Seth's Spring Cello Season

Seth had a busy April and May music-wise. At the end of April his cello teacher had a recital and Seth played a Vivaldi duet with him. Seth did a great job. One of the highlights of the recital was the fact that a couple friends from seminary drove the 20 miles or so to see him, which meant a lot to us all that Seth's group of friends support each other. Tenille Stucki plays violin and Devon Hanson classical piano so they were an informed audience.

Seth really seems to have improved this season, and also seems to appreciate group performances. If only he could play with CYMO; now THAT was good music!



This is video of Seth's recital performance with his teacher Rodney Farrar. Sorry for the quality, it was taken with my low-quality digital camera that I had to use a chair for a tripod. I have since purchased a tripod.


Devon, Tenille, Seth and Jane at the post-recital refreshments


Tenille, Devon & Seth (yes, the girls are short)



Last Sunday the Arapahoe Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (APYO) had their final "graduation" concert. They played the first movement from Brahm's 2nd, a medley of songs from "Hook" by John Williams, and a REALLY cool adaggio from a collection of Russian folk dances called Sailor Songs; the "Plaintive Song" movement which features the cello section. A video of the song is below. There are three kids from our ward in the orchestra: Seth, his good friend Chris, and Jody Nicholas (a violist). They each had friends who also attended.

Orchestra friends and supporters. From left to right: Devon Hanson, Tenille Stucki, Seth Guthrie, Chris Chambers, Jody Nicholas, Josh Hardman.


Seth really enjoyed playing this piece; you can really tell he is totally into it.

Best Sandwich in Los Angeles

I spent this past Saturday through Tuesday in Los Angeles helping out with Microsoft's student software design competition called the "Imagine Cup". While there I stayed at the Biltmore Hotel on Grand and 5th, just a couple of blocks south of the Music Center and Disney Concert Hall. Our event was held at the Orpheum Theater located at 8th and Broadway. Of course most of our fondest memories of California center around food: In N Out Burger, Kosmos Burger, Patty's, etc. No trip to LA would be complete without a stop a Philippe the Original: Home of the French Dip Sandwich. The place has been operating continuously since 1908. It required a little logistical maneuvering, but I made it on the way out and took my boss with me. Nothing has changed (including the old ladies behind the counter). The sandwich costs $5.25 and lemonade is now 60 cents, but other than that everything is still fantastic, including that hot spicy mustard. YUM!!!!

Jane, Jarom & Bryson

When I saw the latest batch of pictures of Bryson and Grandma Jane, I remembered that we took a similar picture of Jane and Jarom about 27 years ago, so I thought some of our viewers might find the comparisons interesting. First some facts:

• Jarom weighed 3lbs 10oz; Bryson 5 lbs 1oz
• Jarom was 15 inches long; Bryson 17 inches long
• Jarom was born at 27 weeks; Bryson was born at 35 weeks
• Jarom was in the hospital 4 weeks; Bryson was in the hospital 5 days
• Jarom was discharged weight 4 lbs 8 oz; Bryson was discharged weighing 4lbs 13oz

Deja Vu?

That is a special sized "preemie" Pampers disposable diaper Jarom is wearing. Jane still has one in her dresser drawer. They are about 3 1/2 " x 5" folded.

Jarom was too small to have an IV in his hand, so his was in his scalp; hence the shaved spots on his head.

Jarom in the isolet; notice that they used a doctor's mask as a diaper when he was under the ultraviolet light for bilirubin treatments

I think this is a newborn picture.

Jarom masked for the bili light

Notice the surgical mask "diaper"?

Melissa; do those bandaids on the heels look familiar? When the light is right, you can still see the scars on Jarom's heels from all the blood gas draws. Staci has them also from her newborn pneumonia stay.

This was discharge day; Jane was 22 years old with her 3rd child.


This was in the tan station wagon that we inherited from John and Pearl. Notice the high tech car seat in the front seat. This was before we knew about child safety. There weren't seat belt laws or car seat laws yet. And Jarom's first bath at home. This would have been on the kitchen table at the Virginia Ave. house. Look carefully and you'll see one of the avacado place mats that we used to have.

Its Prom Time!

Springtime means time for the prom. There has been lots of activity at ThunderRidge High School in preparation for the big event such as anti-drinking assemblies, solicitations of parent chaparones, etc. ThunderRidge doesn't do Grad Night like they do in California; rather, they do "Post Prom", which is still pretty much an all night party put on by parents. So why am I talking about the Prom? Because while I was digging for last year's tax returns, I found this old picture of Jane's prom picture when she was a junior at Western High School (or is that Molly?). You might recognize Patty Romero in the pink dress. Mom's date was Scott Stowers. Scott's sister Jodi is pictured on the far right next to Patti. The picture was taken in late May 1976.

Winter Isn't Going Down Without A Fight

While it hasn't been exactly balmy, the signs of spring are everywhere and leaves are starting to appear on bushes, trees, and our rosebush by the front door. However, there is still the potential for interesting weather, and in the early hours of the morning this "winter" storm hit the Front Range. Fortunately it is barely freezing, and this snow is quite soggy, so it isn't sticking on the pavement. My guess is that most of it will be gone tomorrow. In a way, the snow is better than rain since it gives the moisture a chance to soak in instead of running off, so its better for the plants and nearby streams. It was a perfect excuse to work from home though, so I did!

