Sandy Ego

We've been thinking about taking Dad down to San Diego to stay at my sister Laraine's house for a while. I've never been able to convince Dad that it would be a good idea, enjoyable to get out of the snow and cold... he's complaining that he can't get outside to do any walking. He just does the Eeyore , "no, I'm OK. Don't worry about me...". I brought it up again last week, I mentioned that Brenda and I were thinking about going down to SD cause we had some business to take care of, and wondered if he might like to come along. Well, he perked right up and thought that he might like that. It's interesting how his mind works now. I think he had a pretty good time down there. He went on several walks...one was when B and I were gone to take care of some business, Sydney stayed with him and he wanted to go out for a stroll. On the loop, there is a steep hill that he has to stop several times... she kept thinking to herself, "what if he collapses? what do I do?" Luckily, we came driving around the corner and picked them up. Hey, if he goes, at least he goes doing something that he likes, right? We also went to the ocean and hung out there a bit, saw Brenda's niece Krista and her family, we saw some old friends from when we lived in Seattle- the Romeros. They live on quite a nice spread, but it's heck and gone from SD- out in the sticks, but oh so nice. It was good to visit with them and compare "war wounds". They are just some of God's "salt of the earth" people, he was up as a possible candidate for the new stake presidency (it was just reorganized, but he didn't get in- will probably next time when they split the stake), so he'll just stay as a bishop (!). He said, "did you ever think 20 years ago, to look forward, would you think that you'd have these kind of family problems?" It just goes to show you, you can be the best you can be, try to do what's right, try to be a good example, blah, blah, blah, but your kids ultimately make their own choices- as tough as it is for us to allow that to happen! It's just so hard to see your kids going through "stuff" when it would be so much easier if they would just do what they're suppose to! Oh well, it's the Lord's plan and we're gonna just stick with it and do the best we can! It just happened to be Brendr's birthday as well whilst we were there- man, what a treat! I mean, who can say that they got to go to San Diego for their 51st birthday? And when it was just going to be a romantic working vacation for the two of us, Dad decided to go, and we made the mistake of telling Sydney and we got to bring her along as well- yippee! Now, a birthday just can't get better than that...can it? To pilfer a line from Carlos... "...you're my reason for reason, the step in my groove..." Happy Birthday, my Love.

Here are a few pix.

Here is Sydney, leading out the wagon train @ the Mormon Battalion Museum

BanD @ SD Harbor

Sydney and Brendr @ SD Harbor

Sydney, Brenda, and Doug with an original member of the Mormon Battalion.... well, almost.

He volunteered... they had to take him. How do you know he wasn't the comic relief? And Mom didn't think he'd amount to anything...

Rochelle, Steve, Brendr, Jerry, and Sydney at the beach. The weather was great... about 70 degrees. The water, not so nice... about 40 probably. Well, after all, it's still winter you know.

Dad and Laraine at the beach. Dad is sporting some sweet shades.