OLB Reunion

On Wednesday, July 2, we left home for our trek to Arizona for the Orene and Idonna Brower Reunion being hosted by Dick and Fran.  We pulled the trailer that Deb got as an inheritance from her mother.  We drove to Price, found a parking lot next to the fire station, and went to sleep.  We pulled into Price at about 1 am.  We left Price at about 9 am and finally got to Saint Johns at about 5 pm.  The road was very hilly and pulling the trailer literally drained our gas tank way too fast (we figured later that it would have been a lot cheaper to stayed in hotel rooms).

Our first full day in Arizona, Friday, was Independence Day.  We spent the day at the city park with their Independence Day celebrations.  There was entertainment in the morning, a free lunch (to us--the local taxpayers paid for it!), and races in the afternoon.  Both Angie and Lilli participated in the races.  That evening, Dick and Lynn put on a Dutch Oven supper with chicken and corn on the cob.

On Saturday, we went to Lyman Lake State Park some 10 miles from Saint Johns.  Flint and Amber provided a speed boat and the kids (and some adults) had fun being pulled on the tube behind the boat.  It was a pretty area, and the kids had fun in the water and on the beach.

Sunday morning, a testimony meeting was held with the family.  It was very spiritual and emotional for everyone there.  The heritage that Orene and Idonna have left with their family is very faith-building.  It is a very wonderful family.

After the testimony meeting, we got ready to leave and left at about noon.  We decided to go back home through Flagstaff since most of the way would be on freeways and not so hilly.  It was a correct decision since we spent about half as much on gas going home as we did on going to Arizona.  We stopped in Holbrook at a petrified wood store there.  We got some souvenirs and then got back on the road.  We got to Kanab, Utah at about 10 pm and found a church parking lot to use for the night.

We stopped at Cove Fort, Utah so that the girls could go through the fort.  It is such an interesting place to see.  Out tour guide made sure that the girls understood what he was trying to explain to us, and we enjoyed the stopover.

We got home at about 10 pm that night.  It was fun to be with the Brower family, but we were glad to be home.

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My wife gave me this book to read. She had read it after being recommended to read it by our Stake President. It took me all of 15 minutes to read it.

In my life, I have often contemplated on what may have been if different choices were made. One that I have reflected on a lot was a choice made by my parents when I was a baby. Dad served his mission in Montana and the Dakotas. For part of his mission, he served in Dillon, Montana. He loved the area and the people. Shortly after I was born, he took Mom and me to visit his old stomping grounds. While there, he learned that farm ground was at very cheap prices and some of his friends in Dillon suggested he buy some ground and farm there. Mom said that she became concerned that he may do that, but eventually decided to stay in Swan Lake. How would my life, not to mention the rest of my family, been different if Dad had chosen to farm in Dillon?

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Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first real experience with a personal computer was the Macintosh.  I really liked the computer, and it instilled in me a desire to do things with the computer.  Although I left the Mac computer and went to Windows machines, I have always felt the Mac was better as a personal computer, but when I bought my first computer, the Mac was on the way down while Windows machines were a dime a dozen.  After reading the book, I wish I had stuck with the Mac!

The book is written very well.  In fact, it felt like a novel to me in that I wanted to know what happened next.  Walter Isaacson did a masterful job in telling us what the man, Steve Jobs, was like. After I had finished the book, I felt like I really knew who Steve Jobs was.


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Life and Death, Joy and Heartbreak

Lilli holding Bill last summer.

On 11/12/13, we lost our friend and pet Bill.  He had some sort of problem that eventually led to his death.  We buried him in the backyard next to Sadie and Buttons.  (Our first cats were Buttons and Bow.  We came home to find Buttons had been shot, and we never did find Bow.)  It was a sad time for the family, but it was not unexpected.

Bill came into our life right after we lost Buttons and Bow.  We came home and he was in our garage.  We do not know how he got there.

