Busy Week

We have had a lot of things going on this week. July 20th and 21st was the Days of 47 Float Preview Party in which Cheri and I are in charge of. We checked the floats in on Saturday and was there at the Expo Center from 7am to 6pm. Both Monday and Tuesday we were there from about 8am to 10pm so we had some pretty long days. Tonight we will be bringing the floats down to their staging area for the big parade tomorrow. We will be there about midnight and start taking them out about one am. It takes about two and a half hours to drive them down town. The Highway Patrol will escort them down the freeway at about 10mph from 90th south to 4th south. It's quite an amazing thing to see all of the floats going down the freeway in the middle of the night with all of the trucks and highway patrol cars with their lights flashing. I'm sure if you were from out of town and didn't know about the parade, you would think this was pretty weird to be driving past this parade on the freeway. They take 10 down at a time about every 15 minutes until they are all out of the Expo. I will get to go to bed at about 2:30am and back up at 4am for our first meeting at 4:45am. Then the big event, the Days of 47 Parade. I will be at KSL TV and help stage the parade for the camera's and Cheri will be at the front mixing the parade in order. Cheri and I have been doing this for over 15 years and we are still dumb enough do keep doing it. Boy I'm getting too old for this!

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple Tour

The whole family went to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple tour on Saturday, June 13th. It was so beautiful. When you go, be sure to look close at the windows. They have stars and moons or suns in them. The glass chandeliers were all stars and were so beautiful. You could really feel the spirit as soon as you got there. We all met after I got home from work and then drove over together. My daughter Kelli, her husband Nic and their two kids, Emily and Michael, my daughters Mecqae and Holli, my son Tom and his wife Stephanie and their little one Krista, my wife Cheri and Cheri's Mother Ann and of course myself were all there. Holli invited her friend Dezi and her mom and dad and brother to join us. It was very special to spend time with family and friends in the new temple. We all went to dinner afterward at Gecko's. It was a great evening!

The Thunderbirds

We went to Hillfield Air Force Base to see the Thunderbirds on Saturday, June 6th. It is always exciting to see all of the airplanes on display and to see the air show with all of the planes doing their aerobatic tricks. The best part is the Air Force Thunderbirds. I have been going to their shows off and on since I was very young. It never gets old and is always very exciting. This year I was able to go with Tom and Stephanie and of course Krista. Krista seemed to love it. Tom and Stephanie put ear protection on her because it is very loud at times and she just sat there with these things on her ears and looked at the planes fly by. I love airplanes and cars and this is always one of the highlights of the year for me. The only downside is the thousands of people and the traffic. It took an hour to just get out of the parking lot. All in all it was a GREAT DAY!

Holli's Scholarship

Holli was able to get another scholarship for the second year through the American Cancer Society. This scholarship is awarded to students that have had cancer, were diagnosed under 21 years of age and have been accepted to an accredited university. She qualified last year and to keep the scholarship she has to maintain a 2.5 GPA and do at least 25 hours of volunteer work for the American Cancer Society. Holli did way more hours doing the Relay For Life in Logan. She was in charge of all of the teams that did the relay and together with the community they raised about $12,000 for the American Cancer Society. She maintained a 3.9 GPA last year. She also had two other scholarships last year and still has one from Utah State this year and is waiting to hear on the other one. We attended a dinner and awards ceremony on Thursday May 14th to see her accept the scholarship. She will attend Utah State University again this fall. We are so proud of you Holli!

One Great Weekend

Thomas and Stephanie went to court on Friday, May 8th, and had their daughter Krista's adoption finalized, so now she is legally theirs. Stephanie's mom Sandra, Cheri and myself were privileged to witness the court hearing. Saturday, May 9th, they had her sealed to them for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple, so now Krista is theirs forever. There were 37 people in the sealing room to witness the sealing. They have a great support group. We all went to dinner at the Golden Coral after the sealing. They will have her blessed next Sunday, May 17th. What a great weekend!

The Draper Temple Tour

Well all of us as a family finally went through a tour of the new Draper Temple last Saturday. I had gotten tickets for Saturday the 14th of March at 7:00 pm on the first day that the tickets were available last December thinking that being the last day of the tour, the baby's would be old enough to go. Little did I know that it was at the same time as our adult session of Stake Conference. I have to do the music for all sessions of conference so we tried to change the time but when you called the number to change times, it just said that they were out of tickets and to try for the next Temple tour at the new Temple at Day Break. So talking to other people they said that they do not check tickets and wouldn't turn anyone away so we went at 11:00am instead. Everyone was right. We just showed up and went through. It was beautiful. What workmanship. The spirit was so strong inside the Temple even though it hasn't been dedicated yet. We had all eleven from our family with us including both new baby's (Krista and Michael) and of course Emily so it was real special. Wow our family is getting big. After the tour we all went out to lunch at Mimi's. It really doesn't get any better than that. What a great day! Cheri and I are so blessed to have such a great family!

Another Addition To Our Family

Kelli and Nic had a baby on January 13th 2009 at about 8:14 pm. His name is Michael Dean Hales. He weighed 10lbs 15oz and was 23 inches long. He is a very big boy! Everything went fine and Kelli didn't have to have a "c" section. We are very proud grandparents! That makes 3 grandchildren now. Wow that makes us old.