2008 Is Almost Over!

November and December have flown by for me. Highlights were:

• Erin's visit for two weeks at Thanksgiving time.
• Our visit to Iowa the first part of December.
• All the Christmas activities and traditions, including dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and the concert at the Honolulu Tabernacle.
  

In the midst of that is the BYU-Hawaii graduation--this year with President Eyring as our commencement speaker. Our annual attendance at the Honolulu Tabernacle for the symphony and Honolulu Stake Christmas concert was a highlight on Sunday, December 21, and a great way to celebrate our 34th anniversary.

To read more about these highlights, Dianna's done a great job of sharing our experiences. I would add that it was fun to get better acquainted with Avery since we last saw him in Australia at a few days old in August (and Erin was here to help us decorate for Christmas);


Thanksgiving dinner with Erin, John, Lindsey, and all four grandsons;


visiting with the Hauschildt's in Cedar Rapids (dinner and singing carols); seeing my mom's new apartment at Mallard Point in Cedar Falls, Iowa (seems like a four-star hotel); and spending time with Betty (Matt, Tina) is always a highlight. Unfortunately, we experienced some winter weather while we were in Iowa (school closings, bad roads) so we didn't get to see Carol and other family members but we're planning for our return for next summer.

We had our traditional Christmas eve dinner with the Wagner family, but it was the first time we've had a Christmas eve dinner with none of the girls here--we also enjoyed having Lisa's mom and friend, Beau, William Mensah, and Elder and Sister Hogge--the dinner was delicious and we prepared the table and the home for the event--we had a wonderful chef (with an excellent helper). Here are some pictures:

December also brought a major flood to Laie and across Hawaii and we also had a 19-hour blackout on our island today so we've had some interesting challenges as well. We're looking forward to 2009 and Aaron and Jenny's new little girl and some time to visit family and friends next summer.

Best wishes for a great 2009!

Erin's Tag

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1. ER
2. Designed to Sell (we want Lisa Laporta to design our house to sell then we'd keep it)
3. From the Top (also listen to it on the radio on Saturdays)
4. Sell This House (mom and I are HGTV junkies)
5. Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door (and travel junkies)
6. Today Show and most news programs
7. Jeopardy
8. Duke basketball games (when they are televised) and most college basketball

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Olive Garden
2. PF Changs
3. Phuket Thai
4. Benihana or Tanaka of Tokyo
5. Lei Lei's at Turtle Bay (or Ola's)
6. Cheesecake Factory
7. Cholo's
8. Long John Silver's/A&W in Mililani (love the root beer)

8 Things that happened yesterday
1. Attended several hours of the "Vision Hawaii" meetings
2. Read and responded to dozens of emails
3. Assisted Mike Bright and Josh/Bryan Hartman with Josh's campus visit (visiting from Colorado)
4. Had lunch with Mike and his guests
5. Answered a call from Megan on my cell phone--"How do you get to 500 West? Which direction is it?"
6. Played the piano
7. Picked up dinner on the way home
8. Relaxed at home in the evening with Dianna

8 Things I'm looking forward to
1. Erin's visit in a few weeks
2. Christmas traditions--setting up our new tree after Thanksgiving
3. Visiting Jenny and Aaron and ? in Pennsylvania
4. Achieving our goals in the University Relations area--following up on our great retreat from Thursday
5. Hearing from and writing family and friends (email, Facebook, blogs)
6. Teaching piano to Trevor, Devin, Kyle . . . .
7. Travels with Dianna (New England in the fall, Disneyworld during some Christmas--very festive, Europe, Asia and . . .)
8. Serving a mission with Dianna

8 Things on my wish list
1. My own Steinway--some day
2. Dozens of grandchildren
3. Travel to see #2
4. A quick remodel of the temple (18 months is a looooong time); excursions to Kona
5. Lots of messages from family and friends
6. Serve a mission
7. Upgraded kitchen counter (same as Dianna)
8. Complete some home projects such as finished bedroom [painted walls, window coverings, rugs, etc.]

I'll add one other list like Dianna added to her list:
8 Things I'm grateful for
1. A wonderful eternal companion
2. A close family and regular contact--an eternal family
3. The gospel and membership in the LDS Church
4. Great friends; long-term association with several students who have also become such close friends
5. Fun employment opportunities--I've always looked forward to EVERY day
6. Opportunities for an education and children who have taken advantage of their opportunities
7. Opportunities to travel and see many places in the world
8. A great country in which to live and places to live including Iowa, Virginia, Utah, and Hawaii where we have great memories through the years!

Use Sunscreen!

So yesterday I had a procedure to remove signs of basal cell carcinoma on the bridge of my nose. I noticed signs a few months ago, had it checked out and then scheduled this procedure for yesterday. The technology that is used is called Mohs surgery. ( http://www.mohssurgery.ca/ ) After two procedures the doctor (Dr. Boyle) finished by stitching the wound so he says there shouldn't even be a scar. We arrived at the doctor's office around 7:30 a.m. and left at 2, stopping on the way home for some pain pills, which were appreciated after the local anesthesia wore off!

