Quick Visits and Waterslides

We enjoyed a very quick visit from the remaining Modesto Boothes. They were off on a family vacation which included touring both BYU-I and BYU. I am interested to hear what my sister Tristine has to say now that she's seen both of them. I trash talked BYU-I quite a bit but I'm sure she'd have fun and learn at either place.

Becca found an amazing deal for season tickets to a water park in Provo and this week was warm enough for us to go twice! No pictures of us as our cameras are also our phones and none of them is water-proof. Garit and Lorena got the passes too and it was a lot of fun going with them once as well.

Don't be fooled by the little kid. This ride is freaky. It's almost like a big taco. You shoot down a very steep incline and then shoot up the other side and go back and forth on your tube until you lose momentum. It's one of my favorites.

This is Becca's current favorite. You kick off flying down the slide face first. She likes it because she can usually beat the boys! We've been down it twice together. She beat me the first time but I beat her the second. We'll see what happens later this summer.

We also had a very nice family get-together with Garit, Aunt Emma, Aunt Deb, Derron and Alisha. Grandma Barbara Always tried to get the family together once a month and so I will try to do that here. We missed Lorena and hope she is feeling better.

As we live close to the Medina of Mormonism (Salt Lake being Mecca) we've been getting more visitors than we did in Central California. We are excited to see a few representatives of the Schofield Clan this week!

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My 31st Birthday

Grandma Barbara surprised us by letting us know that she would indeed be coming to visit for my birthday. Her plans with traveling by car, plane and train had not worked out and I thought that she probably wouldn't be able to make the trip out. How much traveling do you expect your grandmother to do for your 31st birthday? At the last minute, her friend Gloria said that she'd be happy to go with her and so they headed out on Tuesday morning. After some minor complications along the way, the two made it after over fifteen hours.

We had a Garit and Lorena over again for another dinner on my actual birthday, which was very nice. A new birthday dinner means a new birthday cake, right? Becca said she could cook all day if she had Gloria and Grandma to help clean dishes as soon as she was done with them. They were excellent guests! After dinner Becca got the idea to spend the rest of the evening up on the mountain side off of Provo Canyon so we zoomed away!

Lorena covered for me so I could take half of the next day off and we took Grandma and Gloria to see temple square. Working a three and a half day week to spend time with family and friends was really nice.

I got to practice my German again, which was a plus. A German tour group came in while a nice Japanese missionary and her Latvian companion led our tour group. I switched sides and listened to the German missionary tell about the tabernacle. The Germans were very impressed by the tabernacle and I was impressed with how much I understood. As I told Grandma about what I was able to grasp she said, "Your tour guide told you more than ours did!" It helps when you get to speak in your native language.

 

At the end of the day Grandma treated us all out to eat. Becca chose a Sri-Lankin restaurant that we've come to really like. I'm proud of the rest of our group for being adventurous and trying something new! While I don't know if they were as thrilled with the place as Becca and I are they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Food tastes better with good company.

Thank you all so much to those of you who called, sent cards, gifts or simply wished me a happy birthday on Facebook. I am a blessed man to have so many great friends and to be part of such a loving family.

Memorial Day 2012

I had two birthday dinners this year so I think I'll blog about both separately. On Monday, Garit, Lorena, Becca and I all got up early to hike up to Y Mountain with the dogs.

We decided to climb down onto the Y this time.

It was a great way to start the day. Becca made us rice pudding for breakfast, at my request. We then headed out to Salt Lake City to see temple square. I had really been wanting to go for a while and it was Lorena's first time. I even got to practice my German and Spanish with a couple of the missionaries there.

We went back home and were joined by our friends the Higbees for dinner.

Becca made one of her famous cakes and Garit, Lorena and I made milanesas (fried breaded steaks). Evy prepared a lovely salad, corn on the cob and strawberries with cream. What a feast!

Ayelen (pronounced Ah-sheh-LEHN) and Joaquin got to lick the beaters used to prepare the frosting. The little boogers didn't save any for their younger brother Marco who was stuck in the bathroom without any toilet paper. Becca let him have a spoonful all to himself which really made the other two jealous.

I am happy to announce that I didn't gorge too much this week in spite of all of the wonderful food and good company. I greeted my thirty-first year at a healthy weight for the first time since 2005. I'm still a few months away from my goal weight but it feels great to be active and healthy again!