Trip to Utah - April 2009

My youngest sister, Annie, and her husband, Brandon, were expecting their first baby in April, so (most of) the family decided to rendez-vouz in Salt Lake City to see the newest addition to the Sturgis/Dayton clan. Even my mom flew over from Japan to spend a few weeks with grandchild, Lucy Mei. Lucy was born without incident, and besides a slight scare with her losing a bit of weight shortly after her arrival, she is now completely happy and healthy. Annie and Brandon seems to not be getting as much sleep as they would like, but have adjusted well to the new family member.

Everyone in my immediate family was there in Utah to see the new baby, with the exception of my dad, who stayed back in Japan since he recently started a new part-time gig teaching English at a nearby high school. Annie and Brandon (and the rest of us!) are planning a trip out to Japan at the end of the summer, so hopefully my dad will get his fill of the new grandchild shortly.

Here are some pics of the trip in no particular order.



Mike Q and I decided to take a quick trip to our old stomping grounds in Provo, UT at Brigham Young University. We wanted to see the new Hinckley Alumni Center which was dedicated recently. It was a gorgeous building and a great addition to the beautiful campus.


The Hinckley Alumni Center


A friends of Mike's (and mine, of course!) from Washington DC had recently moved back to Salt Lake City so we decided to meet up with him and go fly-fishing - my newest obsession! Eagle, was a great guide, as always, and took us up through the Provo Canyons and into the middle Provo River. This picture doesn't do the scenery justice. As usual, Eagle caught the most fish, Mike netted one, and I reeled in zero, and got really wet.

The is the view from Emily and Jared's neighbothood. I miss waking up to those Rocky Mountains.

Maya and me outside of Em and Jared's house.

Gettin goofy at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

Working on the garden plot that Emily "rented" for the summer. This goes without saying if you know my mother, but Emily definitely got the gardening bug from my mom's side of the family

For much of the three weeks that my mom was in town, she took care of most of the cooking and cleaning, so Annie and Brandon could devote as much time to Lucy as possible.

Maya and Mike Q enjoying some daddy/daughter time.

Maya and Mommy taking part in some free craft exhibits at the Tulip Festival

Three generations of gardeners!

Elaine and Maya, Annie and Lucy.

My mom and Maya enjoying the stroll through the Tulip Festival.

Uncle Jared showing his new iPhone to Maya.

Play time with Maya.

Elaine and Maya.

Lucy Mei, just a few weeks old.

The proud new mom with her Lucy.

Annie and Brandon and their first time out to eat since having the baby.

Big family dinner at a nearby sushi place to celebrate the arrival of Lucy as well as Elaine's birthday.

Uncle Chris and Maya.

"Obaa-chan" and Maya.

In front of Emily and Jared's house in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Maya LOVES animals, so we were fortunate to have some local farm animals literally across the street from Em's place.

Annie and a sleepy Lucy

Maya Papaya

Ok, so I haven't had much to blog about lately, so I figured it would be a good time to keep everyone updated on the cuteness of my niece, Maya. She is almost 1 1/2 years old now and starting to talk. Apparently she can say "uncle," but I haven't heard it yet. I'm excited to see little Mayumi in April! And by the end of April, Mayumi will have a cousin to play with!

Tours of Boston, old friends, good times.

After the snow storm we got a few weekends ago I was a bit worried knowing two of my friends from AZ, Chris and Joannah, were coming to town. Last Friday I picked them up at the Manchester, NH airport and the two days that followed were absolutely gorgeous New England spring days. Apparently they packed some sunshine and warm weather with them from Arizona, but they only brought enough for the weekend, because we were right back to snow on Monday.

We spent Saturday doing alot of the cliché touristy things around Boston: Haymarket, Fanueil Hall, Boston Public Gardens, the Prudential Center, etc. Lunch was good. We ate at the Bell in Hand, the proclaimed oldest Tavern in America, a popular spot around Haymarket/Fanueil Hall. Afterwards we took the "T" (Boston's subway system) to the Public Gardens, strolled by Cheers, made a pit stop at the Boston Public Library, before we ended at the Prudential Center were we went to the Top of the Hub Restaurant and then strolled around the Skywalk Observatory.

Sunday was spent mostly in the North End with a brief detour at the New England Aquarium and a few local bars by North Station. We took the long route to the aquarium, enjoying the likes of Rowes Warf, Battery Warf, all while being envious of the local condo's their views of the harbor. Joannah found it absolutely fascinating that we actually have ducks swimming in Boston harbor. Lunch was at Regina's Pizza (I had actually never been there before). The wait to get in was well worth it. Joannah said it was the best pizza she'd ever had. No argument from me! After a few dips into local stores and stop at Mike's Pastries, dinner was at Dolce Vita on Hanover St. To say that both lunch and dinner (and the pastries) was excellent would be an understatement. Mmm....who doesn't like good italian food!?!