I decided it would be much easier and less painful to wear sunscreen--and I'll probably need to continue checking for similar signs in the future--when I used to enjoy the sun (in my youth and young adulthood) there was no discussion about the cancer-causing effects of the sun. Since that has become common knowledge, we try to be more careful.

I can take the bandages off tomorrow and have the stitches removed on Monday--hopefully everything will be back to normal soon as we're also planning for our stake conference for the 19th. Mahalo for the long-distance calls to check on my status!

Utah Visit - Part II

Last Monday, just after arriving home from Utah, I was asked by President Wheelwright to go to a meeting in SLC the following Thursday, leaving Wednesday night. Our travel office was able to find a seat for me AND we used one of Dianna's companion certificates so we both flew out on Wednesday night (9:30 p.m. flight) and arrived in SLC on Thursday morning at 7:30. The meeting started at 8, so we picked up the rental car and I arrived around 8:15--President Wheelright and Max Checketts (and wives) were on the same flight and President and Max attended the same meeting -- "Envision Hawaii" -- with several other consultants and representatives from PCC and HRI to consider the future of Laie and the entities here. Brian Carrington from PRI chairs the committee. The meeting was held at (interestingly) the LDS Business College, where Megan is enrolled--but we decided to keep our travel plans a secret and surprise her! She tried calling us at home on Thursday morning and then called Dianna's cell phone and WAS surprised to learn that we were in town and that I was, in fact, in the same building as she was calling from. It was fun to check in with her, even for a few minutes. (Dinner on Thursday night at Olive Garden, next to our hotel).

We started our day on Friday morning by attending a temple session in the SLC temple--Dianna's first time to attend a "live" session, and we were asked to serve as the witness couple. That was certainly an unexpected highlight of our visit!

We had a follow up meeting on Friday morning (Dianna enjoyed some time at the Family History Library while I was in meetings). After the meeting, Dianna and I enjoyed a "leaf ride" through the canyons to enjoy the scenery and fall colors, followed by dinner at Benihanas with Janice (Morgan).

Since this was General Conference weekend, our focus on Saturday and Sunday was listening to the sessions; even though our hotel was only a few blocks from the Conference Center, we watched TV in our hotel room since I had given Megan our tickets to attend the sessions in the conference center.

I attended the priesthood meeting with Dan (Litchford) in Ogden. It was great to touch bases with these two friends whom we met at VPI while both of us were enrolled in our doctoral program. Their influence and example in introducing us to the LDS Church were some of the most significant events in our lives.

After the Sunday morning session, we finished packing, headed to the airport, and got home Sunday evening. We enjoyed this brief escape and the time to see friends, family--traveling together instead of making separate trips as we often do was also a highlight--time to relax and visit after such a busy year!

Utah Visit--September 17-21

It's actually good to be back in Utah--the air is cooler (feels like fall) and the leaves are turning, an opportunity to spend time with Megan and see how she's doing. I arrived on Wednesday morning, September 17 (flew the 6-hour non-stop). After getting settled at the hotel, Megan called after her class so we could get together for lunch with her and her friend Josh, a restaurant in Sandy. After lunch and dropping her back at her room, I parked downtown and enjoyed walking around, checking out the distribution center, getting tickets for the Saturday night performance, and surveying all the changes they are making downtown. Megan had an activity that evening so I worked in my room--emails!

On the way to Provo on Thursday morning, I couldn't help but stop at Bert Murdock (one of my favorite piano music stores--now I have some new music to add to my collection including some new Christmas books--after all, it IS September! Time to get started.) My primary reason for being here was to attend bi-annual meetings to coordinate the various performance tours that the each church school, the institutes, etc., have. I learned a lot about the process, met several individuals who will be helpful--there were four of us representing BYUH--myself, Cooper Johnson, Michael Belnap, and Chad Schumacher. That evening the meeting participants had tickets for World of Dance which was very professional and impressive--several of dance teams that had been on tour did some of their numbers. I couldn't help but think of how much Dianna and I enjoyed watching Lindsey and Erin when they were in the folk dance classes while they were attending BYU. I could imagine them out on the stage.

On Saturday after the meetings (they finished at noon), it was great to reconnect with Bill Holzendorf, who was in one of my first accounting classes that I taught when I started teaching at BYUH in 1984! (I also learned when he was in my class that he had served a mission in Iowa, including visits to Waverly!) Bill and I have kept in touch through the years; he's done well in his life, has always looked out for BYUH graduates when I've recommended he consider hiring one of them, and has great people sense, one of the reasons he's done so well. We talked about a possible house exchange at Christmas if we decide to travel to Utah in December--no definite plans yet--and looking like it may be too expensive that time of year.

That evening I checked the malls for a while and didn't buy anything except some Halloween candy at Wal-Mart that Dianna requested--had hoped to connect with Al Doan that afternoon, but he may have had other plans. (Update: Al called on Sunday and was recouping from a triathalon he participated in, held in St. George--you deserved the time--see you NEXT time--enjoy Boston for me! New England in the fall--how lucky!)

