Happy Birthday, Bugga

Wait!!!  When did I get this old?  I simply can’t believe it because when I look in the mirror I don’t see an old woman, but obviously the calendar – and some of my friends and family - beg to differ!  For my birthday and the chance to see David and his family, Stacy threw a party at her house complete with Rick’s delicious bar-be-qued chicken, Danielle’s French fries, green salad and of course, cake (with lots of gooey frosting) and ice cream.  David and Jan’L, their three boys Kaler, Kole and Kyle were with us after a week on the Jones’ houseboat at Lake Powell.  Also present were Alyssa, Josh, Daxton, BJ, Taisley, Kendi, Danielle, Stacy and Rick.  We enjoyed a noisy time together – including a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday.”  It was very fun and much appreciated, even though I still can’t believe I’m this old.  Nana said it best when on her death bed she said she had an 18-year-old spirit anxious to break free of her 96-year-old body.  I’m not there yet, but from where I am, I can now see both ends of the spectrum!

Adyn Says Home is Where her Mom and Dad Are

In late June, Kaytee needed a break and Grandmas Kim (Postma) and I were only too happy to oblige.  The Postmas traveled to Anaconda for a few days, then brought 5-year-old Adyn and 2 ½ year old Skylar back to southern Utah for a visit.  In Hurricane, the little girls enjoyed playing with cousins and being with Grandpa Mark and Grandma Kim.  Five days later, they came to our house where they played in the neighbor’s wading pool, at the splash pad at St. George’s Town Square and slept together in our big guest bed.  On Wednesday, July 3 we traveled to Ogden where we enjoyed Kelly and Gary’s hospitality, went to Hogle Zoo and helped America celebrate Independence Day with a huge fireworks show! On Friday, we traveled the second half of our 13-hour trip to Anaconda, MT where the little girls’ Mom and Daddy waited anxiously for their return. 

In Anaconda we painted Adyn’s bedroom purple and yellow … celebrated her birthday at the park … and saw “Monsters University” at the beautiful Washoe Theater, designed and built by the same man who designed and built Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  Kaytee – through her usual careful planning and preparation – pulled off a delightful birthday party for her 5-year-old, but nearly made herself sick worrying about the weather.  It rained all morning and into the early afternoon while she prayed for a miracle of dry weather for the party.  Sure enough, just before the little guests began to arrive, the clouds parted and the sun came out.  We gratefully looked to the heavens and offered a prayer of thanksgiving. 

There were tears shed when it was time to go home – not sure if it was because we had to say goodbye or because of the 13-hour trip ahead of us.  These high energy preschoolers wore us out (thank goodness for Taisley who helped us ride herd on them), but it was so much fun to be with them in St. George and in Anaconda! 

Welcome to the Family, Baby G!

Guillermo Adam Gonzalez, infant son of Tylre Christensen and Jaeson Gonzalez is the newest member of the family, born in Sonoma, California on June 16, 2013 at 12:00 a.m.  Weighing in at a husky 9 lbs. 1 oz., and 21” long, Baby G wasn’t breathing or crying when he entered the world so had to be transported to a hospital 45-minutes away.  They were able to get him breathing normally but then he developed a bacterial infection they couldn’t pinpoint.  They ran several tests including a spinal tap testing for meningitis but couldn’t confirm anything but 7-days of antibiotics killed whatever bacteria he had.  His parents, Grandma Kris and other family members are recovering nicely, too!

 

Our trip to Guatemala (May 26 – June 2, 2013)

Dad / Grandpa / Ed and I boarded a plane on Sunday morning to fly to Guatemala with a dozen members of my Rotary club for their 8th annual humanitarian service trip.  We thought we were going to spend 3 days in “blistering heat” in the villages around Antigua where we built five stoves in individual homes where meals are prepared on an open fire, provided dental care to suffering men, women and children and distributed shoes and toys.   However, we were freezing and unprepared for the cold!

Two of our party (Dan Strobell and Dan McArthur) are fluent Spanish speakers so we got along pretty well as long as one of them was with us.  I’ve never considered myself anywhere near “bi-lingual” but I was pleasantly surprised at how much of my high school Spanish (and what I picked up from living in Los Angeles) came back to me so I was pretty much able to communicate our needs in just about every situation.

We had a beautiful hotel room – with the hardest bed I have ever slept on – but we were asked to turn out the lights as much as possible (to save energy) and to use a candle provided in the room. 

