Never a Dull Moment!

Just as I got home from South Carolina, Jonah and Aja called to say they were on the way to our house from Sequim along with Ana and Elsie (Camden went to be with his Jeff Grampa for a while), Aneeva, Ana’s cute friend from New Zealand and Josh, who had come for a visit AND their last remaining pet chicken.  It was quite a ride in the “Greasel” but they arrived in good shape after camping along the way and we were delighted to have them with us! 

Elsie immediately started changing into “character” costumes and though she pretty much settled on Cinderella as her favorite….

 

here she is as Tinkerbell.Note one Cinderella shoe and one Sleeping Beauty shoe:

Aniston and I had fun as she tried on all the dress-up clothes from India and she settled on this one as her fav…but of course it didn’t take the place of Smore, the horse who she had such fun also dressing up while they were here.

That night Jo and Aja’s friends Dean and Deserai (sp?), Aneeva’s parents, came over along with the couple they were staying with and spent some time out by the fire pit and then came in to listen to our string quartet who were scheduled to play together on that Sunday night.

It was fun to have everybody meet everybody and force them to listen to a couple of numbers.  We have so much fun playing together which we have been doing ever since our days together in Boston forty years ago! Where did that time go?

Dean liked the Kiddie Spa!

And it was great to see these brothers together again!

 

The fun just never stopped!  Our Relief Society party was at Heritage park with dinner at the bowery and then a fascinating presentation at the quilt museum started by our darling neighbors Boyd and Jean Christensen.

Of course we HAD to see Toy Story 3. What would we do without grandkids to take to movies?

Of course we went to the zoo first (first things first) but forgot to get out the camera. You’ll have to use your imagination on that which won’t be hard because all you Eyrealmers have been there so many times! 

On Saturday we had a fun Weber Family Reunion. In an original dramatization, dad and I got to be the great great grandparents who first joined the church in Switzerland, and came to America. They were Samuel and Verena Goldenberger Weber. Charity came along and was one of their 13 children…. our beloved Grandmother Ida Emma Weber, who had ten children and then died in the flu epidemic of 1820 in Star Valley. Her two youngest children died the same week. I can’t wait to meet her someday. She is my hero!

Last June I had taken lots of pictures in Schmeidrued, Aargau, Switzerland where they were all born. Shortly afterward, my cousin VerNon and his wife Annette (seen below with their daughter and grand children), along with Lenna, her daughter Jessica and VerNon and Annette’s son Gary, a professional photographer went to Star Valley together to take pictures of the ancestral grounds there. We combined our pictures on a CD for people to have to take home with them. It was really a fun day! 

Sometimes I wish for dull moments, but not if I would have to miss all this fun! 

Working for Lucy at a BBS Conference at Duke University

Shawni and I had an amazing experience at the Bardet Biedl Syndrome Conference at Duke University on June 19 and 20th. The BBS program there is directed by a brilliant and wonderful guy who is one of the foremost researchers in the world on Lucy’s syndrome.

On Friday we took a tour of the genetics lab which was fascinating.  We learned so much about how genes work and saw an amazing robot that can do amazing things with gene testing that is beyond belief!

We learned about the importance of stem cells, testing on zebra fish which go from egg to tadpoles in 48 hours.

And how proteins, not being able to reach the photo receptors in the eye cause the cilia to die which causes blindness. So much to take in!

Our guides were PHDs who work in the lab every day.

 

The doctor hosted a wonderful party at his beautiful home for all the BBS affected families (about 140 families were represented) on Friday night and we learned SOOOO much as we talked to so many families who have been affected by BBS! We were fascinated by their stories, saddened by some, amazed by some and several gave us hope for the future. We heard such amazing things about families living with as well as coping with their disabilities.

 

One of our great delights was that the wonderful doctor we met last year in London there to speak at the conference. He has become the premier researcher champion organizer for BBS kids and their families all over the UK. He has identified about 400 families in the UK and runs a conference there every year.  He brought his wife and I was so excited to see them both and for Shawni to have a chance to meet them both!

He truly loves the BBS kids and has made life-changing discoveries that are helping BBS families all over the world.

This cute girl on the left was just diagnosed with BBS last year. She has just graduated from high school and has been accepted at a University for the fall. This mom and dad are scientists in their own right and they along with this cute sister have made life wonderful for this bright young woman!

She has some sight but can’t drive or do anything that requires seeing at any distance but she is highly functional and such a terrific girl.

Others aren’t so lucky! There were lots of canes for the blind and kids and young adults struggling with weight, sight and kidney issues. Some had multiple syndromes by age five.  One man wasn’t diagnosed until he was almost 50. He had a lovely wife, had adopted two adorable special needs kids and was highly functional.

Our “Dr. Phil” gave a fascinating talk about his discoveries from the BBS families in England. Below you’ll see a picture of a picture in a dark room of the cute kids who came to the British conference in April. He says what he loves most about the BBS kids is that they are so delightful to work with! 

We loved soaking in (literally, it was 92 degrees with 85% humidity) the Duke campus. What a beautiful place.  Shawni was in awe with her camera in hand. You’ll have to check her blog for the really good pictures but here are a few things we saw:

 

Shawni was loving every angle!  Shades of Wellesley although not quite so spectacular.

 

We think this might be the law school that Jeff attended. Right or wrong Jeff?

