Family Reunion in St. George

 We have family reunions every year, in July.  This year Chris and Jessica were in charge.  They found a lovely place in St. George, Utah, in a new development that was made for recreational renting.  The homes came in all sizes; Chris found one that would hold 30+ people and we rented it for 5 days.  It was a nine hour drive to get there from Star, Idaho.  Chris and Jessica, Ben and Jessica and babes stayed the night at our house to break up their drive from Seattle.  We all started out fairly early Monday morning.  

Seth and Angelica stayed home, as they were scheduled to fly home to Taiwan on Tuesday.  

We arrived in good time Monday afternoon.  But Ben and Jessica had car problems that limited their speed to about 30 mph going up hill and coasting faster downhill.  So they took longer to arrive, but they made it safely too.  Everyone was there by Monday evening.  It was a very nice place with lots of amenities.  We especially liked the air conditioning as St. George had temperatures over 100 degrees. But inside we were comfortable as can be.  Here's a snapshot of the house.

We spent time inside the house talking, playing games and using the large theater that was located upstairs.  That was lots of fun.  Here you can see just about all of us gathered in it for a group picture.

One of the games we played was a puzzle contest.  We divided into three teams and each had the same puzzle.  The first team to put the puzzle together was the winner.  I am not known for my puzzle skill, but, surprise, surprise, my team won!  Here are my teammates, Gemma, Reed, Jacqueline and Peyton.

We didn't do much outside in St. George, but several hikes took some of us to cooler spots.  There were pools to swim in too.  We spent Wednesday in Cedar City, attending a Renaissance Faire, and Tia's baptism (Ben and Jessica's number 7).  I've never been to a Renaissance Faire so I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.  In Cedar City, this year, it was a bit underwhelming.  There were various booths in a local park that resembled Farmer's Markets held here in Star.  But it was fun.  Gemma and Abigail got henna tatoos.  Here's Gemma sporting hers.  It was done from one of her original drawings.

Probably the funnest part of the Faire was being caught in the rain.  A thunderstorm moved in and filled the park with heavy rain and hail.  It was exciting!  Fortunately we were able to take cover under a large gazebo.  So fun!  Here's Jessica and Gemma, in the gazebo just before the storm hit.

Our sweet Tia was baptized in her grandparents Ault's (Ben's Jessica's parents) ward building.  I got to give the baptism talk and her other grandma, Judy, gave the Holy Ghost talk.  It was so fun and she was such a sweet little doll.  I love those babes.

That night lots of us attended a Shakespearean play, A Comedy of Errors.  I wasn't especially looking forward to it, but decided to go anyhow.  It was held in a theater much like one Shakespeare's plays were performed in back in his day; open to the sky.  The problem was, it was still raining and thundering.  Much of our family were seated in the front seats, open to the sky.  But I sat with Audrey and Rayne, under the balcony, which provided a nice shield from the rain.  Here were are, waiting for the play to begin.  Yup, thats a blanket around us; the rain really cooled things down.

The performance was delayed, hoping for the rain to pause.  But it didn't.  Light raincoats were made available to the audience in the front seats.  The stage was out in the open, taking the rain in full force.  Here you can see the colorful stage and the raincoat clad audience.  It was actually quite fun and charming and the play hadn't even begun yet! 

Finally the play began, in the rain.  In between scenes, workers came out and wiped down the stage.  But by the end of the play the rain had stopped.  What a charming caper the story turned out to be.  You could catch the drift of the story even without the script.  Yet the script added such happy dimension and laughter to the whole mixed up story.  We all loved it!  I'm so glad I went.

Our Mongolian foster daughter, Brynn, her husband Roy and their two boys joined us for part of our reunion.  They blended right in and were embraced by all.  Nephew Mark and his daughter, Heather, also came by. What fun to have us all together.  Here's Brynn and Roy.

  

Our last day we drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument, near Cedar City.  It took us up 10,000 feet.  You can imagine that it was pretty cool up there and a nice break from the heat.  We started out on a trail that took us even higher.  I found it hard to breathe, felt light headed and a little dizzy.  So Layne came with me back to lower ground while the rest finished the hike.  The views were lovely.  Here is one I caught before returning.

Red rock country is hard to beat for beauty.  If I could choose my dirt, it would be red!  

Reunions are so much fun and so exhausting all at once.  With surplus amounts of food packed away, we began the drive home on Saturday.  Chris and Jessica joined us for an overnight that night and drove the rest of the way home on Sunday.  It was over.  All but the clean-up mess.  But, it was worth it.

