Happy Thanksgiving 2017

It was a busy, noisy Thanksgiving, 2017.

Although Michael wasn't here on "the day" he came the weekend before to attend the wedding of his good friend Derek Smith who lost his wife a few years ago in an ATV accident leaving him a single father of 4.  Michael brought along his sidekicks Lilly and Laura.  Jessica and the older kids stayed home because she had a concert to perform.  It was a quick trip but such a pleasure to have our son and grandkids in our home.

Kelly, Gary, his son Brian and wife Miriah and their two kids arrived on Wednesday evening.  Kelly came completely prepared to take over cooking this biggest dinner of the year.  Selwin and Brianna, Simeon and Steph joined us for lots of good food, laughter and high-volume chit chat.  It was a lovely day.

On Friday, in an effort to keep people happy and energized, I loaded them in the car and took them on a "mystery trip" to the Family Search library.  At the front door, Gary told me he knew very little about most of his family ... didn't even know the name of one of his grandmothers.  When he repeated this to the missionary at the front desk, the man suggested he set up an account to see if there was any information.

A little aside ... Gary's grandmother, I am told, crossed the plains with Brigham Young and the early church pioneers to Salt Lake City - the second largest "exodus" in world history.  Soon after they arrived, his grandmother - as the story goes - got her feelings hurt and as such left the Church and took all of her posterity with her ... or at least Gary thought!

Gary set up an account and then we left for other destinations.  When we got home at about 5 p.m. Gary queried whether he could access his Family Search account from his own computer or had to go back to the library to do so.

Then the miracle occurred.  Gary got back into his account and began putting in names he knew which resulted in generations of his family popping up!  By 11:30 p.m., only Gary and I were still awake ... and he had traced 5 family lines back to the mid-1500's.  It was an astounding experience for both of us.

Our Trip to Branson

On our third trip to Branson, MO, we enjoyed the company of Tom and Merna Summers (Tom and Ed went to school together in Ririe, ID) and Bob and Katie Beecher (they took our place as missionaries in Guyana, South America) in our 3-bedroom condo.  

Branson’s population is approximately 10,500 fulltime citizens with more than 14,000,000 visitors annually.

During the week of November 4-11, we enjoyed seven Branson shows: Maxine’s Christmas, a Hallmark sponsored spoof on “A Christmas Carol”; The Lettermen (wow, so good even with only one of the original singers); Texas Tenors (they came in 4^th in the 8^th season of America’s Got Talent … and fantastic); Pierce Arrow, a comedy /musical group – very fun; The Miracle of Christmas at The Sight and Sound Theater (very well done and with amazing costumes); Six, (brothers of the same number singing and dancing in Osmond-esque style); and the Haygoods, with incredible music, amazing special effects and a talented family of five brothers and one sister celebrating 25 years of entertaining in Branson.

We also enjoyed a few side trips to Shepherd of the Hills; the Henning Conservation Area, Branson Landing for the obligatory shopping and strolling …. lots of eating out, getting lost at least once a day and a few raucous hands of Phase Ten.

The high point of the week was a day spent at Top of the Rock where we rode golf carts through 2.5 miles of spectacular Ozark country.  We saw Amish bridges, amazing waterfalls created out of the Ozark’s signature large, flat, tiered table rocks.  We watched the excavation of a sink hole near the golf course while enjoying our lunch in Arnie’s Barn (the original 150-year old structure moved from Arnold Palmer’s hometown of Latrobe, PA).  This fun day also included time spent in the site’s Natural History Museum, including prehistoric dioramas, expansive exhibits from the Civil War and the American West, and one of the most significant collections of Native American artifacts ever assembled.  This is the lifelong work of Johnny Morris, owner of Pro Bass Shops / Cabela’s … in short, David’s boss. It was an incredible day … just not long enough.

Of course, nothing ever runs exactly as planned … there are almost certain to be some glitches along the way and this trip was no exception. We bought roundtrip airfare with American Airlines in May.  Our trip to Branson was flawless, but the day after our arrival, we were notified our return flight had been cancelled so we were handed over to Delta Airlines where we were put on standby.  We left Branson at 7 a.m. heading for the Kansas City Airport … and arrived safely back in St. George at midnight!!!  What a day.

