Home Again and Local Events

Criag Mortensen and I had a couple of gigs. We first performed for the Logan 8th Ward High Priests (neighborhood) dinner at the River Hollow Park across the walking bridge.

Craig and I. The matching shirts were completely unplanned (no joke).

Terry Jones and Brent Windley flipping burgers for the cook-out.

Ralph Stephenson mixing some of his famous home-made root beer. It was great!

The following Monday (Gayle's and my anniversary) I joined Craig and his brother Chris and we performed at the Providence Concert in the Park event.

Brent and Margaret and Brent's mom, with Alicia, enjoying (I hope) the music. Robert, my brother, was also in the crowd.

Wednesday evening we were honored to have Garland and his family over for dinner, along with Jared, Alicia, Jesse, and Avril. Here are Tiara, Whitney, Miles (in front), Garland, and Ugeana Grant. Ugeana is still recovering from a very serious auto accident earlier this summer but is doing remarkably well.

Trip to See Adrian & Family and Saugus Friends

Early August Avril, Alicia, Gayle, and I (papa) hopped in Gayle's Camry and took off on an adventure to California to attend Brittney's 13th birthday celebration and visit some friends while we were at it. Jesse had to work so it was the four of us in the car. En route we stopped at a Flying J in Scipio and Avril got to pet some animals at the petting zoo. We got as far as a Super 8 hotel just off the strip in Vegas the first night.

It was blazing hot in Vegas. Here are Nana and Avril in front of the Luxor hotel. We decided to sight see just a bit before hitting the road again.

Closer up! The first evening Adrian and family had tickets to Mormon Night at Dodger stadium so went to that. The rest of us jogged/walked around the track at Azusa High School. The weather was pleasant. In fact Brittney and Arleen got cold at the ball game that night. The next day we all did our usual touristy thing by going to Santa Monica pier and the 3rd Street Promenade.

Avril loved Brit's dance dress from years ago. Here they sit the first evening and blow bubbles from favors left over from a wedding.

The mornings start out cool at the beach. Here we start down the Santa Monica pier.

We watched performers along the way. Here a guitarist plays at the end of the pier, above the lower level where fishermen try their luck. This guy played old 60's surf songs.

While on the pier we ate lunch at Bubba Gump's. Here is our stack of onion rings. Yes, we ate some unhealthy things, but we were on vacation! (I did eat the cabbage underneath too, to get our money's worth.)

Brit was sung to by the waiters and got a free dessert since she was a birthday girl. Hard to believe she's 13 now.

Avril imitates grownups. She learned that you can dunk french fries, but didn't quite understand the purpose. She barely touched them in the sauce.

Posing as Forrest Gump with the suitecase and box of chocolates (and a granddaughter).

Adrian posed as well.

After the morning marine air burned off, it was quite pleasant. We set up a spot on the beach to rest and let Avril play in the waves (with our attendance of course).

Brittney and I let Avril experience having the waves wash up to her feet. She was thrilled.

We would pick her up just before the water got too high for her. Her teen-aged cousin had fun too.

Avril, sporting a sun hat.

On the way back to Azusa we traveled on Sunset Blvd. through Brentwood for a change of scenery and to avoid some traffic. Then we passed through Burbank to see the house we rented for three years when I first started working at Pharmaseal. This was 2112 Screenland Dr., right below the take-off pattern for Burbank Airport. Adrian has a lot of memories from here, but Alicia and Jared were still pretty small.

On Saturday Alicia gave Brit a make-over for her birthday party.

Voila! The final product.

Brit looks so pretty in the new outfit grandma Gayle got her while shopping at the 3rd Street Promenade.

Brit with some of her BFFs, Ariel and Paige.

Brit's Grandpa Ray hosted a party at John's Incredible Pizza (or something like that). Here Brit poses with some of the balloons from her party.

Avril had a blast too.

Avril loves her mama.

Brit blowing out candles.

Sylvia and her daughters - Maribel, Arleen, Marianna, and Rachel.

