Eddie's Blessing Day

We love coming to visit family, and especially days like today. Blessing a new baby is one of the great traditions of the LDS Church, and the fact that it is such a family affair makes it really fun.

First, just a word about this great little town and the home we have here. We call it the Parrish House in that the renowned artist Maxfield Parrish once owned it. His home was actually across the river in Plainfield/Cornish, a home called the Oaks, but he bought this home we think for a love interest that never worked out. I don't even know if he ever occupied it, but it is the kind of home that he would have loved to paint and I would like to think own. It is sure beautiful in the snow.


Back to the day in honor of Eddie. Chelle's little ones were looking great. Eddie's outfit was great. It was given to Chelle by her brother Chinh and his wife Tami years ago, and she had been saving it for this occasion.

We had a pretty good snow last night, and Windsor Worx, which Brig and his brother Jordan run, have about 20 or so contracts to keep driveways and parking lots clear of snow. So about 5 this morning, Brig left to go plow a number of the locations and by the time church was starting, was nowhere to be seen. Finally just in time he came looking tired but all dressed up in shirt and tie, and gave a very thoughtful blessing to little Edmund Richard Larson.


After church, everyone got together here at the Parrish house for dinner. We of course had to try and get the obligatory family photo's. Maddie and Anders had another idea however. Out of 30 or 40 we took, these are the best!


Here is where the story needs a little further explanation. In this next picture, notice Brig's right hand wrapped around Maddie. Yup, looks like a mechanic who just got done changing the head gasket on a leaky 63 Rambler. Turns out that minutes after the blessing at church, one of the apartment tenants called about a leak, and Brig had gone directly from church with his dressy clothes to change out a pump! Ah the life of a landlord!


It was really fun to have both sets of Grandparents here for Eddie's blessing. This is Steve and Cheryl Larson, Ed's paternal grandparents who were dutiful in keeping church clothes on for pictures. They have moved here from New Mexico. Huge shock weather wise, but they lived here for many years. We actually had a 20 below zero morning on Friday. That was without any wind factor. Yes I did say 20 BELOW!


I had actually changed clothes already to shovel the walks and driveway so folks could get into the house, but got caught for a picture nonetheless.



It was a big crew, but besides cook the food, get the place ready and organize the event, Grandma Vial had time to be the Grandma to everybody. Is this a classic or what, Paula laying out the crafts for the gang!


She even had time to do some serious loving on Eddie.


I really think he likes her!



Finally, today's quiz. Who belongs to each of the beautiful head's of hair in this picture?



We love it here at the Parrish house. Hope you can join us here someday soon! Rich

Virginia to Vermont

Traveling with Paula is fun no matter what we are doing. Even if it is just hanging around, we have fun. She has been a great sport about my courthouse photo adventure which made for a fun few days with Chris and Kenni and road trip from Buena Vista to Windsor in our new (to us) FJ Cruiser, aptly named by Chris as the Cheese Block!

On our first day in Buena Vista, we went to a presentation by author Jason Wright, of Wednesdays Letters, Christmas Jar and Covering Charles, all current bestsellers. Paula bought them all at the book signing, had them signed and then promptly read them. A couple of days later one of our first stops was the county seat of Woodstock Virginia, where accross the street from the courthouse was the pharmacy featured in the book Wednesday's Letters! Boy was she excited!



Later that night I just didn't want to give up. I wanted to get a few more courthouses, so I pulled out a 1.8 50mm lens and tried a few shots in the dark. I didn't have a tripod with me, so I had to do these all handheld. The Nikon 700 will allow us to shoot at 6400 ISO without serious degradation. There was literally no direct lighting on this federal courthouse but even cropped it came out pretty well.


Confident now, I tried this one and was pretty happy with it also. No flash and again, just indirect lighting.


Before going on however, a few shots from the Virginia courthouse hop. I had recruited some help with Chris, Kenni and Paula. Here are Chris, Kenni and of course, dog Kelso.


Here is a shot that Paula took of me taking a picture of the courthouse accross the street from the balcony of a financial planning firm. The lady was really nice to let me upstairs for the shot.