The week was wonderful – made more so in the company of good friends - but our 7 days in Branson went by entirely too fast.  Can’t wait to visit Branson again sometime soon because according to a quote from an old-time resident, “When God looked upon th’ work of his hands and called ‘hit good, he war sure a-lookin’ at this here Ozark country.”

Kris and the Sonoma Fires

Pictures on the left (top and bottom) are of Erin's high school!

On October 8, 2017 the area in and around Sonoma, CA caught fire.  Over the next few days and weeks, more than 56,556 acres burned.  Approximately 12,000 structures were damaged or completely destroyed, including 5130 homes and 4000 commercial buildings.  Also part of these grim statistics were the loss of 3200 cars, 111 boats and the death of 23 residents.  Total expense for what is being called “the costliest fire in California history" (to date), is $2.79 billion. 

As Kris’ family, we watched and worried as she reported she had loaded her car to capacity expecting to be evacuated at any minute since she could see the fast-moving flames from the balcony of her apartment.  Erin attended her first homecoming dance on the Saturday night before the fire began, but on Monday morning woke to find her school (Cardinal Newman High School) had burned to the ground as well as her elementary school.   Many of their friends lost homes, cars, loved ones … and livelihoods in these catastrophic weeks, but Kris, Erin, Tylre, Jaeson and Memo were all remembered in our prayers and are safe and sound, although Stacy and I wanted to jump in the car and take them a care package and an arm around their shoulders. 

Local leaders say, "Sonoma's recovery is going to be marathon, not a sprint!"  The only "silver lining" in this terrible experience is Kris - a mortgage loan processor - certainly has job security for the foreseeable future ... and we are so happy and relieved to know she and her family are safe.

Another Award for My Shelf

Another year, another award! 

Once again, I was totally and completely taken by surprise when my name was called at the “30 Years of Women in Rotary” luncheon in Lindon on Saturday, October 7. 

I had just “chastized” my club president because he – and the other presidents of the 5 Rotary clubs in Washington County - had not submitted a name for recognition from among the outstanding women in our community. He responded, “oh, dear, I guess I forgot.”

Turns out, I was the designated recipient as “Southern Utah Rotary’s Woman of the Year” selected unanimously by my club and apparently the leadership of the other 4 clubs as well. 

Bev Christy, our current District Governor – only the second female to serve in this capacity -  was named “Utah Rotary Woman of the Year.”  I am humbled.  Rotary is certainly an important part of my life.

Lovells Come to Visit

This year the first week of October, 2017 included the Church’s 187th Semi-annual Genral Conference; preparations for the St. George Marathon, assembling 11,000 welcome bags for senior athletes from all 50 states and 34 foreign countries participating in the Huntsman World Senior Games … and a visit in St. George from Granny (Minetta) and her son Sherlock Lovell from Georgetown, Guyana, South America.

On Friday, they literally flew into the waiting arms of Selwin and Simeon who picked them up from their “red eye” flight into McCarren Airport in Las Vegas.

On Saturday, we gathered all the Lovell’s, Brianna’s family, along with Ed and I for a “mystery trip” to Silver Reef where we saw a gunfight between the Marshall and a bank robber, toured the museum where the Smithsonian display “How They Worked” was drawing a crowd, and experienced a walk deep into a “pretend” mine (in the basement of the museum).

On Sunday, we got together to listen to a conference session then enjoy an American dinner in the backyard including hamburgers and Dutch oven potatoes, then visited Stacy’s family (Tasiley had been injured in her cheer practice and was in a lot of pain).

On Monday, we drove them up to Zion, stopping briefly at the little Western village for pictures. In our spectacular national park, it took a minute, but eventually Sherlock exclaimed “wow!” and “amazing” and took his share of photos while Granny was in quiet awe of the scenery. Then Selwin and Bri took them to the Temple Visitor Center for FHE.

On Tuesday, I was heavily involved in setting up for the HWSG’s welcome bag assembly assignment, so was unable to spend much time with Granny and Sherlock.

On Wednesday, the longest and most grueling day of assembling welcome bags, Sherlock and Granny came to help. He walked the tables stuffing bags and she had a sitdown job. In the evening, we went on another “mystery trip” to the new Family Search Discovery Center. Fun, fun, fun.

