Our Week

Here's how our week has gone so far:

Earthquake on Tuesday

Both Kelly and I were at work and we definitely felt the quake. My building was shaking side to side, the lights were swinging and the pictures on the wall were shaking. We evacuated our building and went home early because they didn't clear our building for re-entry until about 7:30 that night. Kelly felt the quake, looked around at her co-workers, watched some of them flee the building (they're from Afghanistan and this wasn't their first rodeo), and then turned back to her computer and kept working. Phone systems were pretty jammed up and I didn't get any messages until about an hour and a half later when a whole bunch of text and voice messages came through. No major damage was reported around town. The Washington Monument has a few cracks in it, the National Cathedral sustained some damage, and the tops of 4 of the spires on the Temple broke off.

Hurricane Irene

We weren't quite sure what to expect from the Hurricane, but we were pretty sure it wouldn't be too bad here. We got a few cases of water and some food and settled in the house on Saturday afternoon. I rained pretty good all afternoon and night and we lost power about 3 am. I got up in the morning and surveyed the damage and it didn't look too bad. Our house didn't have any damage, but there were a few branches and trees down around the neighborhood. We got our power back on about one this afternoon and the city looks to be just about cleaned up. We did see a small fire burning in a front yard near the Temple because there was a live power line laying in the grass. As the storm left DC, about 1 o'clock this afternoon, you could see a definite line of clouds in the sky as the storm moved north and left blue sky behind it.

Next Week

Kelly starts teaching her first class at Georgetown this week. Like usual, she's excited for a new semester to start, but nervous/apprehensive about the first day, new school, etc.

Next Saturday I'm flying to Utah to wrap up some loose ends and gather up our belongings. I'll be driving them out here to DC (probably with a stop in Denver) and then we'll settle in to our new place.

This Week

It's been a fairly eventful week:

• Tuesday morning on the way to the University Inn Best Western in Moscow to have breakfast with a contractor I hear on the radio that there is a police standoff in one of the rooms and they are lobbing tear gas into the room to flush out the suspected murderer. We have breakfast while all this is going on. About the time I was finishing my breakfast they break in and find the person deceased by his own accord. He was a U of I asst. prof. and had a love relationship go bad so he stalked the girl for months and finally shot and killer her at her apartment and then barricaded himself in a motel room and took his own life. It is a real sad situation for all involved.


• When I got home from our vacation I found that my ham radio was dead. I sent it to California for repairs. It cost $35 labor and $1.03 for the part. I have it back and it is working again.


• We had the back to school ward social last night at Lena Whitmore park. There were lots of old and new ward members. We all had a good time.


• Mom is back in school as of Friday. This Wednesday the kids start. Summer is over and back to the grind.


• We hope Travis and Kelly are safe and sound. They had an earthquake and hurricane last week. I texted Travis on Friday and all was well but he has not answered my texts from yesterday or today. Are you still out there?


• The weather is in the mid 90's but is expected to cool to the low 70's by Thursday.

Be good and blog when you can.

I did it!

Since I was a youth I've always wanted to go on a minimalist backpacking trip. This year I made the goal and this weekend I achieved it. A ten mile round-trip hike for three days and two nights with the items shown below (plus clothing): My pack:

When we arrived at camp it started to rain. I built this shelter (with some help of my hiking companions). It kept off the rain but was very tight inside.

Day 2: more rain . . . and hail.

I thought dad might enjoy this shot. We camped at the far end of the lake.

For all you irrigation enthusiasts: You make the call.

Water was flowing out from under a hot tub slab. I started digging and this is what I found:
1. Very top of photo: the bottom of the slab.
2. A downspout drain tube.
3. Two cable wires
4. The irrigation line in question, squeezed and split between the drain pipe and root (#5). The break was about 16" in from the edge of the slab.
5. A locust root.
The location of the break was too far under the slab to use a pipe cutter or pinch tool. How would you make the repair?

Sorry Travis...

Not to rub salt in an open wound, but I got a new promotion at work and this is my new toy. I am now a project manager. I oversee three construction/install crews and their projects, as well as 4 other projects involving mostly sub-contractors. I spend a lot of time driving from site to site and this baby makes traveling nice. (It had 37 miles on it, but that quickly changed!) It links up to my phone, so I often can be found talking to "myself" as I drive along. The truck voice is a lady, so the kids are trying to name "her."

Brant

I saw this car as we were cleaning up the toys tonight and couldn't help but think of Travis's truck...

Seth said we should put some gray legos under the wheels for a more authentic touch.

At least you still have your doors.

You still have your doors right?

Sorry about your wheels man.

Lake Dillon

Last weekend we went up to Lake Dillon with some friends (it's becoming an annual event). This time they brought a kayak and let Lisa and I try it out. I also took the kids for a row-about in the canoe but they preferred playing in the sand (see below).

Has anyone seen a set of 4 BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires roaming around? I'm sure they look great mounted on the rims from a 1994 Ford Ranger, just like my truck looks great sitting on cinder blocks on the side of Center Street in Provo. (maybe they're hidden in a chicken coop and the lady downstairs knows something about it?)

More Vacation

In the early 60's the TV show Paladin was one of our favorites. Especially Uncle Eugene. This is the gun, holster, and business card used by the actor.

Just another interesting sign we saw while on the bus tour of Virginia City, Montana.

The only bear we saw. He was a ways off so I had to use all the zoom the camera had, thus the blurry picture.

This was an interesting and cool diorama at the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. It was in the Plains Indian part of the museum.

