Pandemic notwithstanding, Roger and I headed North -
so we could spend some time with his mom, Lois, for five days,
and for Roger to go to Dallas with his sons and oldest grandson.
It has long been a dream for Rick to attend a Dallas Cowboy game in Dallas,
and because NFL games are on Sunday, it is rare when they are on Monday Night Football for a home game. When he saw them on the schedule for this weird Covid season,
he invited his dad, brother and son, then bought tickets and treated them to a fun get-away to Dallas!
But before that happened, we had so much fun with Lois!
She loves to go for rides, so one day we drove out west, then south
to see all of the growth of many, many housing developments, driving by our old home in Roy.
Oh, the memories of 1975-1985!
The baby pine tree in a bucket that Rick's friend's dad gifted us
is now bigger than the house!
On another day, we drove north, finding Scott's son, Eric's, new home he is building,
high up the mountain in North Ogden. He and his sons were hard at work framing out the basement
and were so tickled that Grandma Lois came by to see their house. The boys looked so cute with their tool belts on, learning how to work hard.
We ended that drive at the Maddox Drive-in in Brigham City for lunch
and their fried chicken and halibut sandwiches tasted so good!
Grandma told us how much she enjoyed both rides.
Roger sat with her on the couch several times, showing her photos on his laptop and telling her
about our kids and great-grandkids.
I "save" the good music videos on Facebook of not only famous recording stars,
but daddy/daughter duets, Mother/son duets, four black guys singing exquisite harmony in a stairwell, etc.
That's one good by-product of Covid; people are home and get creative.
I spent one afternoon sharing those with her and she loved the music!
I fixed us Grandma's favorite foods, using some of her recipes for meals. We stayed at Rick and Jodie's overnight, then drove to Ogden each morning and I prepared some of our food in Jodie's kitchen. Their family stayed at our home during Fall Break while we were in theirs, so we traded. We were sad to miss being with them, but with Covid, maybe that was just as well.
Grandma loves sports, and the Dodgers were in the play-offs with the Padres,
so we watched together each night.
One night, the score was close and it was 11 pm and still not over.
Grandma's bedtime is usually 9 or 9:30 these days.
Roger said,
"Mom, you can go to bed; we don't mean to keep you up."
She said,
"I never want to miss a good ballgame!"
Another time, when we expressed concern that we were tiring her out,
she said,
"I've still got some life left in me!"
We had a wonderful "Come Follow Me" lesson with her and Susie and Craig,
then watched her ward's Sacrament meeting on Zoom and had a meal together.
She thanked us profusely for helping her while her #1 caretaker, Chyrrl, is recuperating from surgery.
We returned to Rick's house just as Rick's family arrived back from St. George.
Next morning, Roger, Rick and Josh flew to Dallas and Ryan met them there.
They immediately went on a city tour on Segways and had to be checked out before they could leave on the tour.
Roger wrote down descriptions of the highlights -
Wild Bill's Western Store - a Texas legend for over 40 years
This is where the Texas Mavericks play basketball.
The building where Oswold shot Kennedy from the fourth floor.
The monument telling the story
The Reunion tower, one of Dallas's most recognizable landmarks, is 561 feet high.
The Red Brick Courthouse, an iconic downtown Dallas building
A "herd" of forty Longhorn steer in Pioneer Plaza
AT &T Discover District
Yikes! This is a three-story Eye located outside the swanky Joule Hotel.
What a beautiful mural of all races in downtown Dallas!
Lovely water feature downtown
Best burgers in Dallas are at the famous Chop House Burgers.
Time for the game!
The roof retracts to be open in good weather in the AT & T Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play.
Father and son living the dream!
They took this pic from a large reflection outside the stadium.
We're here! Let the game between the Cowboys and the Cardinals begin!
Who are these guys?
The 50 yard wide screen
Such a cute quartet - my boys!
A panoramic view
The years that the Cowboys have won the Super Bowl
Their seats were on the 49 yard line - their view of the game was spectacular!
Smoke and noise as the Cowboys entered the stadium
Roger said it felt as if they were on top of the game; it is such a spectacular venue.
