Egg Hunts, Easter/Birthday Dinner

The Geocaching Egg Hunt, Saturday April 10th, Orem...The Geo Idiots, Wonton Cache'n, and The Hardy Boys' Mom teamed up, arrived at 8:30am (ugh) and spent 3 hours driving around Utah County following clues to cache locations.

Baron designed great team T-shirts with a modified caching symbol that included a rabbit and an egg. Other teams were jealous!

At one of the first cache locations we found...the red boxes in Mapleton. We had to photograph each location and each photo had to include the 2-bunny-picture token which was Brie's responsibility. She did a great job!

At the hummingbird plaque in a Provo Park.

We got bonus points for a photo on a twisty slide.

We also got points for being the "First-to-Find (FTF) a location and pick up the Easter Egg."

There were 10 teams all together. We came in 6th Place by finding 15 of the 22 locations, plus 2 FTF eggs, plus quite a few points for bonus photos. We had a great time.

We also got some extra points by playing this game. Baron stuffed 5 Pink Peeps into his mouth and was still able to say "I am a Chubby Bunny!"

Daddy and daughter having fun at the park.

Miss Bunny Brielle back home and drawing dinosaurs.

A close-up of the retirement beard, 9 days old. It came off on day 10.

Now it is Sunday and guests have arrived for the Easter/Birthday dinner. The forsythia has bloomed!

Brie driving the jeep.

Colby driving the jeep.

Brie finds a candy-filled carrot.

Colby finding eggs in the back yard.

Turkey time.

Airie's rolls.

Autumn's asparagus.

Happy Birthday Airie! (with frosted Easter cut-out cookies)

April 6th in Farmington--Happy Spring!

The pond and bending branches...

At least 5" of wet and heavy white stuff.

HE'S OUTTA THERE!

March 31st, 2010...Dad's last day with Salt Lake County Information Services!! Dilbert and Dogbert are retiring with him.

His office provided a lunch of deli sandwiches, chips and veggies and dips (the bean dip was excellent), potato salad, drinks and tons of brownies and cookies for the reception that was held afterwards.

Here's a table in his honor with balloons and photos. One of the plants was a gift for him, the other for another retiring co-worker.

Some of the partygoers.

More of the partygoers.

Cheese it up fuzz ball...retirement congrats banner in the background.

Mixed emotions.

One of many guests is Amy Bradshaw who was an IBM representative in the early years...back in days at the city and county building. She remembered and mentioned Briton's and Baron's names because they did yard/pool work for her parents who still live beside Farmington Creek. The last time we saw her was at her wedding at that house, probably 20 years ago! We also saw the Clingenpeels at the reception and talked about the good old days on 300 E. 3900 S., before children!!

Laur and his trusty (and dedicated) assistant for 13 years, Melani. Her hobby is scrapbooking and she made him a special one with photos and memories. They will miss each other a lot.

It’s hard to believe how fast 38 years have flown by. Life will be changing, but surely the freedom will be fabulous. I’ll have to buck up and do without door-to-door chauffeuring for a while longer…how spoiled I’ve been. Dad has been a dedicated provider for our little family and I’m grateful. I’m proud of his accomplishments and hard work, from being a COBOL programmer using punched cards, sharing a table and a cup of pencils in 1972 in the City & County Building working with a group of 20, to an executive with his own desk and amazing technological tools, working with a division of more than 80. (It’s fun to think that I talked him into taking a computer science class when we were dating at BYU!) I was in his office on Friday evening to help take the big vase to the Honda and a co-worker walked in to say goodbye. He expressed some kind and sincere words including a comment about Laurel spending more time helping others than trying to be important. I was touched and teary. I haven’t really thought of how others feel about him or what kind of employee and supervisor he has been or how he has put up with all the political garbage through the years. (He isn’t as blatantly open and emotional as I am and less self-centered!) But as I have been talking to others recently, I am gaining some awareness and appreciation. He will miss working with many people, but now he has the opportunity to look to the future and a number of projects vying for his attention.

ENJOY & CONGRATULATIONS!

