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.