He was a very sickly kitten and did not act very kitty-like the first year we had him.  In fact, I thought that he wouldn't survive the first winter, but he did.  Then when Sadie came into our family, Sadie become the bossy sibling.  She would grab Bill by the tail and swing him around.  Bill tolerated Sadie, but she would try to get away from her whenever Sadie would try to play with him.

The girls loved Bill, especially Lilli.  Bill was never a cat that liked to be held.  Very few times did Bill jump on my lap and stay there while I petted him.  However, he got very used to Lilli constantly holding him as can be seen in the picture above.

Misty playing with a glow
stick on the couch.

A few weeks after Bill died, Deb was visiting a day care in Lava (she does that as part of her job with the Downey Library).  She found out that the day care owner had found some abandoned kittens and was trying to find homes for them.  Deb told her that we had just lost our cat and was looking for a replacement so we got her.  We named her Misty after the person that gave us the kitty.

Needless to say, the girls loved her.  And she loved the girls.  As soon as she would see them, she would go running to them.  She was a very feisty kitten and would chase anything that moved.  The girls loved getting her to play with them.  At times, I felt sorry for the poor kitten as she became the "baby" that needed to be taken care of.

She also loved to snuggle with Deb.  A few weeks ago, Deb had surgery.  It was an outpatient procedure, but it made Deb very weak and tired.  She spent the first week or so sleeping on the couch.  Misty would jump up on her and snuggle next to her neck and go to sleep.  At other times, Misty would lay next to Deb, but the cat made sure she was touching Deb with her paw.

On February 25 (the day before Angie's 9th birthday), Deb came home to find Misty laying on the lawn.  She could tell that something was wrong.  Misty had been run over.  Deb hurried Misty to the vet (with Grandma Bet providing support) to see how serious the injury was.  The vet found that her pelvic bone was crushed and that her internal organs had ruptured.  He said that Misty would be in a lot of pain.  After consulting with me over the phone, Deb asked the vet to put her to sleep.  It was heart-wrenching.  Even though that kitten had been in our lives a couple of months, we had all grown to love her.

Since the girls were in school when all of this happened, I came home early to help Deb break the news to the girls.  Understandably, both girls were upset.  Lilli grabbed the scratching post we had give to Misty for Christmas and just cried.  Angie started to cry and say, "She was just a little kitten."  Of course, Mom and Dad were very heartbroken and shed tears with Angie and Lilli.

We buried Misty right next to Bill.

Now, we are again looking for the pet to make our family complete.  Each day, the girls ask when we will get our next pet.

The Pillars of the Earth

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth is a novel of historical fiction set in 12th century England. The story follows a monk along with a builder and his family and their triumphs, disasters, betrayals and revenges.

The book is very intimidating being nearly 1,000 pages long. However, it is a good read and, with the exception of a couple of places, the story moves along and keeps you interested in the events. There were times, however, when I was very uncomfortable reading the graphic descriptions of events to some of the characters that I care about. I was also a little disappointed in the ending--I thought it ended to abruptly and I had to go to Wikipedia to find out more about the events that happened.

All in all, I enjoyed the book.

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Dr. Benjamin Carson

This is a great speech given at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 7, 2013. This man should be President of the United States!

Unsinkable: The Full Story of the RMS Titanic by Daniel Allen Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a history buff, I like reading anything about the past.  I found this book several years ago after I had seen the movie "Titanic."  Knowing that Hollywood likes to take liberties in the actual story, I wanted to know what the true story was.  However, it took me this long to finally get around to reading the book and I have forgotten about any of the specifics in the movie.  I guess now I need to see the movie again.

I really did enjoy this book.  Many would probably find it academic, but I like academic.  However, I did enjoy the writing and the author kept me interested in the events that unfolded over 100 years ago.  I also found his arguments compelling for laying blame where it needed to be laid.  The author also wrote to the general audience and not to those who may have astute knowledge of shipping and the terms related to it.


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