Thursday the welcome bags were completed in just a little over an hour so I picked them up for an afternoon visit to our beautiful Snow Canyon State Park (again lots of pictures to take home to Guyana); a stop at Tuacahn Outdoor Amphitheater; and, without even having to convince them, we went for a tour of Brigham Young’s Winter Home.

They flew back to Neward, NJ on Friday, but called before they left so say thank you. It was a delightful visit and we hope to see them again one day.

A Not-So-Quick Overview of Our Circuit Vacation

On Tuesday, August 15, we set out for a “circuit” vacation to visit friends and family traveling nearly 3500 miles through 7 states (Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah) in 18 days. Our trip was structured to make sure we didn’t travel too far in between stops … and to make sure no one asked “are you ever leaving?” The longest we stayed anywhere was 3 days with my brother Larry in Seattle, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Our first stop was at the Riverside National Cemetery to “visit” my mom and dad who are buried there. We spent the night with Dave and Janene Bills (my mother’s former bishop and her visiting teacher) with whom we enjoyed dinner out and breakfast before we headed for Fresno on our second day.

In Fresno (Day 3) we stayed with sister-in-law Charlene Sappington, visited her “kids” Tiffany and Bob Nelson and their family of 7 kids (Bob has been named Superintendent of the Fresno School District, the 4^th largest SD in California); and, Tyson at his place of work and later at his home where we finally met his wife Tanya. The next day we drove to Sequoia National Park where we traveled the Generals’ Highway. (That would be the Generals' Sherman and Grant … in this social climate, it might be destroyed by agitators before we get back down there!) In the afternoon, the three of us enjoyed lunch together then saw “The Glass Castle” at the theater.

On Day 5, we traveled to Sonoma (about 250 miles) arriving in the evening of August 18 – EJ’s birthday (well, Larry and David’s special day, too). On Saturday, we spent the day showing Kris around her community, including a visit to the Petaluma Adobe, the working ranch of General Vallejo of Central California fame; and, Vallejo's Sonoma home which Kris had never seen. It was a really fun day with our daughter. On Sunday, we attended our Sonoma ward then drove to the beach (although we didn’t ever find a beach we could walk to … bummer). We also enjoyed a short visit with Tylre and her adorable little boy Memo, but missed Jaeson who was on call.

On Monday, August 21, we traveled nearly 600 miles on our way to Dallas, OR to visit my cousin Judy McAlpine and to see the first full eclipse in 99 years. Sadly we didn’t make it to the 73-mile ribbon where the eclipse was expected to be 100%. Still we were able to see it at about 91%. Kris didn’t see anything since her skies were filled with smoke from all the fires burning in the American west, including California, Utah, Montana, Oregon and Washington.  The following day, we loaded into Judy’s car and drove to Depoe Bay, OR where we were successful in finding the beach!

On Day 9, we traveled to Olympia, WA where we enjoyed lunch with 6 of my (originally 17) cousins (on my dad's side of the family) and the last remaining of my dad’s brothers and sisters at a nice restaurant. My Aunt Coral is 97-years-old and still beautiful. We had planned to spend the night in Seattle, but my cousin June Wheeler enticed me to travel back to their home in Longview, WA with a notebook filled with family history created by my (deceased) Aunt Leodice (my dad’s oldest sister). It was a delightful visit and she gave me the book to study and make copies “as long as you send it back to me.”

Our two days with Larry in Seattle included a tour of the airplane museum, a visit to the famous “Pike Place Fish Market” - packed to the gills (pardon the pun) on this weekday - and, a ride on the Seattle Wheel (so fun!), dinner at a nice restaurant and lots of good conversation. The following day, we met up with our former missionary companions, Marty and BJ Summers, at a downtown park where he was a member of an Alphorn group promoting their community of Leavenworth, WA before we traveled to their home.

We enjoyed a tour of their delightful little German town / Bavarian village, had dinner then enjoyed getting caught up with these wonderful friends with whom we shared many memories of our time in Guyana. The following day, BJ took Ed up in his airplane followed by a tour of their beautiful scenery.

The second longest day on the road was traveling from Leavenworth, WA to Anaconda, MT to visit KT, Josh and their 3 adorable daughters – Adyn, 9; Skylar, 6 and Thoryn, almost 3 – on the day before the two oldest kids started school. It was fun to see everyone, although “seeing” was a bit of a problem because of the terrible smoke in the air due to numerous wildfires raging in the area.

