We're Alive!

Let's see, it's been over two years since the last post. But we are alive. This is mainly a test, or some activity to keep the blog from cycling out due to inactivity.

Simplicity

Michelle spoke in the Summit Creek Branch to day on the topic "Simplify your life." It was wonderful, and as usual extremely well prepared and researched. Now we must live it.

Happy Anniversary -- to Us!

Happy Anniversary to us! Happy Anniversary to us! Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary! Happy Anniversary to uuuuuuuus!!! And many morrrrrre!

The Birthday Dance!

At Melanie's birthday dinner, Brooklyn Michelle decided to perform for us. She started by singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and it turned out so cute that Melissa couldn't resist getting it all on video. So heeeeere's Brooklyn!!!!

And here is the encore:

American Festival Chorus - Night to Celebrate Lincoln

This top picture shows Chris, Melissa and our friend Brenna Clarke after the fantastic performance at the USU Kent Concert Hall. Craig Jessop, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's former director is now directing a community choir here in Logan. He led the choir and Orchestra in a night to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. They had pictures on a screen during the performance that showed pictures from that time period. It was a truly inspiring performance.

Chris auditioned for the choir in January when Melissa told him they needed men. They didn't even audition any women. Luckily, Melissa tried out in August and has already had a semester under the direction of a true master, Dr. Craig Jessop. It was a sold out concert. Senator Bob Bennett came and narrated parts of the performance. They sang such wonderful pieces as Peace Like a River, Shenandoah, America the Beautiful, and the Story of the Battle Hymn, etc. We were thrilled that Melissa's in-laws even came to support her from Pocatello, Idaho!

The bottom picture is Chris just before going to the concert. I had to take a picture to document the occasion. This is his first tuxedo. He had to purchase one as they wear it every time they perform. I think the local men's store in town is glad Craig Jessop came to town and requires only the best. Doesn't he look handsome!!! Wow! Now I may have to have him take a dancing class or two to put this tux to good use!

Chris plays tag.

Here's my shot at responding to Creighton's tag. 5 (random) things I love about my wife: 1. I love her voice, especially her phone voice – very feminine. 2. I love how she loves babies and small children – Her example is a big reason all of our children are great with small children. 3. I love her commitment – she is diligent and persevering to the core, and unwaveringly faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 4. I love her enthusiasm and drive, including her famous primal scream. 5. I love her strong appreciation and talents for beauty – music, painting, calligraphy, cooking, and making herself, her children, and her home, look and be (more) beautiful. 5 of my favorite movies (not necessarily in order): 1. African Queen, with Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. 2. Hell in the Pacific, with Lee Marvin. 3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy, with Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, etc. 4. Sergeant York, with Gary Cooper. 5. Valdez is Coming with Anthony Quinn. 5 of my favorite foods: 1. Paella Valenciana (make sure it has squid). 2. Michelle’s Four-layer pudding cake. 3. Squirt. 4. Lime sherbet. 5. Michelle’s oven Bar-B-Q chicken. 5 random things I am proud of (that happened before I met Michelle): 1. Being voice for the dedication of the city of Vitoria, Spain to the preaching of the Gospel in 1977. 2. Driving round trip from Logan, Utah to Guatemala City, Guatemala with my brother David, and uncle, aunt, and cousin, in a Dodge Dart in 1975. 3. Climbing to the top of Waynu Picchu, Peru, with a Japanese friend I met the same day in 1971. 4. With a companion from Chile (Roberto Alarcón), laying the brick, including herringbone, kitchen arches, and a three-story chimney stack, in a house in McLean, Virginia, in 1972, and surviving a lightning strike on a scaffold. 5. Helping my brother, David, keep our immediate family’s farm in Weston, Idaho, running while Dad was in southern Chile helping run the extended family’s farm at Lago Ranco, 1968 or 1969. 5 things I am thankful for: 1. I’m with Creighton’s #1 pick, the Atonement and Gospel of Jesus Christ. 2. Fabulous family, including in-laws (keep it up, Jeff and Joanna, the bar is WAY high). 3. Better-than-I-deserve health, including a good memory (except, Where did I put my keys?) 4. The personal sacrifices, past and present, made in behalf of the freedom I enjoy. 5. Greg Bagley’s slush. As far as passing it on, I am not sure who is watching. If you catch this tag, please let me know in a comment so I can follow it on your blog!

Joanna's Girl's Choice

Today was the Girl's Choice dance at Sky View High School. Joanna went with a blind date with a guy the girl in blue asked her to ask. She didn't have to twist Joanna's arm too much. She does not like dances and she is not big on dating much yet. I am glad she decided to go and the group looks like they will have fun. P.S. Joanna's eyes turned out really red so we photoshoped them to make her look more like a vampire. Worked eh?

Belated Halloween with the Grandkids

My cute grandchildren came over tonight to show off their Halloween costumes. Christina is the witch, Braden is the choo-choo train driver, and Brooklyn is the bumblebee. Don't they look adorable? Here is Grandma Daines with all the girls: Melissa, Joanna, Brooklyn, me, Christina and Melanie C.

