Two Visits

My daughter Audrey and her family have lived with us for a number of years.  So we have grown close and used to being in one another's company.  Perhaps for that reason Audrey feels the need for regular visits.  I love her pursuit of continuing closeness, so when she said she was going to drive here from her home in Mountain House, I was excited.  Two weeks ago, she drove the 10 or so hours by herself and arrived on that Monday afternoon.  She stayed for five days.  We had such fun together.   We saw some of the local sights, went to the temple and exchanged thoughts and ideas.  It was a sweet time.

Audrey with a new hair style from my favorite local
hair stylist, Danea Villa.

She introduced me to a journaling system that includes long range planning and I'm hooked.  At least for now.  I've made all sorts of charts of potential accomplishments, in various categories.  It is a pretty structured system.  I admire structure.  I'm in the habit of setting up all sorts of versions of it for myself, with grand plans for accomplishment.  After all, I only have so many years left to do whatever I want to get done before leaving this mortal place.  But while I admire all things organized, and goals set, I am, by nature, a free spirit.  So I quite often sabotage my own good intentions.  Sooner or later, something inside of me often rebels and I lapse back into my free-spirit mentality.  I forget my carefully ordered systems and lapse back into relative chaos.  But perhaps if I persist in my efforts, I will eventually win in my war for accomplishment.

My first accomplishment under my new system was to get all of my father's memorabilia organized into one binder.  Wow.  I'm so proud.  And I so enjoyed reviewing my father's life once again.  He really was quite wonderful.

Audrey's sons Chase and Isaiah and Chase's wife Morgan joined us on Friday of two weeks ago.  Isaiah was visiting Chase, so they brought him back to our house, for the drive back to California.  California is where Ben and Jessica's newest baby girl was just born.  The thought came to me that I could ride there with them and see my newest little granddaughter.  Audrey planned to begin the drive back at 1 am Saturday morning so as to get Isaiah back to California in time to go to work for the afternoon.  You may imagine how we looked forward to that!  Then Layne suggested that we leave after dinner on Friday night instead, spend the night in Winnemucca, and finish the drive on Saturday morning.  He made all the arrangements for us, and we took his advice.  It made the trip so pleasant!  Perhaps that is how we should proceed from now on.

We celebrated Morgan's birthday Friday afternoon,
with strawberry pie for dessert.  She loved it.

I spent the time in California with family mostly, getting a good bond in with just about everyone.  I spent last Sunday with Ben and Jes and our new little Olivia.  And all the other, very busy children.  I had such fun with all of them.  Olivia is almost two months old now and, with a little encouragement, she "talked" to me and even gave a little smile.  I was charmed.  Audrey and I had a very pleasant lunch and bond with Reed several days later.  Cliff drove me to the airport early last Wednesday morning and we talked all the way.  I loved that too.  So, in spite of catching a cold from someone there, I had a wonderful time and it was very worth the effort to make the trip.

Olivia in a serious moment.

After some encouragement on my part,
here is a hint of a smile from Olivia.

Ben and me in his kitchen.

I've been nursing my cold, and passing it on to Layne, ever since returning home.  We are both staying home from Church today to nurse our ailments.  Next Tuesday we begin our concert series with my singing group.  I hope we can squeak out some singing.  Layne and I are supposed to sing a duet.  This is new territory for me.  I'll let you know how that turns out next week.