On our way home, we spent the night with our good friends Stan and Diane Blackett in Logan, UT. Enjoyed dinner and a movie with them, then drove the last 300+ miles home to St. George (feeling bad to have missed seeing Kelly and Gary, Michael and Jessica, and Simeon and Stephanie … all busy elsewhere).

All-in-all, we had a delightful and restful 18 days on the road … enjoyed seeing 2 daughters, my brother, 7 cousins, Charlene's family and some of our favorite friends. Don’t know if we’ll have the stamina to do it again, but who knows!

My Name Sake

It was no secret my mother did not particularly like my father’s family, almost from the beginning of their marriage.  When Dad left for service in World War II just a few short months before I was born my parents had yet to decide on a name.  In their written communications (long before the internet), Mother proposed “Peggy Sue” as my name, but Dad countered with “Linda Carol” which my mother agreed was a good name since Linda was popular at the time and her mother’s middle name was Carol.  

At a Thanksgiving dinner about 40 years later, Mother retold the story of how I was named after her mother, but my father said matter-of-factly, “no, she was named after my mother.”  We all looked blankly at him.  What was he talking about?  His mother’s name was Elsie Werner.  “That’s right,” he responded in his usual quiet voice, “…. LC.”

Needless to say, my mother was furious so their trip was cut short!!!!

Cuz'N Camp ... Henion Style

My Henion grandparents (Harry Dexter and Else Marie Werner Henion) had a large family of 5 daughters and 3 sons, who in turn produced my 17 cousins.  Because my mother didn’t particularly like my dad’s side of the family, I saw very little of most of them when my brother Larry and I were growing up, but I have many happy memories of those few times we did get together … so it was a wonderful opportunity, when on our recent roadtrip, my cousin Coyia Nyland Keables organized her annual cousins luncheon to coincide with our trip to Washington State. On Wednesday, August 23, 2017 we gathered with Ken (June) and Don (Margie) Wheeler, sons of my Dad’s oldest sister Leodice Henion Wheeler;Clifford Elford, son of my Dad’s sister Eloise Henion Elford; Coyia and her mother Coral Henion Nyland, my Dad’s 4^th sister who just celebrated her 97^th birthday; and my brother Laurence David Henion and me. It was a delightful gathering and a fun opportunity to get caught up! 

Don (born in 1931) is the oldest of those who are left and Larry is the youngest. Several were unable to attend, including Leonard Elford, Mark Nyland and the three sons (Steve, Dexter and Adam Peter) of my dad’s youngest sister Lois Henion Clark.  Those who have gone on before us are Zanna Clark, Lois’s only daughter; Evelyn Elford and Barbara Elford Larsen, daughters of Eloise; Bruce Nyland, Coyia’s brother; LeRoy Bruenn; and 2-year-old Dudley Henion, son of my dad's brother Millard.

Seeing my beautiful Aunt Coral was icing on the cake. Because I had many Henion photos in my computer, she and I were able to spend time together laughing and crying over loved ones long since gone.

Visiting Doris and Dexter

Our three week “circuit” vacation began on Day One with a visit to Mom and Dad’s grave at the National Cemetery in Riverside, CA (Section 43 / Site 2210). It was the first time we’ve been to the gravesite since Mother passed away a year ago because we were prevented from reaching our destination three days after her death when SoCal's 2016 Blue Cut fire closed down the southbound I-15 freeway heading into Riverside County.

I must admit, seeing another proof my Mother is truly gone from mortality was a bit surreal but gave me final closure.

Now I have to work through my feelings - knowing what we know about the power of the Atonement - and decide if I will be sealed in the temple to my parents.  If I cannot forgive her for her actions towards me, I cannot expect the power of the Atonement to wipe away my sins, so I will begin the process and hope it leads me to the place I need to be!

Simeon and Steph Say "I Do" Forever

Simeon Lovell and Stephanie Shipley were married for time and eternity in the Mt. Tinpanogos Temple on Saturday, August 5. The ceremony was conducted by Elder Devn Cornish, formerly President of the Caribbean Area Office in the Dominican Republic (including the West Indies Mission) with about 40 friends and family members in attendance.

