A Hagen Farewell and a BYU Homecoming

Dr. Jerry Hagen was a good friend of Roger's brother, Gordon, 

back in their school days in Ogden.

Then Roger's sister, Susan, who now lives in Ogden, 

lived in St. George during her husband, Craig's, early career, 

writing for the Spectrum newspaper.

They formed a strong friendship with Jerry and Delores.

Fast forward several years, and we moved to St. George.

Jerry was our physician, and he recently retired.

He and Delores have been called to serve a medical mission in Houston, Texas, for two years.  

They will oversee all of Texas and part of Oklahoma, 

referencing and screening medical issues with the missionaries.

Jerry is (was) also a good friend to Lois and Keith, and was 

Keith's medical advice-giver for years.

So, Lois, Susie and Craig came for Hagen's missionary farewell, 

and stayed with us for a couple of days.

We went to an Open House at Hagen's on Saturday, 

then the five of us went to, Meet the Mormons, at the Cineplex.

We found it to be a very straight-forward documentary,

letting us peek into the lives of diverse families around the world. 

Purposely designed to be non-preachy and without dissecting beliefs and doctrine, 

its message was to dispel myths and stereo-types.  

It showed the joy that has come into six families who have embraced those beliefs, 

and now live their lives in service to Him and therefore, mankind.

There were moments of smiles and laughs and moments of tears.

We attended the Hagen's ward Sacrament meeting 

on Sunday morning,

and were uplifted by their messages.

The following Friday morning, we drove to Provo 

to see Sydney perform 

with the Young Ambassadors in the Homecoming Spectacular. 

When we arrived, we met Josh in his dorm 

and gave him his birthday present.

We met up with Tom, Stacy and kids; Grit and Sherry, Tom's parents; Emily and daughter, Anna; and Mindy (Jeff met us later at the Spectacular) at Los Hermanos, our kids' college mecca for bean burritos.

The show was "spectacular," using James C. Christensen's art as a theme. 

He and  H. P. Debenham, (Christensen's Everyman) were the MCs.

Syd, as one of ten girls in Young Ambassadors, shone and sparkled.

Everyman and James C. even flew!

We met up with Syd after the show.

My sister, Joan, and son, Taylor, found and joined us.

Joan is on the BYU Alumni Board of Directors, 

and was there for meetings and Homecoming fun.

Proud mom, Stacy

It was cool to catch up with my baby sister.

She is doing great things for BYU in Boise and I am proud of her!

Rick and Jodie's oldest with our baby, Aunt Mindy

Cute Sydney with Grandpa Roger and Grandma Pam

We headed for ice cream at a 50's burger joint after.

The twins had a second supper of burger and fries.

They are growing boys!

Next day, we met at a park so the cousins could play together.

Charlie got swung to his heart's content, with cousins taking turns, some played catch and they all had fun together.

Stacy, Tom and their family and Emily and Anna hiked up to the Y earlier.

Before the football game, 

we visited Syd's dorm room and took a couple of pics.

She and Noel have fixed it up so sparkly and cute,
like they are.

The twins, sitting on the Cougar out front of the football stadium.

Chad Lewis, who was tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles and Tom and Stacy's good friend when they were at BYU, is now the Associate AD-Development Director for BYU, and he got passes for all of us to go down on the field as the game was beginning.

Pretty exciting stuff for the future Cougars!

We knew Chad back when Tom and Stacy were going to school and Tom was quarterbacking for BYU, and we have always thought he was the greatest guy.  He hasn't changed.

Cute cousins

The game ran past midnight and, though the Cougars were ahead at halftime, they lost to Reno - a real bummer!

A couple months ago, Roger ran into Chad, 

golfing at Entrada in St. George, so I threw in this pic.

We got up early Sunday morning, and drove back to St. George 

so we could attend our branch Sacrament meeting.

It was a super fun weekend.
I miss going to football games since we moved down south.
 And the best part of it all was seeing so many family members and friends.

Birthday Shout Outs for October

We have five 

BIRTHDAY Shout Outs for October.

Our petite Miss Londyn is happy, upbeat and exudes energy.

This girl is an amazing tumbler and gymnist!

She does her back flips (she does more than 20 in a row)

and back tucks so fast, my eyes blur!

And she is so coordinated with her hands - 

when she helps me with prep work in cooking,

she is a great sous chef!

We love our precious Londyn Bug!

