On May 14th we met Hannah and Caleb at the Old Granite Street Eatery in Reno to celebrate Mother's Day. It was a beautiful day so we took advantage of it by enjoying our brunch outside on the patio.
No reward on Mother's Day as great as to get with your kids and know how well they are doing. Both of them are really thriving at UNR.
Our wonderful daughter just weeks away from graduating from college with a B.S. in Geography and a Minor in Writing.
Father and daughter at the Mackay Banquet on April 28th at the Reno Ballroom.
The annual Mackay Banquet brings Mackay School alumni, students, staff and industry partners into one large banquet hall to celebrate the year’s successes and honorees. Over 200 people attended the event.
Hannah visiting Mom in her office at Legacy Christian Academy the morning she was to speak at the weekly kids chapel.
Hannah was asked to be the chapel speaker and she did an amazing presentation entitled "God and Science" which included an experiment making "elephant toothpaste". The kids loved it!
In April Bob and Lisa took a trip to Montana to visit Bob's Mom and to attend the memorial service for Bob's friend and mentor, Ray Ansotegui. Bob was asked to do the Eulogy at Ray's memorial so it was great to have the comfort of home and family to stay with while there. This is a picture of Bob's wonderful mom in her "morning garb".
Click here for a picture of Ray helping Bob on the Flying D Ranch during Bob's Cowboy Days.
Ray's memorial was held in Livingston, Montana which is not far from Yellowstone National Park. So, after the memorial we took a lovely ride through the park and enjoyed seeing all the sights and abundant wildlife at the time of year when winter is turning to spring.
This is a picture of Lisa in front of Palette Hot Spring which is very near Gardiner, Montana, the North entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
It was great to see a huge variety of wildlife in the park. Herds of elk, deer and bison where everywhere and often blocked the road!
An iconic symbol of the West, a bison bull.
One of the fun things Bob got to do on Sunday, April 23rd was to join his brother Jim to ring the bell in the Manhattan Christian Reform Church before church service began.
Jim is an elder at the church and it was his Sunday to be the bell ringer. Bob got to go with him and help him ring the bell calling the community to church.
From this view you can see Bob's mom's house which is only a short walk away.
View of the church parking lot from the bell tower window.
The amazing views from the bell tower of the Manhattan Christian Reform Church. The church dates back to 1910 and is the cornerstone of the community.
Jim ringing the bell.
It was good to be back from our trip and in Nevada again. Bob added a lift kit and winch to his truck. It is looking pretty sharp after all these years of service.
Bob happened to be on the UNR campus for a meeting at which the mayor of Reno was also in attendance. They happened to run into Caleb on campus so Bob got to introduce Caleb to Mayor Schieve and took their picture all together.
A bit later the same day, Bob ran into Hannah on campus, so they had lunch together.
Even though the kids have moved out of the house, it's great they live so close that we get to see them regularly.
Another day at the shooting range and it's pretty clear Hannah is definitely is a little "Annie Oakley"!
Dad and daughter love to go out shooting together!
April 6th Bob and Lisa were both off from work and made a fun day trip out to a less visited Nevada state park, Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park.
The park has two highlights, the old mining town of Berlin and the most abundant remains of the Ichthyosaur, an ancient marine reptile.
This is a photo of Bob and Lisa and their sidekick, Chester, in front of a full sized depiction of Nevada's state fossil.
View from the tiny mining town of Berlin, whose houses are part of the state park. It was great to be out in Nevada's wide open spaces!
This view really shows Nevada's "basin and range" topography.
Lisa and Chester having fun tramping around outdoors. They are posing next to a sign like the many Hannah put up while on her internship in 2021 with the Nevada Division of Minerals fencing off abandoned mines. The sign reads: "Danger, Unsafe Mine, Stay out, Stay alive."
The ghost town of Berlin was a bustling, albeit out of the way, mining town over 100 years ago. Today it is no longer bustling, but is an interesting place to visit.
This large building held the rock crushing machines which were vital in the ore extraction. In its heyday this was a very noisy place!
A view of the inside of the assayer hut. It was interesting to walk around and through the remains -- the flotsam and jetsam of people's lives in the past.
The other part of the park includes a wonderful Ichthyosaur exhibit of the original fossils excavated of this huge marine animal. This is the fossilized skull of an Ichthyosaur which was at least three feet long.
March 17th Bob and Lisa attended a special church service at St. Luke's Lutheran church in Reno. Caleb has been going to this church since the first Sunday on campus and he enjoys it very much. This was a special service where he was inducted as a member of the church.
Caleb being prayed over by elders and the pastor of the church. As parents we are so pleased he has found a church home he loves! Having great kids is a success; Having kids that love God is true success!
On February 16th we celebrated Bob's 64th birthday. It was a fun time celebrating our amazing favorite guy.
Lisa thinks he's looking pretty handsome for 64! That's really good for Bob! :)
Like his Dad, Bob has really enjoyed handloading ammunition and perfecting his sharp shooting craft. He has a sweet set up with the beautiful handloading bench he built himself.
Another set of handloads ready to go to the range for testing.
Nevada's current governor, Joe Lombardo, speaking at a $1 billion equity funding round celebration to a company Bob has been instrumental in bringing to Nevada, Redwood Materials.
Because of what Redwood does with recycling and producing components for reintegration back into battery manufacturing, Nevada now stands as the only place outside of China that does everything from extractive mining of critical minerals to battery component manufacturing, to battery production for storage and mobility with the Tesla Semi truck, to end of life recycling to loop back into the beginning of the supply chain. It has really been a remarkable career and experience for Bob.
Bob and crew along side of Jennifer Granhol, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, who also spoke at the celebration in not only what Redwood is bringing to Nevada but also the entire U.S. and world.
Caleb has participated in theatrical productions since high school. He particularly loves Improv style theater. Soon after starting at UNR he searched, found and joined the UNR Improv theatre group. Our family had a fun night of laughter at one of the shows which Caleb participated in. This photo shows Caleb center stage and loving it!
A night at the Improv at UNR.
Hannah's buddies, Melissa and Taylor also joined us for the night of Improv theater. They think Hannah's little brother is pretty cool. :)
Hannah's office where she works at the Mackay School of Mines.
Hannah presented her college thesis at the Society for Range Management conference in Idaho. It was titled: "Allometric Equations for "Immigrant" Forage Kochia.
In layman terms this meas that she collected samples of forage kochia, a western shrub, and then collected their measurements and weights, and developed a series of equations that predict the relationship between the top (crown) area of the shrub and its total weight. These equations can be used to predict weights without killing the plant.
She did great!
One evening while Bob was in Reno, he picked Hannah up and took her on a Dad and Daughter date night the Old Granite Street Eatery.
Our birthday girl - now 22! What a beauty.
Hannah opening some birthday gifts at our family party.
Isn't it fun that vinyls are back? Hannah with a new album from one of her favorite groups, Japanese Breakfast.
A little fun with some balloons. This kind of creative fun defines Hannah and she comes by it naturally just like her Grandma Potts.
On New Year's Day we took a family trip to Scheels in Reno. Lisa and Hannah decided to start the year out with a bit of adventure - riding the Ferris wheel located inside the store!
Up, up and away - Happy New Year!