Before we left, people keep asking “why Guatemala?”  We considered the good reasons why we wanted to travel to yet another 3^rd world country and here is our answer: 

The rate of women and children who die from smoke inhalation and other fire related problems is staggering.  With the simple stoves we built the amount of pollutants in the air they breathe is reduced by 81%.  One woman who got her stove last year  - and who was thrilled to see Rotarians again – greeted us with, “see, no smoke!”  She was also pleased to tell us her children could not reach the inner – hot part – of the stove, so “no burns!”  She also appreciated the luxury of being able to prepare a meal rather than one-thing-at-a-time as she had always done before!

In addition, to keep firewood in the house for meal preparation, the little girls in the family usually spend their entire day combing the countryside instead of developing their academic skills in a classroom. 

So, the reasons we went to Guatemala:

a.       To help Guatemalan women live long enough to see their grandchildren

b.      To send Guatemalan girls back to school

c.       The clock is ticking!  "Don't think TIME will change our Life . . . TIME only changes the expiration dates of our opportunities!"

d.      It’s a tax-deductible vacation

e.      We need another stamp in our passport

f.        There’s nothing to watch on TV … or in the movie theater

But, our trip was not all work.  We flew to Tikal (in the northern part of Guatemala) where we hiked to the Mayan ruins, took a boat ride on the river, enjoyed some delicious meals, swam and in general, enjoyed our travels.

So, here’s our trip to Guatemala, by the numbers:

·         Number of days away from home                                                    8

·         Number of Rotarians and friends of Rotary on the trip               13

·         Number of roundtrip miles from SG to Guatemala                      5440

·         Number of steps to the top of Templo IV                                      725

·         Number of pictures Ed took                                                             765                        

I hope we get to go again!  It was a great adventure.

 

Mission Reunion a Joyful Experience

Our mission President Claude Gamiette, his wife Delphine and five children – Jenifer, Corilee, Terry, Tom and Amy – traveled from their home in Guadaloupe, West Indies to Salt Lake City for two reasons.  The first was to be part of the well-attended West Indies Mission Reunion held Friday, April 5 on the Provo camus of BYU campus. 

The second – and far more important reason – was for a sustaining vote by the full membership of the Church to his new calling as an Area Seventy during the 183rd General Conference!  It was delightful to see this beautiful family again and to be part of this momentous occasion in their lives.

President Gamiette sought me out in the crushing crowd of returned missionaries there to greet him.  With a big hug he expressed his gratitude for the blog book Kaytee prepared as a souvenir of his 3 years as the WIM President. 

It was also wonderful to be again in the circle of friends from our mission:  Meg and Michael Treseder, Larry and Karen Harris, BJ and Marty Summers, Lynn and Sharon Angus, Jim and Mary Andrus, Gary and Chris Ricks, Ralph Childs (Paulette was unable to attend because of recent back surgery),  Jim and Jan Wheeler, Elizabeth Ludwig,  Clive and  Arlene  Henderson, Bob and  Raylene Bush, Ron and Rosie Boman, the McIntosh’s, and, of course, many of the great young men who served with us in Trinidad and Guyana.  Also attending were Brother and Sister Bennie from Berbice, Guyana and Sister Kotiah from Trinidad!

Another “connection” on this lovely conference weekend involved breakfast with #2 son Michael, granddaughter Lilly (who celebrates her 6^th birthday on April 9)!  It wasn’t a particularly warm and friendly time with him, but – as always – we were happy to see our beloved son in whom we are well pleased and to know he is still moving forward in life despite the difficulties of this past year!

Cruising Back to the Caribbean

Paid for by Gini Fairchild, our friend, neighbor and one of Ed’s favorite clients who recently left him a small gift in her will, we spent the week of February 23 – March 2 cruising under the clear blue skies and warm sunshine of the western Caribbean.  Eight other friends of our “tour guides” Stan and Diane Blackett – on their 29^th cruise as they celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary -  joined a total of 3321  passengers and about 1100 crew members aboard the Crown Princess.  Together we traveled 2417 miles across the Gulf of Mexico to 3 central American destinations of Roatan (the largest of the islands located about 30 miles off the northern coastline of Honduras), Belize and Cozumel (Mexico). 

