Trevor Heads Back to School...

How quickly the summer passes.  Trevor headed back to BYU on Thursday.  We had a great summer and as always were sad to see him leave.  He is a junior and studying civil engineering.  Enjoy your year Trevor....

Dave Comes to San Diego

Dave came to San Diego for an interview.  We planned to meet him at El Indio for dinner.  We were almost there when the road we were planning to turn on was blocked off by police.  A large truck carrying cars was trying to negotiate a turn and had become stuck.  We had to go to the next street further down and head back on a one-way street.  Traffic was at a stand still and we were afraid we would miss spending any time with Dave.  We parked on the street above.  Dave got out and started running to the restaurant, 3/4 mile away.  I was in very high heels and walked slowly down this steep street.  That wasn't working so I took my shoes off and went barefoot down this steep hill.

 I walked to the restaurant and was met by Dave who had just ordered.  I finished my taco quickly and left Dave squared to finish their meals while I walked back to get the car to pick them up.  We headed to the airport and dropped him off shortly before his flight left.  It wasn't a relaxing meal, but it's always good to see and spend time with Dave.

Elder Ballard Visits MCRD

What a pleasure it was in July to have Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the 12, attend Sacrament Meeting at the MCRD Branch, where Dave serves as Branch President.  Elder Ballard's son-in-law, President Clayton, is the new Mission President in San Diego.  He and his wife were scheduled to speak that day.

They bore sweet testimonies and then turned time over to Elder Ballard.  He shared with the recruits the branch of service that he and his fellow apostles served in.  He also spoke of the Savior and bore testimony of Him.  The spirit was present and a great memory for the recruits and all those in attendance.

40 Years Already...

Dave and I traveled to Utah last weekend to attend his 40 year high school reunion.  It was a quick trip, leaving Friday after work, and returning Sunday evening.

 Saturday morning we got up and went to visit Aunt Lovinia, my mom's only surviving sibling.  She is 93 years old, lives by herself and continues to host family gatherings.  We enjoyed talking, laughing and reminiscing with her.  We went to our favorite restaurant, Hires, for lunch and then headed for reunion preparation.

Dave was one of 3 MC's.  It was a lot of fun as he connected with those he hadn't seen since the last reunion 10 years ago.  They played Jeopardy with events that happened during their high school years and historically.  We were one of the last to leave and enjoyed every minute of it.

The next day we took flowers to Dave's parent's graves.  We went to church with Joyce and her family.  Joyce had a nice BBQ after Church at her home so we could get together with the rest of the relatives.  It was a great time! While in the airport before we left, I stopped to get a cookie at Starbucks. I glanced at the guy next to me in line and then looked at him again. I said, "Michael Bolton"? He replied, "Yes.". I told him that I had enjoyed his music over the years. When I left I said, "Have a good day," and he responded with "Nice talking to you". I hurried to tell Dave who I'd seen.

As you can see, Dave has lost 50 lbs since February.  He runs 3 miles, 6 days a week and is counting calories.  His doctor has cut his diabetes and high blood pressure meds in half.  I am so proud of him!

Friday Night Lights

In an effort to remain young, Dave and I went to the Maroon 5/Train Concert's opening night for their new tour.  Gavin Degraw also performed.  The concert was held at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in San Diego.  They played for a total of 4 hours with only breaks to change sets.  It was amazing.

We have been to a Maroon 5 concert before at the same venue but since watching "The Voice", I am an even bigger Adam Levine/Maroon 5 fan so we paid a little extra for real seats rather than lawn chairs in the way back.

Train closed the show.  This was our first Train concert and they were great.  Pat Monahan was great with songs like "Marry Me" and my favorite, being from the Bay Area, "Save Me San Francisco."  We had a great time.  We got home at 1:15 AM but really enjoyed our evening together.  Thanks Hon for humoring me.

The Briggs Visit From Tucson

We were lucky to have Dave, Melissa, Mikalynn & Baby David visit us last weekend.  We enjoyed all the various activities like beach trip, favorite restaurants, power breakfasts, Rook games and snuggling our precious grandkids.

We went to dinner at Pat & Oscar's on Saturday night with plans to have Mikalynn ride the "up down" when we finished eating.  When we got over to the merry-go-round, it was closed.  Melissa came up with the brilliant idea for Mikalynn to ride up and down the escalators with Grandpa & Grandma.  We had so much fun and laughed and giggled the whole time.

Papa gave Mikalynn a piggy back ride back to the car since she didn't get to ride the horsey on the merry-go-round.

 It was nice to attend church together on Sunday.  Trevor's girlfriend, Cinthya, came to spend the day with us and meet Trevor's brothers and their families. This picture was taken after arriving home from church.  We had a nice dinner and cooked s'mores in our outdoor fire pit.

Little Dave was chillin' outside . . .

. . . and Mikalynn was enjoying her s'more.

We were sad to see them leave early the next morning.  Hopefully, they'll be living near us soon.

Camp Taloa 2011

After months of preparation, Camp Taloa 2011 came to pass.  The theme was "Happily Ever After".  The YCL2's (some shown here) were amazing as they led the camp by example.  There were 85 girls; a total of  114 including leaders.



Some of the highlights were wedding dresses made of toilet paper, Ruth McRae's talk on "Taming the Dragons", hair braiding, amazing crafts, awesome programs, well planned certification activities, a great slide show, early morning hikes and ending with heartfelt testimony meetings.  What a joy to spend a few days with these wonderful girls of Carlsbad Stake.

Introducing David William Briggs

Welcome to our newest grandchild and first grandson David William Briggs.  He, like his dad, is named after both grandfathers.  He was born May 26, 2011 at 10:19 AM, weighing in at 8 pounds 4 ounces.  He was delivered via c-section due to a prolapsed cord.  Mother and baby are fine and we are glad he is here safely.  It was so much fun to be there when they were released from the hospital and see Mikalynn's reaction to her baby brother when he arrived home.  It was precious.  

Our Dental Plan

We are in San Antonio right now visiting Ashley, Kevin and Kimball for Kevin's graduation from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School. He has passed his licensing exam and has accepted a position with a dental office in Corpus Christi. They are moving to Corpus Christi on June 1st and he begins work on June 6th.  Thank goodness Southwest flies into Corpus Christi.

Doctor Dave

We went to Tucson in May to see Dave, Melissa and Mikalynn.  Dave graduated with his doctorate in Molecular and Cellular Biology, a proud moment for all.  We had fun visiting with their family and Melissa's parents who also came from California for the big event.  We went to the Tucson Children's Museum and had a lot of fun watching Mikalynn play and shop.  We enjoyed all the exhibits ourselves.  We are anxiously awaiting the birth of our first grandson, David William, who will be induced on his due date, May 25th.

Visiting Lindsay & Sam in Philadelphia

We went to Philadelphia, by way of Baltimore (by mistake) to visit Lindsay and Sam for Lindsay's 30th birthday.  We had such a great trip! We visited Sam at the hospital he works at, met Lindsay's patients at Target and wheeled them around to do a little Easter shopping and tried the local fare, Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  It was good to see where they live, attend church with them but most importantly just spend time with them.  Dave met Coach Reid, the Philadelphia Eagles coach, at church and tried to give him a few tips for the NFL draft.