99% of every person that has lived upon this earth did not have freedom of speech.
99% of every human being that has ever lived did not have freedom of religion.
99% of every human being that has walked this globe did not have freedom of press.
99% of every human being that has lived on planet earth did not have the right to cast a ballot to pick their leader.
Every American is in that 1% of having these freedoms. This is what is called American privilege. This privilege did not come without a price. How blessed we are!
It is fitting that we celebrate with enormous gratitude our 250 years of enjoying these fought-for freedoms!
With the extra heat, my sore knees and our kids scattered in all directions, it was a pretty mellow 4th for us at home this year. Roger and I indulge in ribs about once a year, and we were craving Longhorn ribs. We watched most of the marvelous July 4th celebrations across the country shown on network TV, and marveled at the displays of talent, fireworks and patriotism. We love our country!
Some of the kids sent us pics of their cute families on this special 250 year birthday for our country.
Our son, Ryan, and his gang, which, this year, includes baby Theo and baby Charlotte, spent the 4th, per usual, at the Gilbert (Emily's family's) beach house on Coronado Island in San Diego.
Missy's family were at an airb&b on a beautiful lake north of Sandpoint, Idaho. This family LOVES being out in nature!
Our daughter, Stacy, and husband, Tom, spent the 4th with their daughter, Sydney's, family in Florida. This is our great-granddaughter, Poppy. The sparkler she's holding is appropriate, because she is a little sparkler!
This is her twin, Rosie, dressed up in a princess dress. I've lost track of which princess is which!
Syd is married to a Brit, who is an avid soccer fan, so he and Syd were in heaven, cheering on England in the World Soccer Championship!
And here is great-grandson, Henry, chowing down on his doughnut.
And big brother, Charlie, is loving his!
Go, England!
While Stacy was there, Jake and Sydney got to leave their 4 kids and attend the world soccer match when England played France.
England won!
On Tuesday, July 7, Roger headed up north so he could catch Jerry's plane next morning to go with his WHS Class of '62 friends to stay at Jerry's ranch, Bell Cross Ranch, in Montana. This event has happened every July ever since we stopped going on Jerry's houseboats on Lake Powell. I have gone with him most years - I really do love this special group of classmates and I love to be with them, but this year I knew my knees would be too much of a challenge.
I have turned this post over to Roger to tell you about his trip to the ranch with his classmates.
Here we are, boarding Jerry's new Gulfstream 500 and I sat in the jump seat with the pilots. The avionics were amazing and oh, how they have changed since I was flying!
What used to be a young group of guys who grew up together, look at us now! (left to right) Tom Grimm, Roger Stratford, Jerry Moyes, Dan Gibson, Fred Stettler and Jim Mann
Here is the dining room where we were served all of our meals.
We saw so much wildlife this year! A young deer came right up next to the ranch house and was feeding.
We were excited to see a black bear.
We took the ranch vehicles, which are side by sides, and we went looking for deer and found this five point buck in the velvet.
Prizes were chosen out of a bucket for answering questions about things that happened in 1962, when we graduated together.
This is the 2026 group of fifteen who attended the ranch.
Shooting skeet at the ranch is one of my favorite things to do.
Two resident chefs prepared all the tasty meals.
Dan Gibson ( one of my best buddies, growing up) and I, are looking like cowboys!
We had a corn hole tournament and Dan and I were the last two standing, and he won the contest.
Saddling up for the horse ride is a favorite every year. We are now down to just six riders.
Hats off to beautiful country and a fun horse ride!
The riders - Nancy Grimm, Dan Gibson, Roger Stratford, Joan Heap, Brent Heap and Chris Johnston (L to R)
Chef cooked ribs for dinner in the mountains.
Food always tastes great when we have our outdoor meal in the meadows at the ranch. I am so grateful I got to go to this great get-together with my friends this year!
So, what did I do while Roger was at the ranch? My precious daughter, Missy, flew to be with me from Spokane, the nearest airport from where they were finishing up their family vacation. Their oldest daughter, Ellie, also flew with her because she had to return back to St. George to work. She will begin her third year at Utah Tech this fall, and she has a summer job working with special needs kids.
After church, I fixed us a Sunday dinner of caramelized onion meat loaf, baked potatoes, requested green beans the way I fixed them while the kids were growing up, and strawberry trifle. Roger flew to Ogden from the ranch, then drove home to St. George, and arrived just as we were dishing up dessert.
I absolutely loved having Missy stay with me! We went to bed around midnight every night, talking about 'most everything, sharing thoughts, feelings and love. Oh, yeah, it was midnight each night except the evening when her husband called and said, "I guess it will be midnight again tonight," and I overheard him and I said, "No, Missy needs to get her sleep!" Well, we talked until 2 am!
After Roger returned from the ranch, he loved having her there, too! She and Ellie played pickle ball with him and the pickle ball gang who play Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in Sunbrook's and Crystal Lake's (housing near us) courts. When Missy and Stacy came last, surprising me on my birthday and attending our Parade of Homes, they had a sandwich they loved at Village Baker, so we went there to try one, too. Delicious! Their in-house brown bread, turkey, cream cheese mix, and cranberries - delicious! Half a sandwich filled us up so we got to have it again next day.
Our son, Rick, and wife, Jodie, took Abby on a wonderful trip to Switzerland, partly because she had missed going with the family while she was serving her Church mission and partly because Rick and Jodie love it there so much! They have traveled extensively and love the adventure of going to new places each time, but Rick has said that it's the only place he would love to go back again and again.
Throughout July, it was fun watching some of the World Soccer Games Tournament, mostly played in the USA, and watching on social media the glowingly positive responses of the soccer fan visitors from countries all over the world, about the USA. Many talked about having false impressions of our country, and their surprise and delight of what they actually found. I think we sometimes forget what we actually have, in so many ways!
Of course, we all were cheering for the USA team, but it was fun for the kids and grandkids who served missions in other countries to pull for their teams. Our daughter-in-law, Emily, served a Church mission in Argentina, so that family was cheering for Argentina and they were the runner-up. Our grandson, Jake, just received his Masters degree in a college in Norway, and he was strongly cheering for the Row-Row-Row (I loved that!) team, as our grand-son-in-law, Jake (the Brit), was strongly cheering for England.
Isn't this cute! I think Jake Walker created this. It's amazing what ai can do!
Ryan and Emily drove through St. George on their way to Park City for a little get-away, and they we met up for lunch in St. George at Bonrue Bakery. So fun to catch up for a minute!
On the 24th of July, Pioneer Day, it was also pretty low-key at our house. We enjoyed a wedge salad and coconut shrimp at the Outback, watched the parade and Roger golfed.
Stacy, Tom, and all of their kids and spouses flew to Stockholm, where son, Jake, and Mira are living, to visit them and see those sweet twin girls, Malva and Lykke. Stacy looks exhausted from the long flight, but absolutely in love with the babies!
Mira and Jake, with their sweet girls, were featured on the front page of the newspaper in Stockholm. Lykke has Down Syndrome, and Mira said that many Scandinavians abort imperfect babies.
They were also interviewed on television:
There are definite challenges ahead for Mira and Jake in raising these sweet twins, one of them with Downs, but I'm sure you can tell by their positive attitudes, even though Mira is sharing hers in Swedish (she speaks fluent English, also), that these challenges will be met with great love.
To close out this hot July, Roger golfed at Copper Rock in Hurricane with Karl, Steve (who came prepared for the heat with his head wrapped in a wet towel), and Brent. Roger's golfing doesn't slow down in the heat of summer; he just has early tee times!
We are definitely sizzling here in the desert, and looking forward to cooling down in . . . well, maybe October?
