"These two years sure went fast" he said.

In Evan's e-mail this past week, he wrote that he couldn't believe that his two years on his mission were coming to an end. He has 6 more weeks before he is through the middle of October. He thinks that he will finish up his mission in Tierra del Fuego. Then he will fly back to Buenos Aires just before he leaves the mission on October 17th - that is unless they aren't flying planes into TDF due to the Chilean volcano, and Evan has to take a 48 hour bus trip as some of the other elders have done when they were released recently. Evan is shown here wrapped in the flag of Tierra del Fuego, on the cliffs of Cabo Domingo, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the things that Evan learned how to do was to make gnocchi, an Italian pasta. There are many Italian immigrants in Argentina so Evan's cooking reflects this influence.
Evan is in Rio Grande on the Atlantic ocean, which is about 2 hours from Ushuaia. He would take his zone to Ushuaia on a p-day and they would get to see some of the sights (penguins, glaciers, guanacos, etc.) on the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia.
In Rio Grande, they hadn't had a baptism for over a year when Evan arrived there in March. Then they had two baptisms back-to-back in June. More importantly, the wards in the city started doing things together and the people seemed to be more involved in the church.
Evan and his companion with Lucas, shortly before his baptism. Evan said that Lucas is very anxious to go on a mission when he turns 19.
Evan with two of the members of the church that he has become good friends with.
The high temperatures for the past several months have been in the 30's. Evan has said that this area reminds him of Alaska.
He said that it is cold but also that the wind blows nonstop. He sent this picture to show that the ice crystals (icicles) form horizontally due to the strong and constant winds.
This will be a story that Evan will tell his grandchildren I am sure. Someone told him that if you boil your white shirts, then they will become whiter and stains will disappear. Well, he boiled them and forgot that they were on the stove - he said that the smoke in the apartment was so thick that they could barely see. The result of this misadventure in laundry is shown below. . .good thing he is almost done and doesn't need too many white shirts.

Hollywood Bowl Concerts

We decided to take the family to the Hollywood Bowl several times this summer. We started out with picnics at some parks around the Bowl. The little kids enjoyed the picnics and running around.
There's nothing better than fried chicken before the Bowl.
Everybody needed a ticket to get in so Ellie and Gavin presented theirs to the ticket taker.
James is going up the moving walkway with Ellie and Gavin at the Bowl.
We all enjoyed the Fantasia concert, especially with the popcorn.
It got a little bit cold that night so Coco bundled up.
The kids loved the fireworks at the end of the concert, timed with the music of Tchaikovsky.
We also went to the John Williams concert. Here we are once again, having dinner at a park.
One of James' coworkers lives next door to one of the First Violins in the LA Philharmonic. He met us at intermission and talked with us about working with the conductor and composer of the evening, John Williams (he composed the music from such motion pictures as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, E.T., the Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc. He has won 5 Academy Awards.) It was a fabulous concert. Also, the performer James Taylor was onstage to read part of a book, The Reivers, that was later made into a motion picture, that John Williams scored. Since James Taylor was onstage, he favored the audience with a song on his guitar.
One of the funnier things that night was people whipping out their light sabres during the Star Wars music. The little kids thought that was great.
Shifting gears a bit here, we had one night where we bought 4 cakes at the wonderful bakery, Patticakes, in Altadena and tested them for potential wedding cakes for Alana. . .they were all excellent but we chose two of them, for the bride's and groom's wedding cakes.

Random Summer Happenings!

Several weeks ago, Dan and Helen drove to Morro Bay to stay with Grammie, Grampie, Megan, Danny, Gavin and Coco. We had a fun couple of days there. We had Helen's and Danny's birthday celebrations at McLintock's in Pismo Beach. It looks like Gavin enjoys getting his glass of water filled up on his head by the servers!

Later that evening, Grammie read one of our favorite books, Balto, to Gavin and Coco.

One evening, Helen and Dan met Jeannie, Erin, Ian and some friends in San Francisco to enjoy a Giants game at AT&T Park. Too bad they didn't win. However, we are enjoying Ian spending time in the Bay Area with his work over the next couple of months. Great fun getting to see him.

For my Mother's Day gift this year, the girls decided the best gift they could give me was to have all of them together for a weekend. This was the first time our family had been together since last Thanksgiving. We spent the day hiking the Rubicon Trail along the shore of Lake Tahoe. One of our favorite places to spend time together.
We have enjoyed some wonderful summer memories together.

Nor Cal Trip

We had a wonderful trip to the Sacramento and Bay areas this past weekend. Even though it was a quick trip, it was a lot of fun to spend time with family and we saw a lot. Our first stop in Sacramento was Capitol Dawg's, a gourmet hotdog restaurant. Erin and Alana are shown here with with Coco and Gavin with the restaurant mascot.
Here we all are at the restaurant.
Jeannie was working at the mobile Coast Guard location at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers so we went to visit her. The Orange zodiac boat is one of the Coast Guard boats that Jeannie drove up and down the river.
Jeannie and Erin with Coco and Gavin.
We also took a long walk along the river and looked for crayfish.
Then it was off to Folsom Lake for swimming and dinner.
Thanks for a great dinner Helen. . .loved the pulled pork sandwiches.
It was off for the tour at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. . .most delicious tour ever.
We made it to San Francisco for lunch with Erin at Panera and then walked along the canal near her office and watched the bridge raise up for a boat to go through.
We also got up close and personal at AT &T Park.
We spent time with Ian in San Ramon and had dinner at Zachary's Pizza. . .really great deep dish pizza.
Then it was off for dessert at the San Francisco Creamery in Walnut Creek. . .it was so much fun to see cousin, Dr. Ne, who was able to take a quick break from the E.R. at the hospital.
It was off to see Lombard Street, arguably the curviest street in the world (Burlington, Iowa claims that their street, Snake Alley, is curvier).
Coco and Alana waited for the cable car at the top of the hill.
We rode the cable car to the Cable Car Museum.
Coco and Gavin are yelling "All Aboard" on the fake cable car at the museum.
More museum shots.
It was a tasty treat to go to the fortune cookie factory at Ross Alley in Chinatown.
Off to the Golden Gate Bridge to walk across it. . .the fog was starting to close in .
Finally, a delicious seafood dinner on Fisherman's Wharf, topped off with chocolate sundaes at Ghirardelli Square. Thanks to the Crumps and Ian for a delightful weekend.

Ice Cream and other Summer Activities

Gavin swam the whole length of the pool, unassisted, so he was able to take his cousins out for ice cream at Coldstone to help celebrate.
Here is Gavin swimming the length of the pool.
He also dove for the diving rings.
Ellie and Ethan were taking swimming lessons this week. Ethan is shown here jumping off the diving board for the 2nd time. . .he did such a great job.
Coco likes to dive for the rings also.
We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary by going to Robin's in Pasadena for some really tasty barbecue.
Lois and I went to a basketball clinic at Northview Middle School. The Collins twins, Jaron and Jason, who graduated from Stanford and then went on to play in the NBA, spoke to the students about the importance of strong academics as well as athletic talent.
Alana and Steve went to Steve's family reunion up in McCall, Idaho and enjoyed a lot of time on the lake.