Happy Birthday, Grandma Doris

It was a very busy weekend as we celebrated Grandma Doris' 92nd birthday on September 20.  Larry flew in from Seattle for the festivities, Kaytee stopped by after she and Josh spent a few days at a body building expo in Las Vegas and my cousin Cliff Elford accepted my invitation to spend the night in between points A and B (he's been in all 50 states in his travels).  On Thursday we picked up Larry at the Las Vegas airport, then went to a movie ... something he says he rarely does at home.  On Friday, we picked up Adyn and Skylar from Mark and Kim Postma and spent a busy and fun day (fun for me ... for Larry, not so much) at the new Water Conservancy District Park, had lunch at the Pizza Factory then headed to the St. George Children's Museum (Adyn and Skylar's favorite place when they come for a visit), finishing up the day playing in the water features in the Town Square).

Cliff arrived on Sunday evening and we had fun catching up with our cousin (oldest son of Eloise Henion Elford, one of my father's five sisters).  On Monday, I took Larry to my Rotary club meeting held this week at Dixie Middle School where as a club we learned the intricacies of pickle ball.  It was fun!  Monday night Larry and I had plans to volunteer at Tuacahn for "Sister Act" but they had changed the schedule and were performing "When You Wish" instead.  Larry was disappointed and of course, had no experience with any of the Disney music.

Sadly, we also didn't get much time with Stacy's family since Taisley was diagnosed with "mono" and Stacy is still sick with some kind of lingering gomboo!

On the "up side" we introduced Larry to the card game, Phase 10, which he seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

I was grateful to have my brother around for a few days but I'm not sure he enjoyed me as much as I did him.  Sadly, I probably won't see him again until our mother passes - or until her 93rd birthday!

PS:  Another cousin made contact this weekend.  I got a text message from my cousin Cynthia (Bert and Carol Owen's youngest daughter) who works for SelectHealth and was the one who did Grandma Doris' online enrollment.  According to Cynthia, "I made a note (of her birthday) when we enrolled her."  I said in return, "she won't know who you are because she has some dementia."  Her response, "If her face lights up when she hears someone is thinking about her on her birthday, that's all that counts." I thought her text was a lovely gesture.

Our Trip to Anaconda and Beyond

Our trip to Montana – the first since Thoryn was born in October – was 11 days of travel, smoke and friends.  The first two nights on the road were spent with Stan and Diane Blackett in Logan where we got caught up, did some shopping and had dinner together.  On Saturday morning, we left for Ririe for Ed’s 55^th high school reunion (see “The History of He”), spent the night with Blair and Jodi Grover (she was one of his classmates), and on Sunday morning we climbed back in the pick-up (with the camper on the back) and arrived at Kaytee and Josh’s home in Anaconda,  MT at about 4 p.m.  On Monday, Ed got the bathroom ready for paint while we finished our preparation for this Cuz’N Camp with two little sisters – Adyn, age 7 and Skylar, age 4 (guess we should call it Sister Camp ... maybe next year Michael and Tara will let us bring Lilly along).  

On Tuesday morning, the four of us headed north to Glacier – considered the most beautiful of America’s national parks – on the U. S. / Canadian border.  We spent the first night of our adventure outside the park.  Sadly, the smoke from two fires raging in the park and in other parts of the west, had already reached our location 20 miles away.  The second night, we ventured into the park hoping the smoke would dissipate and those famous vistas (we had hoped to see) would come into view.  Didn’t happen … so for the third night we decided to drive south out of the smoke.  As it turns out, before we drove out of the smoke, we were camping at Georgetown Lake … 20 miles from the girls home in Anaconda. 

Kaytee warned me “Skylar will eat anything … Adyn eats nothing!”  We ate hot cakes every morning (sometimes with eggs … sometimes not).  Adyn loves “cow” so we had steak and Dutch oven potatoes one night.  Skylar ate everyone’s portion of Bush’s Bourbon and Brown Sugar beans – even wanted them for her daytime snack and for breakfast.  They enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.  Bedtime was hard … not because they didn’t want to go to bed but because it was soooooo hot in the camper even a couple of hours after the sun went down. Our final stop was the Sweet Palace in Phillipsburg – the girls favorite place in all the world!

