To Make Flying a Little Better...

Since I am a little on the tall side (6'6") I really do not like flying. I just feel so smashed in my seat. I am always on the look out for more leg room and less people sitting next to me. I have often thought of wearing something objectionable (plastic feces or vomit) on my shirt to keep people from wanting to sit near me. I heard of a website on a podcast yesterday that can help you when you are choosing a seat. This is helpful when you are picking your seat at the time of purchase, or if you fly Southwest (as I do much of the time) then you can print out a "map" of the best seats on the plane. Check out SeatGuru to find the best place to park your keester.

Homecoming Weekend Part 2

This past weekend Erin went up to BYU to visit Alana and Ian for Homecoming Weekend. After getting all blue playing True Blue Football (check out previous blogs) there was the football game to attend where BYU beat UNLV 52-7. It was a beautiful fall day and a great game! Later that night we went with a group to a haunted corn maze. We had a really good time and decided to get into the farm theme and took the second picture there. We did a lot of wonderful activities and had a really fun weekend! 

More North Shore Photos

Sue, Grammie and Grampie are examining the giant banyan tree, the largest on Oahu, on the North Shore. Also shown is the LDS temple in Laie and the Turtle Bay Resort, that just underwent a $100 million renovation.

 

Homecoming 2006 (Part 1 - True Blue Football)

Part 1

Part Two













Part Three 

Aloha from Shark's Cove

There were 15 foot waves breaking at Shark's Cove so Tat, Grammie, Grampie, and Margaret took dinner there to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful evening and we saw a brilliant, fluorescent green flash that lasted a long time.

 

Fall Trip to BYU

Brad, Margaret and Evan drove Ian's piano up to BYU this past weekend. They went to the football game on Saturday (which BYU won handily). Ian and Alana had a bunch of friends over on Saturday night for a dinner at the townhouse and "the piano christening". Mike and Shauna Miller were visiting Hillary so they came for dinner also. The aspen trees were turning different colors in the mountains and were beautiful. We also hiked one afternoon up to Timpanogos Cave. It was a great weekend with the kids and we didn't even hit any traffic driving back through Las Vegas. Erin, have fun when you go up there next weekend for homecoming (and True Blue football)


 

TEXAS and Birthday

This is Texas BBQ, just in case you were wondering. Our group of friends has acquired a Texan (sixth generation) and so we were privileged to eat some of her homestyle cookin'. On the menu we have brisket, baked beans, and cucumber salad. Basically it was the business.










This on the other hand was my 23rd birthday. It was a crazy day but we had a good time just messing around at the townhouse. Alana and friends were the masterminds behind the whole scene and we had a great time. After a BYU soccer game we headed back to the townhouse and played some games and ate a wicked chocolate cake. 

Exercise Take 2

In keeping with the exercise post from last time I found another great write up. There was an interesting quote that goes along with it, "Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” - Edward Stanley. That just seemed to be such a profound statement. It is sure going to get me out of the house (despite the ever increasing cool weather we are experiencing now). Check it out by clicking here.

Fleet Week - San Francisco

Yesterday, Dan and Helen had the opportunity to watch the Fleet Week Air Show in San Francisco from the deck of a 225 ft. Buoy Tender Coast Guard Cutter - Aspen. There were other Coast Guard and Navy families as well on board. The Blue Angels from the Navy were the high point of the afternoon, doing their famous aerial stunt maneuvers over the Bay. It was quite spectacular! Since we were aboard a buoy tender, at the end of the afternoon, the crew had to hoist a 2200 lb. buoy up on the deck to be transported back to the Coast Guard station. In addition, they had to also haul in the two concrete "anchors" that kept the buoy in place during the air show. The combined weight of these two anchors was 20,000 lbs. Needless to say, this ship had some heavy duty equipment to handle this job. It was a beautiful afternoon to be out on San Francisco Bay. Next year, why don't you plan on attending this event with us.

 

Get your Run on!

Well as some of you may or may not know I may be joining the Medical branch of the Army. There are a variety of reasons for this, but mostly it is just something that Megan and I feel good about. I am not worried about any portion of the requirements for this program except for the running. So I started running last week. I am sooooo bad at it. I have been searching for a good plan to get going and I think I found one. If you are also thinking about getting going with running check this page out. Click here.

Coast Guard Academy Parent's Weekend

This past weekend Grammie, Grampie, Margaret, Evan, Helen, Dan, and Erin went back to the Coast Guard Academy for its annual Parent's Weekend. It was a beautiful New England fall weekend. The Academy is in a beautiful location on the Thames River in New London, CT. On Friday we went to class with Jeannie and toured Chase Hall (the dorms where she and all the cadets live.) Friday night we had some activity in our hotel as there was a fire alarm that went off at 2:00 am because there was an attempted suicide. The whole hotel had to wait outside for about and hour in the cold and we crammed 7 of us in a small compact car to stay warm. On Saturday we watched Jeannie play volleyball and also caught part of the football game. We all left Sunday evening and had a great time visiting Jeannie at the Coast Guard Academy!

 

Evan's 16th Birthday Weekend

For Evan's 16th birthday, he wanted to go see the musical "Wicked" on Broadway. It coincided with Parent's Weekend at the Coast Guard Academy in CT so Margaret and Evan flew to NYC, on a redeye, and arrived in NYC at 6 a.m. on Thursday, Evan's birthday. They went to Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, FAO Schwartz, Central Park, Time Square, Fifth Avenue, and ended the day with seeing the musical "Wicked" (highly recommend seeing it). We took the train to Stamford CT that night, where Dan and Erin picked us up and we drove to New London. Friday we went to Jeannie's classes with her at the Coast Guard Academy and on Saturday watched her play a great game of volleyball when the Academy went up against Williams College (they won in the best of 5 match). We also toured the subase at Groton where Grampie spent a year back in 1944 training to be a submariner. It was a great weekend to be with all of the family.