2016 started with the departure of Jim Campbell. Though he had been sick for some time, and joked that he would be able to outbet anyone in a poker game if cancers were the chips, it still felt like a tragic loss. He had chosen to be buried in the Salem cemetery, so LuAnn organized a peaceful graveside service.
Several weeks later we traveled to the eternal spring of California to a memorial organized by his children where we got to see the life Jim had before he joined our family, and meet some interesting people with delightful and heartwarming stories.
Early one morning, Terisa's Prius, already slated for replacement, tangled with another car at a thankfully low speed. Terisa is shown sitting in the car here, because the wreck jammed her door closed and she couldn't get out. Aside from a plum-sized bruise on her elbow, no one was hurt and the car still drove fine, but it was totaled based on repair costs.
Spurred but undeterred, we got another Prius, 2016 model. (World's record for in and out time at the dealership, since we knew what we wanted.) It gets 64 mpg and is Terisa's delight to drive. I'm not entirely sure we have actually bought the second tank of gas yet...
We spent several delightful trips to the zoo with Paul and Bethany's family. Here, Danny is sneaking a sardine snack to the brass otter.
All Terisa wanted for her birthday this year was a trip to red rock country. So we got reservations in Moab and had a delightful weekend exploring a part of the Canyonlands Needles district we had never hiked before. (Some of the surrounding land is now a part of the new Bear's Ears monument)
We hiked the Chesler Park Loop, which included a spectacular half mile called the "Joint Trail", which was like being in a slot canyon without the twists and turns. It was an 11-mile hike, which is okay, except that we found out we are 10-mile hikers.
We took a few selfies in airports.
We went to Chicago in the spring and Kit and Lynne used the opportunity to get away downtown. Addie didn't mind grandparents in charge.
We went to Baltimore, where we caught an Orioles game. In the third grade the Orioles were my favorite team, mostly because I had written a report on the bird, which is very pretty. The bird is pretty, not the report. Terisa had a conference, and I had the world's best crabcakes in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood.
About the same time, Alice finished preschool with a flourish, and we were reminded of all the celebrations we could attend, now that the Wandering Gabes were living in Bountiful.
Summer brought its usual plethora of activities. Here our Venture crew loads up a raft for a Colorado river float, above Moab. We lost one kid from the raft in rough waters, but, hey! bringing home 13 out of 14 is still an "A"!
We were a bit less successful in convincing everyone that sunscreen had to be renewed every hour or two. Here are the charter members of Club Redknees. We may have made a dash to Walker Drug for some aloe gel.
Despite the fact that we had stayed up late the night before to look at the rings of Saturn and the storms on Jupiter, everyone was game for sunrise at Delicate Arch. In fact, a significant fraction of the guys raced up the trail to the arch. Your humble correspondent was not one of them.
Youth conference this year was a Book of Mormon journey, consisting of departure from Jerusalem into the wilderness and three days of activities and reenactments of scenes from the book. Here, you see King Lamoni in royal garb. The beard comes in handy again. Always.
Here, we are crossing great waters, which turned out to only be about 25 yards across. Also, with all of the moss, even the term "waters" was suspect. This team did not swamp the boats. The same claim could not be made for many other teams.
All of us had another birthday this year, which was not an inconsiderable feat. Here, Great Grandma Grace gets to share little Grace's 9th birthday.
Grandpa Gabe and Grandma Terisa started a new tradition of the grandkids' campout. Grace and Alice got to camp at Smith and Morehouse, and explore Timpanogos cave and catch some fish. Also, "bedtime" was not enforced.
A few terrorist cells (see what I did there?) on my nose went over to the dark side and had to be removed. The ear volunteered to donate replacement material, and I earned another stamp on my frequent flier card. Key follow-up fact: after a few embarrassing weeks wearing two pillows on my face, the residual scars are imperceptible.
More summer fun: while Paul and Bethany ran off for a second honeymoon, we went with the kids to see the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. So many bones, so little time.
Family reunion in Jackson took us around Jenny Lake one day, where we ran into a black bear (dark spot on the trail up ahead) who had more interest in the abundant wild raspberry crop than in us. If the opposite had been true, you can see that more than enough documentation of an attack would have been readily available, even counting out the slowest phone holders. Its a busy trail: an enterprising bear could get fat on tourists.
August also marked a change in the amount and direction of our "spare" time, when the Stake President invited in for an interview. Two things: the beard gets to stay, and "Bishop Gabe" is an acceptable appellation.
It's a good gig most of the time. Anyway, the primary kids are very supportive.
September brought the advent of Isaac Christopher Burton, and the promotion of Miss Addie Jane to big sister.
Terisa went to Chicago right away, and I went out a few weeks later to meet the new crown prince.
Halloween saw the return of Bob Ross and his pet squirrel, Peapod (hat tip to Lynne for the idea and convincing me to order the wig.) For the record, powdered cocoa (fixed with hairspray) makes an effective, if sticky, beard dye.
Thanksgiving took us to Philadelphia to see and go through the temple that broke ground while we were there. It felt very much like home to us.
We also got to renew precious friendships, whilst eating Lebanese food at Manakeesh, the restaurant next door to our Philly apartment.
On the way home we dropped into Chicago for Thanksgiving.
Christmas plans were underway. "Ornaments have to stay on the tree, Santa!"
Addie was doing her job as big sister, and Isaac was faithfully doing his job of growing and being cute.
The rest of the year kind of fell into place after that:
our friend, Courage, entered the MTC enroute to Detroit.
A perq of being bishop let me join the Laurels at the Murray City shooting range where all of us got to shoot Glocks and MP5s. Also, there was a laser shooting range where quite a few video zombies got their comeuppance.
We celebrated the completion of tithing settlement with a ward party in Jerusalem.
Paul and Bethany left the bairns in our care for another night as they went to see the MoTab Christmas concert.
And I managed to log a few walking miles in some of the prettiest country on this earth.
Christmas was its usual chaotic success, with lots of family time...
...and a fun present or two. Terisa wins the gifter of the year award. Again. 35 years running. We can't wait to get out on the water in Grandpa's new raft/kayak.
This Christmas Day game ended with no broken bones or permanent grudges, though it was a near thing for a while there.
After Christmas, I finished up the last three books I had underway for a total of 42 this year. Don't be too impressed, 2/3 of them were audiobooks. I finished about many of the books in this stack, but still have Seveneves, Boys in the Boat and Arabian Nights to read. Its always nice to have something to look forward to...
And finally, on New Years Eve we bid farewell to a wild, weird, wonderful 2016. We finished the year with a Hogmanay celebration of steak pies (actually Philly cheesesteaks) and fireball twirling (actually leftover sparklers). And a couple of movies.
2017 has some big shoes to fill.