After dropping them at home – happy and full of candy – we started for home, with an overnight stop at Michael’s where we enjoyed the chance to catch up with our youngest son.  On Sunday, the last day of our adventure, we took a detour off the I-15 to travel to Richfield where we attended Sacrament meeting to hear Kimball and Cyndi Poulson’s report on their mission in Guyana.  We also enjoyed dinner at the family home, got some good pictures, then left for the last three hours of our 2000 mile round trip!

It was a very full 11 days … we’re glad we got the chance to see friends and family and to spend time with those three precious little girls – but we’re happy to be back home, catch up on the mail and the laundry.  Can’t wait to see them all again.

The History of He: Ed’s Life in Ririe

We attended Ed’s 55^th high school reunion on August 8, 2015 on our way to visit Kaytee and her family in Montana.  His Ririe High School graduating class of 28 now has 21 survivors, but only 11 came to the reunion.  Still it was a fun evening for him and a chance to re-connect to those who were so very important to him as a young man when he was a popular sports figure in his high school … and played the clarinet in the band during intermission.  Some of his best friends were Zane Mason, Rex Lewis, Jerry Lounsbury, Tom (“Tommy” to his “Eddie” in high school) Summers, Barbara Anthony Groom, Jodi Grover (formerly Joann Williams) and Janet Keeler Wilcox.

We also took a quick pass through town (only about 900 residents so it really was quick) for a picture of his family home … his high school gymnasium (now the Community Center) … his father’s drug store where he and his friends hung out … the bank … Robert’s grave (in the Ririe-Shelton cemetery) … and a canal similar to those he and his friends swam in during the summer months.

He still cannot believe he is the same age as all the old people who attended his reunion!  That’s probably the same reaction everyone has when attending a class reunion … which is likely the reason most people DON’T attend their class reunion!

The History of Me: Remembering Our Life in Rexburg

We took a 25-mile detour off the I-15 freeway while driving home from our visit with Kaytee and her family in Montana, to visit Rexburg, Idaho and for a walk down memory lane.  Of course, Rexburg has changed dramatically in the 50+ years since we lived there.  Our apartment is no longer there.  The center court of our apartment complex has long since been filled in and replaced by a street between Porter’s Bookstore (it was there when we were there) and a hairstyling school.  We enjoyed seeing the temple – much larger at four stories - than I had anticipated and how big the city had become (a little more than 27,000 people today compared to about 5000 when we were there in 1963-64).

I was on the switchboard ("google" it) at Ricks College (now known as BYU-Idaho) on November 22, 1963 and took the first call to the campus regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (the 3-story building in the collage above is a rebuild of the original main building).  

We also tracked down the offices of ArtCo, a wedding invitation company, for which I worked for two years when Ed was going to school at then-Ricks College.  At 19-years-old and newly married, I worked as the assistant to Art Porter, the company’s owner.  Art told me I was hired because of the 20+ applicants he had interviewed, I was the only one who knew how to spell – an important skill to have in a printing company. 

Three stories I remember about working at ArtCo:

·               I have been plagued all my life with hiccups.  While working for Art, I developed a particularly persistent case and my desk was very near his.  After a couple of days, he told me if I couldn’t stop hiccupping he would have to fire me.  I don’t know if it was his threat which scared me enough to make them stop, but they did stop.  He later told me he probably wouldn’t have followed through on his threat because he would have had a hard time replacing me, but still …

·               As mentioned, I was newly married.  One day, he told me he would have to let me go if I got pregnant because he didn’t want a pregnant woman running around his office (times have certainly changed)

·               Art and his wife had three sons:  Art, Gary and Randy.  I didn’t know Artie well and Randy was a few years younger than me, but Gary was about my same age.  When I left Art’s employ, the very quiet, reserved businessman told me he loved me like a daughter … so when I heard he had passed away, I called Gary and Randy asking if I had been remembered in the will.  I don't think Artie thought my question was very funny, but Randy and Gary got a big kick out of it ... and were happy to hear from their "sister."  

Those were good days and happy memories.

