Farewell to a Friend

A friend of mine passed away last night after having some health problems at work. Steve Cox served as the South Davis Metro Fire Marshal and I was able to work with him on several projects in the South Davis area including the Bountiful Recreation Center. I had talked with him just this month. We joked a few times about the time his crew responded to our home and ended up saving my life. If he thought I was being difficult to work with, he would say something like " Do I have to send the paramedics to your house again?" I guess that would be to teach me some humility. It hardly seems real that someone as vibrant and caring could be gone from your life in a moment, but I know from experience that is exactly how some leave us. As I have watched several people I know return to Our Father this year I am reminded that I need to take the time now to let everyone know how much I love and appreciate them. You never know when it will be too late.

Night on Bald Mountain

We had a few hours to kill, so we headed into the mountains to show Ping what the Uintas are. Our first stop was the meadow at the foot of Bald  Mountain. Ping wanted this picture for her family back home in China.

As the storm clouds gathered, we thought we might be in for a re-creation of Mussorgsky's fearful tone poem. Lightning was striking the peaks and basins surrounding us. From the top of Bald Mountain we had a great view of Hayden Peak and Amethyst Basin.


Ping and Janene scampered to the very top of the mountain, daring the lightning to strike them. I was just a little nervous carrying my aluminum tripod. When the hair on your neck stands up, its time to get away from the camera. We made our normal phone call to Dad from the top of the peak just to prove that the phone worked. (Can you hear me now?)

Even with the lousy weather - Man, was it cold!- we still got to see some incredible sights. Right below this picture was a herd (is that what you call it?) of mountain goats. I was wishing I had carried the telephoto lens up to the top. As it was, I carried all my fishing tackle instead. Go Figure!

Zucchini Races 2011

 It all starts with good eats. Here Kimo Mack (owner of Mo Bettah Steaks) and Keith Wilson are smokin' up a storm on the grille.

 This was the front half of Haiyan's race. The back half featured the girl's rear end. (not suitable for publication on Blogger)

 Ping's racer featured some zucchini girls as well.

 This little guy beat me this year. Trinity moved away, but he stepped up to win.

 Janene had a round racer.

 Ping with our neighbor's girl Annie. Annie will be in Ping's class at school

 Haiyan and Ping with Jana showing the racing spirit.

 Sam raced the Dino racer and got third place. He thinks we should have a family zucchini race and all of us should build our own cars.

 The track was in great shape this year and we all had a great time.

Who is going to win? The suspense is killing me.

No. 3 Daughter Down Under and Thinking Straight

I talked with Tyler's Mom tonight via Skype. Is that cool or what? She told me where they just went to visit at a place called Watson's Bay It looks like a great place to visit. The natives call it the suicide place. I can't figure out why anyone would want to end their life when they are surrounded by such beauty, but I know that people who make decisions like that aren't really thinking straight.

Her stroller wheel broke so she had me send her one from her garage. I had to go to the Post Office to send it and while I was waiting in line for my turn, the clerk was asking the man in front of me something about his package. He wasn't responding so the clerk asked again. Then the man just sort of slumped over the counter. I dropped my package and grabbed him before he fell over and then helped him slowly down to the floor.

He wasn't conscious and his breathing was really slow. He was white as a ghost with blue lips and sweating profusely. I thought he was having a heart attack for sure. He came to after about a minute and was really confused and didn't know how he got there. I told him I needed to call the paramedics - something he didn't want me to do. He said he was fine, but when he stood up, all the color drained out of his face and we had to lay him down again. I called 911 anyway. By the time they arrived, he was doing OK, but he had no idea what had just happened to him. I told him that normally, 32 yr. old men don't fall over at the post office. If he thought he was OK, he wasn't really thinking straight.

After I answered the paramedics questions, I sent the package off (after the Post Office closed for the night) and asked him if he was mad at me for calling 911. It didn't really matter what he thought, I would do it again and maybe even faster - without permission.

A Taste of China

One week ago, Ping and Haiyan came to live with us from China. The first day they were here, we went to Costco and bought some meat and fruits that they picked out for us. You should have seen us trying to figure out what "ginger root" was. They didn't know the English word for it - and we couldn't tell what they were describing. Luckily we just stumbled on some at the store (a different one). They have already had some adventures. They got lost one day trying to walk to Muir, but some nice man picked them up and took them there. We have laughed over our similarities and our differences.