Brother and Sister Bassler had flown in from Atlanta and both Sim and Steph had former missionary companions in the company. Also present was Bishop Michael Bair and his family, including Selwin and Brianna Bair Lovell.

Following the ceremony, pictures, pictures and more pictures captured this important day, then on to lunch at the La Jolla Groves Restaurant in the Riverwoods Mall in Provo. The evening reception was held at the Springville Art Museum near Steph’s family home were the happy couple greated friends, family and former missionary companions.

Things to remember about this beautiful day:

*    Bringing a truckload of furniture to the kids’ apartment in Provo
*    Taking a truckload of “stuff” back to St. George, including a bed for Steph’s little sister, a student at Tuacahn High School … and all sorts of things for next week’s Open House in St. George
*    Helping Michael and Jessica finish the process of moving him out of his home in Pleasant Grove (whew!!! That was a tremendous amount of work).
*    Staying in the beautiful home of our good friends Bruce and Barbara Christensen
*    Running into Vicki Henderson in the temple.  She and her husband Bob are friends from our college days in Rexburg.

We are exhausted and ready to be home, but it was a wonderful weekend.

Trip to Denver ... Interesting and Scary!

In the middle of our already extremely busy summer, I was asked to travel to Denver to represent Rotary District 5420 in my role as Public Image Chair.  I booked my flight, from St. George to Denver, but it turns out I had to fly first to Phoenix. I flew on Friday morning knowing the program didn’t actually start until 6 pm so I’d have a couple of hours at the hotel to rest and relax my seriously painful knee, sustained from a very minor fall.

I left St. George at 7:45 am, arrived in Phoenix at about 11:30 am (hour time change), found the gate for my “ride” to Denver but when I went to the desk, I was told they had overbooked the flight and there was no room for me. I protested that I had a ticket and a boarding pass … to no avail. I was directed to American Airlines Customer Service where they told me the next plane was also full … so my best bet was to wait for the 3:30 plane which had 6 seats available.

As it turns out I was able to get on the 1:30 flight but after boarding we sat on the tarmac for about half an hour “due to weather.” When we finally did get in the air, it was obvious it was going to be a very bumpy ride, but how bumpy, I don’t think any of us knew!  In short, it was terrifying!

When we finally got to Denver, we circled the city for a full two hours, because the turbulance made it so the pilot couldn’t safely bring the plane down.

Coming home was interesting as well. I sat between a 15-year-old girl on her way to visit her sister in Phoenix and an Arizona border patrol agent (in size very similar to Josh Postma) who wanted to talk about the LDS Church. He had a dozen questions and while our conversation took my mind off the turbulance, my other seat mate held onto my arm for most of the flight – terrified the plane was going to go down.

My leg hurt the entire 48 hours of my adventure, but my room at the Embassy Suites was really nice. Time spent with fellow Rotarians was pleasant and informational. Except for my painful knee and my near death experiences (coming and going), it was worth the effort. Now on to the next adventure! Watch for more.

High on a Mountaintop in Idaho

In the continuing saga of our crazy busy 2017 summer we spent the week of July 10-15 in the Henderson family cabin “high on a mountaintop” at Macks Inn, Idaho with Kaytee’s three little girls while their mommy went to Girls Camp with the young women in her ward.  (We served in the West Indies Mission with Clive and Arlene Henderson.  We were in Guyana and they were on the island of St. Vincent – so, although we didn’t actually serve together, we developed a friendship at several couples conferences and have visited them in Idaho Falls a few times since coming home.  As such, she gave us a deal on their lovely cabin which sleeps up to 25).

Kaytee met us in the early afternoon of Monday, July 10 after which we spent a little time playing in the North Fork of the Henry River at Macks Inn before returning to the cabin for dinner.  On Tuesday, we traveled the short distance to West Yellowstone, then our youngest daughter headed back to Anaconda leaving us with Adyn (age 9), Skylar (age 6) and Thoryn (age 2).  We had been forwarned and told to expect “they are noisy, busy and won’t eat anything.”  They were definitely noisy and busy, but ate pretty well.

On Wednesday, we explored the area around Mack’s Inn.  We found the beautiful, crystal clear Big Springs a couple of miles from our cabin where we went to feed fish. From another direction we found our way to the Johnny Sack cabin which the kids enjoyed.  From there we traveled to the upper falls in Harriman State Park – Grandma tried to convince 2-year-old Thoryn to wait in the car but this adventuresome toddler was having none of that.  She wanted to go with Grandpa and her sisters.  Our final stop was at Buffalo Dam where Grandpa used to swim as a kid.  More hiking … more pictures!

