Sunday, January 18, 2009

Birthday Dinner and HP Group Dinner

We had a great stake conference over last weekend. On Monday, the 12th, the family (mom, dad, Jared, and Jesse, along with Gayle and me) made it to the Golden Corral for my birthday dinner.

The gang ready to go in and eat. Jesse took this shot.

Jesse and me. Note my heaping plate of salad!

On Wednesday (14th) our High Priests Group held a dinner social at the Iron Gate Grill. We had a great turn out. Craig and I provided the entertainment. The sound set-up worked well and we had a fun time singing oldies. Folks seemed to enjoy it. We even did three numbers we had not performed for the ward before: Scarborough Fair, Feeling Groovy, and Teach Your Children. At the end they had us do an encore of two more numbers.

Deja Vu all over again. (Deja Vu is our band name.)

Monday, January 12, 2009

Our Birthday Break Dance

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Happy Birthday Dad!!


Surprise Dad!!!
Happy Birthday!!!
I just put together a picture collage and I am secretly posting it on the Parkinson blog (this is Alicia, the daughter). These are lots of happy memories I have of my wonderful dad. I just wanted to say thank you for all you do and for being such a wonderful father figure. We think you're pretty spectacular and love you lots! Enjoy your special day. :)

Sunday, January 11, 2009

New Eyesight, Basketball, and Bryan's Birthday

Finally, at nearly 60 years of age, we decided to treat Gayle to lasik surgery. The contacts and eyeglasses were getting tiresome. Here is the "before" shot (Gayle had to stop wearing contacts in order for her corneas to heal properly before surgery). Gayle likes Oprah as you can see by the "O" book on her lap (a Christmas gift from Jesse and Alicia).
The vivacious former Baldwin High (Milledgeville, Georgia) cheerleader, at Hoopes Vision in Sandy, UT awaiting surgery.
Showing off the stylish hat and booties ("shake your booties").
Since we had to see the doc the next morning, it made no sense to drive back in the snow to Logan and turn around again, so here's Gayle resting her eyes with the protective goggles at the hotel in SLC.
The skin flap procedure followed by the laser treatment didn't hurt, but later one of her eyes bothered her for awhile. The warm, wet bath cloth helped provide relief.

Wednesday night Jesse helped our 8th Ward Men's team. Here he is post-game with Kaden Comadena (if you look carefully, you can see Gayle, just two days post-lasik, watching from behind Kaden's right shoulder and without vision aid). Also note that she was the only female I remember witnessing the church ball action.
Logan High alumni now on the our men's b-ball team.

Friday night was men's night out to celebrate Bryan Yarger's birthday. Bryan is Jesse's dad. He was born in '54 while Spence was born in '51. We had dinner at Iggy's in North Logan.
Bryan Yarger, Shelby (Jesse's younger brother), Jared, and Jesse. A handsome lot.
Shelby created a masterpiece chocolate-cherry cake in his culinary class for his dad's birthday. I met Jesse, Shelby, and Bryan back at Byan's place for a piece of the birthday cake. Here are the two brothers removing the protective wrapping from the delectible dessert.
Bryan, showing off the cake.

Saturday morning the senior and young men's players practice together at our ward gym. Jesse had to work a graveyard shift but still came to the practice. He brought Shelby too, who will play with our 16-18 yr. old team.
Three buff b-ball players.

Here are a couple of clips Gayle took.

This clip starts off with Shelby making a basket over his big brother, Jesse. It also features me throwing the ball inbound to Jesse, who brings it up the floor (while Gayle says "that's pretty good"). Jesse's backward pass (I think intended for Josh, aka Bumps) goes awry, only to be recovered by Shelby and leading to a basket by Hayden (Spud) Griffiths.



This clip demonstrates that Shelby, Jesse, and I got in some good exercise. Jesse makes basket at the very end, just as Josh Griffiths's right knee (previously injured) unfortunately gives out and he hits the floor. His orthopedic surgeon wants him to wait till he's stopped growing before doing surgery so he uses a brace in the meantime. We hope the knee heals enough to keep postponing surgery.

We had a great time (except for Josh) and got in some valuable practice. It will be a fun church b-ball season. Go 8th ward!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Start of New Year - 2009

More days off this last week. Tore down wallpaper in our basement bathroom and then painted the walls. We also recently had tile laid in this bathroom. We put in a new light fixture, new towel racks and holder, and new switch covers. And lastly, we cleaned the shower stall. All in preparation for the return of Jesse, and later Alicia, to Logan. We spent most of the rest of our time off (and Saturday) cleaning out rooms and closets, moving stuff to attics (we have two), and generally re-organizing to accommodate our temporarily expanded family. Jesse and Shelby (his brother, who had been visiting California) drove straight through from Saugus to Logan on Saturday. Given that they left mid-morning and had an hour's time zone difference, they were fortunate to make it to town late last night (and also were able to avoid the prior day's heavy snow storm). Our new Church meeting schedule has me attending bishopric meeting at 6:00 a.m. so I was in bed, but Gayle was up and able to greet Jesse. Now that he's here, he's already gearing up to play Church b-ball for our ward men's team! First game is this Wednesday night.
Here's a shot of the made-over basement bathroom, taken from the doorway.
And here's Jesse. This shot was just taken moments ago as he and Gayle were discussing various topics.