Saturday was a full day--it started out early when I attended a temple session in the Provo temple--such a huge temple compared to Laie (am eager to bring Dianna to a session here). Then had breakfast with David King, catching up on his activities, showed me one of his homes--he's ready to begin working on his Ph.D. at the U of Utah now and doing so well in many areas, spiritually, physically, academically--and enjoying life.

THEN--Steve Gibson had a ticket for me for the BYU vs. Wyoming football game in his loge--so had lunch (nice buffet), watched the game, visited (also with Ned Hill and Sister Hill who were in the loge)--BYU won 44-0. Last week they beat UCLA 59-0 so they have scored over 100 points without any points from the other teams--I think they also have the longest winning streak in the country. Steve is a loyal friend--I began working with him when I was the dean and he was initiating a training program for returned missionaries in Philippines. This has become a passion that has affected hundreds of individuals there--and he spent last year at BYUH as an entrepreneur in residence.

I left after the third quarter as Megan and I had originally planned on dinner and a concert--but her plans changed (new friends to associate with, and a star gazing activity)--so I went to the concert (skipped dinner). The pops concert was truly incredible--one of the best I have attended in years (I kept wishing Dianna--and Megan--could be there--the whole family would have loved it!) It was definitely Broadway quality but FREE, sponsored by the Tanner family. They featured a director from the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and two amazing professional singers--Denyce Graves and Brian Stokes Mitchell, along with the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!! They must have had 5-6 standing ovations throughout the concert; the theme was "An American Songbook," so they did songs by Cohan, Rogers/Hammerstein (Sound of Music), John Williams (the "Call of the Champions" he wrote for the choir and symphony for the 2002 Olympics), songs from the musical Ragtime, the Impossible Dream from Man of LaMancha (Brian just finished playing Don Quixote on Broadway), several patriotic numbers; an audience favorite was "New Words" about a father teaching his children new words ("moon," "star," and then "love")--I hoped they taped it--they have these concerts every 2-3 years so what a blessing to be here when it was held--can you tell I enjoyed it--lots of "chicken skin" several times throughout the night. No one wanted to leave at the end. These are the kinds of musical experiences Dianna and I love.

So I'm flying out tomorrow (Sunday)--meeting the area president from the Philippines early Monday morning at the airport so a busy week in store--this visit has been a brief reprieve from the day-to-day in Hawaii--have tried to keep up with daily emails and other urgent tasks--sometimes until1 or 2 a.m. as I'm still Hawaii time! No meetings scheduled in Utah for a while but maybe Reno in November and I hope to get to Iowa, too--we'll see. Aloha.

July and August

So the summer went by quickly--from the time I visited Iowa until now. But I think I'll keep this brief since Dianna and the girls have done a great job of summarizing our activities.

Dianna and I kept busy working on the house this summer--painting the stucco where the ocean breezes had shown its affects and repainting the railing on our lanai off the bedroom. We thought it helped make the house look like new again.

Preparing for our trip to Australia also occupied our time. Megan stayed in Hawaii and Aunty Betty and friends stayed at our home while we were gone. We appreciated knowing all was well back home, Megan enjoyed having Aunty here and spending more time with cousin Alana, too.

Highlights included:

• Spending a few days and touring Sydney, located along a harbor. We took the hop on/hop off tour that toured the whole city and then returned to some of our favorite spots. Dianna selected a great hotel in the midst of the best spots, within walking distance of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. Even though it was winter time and the wet weather added additional chill, we were out and about a lot of the time. We also took the tour of the Opera House and then attended the musical, Billy Elliot, which was held at an older Sydney theater. The sidewalks along the harbor were also impressive.

• We boarded a bus for our trip to Canberra to await the birth of baby "Avery William." He was due on July 27 but arrived on August 7 (1 a.m.--but it was still a day earlier or August 6 in the U.S) so we enjoyed our time with Erin and Will as they "patiently" awaited the birth. Erin did great in the birthing process and is such a great mom--they love their little boy--and a highlight was being able to participate in his blessing (in the hospital room) before I left the next day on the 8th. Saying goodbye is always hard but Erin and Avery will be here for Thanksgiving!

• Erin was growing increasing more impatient about his birth; the day the contractions started I had a call from Jenny to tell me that my dad had passed away. He had been showing more signs of weakness, but then showing improvements. So even though we knew his death was imminent, hearing the words that he passed away were still a shock. I'm hopeful that his spirit and little Avery's spirit crossed paths--perhaps Dad told Avery it was ok to come and that he was joining a great family and would be greatly loved and nurtured, in a gospel environment. I know my dad was happy to be reunited with his mom and dad, son Robert, sister Dorothy, brother Donald, and other family members. Now we can also complete his temple work in a few months as well. Erin and Avery:
  

• While I left on the 8th, Dianna stayed a few more days to help Erin get settled at home. It was great to spend some time with Betty before she returned to Iowa.

