Follow Up

I am happy to report that the base of the toilet is now clean. Yessir! It is dead cockroach free! Their little buggy bodies are resting peacefully in my vacuum cleaner (the only way I could get myself to do it was to suck them up with the vacuum hose; that way, I was a safe distance from them). Yessir! The toilet is looking brand-spanking new ... or very nearly so.

This post is dedicated to my Wonderful Mother! Love you, Mom!

PS: if you are confused, look up the post from a few weeks ago on August 29, 2011 entitled "I'm Not Going There!".

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

 Daniel got tickets to a Dodgers game last night. Free! The benefits of working at an accounting firm.... (sigh) Someone in his office had 4 tickets to the game they were not using. So Daniel took them. We had Grampa Duty last night, but we just took him with us. He resisted. The whole way there. Proclaimed that he WOULD NOT go to a baseball game! "Like h***, I'm going to a baseball game at this time of night!" His words, not mine. We took him against his will. I guess you could say that was kidnapping (or grampa-napping?); kidnapping him to a baseball game.

But once we got into the stadium, with all the noise and crowds and excitement, he cheered right up. He was just as excited to be there as we were; he loved commenting on the number of spectators, the baseball players, the game, the night, etc. We had a great time at the game and with Grampa!

Grampa and Daniel (look how happy Gpa is!)

Daniel and Me

Daniel, eating a Dodger Dog. Delicious!

Grampa enjoyed a Dodger Dog, too.

Me and Grampa

Daniel, with a mini Dodger's Cap on his head

Grampa's Fixes

On a Sunday about a week ago, Daniel and I decided to take Grampa for a drive. He needed to get out after a weekend of being cooped up inside. We drove through some scenic canyons to the ocean, and on the way back, Grampa got onto a fix ... a counting fix. (He often becomes fixated on something, and then he repeats over and over whatever it is that he's fixated on. One time, he was fixated on us all being friends. He even toasted us being friends over some cranberry juice. This one was really funny!)

He started counting, starting at 1 and going to 100. Then he would start over at 1. At times, he would get distracted by something, and I thought for sure he would lose track. "34, 35, 36 ... Boy, look at those mountains! They're beeeeaaaautiful!" Then, "...37, 38, 39..." It was incredible! He rarely skipped a beat!

Some Fun Pics!

Going through Gpa's stuff, we found this. Sweet, huh?

Daniel and Gpa at the ocean

Leslie and Gpa at the ocean

On Daniel's birthday. We drove around Beverly Hills, feeling very Californian

Leslie and Gpa on Daniel's birthday, after singing to Daniel

These blocks are the toys we give to Gpa to keep him amused and occupied

This is Daniel's latest creation. Lovely, isn't it? Truthfully, we all play with them.

I'm Not Going There!

While we are staying at Grandpa's house, we are helping to clean up the house. And it's quite an adventure.

Today, I tackled the Master Bathroom. I HATE cleaning the bathroom. It's the one chore that I really hate doing. But, it was needed. And my mum taught me how to clean the bathroom right: clean off the counters, wash the mirrors, scrub the tub, the works. When cleaning the toilet, you must clean around the base of the toilet and all around it.

But as I was going to clean the base, I found this:

What IS that?!?! Let's zero in on it!

Ew. Ew. Ew. EW!!!! No.  My mommy taught me right, but this is where I draw the line.  I love you, Grandpa, but THIS is where I draw the line!

And this is how I felt:

PS: lest you get the wrong idea, my Grandpa has a really nice place. Big house, 1 acre,  the best of everything. But, it just ... needs a little TLC. But, there are a few things I won't deal with.

Moving to Calif. and a New Job!

We are now in California living at Leslie's Grandpa Bowen's house; with him and Leslie's Uncle Gary in Woodland Hills. I started my new Job at King, King, Alleman, & Jensen as a Staff Accountant. I'll be working in Burbank. It's a little exciting to be starting a career.


Leslie said we had to take a first day of work picture.

Part of the reason we are living with Grandpa Bowen is to help take care of him. Leslie's grandpa has Alzheimer's so he doesn't remember more than a few seconds. He's not sure who we are, but we love spending time with him. We try to keep him entertained and he keeps us laughing. He does have his moments and it does take a lot of work and patience, but he's a charming man, and is fun to live with.


On our way to California we decided to stop at the Manti Temple for a session. It's a beautiful temple and I have a beautiful wife!

Fun Summer Update

We are really behind on our blog so we'll just have to do a quick update of what's happened.

We spent most of our summer in Medford, OR with Leslie's family. We had a lot of fun except I spent way too much time studying for the CPA exam. It's a four part test and I've taken two of the tests and will be taking the third this Friday. Leslie went to girls camp as a cabin leader and had a blast. I think she enjoyed acting like a teenage girl without all the drama.

We went to Seattle with the Fernandez family to visit Mark and Julie's family and to go sight seeing, but we forgot to steal pictures from the family camera so we don't have any.

We drove back to Utah in July for the Holbrook Family reunion in Park City. We had a blast there. It was good to have so much of our family together. We spent our time hiking, swimming, playing games, and mountain biking.

I had a hard time deciding on what pictures to go with so I just added a ton.


This was a fun family picture. We had everybody, but Zak and Hillary.



This burger was a little big for me.


Our nephews Riley and Damon. Damon has a fat lip because although he is only 6 years old he went mountain biking earlier that day with Michael and I. He was doing great and had already gone down the trail a few times when he wrecked and scraped up his face. But don't worry he was back on his bike later that week doing the trails again. A couple days later he even rode off the trail over a ledge into a stream. He's such a good trooper and loves to mountain bike, and for 6 he's good.
Our cute nephew, Brixton.


I found a new hobby, Mountain Biking! I went with Michael and Damon one day and had so much fun I took Leslie and Emily another day. Later I went on a long bike ride by myself and had tons of fun. We biked at the Canyons Ski resort, so we rode the lifts up and bike back down.


We had lots of fun with our nephew Riley. He wanted to spend every minute he could in the pool.


Brixton and I; we love this picture.


Emily on the trails!

Leslie on the trails too!



We love our family!



Jon Henderson invited us to a Bee's Baseball game. Again, we had a blast.

Hiking with Michael and Damon in the Uinta Mountains