The families Mom saw when she went with Uncle John up to Ogden while I was in meetings (Uncle John, Uncle Joe, Aunt Linda,Katie & baby, Erik, Laurie, and family).
Hope you are all well and easing back into the school routine (expect for Travis, he is easing out of the school routine). Congratulations on graduating last Friday. Good luck in the job search.

Matt, Kimbre, and family are coming down today to attend church and visit. We were up there earlier in the week so Mom could have Kimbre cut her hair. Matt washed and waxed his patrol car while I held the hose. He had an inspection the next day.
When I got home from vacation my ham radio wouldn't work. I contacted the manufacturer and they said to send it in to them in California and they would check it out. Last weed they called and said it had taken a lightening hit and fried something inside. It was a $36.00 repair and should be on its way home. Tom Miller said it probably wasn't a direct hit but close enough that all the static electricity in the air came down the antenna cable and zapped the radio.

Mom is going to ride down to Walla Walla with me tomorrow on business. She starts back to school this week. The students come next week.

Hope you are all well and happy. We love you.

Palmyra

I finished up my internship on Wednesday, so Kelly convinced me to take a trip to Palmyra. She's pretty excited that it is now only a 7 hr drive to visit her parents instead of a 3 day drive. Since we've been here, we've done all the usual things: trim some trees in the yard, replace some light bulbs in the dashboard of my car, strip wallpaper from the walls in the kitchen and dining room (kelly, not me), enjoy the nice weather, and attend Kelly's cousin's wedding reception. Tomorrow afternoon we head home. Kelly has to go back to work and I'll continue my job search. On Sept 1st we're moving to a new apartment in Virginia. It will be a great new location and it's only 5 min from the airport if you want to come visit.

First day of school and gymnastics

School started Tuesday and the kids were ecstatic to see old friends and get to know new teachers. We were ready incredibly early!

Since Adria doesn't start Kindergarten until next year, I told her we could do gymnastics at the rec center. She started Wednesday and was so excited. (This is her excited face)

Happy Girl!

Matt got her smiling real big one day and I just wanted to share!

Weston's Birthday

Today is Weston's birthday.

Koper wished it was his...

I don't think I got one picture in focus, he was just so excited...

He really was excited, just not so much in this picture.

I was kind of a lame brain and printed his cake decoration rather than pipe it in frosting...

Sorry kid.

We had the fam and cousins over and enjoyed all the craziness.

Thanks to everyone who came and for all the presents!!!

CGC Clubhouse

Here is a nice shot of my latest project.

Brant

MTTS- Finale

Last night was the final show for My Time to Shine. It was great! The kids did a really good job and seemed to have a lot of fun. Les capped it off with a video show showing highlights throughout the program. It was fun to watch the kids caught in candid moments of practices and performances. The show was held at Chatfield High School's auditorium. I thought maybe we would fill half the seats, but the place was packed. We had over 500 people there easily. A special thanks to Kevin and Lisa who manned the t-shirt sale and donation desk.

Brant

DIY- Disaster House

This week, I got a call from my boss informing me that I would be part of a TV show segment that our company was filming on Friday. Turns out we were part of a segment for DIY network's "Disaster House," hosted by Josh Temple. If you've watched HGTV, you've seen him before.

We got there in Friday and filmed a segment in which we showed them how to properly excavated a driveway, lay in and compact new base material with a crown and then cover it with gravel. Basically, an over-built gravel driveway. The host and crew were very nice and my crew enjoyed the slower pace. The episode should air in Oct or Nov.

Josh interviewing our designer about our driveway prep.
Behind the scenes

Me and the guys with Josh Temple

Brant

Vacation

Our first stop was Virginia City, Montana. An old mining town where they dredged millions of dollars of gold during the 1860's. We toured the city on this old fire engine. The two red sticks I am holding were our "tickets".

Up on boot hill this is one of six graves of "bad guys" hanged by the vigilantes during the gold mining boom.

This is the site of the 1959 major earthquake just outside of West Yellowstone. It was about a 7.6 quake and the mountain slid into the valley damming the Madison River and killing 28 people in a campground. I remember when this happened.

Mom and I at the west entrance to the park.
One of many geysers and steam fields we saw along the way.

This is the reason I wanted to go to Yellowstone. This is the lower falls of the Yellowstone River. It is way up in the northeast corner of the park. I had never been there. We viewed it from four different locations and I was awed by it from every angle.

One of the friendly natives. We saw a herd of elk just in the west entrance, one black bear up in the northern part of the park, lots of buffalo, birds, etc. This fellow was one of about 20 that were sauntering down the highway as if they owned the place.
This is the fellow who played Buffalo Bill Cody at the shootout in downtown Cody, Wyoming. He really fit the part and yes the hair and beard are real. It was a lot of fun to watch.

This is Buffalo Bill Cody, the sheriff, and Doc Holliday. The guns they were using were shooting blanks but man were they loud and gun smoke hung all over the street.

The museum we have been trying to visit for years. It is one complex of 5 museums, (1) Firearms, (2) Western art, (3) Plains Indians, (4) Buffalo Bill memorabilia, (5) a natural history of the Yellowstone area. We spent a day and a half and could have spent a week. While in Cody we took a trolley tour of the area and visited the first LDS church where there is a mural painted in the rotunda depicting the history of the church. It was very impressive and was painted in 1950.

The Provo Tabernacle in its present condition. It is stabilized and its fate is still unknown. One of the sessions at my Safety Seminar was a complete minute by minute history of what and how it happened. Very interesting.

Glad we're home. We had a great time visiting with family and seeing the sights. Seth and Lacey had the house and yard looking fresh and green and our own shower felt, Ooh so good. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way.