Faux Easter

Since everyone was on her/his own last Sunday, we had Easter dinner today. You know the drill: leg of lamb, mashed potatoes, gravy, mint sauce, and asparagus. It went down well. We missed Rob and the boys who were dining at Courtney and Todd's with Bill and Whitney who were in town for Grandma Hastings' birthday. We were joined by Katiana and Jeremy Goff, and their two beautiful kids, Lexi and Landon. Katiana is the Brazilian girl who lived with us during 2001-2002. She and Jeremy live in Highland. Mia Wai and Chelsea Gibbs were also on hand to share the traditional meal.

It was warm enough to eat outside

Same as last year and the year before and . . .

Emily, Jayson, Phillip, Jeremy, and Katiana

Kris with the Goffs

It was a nice evening and it was good to see Jeremy and Katiana and their family. We will have to keep in much better touch.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

An Historic Event

Last night was the first time in seven years that the entire "Dinner Group" has been together. Starting with the Ostergars in Brazil, then the Freestones in Mexico, the Boyntons in Italy, and the Christophersons in Brazil, someone has always been missing. Vern and Jerry are here briefly while their visa is being processed, then they will return to the MTC in Brazil for one more year. Everyone gathered at their home for a nice supper. We were also joined by the Delgados, from Mexico. He is an Area Seventy and they are staying with the Freestones. Everyone tried intermittently to converse in Spanish and the result was somewhat reasonable. The tables were divided so there was one member of every couple at each table; that way no news was lost.

Since I had just finished scanning my slides, I put together a DVD for the occasion. Unfortunately, the Christophersons don't have a TV, so we tried a computer, but that didn't work out well either. So we had a showing later in the evening on a miniature computer screen without sound for those who will not be at Ostergars next month when the DVD will have its gala premiere.

Phil, Hermano Delgado, Rod, Jerry, Kris,
Allen, Sharon, and Stephen

Vern, Ann, Stan, Liz, Hermana Delgado, and Nancy

Vicki was caught in a Christian-service loop
and arrived a little later

Dealing with a difficult and delicate cleavage dilemma

"How do you turn on the sound?"
Where are the children when there are tech issues?

It's always marvelous to get together, but was particularly nice to be at full strength again, if only for a moment. These are wonderful friends and we have all been blessed by this enduring association.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Easter 2010

Happy Easter! It has been a great weekend. Conference has been inspiring and motivating, and the pagan part of the celebration has been very fun. Saturday after the second session, the family gathered here to hide plastic eggs filled with goodies. When those had all been found, we dyed our real eggs before Phillip and I headed off to the Priesthood session. The women and girls stayed behind and ordered Chinese food from Janet.

Easter dawned bright and white! There were 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground. And today, for the very first time ever, the two of us learned what an Easter basket without chocolate looks like. Kris and I had a lovely Easter lunch of lamb chops after the Sunday morning session of conference, and we are now ready for the final session.

The mommies hiding eggs

Off and running

Ollie celebrates success

Max did OK, too

Meg sang and danced her way through the day

It was a smaller group this year -- the Hastings
were cramming in some more of Southern Utah

Ollie and Lizzy get some help from their moms

An Easter surprise

No chocolate this year

It was a small crowd for Easter dinner

The larger family group will gather for a belated Easter dinner next week, but this was a very nice weekend for us. I hope you all had a great weekend. too.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Birthday Rocks!

If you are inclined to subtlety you will notice that the title did not say Birthdays Rock! They certainly may do, and this one did, but the point of the title is that I spent my most recent birthday climbing rocks in Arches National Park. Kris was in Arizona helping the Youngs usher young Beck into the world and Rob and Anna invited me to join them in Moab for three days of adventure. I was reluctant because I had stuff to do on Friday and there was nobody to dog sit Winnie. Early Friday, however, it struck me that I could zoom down on Saturday (Happy Birthday to me) and zoom back home that evening. Stephen was kind enough to feed Winnie her delicious dinner, which I left ready-prepared in the fridge, and I was free to roam. I left at 5:30 A.M. and arrived in exactly three hours in Moab. We piled into the Hastings van and headed for the Park. One of the absolute best perks of being and old guy is that our wicked socialist government gives you a free pass to all the national parks, AND, get this, everyone in your car comes in free, too! I know: a wicked waste of Tea Partiers' precious taxes, but LOVED by Commies like me.

