Ferkin Family News

The Coat

Forest — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:26:27 +0000

The following video is a recreation of an event in the life of Heber J. Grant. Heber’s own family was quite poor. His father died when he was nine days old and he was raised primarily by his widowed mother. Heber’s mother worked hard to sustain her family but they did not have an abundance. Heber often went to bed early during cold months because fuel was scarce to warm their home, but his bed was warm.

Heber’s mother sewed for income and made the coat from scraps of leftover fabric. The video is a reminder that one of Jesus’ main messages was to think of others.

Bovinian Delight

Forest — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:42 +0000

Freesia and Jordan were in town for Thanksgiving so we got together and went for a pretty adventurous ride in the Chino Hills State Park. We rode a 10 mile loop that includes a trail called “Bovinian Delight.”

Bovinian Delight is a 1 mile “single track” that is not too much wider than a foot and narrowly winds through several valleys up to a trail along a ridge that ends the loop. Bovinian Delight is not steep but it takes some skill to navigate it and some courage to not let the steep grade below you psyche you out.

We even saw some grazing cows near their namesake trail. The hills have already shed their brown, dusty, summer appearance for a beautiful shade of green.

Everyone made the trip successfully. We had a near vomit and an actual vomit and now I think we all know that sushi and a long bike ride are NOT a match made in heaven.

Here are some pictures from the ride. I have been noticing that my little Canon pocket camera was not focusing correctly and today’s pictures confirmed that the camera is not operating correctly. Sorry about the blur.

I am also trying out WordPress’s new “gallery” feature. You should be able to click on any of the pictures below and they should come up fullscreen.

Here is some edited video from the day (w/ soundtrack )

Earth from Intl Space Station

Forest — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:46:19 +0000

A photography website I read had this video (It was taken by a Nikon) and I found it quite impressive. It was made from from pictures taken by NASA personnel on the International Space Station from August to October of this year. The station was orbiting about 220 miles above the earth.

Emily’s favorite part are the scenes of the aurora borealis.

For the best effect I recommend pressing the HD button on the Vimeo video player, it will redirect you to the actual Vimeo website and then you can watch it full screen in all its high resolved glory.

Grandma Millie Passes

Forest — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:53:09 +0000

On my way to work last Thursday my distraught mother called to tell me the news of my Grandma Millie’s passing earlier that morning. Grandma had been having some health difficulties that had put her in the hospital. We had heard news that she wasn’t improving but her death came as a surprise, especially to my mother.

Grandma passed about a year after Grandpa Jack passed, at the age of 87.

Today we held her funeral in Bountiful, Utah, where Grandma had grown up and returned to when she moved from Whittier around 1990. Both Flint and I flew in for her funeral, arriving late Tuesday evening and then returning to our homes this evening, one day later.

It was a good experience to be with family and reflect on the impacts both direct and indirect that Grandma Millie had on our lives. Today was a reminder that the roles of mother and father really wrinkle through generations of time and matter so very much.

I conducted Grandma’s funeral. Mom and Aunt Susie spoke and Grandma’s granddaughters sang a song that she had special meaning for her.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Click to view slideshow.

Ele-VAY-tor

Forest — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:00:11 +0000

Freesia and Jordan had recently got their mountain bikes and were going to be in town so we ganged up Saturday morning for a ride in Chino Hills. Seeing that our bike newbies are just beginning to break in their saddles we did our mild ride out by the Green River Entrance to Chino Hills

This ride is fairly flat but very enjoyable with a trail that lies in a sloping valley. The highlight of the ride was our time at the spot on the trail called “Elevator.” Elevator is a very steep descent (we gauge it to be about 30° for over 100ft) and then an almost as steep ascent. I imagine you get the up and down that gives the place its name.

In fact, I have equipped my bike with a speedometer and the device keeps track of the fastest the bike has ever gone. My record speed for a while was 31 mph. But a couple of weeks ago I broke it on Elevator by hitting 32.1 mph. I asked my Dad if he thought I could break 40 mph to which he replied, “Definitely!”

I said, “I think we will probably push it till we get badly injured.”

Anyway on this particular day I moved the record up again to over 35 mph. We don’t want to make 40 in one fell swoop, right?

Here are some pictures from our ride.

Click to view slideshow.

And here is some video from the day:

Let There Be Heat

Forest — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:00:38 +0000

The Ferkin Family took advantage of our Monday off for Labor Day to head up to Monrovia to see Grandpa Rick and Grandma Diane and to take a dip in their pool. This was a good idea because Monday was a scorcher.

On our way north on the 605 it usually warms like 5° as we head inland toward the foothills. This time however, we left La Mirada and our vans exterior thermometer read 85° and by the time we arrived in Monrovia it hit 100°!

We figured our drive coincided with the whole area heating up after some cloud cover had burned off. In any event, we were ready for the pool as soon as we got there.

We have started putting “water wings” on Parker and he is pretty content to float around the pool on his own. We put him up on the pool deck to jump to us and he will run away and find his own spot to climb back into the pool. Ever independent.

Here are some pictures and a video:

Click to view slideshow.