On Thursday, we went back to West Yellowstone where we enjoyed a few hours at the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center.  Ask the kids how much fun this amazing place was … they loved seeing both the educational animal displays and the live bears and wolves.  Back at the cabin we built a roaring fire (in 90 degree weather) where we finally got around to roasting hot dogs and making S’mores. 

On Friday, we cleaned up the cabin, loaded every inch of the car and headed back to Anaconda where we worked on a couple of craft items Grandma brought along for them but we didn’t have time to work on.

Other memories from our time in Island Park …

·               ice cream every day

·               Watching “The Princess Bride” all the way through … twice (much to Grandpa’s dismay)

·               Grandma’s bad mood because she has a seriously sore right knee (“is this your sore knee, Grandma?”)

·               A teary – and exhausted – Thoryn telling Grandpa, “No bed, no bed” as she walked alongside him to the bedroom … laid down and closed her eyes.

·               Cuddling with Skylar
-               Meeting another of Erin's doppleganger's (she was only 11 but her similarities were striking ... she's from California, is a catcher, long ball hitter and clean-up batter on her school's girls softball team)

·               Beautiful prayers by both girls

Up next:

·               Rotary meeting in Denver (July 21-22)

·               Steph’s bridal shower in Springville (July 29)

·               Michael and Jessica’s wedding (August 1 in Provo)

·               Steph and Simeon’s wedding (August 5 in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple)

·               Steph and Simeon’s open house (August 12 in St. George)

·               Our circuit vacation (August 15 – Sept. 1)

·              Probable knee surgery when I can stop long enough to get it on my calendar.

RI Convention in Atlanta

In a convention center large enough to fit four big airplanes – one on each floor – a near record number of 42,713 Rotarians from 130 countries gathered in Atlanta, GA during the week of June 10-14 for the 108th Annual Rotary International Convention. Enthusiastic Rotarians – of every nation, kindred, tongue and people - came from near and far, some in native costume but all proudly wearing the Rotary brand.

We were all in Atlanta to garner great ideas from a variety of Rotary leaders, world dignitaries and in a variety of exceptional breakout sessions; fun, fellowship and the chance to discuss all the good we are doing in the world. During the convention we were in the same room (although it was a very big room) with such famous names and faces as Bill Gates, Co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (who have to date given Rotary International $750,000,000 - or 3/4 of a billion dollars - to finish to fight to eradicate polio from the earth); Ashton Kutcher, actor and founder of THORN - an organization dedicated to eradicating human trafficking; John Cenu, the voice of WWE; and, Jack Nicklaus, a polio survivor now serving as a Rotary ambassador helping to raise funds for Rotary's end game in the fight against polio.

I signed up in mid-March and at the time, Ed was adament he would be golfing for the entire time I was in meetings. By the time we were actually on the ground in Atlanta, his plans had changed but by then we could not afford the nearly $500 late registration fee for him to attend with me. We compromised by him “kicking around” Atlanta in the mornings and me giving up almost all of the breakout sessions each afternoon.

On Sunday, we took a ride over to see the Atlanta Temple, then drove to Augusta, GA, home of what Ed claimed to be the “ultra-fabulous, amazing, gotta-go-see-it-or-die” Augusta National Golf Course. Interesting … because when we got there - 157 miles later - this multi-million dollar 100-year-old course was completely sequestered from the prying eyes of those of us who are not multi-million dollar golf professionals while the surrounding community was – in a word – pretty non-descript … and some areas were downright blighted. A sad commentary on the “haves” and “have-nots” and a 6-hour round trip we both agree we should have skipped all together.

But during the next couple of days, we did enjoy the Atlanta Aquarium, lunch in the food court of the CNN Headquarters building, a tour of the World of Coca-cola Corporate Headquarters and a ride on the ferris wheel – complete with the Rotary symbol in full view - overlooking the city. Not sure if Atlanta was so good to us because of the sheer number of Rotarians in town at one time or because its just a really nice city. Either way, it was an enjoyable few days! We hope to go to the Toronto, Canada convention next year, but we’ll see (Hawaii is the one after that!)