• Dianna got home a few days later and we began the process of helping Megan prepare for her transition to move to Utah and begin her college studies.

• I had beginning-of-the-year meetings and retreats so was quickly involved in school activities after being gone for nearly two weeks. A major project is preparing our action plan that implements the Design Team recommendations. This looks like a busy year now that I also oversee the University Relations area . . .
  

• But that will be another blog--

Aloha for now.

Procrastinating

I have lots of weeks to catch up but think I'll do something easier and procrastinate my catch up (read Dianna's):

1 rule: use one word that comes to mind to answer the question.
1. Where is your cell phone? drawer
2. Your significant other? forever
3. Your hair? gray (unfortunately)
4. Your mother? transitioning
5. Your father? reunited
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? unremembered
8. Your favorite drink? A&W
9. Your dream/goal? celestialized-family
10. The room you're in? living
11. Friends? students
12. Your fear? needles (still)
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mission (or travel somewhere)
14. Where were you last night? home (and church)
15. What you're not? unbusy
16. Muffins? warm (fresh out of the oven, preferred)
17. One of your wish list items? Steinway
18. Where you grew up? Iowa
20. What are you wearing? red (it's a patriotic holiday)
21. Your TV? HGTV
22. Your pets? allergies
23. Your computer? Dell
24. Your life? Packed
25. Your mood? Even
26. Missing someone? Family (grateful for blogs, chats, Skype)
27. Your car? Camry
28. Something you're not wearing? Shoes (Hawaii!)
29. Favorite Store? Music (more piano music!)
30. Your summer? Traveling
31. Like someone? Dianna (and love)
32. Your favorite color? Ocean
33. Last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? Goodbyes (saying goodbye to family--see #26--and final farewell to dad)

Visit to Iowa

I left on a Thursday, June 26, for Iowa, arriving Friday morning, sans luggage. It arrived later on Saturday morning. I stayed with Betty and we drove to Shell Rock and surprised my parents--they didn't know I was coming. So instead of my weekly phone call, they got a personal visit. Visits with dad are usually brief, 20-30 minutes, but he seems to appreciate the time, though he says he doesn't recommend getting old. He still has his sense of humor and keeps up with what's going on in the world ("Who are you going to vote for?") by keeping CNN going on in his room. Beyond that, he only ventures out of his room for meals and not interested in much beyond that. He goes to the cafeteria a few feet beyond his room--doesn't complain but I could tell from his reaction that the meals aren't great.

Mom keeps busy with shopping and some of the activities at the care center--the sing along, playing for their church on Sunday, and club. We visited Dave and Susan Nicholson (she was one of my classmates throughout school from Shell Rock through graduation, played in band, and dated one of my friends--we triple dated a lot) and I played the organ for their wedding. They're building an impressive home with 2100 square feet on the first level and 2100 square feet on the second level with geothermal heating and cooling--Dave is a retired engineer.

Another treat was seeing Jason Meyer and Sunny (Layne) in church and then going to dinner with them later that week; Sunny is a news anchor for KWWL (Channel 7 in Waterloo) for the morning show; she graduated from Kahuku (niece to President Shumway) and Jason was a studying business while he was at BYUH. They both transferred to Provo and I hadn't seen them for several years.

I enjoyed my visit with mom and dad each day from Saturday until Wednesday--it's always hard to say goodbye to everyone! Eating maidrites, doing some shopping, walking around UNI, staying with Betty and of course seeing other family members were also highlights--Betty will be visiting us in a few weeks! But emails, phone, and blogs help us all to keep in touch--I even set up a blog for mom, though she hasn't added anything after our first entry (www.loisneal.blogspot.com)

I headed to Cedar Rapids on Wednesday evening to see Gaylord and Mary and to catch the flight on Thursday mornikng--they gave me a tour of downtown CR to see the effects of the flood--and later we enjoyed talking and eating Mary's chocolate pie. We always love our time with them! It was fun to see the albums Mary assembled with our Canada trip pictures, too--many great memories.

A lasting impression from this visit is how the floods and tornadoes dominate the newspaper, TV, conversations, and thoughts of everyone there--it's hard to imagine that the flood level in Cedar Rapids was so high that the river flowed over the top of the bridge railing! http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hw95ek5Sllmi4SoQ_N4HJvwHE0ZAD91AL9C80 Everyone talks about the floods, reads about it, and will remember this summer for the rest of their lives. But I was also impressed with the resilience they demonstrated in Iowa--some areas have shown full recovery; though sadly some areas/homes will never recover.

The trip back was uneventful--three flights: CR to Chicago, Chicago to San Francisco, SF to Honolulu. All flights were on time and the luggage made it in spite of the short layovers. AND glad to be home again! Dianna and Megan were at the airport to greet me.

I didn't take the camera this time--so no pictures this time.

Megan's Graduation

Our May highlights were Megan's graduation from seminary and from Kahuku High School. We began our Hawaii public school affiliation with Lindsey entering kindergarten in 1985 and ending 23 years later with Megan's graduation--thus 23 of our 24 years here in Hawaii.

