24th of July Celebrations

As anyone who lives in Utah knows, the 24th of July is a big deal and we squeezed a lot into that weekend.  First, a drive with mom and dad to Brigham City to see the new LDS temple with a stop off at Maddox for fried chicken.

Next up was the Handcart Days parade in Bountiful where most the family, along with 5 bazillion others from Davis County sat 20 people deep to watch the festivities.

Cory (mom and dad's old neighbor) with his two sons led the way

Paige really hates bagpipes so it was important to include them in this blog.  She'd just as soon listen to fingernails on a blackboard.    But the reality was that most people were there to see the 2000+ stripling warriors who had been put together for the parade.  Characters from the Book of Mormon, they were organized through many of the local stakes (LDS boundaries) and really made a splash at the parade.  It was hard to see over all the bodies but they seemed to keep coming and coming.            

Finally on Sunday morning we went to hear the taping of Music and The Spoken Word at The Conference Center.  The choir sounded wonderful as always and the words were uplifting as they honored the pioneers.  At the end of the program they brought up Katherine Jenkins who had been the guest vocalist with the choir at the concert the night before and honored her with gifts and then as always they have her turn and face the choir while they sing "God Be With You Till We Meet Again". It's always very heartwarming and usually brings the artist to tears.  This was no different.

Heiner Family Reunion

 Luckily we ended up being in town for the big Heiner Family Shindig so after a drive up to beautiful Morgan valley we got to meet a bunch of family members we never knew and to visit with those we rarely see!

This is who we were celebrating.  Johann Martin Heiner and Adelgunda Dietzel.  I told Jessica she was lucky these folks were new to me or she may have ended up being named Adelgunda.  Fortunately the genetic pool has cleaned up a bit because I have to say these two aren't the most attractive relatives I've ever seen nor do they look very happy.      

We met in the Morgan Stake House and had a presentation about the family, their trip from Germany and a basic history lesson.  At some point there was even a phone call from Germany with distant relatives but by that point most folks had maneuvered into the cultural hall (gym) to look at all the photos, fill their plates from the massive potluck and visit with family.  We were represented nicely!

The Rix delegation including Ben and family from Korea

Shaylee and Nixon....the newest addition to our side of the clan

Wendy and Clydene

Jeanette and family & Dennis Forbush holding up the wall over there.....

Yeah, these two aren't very proud to be great grandparents!

The Spencer connection

Rae Dell's family

Tom, Craig, Karen, Shay & Jess

LeeAnn and Denise fighting over the quilt to be auctioned

An unknown relative (Mary Gorham) but she made the rest of us feel under-dressed

John & Georgia Stenberg

Wendy's family

Sue's grandkids...Layla, Sloane & Seth showing their prizes from the balloon animal making Santa who showed up

The Cowan's

This descendant had made up folders where you could fill in any missing family members as well as this huge print out sheet that had all the known relatives.....pretty amazing!

Back To Utah

If I were to encapsulate our time in Utah it would be this:  boxing, storing, moving and searching for new digs.

We passed this truck on the road somewhere and seemed to appropriately sum up our lives.

This was our storage shed while we were in AL.  We had this plus a smaller one that held Nic's things.  The plan was to come home from DC with an apartment so we would know how much stuff we needed to take back with us.  Well, since we don't, we now have to guess about how much to have the movers pickup.  So first thing was to get everything out of here to see what absolutely HAS to go with us.

We were incredibly fortunate that the girl who manages Burton Storage let us use FOR NOTHING MIND YOU another shed a few garages down to put stuff in as we sorted.









When we weren't going through stuff, I was on the computer trying to find a place to live.  We weren't only looking for us, but a place for Nicholas as well who seems, after our emergency trip home in March, to be doing much better.  Only, it's not only for him, but for Floyd as well.....and after being in DC where EVERYONE has a dog, it has been very frustrating when no one here will rent to someone with a pet!

Mom and dad are not used to having a pet in the house either but they have been incredibly gracious in allowing us to keep Floyd with us until we have a place for Nic.  We did keep him nice and clean so when he insisted on cuddling with grandpa and grandma he would at least make a good impression.

We had actually been in DC for Tom's birthday but got together with the family to celebrate both his and Robyn's birthdays when we got back.  We were also lucky that the happy fishermen had been out while we were gone so we got yummy grilled trout to accompany birthday cake!

The proud fishermen

House Hunting

Because I'm so far behind in my blogging, I'm going to make this quick.  After our trip to NJ we headed to DC having no idea how difficult finding housing would be.  We found a darling little community called Shirlington Village which we loved, but it was pricey and though the place we liked had a free shuttle than ran to the Metro, it had limited hours and we found that daunting.

I WAS looking for signs (and I don't mean physical signs like this one, but the spiritual ones) that would somehow lead us to where we needed to be. Here there was a Campbell Ave, a Utah street and as you see....Campbell Place.  Thus we came back here again again, hoping we would find something that would be perfect.  We didn't and anyone who reads my Facebook page knows that!

We were incredibly fortunate that our friend Denise Jones had invited us to stay at her lovely home while we were looking.  Her husband Jeff was Tom's boss at HAFB and he came to visit us while we were in AL.  He's now deployed for 6 months so she made it sound like we were doing her a favor by coming and keeping her company.  Really, she was just a great hostess.  No expectations, just a relaxing atmosphere to unwind in every night before hitting the sack in a wonderfully comfortable bed.

We were all pooped on the 4th of July so we took a quick ride to the base but instead of hanging around for two hours for fireworks we took a gander down at the lake on the base then headed home and listened to them from the comfort of her family room.

Grateful

I have always considered myself fortunate to live so close to my parents and all my siblings.  Tom has not lived near his in over 30 years so another upside to this move will be the proximity to his family.  Within a 3 hour drive we'll be able to head to Jersey for the occasional weekend and be able to help out with the care of Tom's mom.  His siblings have been doing this since 1997 when their dad passed away.

 We have been lucky that they found someone to live in with Eleanor and care for her full time.  Her name is Karen and she seems to be very patient with Eleanor's loss of memory, her physical needs and her occasional grumpiness.  She also is very crafty and spends the days working with Eleanor on puzzles, matching games, crossword puzzles and anything else to keep her occupied.  His mom used to spend her days just sitting in front of the tv, not really watching anything so the activity to keep her mind engaged is wonderful.  Karen has also filled the walls with puzzles surrounded by rick rack, mosaics and other projects and she found this old sign from their flower shop which she hung in the kitchen.  So grateful Eleanor has someone with her who genuinely seems to care about her comforts and well being.

Driving alongside Philly on the way back to DC