Haiyan is a very cheerful woman and she makes sure that all of our meals are just so. Here she is cutting vegetables for tomorrow's Chinese Dumplings. We have had special Chinese meals every night since they arrived. They go out in our garden and pick the vegetables they need for every meal. It's like we have a standing reservation for a fine table at a five star restaurant every night.

Ping is kind and thoughtful. She has told us about her twin sister and how they celebrate their shared birthday (which is tomorrow, by the way) Ping and Haiyan have been taking pictures of every meal we have and our place settings. We have been eating outside, inside and all around the house. It looks like Ping and Haiyan are going to be with us for the next year, so please come get acquainted. We look forward to sharing our whole basket of family and friends with our new friends from China.

Riverton Fourth

One of our favorite family activities was going to Riverton Town Days on the Fourth of July. It was David and Mom's birthday and Brooke and Marie had birthdays close to the same time. We would stake out a piece of lawn under a tree and have a day long party celebration. After David died, we quit going to Riverton. That was a big mistake. This year many of us went back and all our grandkids had a blast with their cousins. A favorite was the sack races all of our kids used to do.Lily was excited to start the race but the sack was much bigger than she was.
Pretty quick she was disillusioned with the whole idea.


Later, she was a perfect barefoot runner in a sackless race that she did well at.
Mikey makes the greatest faces. I have no idea what this was all about.
Janene and Baby Jana had a fun time in the shade surrounded by grandkids and cousins.
Jana was a darling sun-burned little redhead girl. Where is your sunscreen, girl?
Another Mikey face. This one he did himself. No idea what that was about either.
Laura mastered the needle/prizes in the haystack with her scientific methodology.


Laura and Sam had a race to the top of the mountain and then repelled down to cheers from the whole family.

Three cousins who know how to have fun together listening to bluegrass music.


How did that girl get to be soooo cute?


How did that girl get to be soooo cute?

We are just going to have to do this again next year! This was too much fun.

Racer Kids

We took the grandkids  out to the track last month for a little racing. We actually just went to Boondock's where the kids pigged out on hamburgers and hotdogs and lots of wild games. At the track, Elsie loved the racing.

Sam was a little nervous as he stepped behind the wheel. I think the racer stare was meant to psych out the competition.

Laura couldn't stand the smell of the fumes in the pit stop, but she was ready to race.

But it turned out the real one to watch was Isabel, who really knew how to race.

UP IN SMOKE!

Last week as Janene headed out of town with Heather, I decided to go over to Dad & Mom's and finish the railroad tie project Joseph and I started the week before. I filled the truck with sand and stone and drove the few blocks to my parents' home. (I wonder how many Americans can say that. If it wasn't for the load of sand, I could have walked). On the way there, I noticed that people were setting up lawn chairs at St. Olaf's. Wow! it must be the night for the fireworks! I remembered how much fun we had last year at the parade and at Handcart Days. We ended up meeting the whole family down there in an unplanned reunion and then going up to the fireworks display. And this year, here I was all alone. I called up Shon to see if he was going to the fireworks and found out HE WAS IN THE PARADE. I found out that he was pulling a float and was helping our good friends, The Smith Family, who were pulling a handcart in the parade.

 Here is a picture I stole from Shon & Mel's blog that shows how the jeep - and kids, were decorated for the parade. Pretty cool if you ask me.

 

I arranged to meet his family at his favorite fireworks spot. Shon really knows where the best spot is to see the fireworks. We were right at the base of the hill where they are launched. There was hardly anyone there. I got to have a great time with Shon, Mel, Isabel, Max and Jake laying (or is it "lying") in the grass telling stories about good times. Shon said he thought that they had spent $20,000 on the fireworks, but at 10:25 PM with the show still going strong, I looked at him and said "They have spent a lot more than $20,000 on this". I found out from someone else that they spent at least $120,000. That much money going up  in smoke was a staggering thought. I thought about all the people who are unemployed and those that come down to the Food Pantry. That much money could train a lot of people to work at new jobs. If I ran the world, that much money would not be allowed to go up in smoke, but then - Would I have called up my number one son and said "Can we just hang out for the next few hours?" On second thought, it was worth every penny.