Mug Shots

Sorry, I couldn't forget the other two main culprits. What would we do without you guys here to boost our spirits? (happy birthday mom!) -Joji

Distraction

Joji here. I would just like to give a special thanks to Melissa. She really makes a person feel good inside. I especially appreciated the blog her and the rest of the family put up before I ever got home. Happy Melissa Appreciation Day! :)

Joanna's First Date!!

SV Homecoming with Jordan Runyan. Fellow band member and even in the same ward!

Melissa helped Joanna with her hair. Beautiful as always! Everyone had to get in on the act:)

Joanna doing her favorite thing: Primping (ok, maybe her least favorite thing, but the end result was worth it! Hope you had fun Joanna!

And Space To Spare!!

In our de-junking frenzy, we decided to attack the game closet with toys. Joanna took on the DVDs, games and toys, while Melanie pilfered the VCR videos and will "store" them at her house:) If you ever saw this after the grandkids visit, this is a great improvement! Now hopefully it will all fit in the storage bay.

Pioneer Day Musings

I started a new post this morning, focusing on politics, but it got out of hand. Let's leave it at I am reading some really good thought-provoking stuff. If I put together the provoked thoughts in little article-blurbs, I'll let you know and you can dare to request them, but I won't foist them on you as a post. Since this week is the 24th of July, it is a good time to reflect on the pioneers. It can be as discouraging as motivating to contemplate all they accomplished in difficult circumstances. So I like hearing the occasional story that reminds me they had weaknesses that they struggled to overcome. This gives me hope, thinking that they weren't perfect, but still achieved worthy goals. Lorenzo Hill Hatch's diary reveals some of those glimpses. He was a pioneering ace, and his journal records many dramatic stories and grind-it-out hardships. But there are hints of emotional difficulties as well. Lorenzo was on his own while still in his mid-teens. His journal, written long after the death of his parents, mentions his uncle, who appropriated the few earthly goods that should have gone to Lorenzo. You can almost hear Lorenzo's teeth grinding decades later when he writes "He'll have his reward" as a (repeated) punctuation to the recounting of his uncle's misdeeds. It is not for me to judge Lorenzo, but when I think that my Great-Great Grandfather had a tough time letting go of the hurt and anger over an earthly miscarriage of justice, I feel a closer kinship to him as I deal with events that ought not to be. And I get a smidgen of hope that although I may not be able to do things (forgive and let go) better than he did, it may possible to do them faster than he did. Just a Pioneer Day thought. Love you all!

Where to re-start?

It has been a long time since Chris went blogging. I am starting here, and will go the rounds on other blogs and post comments, just to get the blog-fluids flowing again. Sunday is really the only day I can do this - Other days I work a long time and then veg too long a time. Not enough time for connecting to family and friends, so I am grateful for this medium and to have drawn a thick and unwavering line where I can keep a part of a seventh of the fourth commandment. See ya in the comments!

A Day of Craziness

The Chambers and Daines got together and had a fun day of making season blocks and we wanted to show you how fun they turned out. We also had fun with the pineapple glasses. Look at Brooklyn, Braden and Christina!!!

Melissa & Creighton's reception at Mack Park

I am trying to get better at learning how to post these. It seems I can't do it until my daughter, Melanie comes over. She walks me through step by step. Maybe when I have done it 10 more times I will remember how. I had to show you one of the pictures from Melissa's wedding reception. It is a bit dark so I will print some more when I have downloaded the latest ones from our photographer. This was such a special day and the rainy day turned out beautiful. This was May 27, 2008. The wedding was the following day. Her reception was in Pocatello, Idaho on May 28, 2008. I will have to include a picture from that reception as well.

This was the bridal room at the Mystique Theater. The picture doesn't do the place justice. It looked amazing. I will add the backdrop picture when I get it. It was elegant. What a fun memory.

Hi everyone. Sorry that I've taken so much time but I did try to post a blog a couple of weeks ago. My bad. I am just writing a few of the highlights of DC. #1 The Tidal Basin. This walk was gorgeous!There were cool paddle boats floating in there and that looked fun but I am glad we didn't do that. Sorry that these pictures are messing up but at least you can see them right? #2 Mermaid Man. There was a way cool statue in one of the bridges we walked across. It was the coolest and ugliest thing I've ever seen. #3 Air Force Memorial. As you can see, we have Melanie, Devin, and Dad with the three pillars and the moon in the background. These puppies were massive. #658 The Smithsonian Castle. Wow it was pretty and I was in love. I swore to myself that I am going to live in a castle! I would show more and or tell more but these pictures are being crappy on me. Ha ha so I think I'll go before I punch the wall or something. -Jo (p.s. don't comment on my poor picture inserting. I can do it another route but that takes too long so you can just call me crazy)

