Sunday, January 31, 2010

A Busy January 2010

It's been such a full month that I'm just now getting to writing a new post. Earlier this month mom hosted their study club (which has been meeting monthly for over 45 years - since before we moved to Logan). She gave a lesson about Alexander Baird, one of her ancestors.

Mom had all the trays ready to go for the treats prior to her presentation.

Gayle and I joined in to hear about Alexander and to assist with the serving. Here Gayle poses with Dad.

Here are some of the regulars before the lesson, enjoying mom's treats.

And here are some of the others. Dad's in the corner.

About mid-month, for my birthday dinner, we went to Toro Viejo, a good Mexican restaurant in town.

Avril wasn't sure she wanted to wear a sombrero.

On the 14th I went down to Sandy, UT for lasik surgery to my right eye. It was corrected for distance (PRK procedure) while we did nothing to my left eye since it's already myopic (so I can use it for closer vision - although it also has astigmatism). The PRK procedure takes longer to heal than what Gayle had done a year ago so it's still gradually getting clearer. I'll have to get used to mono vision. The very next day I was with the ward youth up at the yurt (a tent facility up near Beaver Ski area) for an activity. Here's a shot of some of the attendees, eating and waiting for the fireside.

Clay Egan, a world class rock crawler (where you compete in scaling rocks in vehicles), who happens to be quadriplegic and uses only his limited-use hands to control the vehicle. He gave a great inspirational fireside for the youth. He had a motorcycle accident at 22 yrs. old and also had other extreme challenges during his life, yet has a tremendous outlook and attitude. Search his name on YouTube to see some of his climbing.

Garland Grant recently started working at Thermo Fisher in my area (Product Management). He's alone in Logan while his kids finish up the school year in Raleigh, NC. His wife and kids will move out in a few months, but we wanted to let him experience the family life in Logan a bit so we had him over for dinner. Alicia, Jesse, Bryan, and Avril came over for company too.

Some of the Yargers.

Avril and Gayle, bonding.

January 25-29 I was at our Sales Meeting in Savannah, GA. Here I am with some of my colleagues after the awards banquet. I'm with Jon Reid, Dave Radspinner, Don Young, and Tariq Haq (Tariq has been featured on our blog before!).

Our team building exercise involved riding on a river boat and visiting a revolutionary and civil war fort. I think the boat is the Georgia Queen.

We're entering the Fort.

A duo was playing Americana (folk-country) tunes.

I enjoyed freshly steamed oysters.

They even shot off one of the cannons. It could shoot a 32 pound cannon ball a mile and a half using 8 pounds of gun powder. They only used 2 pounds of powder for the blank and the percussion was amazing. Yes, we did hold our ears.

We woke up this morning to another 8 or so inches of snow. Here's a shot out back. I was surprised to see how it covered most of our rock walls.

Avril came over today after our stake conference. Here she is in her cute little church outfit she wore to Alicia's ward. She likes lots of different foods. Gayle was feeding her the raspberry yogurt shown in the background.

Jared dropped by to spend some time with Avril before heading up to help grandma with a printer problem. Avril likes to play with Jared.

Avril is just starting to experiment with walking. She rarely wears shoes, but here she is trying some out.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Odds n' Ends

On New Year's Eve we had mom and dad over for some special soup and cornbread that Gayle made. Mom brought some fruit and we had some pineapple to add.

Enjoying a simple but tasty spread before the new year.

Jared and I went skiing Saturday, and when I got home Gayle showed off the thrift store toys she bought at bargain prices for Avril. Here Avril tries out the new rocking pony for the first time.

This shot caught Avril by surprise, but it's a great one of Gayle so we included it!

Ride em' cowgirl! Clippity clop, clippity clop (it also has recorded sounds).

Avril's excited by the toys in the toybox.

The happy couple, ready for the new year.