Fun in Fresno, Soccer in Sonoma

Our trip to California to visit Kris, Erin and Tylre (and her family) and Charlene Sappington and her family was tiring, but very fun.  It’s a long drive to Fresno and Sonoma so it was nice to have family happy to see us on the other end.  While we were at Charlene’s we enjoyed catching up on all the family news.  Todd and Naoko, already married in the eyes of the Japanese government, will have a formal ceremony on August 8 in Japan.  Tyson will marry in August as well, so Charlene has a lot of travel ahead of her.  Tiffany and Bob are close to finalizing the adoption of little Abby … and Bob is scheduled to have weight loss surgery very soon.

On Monday night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner and fun conversation with Tyson and his kids, Tiffany and Bob and their kids and Charlene.  On Tuesday, we had a lovely day with Charlene.  We stopped by the Fresno Temple (didn’t bring the right clothes so were not able to attend), then toured the Forestiere Underground Gardens.  It didn’t look like much from the street, but it was beautiful and intriguing.  If you are ever in the Fresno area, it is definitely worth your time to see this one-of-a-kind subterranean home and garden hand built by one man between the years of 1906 and 1946.  On Wednesday, we took a swing through Yosemite National Park, including the Pioneer Yosemite History Center.  It was a lovely day despite the fact there was NO water in the streams and only a slight mist coming off the mountain side where a world-famous waterfall was supposed to be. 

On Thursday morning, we loaded up the car and headed to Sonoma for a visit with Kris and Erin.  On the way, we stopped for a brief visit with Troy and Linda and their family.  It was fun to see how tall their girls are getting and how much they are enjoying their beautiful third baby girl.

Kris wasn’t able to get Friday off, but it gave us the opportunity to spend time with Erin and meet Kris’ co-workers and her boss, Jeremy.  We had lunch and hung out that evening with Tylre, Jaeson and their adorable Memo (Guillermo).  I made Master Mix for EJ, we cleaned the kitchen for Kris, took in a movie and cheered Memo at his first ever soccer camp.  All in all, it was a very fun weekend, just not enough time together.

On Sunday morning we headed back to Charlene’s for dinner with her family and so our trip home wouldn’t be 10 hours in one day, but rather 4 hours on Sunday and 7 hours on Monday.  It was nice to get home, but we sure enjoyed being with everyone, even for a little while.

The Golden State is Now the Brown State

After four years of serious drought, compounded by environmental issues relating to the endangered smelt, the Golden State of California can now, more realistically be called the Brown State – at least in the central California valley in and around Fresno.  The drought is caused in part because of a lack of rain / water shed ... and partly because environmentalists are standing in the way of the building of dams and catch basins for any rain water.

Referred to as America’s fruit bowl, Fresno’s once thriving agricultural region, has annually shipped countless truckloads of oranges, lemons, grapefruit, pistachios, grapes, pecans, olives and other produce to communities all around the nation (maybe even to some parts of the world). 

But in the summer of 2015, there are millions of acres of prime agricultural land which is not being cultivated and probably that much again which is not being grazed by beef cattle.  It’s pretty unnerving because the cost of everything is going to go sky high.  Better get your food storage!

Two Weekends in the Row, Tuacahn and a Cat with Diabetes

Stacy has a friend at the hospital.  She is a cute, single mother of two and a respiratory therapist.  Stacy told her about her divorced brother and they connected on FB.  Michael came down last weekend from Pleasant Grove to meet her.  We all went up to Pine Valley to get out of the heat and cook burgers … then Michael came back again for the 4^th of July!  

On Friday night, Ed and I got free tickets to Tuacahn where we volunteer regularly, so we took Stacy, Taisley, Michael and his new friend Miranda to see “When You Wish,” a new Disney play which was created on the Tuacahn stage.  It was delightful and we enjoyed a fun evening together.

David and his family came from Denver for their annual week on Jan’L’s family houseboat at Lake Powell.  It’s been awhile since both of my sons have been here at the same time.

Then there’s my mother’s cat Penny who was diagnosed a week ago with diabetes.  I ordered the insulin and, since Friday, have been giving the cat a daily shot.  She is 15-years old and the center of my mother’s universe so I am doing my best to keep the cat alive until my mother passes.  We’ll see!