Chris really likes a woman with a big lens.


Something that Chris pointed out is the proliferation of confederate statuary in front of virtually every courthouse in Virginia. They range from the simple:




To the more elaborate complete with a guy on top.... in a Confederate Army Uniform,


To the almost absurd statements which seem to ignore the fact that the nation was almost split apart over the conflict and thank heavens the "patriots" of this monument didn't win!


Meanwhile, as we got closer to NYC, the paranoia over a guy with a camera seemed to get completely out of control. The following picture is of a county admisitration building which I thought was a really interesting picture. As I was taking this picture, I was approached by a uniformed officer and informed that I was breaking the law. According to this guy, it is a federal crime to take a photo of a public building. When I asked him what law he was talking about, he informed me that I was being belligerent, and took my camera. I then demanded to see his superior officer, who after some negotiation finally gave me the camera back and ordered me to "move on" . Fortunately, I had already gotten the courthouse shot next door, so mission accomplished. I still don't think there is such a law, but I think I will make up some credentials for future use.


We are now in Windsor, Vermont staying at the "Parrish House". Windsor is a great little place, and we are really glad for all the family here. This is a shot down Main Street from in front of the "Inn" the family is getting ready to open. See www.snapdragoninn.blogspot.com.


It is cold here! A few minutes ago I was out in the car and it was 3 degrees! The Connecticut River is frozen solid.


The bridge in this picture is really fun. The longest covered bridge in the county, it was built in 1866.


It is a good example of the history that makes this area really fun. In case you can't read it, the sign reminds us to walk our horses over the bridge or be fined $2!


So here we are in the snow with the grandkids and the opportunity to learn some more history and see some fun stuff. Paula is really having fun with the little ones. Anders is a true goofball!


Finally a few random photos from the last few days:


Timber Frame!


Stairwell


Ice


Any guesses?


How about this one?

Peace Out! Rich

Holiday Wind Up

It has been a while since I posted the Christmas day adventures, but the holiday's were really fun. We had record snowfall, some flooding, we worked non-stop on the Rainbow house putting in the wood floor, and we got ready to visit the eastern seaboard kids where we are now. A few pictures from the holidays are offered here.

On New Year's Eve, we were invited to celebrate Eva Huynh's birthday at Choungh and Liyan's house. She had decided to don her best pink dress for the occasion. Of course her cousins Kayla and Sarah were right there to help her open the gifts.

Her brother Victor, featured on this blog often for his dancing and singing abilities was not to be outdone in the wardrobe department. His sartorial skills are going to serve him well in the years to come. That coupled with the fact that he is just the most outgoing kid in the world probably means he will be supporting Paula and I someday!


Regan, who had yet to show any musical skill, was quick to show us that he could really rock it on the harmonica. Keep in mind this is like the most Viet kid I know, but will probably end up playing backup for Brad Paisley in a country western band!


Little Jacob also warmed right up to the whole big family. His dad told me that he does great with all his paternal cousins, but this was the first time with all of Hai's family. He also ended up showing his talent at the piano. This is one serious cute kid!


I really love the diversity of this clan. With Alicia and Tucker there, all of the little cousins were like climbing all over them!


My brother Mike, Christine and their new son Moose (Sam) were also there. Right after Oregon State had won their bowl game. Guess where these two went to school!


Later it was fun to see Moose and Mom and Felix and grandma SuLu.


I it truly hard to overstate the mania of this group of cousins. When together they create nonstop chaos. This picture is the closest I could get to the girls posing for a group picture.


All during the vacation we spent the better part of every day putting in the wood floor at Rainbow. This picture shows the one day that Nate pitched in and nailed a bunch down. He also sweated all over the floor!


One of my very good friends is a contractor who has the tools, and made the mistake of offering to help me put in the floor. He is really the boss, but I am honestly trying to do my part. The next picture documents the only (knock on wood) injury produced by the Rainbow project so far. I have cropped it to protect his identity, but it clearly shows the dual marks created when a 3 foot long chunk of walnut kicked back off the table saw, bounced off his head and landed 15 feet accross the room. When I heard the wham, bang, crash, I went in to find him lying on his back with blood pouring out of his forehead. Not fun. Ultimately the right hand gash was to the bone and took 10 stitches, and the left one needed 3 stitches. He was back at work in no time thank goodness.


