Friday, July 31, 2009

A More Relaxed Week at Home



This has been a more relaxed week at work, even though it included a telephone interview for the Dean's position. On Tuesday morning at 5:00 AM, UP and I headed down to Sand Hollow for his first dose of bass fishing on that reservoir. He caught on to the Senko right away, and this is his first fish on that bait. We had a grand time and caught lots of fish, but none over 2.5 pounds. We were off of the water by 10:00 AM, because it was warming up pretty good. We even stopped at Alberto's in Hurricane on the way home. UP had a mediation in Cedar City, so he showered at our house and went straight to work. I did the same.



On Thursday, my old friend Scott and I made a return run down to Sand Hollow. Scott and I served together in an EQ presidency when Bubby and I lived in Ogden in the early 70's (newly weds, no kids). More recently, Scott was a bishop in the University 1st Stake during my time there. He is an excellent fisherman, and a great friend. We had a great morning. I caught fish on about everything I threw including crank baits. An early morning run down to Hurricane to fish before the sun gets on the water is worth the ungodly hour at which you have to rise.

This particular fish was caught on a "banjo minnow". Scott is a sucker for infomercials about fishing and golfing products. He said that by the time the got his banjo minnows delivered, they cost him about $12 each. He was proud of his first fish caught on that substantial investment. He was also crushed when he lost two of them to the weeds and brush!

I contrast his high dollar approach to my own. I bought three fishing reels last week on 70%-off clearance. Two of them only cost me $12 each, and the expensive one ($49) was originally priced at nearly $200. I have fished with them all already, their certainly worth the money.



These two photos represent an event we have been anticipating all summer. Mr. Leo came for a visit yesterday. He is sooooooo cute and quite the mover and shaker. He was rolling around the living room floor when I arrived home. We played blocks, but not staking cups (I'll do that with him soon). He really gets around and has a keen eye for things he can play with with that he shouldn't. He is a nice big armful, and best of all, he came right to his Poppy and let me hold him. He seems to happy and loves nearly any- and everybody.

He and his Mom arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday, but it took a couple of days for them to make their way north. Leo has already had his first In-N-Out (a grilled cheese, truly a man after my own heart). He is a man who enjoys his food, so Bubby couldn't wait to get him in her highchair and feed him some peaches.



We are excited to have Leo at home. It is going to be fun for us to be around him a little.

Buboppy

Monday, July 27, 2009

Moving Weekend



We didn't get many pictures, but we did want to mark the passing of this weekend. Daniel and Rosalyn moved into their new home in Cedar City. Bubby and I got to Provo too late on Thursday night to help with the packing (darn it!). Thanks to Uncle Roland and Auntie Nell for the ride. Also, thanks to Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Pattie for putting us up overnight. We rose early, and were on the road by 4:15. The drive was relatively traffic free, and blissfully uneventful. We called Daniel and Rosalyn as we were pulling into Parowan and they were just thinking about leaving. Because we knew we could, we had a lovely breakfast of pancakes and a shared bacon and cheese omelette. When we backed the moving truck into their driveway, we had visits from a neighbor and the Bishop offering assistance. We told them we doubted we would need help until 11:00 AM.



The move went very smoothly, especially when the 11:00 AM crew arrived. The first help came from Kyle and his can do attitude helped move things right along. Daniel's across the street neighbors also lent significant assistance. In the afternoon, we returned the truck, put the bedrooms together and then left Daniel and Rosalyn to the serious unpacking.

We did have a lovely dinner at the Ninja, and tried a couple of new sushi rolls. I am not sure how Rosalyn liked them, but Bubby and I thought they were great.



On Saturday morning, in celebration of Daniel's birthday, we went to the Main Street Grill for breakfast. It was dewlicious and Bubby wanted to include the photo of their log on the new tables.



Here are a few photos of the interior of the house. Rosalyn is sitting in one of the two new couches.



The love seat was too big to go downstairs, so it resides in the formal dining area.



This is Evelyn's room, ready to go. Bubby had fun helping to put it together.



Among other things, Bubby gave Dan a new watch to replace the one that Andrew broke the weekend before. Of course, being old school, she purchased a gold toned watch. Daniel is holding it up for view and announcing that "gold be coming back" for any who will listen. He can exchange it, if he is not happy with the watch or its metal case.



Daniel's big gift was his cap and gown. I got new ones this year, so Daniel inherits Larry D.'s father-in-laws old robe (which served me well for twenty years) along with a new cap and hood bearing Penn State colors.



I am not sure how excited Daniel is with the gift, but it is something that a new faculty member would never spend the money on, so they either have to rent or come up with excuses for why they can't participate in commencement each year. Daniel won't have that problem.



