Grandpa Parkinson's Birthday (L. Spencer)

Craig Mortensen and I started rehearsing, after about 6 months of not playing together, for our gig at the "Noon at the Tabernacle" concert series on August 1st. We asked Gayle to snap a few publicity shots in case the Herald Journal needed one. Friday was Pioneer Day (the 24th) so Gayle and I worked in the yard all day. That night we took in the new Harry Potter (and the Half Blood Prince) movie. Saturday we celebrated my father's 83rd birthday. He and mom, along with Trish, Kelly, and Olivia, joined in the Gayle, me, Alicia, Jesse, and Avril for a birthday dinner for dad (his actual birthday is the 26th).

Deja Vu all over again

Alicia and Avril, awaiting dinner Saturday at the Sizzler.

Group shot. Everyone cooperated but Avril, who was more interested in the toys.

Patricia, Olivia, and Kelly wait for more cheese bread.

Guest of honor and spouse.

Ali and Bevy

Avril, squeezing the catsup bottle.

Grandpa and the newest granddaughter

Dad and his free root beer float.

Avril had all she could handle and decided to finally take a nap (for perhaps 15 minutes)!

Clarkston Visit and LHS Class of '69 Reunion

Our friends Sandy and Richard Maxson came up from Saugus, CA to visit family. We met them at Kim and Todd Rasmusson's home in Clarkston, UT on July 16th after work.

Alicia and Gabe (Sandy's grandson) admire his Ironman underpants. Later he showed us the pair he had on, but in the process of lowering his jeans he accidentally mooned us. It didn't bother him and we all laughed.

Here Kim holds Spencer while Sandy has Avril.

Jesse and me

Todd and Richard

Spencer and Gabe's train

Alicia and Jesse playing with some of the litter of new kittens. Todd and Kim live way up the hillside above Clarkston and have a wonderful view of Cache Valley from the west side.

Gabe enjoying a kitten
The next evening, Friday, I went to The Elements, a new restaurant at the new Marriott in town, for a no-host reception for Class of '69 LHS alumni. I enjoyed talking to lots of old (figuratively and literally) friends. The next day there were activities and a dinner at the LHS cafeteria.

George Duersch and Carmalee Spencer Ellison. George and I took driver's ed from Coach Rod Tueller in 1967 together (the driving part). Interestingly, George teaches at LHS and also teaches driver's ed. I was Carmalee's first date. She married a guy who graduated the same year as Gayle (1966) and joined the LDS church the same year (1969) as Gayle.

Gayle snapped this shot while the photographer was in between shots.

Here I am with classmates Steve Medrano and Alan Allred.

Empty Nesters' FHE, Avril, Misc.

The other day Alicia dropped by with Avril. Here they both are, smiling.

Alicia and Avril before going to the Logan Stampede awards party at the water park.

Jesse took Alicia and Avril to Willow Park to visit with some friends from out of town.

Gayle and I went up to the Stephensons' Logan Canyon cabin for the empty nesters' FHE last night. We brought some of my asian cabbage salad as a contribution to the hot dog dinner.

Here are some of the guys roasting hot dogs. Carlos Thompson, Ralph Stephenson, and Bruce Bylund.

I kept going back for more hot dogs.

Marian Stephenson was a great hostess. Here she is with Gayle.

Afterwards we took turns on the tree swing.

Gayle was exhilarated.

Gayle takes flight.

We missed posting a shot of our Fathers Day Sunday dinner. The crowd included the great grandparents, and also Bryan and Shelby Yarger.

And Gayle wanted to record for posterity that a few weeks ago she bought a carpet cleaner and had friends over to help put it together (I wasn't around). Then she cleaned all the carpets in the house.

Belated Father's Day dinner out / Canal Collapse

Alicia and Jesse had given Bryan and me a promise for a dinner out for our Father's Day gifts and they reminded us of it this week. So we all headed down to Cafe Rio and enjoyed some Mexican food.

Bryan, Jesse, and Alicia chowing down.

Daughter and Father - I'm still sunburned from the 4th of July activities of the prior weekend.

Yesterday (Saturday the 11th), after morning chores, I headed home from Gayle's PT office to find several streets on my regular route home closed and lots of fire department and police vehicles everywhere. Then, when I tried to open the garage door I realized the power was off. Gayle came home a bit later. Soon Alicia came by with Avril for us to babysit. Meanwhile, a helicopter was buzzing overhead and sirens kept sounding. Eventually I went outside with Avril and spoke to a neighbor riding by on a bicycle to find out what was going on. He said the canal above Canyon Road had burst. Gayle, Avril, and I decided to walk across the walking bridge (Logan River) to see what the commotion was. We quickly saw unusual things, like water gurgling up out of cracks in a street near our church building. Then we saw mud everywhere and emergency vehicles. We saw church members with shovels, most returning because they said they couldn't do anything yet. The hillside had given way and the canal and tons of debris and mud and water had crashed into one particular house. A mother and two children are presumed dead and still have not been extracted from the collapsed house (hillside deemed unstable). Besides this home destroyed, there were 8 homes flooded, 11 homes with significant yard damage, and 50 people displaced from residences. The Red Cross set up in our stake center and several are staying there temporarily.

