General Conference in Provo

We all met up in Provo for General Conference. Ian flew in from Denver, Megan and Gavin flew in from LA, Margaret came in from Seattle, and Danny and Brad drove up. Pictured here is the family, with Danny's parents, Merril and Sharon. Danny, Megan and Gavin were the big surprise for Evan. We told Evan that Ian had left something at the airport so we had to go and pick it up. Gavin came racing out and ran right up to Evan and hugged him. . .nothing quite like Uncle Evan.

Evan is shown hoisting Gavin in the air - he loved it.

Uncle Evan is shown here playing horse with Gavin.

In between sessions of conference, we drove the Alpine Loop, where the aspen leaves were turning beautiful shades of gold, yellow and peach. It was great to be with the family again!

Seattle Ingenuity

Shown here are Margaret, Jason Golding, and Karen Herrera in front of a new mixed-use project in the Northgate area of Seattle. They flew to Seattle with the Metro Gold Line group to look at this transit-oriented development project, which might serve as a blueprint for development in the Los Angeles area. This project has a creek running through it, senior housing, condominiums, retail shops, community center/library and a large theatre complex.

Another view of the project, with the creek area in the center, senior housing on the left and condominiums on the right.

We stayed at a hotel downtown, several blocks from the Pike Market, overlooking Puget Sound. We learned a lot about the new transit system here in the Seattle area that will help us with development in the San Gabriel Valley.

Coast Guard Academy Parents Weekend

Several weekends ago, Dan, Helen and Erin attended Parents Weekend at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. It is always fun to see Jeannie and learn more about her life as a cadet. This is her senior (first class) year and with that, comes much more responsibility in training the 4th, 3rd and 2nd class cadets under them.
Jeannie is playing "Fall ball" this semester to keep up her softball skills for the spring. Erin and Jeannie are pictured here in front of the softball fields. In addition to watching many sporting events, we were able to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Groton - Paul's Pasta.
One of the traditions at the Academy is having the corp of cadets march on to the football field before the game begins and sing the alta mater. The weather was beautiful all weekend long. It is always nice to see parents of other cadets who we have known throughout Jeannie's time at school. It's hard to believe this is our last Parents Weekend, with Jeannie graduating in May 2009 and ready to start her career as an ensign in the Coast Guard.

Work Weekend at Morro Bay

This past weekend, Helen, Erin, Danny, Megan, Gavin (he was the biggest help), Helen, Ed, Brad and Margaret all met at Morro Bay to strip wallpaper from the walls and to paint and clean the house. We finished the living room, dining room, hall and entry hall.

Erin is pictured here with Gavin in front of Erin's new car. Gavin was in charge of Erin while we painted in the house.

At the end of the day on Saturday, we went to a pumpkin patch near San Luis Obispo. There was a corn maze and we all got lost in it.

Erin helped Gavin pick out his pumpkins for Halloween.

Picking out pumpkins was hard work so Gavin took a rest with his pumpkins in the back of the car.

Brandenberg and Potsdam

Prior to starting on our bike trip, we had 3 days in Berlin to explore this beautiful city. Pictured above is the Reichstag, where the German government does their work.

We met the barge in Potsdam, where Sans Souci Park is located. It was here that Frederick the Great built his palaces. Pictured here is the largest building in the park, the extravagant Neues Palais , built between 1763 and 1769, at the end of the Seven Years' War.


We rode our bikes a little further that day and stopped at Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference took place in 1945. This was the conference where Stalin, Churchill (later Clement Atlee) and Truman met to determine how to divide up a war torn Germany.

After a day of riding, we all had dinner together on board our barge, the Mary Lou. This barge had 8 staterooms and a crew of 4. It was captained by Klaas from the Netherlands. His wife, Kora, was with us on this trip and we enjoyed them both very much.

One of the days, we rode through the forests to meet up with the barge. This was one of the more unimproved bike paths on the trip.

Berlin is fascinating

This first picture, that Ian thinks I took from a postcard, is actually a picture that I took right at dusk in front of the Brandenburg Gate. We had just landed there in Berlin and met up with our group for a quick dinner. The gate is as beautiful as everyone says.

Thanks to Ian and Starwood Points, we stayed at the Westin Grand just up the street from Checkpoint Charlie. The location was ideal as it was just a short walk to Museum Island, the Berlin Wall and the Tiergarten (which is like their Central Park).

The bear is the symbol of Berlin and Buddy the Bear is all over the place in different colors and styles. Allison and Ian are pictured here with one of them.

One of the more interesting memorials in Berlin is the Holocaust Memorial. It is right in the middle of the city and represents the different coffins of victims of the holocaust. There are hundreds of them on this city block, different heights and placed at different angles on rolling hills of bricks.

Here we are in front of one of the sections of the Berlin Wall. It is very sobering to think of the number of people killed trying to cross this wall to get to freedom in West Berlin. One of the best things about this trip was all of the history that we learned about Germany - and the struggles of the people that lived through it.

Evan Takes Wing

It was a fun weekend being with family and friends up in Provo as we moved Evan in at school for his freshman year at BYU. In the first picture Evan and Gavin are on top of the BYU cougar during the BYU-Northern Iowa football game.

A BYU institution, the Creamery, was the place for us to go as we had hot fudge sundaes after the football game.

Evan's room is in Maeser Hall. Thanks to Helen, Erin and Megan for helping to turn cinder block walls into something more homey for Evan.

