Sacramento Temple-

In our Holladay ward Relief Society, we had an activity called "Service Auction". We first filled out a form that counted up how many points we had from all the good things we did during the week (reading scriptures, praying, visiting teaching, etc.). I had about 200 points, most of the other ladies in the activity had more like 400 (I guess I need to serve more!).

Anyways, using those points as "money", we had a service auction. Some people donated babysitting, baby quilts, baked goods, and I donated an 11 by 14 painting of the Temple of their choice. A lady named Noni Reugner outbid others for the Temple painting and she chose the Sacramento Temple.

We moved before I finished it, but Greg took it up to her on his way to work. Apparently she seemed to like it when he gave it to her. I was afraid she wouldn't - I didn't spend as much time and effort as I should have on it and I cut out a bunch of details like a fountain that I now regret not painting them in. I think I'm always going to feel like that with each painting I do - because I'm no professional.

Ode to a Sunfire

As you may have gathered from an earlier post by Ilene, we recently purchased a new vehicle. It is an exciting toy, with lots of features, and it promises a great driving future. But, as I quietly turn its title over to a new owner, I reminisce on what my faithful Sunfire has meant to me over the past 5 years.

I begin with the statistics, which may be of interest. I owned the car 1,916 days from the day I purchased it to the day we parted. I drove it 78,212 miles. I put 2,791 gallons of gas into its tank over the five years, at an average price of $2.397 per gallon (that’s $6,631 dollars in gasoline for those of you who are counting). It averaged a surprising 28.0 miles per gallon, costing me about 8 ½ cents per mile in gasoline. I averaged about 7 days between fill-ups, and put gas in the tank 261 times. I drove it an average of about 41 miles per day, at an average cost of about $3.50 per day.

But that car was so much more for me than statistics. My Sunfire was the first vehicle which I ever purchased myself. I travelled all over with it: four trips back and forth from Phoenix, twice to San Diego and to L.A., twice to Fernley and Reno. It took me to Zion’s Park, Flaming Gorge, Yuba Lake, and Redfish Lake. It took me back and forth to Vernal many times while I worked there. But, mostly, it got me around town living in Provo and Herriman, Mesa and Holladay, Riverton and Vernal. It took me to and from the office when I worked for Delta Airlines, University of Phoenix, Utah Water Rights, Brigham Young University, Naples City, and Cottonwood Heights.

The windshield bore three different BYU parking passes over my time as a grad student. I incurred two speeding tickets and one warning while driving diligently on Utah roads. Not once, though, did my Sunfire and I suffer an accident. There was that little bump with a shopping cart once, and the time when we were ever-so-slightly brushed against in a driveway, incidentally, both in San Diego. But the damage both times was so slight as to be virtually invisible.

So many important events involved that car, that machine, that loyal companion. I drove my wife to dinner and a movie in that car on our first date. And, it was in that sedan that we drove to the temple and then on to our honeymoon. Our first and some subsequent vacations were made in its bucket seats. It bore Ilene and me to nearly a dozen different temples, between us. And on one cold, slippery day in October of 2007, on his first ride in an automobile, I entrusted the safety of my first-born son to its care.

So, here’s to you, Sunfire! Though Ilene may never have loved you, we both were certainly grateful for your service. And though our parting was sudden, it is not without great fondness that I bid you farewell, and happy trails.

Halloween 2008-

We weren't going to bother with getting Toby a costume and going trick-or-treating, but at the last minute I decided I really wanted to go. :) So I rushed to Walmart and got the cutest costume I could find (and got a couple sizes too big so hopefully he'll be able to wear it next year), and begged Greg to drop whatever he was doing and come with us.

Toby didn't want to hold his own candy!

Some houses had scary decorations! Toby got scared a bit. The tiger in the background is Damian.

Checking out the loot!

Candy wrappers aren't as good as the candy inside