Inspiration and Blessings

         The counselors from the Elder’s Quorum and Relief Society are asked to attend the huddles of either family history or meet with the missionaries.  As both RS counselors have been involved with another class (which happens during the time of the huddle meetings) the president and I have filled in for the last three weeks or so. And then Richard was called to assist in the missionary program (which he has pretty much been doing anyway).

In our last huddle the missionaries presented a list of some inactive members they had contacted and told us that each had expressed interest in returning to the fold.  Each of us were assigned a few names from the list.  Richard felt impressed to bring goodies – cupcakes or cookies.  We settled on chocolate chip cookies and Richard and I visited two households yesterday. 

The first house we drove to was in the country.  50 Acres.  Nice couple.  They used to raise llamas but have only two left.  The next house was much closer to civilization and with the most awesome view.  That was a totally unexpected chain of events.

When we first arrived the member seemed put off and indicated that she was in a meeting and “didn’t have time for us” which was okay – we had just showed up without an appointment but did wish to leave the cookies.  At that she asked, “Are you from the church?”

She then asked if we could sit for ten minutes while she finished her meeting.  We told her we could come back but were invited in and talked with her husband briefly until she returned.  She gave us a tour of her house.  We were awed.  I took a couple of pictures of the view – which Jaime and I had both seen but from the opposite angle.  I couldn’t believe that I was actually in the house that I had seen several times from the outside. 

I didn’t look at the clock before we arrived but would guess our visit was at least an hour.  We have two more visits to make but needed to come home to eat.  Our son called Richard with a job assignment – which is generally completed in less than 24 hours.  We are blessed that we will be getting some extra income.  

Family Barbeque

                My whole purpose for going to Utah in the first place was to see my sister’s family and that of my son, Ryan. Initailly I thought I would go at the end of July as Shelly and Shaylynn would have camp and Shelly would need someone to stay with the boys while Todd was at work.  Then I got word of an upcoming ward reunion for August 19^th. I somehow didn’t feel that I would be able to stay that long and declined the reunion. 

Later Shelly informed me that she was released from her calling and wouldn’t be attending camp after all – which gave me opportunity to make arrangements to attend the reunion after all.  And then Natalee (aka Sunny) called to ask if I’d be there this summer so that she could arrange for my sibs and I to get together.  She made arrangements for all of us to get together for a barbeque on the 18^th.  So my initial plan was to take the greyhound on the 15^th and arrive on the 17^th. 

We ended up going earlier and wished for Richard to come with us.  I felt fortunate that he decided to come get us.  He drove all day Thursday and arrived after 3:00 a.m. on Friday.  So he was there for my two primary purposes for being in town.  We kept his presence a secret from Ryan’s family and Shelly's.

The barbeque didn’t start until four or five but we had gone to my brother’s house early.  I don’t think Ryan was planning to attend initially but did arrive before Shelly and Todd.  They were all very happy and surprised to see “grandpa”. 

We had a really nice visit.  Of course we played games.  We started with a game of “spoons” outdoors but Mother Nature had other ideas and pushed us into the house before the night was over.  Such a memorable night.  Thank you all who attended!

Dash TV #33 Tucson, Arizona

          I don’t know how often the boys went to Arizona to visit Roland’s sister, Jean before I joined the family.  I know Biff had lived with her for a while – perhaps a couple of years.  He had returned to live with Roland shortly before I met them all.

I remember driving to Tucson with Roland to pick the boys up three times after summer was over.  The first time we had gone all the way to Tucson to get them.  The second time we met them in Panquitch, Utah, believing it was a half-way point.  The third time was further down south at Glen Canyon Dam.  

We toured the facility before we parted ways and made observations on how much both Tony and Randy had grown. 

          Biff asked, “What about me?  Haven’t I grown?” His hair was like a small “Sideshow Bob” afro.  He was taller due to his hair.  But once he got it cut, he’d be back to his same size. He had also asked Roland if I was pregnant.  I was, but did not know it at the time.

          I have been to Tucson five times to visit Roland’s family.  The first time was before we were married when we had gone to get the boys so that they could start school.  All three of them would be starting junior high. I really don’t remember many details except that the boys wanted me to move faster when I was behind the wheel.  But that was on the return.  I was pretty wiped out during our first visit.

          The second time was when Jenna was three.  Roland and I took his mother to Old Tucson shortly after we arrived.  We allowed Jenna to stay home and get to know her cousins.  I don’t know how many pictures I took of Old Tucson.  And one who has internet can look up photos or may be familiar with scenes from many westerns or Little House on the Prarie.  I will not put all the photos I took in this post, but will create another post of some of the ones that I took (or were taken of me)

When we came home from Old Tucson, we found Jenna painting Kristen’s nails.  

I think we spent two or three days and Jenna had a blast getting to know her cousins – so much that she and John decided that she just stay and live with him.  They decided that if they dressed Jenna in John’s clothes that we would mistake her for him and wouldn’t take her with us. 

Of course we knew it was her.  They were both disappointed that they hadn’t fooled us and so she hid in his room.  She would not budge not even to say good-bye to Roland and me – or his mom who we were taking with us.  I did finally manage to trick her into either saying good-bye to a beloved stuffed animal that we had taken with us, or to retrieve her so that it too could live in Arizona.  When she got out to the car, I seat-belted her in and she cried for a good portion of the ride. 

When we stopped across the Utah border, I asked if she would like for us to buy a cactus for her (as she had been hinting for one the entire time we were in Arizona).  But she saw something else that she wanted more than the cactus.  We ended up buying a stick horse which she named “Pinky” (the same name as the small bear we had brought with us) I think she ended up giving that same name to four of her toys.

Two years later we returned for Uncle Mike’s funeral.  It was in January and the weather felt nice compared to Salt Lake – though those who lived in Arizona thought it was cold.  It appears I took a lot of pictures of the family though we were not there for long.  We left right after the funeral.

The following year we spent some time with the family at San Xavier.  As we walked through there were several statues of different saints.  Roland told Jenna that if she was good her Aunt Linda would tell her the names of each of the saints represented at which point Linda slugged Roland and he laughed.

We also went to Old Tucson as a family.  I think there were eight adults and three children who went. We all ended up riding the carousel and had stopped off for pizza on the way back to Jean’s house.  Jenna and I wanted pineapple on our pizza but Aunt Linda wouldn’t hear of it.  So Roland purchased two more pizzas so that Jenna and I could have our pineapple.  Guess whose pizzas were first to be eaten?

The pictures indicate that we had Tony with us.  As I recall, Biff could not get the time off work and Randy must have been on his mission.  I took more pictures of the family and our activities.  I am grateful to have the photographic memories.

My last visit to Tucson was in 2012.  That time we had Randy and Biff with us.  We had gone there for mom’s birthday (see this post)