We took a little time off from interior decorating in the dorm and decided to climb around Cascade Springs. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. Gavin really enjoyed stepping in the water with his shoes on.

After working hard, we had a chicken dinner out on the back patio of the townhouse. Just as we finished dinner the heavens opened up and there was a downpour. But that was OK because we went inside and played games and watched a movie. Best of luck Evan. We miss you at home.

But What Do I Do...

For the past year everyone has been asking me what I do, and after a year, I really don't know what to tell these individuals. Instead of telling you what I do though, I will just show some pictures of where I have been "living" for the past year.

This is my hotel where I have spent over 200 nights in the last year. I was on a first name basis with the whole staff by the time I was done.

This is my favorite breakfast location, Main Street Cafe. I would come here every Tuesday morning and eat quiche lorrain. After the first couple months of this routine (and 15 pounds later), I decided that it would be better that I only frequent this location after having worked out the night before.

This is Carnegie Lake which fronts the Princeton campus. Walking along this area was one of my favorite things to do if I ever got out of work before it was dark.



I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on my next project and try to get some photos up earlier than later. Thanks for everyone's love and support.

Does She Bark With An Accent?

This is a new addition to the Crump family, our dog Dorie. She is a rescue dog from Baja California. She is busy playing with her chew toys and learning English from the neighborhood dogs. Dorie is a year and a half old and is a mutt but she seems to have pointer and dalmatian in her.

Dorie will be starting Cat Appreciation lessons as she adjusts to her new home in Roseville. She seems to have a lot of energy and is very playful!

The Last Frontier State

Jeannie's summer assignment was on the Coast Guard Cutter, Mellon. She spent her summer cruising between the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. They boarded fishing vessels and checked for marine law compliance. Some of the ports they visited were Dutch Harbor, Nome, Adak, Kodiak and Juneau.

Part of their cruise took them above the Arctic Circle. Those on the ship who had not already been above the Arctic Circle had to participate in a ceremony so they could become a "Blue Nose Polar Bear". This involved, among other things, swimming in the Bering Sea with a dry suit on. The water temperature was a brisk 38 degrees!

Jeannie was able to practice shooting an M16 rifle during her summer cruise. She thought it was interesting to be that far north and never see the sun set during the day or night. While Jeannie indicated the weather was pretty gray during much of her northern cruise, she said it was a great experience overall.

Trip to Rexburg

Here are Susan and Evan at the Firehole River in Yellowstone. It was a comfortably warm river, made so by water coming from the Lower Geyser Basin. It was fun to jump in and ride the rapids through.

We spent a little time in the park but see more bears in our backyard than we saw in Yellowstone.


We hiked to one of the "ghost cabins" along Quake Lake. There were a few cabins that were lifted off of their foundations when the lake was formed during the earthquake in 1959.

Alana, Ian and Evan are pictured in front of the temple in Rexburg, where a session was done one evening.

HGTV a la Susan

Something fabulous happened this last weekend - Susan came for a visit! And my room will never be the same! A couple of posts ago my mentioned that Susan, Evan, and Katinka drove up to Rexburg with my mom for a conference. They stopped in Provo for a couple of days and Susan went to work.

Susan, my fabulous neighbor at home, looked at what she had to work with in the downstairs of the Townhouse and then started to bring the vision to life. I came home from campus and we all got to work, Susan instructing us. These first two pictures are of the living space downstairs. One of my favorite additions is the awesome clock that Susan found - and she even continued the theme. The rug is super fun and I love all of the details that Susan added to the room. We rearranged the room and it flows so nicely now. I love being in this room.

Susan also spruced up the bathroom. It is so cheery and bright now. Susan has an amazing eye and picked up subtle colors and used them in other areas. And it has such a nice vanilla-y smell.

Look at the flowers - only Susan would have come up with the great idea. I also like how she saw what I already had and brought it back to life. Susan, thank you so much for all that you did. The downstairs looks AMAZING! You completely outdid yourself. It is so nice to come home to such a nice place. I love it. THANK YOU!

Soaring Over California. . . Once Again!

Yes. . . that's right! The California Condor has made a comeback from near extinction and is once again soaring proudly in the air. Last weekend at the California Museum of History, Women and the Arts, a special exhibit highlighted the remarkable efforts of many groups to save this bird from extinction. This is one of the many unique exhibits that can be seen at the museum, which is where Erin is currently the Education and Programs Associate. She is trying on a pair of condor "wings" which are about 10 feet wide, making these birds the largest in North America. Helen and Jeannie were there for the program, helping children make paper condors. If you are in the downtown Sacramento area, it is a wonderful museum. Check it out (californiamuseum.org)!

Trip up North

Susan and Katinka rode up the ski lift at Sundance and then hiked around at the top with everyone.

It was a long hike to the top of the mile and a half trail but we all enjoyed our tour through Timpanogos Cave when we got there. Susan and Evan are shown here by one of the formations in the cave.

We continued the trip up through Logan and stopped for a brief, but enjoyable, meeting with Roxanne's family (Roxanne is Alana's close friend from her internship in Belgium).

One of our favorite towns on the way to Rexburg was Afton, Wyoming in Star Valley. What a great place to live! Check out the elk antler arch made from 3000 elk antlers in 1958.

On the way up we stopped in Yellowstone and visited the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The falls were pretty spectacular.