Second Half of So Cal Visit

Christmas morning I prepared pancakes (thanks to the Kings, our neighbors in Logan, for the gift of pancake mix) for the group. Gayle scrambled some eggs to accompany the pancakes.
Fixin' to mix the batter.
Jesse doing some last minute wrapping (check out the stylish wrapping paper - the ad section from the newspaper!). Notice his T-shirt. It was a gift from the family of one of his BLC clients (he and Alicia work with autistic children).
Pre-breakfast hugs on Christmas day.
Front view of the Maxons' home (where Alicia and Jesse live). It is the exact floor plan of our former Saugus home, which is located one street away. Alicia and Jesse live in what would have been Jared's room at our old house.
It was an overcast day, with some scattered showers, but we wanted to show the contrasting colors of red roofs, trees with changing leaves, and greenery too. Note the back of our old van (1990), which we purchased used while living in Saugus in 1994 (down in Encino, after the Northridge earthquake). It still works great for hauling stuff, even though it now has over 219,000 miles on it.
"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how lovely are thy branches!" Thanks to Sandy for putting this tree up for us in advance so we could enjoy it while she and Richard were up in Cache Valley (we swapped locations) with some of their family.
Three ornaments Jesse and Alicia gave us. The first one has a photo of Jesse in it, the second a picture of Alicia, and the third...an ultrasound print of Avrille (due in February).
Alicia beaming at the gift Adrian and Arleen gave her for her birthday (Dec. 21st).
Adrian opening one of his Christmas presents, while Brittney anticipates her next one.
"These boots (and shoes) are made for walking"...(for those who don't get the inside meaning, this is from a Nancy Sinatra song - Frank's daughter)
Roast beast anyone (Dr. Seuss)? Anxious to begin devouring the Christmas spread.
The meal included: broccoli, red potato "funeral potatoes" (made from scratch), Hawaiian wheat rolls, petite corn, cranberry sauce, molded jello salad, and a Honey Baked Ham (gift from grandpa and grandma Parkinson). The whole thing was very yummy.
We have to show off the jello salad with grapes inside. My mouth is watering just remembering.
It contained whole cranberries, pineapple, and apples, added into raspberry flavored jello, and set on Romain lettuce leaves. Gayle had found a jello mold in Sandy's cupboard and got the idea to make the salad look like a Christmas wreath. Turned out great!

Here are Gayle and Brit goofing around to a David Archuleta tune (My Hands) from his recent album. The great grandparents (my parents) gave this to Adrian's family. Earlier we read the Christmas story in Luke, did a puzzle game about Christmas carols, and even sang some carols while I accompanied on a small guitar Gayle bought at Deseret Industries (for $7 - so we could have one to carry around on trips like this). It worked fine.
That evening we had to do several rounds of the "Apples to Apples" game. It's always good for multiple laughs.
Before Gayle and I headed back to Logan with the van filled (back seats had been removed) with Jesse and Alicia's stuff (they're moving back) we absolutely had to stop in and visit the Larges, our best friends in Saugus. We were lucky to catch the whole extended clan.
We have now stayed at the Super 8 in Cedar City several times and have gotten to know (a bit) the Indian family that runs it (I learned a few Hindi words - about three - from a colleague at work years ago and used some of them with them, so they remember us now from previous visits - although they are actually Gujarati). Mike Patel gave us one of their large suites for our same low rate this last time since we are "frequent" guests. It even included a Jacuzzi bathtub!

Off to Southern California

On Sunday, December 21 (Alicia's birthday!) after all our Church activities, we went up to mom and dad Parkinson's to exchange gifts and say goodbye before our trip to California (to see Jesse, Alicia, Adrian, Arleen, and Brittney).
We're seasonally attired as we stand in front of the Parkinson hearth.
A close-up of the folks next to their beautifully ornamented tree.
A better perspective of the entire tree...
Gayle and Jared -- Later that night we had a mini-Christmas celebration with Jared, who had to stay in Logan to work over the holidays. After Gayle worked till 1:30 p.m. on Monday, the 22nd, we took off in our ancient Dodge Grand Caravan (1990, with over 217,000 miles), sans back seats, to points south. The intent is to bring back a bunch of Jesse and Alicia's stuff in advance of their move back up to Logan. We fought blizzard conditions in Sardine Canyon (white-out over several stretches of highway) and messy stuff all the way down to Cedar City, where we spent the night. We counted at least 21 cars that had slid off the highway during the trip down. There was even snow around St. George. And as we rolled through the high desert between Victorville and Little Rock, CA, I snapped several shots, including the one below, of the snow just outside and above LA.
This was taken from the side of Highway #18 - Palmdale Highway (before it merges with #138 - the Pearblossom Highway) en route to the #14 Freeway. This is looking southeast at the north slopes of the San Gabriel mountains. I believe that's Wrightwood in the background, with Mountain High ski resort above it (yes, they ski in LA). Once we got to Saugus, we kicked back a bit. I took a wonderful run around the field on the plateau (near Alta Knoll) atop Sutters Pointe, where we used to live. It was cool and partly cloudy, but the view was great. I saw lots of what appeared to be deer and rackoon tracks.

