Happy Birthday Emi!

Today was Amy's husband, Emi's, 28th birthday. They came to our house for dinner and Eric joined us also. We want to wish Emi a very happy birthday!

Here are a few pictures, first Pam and Amy lighting the candles on his "birthday pie".

A very tasty banana cream pie, Emi's favorite. We also took a couple of minutes to take a family picture. At first it looked like a moment from a sitcom as Amy was trying to use the timer on the camera to take the picture with her in it also but she mastered the camera and we all got in the picture. This one was looking a little too much in to the sun. Enjoy Eric's funny face as he squinted at just the wrong time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMI!

It's been awhile

So I knew I would have big gaps in remembering to update this blog. Actually it's not that I forget, it's just that other things tend to take a higher priority and it's been a busy summer.

If you check out my daughters blog then you know that Pam has been busy painting Amy's new condo, and of course Pam does a great job. But we have had a few other things going on this summer. One of the biggest, most time consuming activities has been our exercising. Pam and I have both been on a diet and exercising routine. Pam has lost in excess of 20 lbs and while she has not yet hit her goal weight she looks great. For me it has been an up and down experience. In 2006 I had a very successful year and lost about 45 lbs but after some back problems and treatments in 2007 I climbed back up to 204 lbs. I am very excited to say that this summer I have finally hit my target weight at 170 lbs. I wasn't sure I would ever make it there but am very grateful I did. Now of course the challenge is keeping it off. Total I lost 65 lbs, or 85 if you count the pounds I put back on and then lost again.

In early August we took a trip down to St George, Utah for my work but while we were there we went to Tuachan, an outdoor Ampitheater, and saw Les Mes. It ws the first time either Pam or I had seen the play and it was fantastic. Tuachan is such a beautiful place to see a play because it sits at the base of some red mountains which they use as a part of the play for scenery. Two days later we saw a personal favorite, Fiddler on the Roof, at the Shakespear Festival in Cedar City. We had a great time.

We also had a funny experience as we went to see the house my boss is building in St George and found Gina's husband, Darrell, there working on the house. I didn't recognize him nor did he recognize us but fortunately Pam did realize who he was. We went to dinner with him and Gina that night. We also got to visit with Shannon and Jon in Cedar City and saw their beautiful new home. While we are traveling we always leave Moby with Eric. Thanks Eric for keeping him for us!

Then on Labor day, after 11 years and 6 months of driving my Saturn around I finally purchased a new car. We bought a 2009 Nissan Murano. After test driving most everything out there, except the large SUV's, over a six month period, we finally picked this car because of how comfortable it is. I have struggled with getting in and out of my Saturn for years because of my back problems, it sits too low and is a tight fit between the steering wheel and the drivers seat, but with the Murano being a crossover and just plain comfortable it is a great improvement. Pam and I hope to be able to travel around a little bit now that we have a car I can stand to sit in for longer periods of time, that is of course if we can afford the gas???

Finally an update on Pam's garden. They have done well and we have been eating most of our vegetables (salads) from it for several weeks now. Our Raspberry production was great this summer. The raspberry's were not large but they were full of flavor. Also, the flower gardens up front look great. In most areas you can no longer see the dirt under neath because of the beautiful flowers.

Well, I guess I'll go back to seeing if BYU can hang on and beat Washington. Take care everyone!