Treasures

 

       There have been multiple posts in which I have referred to treasures of the past.  I had six boxes of memorabilia which I had left behind in West Valley.  I really thought that we would have returned to Utah long before we did.  I thought we would return in a large rental car and I’d be able to retrieve my boxes.  I wasn’t thinking logically.

       Meanwhile my sister had gone to the West Valley house to retrieve my six boxes – which she kept in her house for at least a couple of years.  When we finally returned to Utah it was for Jen’s funeral.  We had reserved a rental car, but it wasn’t available when we went in to pick it up.  Five other customers were also waiting.  I didn’t even know what position we were in.  We ended up driving back in the Saturn.  We barely had room for a luggage – no room for boxes or souvenirs.

       When Shelly and Todd came to visit the following year they brought what Shelly said was the largest box.  There were a lot of photos, a couple of old hymn books, I don’t remember what else.  Over the years she reminded me of the boxes taking up room in her house.  I couldn’t even remember what was in them, but had asked her to go through and pull out what might be important – though her idea of important is not the same as mine.  Steven and I have always been pack-rats while Shelly and Keith have been more practical and far from sentimental attachment.  Shelly ended up throwing out four of the six boxes - at least that is my understanding.

       Anyway, during our trip to Utah, Shelly said she had one last box for me to pick up and brought it to me at Su Casa.  Steven also had a much smaller box filled with items retrieved from Aunt Eloise’s house after she had died.  My cousin gave him three items to bring out to Oregon during one of his annual drives – but the pandemic got in the way and so he’s had these three items at his house ever since:

 The madam Alexander doll is supposed to be Gretel from Sound of Music.  My cousin and I adored Sound of Music and she thought I would like the doll as a reminder.  Aunt Eloise had a coveted black baby doll that most all of the girls wanted - but then nobody ended up claiming it.  I would have liked to have one of the Russian doll nesting sets, but heard those had both been claimed.  Really.  It didn't matter.  I have pictures to remind me and don't need the tangible items.  Isaiah said I did right picking out the rag doll (which I decided would have been more practical than the larger and heavier baby).  My cousin picked the cat out for Jaime (who still has Hi-Five - and we also have the Madam Alexander bears.  So we are good on memories. 

       Steven and Isaiah’s house already looks like a museum overflow.  And this is only the entry way: 

       As I mentioned on Day 8 post Isaiah had given Jaime some gifts – trying to declutter his own accumulation and gave her the following:

                                     

Brooch that Isaias made (he does a lot of 

art for day of the dead and Halloween)

fungal pops

David Bowie shoes may be collector items

but she is currently wearing them on her feet

       As for the items I had saved . . . well . . . about half was a rediscovery and some items I had recently been thinking about.  No Expression Magazines – but there is the legal sized record book with the 16 temples at the time.

 

Ugliest cabbage patch doll – I saved thinking perhaps it might be valuable someday.  I used a picture from the internet in this post.   Here is the actual doll I ended up taking home. 

I had purchased some coca-cola pins when I had worked at Swire expecting that I could sell them one day also. But they are missing from my collections.  And no pictures to show either. 

I had purchased two sets - one to wear
and one still in bag - now lost forever! 

Made things with hands – a wreath and Christmas tree card.  Spider made in pre-school (it’s missing an eye) a hat from her first birthday (which she actually wore in honor of her 18^th) her first placemat and Mickey mouse platter from first time we went to Disneyland.  Pictures would have worked fine.  I saved them all before knowing that Jai is even less sentimental than is Patrick or Shelly so will get thrown away probably.  (Currently it is in the back room along with other memorabilia waiting to go into the shed)

There are cards I had saved from a time before I was born.  Kept the old fashion sentiment along with a poetry book in the shape of a girl that comes with six cut-outs. 

 

There were four or five journals plus a couple of yearbooks that both Jai and Richard seemed to enjoy.  Stamp collection and watercolors I think my grandma had created. 

And then there’s the clothing.  Our dinosaur shirts,

 

Other items I purchased just because:

 

Kevin had given Jai four safety posters which she hung on her wall

not to mention all the arcade treasures she acquired

Day 10: Crash and Burn

I suppose we could have gone to church right after we returned home – at least the second meeting – but I wouldn’t have gotten anything out of it.  I spent most of the day sleeping.  Jai wanted so badly to get Bonnie.  I was willing once I was rested, but it appears that the kennel is closed on Sundays.  Thus we went on Monday morning right after we had dropped Jaime off at the church.

In addition to already being fatigued from the trip itself, I was sent into a coma by the wind.  Neither Richard nor I felt motivated to do anything that first week.  He said he couldn't understand why he was so tired.  "Well, because you have done 100% of the driving, Buddy"

 I did offer during the long stretches of nothing. No city driving for me.  No driving for me period.  I was a drowsy passenger.  Before we returned home, Richard seemed like a grouch.  But hey, it's understandable.  We are both almost back to normal.  Jaime didn't seem fazed either way.  I think she enjoyed returning to school.    

Here are some more photos from the trip: 

Las Vegas - on the way to my brother's house

Happy Birthday, Steven

taken in Beatty, NV

Day 9: Leaving Nevada and Thank You Aaron!

