We had our house painted this month. We went from tan and brown to two shades of gray and a yellow door.Brooke had fun decorating the front porch for Fall.I lectured at the Iowa Optometric Association meeting in Iowa City, Iowa on October 17th. It was homecoming weekend for the Hawkeyes.Kinnick Stadium, University of IowaI attended our annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry in Orlando, Florida. This was the view out of my hotel window, looking at Sea World, with it’s roller coasters. Unfortunately, it was all work and no play this week.I got to attend the temple on Orlando on Tuesday.While Carter and I were on our trip Brooke’s friend, Joy, threw a shower for her.The weather was great, and they ate outside.A diaper cake!
I had a conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 12th. Carter went with me and we saw New York City on October 10-11th. This is the World Trade Center Memorial, with the new One World Trade Center in the background.Times Square. We ate at the Olive Garden and had a seat with a window overlooking the square.Carter heard about this place on youtube and really wanted to go. He got a dozen deep-fried Oreos and a shake.Carter and Dad on top of Rockefeller Center with The Empire State Building in the background.Carter with The Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty in the distance.The Manhattan New York Temple.Carter in front of the Bethesda Fountain. The fountain has quite a history and was featured in a TV show we watch as a family called Manifest.Carter in his hoodie he bought at H&M in New York with the Steel Pier in Atlantic City in the background.What a good looking kid. October 12, 2019, Atlantic City, New Jersey.We got up early and headed to Philly on Sunday morning before church to get a few pictures. This is Independence Hall.Carter with the Philadelphia Temple.This is the Jarrettown Ward building where Carter went to church the first two months of his life.Apartment 234-O was Carter’s first home.Abington Memorial Hospital, where 15 years and 15 days ago, Carter was born.
Sunset over Carter’s JV football game at Hilldale High in Muskogee. Temperatures were near 90 degrees during the day, but cooled down enough to make for a very nice evening. The combined youth activity Wednesday evening was pumpkin carving. They youth weren’t too happy that I assigned teams of one guy with one girl, but I think it ended up being a good thing. If you look closely you can see Carter, Abbie, and their Dad.Historic rains made the lake level too high to take our boat out where we normally do all summer. Finally the lake levels came down and the weather stayed warm enough to get out for a final run on October 3rd!Jake’s friend Henry and Abbie’s friend Evelyn came along. The air was warm, and amazingly, so was the water!Goodbye lake…until next summer.
We swam and played spikeball with the cousins on Memorial Day in Texas.We have a tradition of taking the teenage cousins to the temple for baptisms when we go down, then out to chick-fil-a.Abbie planted a garden for one of her personal progress goals.Brooke and the kids did our favorite Ozark hike, Sparrow Hawk Mountain. (Okay, it’s just a hill, and it’s the only hike in the area)Jake and his friends having some fun on the day school got out.Carter earned his life scout award. The eagle is hopefully not far away.
Brooke, Abbie, and I volunteered this year at the Oklahoma Special Olympics Summer games in Stillwater. Optometrists and their staff and families give a day to give eye exams to the athletes. They even make glasses for every athlete that needs them and dispense most of them the same day.Our station was checking the athletes’ distance vision. Abbie and me in front of Boone Pickens Stadium where Oklahoma State plays football.There is a bush trimmed in the shape of a cowboy hat at the entrance to the garden.Jake had his Spring piano recital. You can see him play here: https://youtu.be/30jYhyYqDU4 and here https://youtu.be/j6cnR1hsIqQ
After a very rainy few days, we took advantage of a beautiful Mother’s Day to eat on our screened porch.We love to have hanging baskets on our front porch in the Spring. These two baskets of petunia’s were Brooke’s gift for Mother’s Day.I made quiche for dinner tonight. This is the regular and there was another pan of gluten free.Cherokee Landing State Park 5.11.19 under 12 feet of water. This is where we launch our boat. The boat dock is way off in the distance between the trees. The road to the boat ramp comes from the right side of the picture and disappears into the water. Hopefully warmer, drier weather on the way will help the lake go down.Abbie and her pole-vault teammates and coach. L-R Tori Pham, Abbie, Coach Miller, and Kara Foremen. Throughout the ceremony they called many of the kids by their nicknames. They kept calling Tori “Alaska Girl.” I thought it was a little culturally insensitive, especially because she is of Korean-American descent. Later, however, we realized they were saying “Elesta Girl,” from The Incredibles, because she is so flexible.Abbie is on the left just about to sit down after being recognized for her 5th place finish in the mile at the conference track meet and earned her team 2 points. I learned that each time is awarded 10 points for a 1st place finish, 8 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd, 4 for 4th, 2 for 5th, and 1 for 6th. Relay teams get double the points. Tahlequah 7th and 8th grade girls teams both won the conference meet this year.
We had a fiesta to celebrate the completion of our self-reliance class. L-R are Linda Loftin, Kalun Farrow, Lynn Farrow, and Wayne LoftinMy first counselor and his wife have one biological child and have adopted 5 children, including Hazel, who Brooke watched one day this week while her mom recovered from surgery. She was quite intrigued with Abbie’s bear which was much bigger than she was.This is Jake’s first plate appearance as he was the lead-off batter for his team. He went 0-2 at the plate, but the team won and there was a treat, so he went home happy. He played shortstop, but never had a ball hit at him. Most of the action in at this age appears to be between the pitcher and the catcher.
On April 22nd we had the privilege of accompanying Wayne and Linda on a VIP tour of the Oklahoma City Temple. We were asked to nominate civic and religious leaders or other prominent people in our community to receive a VIP invitation and attend the temple open house before it was open to the public. I submitted Wayne’s name as a retired Methodist minister, and he received an invitation.Abbie and BrookeWe were happy to Abbie accompany us. She was also happy to finally exchange her birthday gift backpack for the right size at the outlet mall in Oklahoma City.
So, this must have been a really boring week, because the most exciting thing that happened is that I took a bite out of a tortilla chip and made the state of Oklahoma.Oh yes, also very exciting: our dryer broke (again). This time it was a thermal fuse (the one in the top of the picture). Wasn’t too hard to fix and the new fuse only cost a few dollars, but not doing laundry for a week got a little tricky.
I was invited to speak at the Arizona Optometric Association meeting in Tucson on Friday. Brooke came along and we were able to go to the Tucson temple on Friday evening.They had a free yoga class on Saturday morning that Brooke took advantage of. She is the farthest away in the front row.I was able to get some laps in for my workout one day. I tried backstroke, but found it was too difficult without a ceiling to keep you going straight. An older lady was unfazed by the no-ceiling issue and did backstroke. It was more of a zig-zag pattern between the two side walls of the pool for her, and the rest of us stayed out of her way.The weather was beautiful – mid 70’s, and calm most of the time, but – no surprise – very dry. My nose really feels it when I come west after living in humid Oklahoma.I have never seen so many saquaro cactuses in one place. There were so many, so evenly spaced it seemed artificial – kind of like the animals they put out on tracks in Yellowstone. According to wikipedia they can live to be 150-200 years old and grow up to 40 feet high.We enjoyed breakfast each morning outside on the patio.
Johnson Times and Seasons 