Saturday, June 14, 2008

Mid-June Update

I'm really running out of things to write about these days! I thought about writing about the upcoming fall elections, especially now that the candidates (for president, for U.S. Senate [Pete Domenici's seat], and Congress [Heather Wilson's First District seat]) are known. However, I don't have any particularly original observations to make, although I will say that whereas I don't regard the Republicans' slate of candidates (John McCain, Steve Pearce, Darren White) as ideal, they're way preferable to their Democrat opponents.

Devery and Easton are headed to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico next week to spend time with Easton's family (his parents are part-owners of a large house there). Kiley will head off next Saturday with the Phelps family to Utah, where she'll be attending Especially for Youth (EFY) at the University of Utah with Samantha Phelps. We plan to drive up to pick Kiley up from EFY, although I have to say I'm less than enthused about yet another trip to Utah, notwithstanding the fact that it will probably be our big "vacation" for the summer. (Sometimes I really miss the Las Vegas of old!) My mother is flying up to Utah on Monday to attend the wedding of my brother Jeff's daughter Jamie, although air travel (especially getting in and out of the airport) is becoming a greater ordeal for Mom all the time.

Darren has received a transfer to the Honduran city of Comayagua, which I believe is about 50 miles west of metropolitan Tegucigalpa / Comayagüela. He's also now a senior companion, and his companion's name is Elder Guymon -- I wonder if he's related to Jim Guymon, a local Albuquerque high-school basketball legend from the mid-1960s (about whose Pistol Pete-like skills my brother Roger still raves just about every time he and I talk). I hope Comayagua turns out to be a good area for them!

We've found out that the Albuquerque Youth Symphony (AYS) will indeed be taking a tour to Australia next summer -- of course, it will be winter there -- which, where Kiley is concerned, means we have our fund-raising work cut out for us. The tour will entail several performances, including one at the Sydney Opera House (!), a stay of several nights with an Australian family (selected by a local youth or school orchestra), and, I think, three nights in a beachfront hotel on the Gold Coast. It should be the trip of a lifetime for Kiley, and thus I'm excited for her.