Megan was one of the speakers at the seminary graduation; since they were studying the Old Testament she was asked to identify someone one from that book whom she admired and why. She chose Jonah and shared how initially he didn't want to do what the Lord wanted him to do but was able to overcome and served as an example. She was confident and powerful in her delivery--of course, we were proud!

Seminary Graduation, Sunday, May 18, 2008

Kahuku Graduation, Thursday, May 29, 2008

Lots of leis!

It was a good evening and the reality that this was our last high school graduation made it more eventful. Now Trevor starts kindergarten in the fall so we'll be watching and supporting on the sidelines as Lindsey begins her adventure into public schools with her children. I have a strong feeling she'll also be involved with the programs like we were as well.

Megan's next adventure is LDS Business College in the fall and then BYU Idaho in January! Three college graduates, one to go!

SIFE--Chicago and Nauvoo (May 14-19)

My last post was when we were in Palmyra and enjoying all the church history.

On our return, I stopped in Chicago to meet with the BYUH group to attend the SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) conference on May 14-16. I met our delegation of 19 students there who were busily engaged in preparing for the competition and enjoying some of the downtown Chicago sites when I arrived. This was the hardest working group I have advised, lead by an outstanding president, Al Doan. Their presentation and report were phenomenal, the judges were complimentary, and they received First Runnerup in their league, putting them in the top 40 in the country. Actually I think they would be in the top 25 at least, based on some of the other presentations we saw. (pictures to be added later)

From there, we drove to Nauvoo; most of the students hadn't been there before and it's fun to take groups to Nauvoo--much to see and to experience. We left after the awards assembly and arrived safely at about 12:30 a.m., traveling in four separate cars, and pulled right up to the temple for pictures and reflection.

After some sleep, we spent the day on Friday touring Nauvoo and Carthage--the group enjoyed some play time and some serious moments as they walked the "Trail of Hope," attended a session in the temple, and visited the Carthage jail.

Trail of Hope, where the pioneers walked, leaving their Nauvoo homes

Nik and Jordan ready for a ride

Our BYUH SIFE "Pioneers"

This was a quick but memorable trip as we then returned to Chicago (airport) for our 8 a.m. flight. We left Nauvoo about 12:30 a.m. Saturday and arrived in Chicago around 4:30 a.m., in time to check everyone in and to get to our gate. After an all day flight, we were glad to be home and greeted by family and friends.

Next year's officers and members have already begun planning for next year with the hopes of doing even better in Philadelphia in 2009.

Palmyra and Fabius, New York (May 6-8, 2008)

Before we arrived in Pennsylvania, we enjoyed a few days in Palmyra, NY, near Rochester. We arrived first at the visitor's center which is at the base of Hill Cumorah; the main feature inside the visitor's center was a display about the Dead Sea Scrolls, which we enjoyed. While in Palmyra, we stayed at the Liberty House Bed and Breakfast (http://www.libertyhousebb.com/).

After lunch, we headed to the Joseph Smith home, the rebuilt cabin where the Smith family first lived and then the two-story home where they later moved. This is the upstairs of the reconstructed cabin on the actual site where the Angel Moroni would have appeared to Joseph Smith. There were two beds where the six boys slept upstairs.

Across the road was the Sacred Grove; we were the only ones walking through the grove so it was a great experience to stop and just listen--birds were humming, the brook was singing for us...

The next day we drove to Fabius, New York, about 90 minutes away from Palmyra, to do some family history work! This is the small village where many of the Rowleys lived, were born, married, and died. My great grandmother Olive Rowley was born here before her family moved to the Iowa area where she met and married James Shelby Neal.

Olive's father was David Reynolds Rowley (married Arlatia Woodruff) and David's father was Newell Rowley (1814-1897), and David's mother was Eliza Jennet Porter Rowley (1814-1847). In the Evergreen Cemetery in Fabius, we located the graves for Newell and Eliza.

After working on their family history, we enjoyed getting a connection to this village (located in a beautiful area near the finger lakes area of New York, lots of hills and trees, apple tree orchards, and other scenic vistas) and especially the people. These ancestors, Newell and Eliza, would be my great great great grandparents--three greats!

In the same vein, we attended a temple session in the Palmyra temple--small, quaint, and very friendly officiators. It topped our visit to this "cradle of the church restoration," as it's called here.

Graduation Night - May 9, 2008

It's been a while since I've posted anything new! Preparing for our trip and the end of the semester!

But we're here in Pennsylvania now, and enjoyed being able to attend the graduation exercises for Jenny and Aaron. Here are some pictures from the event!

Before leaving for graduation, we took a picture with mom and dad and . . .

. . . . Jenny and Aaron at their apartment. Jenny graduated with honors (cum laude) which means she graduated with above 3.5 and wore the "ropes," or cords. Since Aaron finished his Master's degree, he wore the hood and was "hooded" at the ceremony. He's wearing it in the picture above, before leaving for the commencement exercises.

Afterwards, some evidence that Hawaii was a part of the ceremony with the leis from the islands!