What does the word, altruistic, mean?

If you know our daughter, Stacy, you already know!

She is selfless, the ultimate of thoughtful, charismatic 

and she has a heart of gold!

She makes everyone feel good about themselves, she is so much fun to be around, 

and she is a loving and nurturing mother of six. 

 She is an amazing hostess, holding bazillions of 

social and family gatherings 

and entertaining many, many houseguests.

We adore our talented and loving Stacy!

This great-looking guy shares the same birthday with Stacy, 

and he is married to our daughter, Missy (below).

You can always depend on Jedd -

his kindly manner and genuine interest in you 

makes him a family favorite.

He is a patient and fun-loving dad to their five kids.

He is truly talented at many sports, 

and a guy you want on your team - in sports and otherwise.

You get the feeling that he would do anything for you.

We love this truly fine man.

Genuine, unselfish, tender-hearted, multi-talented and truly kind,

our daughter, Missy, never blows her own horn, though she is one of three founders of a blog for women, HowDoesShe.com

(this edition of Idaho Women's Journal appeared over three years ago), and HDS now has over 3,400,000 readers.

It is so obvious, when you know her husband and five kids, 

that what Missy regards as most important in life, is being a nurturing and supportive wife and mother.

We adore our caring and loving Missy!

Josh, our oldest grandchild, has brought nothing but admiration and pride to this family - though a more modest kid would be hard to find! As a new BYU Cougar, he is using his high intellect, his sports prowess on flag football, basketball and ping pong intramural teams, and he is using his piano skills in an organ class.

Being around Josh makes Grandpa and I really happy -

 we love this amazing kid!

One more month of 2014 family birthdays has come and gone.

I love zeroing in on each of these loved ones this year - 

one at a time!

CHS Class of '63 Rerun - Fifty-FIRST Reunion in Oregon

Our Caldwell High School Class of '63 50th Reunion

was so much fun, we had a 51st - 

on the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach. 

As often happens with fun things in life - 

it came right on the heels 

of Roger's and my 70th Birthday Celebration 

in San Diego with our kids.

It would be close, but we figured we could arrive at Cannon Beach for the first night gathering by Tuesday night.

The 101 jammed up several times,

but we reached Santa Barbara in time for an early dinner, 

planning to head further north after we ate.

We had one of the best dinners of the trip right on the Santa Barbara wharf in this little restaurant - 

one we had discovered three years ago.

I have dreamed of these fresh steamed clams 

and Roger had this local rock crab, fresh out of the tank.

What we didn't plan on was the red warning light that came on our dashboard, telling us there was a problem with our airmatic system.

There was a Mercedes Benz dealer in Santa Barbara, so we found a motel nearby and Roger was there when they opened on Monday morning. 

He pretty well had the problem diagnosed from the manual and the internet Sunday night,

and, sure enough, it needed a new left strut and a pump. 

And the strut had to be sent from LA, 

which would arrive the following morning. 

There are worse things than being stranded in Santa Barbara 

for a day, but that would make us a day late to the reunion. 

They gave us a loaner car, a little red Mercedes, with a full tank of gas and said to use 

what we want and don't worry about filling it back up.  So nice! 

We decided to drive to Solvang, a little Danish village 

that we had also hurriedly visited after we left Missy/Jedd 

in Fresno three years ago. 

Solvang is famous for its authentic Danish pastry,

which we can attest to being authentic.  When we traveled in Denmark so many years ago, we could not believe how AMAZING the pastry was - absolutely melt-in-your-mouth! 

We had lunch at this quaint little restaurant.

We shared the mixed open-faced Danish sandwiches - 

a shrimp, a pickled herring, a Havarti cheese and a pork one.

The is one of several pastry shops, 

and each one has its own specialties.

This one, the custard strip, and also, the sugar crisp, won our votes as the best!

When we were in Solvang last time, we discovered a delicious chocolate marshmallow treat, a Danish flodeboiler, 

here at this chocolate shop.

Back at Santa Barbara that evening, 

we had another dinner on the ocean.

We shared steamed clams, mussels and shrimp.

I was in heaven!

The shop had our car ready to roll by 10:30 AM,

so now it was time for us to get serious to try to make the reunion.

Our goal was to get there in time for the bon fire on the beach.

We headed inland to the 5, instead of staying on the 101, as we had planned.

We figured that it would travel much faster.

We made Redding, California, that night, then left next morning, heading for Portland.

