Hello and Goodbye!

I guess I am feeling a bit nostalgic as I sit here posting about our latest happenings. 

The unusual rainy July day in St. George could have something to do with it.

It occurs to me, certainly not for the first time, but, again, how life is a long series of hellos and goodbyes. 

What just popped into my head is the Carol Burnett Show sign-off song, 

". . . Seems we just get started and before you know it, comes the time we have to say so long."

These are words that are true of each reunion with loved ones and friends 

and they ring true about life's overall experience. 

So grateful that families are forever!

Our long weekend July 14-16 was filled with hellos and goodbyes. Roger and I traveled up north for our granddaughter, Sadie's "farewell" and her brother, Josh's "welcome home" 

when they both spoke in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. 

We stayed at Mindy and Jeff's home and arrived the night before they returned from Israel after ten days. 

What a joyous "hello"reunion that was with their four kids!

We stopped and shared a tasty dinner at Communal Restaurant in Provo of wild sockeye salmon before we went to Mindy and Jeff's.

We headed to North Salt Lake that afternoon to be with the family. Ryan and Pete flew in from Arizona 

(Emily had other church and family conflicts) and it was so fun to be with our boys, 

Jodie and our wonderful grandkids.

Rick treated us to dinner at Cafe Rio.

Sunday morning at 9, all of our kids and some spouses (Stacy's Tom had to work) and most grandkids 

converged in Rick and Jodie's ward with many other relatives and friends 

to hear Sadie and Josh speak.

 In both talks, heartfelt testimonies of Jesus Christ and his Atonement were expressed.

I claim extreme prejudice here, but these are two truly fine kids.

Josh was an outstanding representative of the Lord in Hong Kong 

   and Sadie will follow those footsteps in Cambodia. 

Jodie and Rick hosted a brunch/lunch afterwards and over 100 people attended.

This grandma and grandpa couldn't be more pleased with this fine young man!

I know this sounds crazy, but we didn't get pics with Sadie 

because we couldn't find her when we were taking pics. 

There were lots of people there, but we should have persisted. 

Here is a cropped pic of her when she was later outside eating with her friends.

We took lots of pics of combos of our family.
We were so pleased that Grandma Great was there and she was beaming with love for these great-grandsons.

Josh set such a good example for his cousins. 

Jake leaves on his mission to Canada in September and Pete plans to go in a year 

after he graduates from high school.

Missy, Jedd and their five kids drove up from Boise and Mindy, Jeff and their four came from Highland.

It is not very often when we get to be together with all of our five children.

Oh, Happy Day!

We had to have a pic with our one remaining matriarch.

We love her so!

All of Jodie's brothers and sister were there, and her dad, Bart, and her cute mom, Kathie.

Jodie put out yummy breakfast casseroles, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit and dip and lots of drinks. Later, as the afternoon went on, she brought out delicious salads and other goodies. 

Cute Stacy went around taking lots of candid pics; here are some of them:

Jodie's sister, Jennie, with her girls

cute pics with their dad, Bart

Jodie's brother, Scott, with his wife, Becky

Jodie's brother, Chris, with his wife, Julie

(Julie's mom was one of my special KD friends at USU)

Jodie's sister-in-laws, Becky and Julie

(Aren't they so cute and they're even nicer)

Proud Grandpa Bart and Uncle Scott

We all had a great time catching up with the Nilsons.

Some of the missionaries Josh served with came, as well as many friends.

The girl in the pic is his cousin, Eliza Nilson, 

who served a mission to Taiwan and also speaks Mandarin.

Poor Jared broke his shoulder and wrist in a Super Adventure activity.

Dad Rick was pumped on this special day and so proud of Sadie and Josh!

Roger's nephew, Brad, his wife, Synda, and their two daughters, who live in Mesa, were in town and were able to come. 

This pic didn't catch them smiling, but we were pleased that Roger's sister, Shellie, was able to bring Grandma from Ogden, and her son, Carson, and his girlfriend came, too.

This is the only pic we got with Sadie in it.

Many of her friends came to wish her well.

I love this pic of our two youngest, Missy and Mindy, with their handsome husbands.

Abby with her cute cousins

Ellie and Jared

Cousin Brad catching up with Rick, Ryan and Roger

Stacy is a special friend to Brad and Synda's daughter, Kennedy, in Mesa. 

A quick shot with my precious Katie

Stratford girls

I've got the best daughters in the world!

Jake and Josh

Jodie decorated with pretty flowers, and I loved this fresh daisy vase.

As you can see, this was a very special day of hellos and goodbyes, one that we'll think back on for a long time.

July Starts Off With A Bang!

Well, actually, it wasn't quite July yet, but Roger and I traveled up north Thursday, June 29, 
and we went through the Bountiful Temple with Sadie on June 30 
for her to receive her endowments 
in preparation for her mission to Cambodia. 

We returned home on Saturday, June 31, so it was a quick trip but so worth it!

We were thrilled to get to be with our precious granddaughter, Sadie, on this most sacred day!

She will be a wonderful missionary and she is excited!

It is so cool that Josh is home and can go through with her, along with her mom, Jodie, and dad, Rick;

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bart; Jodie's sister, Jenny, and her husband, Stuart; 

Jodie's brother, Chris; Rick's sister, Mindy; and us, Grandpa Roger and Grandma Pam.

These two oldest kids of Rick and Jodie have grown up to be A-MAZ-ING!

We were all invited to go to dinner after the session at the Mandarin restaurant.