Afterwards we came back and had brownie sundaes with Aaron's parents, his brother and sister-in-law, and all of us. It was a fun memory and we were really glad we were here to participate in it.

We're staying at a bed 'n' breakfast a few miles outside of town, an older country home, originally built in 1830, called the Partnership House (http://www.partnershiphouse.com/). We have enjoyed our country style breakfasts both mornings and learning more about the area.

Accreditation is Officially Done! (for at least five years)

Our accreditation visit was held last Wednesday-Friday, March 26-28. March 26 was actually a holiday (Kuhio Day) and March 27 was my birthday--so it was interesting timing for the visit. We had five team members plus the representative from the accreditation office. We have been preparing for several months, including a 50-page report I worked on during the Christmas holiday that was due in January, a schedule for the team appointments for those three days, a team room with material they requested, an assessment "best practices" display and reception, just to name a few of the aspects that kept me busy. But the brief oral report on Friday by the team chair was extremely positive and many expressed appreciation for the work and organization shown during their visit. We'll get the first draft of the written report sometime this month or next, make any revisions in errors, and then get the final results during July.

To celebrate, Dianna and I enjoyed a relaxing Saturday, including lunch at a Thai restaurant in Haleiwa.

Then on Monday our SIFE team competed in the regional competition in Honolulu. It was actually some close competition--both HPU and BYUH were selected to go to the national conference last year but only one could attend this year--there were a total of four schools in the league and we won. We took 21 students from BYUH (the largest delegation we have taken to a regional meeting), and the presentation team was incredible--much time and effort was dedicated to this presentation. Our student leadership with Al Doan and his support team are exemplary, committed leaders. Now we're planning for the national conference in Chicago.

That conference will come at the tail-end of our visit to Jenny's and Aaron's graduations, which will include visits to Palmyra. Dianna's been successful in making some arrangements there. We're looking forward to the break in routine and time with the Jensens.

We enjoyed Family Home Evening last night with Lindsey and the boys--John is on Molokai for the construction project. Trevor conducted the meeting, Devin lead the music (sound familiar) and then Trevor selected a game for us all to play (the Stars game). It's fun to have little ones again for a Family Home Evening--we really do miss those fun years (most of the time).

Megan was excited to receive an email yesterday offering a scholarship at LDS Business College (half tuition for two semesters) but she's also waiting to hear from BYU Idaho. It's nice that she's beginning to have some options and to be selected for some special freshman awards.

This will be all of my musing for now--look forward to reading yours!

Stake Conference

We're excited for Erin and Wil and their fun news!!--it was great to be the first to hear that they are having a boy--Dianna wasn't home so Erin called me at the office. Seems like only a few years ago that we were preparing for her birth, shortly after we arrived in Hawaii. Wasn't that two or three years ago?

And Lindsey turns 28 tomorrow--that's also very hard to believe. Mom looked at the picture of our family, which is sitting in our kitchen window, and had tears in her eyes as she tried to recall when we had four little ones in the house. I honestly can say I didn't wish for them to grow up fast--we kind of prided ourselves in allowing their childhood to be longer than many others. I wonder what traditions they will adopt from their growing up and which ones they will choose not to adopt!

We had a busy few days this past weekend with Elder Sheldon Child, our visiting general authority, who was here for our stake conference on Friday and Saturday. We met with him from 2:30-5 on Saturday, including an hour with our five bishops. Then dinner and then the evening session from 6:30-8:00--I spoke at that session.

When we were planning our stake conference, we called Elder Child about a month ago and he said the brethren have asked them to focus on (1) increasing our testimonies of the Savior and (2) strengthening families. So I combined the two topics and spoke on the importance of the parents' role in increasing the testimonies of their children. I pointed out that Dianna and I didn't grow up in LDS families so sharing our testimonies was a new concept to us; we used to avoid fast and testimony meetings when we were investigating! However, we tried to help our children develop their testimonies by having weekly home evening, daily scripture reading, family prayer (morning and night), and participating in various ordinances (father's blessings and baptisms, etc.). Something I think we could have done more was actually share our testimonies as parents and teach our children how to share their testimony, beginning in family home evening. I can always tell those families in which children have had the opportunity to do that. I hope each our daughters/husbands will have their children share their testimonies often during appropriate times in the family and regularly share their testimonies on fast and testimony Sundays--your children will gain strength and be among those willing to be bold enough to share theirs some day. It's so important today with all the challenges facing youth and it will only get more difficult--they'll need that extra strength! We'll try to help, too.

Elder Child talked then about the importance of family home evening. He pointed out that the brethren are concerned about how distractions are interfering with our families holding family home evening on Monday night. So I'm appealing to each of us as families to have our weekly home evenings every Monday; it's the really important. We always kept the TV off, didn't answer the phone, and had family focus time. We were more faithful when our four were young, but it's been more difficult with only one--and a senior! But we're going to do better as well.

