Farewells!

In the period of a month, I had the privilege of attending three mission farewells!  It was quite the flood.  The first was Josh White's at the beginning of May, next was Peter Redd's the following Sunday, and the last one was Sydney Young's at the beginning of June.  Needless to say, I was struck multiple times with the importance of missionary work as I listened to the three very distinct farewell talks.  I am excited for these awesome future missionaries, and I really look forward to hearing about the exciting work they will be involved in!  Good luck Elder White, Elder Redd and Sister Young! :)

Mom's visit!

We had such a fun time with Mom when she came to visit a week ago! I spent a fair bit of time with her and the boys since I had the week off from work.
Some of the highlights with the Puente boys included a trip to the Science Museum, where they had a hay day in the kids area and where we saw this neat solar powered house out on the lawn of the Science Museum.

Also, Spence and I were spoiled and got her all to ourselves one evening!! Here we are at various stages of burger enjoyment.


me- SOOO excited

Spence- ordered a 'pretzel bun' for his burger. he's smart to order somethign so yummy even for a bun. How did he know? 'It sounded good-' he says.

Mom, about to take a delectable bite!
So yea, it was lovely to get out and dine together. You can always find an excuse for that. This time, I guess it was because we've been such good Bloggers! These were 'build your own burgers' from a Hole in the Wall (that was literally the name of the place) on Bentley/ East of Sepulveda, and Santa MOnica- it was really great to have a chance to visit together and also enjoy delicious food.
Thanks for a fun visit, Mom! It was great to see you!! Luv you!

Mud Run!

Every year there is a widely attended mud run at Camp Pendleton (a marine corps base located outside of Oceanside).  This was my second year in a row participating and I really love it.  I'm a little disappointed in myself (definitely less prepared than last year), but enjoyed having Melissa and the kids come down with me this time.  We stayed at the Marriott in Oceanside and spent a few hours in the pool after the run.  Actually, I think I got more of a work out in the pool than I did at the run as the kids kept insisting on taking turns swimming laps on my back.  I think everyone had a great time.  We also managed to stop at a beautiful nursery on the way home and pick up a new avocado and lemon tree.  Very productive day!

BEFORE:

  
ONE OF THE MUD PITS:

AFTER

AND ROGERS GARDENS WHERE WE GOT OUR FRUIT TREES

Singing

As many of you may know, Lindsay has a pretty good singing voice.  Our stake did a singing performance recently where she performed a duet with another singer from our ward.  They sang "The Flower Duet" from Lakme.  Even if you don't recognize it by name, you've most likely heard at least the music of this song.  Unfortunately for me, I was traveling up to San Francisco for a conference at the time of the concert and missed it. 

Fortunately for me, Lindsay was asked to sing it again at a high priest's dinner the following Saturday.  Fortunately for you, I recorded the performance:

John in Cap and Gown

Dad and I got to celebrate with John at his official inauguration into the legal world last week. And it was fun for Dad and I to be at our alma mater on this auspicious occasion.
It was interesting to compare the commencement ceremony - with lots of British tradition, including the parliamentary chairs and the mace - with the one at BYU two months ago.  The speaker, a scientist who was an honorary degree recipient, mentioned how in a scientist's world it's failure that often leads to new and interesting discoveries.  He said that for others seeking to carve out their career paths failure can lead to something even more exciting and rewarding. But he did not downplay the role of excellence either.  He mentioned that excellence must always be the goal in anything one strives for.
We're very proud of you John and look forward to seeing how you choose to make your mark in the legal world.
Congratulations!!

A-Frame

Melissa and I went out for dinner at A-Frame a couple of weeks ago.  Its Roy Choi's (Kogi BBQ and Chego) newest place situated in a renovated IHOP in Culver City.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  They do a modern take on picnic food.  You can see a menu here.  We had a spicy kettle corn to start, crab cakes and ribs for appetizers and a cracklin beer can chicken entree we split.  It was very tasty.  I was especially obsessed with the ribs and have spent the last 2 sunday dinners trying to recreate them.  They haven't been as good as A-Frame's, but they have been very tasty.  Failing never tasted so good!  

The Sports Corner

As the self-appointed sports writer for the blog, it's time to catch you up on the latest happenings in the Wild World of Sports (the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat).

All scores and standings are as of 6/10/2012.

Hockey 

The Stanley Cup is upon us.  Those living in Los Angeles have been surprised at the run their Kings are making and are just one win away from the Cup.  They held a 3-0 lead over the New Jersey Devils, but New Jersey has made a comeback and the series is currently at 3-2 with Game 6 being in Los Angeles on Monday night.

Soccer

As previously pointed out in an earlier post, the European Championships are here.  We are partway through the first games in the group stage.  The major upset so far was Denmark's 1-0 victory over the Netherlands.  Spain and Italy also fought to a tie.  For non-Europe teams, the US beat Antigua & Barbuda in World Cup Qualifying 3-1 and Canada defeated Cuba 1-0.  The US travels to Guatemala on Tuesday while Canada hosts Honduras in Toronto.  On the domestic side, the team at the top of the table in Major League Soccer is none other than my beloved Real Salt Lake; games are currently on hold due to national team games.

Basketball

The NBA Finals are upon us.  The two teams involved are the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly the Seattle Supersonics).  A lot of talk has been about LeBron James, who has taken some flak from fans because of his decision to leave Cleveland and join a couple of other superstars in Miami and try to win a title.  He has played extremely well in the last round and now hopes to win the title against Kevin Durrant.  Game 1 is on Tuesday.

Boxing

Last night (6/9/12) Manny Pacquiao, widely regarded as one of the best pound-per-pound fighters in the world, lost a split decision (2 judges said he lost, the third said he won) to Timothy Bradley.  This decision has been widely criticized as being unfair; most people who watched the fight and scored it at home had Pacquiao winning comfortably.  The stats on total punches landed and thrown also would suggest a comfortable win for Pac-Man (Pacquiao's nickname) but the most important statistic, the judges scorecards, said otherwise.

That's it for this sporting moment.  Please let me know if you think your sport isn't being covered enough and I will consider it (though calls for me to cover cricket and billiards will most likely go unanswered).