Memorial Day Week-end in Colorado

Due to the epic snowfall that the Rocky Mountains have received this winter, Arapaho Basin Ski Resort is still open, so Jarom, Seth and I started our weekend with a Saturday ski trip. These pictures were taken with my phone so sorry about the low quality. While we were skiing Allie's family drove down to spend the weekend with us which definitely gave our house a holiday feel.

Sunday we attended church together and after the block Seth was ordained an Elder (by me).

Monday we drove to nearby Chatfield State Park and had a really fun "breakfast in the park experience" but at the lake. We had eggs, sausage, and pancakes. We brought bikes to ride but found out that the grass had lots of stickers. There were three flat tires, but we still had fun riding. Mostly the younger family members played in the sand at the shore. When the crowds started arriving around 11:30am we packed up and headed home. After lunch and naps, Grandma Jane took Allie's kids to the rec center to go swimming. We had a yummy BBQ in the backyard and wrapped up our day watching movies. Lots of fun times and laughing. The only thing that could have been better was having more family attend. Maybe next time?

Family Trip to Calfornia for Aaron's Wedding

Early in the morning of May 6th Jane, Molly, Seth and I left Colorado for a car roadtrip to California to visit friends and attend my nephew Aaron's wedding. Enroute we first stopped in Provo, Utah to see an exhibit of paintings by Carl Bloch. Many of the works on display were alter pieces depicting notable scenes from the life of Jesus, but there were some non-religious paintings as well. While the paintings themselves were amazing, equally impressive were the written explanations that were posted near the painting that gave insight into what is happening.

From Provo we had a long drive to St. George, UT and spent the evening and night with Jane's parents. The next morning we left bright and early for California. Our first stop in California was at the Migdat's where we left Seth off to spend a few days with his old church friends. We drove past a couple of the houses where we used to live only to discover that the yards aren't nearly as nice as we kept them. Next we stopped at our friends the Edwards to change into church clothes, and then drove to the Los Angeles Temple where we did a session and then gave ourselves a self-guided tour and showed Molly the Sealing room where Jane and I were married, and then the nursery, cafeteria, and baptistry. (note: that nursery sure had been improved since the time I had to wait HOURS when my parents were sealed).

After the temple we stopped at "El Taco Nazo" (which has been renamed "Senior Baja's") for fish tacos; a place near where we used to live in Claremont. We then drove to Jason's house in Corona where we stayed for the next couple of days.

Aaron's wedding was very nice, and it was great seeing all my siblings. On Sunday, we attended church with Jason and Leslie, and I got to see Steve Brown, who now lives in Jason's ward. Sunday night was Mother's Day and all my family gathered at Jason's house to celebrate. The highlight of the evening was a reenactment of a Sacrament Meeting performance from when Leah, Holly, Jason and I sang "Mother" (a barbershop quartet number) in Sacrament Meeting (see video below).

The drive home from California on Monday was LONG; we drove straight through for 15 hours to get home. We encountered wind, rain and snow but arrived safely and very much not wanting to get the car again for a while.

"Mother" from randy guthrie on Vimeo.