At our Sunday morning meeting, Sister Ellis spoke; her husband is first counselor in the temple presidency. She shared how she attended a preschool "graduation" for her four-year-old granddaughter. The children were asked to share what they wanted to be when they grew up. One boy wanted to be a fireman, and another wanted to be a policeman; one boy wanted to be a lion (she wondered about him as he bounded on the stage). When her little granddaughter came forward, the teacher asked her what she wanted to be and she said, "I want to be a Relief Society worker and go to the temple every day like my tutu (grandmother)." We were all touched and hopefully you are too as you think about the examples we set for our children.

Elder Child was very positive about our stake and said we're doing everything perfectly--he didn't really have any suggestions for improvement--especially since we have almost 90 percent sacrament attendance--but we want 100! I enjoy our stake members--cute families, young children--we have nearly 100 children under the age of 2 in our stake! These families keep our bishops very busy but we have a great team.

We had several opportunities to eat while Elder Child was here; he visited some member homes on Saturday morning, and some of them had prepared food; there was a TVA activity with food, then our Saturday evening dinner, then lunch after the conference on Sunday. He said our theme song for our stake should be, "'Til We Eat Again." . . . 'til we eat, eat eat, 'til we eat . . . Guess that's the theme song should be here in Hawaii.

Mom prepared wonderful lasagna last night and we invited Steve Gibson over for dinner; his wife is on the mainland. So I've already had my birthday dinner but I think we're getting together with the Pierces next Monday night for our FHE-combined-birthday dinner for Lindsey and me.

Last week (Thursday) Dianna and I went to the school play, "All My Sons," a play by Arthur Miller, based on a true story. It's an American tragedy; one of my students in my communications class had a supporting role. They had the seating on the stage (about 5 rows) so we were only a few feet from the characters. Most of the characters were very strong and it was very sobering message . . . with a surprise ending.

Last week I represented our university president at a meeting in the our governor's conference room; it was a 17-member task force that's looking at options to buy the Turtle Bay Hotel and the land around it to preserve the beaches etc. It was a proposal the governor made in her "State of the State." I was even on the news when they filmed those of us at the meeting. Our president was out of town last week and is out of town for our meeting again tomorrow, so I'll represent him again there.

Closing story: Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was: A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

I enjoy reading the blogs of our family members and learning about their activities. It was great to see Jenny's update with her class and then visit on Saturday. We were a part of Lindsey's blog as they spent time here yesterday--Trevor is very creative and will probably become a professional traveler. All his games revolve around planes and theme parks. Erin's having fun in Melbourne now so it will be fun to learn about her travels there. It's been helpful to read about Megan's thoughts since we don't get to have too many conversations . . . So these are a useful means to keep in touch with one another!

Mom's made her reservations for May to Iowa and Pennsylvania. I need to finalize my schedule and make my reservations as well; she'll leave a little earlier so she can get to Iowa and then return earlier while I go to Chicago. She's also made reservations for both of us to visit Australia the end of July. Aunty Betty will "housesit" while we're gone and looks forward to some vacation time after a brutal Iowa winter.

My dad seems to be showing some signs of improvement but still very dependent on his health care, particularly the regular diabetes checks 3-4 times each day.

We enjoyed our dinner with Keith and Judy Roberts at Turtle Bay last night; they'll be leaving on April 8 so it was great to spend some time with them before they leave. Our days and evenings are always full, it seems. For example, this week during the evenings:

Monday - President Arnold Wunder from Maui and his wife came for dinner; mom prepared a great meal (chicken rollups!). He was the devotional speaker on Tuesday
Tuesday - I participated in ministering visits for the BYUH 9th Ward, which had its ward conference today
Wednesday - I attended a Planning Advisory Committee meeting (6:30-9:30 p.m.) for the sustainability plan for Koolauloa. Keith has been the BYUH representative and now I'll be filling in for him.
Thursday - We did the temple sealings that Dianna wrote about in her blog--certainly a highlight and particularly to have Lindsey and John assist us.
Friday - We relaxed at home!

In conclusion, my highlights for the week were our two temple experiences; first, we attended the usual 5:30 a.m. session yesterday. Second, I always enjoy completing our family names for temple baptisms, endowments, etc., but I had a feeling of real rejoicing in doing the sealings. I felt like those who were on the other side were truly rejoicing that their work had been truly completed, they were sealed as couples and families forever, and could finally reap the full benefit of the gospel. It will be fun to visit with them some day and learn about what they were experiencing on their side of the veil.

Now that we completed our last of five ward conferences today for this academic year, we are now preparing for our stake conference which will be held next Sunday with Elder Sheldon Child as our visiting general authority. I've been working on my talk today!

Executive Committee Meeting

For the past several weeks, I have been planning and worrying about our Executive Committee meeting. They flew in on the Huntsman jet on Sunday, went to four different locations for firesides; we met all day in meetings. I was at the office by 6 a.m. to make a few changes to my presentation and check that everything was ok.