We hiked ourselves silly. Most of the morning was spent hiking into Delicate Arch, enjoying it , and hiking back out by way of the petroglyphs. We had lunch in a beautiful spot between a couple of rock fins -- why does food eaten out in nature always taste better? The afternoon was spent driving about 8 miles in and 8 miles out on a washboard dirt track to Klondike Bluffs for a an almost 4 mile hike to see the Marching Men and Tower Arch. The hike taxed the boys to their limits, but, in the end was beautiful, and free from the hoards that descended on the Park during the day. Rob's Management was excellent and we avoided the crowds at every turn. On the way out we did a couple of drive-by sitings, and then returned to Moab where the Hastings fêted me with chicken-fried steak at Zax, kitty corner from their hotel. And what birthday adventure would be complete without an extraction? The trip home was made, once again, in exactly three hours to the minute, blessedly, without a tinge of drowsiness!

Birthday in the park

This little guy is the best darned socialist perk ever

On the ascent to Delicate Arch

The Hastings taking in the perspective of Delicate arch --
please note the young fellow with blond hair in the background

The young man, named Parker, pictured above, is Maxwell Ensign's doppelgänger. He is probably a year or so younger, but like Max in every way. His family was near us for most of the Delicate-Arch hike and he sounds like Max, walks and runs like Max, and effects an attitude like Max. Anna chatted with his mother and told her how much Parker reminded us of Max. His mother asked Anna if Max's hair was stringy and gross, too. Anna, ever the diplomat, did not answer yes or no, but said the hair was the same.

Parker the doppelgänger

Cairn: c-a-i-r-n, cairn

Petroglyphs

Alfresco lunch in the rocks

Lucy and Anna squeezing toward Sand Dune Arh

The snow-capped La Sal Mountains

The Marching Men and marching Hastings in the Klondike Bluffs

Tower Arch was well worth the hike

I popped Tucker's tooth

Good dinner, good day!

I had a great day and am grateful to the Hastings for the kind invitation. I loved the hikes and wasn't the least bit stiff this morning.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Happy Birthday Maren

Happy Birthday Maren! This is to help you remember the day you were born. It really helps, doesn't it? What? You can't remember the day you were born?

You can use this birthday-wish photo to help you compare pictures with Beck.

25 March 1981

I love you very much, Maren. I hope you had a wonderful birthday today.

OXO

Dad

Done and Done!

Tonight I finished scanning and retouching a lifetime of slides. That's 6,300 slides give or take.... I am happy to have them done, and I learned a few things. 1. My camera was often out of adjustment and lots of the pictures I took are crap. 2. Garbage in garbage out: if it was a nice clear, well-exposed slide the jpeg turned out well. If it was a poorly exposed photo, there wasn't much iPhoto could do to make it better. Overexposed slides corrected much better than underexposed slides. 3. I took way too many slides! It gets so you can't tell one Memorial Day gathering from the next and the repetitive ones got boring. 4. I LOVE digital photography!!!

I'm not sure by whom or how the images will ever be used, but they are ready and waiting. Included in this post is a jpeg from the first carousel, one from somewhere in the middle, and one from the final carousel before I switched to digital.

Scanning has been my life

Can you find Dickie at the LTM in 1965?

Most of the family in London, 1988

With Katy Kathryn on the Herefordshire Beacon in 2004 --
she was already digital at this point

One thing I know for sure: Kris will be happy to have use of the computer again!

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Bye Bye Birdie

Last evening we drove through the rain and traffic to Pleasant Grove Junior High to see Madeline in Bye Bye Birdie. It was a really fun evening; the kids did a great job. Because it is junior high, it was a cut version and missing several memorable songs. Nonetheless, Madeline was great, born to drama as it were. We appreciate the invitation -- great fun.

Our old phone from the toy box made its stage debut

"He's in love with Kim; Kim's in love with him"

"Goin' steady..."

I mean, who wouldn't swoon...

...for Conrad Birdie

Cute as a bug's bum

The proud parents and sybs

Well done Madeline!

OXO

D.