For Church today we held a three ward sacrament meeting. We organized work crews and returned after changing clothes, with tools and ready to work. Here I am in my issued vest and hard hat. Many of us used our Mormon Helping Hands T-shirts. I was one of 6 team leaders from our ward.

These are two of my team members -- Jared and Gayle.

Here are some of us cleaning up a yard on the corner of Crockett Ave. and Canyon Rd. Coincidentally, our friend Sandy Maxson (Alicia and Jesse had lived with Sandy and Richard before moving back to Logan) had once lived in this very house. Small world.

Here a crew tackles mud in front of some of the houses. Up the street on the left was where the home was destroyed. We were not allowed near due to the danger.

Here workers throw mud to the street for the city to move with a Bobcat (small front-end loader).

Jared chats with a ward member between shovelfuls of mud.

Azusa Parkinsons and 4th of July Events

On the 3rd of July we took a family trip to Bear Lake. Shelby, Jesse's brother, took this shot of the entire Spencer K. Parkinson family. Jesse, Alicia, yours truly, Gayle, Jared with Avril, Adrian, Arleen, and Brittney. Ray, Arleen's dad, was also with us but standing next to Shelby.

At the edge of the parking lot at Rendezvous Beach, south end of Bear Lake, UT.

Adrian, Arleen, Ray, and Brit, ready to hit the beach.

Avril, posing with Jesse. Believe it or not, it was cool and we even got some rain drops for awhile. But with the sun poking through the clouds later, and on the lake, we managed to get burns.

We rented a boat and Brit had fun telling us how to drive and ski.

Jesse was first to attempt it. We had trouble figuring out the right speed and trim. Also, the throttle was difficult to dial in for consistent speed. We still had fun.

I'm sitting high while driving to see above those sitting in the front of the boat. Jared's facing backwards to watch the skier and hold the flag when they're down.

Jared, ready to hit it.

Shelby also got up on his first day skiing. We didn't get a good clip of Alicia skiing, but on her very first day of water-skiing she got up and did very well. I skied too.

Jared spent the most time up on skis. However, on this, his first run, he did a pretty cool forward flip (accidentally). Again, part of the problem was our inexperience with the boat and its throttle, and controlling the speed properly.

After several hours at Rendezvous we stopped for the traditional shakes at Garden City. Here are Gayle, Ali, and Brit savoring some LaBeau milkshakes.

Avril, rapping at LaBeau's. She just gets straight mom's milk, then shakes it up herself!

After a fun day at Bear Lake and a pizza, we drove up above the grandparents' house (above Lundstrom Park) and caught the annual fireworks display put on at Romney Stadium (generally on the 3rd in Logan). The next morning, on the 4th, our ward held its traditional Independence Day neighborhood breakfast at the River Hollow Park across the walking bridge.

Here are Jared, Adrian, Brit, Ray, and Arleen.

Two weekends in a row I got to be involved in group breakfasts. The prior week was Youth Conference, and here I have the important duty of cooking "Texas toast" while Sherwood Hirschi reaches for the canola oil.

Ali, Avril, and Jared showing some sun from the previous day at Bear Lake.

Avril shows her rap face while Brit holds her little cousin. Brit actually has an even younger cousin because Arleen's sister, Maribel, gave birth to a baby girl the very night Adrian and family drove to Utah. After the neighborhood breakfast, we all high-tailed it over to the growing metropolis of Hyrum, UT to see their parade.

Resting and drinking water during the Hyrum 4th of July parade. Arleen, Adrian, Brittney, and Gayle.

What Utah town parade would be complete without some vaqueros (unos charros) in the line-up. Yes, I think it's cool that Hyrum has a significant hispanic population now. I listen to several Spanish radio stations locally.

And Jesse's own AA Stampede had a float (of sorts), although Jesse had to work and didn't get to see it.

Afterwards, Hyrum always gives away free, very cold, watermelon. Brit loved it.
Next we went to the Cache fairgrounds to see the Cruise-In car show.

There were several low-riders. These use pneumatics (or hydraulics, I'm not sure which) to raise or lower the vehicle body. After the Cruise-In car show we met mom and dad (Joyce and L. Spencer) at the Golden Corral (again) for a nice meal. Then we went to see the Cruise-In parade on main street. What a busy day! The next day, Sunday, after church and haystacks for lunch, we went to first dam to feed the ducks.

Brit, feeding the ducks at first dam in the evening. What a peaceful setting.