Layne and I spent this past week cleaning the house and yard, eating all the leftovers, and washing all sorts of things.  But we were both so tired.  I would do a little and rest.  That was our whole week.  Maybe we are beginning to feel the limitations of age after all.  Bed looked like the best of all places to be this past week.

Seth and Angelica are in quarantine in Taipei beginning last week when they arrived, and into this.  By the end of the week they will be out and able to be with their family in Feng Yuan.  Two weeks is a long time to be locked up.  They tested negative for the virus before leaving so it is hard to understand why such isolation is necessary.  I'm a bit tired of the whole Co-Vid thing.  I want to live again.  Let's do.

 

The Busy-ness of June

 You can probably tell that blogging is down on my list of late.  That is not because of a lack of events to expose.  I have allowed myself to be less inclined to record them.  Yet here I am attempting to do so in spite of my reluctance.

I promised daughter Jessica that I would visit her every three months.  The visiting month came up in June.  Dorothy, Timothy and I drove to Seattle together, with her staying with son James and I with Chris and Jessica.  It is always pleasant to be with them.  I love them all and enjoy them too.  Jessica is consistently keen to be on the move.  So we spent time at the local "cove" and enjoyed the scenes of lake and shore.

Chris is a creative and industrious soul.  He build a second gazebo in their yard.  It is the same one Layne built in ours.  I think it is lovely and looks especially beautiful in their flourishing Seattle yard.  Chris and Jessica had an outside buffet on our last day there and it was lovely.

I missed seeing granddaughter Gemma, but her two younger sibs were there and so fun to hang out with.  Here's Miles and Peyton.  Miles is home from his freshman year at U of Arizona, in Tucson.  

This year is still full of Covid 19 concerns and restrictions, but much less severe, thank heavens.  Seth and Angelica were able to perform in a school concert, but still had to wear masks.  Meantime, Timothy performed the same day in the school jazz concert, maskless and with great enthusiasm.  It was such fun watching him play piano with relish, beating time with his whole body.  He has such a gift!  Here is a scene with Seth, masked (can you recognize him in the middle?), followed by the unmasked Timothy playing piano at the jazz concert.

Eagle High School held a Prom this year but many of the kids organized their own, with their own group of friends.  Angelica went with that idea.  The kids dress up in Prom attire, but do a variety of activities, including a little dancing.  It is interesting to visualize those fancy outfits participating in all sorts of activities that usually require much more casual dress.  Of course the event begins with lots of picture taking.  I was the photographer for Angelica and her date this time.  I have lots of photos to share, but here is just one of Angelica and her date, Colby.

Seth and Angelica have been living with us for 4 years now.  That's hard to believe!  Seth graduated from Eagle High School on June 19.  The kids were planning on being back in Taiwan by then, but we discovered, by accident, some 5 weeks ago that their American Passports were expired.  We got them renewed and expedited but they have been slow to arrive. So the kids are still with us and Seth got to participate in his graduation ceremony.  I think he enjoyed it.

Although he said he wanted no fuss, we held a family dinner to celebrate him, with Reed and Dorothy and boys.  I think he liked it.

Seth can have fun for sure but he also can be quite a help, with his youth, height and strength.  Here he is helping us put up curtain rods in the gazebo (the one like Chris put together in the picture above).  So now we have curtains in the gazebo.  I love it!

Since I promised Jessica I'd visit every three months, I also wanted to promise the same to Audrey.  She is so good to visit us almost each month.  She visited us with her friend, Serena, the weekend of June 6.  Here they are.

I planned to keep my three month visiting promise by driving to California the weekend of June 26th.  It was full of California birthdays:  Allegra on the 25th, foster daughter Michelle on the 26th, Audrey the 27th, Scott and Jacqueline the 28th.  Jacqueline is a California girl but she and Ben's family were out of the state.  But three birthday celebrations (plus Michelle, who I didn't get to see) in one weekend was worth being there for.  So I talked Angelica into driving there with me and the plans were finalized.  Just a couple of days before our departure, Ben called to see if he and his Jessica and their kids could spend Saturday night with us on their way to Seattle.  Oh boy, what to do?  Layne said they could come even though I was planning to be gone.  Then, nephew Mark Berrett called to ask if they could spend that same weekend with us, to attend a sport's tournament for their daughter.  Layne said, "sure."  So now two families are set to come while Angelica and I are in California!  Seth and Layne would host without us. I was torn, but decided to keep my California commitment.  Reed and Dorothy said they'd help the guys host.  Why, I wonder, do things come in bunches?  According to Layne, they had a wonderful time without us.

