MADILYN AT 2 MONTHS

Michael, Amber and Madilyn came down from Louisville last Sunday. They went to church with us and then stayed for the rest of the day. It was Madi's two month birthday and it's amazing to see how fast she is growing and developing. We love each of our grandchildren so very much and it's a true delight each time we get to visit with them. Tyler and Kim are expecting their fourth child in October. What a blessing. To see more photos of baby Madilyn, check out Mike and Amber's blog link... Kim just added some photos and info on their blog about their recent Disneyland trip. Click on Tyler and Kim's link to check it out as well. Ain't life grand?

DINNER AT GINZA'S

Last week, the Sister missionaries in the Elizabethtown Ward received an additional companion: Sister Nakajima. She will be here until the last week of May and will then transfer back to Temple Square in Salt Lake before retuning home to Hiroshima, Japan. Last night we took this trio of missionaries out to eat at Ginza's in Eizabethtown. Ginza's is a Hibachi and Sushi restaurant with traditional Japanese food. The chefs put on cooking demonstrations for the patrons wile preparing the made to order meals. It was great and Sister Nakajima was thrilled. You will also notice that we have another new sister missionary in our midst. Sister Bartholomew was transferred to Beattyville in Eastern Kentucky about a month or so ago and Sister McFarlane's new companion is Sister Ita'aehau from Tonga (via Hawaii and Texas). Quite the international mix of missionaries, eh?

THUNDER kicks off Derby Week in Louisville!

Hey!! CLICK ON THIS LINK AFTER READING THIS POSTING: thunder over louisville fireworks on Flickr - Photo Sharing! In just two days, the annual Kentucky Derby Festivities will kick-off with the earth-shaking, sky-splitting, adrenalin pumping, pyrotechnic display and mind-numbing cacophany over the Ohio River that is known as 'THUNDER OVER LOUISVILLE'. Or as it is commonly, casually and admiringly referred to in these parts... simply, 'THUNDER'. I have posted some links that give you an idea of what nearly one MILLION people will experience first hand and in person on Saturday night. These links cannot adequately convey the beauty and drama of what has become the largest annual fireworks display in all of North America. This year, the barges anchored in the middle of the Ohio River between Louisville and Indiana, as well as one of the bridges spanning the Ohio will be wired with more than seven tons of fireworks and literally dozens of miles of wiring. The evening fireworks show will be preceded by an all day military air show on the riverfront that is one of the grandest in the nation. Last year an estimated 800,000 people showed up at Waterfront Park to join in the festivities. Rainy weather may keep this year's crowd from reaching or surpassing the one million mark. People travel from literally the entire world to be here for Thunder and the subsequent three weeks of the Derby Festival. It's Fantastic! There are many more pictures, information and a countdown to the fireworks available at the following link: http://www.thunderoverlouisville.org/ Thunder is the kickoff to about 70 events that will conclude with the running of the Kentucky Derby. This is one Freakin' Awesome Fireworks Show!! Rated the best in the nation - hands down - year in and year out. There are more links below. Incidentally, each of the links can be viewed as a slideshow after you've clicked on the link. Enjoy.

A Collage of Lynne and Greg

Just threw together some photos that Michael took of us on Easter Sunday. There will be more coming later.

Casey Wray Leaves for Basic Training

At the end of last year, Lynne's youngest son, Casey, enlisted in the United States Army after attending the University of Louisville for a short time. In January of this year he left for basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. These pictures were taken as he was waiting in the Louisville International Airport for his flight to St. Louis and then to Ft. Leonard Wood. Casey will soon complete his Basic Training and begin his AIT before graduation in June and then his transfer to a new duty station in New York. From there he will subsequently be deployed to Afghanistan. During the course of Lynne's correspondence and phone conversations we've learned that his probable deployment will be sometime between July and October. As you can well imagine, this has been a source of much angst and mixed emotions for Lynne. She is very proud of him and marvels in his transformation from youth to young warrior, but is still terrified at the prospect of sending him half way around the world to engage in conflict.

WE ENTER THE BLOGOSPHERE

Like many of our friends and family, Lynne and I have finally decided to take the plunge and enter into the world wide arena of blogging. Lynne's son Michael and his wife Amber have a blog that they update on a regular basis. Additionally, my son Tyler and his wife Kim have recently introduced us to their blog. We will provide links to these and other blogs as we receive them and we encourage you to provide us with your blog adresses so that we may all keep in touch with the comings and goings of one another. This is an endeavor I undertake with some amount of trepidation due in large measure to my lack of expertise in these areas. Therefore, I'm not quite certain how often, regular or reliable the frequency of these postings will occur. But this I do know, once you get me started talking, (writing) it's usually difficult to get me stopped. I began a short-lived Myspaces page while I was recently living and teaching in China. In the body of that site there are literally hundreds of pictures of my students, the university, the landscape and sights of Beijing, Chengde, greater Hebei Province and many other things. There are photos of Lynne's and my wedding; my daughter Cheniel and her husband Jeremy's wedding and reception; fun times in Utah and Idaho with all of the grandkids and kids. There are also photos from my brother Kurt's funeral service and luncheon. I am also including that (Myspace) link to this blog if any of you would like to hop over there and look at any or all of those photos. There are also some fantastic shots of the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and much, much more. By the way, I really enjoy using this photo of me because it is more than two years old, recalls a time when I was much more svelte and Lynne said she really 'digs' the goatee. Besides, as you will soon discover, there will be more than a few photographs of me that are not nearly as flattering, so. . . please, indulge me in this bit of narcissistic license.