From our balcony Room L215 on Deck 15, we explored the ship for 2 sea days where we enjoyed some amazing live entertainment on stage, viewed Movies Under the Stars – complete with blankets and popcorn - and ate until we were almost sick.  On the third day we reached Roatan, where we spent a gloriously warm day on a beautiful beach (referred to by local tourism promoters as “paradise personified”).  We also experienced a jungle zipline – featuring 18 stops assisted (thankfully) by John, Winston and Ernie, who accompanied us and acted as our “brakes” on this perilous, crazy, upside down adventure through a lush Caribbean rainforest! 

In the evening, we conned Ed into taking part in “Peer Factor,” the on-board game show which had selected passengers matching their skills with Crown Princess crew members!  Ed faced off against a casino dealer - dealing and shuffling cards and stacking poker chips.  Then his “team” stuffed as many balloons as possible into an oversized jump suit worn by one of the other team members.  Ed didn’t want to do it, but – as always – the showman in him came out, especially when it came to doing a line dance with some cute and shapely CP dancers!

On our fourth day, we were transported to Belize by boat from our ship – an adventure in and of itself – where we were among 14 passengers in a 12-passenger van looking for Maya ruins!  Like sardines in a can, we traveled for an hour to Altun Ha (which translated means “rockstone water”) which dates back thousands of years.   At the height of its population this recently discovered (1956) community in the middle of the jungle may have had as many as 200,000 residents.  An interesting bit of trivia:  the Mayas were the only “ancients” who had a written language . . . and books!  (Mosiah 24:6)

Day 5 found us in Cozumel, Mexico for snorkeling, another Maya ruin and shopping in an interesting small city which has taken tourism to a new high among 3^rd world countries.  The city of about 90,000 boasts beautiful shops and dozens of photo opportunities right off our ship - one of 5 cruise ships in port that day!

Day 6 was another sea day heading back to Galveston and our flight home.  Lots to do on-board, but we had only a chilly, windy high of 72° in which to do all our planned activities!

The week was great fun.  We made new friends.  The food was good and plentiful.  We enjoyed gorgeous locations in the Caribbean – and we have the t-shirts to prove it!!!

Our Trip to Anaconda

It was an odd turn of events which made it possible for us to see 5 of our 6 children this week! We have waited . . . and waited for Kaytee and Josh’s home loan to close. Finally she called to report the closing would be scheduled on Valentine's Day so we grabbed our painting supplies in anticipation of a trip to Anaconda to help them settle in and get the interior of the house at 721 Oak Street painted and the wallpaper stripped. On the way, we planned to see Michael, Lilly and Zachary in Provo before traveling onto Ogden for an overnight visit with Kelly and Gary . Then David called to say Jan’L’s grandfather (Clare Reber) had passed away at his home in Santa Clara – so they were coming to “celebrate his life.” After the funeral, David and Jan’L indicated they wanted to stop by Stacy’s to say “hi”  It was such a treat to see all the faces of our children – David, Stacy, Michael, Kelly and Kaytee – one-by-one in a matter of a couple of days.

Kaytee’s house – which is 13 loooooooong hours from St. George - is 3-bedrooms with a full basement, built in 1919. In the tradition of Anaconda it doesn’t have much of a yard – and nearly the entire house is Pepto-Bismol PINK (supposedly made popular in her day by Eleanor Roosevelt who is said to have had the interior of the White House painted in this, her favorite color). Our time in Anaconda was EXTREMELY busy and exhausting as we moved what seemed like hundreds of boxes and lots of furniture, painted the kitchen and the stairwell to the basement (a warm tan with white trim - well, actually a color called Lonesome Dove), demo-ed a couple of cabinets and rode herd on two rambunctious pre-schoolers and a 3-month-old puppy.  

With all our coming and going, here are some of the things which happened during our week on the road:

·         The odometer in Dad’s truck turned over to 100,000 miles in Pocatello!

·         It was freezing cold with lots of snow so I don’t want to hear anyone from Anaconda asking - in June, July and August, “how can you live in St. George?”

·         Kendi got her drivers license.

·         Kelly gave me her “old” iPhone 4 which did not work well because she had spilled something in it, but Dad got me an appointment at the City Creek Apple Store. It took the tech about 30 seconds to “clean out all the gunk”. I got a pretty new cover and am happy to finally have some 21^stcentury technology all my own!!! Thanks, Kelly!

·         We had breakfast with Larry and Karen Harris with whom we served in Guyana and got caught up on all the mission news.