We are so excited to have Daniel and Rosalyn living in Cedar City. Of course, we think it is the best place on earth, and we hope they come to the same conclusion.

Sunday was very quiet. I thought an abbreviated gospel doctrine lesson and mainly we rested. Bubby is working on a quilt, so she did a little cutting. We caught my last home teaching family, too.

Buboppy

Friday Night Love from My Students



I realize that we already wrote about this, but here are the photos. We woke up to some serious mischief that Saturday morning. They nailed all of the trees in the front yard, and we are still removing TP.



The reason for their show of appreciation. Dr. Weaver is a colleague and a competent chemistry teacher. However, he had just given his first exam and had decided to be clever. The result, students who are convinced that they have been sabotaged and take it out on the guy who is supposed to be teaching the class. A TP party has become tradition in these summer classes. It doesn't happen every year, but it does occur with frequency.



Buboppy

4th of July

Here are some long overdue photos of our activities during July. I know we have been remiss, but we have been so busy having fun (truthfully, I have been so busy at work and in the evenings at home) that we just didn't take the time to retrieve the photos and post them.



One early morning while Sarah, Daniel and the families were visiting, Beany, Jake, Daniel, and I went to New Castle fishing. These two photos show Jake doing what he loves. Catching and releasing sun fish. The joy of this activity is clearly on his face. We caught other fish as well, but these were the only photos I got.






We are standing on Main Street, July 4th, 2009, waiting for the parade to start. The sun was direct, as you can tell, and the anticipation was high. Yes, the kids got lots of candy and saw some really cool (for Cedar City) parade entries.



We started leaving the parade early and heading to the Top Spot (aka, The Cow) a few years ago. It has now become tradition to sit in their air condition dining area, let the kids "play" video games, and drink large quantities of brown juice. Some even indulge in fast food nirvana like the "family fry". We over ordered, as you can see. Three family fries is enough to feed more than three families. However, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and didn't leave until we had all had our fill.



Finally, Chee is about to enjoy a slice of Bruno's finest. Her expression says it all.



A great 4th of July and lots of fun photos to spark our memories.

Buboppy

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Ninja, and I don't mean sushi

Since Booty and Laur probably won't post this, I thought our faithful readers might enjoy the slick moves exhibited by our favorite Texan. He seems so comfortable in his combined methods of movement, that I just have to smile when I view this.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Another Busy Week

I have to step into a meeting with the lab consultants in just a minute, so I'll do this in installments. For our readers who don't know, we are adding a significant wing to the Science building (over 27,000 sf of new labs, offices and classrooms). This is the end of a marathon set of meetings that started yesterday morning.

We sadly said goodbye to Daniel and Sarah and their families on Monday. It has been so much fun to have them here. It is always exciting for us to have the kids come home. Our only regret is that this time didn't include Booty and Laur. We spent quite a bit of time on the phone with them, but that is a poor substitute.

We seem to stay busy. I haven't arrived home before 6:00 PM this week, which is not good. I need to mow my lawns. We have some chores to do at Daniel and Rosalyn's house, but through errant communications, we never got a key. We have been over to water their flowers, though, and last night we loaded part of the dismantled shower enclosure into the trash can and put it on the curb. They are having their first trash pickup as homeowners today, and they aren't even here to enjoy it. Of course we took the opportunity to put some of our garbage in their can. With a holiday garbage collection schedule and 11 people living at our house over the long weekend, our can overfloweth.

Speaking of our chores, I did find out how to wire Daniel's dryer outlet, however, I don't think I want to do it. When I get the key that is in the mail to us, I think I will swap the pigtail on his dryer to a three prong and put in a proper dryer receptacle. That means I will have to remove the stove set up that is currently there.

Monday afternoon we drove over to Bryce Canyon to review journals from the participants in our BCNHA field seminar in June. We had dinner at the The Pines with Gayle and Marie Pollock. It was delightful. Bubby slept all the way there, and most of the way back. She was tired.

Last evening, we went to a viewing for a former SUU faculty member who passed away. Following the viewing, we went to the Pastry Pub! We are so glad they are open again. We have missed them mightily. It has been renovated following the fire and there are a few new menu items. The great news is that even through prices are up a little the food is fresh and delicious. Bubby had her favorite oriental chicken salad and I had a chili relleno plate, which has a nice green salad instead of rice and beans. It was great to be there and to say, "Hey" to Cyrus. He seems happy to be back but nervous about making some money. You seldom used to see him there in the evenings, but now both he and his wife are taking care of things.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend and some yard chores. I need to weed the garden and, if the key arrives by mail, go take care of the dryer at Dan's. Hope all of our readers enjoy their weekend, as well.

Buboppy