Beneath the Wraps

                 On Monday we met with a gal that we had gone to Church with when we lived in West Valley.   She said the ward has now been dissolved.   Oh, that makes sense.   The last time I attended in 2017 the numbers were down and the ward page has since disappeared from facebook.           Christy teaches at a school in Magna.   We took the bus out there and had a Mexican lunch.   It was nice to visit with her and catch up on some happenings. After we parted ways Jai and I took the bus back to Fairbourn and went to the library and took some pictures – two of which are found in this post             Jaime had conned Todd into taking her to see Coraline at the theater. He drove her and his two eldest to meet his niece who worked at the theater and they watched it together.   Afterwards Jaime treat...

          All three of the boys have said they would come visit – though only two have made it.  Randy brought his family over Memorial weekend last year. This year Tony said he would leave Salt Lake after Jaime ’ s graduation.  He left on the forth. They came by way of California so that they could see the Redwoods.  We did not realize that we lived so close. We had suggested to them that they could stop at the Vortex on the way here – but by the time they got there, it was almost time to close.  And then the GPS led them some funky way.  For they were only forty minutes out but took to hours to get to us.         They chose not to stay with us as their middle child is allergic to dogs.   Though we did put Bonnie in the kennel on Monday morning, Liz still has allergies.   She remembered having been there before and was quite excited about her stay.   Jaime was not excited.   The...

            During my entire lifetme, I don't recall having been invited into someone's circle to hang out because they really wanted me to.   Oh, there was the time when Crystal and Jennifer had invited me to hang out after elementary school - and seemed genuine about their request.   I couldn't imagine why they would invite me. But it was just the one time.   It never went anywhere.        For the first time that I can recall, I am now a part of a intimate circle of four.   They have requested my presence.   They would invite me even before they got to know Jenna - whom everybody loves.   They admire her.   She's fun and somehow I seemed to have made that reputation for myself   - that I, too, am fun to hang with.        Perhaps it's the state.   I was raised in Utah - small town that somehow grew bigger with every...

                It took us just under two hours drive when we had gone to the Enchanted Forrest in March - not that it was our destination yesterday - but we did not even pass the sign until almost three hours later.   Our destination was another twenty-five minutes north.               The online school had sent an announcement of two upcoming open house/conventions - one in Boise and one in Salem. We sent an RSVP for Salem.   The convention was to start at 7:00 p.m.             I have a cousin who lives in Salem.   Though I have lived in Oregon for three years now, we have never been able to get together until now.   We made arrangements to visit with him and his wife at 5:00.   I called Zach at 4:45 as we were still on the road in non-moving congestion - which...

          When I was 7th grade, the mandatory history class focused on American history and Utah history.   We had first did a brief study on Europe and the reasons given for explorers making their way to the American continent.   I don't recall a lot on either Revolutionary or Civil Wars though I'm certain that each was mentioned.   We cruise through Utah history as 95% of the class had been raised in the LDS church and obviously knew more about Utah's history than the text book - which had Joseph Smith martyred by hanging - in Utah.   Joseph Smith was not hung nor did he live long enough to see the Church move toward the Utah territory.             That is just one example that I remember.   The instructor was not LDS, but he could see that the class wasn't going to budge - weather right or wrong. I think we ended up skipping three chapters.   It was t...