Fun With Friends

Tom, me, Jerry, Kirt and Teresa

 We did squeeze in some fun while were home.  Our friends Barry and Teresa's daughter got married at Bear Lake so we took a beautiful drive up Logan canyon for the festivities.  It was a very short ceremony but we had time to chat with friends and grab a raspberry shake for the drive back.

Barry and McKale

Teresa and I also got together one day for our favorite cheeseburger & fries at Sill's in Layton one day once things had quieted down from the wedding.

While living in UT I was on the board of the Davis Arts Council so we went back to see the great staff, enjoy the beautiful grounds & amphitheater and hang out for the Mary Chapin Carpenter concert.Mom and dad are volunteer ushers and my friend Kirt is the executive director of the council.  He's also an actor friend as is Teresa who is also on the board and stage manages all the shows.  It was a fun night!

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