 

And of course there was this:

 

Given all that we learned and saw and discovered and as we talked with other parents, we are sure that Lucy is on the good end of the BBS spectrum.  She is doing AMAZINGLY well. Her verbal skills are as good or better than any normal three and a half year old, and she is absolutely a delight. She can write her name and identifies all the letters of the alphabet and knows how to get exactly what she wants…which will stand her in good stead as she goes along her path.

While Shawni and I were working for Lucy, she was having a ball with Grandfather!  He even took her to see Grandma Great who gave her a puzzle that she adores!

How blessed we are to have this adorable child!  We had soooo much fun with her (and Charity did too). We expect that great things will come from this little girl as we go forward with what we know to make a better world for her than could have been possible, had she been diagnosed 10 years ago!  We continue to pray (and send money) for research that will save her eyesight and for dietary strides that will keep her weight in check. Because of several wonderful parents, we realize it’s going to be hard, but possible. Still, as we say in Eyre-land…hard is good! 

We love you Lucy! 

Father’s Year!

It’s hard to believe how fast Father’s Days rolls around nowadays!  It’s incredible that it’s been a whole year since we were celebrating our 40th anniversary a little early at one of our Dad’s favorite places on earth…Roland Garos!

(This great dad taught all his kids to love tennis!  AND he just won the Liberty Park Tennis Tournament in a three set final that ended with 9-7 in a tie breaker. Not bad for a 65 year old!  I think his opponent was about 45.)

Not only that but he traipsed all over Switzerland with me last June to find my distant relatives, meet Anita’s delightful parents and meet up in London with a few of the 600 missionaries that he “fathered” thirty three years ago in England!

Of course our trip to England wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Wimbledon (tennis anyone?)

In July we was the patriarch of our huge family gathering at Bear Lake and put up with a lot of “stuff” as we enjoyed our time together at our annual family-fest which included three baptisms in the lake (Grace and Isaac in July and Aniston in August).  

In September he was the Dad of the groom and loved welcoming our wonderful Anita to the family

Whilst playing tennis in the Senior games in St. George he organized a reunion for relatives of HIS dad!  It was fun to meet the Minersville Eyres.

 

In October he hit the big one!

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Since we knew everyone wouldn’t be here for this day we celebrated his birthday just before the wedding in NYC.

!

 

And again with the leaves at Charity’s house in Provo.

 

In November we visited the Shumways in Boston. What a Dad!

At Christmastime we visited Jonah and Aja. (Jonah is a little leery of dad’s hair).

Christmas Eve and Christmas day was spent at the Looslis (pictures in my other computer) but it was a grand time to be a great Dad and Grandfather!

January brought a wonderful opportunity for Dad to teach other Dads and Moms in the Middle East and India about being better parents.

 

And in February we had a fabulous opportunity for him to model fatherhood at the school for leprosy affected children in India!

And be with a woman who was forced to leave her father (and family) as a young adult and suffer alone for the rest of her life as an untouchable with leprosy.

 

He also had a fun chance to almost be a Dad to his little sister Sheri (who has been without her dad since the age of three) and to take her and her husband Lynn for a special dinner with a dear family friend Jan.  

Dad’s wild side (which shows up about every 6 hours) was fed by the Elvis show in Las Vegas in March. We were on our way to the Tennis Tournament in Palm Springs (do you notice a recurring theme here?)

In April he was delighted to welcome the newest future Eyrealm Dad to the world…Jacobson Eyre (number 19).  These three future dads and three future moms pictured below, as well as the other 13 others are going to make a difference in the world, partly because of the things that he will teach them and greatly because of what their parents will teach them…that they learned from this great Dad/Grandfather.

In May he had the terrific opportunity to teach a roomful of Dads and Moms in Dubai about how to be better parents and to encourage dads to become totally involved with their kids.  

 

 

And so here we are back to June and another Father’s Day!  It was so fun for him to be able to see Shawni as she came through to pick up Lucy, who he had been caring for for a week while the Pothiers went to DC and Shawni and I attended the BBS Conference for Lucy’s syndrome at Duke University (more about that later). Jonah and Aja and their family and Josh also arrived just in time to share a Father’s Day dinner on Sunday night! 

What a Father! 

 

And what a GRAND Father!

He’s a Father to me some days too!  Love you honey! We are all so very blessed to have you! 

Fun with Lucy!

While the other Pothiers went to Washington D.C. for the week, we begged for Lucy to stay with us.  Boy did we have fun with that little girl!  And I think she had a pretty good time with Grammie and Grandfather too!

Bear meets Dora and Bear slippers meet Lucy! 

Lucy and her new best friend Michelle (Eric and Leo’s little girl) had a ball together!

We went to the “Jumpin’ Place” at the Basin Recreation Center and they had so much fun together!

Time out for a little refreshment:

This girl can play soccer!  You should see her running across this big field of astro-turf kicking that ball all the way. I think she’s watched her sisters play soccer enough that she’s really got it! 

Today Shawni and I are at Duke University for conference on the syndrome that Lucy has.  We are excited to learn more and help this adorable little girl by being more educated to her needs. We’re so excited! 

Grandfather and I had the time of our lives with her this week! Our time alone with her was truly a treasure! Charity is there today and tomorrow Dad is taking her to visit with Grandma Great in Logan! 

WE LOVE LUCY!