Angelica and I headed out early Friday morning.  I thought we could talk our 10 hour way to Mountain House, home of Cliff and Audrey.  But Angelica was tired.  She slept just about the whole way!  So much for a talking companion.  We arrived in good shape on Friday evening and went to Rayne and Dominic's condo, where we enjoyed a delicious chicken dinner and bonding time.  Then to Audrey and Cliff's where I enjoyed the guest room that was now open to me, after the previous occupants, Rayne and Dominic, had moved into their own place.  It was a sweet weekend, full of birthday celebrations and a girl's trip to a lavender festival on Saturday.  Here you see the girls in the midst of the lavender.  Allegra, Angelica, Rayne and Audrey pick in the above picture; Audrey in the one below.

Here are my three California girls in front of Audrey's fireplace:  Rayne, Audrey and Allegra, wearing the new skates that Rayne gave both the birthday girls.

Here is a picture of the missing birthday girl, Jacqueline, that I swiped from facebook.  She turned 19 on June 28th.

Our drive home was an adventure.  We left Tuesday morning at 3:30 AM, with a book to listen to and Angelica promising to be an awake companion.  I used the google girl to get me out of town and onto the freeway, where I knew my way home.  It was dark when we started.  The google girl had some creative ways of getting me to the freeway this time.  She does that sometimes.  Instead of leading me to the familiar highway 80 (the freeway), she took me to highway 88, which turned out to be a winding road that lead us through country towns and into the Sierra Mountains, and continued to wind its way through to the desert on the other side.  It was a mystery drive of sorts.  We continued, in faith that our computer girl knew her way.  We finally emerged out of the mountains into Carson City!  It was a beautiful drive and led us into the morning light with lovely views of the forest.  The amazing thing was that we lost little if any time going that route!  Perhaps the google girl was onto something.  We drove up to Reno where we connected with Highway 80 at last.  The adventure over, Angelica was soon asleep again.  So I turned on the book Audrey set up for me and listened to the unfolding mystery as I drove home.  All in all, it was a very pleasant experience.  Even if Angelica wasn't the talking girl I was hoping for.

Frances wanted some more formal pictures of Seth and Angelica, so Angelica's photography friend took a series of them.  Here is a sample.

We recently got recliners for our living room.   I love them!  Here I am relaxing in one of them, with kitty Cherry deciding that she would settle between my legs for a nap.  She was so comfortable that I hated to disturb her, so there I sat, for longer than planned, just to please her.

 

One of our adopted Mongolian girls, Bayaraa Hopkins, and her family came to visit on the 4th of July weekend.  We had such fun with that great little family.  Our Independence celebration was spiritual and fun too.  We celebrated with fireworks at Reed and Dorothy's.  They can have home fireworks, in the city of Meridian, but we can't in the county.  Go figure.  Anyhow, the Hopkins kids don't get fireworks at all in their Reno location, so they especially enjoyed lighting them with us.  We also enjoyed the fireworks that fill this Treasure Valley every 4th of July.  This is a patriotic place!  It was fun for all.  Here is Hopkin's daughter, Gwenth, dressed for celebration!

A few fireworks.

The Hopkins family:  Bayaraa, Gwenth in front of Nolan, oldest son Gordon and Dad Ryan.  Love this family!

Here is a little miracle to mention.  We have been anxiously waiting for the kid's passports to arrive, so they can return home to Taiwan for some summer time with family.  They haven't come.  Then, last Sunday at Church, I was approached by two lovely ladies in charge of the stake's Trek activity for the youth.  "Are the passports here yet?" they asked.  "We've been praying that they would be delayed long enough for Seth and Angelica to attend Trek this coming week.  Can they?"  Wow.  I thought, why not?  So we made last minute plans for them to go.  I just knew that the passports would arrive while they were on Trek.  They left last Thursday.  And guess what?  The passports came on Friday!  They returned home yesterday, tired, dirty, but happy.  Do you suppose that the Lord was guiding that?  Were they supposed to experience Trek?  I'm inclined to think so and feel grateful that the Lord is watching out for them, two very special grandchildren.

So here we are, all caught up.  I'll end by expressing my love and gratitude for a country that has provided freedom and prosperity for us; family and friends for all the years of my life.  How I hope and pray that love of freedom will keep us free, as God intended us to be.