·         “BYU forever” . . . a message I left on Whitney’s University of Utah stuffed bear did NOT make her smile. (NOTE to everyone: Whitney does NOT have a sense-of-humor when it comes to her alma mater).

·         I helped our extreme couponer put away her “stash” – a total of $6000 worth of merchandise for which she paid $500, remarking as we sorted and stacked, “I got so much better at it as I went along!” By my calculations, that still figures out to be 30¢ per item – although Kaytee’s goal is always FREE!!!

·         Dad discovered Clark and Kensington paint – recently named the best paint in America by Consumer Guide – sold at Ace Hardware!

·         Adyn, who says she hates bananas, LOVED Grandma Linda’s banana bread, although her momma didn’t tell her what it was until she had eaten most of a half of a loaf!!! Now she wants her momma to make her some more!

·         Skylar, in her little 2-year-old voice, shouted down into the dark basement of her new house, “Monster, where are you?” It was so cute.

·         Princess, the Postma’s Akita puppy learned to go up and down the steps to the girls’2^nd floor bedroom. It was hilarious to watch as we coaxed her from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom, but she finally figured it out.
*          We stopped in Idaho Falls to say “hi” to Grandma and Grandpa Sappington.

·         We stopped at Temple Square looking for Alicia Phagwah who was called from Guyana to serve a mission there.We finally found her in the South Visitors Center.She was so happy to see us.

·         We took Zac shopping for some much needed shoes. We were pleased to find a 2-for-1 sale – and two pairs of shoes he liked and which actually fit!

When it came time for us to say goodbye to our Montana kids, a teary-eyed Adyn begged us not to go. Grandma said, "don't be sad ... we'll come back for your birthday" to which our adorable 4-year-old granddaughter responded, "OK, it's Saturday!"

True Friends

True friends are hard to find, but we found out recently how "true" some of them are!  We went to dinner with Stan and Diane Blackett this week (they are down from Logan to get out of the cold).  In the course of our early dinner, they asked what we were doing for the rest of the evening.  “Stripping wallpaper” was my response, something I consider to be one of the messiest and time consuming jobs in the world!!!  They had just come from CostCo, but noted, “we’ll take our groceries home then come over to help!”  We protested but 45 minutes after we left them in the restaurant parking lot, our doorbell rang.  It was actually a pleasant evening of chit chat and scrapping.  When they left, the bedroom was nearly done!  Thanks to the Blacketts who really understand what friendship means!

Dominos Are Falling!!!

We had our hardwood floors refinished not long after coming home from Guyana . . . and then the dominos began to fall over!!! 

The floors looked so beautiful, we decided to replace our 20-year-old formica kitchen countertops with granite.  As it turns out, we were only happy with high-end and the most expensive granite from Italy.  It was considerably more than we had expected to pay, but it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!  Of course, with new countertops we simply had to have a new refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher. . . and the dominos just kept falling over!  Next we decided we needed a new toaster oven, new faucets and cabinet pulls to match our new appliances. While looking for new carpeting for the entire house and to go with the countertops, Ed found a new easy chair he simply couldn’t live without.  Of course, now we need to replace our bathrooms and laundry room floors, strip the wallpaper in our bedrooms which will then require painting and decorating.  We will also need new bedspreads, towels, a patio, a hot tub . . .

I hope there is a treatment program for this addiction because we can’t seem to stop without some sort of intervention! 

Happy Birthday, Ed

It’s not often I am successful in pulling off a surprise birthday party, but I actually did it for Ed / Dad / Grandpa on New Years Day.  I had sent out a Smilebox invitation (if you haven’t tried Smilebox . . . run, don’t walk to your computer.  It’s such a great little program!!!) to all our friends, neighbors and family members, then needed a diversion to get him out of here on Tuesday morning so I could get ready.  The diversion came in the form of Rilee Welch who has been with Rick and Stacy during the Christmas holidays / school break, but needed to be driven back to Fillmore to meet up with her mother.  “Since Rick has helped us with so many of our little projects around the house, you’d be paying him back by driving Rilee up to Fillmore,” I reasoned with Ed.  He agreed.  He left at 7 a.m. for the 5 hour roundtrip, arriving back home just 5 minutes before the party was supposed to start.  It was a lovely day with visits from lots of friends and family . . . and, best of all, we got rid of most of our holiday goodies (the Must-Goes in our fridge)!  Thanks to Rick and Stacy for playing along and for all who came by to wish the “old man” a happy birthday.