And then, we went to Allysa's to celebrate Daxton's 6th birthday ... and Ed sold my Jag.

I’m also sad about the passing this week of Pdt. Boyd K. Packer.  My thoughts and prayers are with his family and with all members of the church who loved this man who wrote his commitment of agency, soon after he came home from his mission:  ‘I’m not neutral, and you can do with me what you want. If you need my vote, it’s there. I don’t care what you do with me and you don’t have to take anything from me because I give it to you—everything, all I own, all I am.”  

Us at the Mormon Miracle Pageant

It was a delightful special treat to be able to travel with Stacy and Taisley to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti. It was a 4-hour trip on a warm summer day, with Stacy and Taisley stuffed into the teeny, tiny backseat of Dad's old pickup truck. There was a crowd of thousands, an inspirational show on Temple Hill and, of course, the usual protestors in the street. We met up with Danielle who was spending a long weekend with her mom.  It was nearly midnight when the show was over.  We walked back to the campground where all four of us managed to fit in our little old (“old” being the operative word) camper. Stacy says, “next time we’ll take our camper!” but we talked, laughed and snacked, snacked, talked and laughed all the way coming and going.

As we were coming over Red Hills Parkway on our way to Stacy's we saw a firetruck ahead of us in traffic.  Stacy and Taisley said, "Grandpa, catch up.  Hurry!"  The truck is old and doesn't "catch up" easily, but we realized the firetruck was slowing down (he told us later he saw us coming up behind him).  When we got right next to the big red firetruck, we saw Rick at the wheel ... on his first official day back on fulltime duty after a year recuperating from an on-the-job injury to his foot!  So sorry I didn't think fast enough to grab my camera because he looked really good back at his job until he blew the horn and just about deafened me.

Family Fun in Mexico

After Tucson, we caught up with Kelly and Gary at the Mexican border, then caravanned south for about 2 ½ hours to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.  In the community, also known as Rocky Point, some 700 Rotarians, family members and friends worked together to finalize about 50 humanitarian service projects during the day.  In the evening, we played in this little resort town, during a unique, week–long Fiesta 2015 District Conference, which RI District 5420’s Governor Mike Wells enthusiastically billed as “the adventure of your Rotary lifetime.”  As it turned out, it really was!!!

For four days we worked from 8 a.m. until whenever (usually about 1 – 2 p.m.) building an approximate 12 x 20’ addition onto the Piñata House.  This little structure is home to a program, which provides a means for earning an income for 15 young people with handicaps (i.e., cerebral palsy, deafness and other health issues).  In Mexico, kids with these kinds of problems are considered to have reached their learning capacity at age 14 … and there are no social programs to provide further options after that.  The Piñata House is a place where they come each day to make piñatas, which are then placed on consignment at various souvenir shops around town so the kids can earn a living of sorts.

Our work crew of about 15 Rotarians, assorted family members and friends were an assortment of “suits” including an attorney and a lawyer (is there a difference?), a CPA, a high school art teacher, a commercial loan banker, a cyber-security systems analyst, a financial planner, a real estate developer, a sign maker, an IT specialist / program management lead; a retired banker, a veterinarian technician-in-training, an author and a writer (not sure of the difference here, either) and a cabinet maker willing to wear the general contractor hat.  Despite our collective lack of experience in the construction trades, this hardy group framed up the addition, wired it for electricity, boxed in windows and doors, put in insulation and sheetrock, and painted every inch of the exterior with at least two coats of bright pink and iridescent teal green paint … and all in nearly 90º temperatures with humidity almost that high!!!  Our work nearly doubled the size of this little “factory” which will mean additional kids will have a place to work.  It was a wonderful project, which is certain to make a real difference in many lives, long after the bright colors fade under the scorching hot Mexican sun.