The deck patio table; how else would we be able to know exactly how deep the snow is?


Nothing sticking on the driveway, sidewalks and streets = happy


Its not popcorn popping on the apricot tree, but "Spring" had brough us such a nice surprise...



Pan shot from the loft window looking southwest towards the church, school & Rocky Mountains

Go Fly a Kite!

Today it was as warm as its been since last summer. The thermometer said it was 71 degrees, but in the sun and dry air it felt like 80. It was SO warm and sunny that Seth and I HAD to take a homework break and get outside. Seth called his friend Trent who brought out his paraglider kite, which has about two square meters of surface area. This kite is a trainer for the larger kite boarding kites that get as large a nine meters (see http://buyslingshotsports.com/kite/2008_kite.htm ). In any kind of breeze at all this kite is a handful, and one gust knocked me off my feet and dragged me across the grass.

Here is Seth getting a complete body workout. Notice the leash in case the handle gets ripped out of your hands. You steer the kite like a bicycle; you rotate the handle around a vertical axis.

Seth took this picture looking over my shoulder while the kite was relatively motionless (not a frequent occurence). After about five or ten minutes I felt like I'd sprinted a mile or two. Very tiring but a GREAT whole-body workout.


As you can see Seth is using quite a bit of strength just to hold the kit. One stunt the boys do is when the kite gives a big jerk is to jump up in the air and have the kite give them a big boost. People would cut across the grass in front of the boys, and I worried that if the kite ever swooped low while someone was under it, that the cables might really injure them (like cut off their head).


This short video shows us launching the kite so you get an idea of its size


This video shows Seth really working it. I didn't notice the annoying dog barking in the background the entire time.

Spring Break

This past week Jane was in St. George, Utah with her mom & dad and two sisters (Pam and Annette). This was planned so I cleared my travel schedule and Seth and I had a bachellor week filled with no-key work and relaxation. I generally went to work in the morning and came home mid-afternoon; about the time Seth got up (just kidding). Seth spent lots of time with his seminary friends, and I got caught up with my e-mail (about 250 at the beginning of the week; I'm down to about 127, most of which I've read but I'm holding onto because of actions I need to do). Seth applied for a life-guard job at the rec center and started filling out the last of his Eagle Scout paper work which needs some info from the Scout Office to complete. He also spent a lot of quality time working on his on-line driving class.

We had some sunny and warm days, so Seth was able to go to the park several times with friends and fly kites, etc. On Wednesday he ask if they could all come over to our house to watch a movie around dinner time, so ran to the store and bought some fried chicken, threw a pan of cornbread into the oven, and fed them all. Then they went to Activity Night (Mutual to you old timers) and then they all came back afterwards to finish the movie.

This is Seth's seminary group of friends. They call themselves the West Gulch Similar Religion Affiliation Group, because they aren't associated with a single ward and the boys are from the Westridge Ward and the girls from Spring Gulch. So far there aren't any pair ups. Most are 16 years old now except for Abbie; yellow shirt between Jessica (blue shirt) and Tenille (green shirt) who's b-day is in June. Then Seth has a BIG wait until November. I guess I don't have to say he's dying to get behind the wheel.


Saturday Seth and I went skiing/snowboarding. It was a great day and Seth and I both skied/snowboarded better than ever before. We like to go together because of our Colorado friends are experts but we spend time on the easier slopes and have a good time. As we were leaving Seth got a call from a friend (a girl) and asked if was going to the Stake Dance. Man...I never had a girl call ME and make sure I was going to a dance! All his friends showed up and that lasted until 11pm. In the meantime it started snowing and by morning we had two inches on the patio table (our depth gauge).

This morning (Sunday) I had to leave early for church for choir practice. I always hated those last minute practices that go on while people are arriving. I have to admit, at the beginning of practice we sounded SO BAD. The pianist was in tears because she thought she was going to wreck it and quite frankly I didn't think they would notice her mistakes over the choir. Fortunately we went over the song a bunch and more people came it started sounding better, but after the 20th time of the guys in front of me singing the same wrong note even I was getting a little frustrated. At four minutes before the time the meeting was supposed to start I told the choir director that we had to quit (the Bishopric was trying to sit on the stand). The actual performance went well and no one suspected the Easter miracle that occurred right in front of their eyes.

After church Seth and I went to the Chambers' house for dinner: ham, funeral potatoes, homemade rolls, salad, the several yummy desserts. Afterwards it was still sunny so Seth and I went for a walk on "the loop". We were going to fly our kite at the park, but we got there without kite string.

Mom comes home tomorrow so we're doing laundry and a few other preps. Seth and I generally aren't messy; we keep up the dishes and don't cook indoors all that much. We barbecue about half our meals and I cooked bacon for BLTs on my big burner in the front driveway so as to not fill the house with smoke and bacon smell that will persist for days.