The meeting went well and seems like a real blessing to have two apostles (Elder Nelson and Elder Ballard) and other general authorities (Elder Tingey who is president of the presidency of the seventy) and Sister Beck (general RS president). We also had the other CES presidents (President Samuelson, President Clark, and President Woodhouse); Elder Kerr, our commissioner; Gary Moore, Seminary and Institute Director; and other commissioner staff (Roger Christensen and Jim Tidwell). They spoke at 4 this afternoon to the full BYUH ohana and encouraged us to support change.

I got home around 6 so it was one of those 12-hour days. They return to SLC tomorrow.

WORK, WORK, WORK

This month has been busy--to say the least--and it doesn't help that I'm awake by 3-4 a.m. thinking about what needs to be done. Occupying my thoughts and time has been the work of our Organizational Design Team (along with Bret Ellis, Steve Tueller, David Lucero, Arapata Meha, and Susan Barton). Lots of hours and considerable stress as we look at how to restructure BYU Hawaii so that it's less costly. We meet about 8 hours/week but are expected to spend 15-20 percent of our time on these activities.

Our Executive Committee (12 members that includes Elder Nelson, Elder Ballard, Sister Beck, Elder Tingey) arrive tomorrow to speak at four firesides on the island and then meet with us all Monday. We had originally been asked to schedule six FHE groups but they were canceled yesterday by the commissioners office. Working with President Wheelwright on the agenda and working with the presenters has kept us busy.

Our WASC accreditation team comes next month--five members will be on campus--which will complete a five year, three phase process. I worked on formatting the 50-page report during the Christmas holidays. Now it's up to the faculty as they meet with the team to share their program outcomes and evidence of student learning.

We have weekly President's Council and President's Advisory Council meetings, as well as monthly University Council meetings; weekly PIRAT (Planning, Institutional Research, Assessment, and Testing) meetings; weekly IR meetings with the student researchers.

I'm team teaching business communications again this semester--it's a highlight for me to be working with the students, twice each week for 90 minutes. The class is totally different from the way I taught it previously with more technology.

I'm also the SIFE advisor and we're preparing for our regional competition the end of March. We have an outstanding president with Al Doan and continued support by alumni and others. Our national conference is in Chicago in May.

Serving as the first counselor in the stake presidency with weekly presidency, twice monthly PEC, monthly bishopric training, and stewardship interviews with each of the Elders Quorum presidents is fulfilling and another highlight. We're preparing for our stake conference that will be held on March 15-16 with Elder Sheldon Childs as our visiting authority.

Serving as a dad (when Megan has time) and to my other favorite daughters is a highlight; Dianna and I always compare notes each day to see if we've heard from them sometime during the day (the "Millennial Generation"). Of course we love our time with Trevor (piano lesson each Thursday), and with Devin and Kyle. Always a lot we could write about.

Dianna and I are looking forward to our travels to Pennsylvania in May and to Australia in July--some fun family events! More as we go along--these are some of the things that keep us busy.

Trevor and Devin and Kyle

We enjoy spending time with the boys--they have such great imaginations and like to use their experiences in travel. We were with the boys at their home the other night while John and Lindsey had an activity. Trevor wanted to play hotel; so when I arrived, he had me wait in the lobby (living room) and then checked me into my room (their room, second door on the left). They had a lot of their toys on the floor so I "complained" that the hotel hadn't prepared the room after the previous guest had left and wondered if he could get the maid to get it ready. He said there was a "boy maid" that would get it ready and I could go back and wait in the lobby. A few minutes later the room was ready and I checked in. Later we sat on the bed and did lots of rides (sounded like a lot of the Disney rides) going up and up and then all of a sudden going fast down the the track and around the curves.

We laughed one evening when he was at our place; Dianna prepared his dinner and then he got to full to finish everything and asked for a box for take home.

We decided that they are certainly getting a fair share of restaurants and travel! Like I said--fun and imaginative.

Devin's attention span is also getting longer so he focuses on activities longer--I enjoy just holding Kyle--and getting some more and more smiles!

New Goals for 2008 and Review of 2007 Goals

Aloha - At our Family Home Evening tonight, we reviewed the progress we made on our 2007 goals and set our goals for 2008. One of my new goals is to do my journalizing on my blogger--I've enjoyed reading Lindsey's, Jenny's, and Erin's blogs and learning about their lives and insights. I've been impressed with Lindsey's family and spiritual insights and noticed how she's grown this past year, both in her calling and in her role as a wife and mother. I think it's great to record those impressions and will be a great blessing to her children some day too. In another posting, I'll include some of my other goals as well. Both Dianna and I will continue working on our personal histories; they will be too long and boring (probably) to include in a blog but we can make them available to our family later.

We also enjoyed discussing with Megan about her goals for the remainder of this year--this is a significant year for her! She's seriously considering teaching English in Korea, perhaps through next Christmas--both to save money for school and to get some other experiences. PJ invited her to come live with them and teach English there; she enjoyed her time with him and Lori and she would enjoy some additional international experiences. Perhaps she'll feel more ready for university study after a break as well. This will all be contingent on saving some of her earnings from the PCC.

Happy new year--what are your goals this year?