Brit showing off some sunglasses while Ariel and Rachel watch.

Cheesy smile.

Having fun at the pizza place.

Avril loved the rides.

Giddy-up cowgirl.

Maribel's daughter, Danielle, and Avril riding kiddie toys.

Brit and friends on a more thrilling ride.

Alicia and her mom.

We stayed at the Maxsons' home in Saugus. On Sunday we attended the Saugus 3rd Ward where Zimmer Conkling gave his talk before leaving for a London, England mission. Avril got her hair fixed up before we went to church.

Afterward we got to visit with our BFFs the Larges. Here Kristy and Cali join Alicia and Avril for a "Kodak" moment (actually, a Nikon moment).

Good friends from way back - the Larges and Parkinsons

Avril, mimicking what the big folks do for her. Not so sure Cali liked it though.

Family portrait - Larges' extended family.

Bambi & Magpies, Dad's Birthday, Youth Conference

A couple of weeks ago Jared was about to leave our house when he noticed that a fawn was standing next to our mailbox and was letting magpies sit on its back to pick off bugs (we presume).

Bambi and some friends. This guy also munched off the top leaves of numerous of our plants and flower blooms. This is right next to our driveway.

A group of us got together for great grandpa's 84th birthday celebration. Here's an end view of the group at Sizzler.

Avril joined with the big folks.

Left - the new Spencer Parkinson in town. We now have three just in our family in Cache Valley. There's another one in Smithfield (or has been anyway). Jared and Patricia are glad to be there too.

Kelly is looking trim and fit from all his competitions, and Tracine is waving for the camera. Meanwhile dad is opening a card.

We held our ward Youth Conference over this past weekend (July 30 - August 1). Our first event was hiking up the Wellsville Mountains. We scaled the northernmost end from just above Mendon. Here is a shot looking southward at the higher parts of the Wellsvilles.

Gayle and I with a view to the southwest behind us, looking toward the bird refuge, Willard Bay, and ultimately the Great Salt Lake. Gayle persevered in spite of trying to recover from bronchitis. And I'm sporting a bandanna because on the ascent I ducked under a fallen tree trunk and came up too soon on the other side, not noticing a second branch with a broken piece sticking down. I put a gash in my scalp which bishop (Dr.) Firth pulled together by twisting hair strands on either side and tying the two strands together tightly. Later that night we went to his clinic. He told me I'd feel something cool and then a prick with the needle that would numb my skull. I quipped I guess that meant he would be working on a "numskull." That might sound funny, but it was actually him who had me in stitches (5 to be exact)! By the way, after a very long descent (for some of us) in the dark, we had great foil dinners in the Olsens' backyard (quite late).

Janet Garn celebrating her ascent as Bart Griffiths watches on. Behind Janet is a view northward toward Clarkston and then Idaho.

Bishop Mark Firth sharing words of inspiration and instruction to the youth. Behind him the Bear River meanders en route to the Great Salt Lake. Right below us is somewhere between Tremonton and Brigham City, and there is a small hot springs resort there. A bit later Nate Christensen, our high counsel representative, gave an edifying message.

One of our exercises included separating individually for time to pray, ponder, and record in a booklet some of the many ways we know that God lives and loves us personally. I ended up going above the group to another rocky outcropping and took this shot looking down. Note the narrowness of the ridge.

Here are those that made the hike event (minus yours truly). This is looking south.

Another event was our cooking competition. The group divided into 4 teams, each assigned a meat (beef, chicken, fish, and pork). We had a modest budget and one afternoon to shop and prepare our entree. We had a panel of "impartial" judges who scored each team on things like presentation, teamwork, staying within budget, creativity and, of course, flavor. I was on the pork team and we won! (I personally favored the fish team's effort.)

Some of the crowd at the cook-off held at the Firth home and yard.

Here's a shot of the beef group's presentation to the judges. The rice, by the way, even had coconut milk in it.

Our distinguished panel! (Brother and sister Poppleton, Hillary and Iva Lou Groutage)