Holiday

12 Jul 2006 03:38 pm
Whelp, back to work after a short vacation to California.

We left on Friday the 30th of June, traveled to Fernley, then stayed overnight at Scott and Holly's. It was good to see them, since it's been a while. It was even nicer to break up our trip into 2 parts and not kill ourselves trying to make 12 hours in one go. Here's a pic with me, Bella, Holly, and Auntie Alice:
Then we stayed at Circle's parents place from Saturday until Thursday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I went for the triple crown of movie viewing and saw The Davinci Code, Nacho Libre, and Superman. Awww yeeeeeah. Davinci Code was good...I was surprised at how well it followed the book. Nacho Libre wasn't great, but I didn't think Napolean Dynamite was great either....they're both full of quote-able lines, but lack substance. Superman was entertaining and definitely worth seeing on the big screen. The action scenes almost had me in tears from excitement, but I really hated the blatant attempts to allude to Superman as "Messiah." It also got a little slow and boring at the end.

I got sunburned on both front and back from laying out for an hour and a half...I'm still recovering...I didn't think I would burn so quickly.

The main reason we went out to CA was for my buddy, Ben Cochran's, wedding. Thursday we drove down to Stockton for his co-ed "bachelor party." Mormon bachelor parties aren't what you'd normally think of when you think of the word. It was mostly just hanging out and chatting. Ben showed up like 3 hours late, but the rest of us enjoyed catching up.

The funniest part was the Karaoke. The party was at Jeff McKee's house where he has a big white wall and a digital projector for watching movies. But he also has a karaoke program that hooks into a microphone and flashes the words to hundreds of fun songs up on the screen. We sang our hearts out and Bella absolutely loved it, she danced in front of everyone like she was on stage. She also grabbed the microphone herself a couple times and babbled her version of singing into it. Good times.

Friday we hung out some more in Stockton and went to dinner with my brother Ben. He was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease which is a cancer of the lymphatic system or "Lymphoma." He's been going through Chemotherapy and is therefore pretty tired all the time.

We went to Applebees and chatted for a bit, but he was pretty quiet because he had worked that day and that really takes it out of him. Bella was great with him and held his hand and sat calmly next to him at dinner. I really think she has a sensibility that allows her to adapt to people's needs and give them just what they need depending on their mood.

It was good to see Ben. His situation is a real wake-up call to me about the fragility of life. We're praying that he will get through this ok.



Saturday we went to Ben Cochran's wedding in the Oakland Temple. It was strange to see an old friend tie the knot. I wish that he and I had kept in better touch after my mission and after his return from the military. It was honestly a little awkward talking to him. 1st because he's a different person now than the Ben I remember, and 2nd because he and his fiancee/bride were so tied up in each other that he didn't have much time to really chat one-on-one.

I'm still not sure what to think of his wife "Liorah." I hope they'll decide to keep in touch with old friends so I can get to know her better. Ben seems to genuinely love her, so that's good.


Sunday we drove to the ranch outside of Winnemmucca and visited Grammie Bea, Grandpa Hank, Ralph, Sophie, and Uncle John (my Mom's twin). It was a nice visit and Circle really hit it off with Sophie (they watched the Latino version of American Idol together and bonded).


It was a funny experience because my normally stoic uncle Ralph had a bit to drink and got very excited about explaining their latest gadgets (a huge rig to dig wells and some future possibilities of doing some drilling to access some geo-thermal springs to help fuel a power plant). He and I chatted for a good 2 hours about a lot of stuff...it was the first time I think he's recognized me as an adult since I've pretty much always been a kid whenever we've spent time around each other in the past. It was really quite refreshing.

We spent the night in Great Grammie Viola's old house. She passed away a couple years ago, but her house has been kept in almost the same state. Circle said she got the impression from everyone that Grammie Viola was a very respected person in our family and that everyone is trying to keep her memory preserved.

Monday we woke up early and made the rest of the drive back to Utah. It's kind of sad to be ending a vacation and going back to the grind, but it's also nice to be home.

Here are some random pics of bella that didn't fit into my narrative: