Beneath the Wraps

  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 Stev...

  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 ...

 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...

bottom two photos found on this site:  https://churchof   jesuschristtemples.org/st.-george-utah-temple/news/   We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in St. George where Kevin and Tara have been living the last year or so. They had been living near Buffalo, New York when we saw them in 2020.  Archer had been born on Jai’s 16 th  birthday.  He was three months at the time we saw him last.  Now he is almost two and has a baby brother born 2/22/22 which was on a TWOsday. Richard made breakfast each day we were there.   The first day he made french toast with bacon and eggs and Kevin made tater tots. I did some laundry on our first day there.   Jai had hoped to go to Arctic Circle sometime during our travel as she has fond memories of having gone while living in Utah.   We went to one in St. George.   I don ’ t think anyone was impressed with the food.   Afterward we went to the Alumni Creamery – a chapter of BYU creamery. ...

  We checked out of Layton ’ s Comfort Inn and headed toward Salt Lake City.   Richard had decided that Jaime and I would need to bring some Salt Water Taffy home to our friends.   He decided that we would have to buy from the most expensive place he could think of:   Trolley Square . Hey, Trolley Square does have its perks – but they are also rather pricey.   Wherever he believed the taffy was no longer exists – but hey, he did find some kitchen equipment that appealed to his eyes.   We made our purchase and headed out to Valley Fair Mall.   I do remember having purchased candy there.   But that was seven years ago.   Before the pandemic. Neither Jaime nor I especially cared about the taffy.   It claims it ’ s made with the salt from the Great Salt Lake (which by the way has not been that great for a couple of decades now) I wondered if there was any lake left.   While at the food court, Richard saw what appeared like a bowling...