 We spent the night in the home of Steven and Isaiah.  We asked if we could take them to breakfast before we left – though neither are early risers.  Some birthday present Steven had at our waking them.  We did try to hold out, but Richard wanted to load the car back up before it got too warm.  Jai, Richard and I played a few round of spades before he finally called Steven on the cell phone.  He was a lot more thoughtful than I asking to deactivate the security alarm.  I would have set it off without thinking about it.  My mom got an alarm after Richard and I were married and so they haven’t been a common part of my life that I automatically think about it. 

We took Steven to IHOP but said Isaiah would not be joining us as he didn’t feel well.  But he did join up with us as we were waiting for a table, but left again before we got the check.  He had made plans for Steven’s birthday which I would have liked to celebrate but Richard wanted to get back on the road and so we did not even have the birthday cake that Isaiah had mentioned. 

There were a number of small areas that we had passed through – none of which I had heard of before.  Jai took some pictures along the way and looked up some of the places on her phone and read what information she could find.

 

We ended up checking into a Quality Inn in Weed, California.  Aaron had already worked a shift that day but was called in to replace another worker whose car had left her stranded somewhere.  Both Jaime and I liked how helpful Aaron appeared to be.  He said we could leave our luggage strapped to the car as the hotel has security and he would be watching the lot.  We were less than four hours outside of Myrtle Creek, but Richard really needed the rest.  I think he tried too hard to make it home in the 15 hour drive.  In my opinion we should have spent more time with Steven.

Day 8: Las Vegas

 We left St. George on Friday morning.  Kevin, of course, wanted us to stay for the duration, but as we were only two hours out of Las Vegas I wanted to visit my brother Steven (who was not able to make it to Su Casa with my other two sibs).  Jai pointed to the sign that welcomed us to Arizona.  It’s funny how there is a piece of I15 that connects Mesquite, Nevada to St. George – but there is no off ramp in Arizona.

It was wise that we had left when we did as there were pockets of road construction in Nevada. Our two hour drive turned into three and a half.  We did not go to the strip but to North Las Vegas to unload our car. We had a three hour window before Steven had to leave for work.

After everything was unloaded we headed for M&M world.  The traffic in Las Vegas is horrendous.  If I lived there I would be taking public transportation – which I’m certain would take three times longer.  Not all drivers are insane, but there were enough of them to make it seem like all of them were.  Oh, my word!

We found parking and walked to the Coca-Cola building, purchased souvenirs and moved on to  M&M world. 

After we had made our purchase we headed for the Omega Mart where Steven works for Meow Wolf.  Jai thought it was enjoyable to find different paths that led from the market to the cycadelic art rooms.  Steven said Fridays were not as busy as Saturdays.  Busier than before the mask mandate was lifted – at least I would imagine.  Jai got some good pictures.  The internet has some funky pics also.  Check out these sites:

 https://news3lv.com/news/local/art-installation-omega-mart-opens-area-15-las-vegas

https://www.wheretraveler.com/las-vegas/play/exploring-las-vegas-newest-attraction-meow-wolfs-omega-mart

https://tickets.meowwolf.com/las-vegas/

https://meowwolf.com/articles/5-things-you-must-know-about-omega-mart

This was Jai's favorite entrance 

Both Richard and I were so tired after we returned to the house.  He went to bed and I tried staying up while Jai and Isaiah talked.  After a while I just couldn’t seem to hold my eyelids up anymore.  I excused myself.  I have no idea how long they talked.  The next morning I learned that Isaiah had given Jaime several gifts.  I saw her pick out the blue-faced purse the following morning. 

Happy Birthday Jenna and Archer

 Jenna has never appreciated having her birthday fall on Conference weekend.  Often Conference has not been the factor for postponing or cancelling her birthday - but rather the weather has played a part on activities held.

Last year was nice and she had met up with a friend and went on an Easter egg hunt downtown.  She enjoyed his company and enjoyed the day.  Yesterday she had also met up with friends for a small gathering.  They met at a table at the park. Originally she had scheduled an indoor activity on April Fool's day but realized that more guests had been invited than what she had planned and felt our back room might not be large enough to hold them all.

It was a lot cooler yesterday than last year or the year before.  As I recall, the weather was quite awesome on her 16th birthday - but it was 2020 - a unique problem by itself.  That was the year that Archer was born.  We were able to see him just ten days ago.  Jaime would sing the song "We are the Dinosaurs" to him and so I ordered Laurie Berkner's "Whatdaya think of that?" after we had returned home and sent that to him - though it won't arrive until after his birthday.

For Jaime's birthday, Richard had made a card featuring Hamilton

On the inside he had included a ten dollar bill which he folded to pass off as a wallet size picture

and for Archer he had made a card featuring a Two-Rex.

I am grateful that Conference is recorded and I can refer to the talks more times than just the live session.  My thumb still hurts from Valentine's Day and my handwriting has always been horrible as is.  Throw the wounded thumb into the mixture . . . lets just say I will get more out of rewatching the talks than relying on my notes..

Tomorrow I will continue on with my spring break journey with Las Vegas and other parts of Nevada.  Now going into the kitchen to have some of Jenna's (Jaime) favorite breakfast.  That is French toast.