Logan 8th Ward Christmas Party!

Welcome to Santa's Workshop (shots from the ward party) --
This view doesn't do justice to Cheri Murdock's (Gayle's friend) clever table layout for the ward Christmas dinner. The tables are in a formation representing a Christmas tree, with the round, gold tables being ornaments, and the brown serving tables making up the tree trunk. And what you don't see are two tables decorated as presents under the tree.
What you see here is a wall in the cultural hall decorated with large "candies." The Young Women helped paint paper plates like peppermint candies. The other items are plastic disposable food containers filled with sparkle strips.
This peppermint twist is a paper towel roll wrapped with tissue paper and ribbon.
The entrance to Santa's Workshop. Those are lights inside the red, disposable food containers.

This is the star on the dessert serving table, atop the "tree" formation of the floor tables.
The reptile on the floor came from Louisiana. His name is Investi. His last name is Gator. The chairmen of the Activities Committee are Rod and Valene Tueller, former mission presidents in Louisiana. Some of their missionaries gave Investi-Gator to them. Gayle decorated the red chair (a floral chair from the lobby) with yards and yards of red fabric, pinned together with safety pins. The white tree had a broken base, and after attempting to repair it with duct tape (Rod Tueller's approach), Pam Davidson and Gayle, not to be defeated, ended up putting it in a bucket and stabilizing it with heavy flagpole bases and stacks of hymn books. It was also tied to a chair behind it with curling ribbon.
On the left, note Brett Murdock's hairstyle, a la Twighlight's character Edward Cullen. Shannon and her husband Brian sit next to him. At the far right sits Cheri Murdock, genius behind the decorations, attempting to avoid having her photo taken.
Fred and Laurel Jones, dear friends and neighbors, sat across from us at our table.
This shot was taken as folks went through the serving lines. It was the largest attendance at a ward Christmas party that we've seen. I think every seat was taken.
Yours truly.
Here's bishop Firth, local family doctor, sitting on Santa's lap. Spoiler alert, do not read further if you don't want to know Santa's identity (Bart Griffiths, second counselor in bishopric).
Our next door buddy, Jordan King, with Santa. Shauna Griffiths helped with kid crowd control. She's used to it, she is the Primary President. The evening included a program with Shauna and Jeanie Millecam singing and the choir doing some numbers. Earlier, Craig and I also performed with guitars and sang. A good time was had by all (we hope).

Time to Celebrate

After Alicia and Jesse's Thanksgiving Montana trip, we were able to do an early celebration of Alicia's birthday. Three people, three candles. Alicia said, "three candles mean twenty-three, right?" (Wrong, even though she looks it.)

Mandarin orange/pineapple cake is one of Alicia's favorite cakes and was Gayle's mother's favorite, which is why Gayle makes it for Alicia's birthdays.
About to board the return flight to Burbank, CA.
The angel that sits atop our Christmas tree!
Miracle tree - We picked up this tree on sale at a Lumber City store in Burbank, CA immediately after Christmas, 1983, and have used it every year since. We've changed decorations many times, and re-flocked, re-glued, etc. but it still looks great every year. Talk about being good for the environment!
Winter seemed a bit delayed this year, but when it came it did so with a vengeance. Here's a shot after our first significant snowfall several days ago. This morning (December 18th) I heard the radio mention the temperature was -2 degrees F. Frosty seems right at home on our porch.

What's in the News?

How have you bean? Are you green with envy? I'm trying to add more green to my diet. The bag of green beans looked like it might be getting old so I microwaved the whole thing.

They're good for helping prevent macular degeneration!

Recent headlines (don't tell anyone).