In spite of a Covid-restricted sparse crowd, it was a thrill,
even though the Cowboys got trounced by Arizona.
Ryan was kind of conflicted, but happy!
Rick has always loved the Cowboys.
Maybe even more, Rick LOVES the Dodgers.
So, the moment the Dodgers won their last play-off game,
Rick jumped on the internet and purchased tickets to the first game of the World Series,
knowing that it was the day after the Cowboy game and would be at Globe Life Field,
where the entire World Series would be played because of Covid.
Globe Life Field is right next to the AT&T Stadium.
He changed their return plane tickets, extended the hotel room and they were set!
Ryan had scheduled surgeries, and he had to return home, so Abby got to fly to Dallas and join the boys
and fill the 4th ticket.
She is a big Dodger fan, too, and had watched the play-offs and knew all of the players names, etc.
She was thrilled!
Next morning, off they went to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field.
Braniff Airlines, where Roger piloted commercially for 5 years,
was the main airline at Dallas Love Field until they moved to DFW Airport.
The Wright Flyer, the Flying Pancake and Apollo V11 were just some of the displays.
Roger had fun telling the kids all about the T-38, his favorite airplane he flew in the Air Force.
Roger was tickled to find a corner of the museum where they talked all about Braniff.
This pic shows all of the different colors of their airplane fleet,
parked in their new home at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
Map of the international and domestic routes and colorful paint jobs.
Who says planes have to look all of the same?
Or their uniforms!
They had to try the restaurant where many of the Dallas Cowboys ate!
Tex-Mex beef brisket taco heaven!
Growing up, Rick and Ryan had this same autographed, framed photo in their unfinished bedroom in Roy!
This is famous Head Coach for 29 consecutive seasons, Tom Landry.
He had 20 consecutive winning seasons
and led the Cowboys to two Super Bowl championships.
Time for the opening World Series game!
Globe Field was just recently completed and is a state-of-the-art ball field for the Texas Rangers.
The old Texas Ranger Field is shown in the background.
The bronze statue is of Texas Ranger Hall of Fame catcher, Pudge Rodriguez.
This is a view from center field, three decks up.
Their seats were two decks behind home plate.
Rog said they were awesome seats!
They were full from their early dinner of the beef brisket tacos,
but had to get a pic of the Dodger Dogs -
more than a mouthful!
View from their seats
Pano view of the beautiful stadium from their seats
What an exciting game! Max's FAVORITE player, Cody Bellinger, hit a home run. Max was overjoyed
and he and Rick were Marco Polo-ing throughout the game.
Rick bought him a World Series hat and mailed it to him when he got home.
What a terrific trip to the Big D and despite the Pandemic,
they felt safe as precautions were taken everywhere they went.
I am so happy to report that Pete, our grandson who served a Church mission in Armenia,
arrived home a day late, but safely, after Armenia declared martial law in a flare-up with Azerbaijan.
Because of Covid, we didn't go to Arizona to greet him, but Stacy videoed on Face Time
and we got to talk to him.
The next week on our family Zoom, he talked to all of us and answered questions about his mission,
which he absolutely loved!
He returned mid-semester, and he is living in Provo working at a healthcare facility
doing nursing duties until next semester begins.
His sister, Anna, is a freshman at BYU and they got to be in the sparse Covid crowd of a BYU game
on Halloween night.
How about those Cougars - Presently 8-0!
Halloween malt ball chocolate cake - it was yummy!
Here are some pics of some of our grandkids on Halloween:
First up, the Linds.
Mindy LOVES Halloween!
Unicorn Fiona
Zombie Bride, Addie
Charlie - self-explanatory!
As is Jack's costume!
The Smiths - Missy's friends know that she hates gnomes,
so, for a birthday surprise,
they turned her trees into them!
Miss Claire, a unicorn rider
Anderson, "carried" by a goblin!
Ryan and Em's, Sarah, a homeless person who will work for candy
And our adorable great-grandson, astronaut Charlie
The Young twins, Max and Luke
And while we are waiting out this mostly sequestering time,
Roger and I enjoy Sunday morning walks.
(Note his World Series cap!)
And I can't forget that we had a Blue Moon on Halloween!
And so time marches on, as my dad would say!