We drove through pretty mountain scenery, saw Mount Shasta and drove through Eugene, where the University of Oregon is and my friend, Donna, lives.

Though we were in a hurry, Roger knew from the map that the freeway would take us by the Portland Temple, so we got off (the wrong exit, driving around gorgeous neighborhoods, but we got there eventually!) and we couldn't believe what a beautiful setting it is all around the temple!

After an absolutely gorgeous drive through lush forests, 

we arrived at our hotel, checked in and changed, 

and asked where a good seafood restaurant was. 

We shared a delicious fish meal at The Wayfarer.

The bonfire began a little earlier than scheduled, so they could enjoy the sunset on the beach. So we arrived a little late, but I was able to see and chat with some classmates who would be leaving in the morning - Jim Blacker, Wayne Christensen, Anne Ballantyne Blair, Vyrl Alcorn and my dear friend, Misa (Donna) Joo. 

We have each gone our own direction in life, many different paths taken by my classmates, but I think we have each sought for the same things - love and acceptance, happiness and peace.

Bobbi Holst Manning, Misa Joo Dolittle; her hubby, Will, 
Dick Weed and Jim Blacker

This is the famous haystack rock formation on the Cannon Beach.

The Oregon Coast is so beautiful - 

note the lighthouse in the distance.

We had a full front view of the beach from our room and we slid our glass door open at night 
and were lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves. 

Pics taken form our balcony

We were highly recommended to go to a great breakfast/lunch place, we put it in the GPS, parked and went in.  
We had a good breakfast, got the bill, and Roger said, 
"This isn't The Lazy Susan.  It says on bill that it is the Local Grill and Scoop."
The Lazy Susan was actually behind the one we went in to.
Oh, well. Next time!

We browsed through the shops on the main street.

We had perfect weather and flowers were still in full bloom.

Beach sunsets are the best.

And mountain ones.

And desert ones. 

They're all great, right?

That evening was the final gathering of those classmates who were still there and a chance to sit down and chat with them.  Actually, that afternoon, we went in the Hospitality Room for a couple of hours and I caught up with my friends Bobbi and Glenda, then Tani and Diane came in, and a few others.

This pic of Verna, Anne and Diane was actually taken on the first night when we were still on our way.

Roger took this pic of Steve Granger, Bobbi, Diane 

and Tani in the back.

Roger and I ran into Steve and his cute wife, Nancy, while walking around town that morning.  He couldn't be at our 50th, so it was fun to catch up with him - major crush in the 6th grade!

Sherry was the Drill Mistress of the Cougarettes, one of my favorite things to do in high school, and she was a lot of fun to talk to.

Good guy, Dick Craig.  And we also got to have a nice visit with Jeff Clark (Helen Mar's son) and his sweet wife.

Me, Diane and Bobbi

Next morning, we went for a walk on the beach, and this gorgeousness is what we saw.

We took one last pic before we hit the road for the long drive to Boise, then home to St. George.

We drove to Tillamook, stopped at the cheese factory and had an ice cream cone, then continued south until we saw the ocean and stopped for lunch.  I had steamed clams - my fourth time and each time, delicious!  

We continued south along the coast to Newport, 

where we stopped again for one last seafood meal. 

I know I'm weird - I can't get enough!

We drove through Corvallis, home of Oregon State, then spent the night in Bend, Oregon.  Next morning we drove through some pretty drab scenery from there and we arrived at Missy's in time for Roger to change clothes and go to General Priesthood Meeting with Jedd and Jared.  

We were excited that we got to watch General Conference the next day with the Smiths! I especially loved talks by Elders Holland,  Uchtdorf, Packer, Nelson and Eyring. Missy and I fixed a tasty roast pork dinner.

Monday, before we left for Ogden, we took Missy, Anderson and Claire to lunch 

at The Bent Fork in downtown Boise.

Bye, bye, you cute little thing!

We arrived in Ogden about 7:30 PM, and Roger dropped me off at Jessica's for her to color/cut my hair.

We stayed overnight at Grandma's, then stopped to see Jodie (Rick was out of town on a business trip and she was preparing a pizza lunch for a houseful of Sadie's high school friends), had lunch at Market Street Grill, then stopped to see Mindy's family. 

Late that night, we pulled into our garage, having driven a total of 3, 450 miles since we left for San Diego, with lifetime memories and happy to be home.