Victor's Birthday

Gratitude is the only word to describe the feeling of having attended Victor's birthday party Saturday night. His birthday was actually Friday, and Ethan's is Saturday. Unfortunately for us, Ethan is in San Jose, and we couldn't be there. But we joined Victor, his dad and mom Choung and Liyan, his sister Eva and his little brother Felix for a great party. Others there were Hai, Kyle and Jacob, Mike, Christine and Sam, Cuong, Linh, Kayla and Regan, Chi, Diep, Sara and Alvin, Nic, Hailey, Kennedy, Sierra, Ava and Bree, Hoa, Thuy, Lyann, Vivian, Dillan and Mia, Su Lu, Hui, and Paula and I.




As usual, it was Sierra who provided the dance number. Reminds me so much of Michelle who at that age was virtually oblivious to what ever else was going on around her, and would simply ignore the chaos and be dancing in the corner. CC doesn't worry about corners!



Somebody must have grabbed my camera!


Kayla is really turning into a great older sister/cousin. She is really good about spending time with her family.


Brothers and their toys!


Liyan with a lot of help putting together the gift Victor got.


I was particularly grateful for this gathering. Just hours before we had dealt with the very difficult process of shutting down Vial and Pham, the construction company. This is extremely painful, especially for Hoa and Nic who have sacrificed so much for it. To have all the family together and realize that we are healthy, happy, warm and very blessed is of great comfort. We are family, and that remains the single most important thing in the world.

The Anders Family

Anders is in Kindergarten. For the next 12 years his parents are going to find that their lives are going to revolve around him and of course the two twirps coming up behind him. It is really fun though as our home in Windsor is right across the street from the school and a couple minute walk to the rec center where they play basketball on the weekends.

Of course playing in the stands is almost as fun as the game.


When you are not sure what to do, grab that shirt and chew!


And if everyone else has their hands up, for heaven sakes, get yours up!


Be sure you know which direction the play is!


And even if it is by accident, setting a pick is a good move!


Of course the most important equipment for basketball it the Gatorade!


And if you get hurt, it is a good idea to have mom around to encourage continued participation.


Of course he learned everything he knows from his dad Brig.

Or maybe his Uncle Mike. Wait, is Mike actually taking a shot off the same foot as the hand he is shooting with? Weird!


Maybe someday he will learn to leap like his Uncle Brady!


It's awesome when your Uncle Mario, Aunt Angie and their new little one Joshua are in the cheering section.


Josh even whistled! (Isn't that what he is doing?)

Then there was the play that Ander's class did called the Mitten. Each of his classmates were one of the animals that crawled into the Mitten to stay warm.


Anders was a fox!


I mean that was the part he was playing.


At the end of the play, all the animals hold their breath in order to fit into the mitten. Anders was a little late on the uptake.


Dad and Eddie were loving the play.


After the play, it was Ander's turn for show and tell. He featured his buddy and brother Eddie!



Later in the week, his class participated in the school program. Don't try to find Anders however, he got bummed about wearing the wrong shirt and never made it to the stage.


His poor teacher was looking all over for him. The next day I talked to him and he really missed Anders.

My Gladiator Nephew!

My younger brother Jeff and I have always been pretty close. He is a school teacher in southwestern Montana, living in the little town of Twin Bridges where his wife Lynn grew up. They have 4 great boys who we have had a lot of fun watching grow up. The oldest of these is Clark. He has always been an interesting kid. Like the time he shot the horn off a deer just to see if he could do it. Or the time he jumped into the river in April on a dare off the bridge in the middle of town. (He admits that he was really scared that time!) For the past 6 months or so he has been working in Windsor, Vermont as he prepares to go to BYUH this fall. He has been a great help.


While he is working with the family real estate business in Windsor, he has taken up boxing. He made it into the finals of the Tri-State Golden Gloves boxing tournament in Burlington, Vermont, where he fought his way through the teams from Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. A few shots of this true gladiator!