As always, the food was delicious!

It tickled us to watch Josh use his chop sticks like a pro and gobble down all of the left-overs. 

He chowed down on the white rice!

We drove home Saturday to St. George and we had a quick turn-around.

We attended church in our branch on Sunday, Roger golfed Monday morning, 

then we left in the afternoon to go back up north to Mindy's house 
to spend the 4th of July with them, 

then help tend the kids for three days while Mindy and Jeff left for their trip to Israel and Jordan.

Stacy, Londyn, Maddy and the twins came in the afternoon on July 5th.

Stacy is taking care of the Lind kids until Mindy and Jeff return on July 14.

Nothing is too hard or too inconvenient for our Stacy!

What a truly unselfish and adored daughter/sister/mom/aunt she is!
She LOVES kids and each kid she comes in contact with knows it!

Stacy with daughters Maddy and Londyn and nieces Addie and Fi.

HAPPY FOURTH of JULY, AMERICA!

We had stopped at the Krispy Kreme store in Orem the night before 

and bought a box of doughnuts for a 4th of July treat.

The kids were tickled!

Doughnuts for breakfast!

I think the most tickled was Fiona!

Gone!

Now back to the screen.

These kids got to have unlimited screen time on the 4th!

The Linds got all decked out for the 4th.

Mindy said it's her favorite holiday, 

but then she says that every holiday!

Roger and I were feeling festive as well!

Mindy and Jeff had a houseful over that evening to celebrate.

Jeff's sister, Emily, her husband, Dave, and their five kids and were in town from Sacramento, and Jeff's brother, Scott, his wife, Meredith and their son also came.

We had grilled salmon and hot dogs for the kids who don't like salmon, coconut rice, pickled cucumbers and onions, watermelon, strawberries and grapes, corn on the cob and pretzel rolls. 

It was tradition for Aunt Kay to make Scotcharoos when we would visit St. George at Eastertime when Mindy was growing up and she loves them! 

So it is her tradition to make them every 4th of July!

Uncle Dave was the official pyro expert and the kids set off snakes, poppers and sparklers.

When it got darker, we had a good show of fireworks in the sky, but we only got it all on video.

Linds house is situated so we could see fireworks going off all around us all throughout the evening. 

Lots of ouooos and ahhhhs!

Mindy's still my baby!

Scott and Meredith, Jeff and Mindy and Dave and Emily

Cute cousins!

Roger took Mindy and Jeff to the airport early next morning, 

then Stace and company came in the afternoon 

after the twins rode horses at Uncle Steve's.

For the four days we were there, the kids had lots of screen time and they played outside in the backyard 

and downstairs in the playroom. 

The biggest challenge was when Mindy and Jeff's realtor called 

to want to show the house 

(they are moving to Alpine). 

This happened four times while we were there.

And since we've been back home, it has continued to happen.

Yikes!

We would all madly straighten, clean and vacuum, then all have to leave to go somewhere.

One of those times, we went to the movie, Despicable Me 3, which was darling.

Fiona is the nicest little cherub and her company was in great demand by everyone!

The twins had fun playing with everyone and they created this little masterpiece with clear colored blocks.

They went with Jack to a couple of Jack's baseball games . . .

. . . and he went 2 for 3!

We took the kids to a bounce house and they all had a ball!

Little Fi didn't stop jumping the entire time . . . 

. . . except to get a quick drink!

Grandma sat on the couch and watched the show.

I tried to make some nice dinners for the kids before we left. 

We fixed shrimp and asparagus lemon linguini one night 

and baked chicken, sauted zucchini from Grit's garden and coconut rice another. 

Stacy had her hands full the next week when Maddy was gone to a tennis camp at BYU and Londyn flew home Sunday because the varsity cheerleaders practice throughout the summer.

Stacy took a quick pic of us with the kids before we left.

We worked hard, but had so much fun with these cute kids!

Last thing we did is have Addie open her birthday present from us. After we left, Stacy celebrated it with the kids with style! 

She blew up balloons, made treats and took the kids to Chuckie Cheese, where Addie had picked to go. 

When we were in Hong Kong last January, I bought this Hello Kitty purse at Ladies' Market. 

Addie LOVES kitties!

I also bought her hair clips and cute puffy stickers.

We drove to Elkridge to stay overnight with Patty and Hal.

 Roger and Hal teed off at 6 am the next morning for 18 holes of golf 

and Patty and I worked on my great-grandfather, Isaac Fox's, journal that he kept 

when he was on a mission 

to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands for three years. 

Four years later he returned on a mission for another two years. 

 My sisters have been transcribing the first journal for about five years, 

reading his longhand from the original in the Church History Museum. 

The second mission's journal was lost during Isaac's lifetime, but he wrote a brief synopsis of it.

I have been working on the punctuation and editing for awhile and today we spent eight hours on the computer 

getting it ready to publish into a hard cover book. 

It was tedious, 

but Patty and I love to be together and we always pick up right where we left off the last time. 

 We managed to get in some fun chatting 

and Patty fixed a yummy lunch of Reuben sandwiches and macaroni salad.

She served us some delicious homemade cake and ice cream for dessert.

We hit the road for home after a full day. 

As always when we go up north, we used up every minute on this little trip, 

and we head north again Friday for Josh's report on his mission and Sadie's "farewell" talk on Sunday, July 16.

We've burned a lot of rubber on I-15, especially lately, 

but the money for tires is well-spent!