Happy Birthday Dad and Abram

Dad blowing out 6 + 3 candles on the birthday cheesecake (before the cherry topping).

A & A & A

The Stansbury Barker Bunch

Where in the world is Carmen Lasagna? Look carefully...it will soon be devoured!

Smiling because the French bread is ready and the feast is about to begin.

The birthday boy opening cards and presents.

Most all of the presents were "Retirement" themed. Yes, Dad's last day at work will be March 31st.

What a haul...thanks everyone for thinking of the old man. Lots of creativity here.

Jack Butler comfortable shirt and slippers, soap opera guide to help plan the daytime TV viewing, chocolates to eat while watching the Soap Operas, new hobbies to take up...paint by numbers and model magic presto dots(?!), geocaching gear, ear plugs (to sleep through Mom's early morning alarm), lots of Barbeque equipment so dinner can be served when Mom walks through the door after work, Marionberry jam for toast if he gets up in time for breakfast, and a straw hat in case he decides to do any yard work this summer! There's also a bottle of windshield cleaner to help him have a clearer view of the future and what lies ahead. Congrats on your retirement...you've earned it!!!

The other birthday boy, Abram, who has turned 27!

Sunday was the nicest day we have had all year...warm enough for the spin in the jeep in the back yard before the party. Hey the lawn is starting to green up!

Look out Brielle, here comes Colby, wheeling and dealing.

Colby, the Leprechaun!

Randy and Melanie Lewis's new, second home in Midway (by Heber). They invited us and Rob and Naida Stayner up for a "sleepover" on Friday night. We ate lots of good food and talked until 1:00am.

Ice sculptures at the Zermatt Resort in Midway.

Ice sculpture closeup.

Naida, Rob, Melanie, Randy, Laur and Paula

The sleepover gang clowning around and wondering when the camera is going to click!

Shen Yun

On Tuesday, March 16th, we drove to Ogden after work for a great dinner (chicken piccata and salmon) at The Artisan Grille. (The primary chef and owner of this restaurant is the man I took my cooking class from last month.) Then we went to see the Shen Yun Performers present a 2-1/2 hour show of classical Chinese dance (which is a combination of ballet and gymnastics) at the Egyptian Theater in Ogden. It was amazing and very entertaining. There were 16 dance numbers (with up to 20 male and 20 female dancers and one little girl,) plus 4 vocal soloists (in Chinese with subtitles, 2 sopranos and 2 tenors accompanied by a pianist on a Steinway grand.) Two narrators told about each performance (in Chinese and English) and the orchestra had a mixture of eastern and western instruments. Scenes of China (sometimes animated) were projected across the back of the stage which also had 3 risers and they used dry ice machines to produce clouds/fog for several numbers. The costumes (often including head gear) were unbelievable, different for every number(!) exotic and very colorful. Several of the dances depicted stories of Chinese myths/historical events and many were regional “folk dances.” Props were sometimes used including lanterns, bows (archers), handkerchiefs (one of our favorite numbers), etc. We really liked a dance called “In a Miao Village” done by the women wearing elaborate headdresses and ornate silver jewelry that included jingling bells which started faintly and increased in volume and exuberance. We also liked the dances with costumes that had flowing silken sleeves, about 5 feet longer than the arms, swirled like banners, etc. The music was great. Some of it sounded like Kitaro. There was a lot of percussion. The leaps, the front and back flips, the synchronization, well it was all impressive and the themes included the importance of family, hard work, endurance, and religious concepts. Some pointed out the intolerance that exists in China today. The performers were probably in their 20s, ethnic Chinese, born in the United States and trained in New York. They have three companies on tour. The one we saw will be in Portland this weekend, the other two are in Japan and Switzerland! The narrators said that the performance we saw could not be seen in China…not allowed. We had fabulous seats on the front row!!! This allowed us to see all the details of the elaborate costumes as well as the faces of the charming and talented performers. We could peek into the orchestra pit and we also felt the fog/clouds rolling out over the stage. We truly enjoyed the evening. It was something out-of-the-every-day, impressive and memorable. Thanks to B&R for the tickets!