Looking tough entering the ring.


Landing a left jab.




And a great combination!




And while he didn't win it all (one fight short), he really proved he could stand in there with the best!

Back in Vermont!

Occasionally, I ask myself why I blog. The answer is partly because it provides me with a way to let my family know what I am doing. I try now to take my camera with me all the time. Even when I go to work in the morning, I throw the camera in my bag. That has become more difficult as the camera becomes bigger and more complicated, but it likewise can take a greater variety of pictures. But back to blogging. The real reason is that I have long felt guilty about not being a good journal keeper. I have been taught since I was a boy that a journal would help keep one focused on what is important in life, and believe that. So these are my feeble attempts. They are not nearly as comprehensive as I would like, and I find that my camera just does not seem to capture some very important parts of my life, but at least this is better than nothing.

This entry is of our recent visit to Vermont. Our trips there become more and more comfortable each time we go. We love our home in Oregon, but the more friends we make in Windsor, and as the family there grows, it really feels like home as well. I guess only the very lucky have more than one home! When we go, it is always from Portland International Airport, but we have a choice of 4 airports in New England which are between 1 and 2 hours from Windsor. This makes it nice because we can shop for the best airfare. Amazingly, it is cheaper to fly to New England for us than to fly to Salt Lake City. We are usually able to fly roundtrip for under $300. Flying into Boston, Hartford, Conn., Manchester, NH, or as in this case Burlington, Vermont are all equally interesting. Burlington for example, on Lake Champlain near the Canadian border is also a border security location. As a result, the check in there is as strict as anywhere I have been. While the lines are short, the personnel are thorough and you definitely feel safe. The picture above shows aircraft of the National Guard unit named after those famous revolutionaries the Green Mountain Boys who stood up to the states of New York and New Hampshire, declaring that Vermont was an independent democratic country until recognized as a state of this very young country.

While it has been an unusually low snow year, it was nonetheless very cold. Amazing sights include the ice sculptures created by the cliffs along the freeways, and the ice in the Conn. River where it had broken up and then re-frozen.

Looking across the river to Windsor from the NH side, it is hard to imagine the non-frozen river we normally see.

Just out Chelle's back door on Lake Runnameade, they were ice fishing. I woke up one morning to hear what I thought was a chainsaw in the distance, and my investigation found them drilling with a gas auger for the ice fishing expedition.


One of our joys is to have the grandchildren, whoever and wherever they might be. The cold is evident on Mattie's happy face on our walk home from school, which is just across the street from the Parrish house.


We continue to try and make a contribution to Windsor as we are buying residential and commercial real estate to fix up and operate as a business for Chelle and Brig and the family in Windsor. We have now about 35 residential units in 3,4 and 5 unit buildings as well as several commercial properties. We recently bought a property that had burned, and that the owner has essentially taken the insurance money and left town. Kinda scary!



We are not yet sure what we will do with it, fix, rebuild or restore, but our friend and Architect Bob Haight, a true local is helping us to develop a vision and plan for our holdings in Windsor. Bob is a classic Vermonter. Smart, creative, and truly trying to thing about what is really important in life. He has been great at both the macro and the micro vision, even to the point of coming in and advising on how to finish off a room to keep it looking authentic while maximizing it function. Here he displays the Windsor core master plan that we have been using to plan our acquisitions.


So here's to Chris Cammock (then Larson) who more than 10 years ago in far off Laie, Hawaii befriended our Alicia, became her roommate, introduced her brother Brig to Chelle and has had such a big impact on our lives!


And to the little ones which have resulted from this fortunate relationship development like Mattie. Why she decided to clean the entire basketball court perimeter line on her hands and knees I can't explain, but it is not an unusual Larson clan act! We are glad we got invited along on this ride!!!!!!


We are once again "home" in Scholls, work is busy and family is as well. But we cannot help but think how lucky we are for the richness of our lives.