World War II Memorial

Back to Thursday. The WWII Memorial was the most impressive. It sits between the Washington and Lincoln Memorials, but is unobtrusive because of an elliptical shape, sunken in the middle with a large pool with facing fountains. At either end, there is a tower representing a theater of war (Atlantic in this picture ==>). Each of the campaigns is engraved in stone around a smaller fountain at the base of each tower. Here I am standing at the base of the Pacific tower, with a quote from Gen. MacArthur behind, and some of the later campaigns (Iwo) below to my left (<==). Flanking each tower are several (54 or 56) smaller towers, each with a metal garland, and engraved with the name of a State or Territory. Here is Utah's share of the monument. In the middle of the monument, as you face the Lincoln Memorial, there was a semi-circular granite wall with lots of gold stars mounted on it. Each star represented 5,000 U.S. Soldiers who lost their lives in that war. At the foot of the fountain below, the large engraving reads "MARK THE PRICE OF FREEDOM"On both sides of the stars were more waterfalls. Here is a shot, looking away from the Washington Monument, that gives you a better overall view.

Here are the views on the left of this picture, and on the right. Can you tell we were impressed? From this Memorial, Devin led us toward the tidal basin to see the cherry blossoms, and walk through the FDR Memorial en route to the Jefferson Memorial. Before we could get across the street, though, I was overwhelmed with emotion, and sobbed as I had received a small glimpse and reminder of the tremendous individual sacrifices made by those in military service. The personal losses, like the cumulative good they have done and are still doing for America in particular and the whole earth, cannot be exaggerated.

Great time with Devin and Melanie

Our time with Devin and Melanie was Capitol! We will only do a few highlights, but it will take several blogs, partly because the pics are coming in one installment at a time since we are so rusty at blogging. On Thursday morning, we did a walking tour of the monuments, starting at Iwo Jima, right outside Devin and Melanie's apartment. Here's Devin, "flats" & Iwo =>(Melanie was working that morning)

The monument itself is huge! Check it out. <=

From there, we hiked a loop past the Netherlands Carillion, past Teddy Roosevelt Island, and on to Memorial Bridge. Here is a shot on that leg.We next went to the Vietnam Memorial after crossing the Potomac. The names etched in granite were sobering. Here are Devin and Joanna (reflected in the stone).

We then doubled back to the Lincoln Memorial. It was wonderful having Devin as a guide. He knew quite a bit about the monuments that made it more interesting and meaningful, like why Lincoln is sitting down.

We walked down to the Korean War Memorial. At this point, our (brand new) camera came down with a case of "lazy eye" (the lens didn't open all the way). So on our next posting we will catch you up on the other happenings, captured on Joanna's and Devin and Melanie's cameras.

We saw the inspiring World War II Memorial, then circled around the Tidal Basin, roamed the sprawling Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, and ended with the majestic Thomas Jefferson Memorial. And that was just the first part of the day! From there, we went to Alexandria where Melanie picked us up for the short trip and fabulous experience at Mount Vernon.

It is impossible to boil this experience down to one or two highlights, even daily ones. Our perspective was elevated, our respect and admiration was deepened for the founders and preservers of this nation and our shared ideals and freedoms, our faith in God and the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was confirmed, and the bonds of our love and affection for Devin and Melanie were strengthened, along with the bright prospect of a new grandchild. It is hard to imagine a better family situation than the one Devin and Melanie are creating.

SnoWork

Can you have too much of a good thing? Well, this last month, we have confirmed that you can have more good stuff than you can handle. Take snow, for instance . . . please. The white stuff kept falling and falling and falling. For a week running, my shoveling average was twice per day. Sometimes generous neighbors with four-wheelers helped out, but our walks demand handiwork. Snow accumulated to such a point that there was no where else to put it. In some of the later snowfalls, I would have to walk with a shovel-full to a place where I could drop it, or launch it over my head to have it land on the top of a six-foot-high pile. There is a picket fence to the north of us that is now buried completely. But every time I am tempted to complain, I remember that we are in the fifth or sixth year of a drought. Really, I hear no-one griping about the volume, probably for the same reason. The snow also gives us a better chance to serve and be served. And for a while I enjoyed the illusion that I was lifting weights as much as Michelle does. Last, but certainly not least, Cache Valley has managed to get through the worst season for inversions with only one pollution red day. All in all, the snow is a really good thing. We have just run out of places to put it. Work! While the snow has been piling up, so has my work. Six-day work-weeks are standard now, peppered with wee-hour marathons. There is not time enough to fit it all in, but while it lasts, I am swinging that sickle! Trying to shoehorn my output into a limited timeframe has helped me be more efficient and better at setting and holding to priorities. My clients are happier, and so am I. The downpour has given me (and Michelle) the confidence to hire more help, namely Jeff and Melissa, and there is a whole new treasure of good things inherent in that situation (potential challenges too, but we'll take them along with the blessings!) And like the snowpack promises overflowing canals and a full harvest, so all of this work bodes well for our cash flow, meeting current needs and retiring debt. Work is truly a blessing. Snow is truly a blessing. Blessings so voluminous are being poured out, that there is not room enough, nor time enough, to receive them. Thank God!