In a week’s time, these 700 amazing individuals of every age, profession and hometown who took part in District Fiesta 5420 accomplished the following:

·               provided dental care (extractions and fillings) for 293 people

·               built 3 cinderblock houses (which will be completed by others for “gifting” around Christmas time)

·               gifted 4 furnished homes to qualified families in need of safe housing

·               cleaned the hard drives, downloaded appropriate software and donated 65 iMac computers for use in the Escuela de Rotaria Elementary School and another 80 pc’s to Escuela Numero 27 (comparable to a U. S. middle school)

·               landscaped a new dialysis center

·               paid for and delivered an ambulance for the dialysis center (a cost of about $14,000)

·               paid for and delivered 4 school buses

·               created a computer lab with tablets and a flat screen TV for training high school students on the use of technology

·               donated a year’s worth of internet service to these schools

·               donated “a truckload” of school supplies

·               delivered and distributed about 100 t-shirt dresses for little girls, shorts for little boys and a bunch of wooden toys from the Happy Factory in Cedar City

·               built the addition on the Piñata House

·               distributed about 1500 pair of prescription glasses and sunglasses

·               painted the Escuela de Rotario school a beautiful pumpkin orange and installed donated playground equipment for the kids

The rest of our time in Puerto Peñasco was spent playing on the beach, sightseeing, playing Phase 10 and driving the 30-45 minute road trip (maneuvering to avoid potholes big enough to swallow our car) between our project, the conference center and the Mayan Palace where we stayed. 

We had a great time and learned a few things during our big Mexican adventure:

·               a Mexican minute, hour, day or year is an undetermined unit of time which really doesn’t mean anything unless you are an American in a hurry!

·               in Mexico, stop signs are merely suggestions

·               the natives put a hand over their heart when wishing you “Buenos dias, Buenos tardes or Buenos noches” as a promise to the Mayan gods of friendship to and respect for all mankind

·               ice is the rarest of commodities in Mexico

·               stable electrical power is only a possibility – not a reality

·               90% humidity does wonders for your skin, hair and nails, so if you die there you’ll be a beautiful corpse

·               shrimp, fresh from the Sea of Cortez and about the size of your fist, are addictive and fabulously delicious

·               drivers in every country still question the purpose of roundabouts

·               potholes result in a wild ride requiring a kidney belt and a crash helmet

·               air conditioning, which defaults to 66 degrees no matter how hard you try to adjust it, is dang cold!

This week in Mexico really is what Rotary’s motto of “service above self” is all about!  However, working on a good tan while looking forward to a delicious dinner of giant shrimp, and playing in the Sea of Cortez followed by a rousing game of Phase 10 were also nice incentives for completing each day of hard labor.

See "District Fiesta 5420" on the YouTube channel for a fun and festive song and dance routine.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:  Gary found a nice RV park while traveling around the city and suggested we return in a year or two with the rest of the family and their campers!  Whaddya say, everybody? 

Tucson and Tombstone

We had been planning to travel to Mexico with about 300+ members of Rotary District 5420 for more than a year … but it didn’t occur to me to get out my passport until the Monday night of the week we were to leave.  “Good to go,” I confidently thought until Ed – passports in hand – said, “oops, you’ve got a problem.”  Seems my passport was expired a full year ago!!!

After my brief mini-panic attack, I decided we’d just not be able to go … after all, a passport is vital for crossing borders (I’ve personally had some memorable experiences with immigration people … and it wasn’t fun).  But, on Tuesday morning, I woke up with a resolve to find a solution.  My solution was U. S. Senator Mike Lee’s southern Utah representative … my good friend Bette Arial.  She put me in the able hands of Yolanda, the Senator’s Constituent Representative (aka “problem solver extraordinaire”).  Yolie spent about 30 minutes on the phone talking with one government worker after another until she finally connected with my solution … the Western Passport Center in Tucson.

Dropping everything, we loaded the car and headed out … 3 days earlier than we had planned.  My early morning Thursday appointment took the better part of the day, but at 2:30 I had my expedited passport in hand at a cost of only $170 (compared to $135 for a standard passport).

While waiting for Kelly and Gary and with two days to kill before we could get into our condo in Mexico, we decided to explore Tucson and surrounding communities (so, here’s a question … why is it pronounced Too-san when it is spelled Tuck-sun?  Anyone?)  Not much to see in Tucson (except two good movies at a nearby Cinemark Theater) so we decided to drive to Tombstone (about 45 miles SE of Tucson).  Had a great day in this historic Western town, took lots of pictures … and, even got a hug from Wyatt Earp himself.

Next stop … Mexico!