The followup to the great snowstorm was yet another, although not quite as big.


This is a shot out the backyard with the Tualatin River up near flood stage at about 30 feet above normal levels. 32 feet is considered flood stage, but it would not get into our garage at that level. We figure that it would take at least 35 feet before we got any water at the house. In 1996 it got over 37 feet, so it could happen. We built for it though, and would just open the back garage doors, the front garage doors, take the wood doors off in the entry and then come back when it is over and pressure wash it out. Hope it never happens again.






Love to all the family. We have been here at Chris and Kenni's for the last couple of days, and are on our way up to Brig and Chelle's tomorrow. Will post more in the next few days.

A Memorable Christmas

A most memorable Christmas here in Oregon. With nearly 2 feet of snow on the ground (and on the streets), not a lot of folks were traveling! But, Paula and I decided that visiting the kids at their house was a good change from our typical mass riot gathering here at the house. So here is a little travelogue of Christmas day. But first, a picture of the new Rainbow house in the snow! We are putting in the hardwood floors right now. My friend Terry Mecham is my boss, and we are having fun doing so! It is even beautiful in the snow!


We started out the morning at the relatively calm and pristine home of Hoa and Thuy. Lyan, Vivian, Dillon and Mia all waited patiently for Grandpa and Grandma to come to open presents. When we were finished, we got a piano recital! (Grandma by the way is the piano teacher for all the local grandkids, who are each learning how to play!)



First was Lyann who played several Christmas carols.


Next we heard from Vivian who is beginning to really become proficient. (Not to mention how studious she looks!)


Dillan then sat still long enough to prove that he has actually been practicing!


Of course Mia could not be left out. She watches her siblings carefully and is likely to be the best piano player of them all eventually! She had to make sure Grandpa was getting the picture!


After the gifts and the recital, we ate a really good breakfast of Pho (Vietnamese Soup), and then headed over to the crazy world of Nic and Hailey! Hailey by the way gets the prize for the most beautiful Christmas mantle in the family!


In stark contrast to the Pham's where no paper hits the ground for more than 1.3 seconds, the living room at the Vial's looked a bit more like a normal post present opening chaos location. Note the Beaver helmet on Nic, who doesn't seem to remember that his beloved alma mater lost the big one and isn't going to the Rose Bowl.


Here is another one a bit closer up of the very interesting crew!


While there, Nate took a quick run around the block on Nic's Banshee. (Which by the way sounds exactly like it sounds!) Gives you a good idea of what the roads were like and why so few people were traveling.


While most everyone got what the were hoping for, this note left on the piano at Nic and Hailey's certainly made clear Santa's feeling!


There may have been one or two disapointments, but CC definitely was proud of the new outfit that her Aunt Alicia had brought her.


Next stop was the Cuong, Chuong, Chi, and Hui gang with Grandma Su Lu presiding. We met and Cuong and Linh's house and again the children had waited for us to open presents! Grandpa got to be Santa, and had some great help from Kayla.


With so many people in the room, my package delivery system eventually took to the air!


Who would have thought that a girl from northern China would ever have the chance to have three kids. Liyan is really happy with baby Felix, and Victor and Eva are good older siblings!


Everyone was really happy to be together. Chuong and Grandma are having fun!



And Victor looks typically pleased with his haul!


Both Grandma's Paula and Su Lu are mighty proud of the little ones!


Oh and lunch was also Pho. Which by the way is a great Christmas Dinner!


Our last stop of the day was downtown Portland at the Watertower Condo home of Hai, Kyle, Cassandra and Jacob.


Hai is definitely liking this mother job a lot! And Jacob loved the Thomas the Train book which Grandma brought.


Honestly a very fun and memorable Christmas. We love the chance to see the family and being in their homes was especially nice. We hope to see the others soon as well, as we will be back in Virginia and Vermont in January, and down in California for Tyler Do's baptism in late February or early March.

Love to all, Rich