Road House and felt as if we were in Taylorsville.


The next day we moved back to Peoria to help with the unpacking and on Friday Gavin drove us to the airport for our flight to Houston. It is insane that a two and one-half hour flight requires a whole day. We left at 8:00 AM and arrived at Gibbs' at 5:00 PM.

In Houston we rented a car and drove from Hobby Airport on the south end of town to Kingwood on the north end. That evening there was a Texas-style party for family and close friends at the Carroll's house. The food and company were great. it was fun to get to know all the people we have heard so much about from Deb over the years. The Carrolls were kind enough to let us stay in their house while we were there. The wedding was on Saturday in the Houston Temple. It was nice but the morning was hot and muggy and made the photos uncomfortable. The afternoon reception was nice: the contry-club setting, the food, and the company were great. That evening we swam and visited at the Gibbs.




Several weeks ago, Deb called and asked me if I would cook Sunday dinner for the families. Of course 26 isn't that many more than we cook for on Sundays here, so we were in good shape. I cooked roast, potatoes, gravy, and asparagus -- sound familiar? I guess people don't get many potatoes and gravy any more because everyone went crazy for them; a huge pot full disappeared almost instantly. On Sunday most of the guests flew out. It was fun to see Mike and Linda Gibbs and kids. Graham is working in Disneyworld and looks like a Mormon missionary. He is doing very well and looks great. On Monday we all took Grandma Gibbs to the airport and then continued on downtown to see Waitress. It was good but left me rather hungry for pie! We went to dinner at a place called Houston's. It was very posh -- sleek dark wood, modern. They have excellent burgers that were evidently a great favorite of Johnny Gibbs. The key lime pie was killer, too!

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the Madelaine in Kingwood with Deb and family and then we and Rob headed to our various airports for flights home. Gavin picked us up and we returned to Peoria for another day to help a bit more in the settling process. There was a successful trip to Pier One for a great chair, some night stands, and a cool lamp. There may be new mirror in the offing as well. When we left yesterday things were looking very good. They have created a very nice home. Maren has taken an oath that she will blog all about her adventures and show all kinds of great pictures. So keep checking her blog.



The trip home was great. I always forget how fantastically beautiful Utah is, but yestersday looked spectacular. We made the trip in nine hours including a huge slowdown in Phoenix because of an accident. Peoria is an hour closer than Mesa. So we are back now and ready for Summer Term and MTC Mailroom stuff.