Unfortunately, I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, but Chris and Joanna ventured out on their own, enjoying more alone time, I'm sure. I suggested Anthony's Pier 4 restaurant for lunch and they loved it! I tagged along for dinner that night as we all went to a local 99 Restaurant where I had one of my favorite dishes - Prime Rib! Mmm (again!). Tuesday, they took a day trip to see New Hampshire and Maine, lighthouses, etc. Joannah mentioned the drive through New Hamphsire and Maine was her favorite part of the trip. Most of what they saw on Tuesday, I had actually never seen before.

Although I wasn't around for most of their Monday and Tuesday explorations, here are some pictures from Joannah's camera she let me copy before they flew back to Arizona, including our excursions on Saturday and Sunday.

It was great catching up with them. I can't believe it has been over 7 months since I left Arizona! I miss my AZ life, but equally love being on the east coast, my home.

If you are one of my local (Boston) friends, most of these sites will look familiar. If you're one of my distant friends, these pictures are enticement to come visit me!


Joannah and I along Boston harbor


Chris was happy to see this. Leonard is his last name.


Boston Public Garden area.

Chris and Joannah by the pubs near Fanueil Hall.

Quincy Market

Top of the Hub at the Prudential Center.

A view of the Charles River from the Skywalk at the Prudential Center.

The Hancock building as a backdrop to Trinity church on Boylston St.

At the Bell in Hand pub

I'm not sure if Chris and Joannah were fans of the cold, but they liked the views of my street covered in snow.

Awesome, huge posters we found at a local watering hole by the North End.

By the New England Aquarium

We stumbed upon this at the Boston Public Library. It was in a side room that we shouldn't have been in, but we couldn't resist!

The Holocaust Memorial by Haymarket

Lone Survivor

Ok, this is near monumental. I don't remember that last time a read a book cover to cover in less than, say, 6 months, but this book was good. My brother in law, Mike Q has a good friend, Scott, down in the Washington DC area that suggested reading LONE SURVIVOR, the story of a US Navy Seals team that was ambushed in Afghanistan. Scott said it was one of the best books he ever read, so I thought I would find it on my next trip to Borders. I don't want to write a book report here, but the book was great, so I'm highly recommending it. Once you get about half-way through the book, you get a clear understanding of why the Navy Seals are the elite of the elite training forces anywhere.


Thumbs up from me!

Uncle Sam wants....me?

I have an old co-worker from Phoenix, Michael, that emails me incessantly everyday. So frequent are his emails that I needed to create a "rule" in my Outlook so his emails go to their own folder so they don't tie up my main email folder with useless information. I easily get between 20-30 emails (or more!) from him each day, many of which get deleted nearly right off the bat. He knows this, which is strange, because he still insists on me reading about his useless news stories - most of which talk about economic Armageddon. Interspersed with his news stories are the occasional homemade picture of something random, many of which I wouldn't dare show you! Regardless, here is one picture he sent today that I thought was rather funny:



Of course he did it out of fun, but I wasn't sure to laugh or cry...so I laughed.

31 Dates in 31 Days continued...

The 31 dates in 31 days saga continues.

ABC Radio:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6820996

Good Morning America:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6819332
Yea, I even got my ugly mug on TV for 2 seconds!

NH Stake Basketball Champs

Well, this is hardly anything to hang your hat on, but last weekend, my home church ward asked me to play in a stake basketball tournament in Exeter, NH. Although the tournament had started the week before, I wasn't able to play due to being in New York City. Well, we made it to the losers bracket after going 0-2, but we still had a chance if we won all our games.

We won our first game of the day by 2. We had a pretty good lead at half-time, but nearly coughed up the game.

Game 2 we won by about 6, I think. I got myself kicked out with about a minute left in the game for saying a few, um, R-rated words after nearly getting tackled by an opposing player. I thought some of the wives would be upset at me (being that kids were all around), but later learned afterwards that they thought I was right! Go figure.

The Lawrence team was the team to beat in the tournament. They were 5-0 and eager to play their next door neighbors. Well, long story short, we beat them by 12. I don't think we had a guy on our team younger than 29. I don't think Lawrence had a kid on their team older than, say, 24. It was good to beat the young guys!

Although the competition was nothing to write home about it was great just being a little competitive for a while and playing with good teammates. I heard Regionals are in March.


It's only a coincidence that I'm the only one wearing a dark shirt in the picture. We had jerseys during the game, anyways.

Needless to say, three basketball games in one day takes its toll on the body. to say my body ached on Sunday would be an understatement. 29 is hardly old, but my legs are well underway from disobeying what my mind tells them to do.