May So Far

 As usual, the photos represent a potpourri of events thus far this month.  We begin with the two littlest ones sitting on a bench at their pre-school.

 Avril and McKel in matching colors on a sunny day at the pre-school.

 McKel at bath-time, with a few hot iron curls, and showing off some front teeth.

 Always quick with a smile.

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 Avril, posing at the top of our stairs.

 Closer up.

Gayle got some froggy outfits as costumes for the girls.  Fun to wear.  The girls proceeded to hop around on the floor making "ribbet" sounds, or in the case of McKel, most animal sounds are like duck quacks.

A Mother's Day treat, all three of our kids pose with their mom at the Logan 8th ward, where we all attended on Mother's Day, 2012.

 And later that day we all ended up at grandma Joyce's for a Mother's Day meal together.

 A daddy-daughter moment at the Mother's Day gathering.

 Jared getting some relaxation at grandma Joyce's.

 Arleen assisting Alicia with the two youngest.

 Papa and JJ, as we are known by Alicia's girls.

 All shown except Gayle, who took the photo, and McKel, whose back is to us in the high chair.

I recently got back from conducting 3 seminars on the west coast.  This is a shot of the meeting room at the Bellevue, WA Hyatt before I had them move the screen and A/V set-up to the center of the front.  The following week I did seminars at LA (Sheraton near LAX) and Foster City (near S.F.) at the Crowne Plaza.  My colleague and I drove a 24 ft. Budget rental truck with our equipment as cargo from LA to Foster City after the LA seminar and got there at 1:30 a.m.  Business travel is so glamorous.

Registration table in Bellevue.  Taken with my iPhone.

Alicia is buying a house.  Although the deal hasn't officially closed, we are already spending extended family moments working in the garden, planting vegetables together.  Adrian and his family are also planting items.  The rows visible here are peas.

Brit helps out by watching the girls.  Here she's showing McKel a vehicle.  Alicia's bike trailer is on the right.  That's how she likes to shuttle the girls around town.  Our Honda Odyssey is sitting out in the driveway.

There is an unfinished playhouse in back.  Brit's friend is helping her play with the kids.

 I recently took up road biking.  Here is my outfit and bike.  I got last year's Trek Madone 5.9 model for 40% off the price.  It's a great sport for exercise, camaraderie, enjoying the outdoors, etc.  And I don't have to just run or do the elliptical all the time now.

Gayle already got some hanging plants for the yard.  They look great.

This afternoon I took the girls on a wagon ride.  We stopped at the Johansen park near Jared's, after visiting with him.  Here McKel enjoys riding a toucan or something similar.

And Avril likes climbing whatever is available.

Tessa Color Festival/Race

Yesterday Alicia ran in a 5k race at the American West Historical Farm out near Wellsville.  It was a fund-raiser for Tessa, a 28 yr. old mom of two who has cancer.  The Farm held its annual baby animal day on the same day.  As usual, in spite of having a day that hit 88 degrees earlier in the week, it was cool and windy for the race and baby animals.  In fact, on Friday there were snow flurries during the afternoon.  Here are some shots from the event:

 Alicia, at left, running with her friend, Shanae, the gal to the right of Alicia.  Note that they are covering their hands.

 Gayle, posing with the snowy Wellsville Mountains in the background.  The coats indicate the coolness.  We tried to stay in the sun and out of the wind.

 Kristen Crockett and two of her kids ran (the kids ran a 1-mile course instead of the 5k).  Here are Carly and Brandon Crockett.

 Rob didn't run, he baby sat Courtney.  Here they pose together.

 The course was very muddy according to Alicia, which made running very laborious.  Here's a view to the north.

 McKel checked out the wooden "horse" (I assume that's what it represented).

 Avril, near the same animal.

 Ali, nearing the finish line.  Note the colors (they passed through a section where you could throw powdered colors on one another).

 A colorful contestant.

 Kristen wrapping up the race too.

 More colorful runners.

 Avril went to the coloring area too!

 McKel didn't quite know what to make of the whole thing.

 Shanae, Tessa (the young mother for whom the event was held), Alicia, and the two kids.

 Next we hit the pony ride.  McKel was psyched to ride a horse.

 Avril couldn't wait to get on a pony too.

 Helmets were obligatory.

 We had to do the train ride too.

 Papa loves those girls.  They're kind of attached to him too.

 And of course we had to pet some baby animals.

 Even big animals are fun to pet and feed.

There were a bunch of Peacocks, including a white one.  They were hanging out with some calves.

 The white Peacock was spectacular.  He loved showing off to the crowd.

 And of course the Wellsville Mountains were especially scenic, as they are virtually any season of the year.

Today we took some quick shots of the girls before leaving for church to show the cute outfits.

Different expressions.

Too cute!

Steve, Susan, Keri, Dallin come to visit

Steve, Susan, and Keri went to BYU for Dallin's graduation, and then made it up to Logan to stay with grandma Joyce for a couple of days.  Saturday evening the Logan relatives got together for a Fredrico's pizza dinner and catching up.  Here I'm sitting with Sam, Robert, and Spencer Lee.

 Here are Alicia, Jared, Brittney, and Adrian resting until the pizza arrives.  Alicia had ridden her road bike to and from Rick Springs (up Logan canyon) on a training ride earlier that day.  I had ridden with Mark Firth and his son-in-law, Jake.  We only went to Blacksmith Fork Canyon and back, but it was a nice ride too.  I was learning about drafting and proper road riding etiquette and technique.

 Keri, Susan, Joyce, Arleen, and Tracine.

 The girls closest to me (literally and figuratively) -- McKel, Gayle, Alicia, and Avril.

 The machos - Spencer Lee, Jared, Stephen, and Dallin.

 You can't have a gathering at the Country Club Drive family homestead without taking a few basketball shots!  Here Brit is preparing to show Adrian how it's done.  Note the beautiful spring blossoms on nearby trees and bushes.

 Avril, a budding botanist, carefully studies a seed pod from a nearby tree as the sun begins setting.  See one of the landmark deer in the background.

The adults enjoyed swapping stories from their youth, growing up in the Parkinson clan, or otherwise just catching up.