Four Grandparents and a Graduate

We recently traveled to Denver to attend Kaler’s graduation from Prairie View High School. On Friday, May 26, 2017 our 18-year-old grandson – David and Jan’L’s firstborn - donned cap and gown and joined his 375 classmates for ceremonies at the Coors Event Center on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

According to statistics relating to this Class of 2017:

*  48% plan to continue their education at a college or university
*  37% plan to study at a community college or trade school
*  11% are going to work
*  4% plan to or have already enlisted in a branch of the US military (the largest group of military in the school’s history)
*  $3.6 million total scholarships awarded

After the festivities, mothers of 4 ward member graduates from Kaler’s class organized a party at the church. Kaler wanted his own party, but a surprising number of his friends and ward members showed up for the evening … and Jan’L, in her usual amazing way, had helped organize an impressive celebration.

And then there are the other three Denver Sappington boys:

Fifteen-year-old Kole didn’t graduate from anything, but he is moving up from a freshman to a sophomore at Prairie View High School, making him next-in-line for graduation at the Sappington house. He plays percussion in the PVHS marching band and concert band – including during his brother’s high school graduation - and next year he will be a member of the symphonic band.

Eleven-year-old Kyle is on track to becoming an academic all-star, as well. A recent graduate of Henderson Elementary School, he and two other students were selected from among 84 students in his class to present his “Influential Teacher Speech.” He was also recognized with the “Math Excellence Award” (he was up for Reading Excellence as well, but was told he couldn’t get them both … so he had to chose); for “All A’s and B’s All Year” and as the “Most Valuable Computer Nerd” awards.

In addition to graduation, G-Ma Linda enjoyed spending time with the boys (all 4 of them). We shot baskets at the nearby – and nearly finished – park, just a half-block from their home; playing Phase Ten and/or Uno on the front porch and just catching up! It was a really lovely weekend and – except for the 22-hour / 1300 mile roudtrip drive – I’m really glad we went!

On another note: I had been suffering (should be capital “S”) for about three weeks with sciatica before we left for Denver. My right knee has been killing me … but the rest of the story is David’s left knee has been causing him pain for about the same amount of time. He thinks it is a torn meniscus which might require surgery … so both of us limped around for the entire weekend. But he has also been – in general – feeling lousy with intermittant fever, back pain and nausea.On the day we left, he finally felt bad enough to go to a doctor who diagnosed a urinary tract infection and a “massive” kidney stone (1.1 centimeter) which will require the care of a specialist, including lithotripsy!!! His medical team is going to try to smash the stone into small enough pieces so he will not suffer too much while passing them, but he’s been told to expect more before this is over!

Mother's Day in Idaho Falls

On Mother’s Day weekend (May 11-13, 2017) we met Kaytee and her three darling daughters in Idaho Falls – not quite halfway between our two hometowns – primarily to attend the Open House of the newly renovated Idaho Falls LDS Temple before it is re-dedicated on Sunday,June 4. In addition to spending time with Kaytee, Adyn (almost 9 years old), Skylar (an emphatic 6) and our adorable Thoryn (who is two) our other reason for the trip is because this temple is the one where Ed and I were married. In the tradition of this remarkable church, it is another of 155 breathtakingly beautiful and currently operating temples.

During our time together, we also visited the Idaho Falls Zoo, a nearby Funland park,the nicely done Museum of Idaho, drove to Heise Hotsprings for lunch and “walked down Memory Lane” with Grandpa Ed as he relived his youth in Ririe – a time he considers, to this day, the best of his life. We also enjoyed spending some time with Michael on his birthday (May 10); the hospitality of friends Tom and Merna Summers who provided us with a bed and a hot shower for a couple of nights as our “base camp” and with whom we will vacation in Branson in early November.

The only downside of this mini-vacation was my terrible bout with hay fever. Where our St. George community saw spring a couple of months ago, Idaho Falls was just beginning to leaf out … and it was deadly – at least for me – made worse because of a lot of wind. Thankfully, rain fell on Friday evening and part of Saturday giving me a little respite from my misery, including running nose; itchy, watery eyes; a loud barking cough and losing my voice.

This was the first trip of our very busy summer. Watch for lots more to come before Labor Day!