Some summer highlights 2026

I've selected random pictures of our travels and events this year.

Each family is represented in a group.

Richard has been attending BYU-I studying Mechanical Engineering. 

He has been able to come home for weekends every so often.

Corinne enjoys attending the temple with Richard.

This is outside the Syracuse Temple.

Here at the Visitor's Center on Temple Square (I think)

All the kids except Garrett who is serving a mission in Peru. 

Corinne took the three children who still live at home for a nearby hike. 

                     Henry is turning 13 this year. 

He graduated from Elementary School in May of this year 2026.

This was taken outside the Utah State Capitol where they visited on the 4th of July.

During one of our visits at Corinne's, we finally passed on the Daly Family race car set. It has seen many miles of grandchildren play over the years. We were happy they were excited about keeping it.

We bought Clara this Frozen dress on our trip to Orlando in May. She is such a pretty girl. 

Super smart and sharp.

Our main purpose for this trip was to install security cameras around Corinne's home. She will be living there for the most part by herself with the three youngest children. It was very important to all of our family that she have this safety measure. It was a really big job for Fred. 

I was able to attend the first three days of Clara and Henry's swimming lessons. After just a week, Clara went from sitting on the side to a very powerful looking backstroke.  Super proud of them both.

During the security camera visit, Fred saw that the frame around this man door was looking like it was moments away from ruining the wood. Spencer and Henry were good workers alongside Fred. It wasn't a super fun job. We were glad of their help.

A fun thing we did while visiting Corinne, was to look at new townhome communities. Fred and Corinne look related here - same posture and concentration.

When we finally finished up the projects we came to do, Scott and Jess sent Fred a supply of his favorite snacks for the long drive home. They were right on with their choices.

We move onto Shannon & Brian's family. For Shannon's birthday both Shannon and Brian took the day off work and took Blake and Marissa to Elitch. It's a lot like Lagoon in Farmington Utah.

Marissa made Shannon's birthday cake. Marissa is no beginner when it comes to baking. She made this checkerboard design with two different flavors of cake. Tres Leche and Almond I think.

I thought this was a bakery cake. It was so beautiful. All her work. She did have some assist from Brian, but I'm positive she did most all of the work. 

Marissa made the volleyball team at her middle school. We were able to go to one of her games and watch her skills. She was a pretty good server. All decked out in her uniform and pads.

Blake's new hobby is mountain biking. He started out making a small course in the back yard. Then he made a big course in the empty house lot behind us. The course was visited by many neighborhood boys. They can thank Blake for their free course. Here grandpa is giving an assist on Blake's bike ramp.

                                                                    It passed the drive test.

Fred got 4 free tickets to the Mariner's vs Rockies. We brought along Blake and Marissa. They are so good and appreciative when we take them places. We really had a good time and had great seats.

                                                         Now on to Scott and Jess's family.

Participating in swim team is a regular activity in Phoenix. Evan and Graham are progressing so quickly. Whenever we see a video of them swimming, I marvel at how strong their strokes are and see how truly strong swimmers they are. It's a family commitment. Everyone participates. 

The boys and Jess attended the showing of Toy Story 5. Evan is a super fan of Woody. They both have a collection of all things Toy Story.

The family attended Jess's family reunion at Zion Ponderosa. This was one of the activities.

Oh Yes - and horseback riding for Evan was a dream for sure!

                  Here is the first day of school vs the last day of school for these two. They are growing so fast. They are both going to be over 6 foot. I'm very excited about having big boys in the family.                                                                                 

          Fred and I were invited to go to the Elizabeth Stampede with Lois and Vince DelaTorre. 

Very cute little town. A fairly small facility, but it was a very good time.

Mutt Bustin was cute.

               For Father's Day I found this blanket for Fred. Totally fits him, but I should have ordered the bigger size. This is about a lap quilt size for Fred.

We took Blake and Marissa to the Denver Temple to perform baptism and confirmation ordinances for their ancestors. We arrived very early so the temple workers took them right in. They were able to do the work for 8 males and 9 females.

It was so sunny that morning. The kids were squinting into the camera so they don't look their best. They were very good sports about it. We treated them to In n Out for lunch. It's kind of our burger joint.

So there you have it for random trips and events so far this year.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise May 2026

May 3 Port Canaveral Port

We cruised on a new ship for us on this cruise. 

The Norwegian Bliss

It was pretty modern and there were some beautiful spaces, but this was not our favorite ship experience. It felt like the designers were more interested in modern design than for the comfort of the passengers. All chairs in the restaurants and in the lounge areas were low back and big round basket style seat. It was really hard to scoot into the chair at a table and they just were not comfortable. 

Main complaint.

I did love these chandeliers. 

This was dessert at our first meal onboard.

Very pretty and I remember it was good.

   This is our cabin. It was big and very comfortable and we liked 

having a simple portal window.

                                                                               May 4

     Our first day was at sea. Fred and I walked around the ship to check out spaces.

                    This is a replica of the Bliss cruise ship.                               We went to a comedy show the first night. The guy was funny.

So that is another vote in the positive.

Again, the space is too small to accommodate all the people who want to attend and the chairs were the low back big basket seat. Not comfortable. 

                                                                                       

                                   We found a mini golf area to play a game. I was horrible at it. 

                                                            This sign shows our final results.
                                                                                    

              May 5 Loma Isabel de Torres

                 This is their Christus 

                                                                                   

We went on an excursion this day and the transportation was an open air truck. It was so hot and humid. I felt sick at times because I do not handle heat and sun glaring down on me for very long. The excursion included a visit to a botanical garden and these are some of the unusual flowers we saw there.                                          

                                                                                      

This is the building where they have a small gift shop and a cafe' for excursion folks 

and probably locals.

A local band. They were very good and they appreciated those of us to did a little boogie.

                                                                                

                                    This is where we were served lunch. The usual chicken, rice, plantains.

                                                    May 6 St Thomas - this was my favorite port.   

We got smart and got out our battery operated mist fans. Fred was doing a little maintenance on mine.            

We took a cable car up the mountain and this was the view.

This is another view off to the left of the previous view.

                                Here are the cable cars. It was certainly a beautiful view from up there.                                                                  

                                                          We found someone to take a picture or two.                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  For some reason, Fred did not pack any shorts. We finally took one day ashore to look for shorts for him. This is the only pair we found that weren't $50. We aren't big spenders on clothes.

  

                                                                                    May 8

We spent another day at sea so there was more onboard lounging for us. 

                                                                                       

                                             They have a portion of walkway that was glass bottom. 

                                                                                    May 9 

                               Now we are in port at Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian's private island.  

 

A street marketplace. We did a little shopping here.

                                                                                       

This is the only photo we purchased this trip. It was good enough. We have so many photos together from all our cruises and we have yet to hang any in our home.

We did enjoy this cruise, but the weather was especially hot and muggy for both of us. We made a few "friends" while on board. We kept meeting up with the same few people. I always love that.