Our First Post-Covid Company!

The annual Kokopelli Bike Relay Race from Moab to St. George, June 11-12, brought our first company after the long Covid drought.

Our son-in-law, Jedd, has been a biker for years in Boise and has a group of friends he bikes with. This scenic race in Southern Utah sounded fun to them, so Jedd invited our son, Ryan, and his college roommate, fellow doctor and buddy, Craig Rogers, to complete their team of eight. Ryan and Craig have biked in races with Jedd and some of these guys before and thought it would be a great way to celebrate them turning the Big Five O!

The 530 mile relay event started Friday morning in Moab and the Sasquatch 8-man team crossed the finish line in St. George just after 3:30 Saturday afternoon, after biking through the night.

Yikes!

So-o-o, Jedd and Missy's family and Ryan and Emily's family decided to make a trip of it, arriving ahead of their husbands. Roger and I spent all week before their arrival cleaning and cooking, baking and freezing food.

Claire, Grandpa, Ellie, Grandma and Anderson

Ben, Sarah, Grandpa, Anna, Emily and Grandma

Missy came with her kids Thursday. We were so tickled to see them. Sam rode with the bikers to be an extra driver and to take video and pictures. Jared, of course, is still in Arizona, serving his Church mission.

We had shrimp pasta salad, Texas caviar and my green salsa and chips, watermelon and brownies and blondies.

Anders is a voracious reader.

Emily came with her kids on Friday and we were tickled to see Anna, Ben and Sarah. Pete is working in California and Becca had commitments at home. We grilled salmon and had smashed potatoes, Mexican street corn, pickled cukes and onions, crudite with dill dip and lemon cake and ice cream.

The cousins had so much fun together swimming, hiking and making up games.

We had an app on our devices that could track the bikers throughout their journey, which was reassuring. They texted this pic from somewhere along the route of Ryan with his buddy, Craig, who also stayed overnight with us on Saturday night. Craig took time off from his busy job as surgeon and Chief of Staff of Nephrology at a large hospital in Detroit. It was so good to see him again after all of these years. He is such a great guy!

The temperatures were well over 100 degrees for much of the ride - unseasonably hot for southern Utah.

What a sight seeing them roll in with the music blaring, "YMCA"!

They finished at about the middle of pack of over 30 teams, which was amazing for a bunch of old guys!

The wives were relieved and happy!

Sasquatch eight

Proud Mom and Dad

The guys were ravenous and we had homemade chicken enchiladas with all of the garnishes, red and tomatillo salsas and Texas caviar and chips and Nielsen custard cones for dessert, along with mini cheesecakes from Cheesecake Culture to celebrate Sam's birthday.

Anders, Claire and Sarah advertised with handmade signs put up all over the house, a talent show after dinner and they cracked us up with Anderson reading chapters out of his "pre-sold" book he is writing back home. Claire sang a karioke song and the girls acted out a little play. Such creative kids!

Ryan and Craig flew out early Sunday morning because Bishop Ryan needed to be at their 9 AM Sacrament meeting in Mesa. Missy's family also left early Sunday morning because they had to get back to Boise for Sam's Seminary Graduation Sunday evening. Emily and the kids went to church with us, then we fixed a meal for them and they were off to Provo for the week for Ben's tennis camp and Sarah's soccer camp.

Whew! 

What a busy week with children's voices again sounding throughout the house and that is a welcome change after the extended Covid silence!

"Reunion City" Up North -- and Lovin' It!

Having three sisters has been one of the great delights of my life!

Joan, Pam, Kay and Patty

And flanked by us on both sides is our fun and funny brother, John.

When we add our spouses into the mix and get together - it's a party!

Patty planned a reunion for all of us at their gorgeous home in Elkridge for the siblings to work on a book about Mom and Dad. To kick it off, we all met up in Logan at El Sabor for a Mexican lunch, then headed to the Logan City Cemetery to decorate Mom and Dad's graves, as well as many ancestor loved ones.

Patty and Hal's son, Evan, owns a huge wholesale flower operation and every year that we make our annual trek to Logan around Memorial Day, they provide the most gorgeous flower arrangements to decorate Mom and Dad's graves, as well as other loved ones.

Mom's is always in pinks, her favorite color.

It is such a beautiful, peaceful cemetery.

We were all there but John's wife, Cindy, who had to cancel last minute because she got called to administrate the school where she had taught until Covid because the principal and vice-principal were ill - with Covid, after avoiding it until then!

Mom's mom and dad

We had many beautiful flowers to distribute on grandparents, aunts and uncles and ancestors graves.

NEVER make a trip to Logan without having Aggie ice cream!

We spent four days together sharing stories of growing up and enjoying each other. 

We looked at photos of Mom and Dad and our families with them, figuring out a basic layout for the book and assigning various tasks to each other. 

We enjoyed delicious meals; Patty is a wonderful cook!

The men (except Ken, who had injured his knee biking) golfed together every day. 

Joan's husband, Tom, and Roger

We celebrated John's birthday - Kay made him a delicious cake.

He was born in Hawaii - thus the kakui nut beads!

We ate out one night and had tasty Indian food.

The last morning, we had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel.

We headed to SLC to stay with Rick and Jodie so we could attend a small Balladier reunion the next day, then we traveled back and forth the next four days to Ogden to care for Lois.

Roger was able to slip in a Temple Walk with Blake.

Mark and Carolyn invited any Balladiers who were in the area for a gourmet lunch in their lovely backyard. Carolyn is a gourmet chef. What a joyous time we had, reliving all of our old stories and trying to remember the words to sing some of our songs. We planned a two-day Balladier Reunion at USU in September. Can't wait!

We were serenaded by Mark and his good friend banjo player singing folk duets as we ate.

Don and Mark played through several of our old songs and we had lots of laughs as we sang along.

Our spouses enjoy our get-togethers through all of these years and we're all dear friends. These friendships have endured through many years and life changes. Those college years are so long ago but our memories with each other are unforgettable.

Greer lives in Billings, Montana, and was in SLC for a grandchild graduation, so we got to see her. We sang many duets together in those college years with her guitar and my baritone uke and we are KD sorority sisters. 

Happy memories!

Marilyn modeling a kimono we each received on our USO tour when we performed in Japan.

For the next four days we enjoyed spending them with Roger's mom and we went to a restaurant for lunch every day, which she really enjoyed. Roger spent hours cuddling next to her, telling her stories and showing her photos and videos on his laptop. He said, "Aren't you getting tired of hearing me talk, Mom?" and she quickly answered, " Oh, no! I love it!"

On Memorial Day, Lois took all of her kids except Shellie and her husband, Todd ( they're in the process of moving), to lunch at Good Woods. She loves their ribs!

After lunch, we drove out to the West Weber Cemetery to see the flowers and talk about the past together. Grandma and Chyrrl had already gone a couple of days before to put flowers on the graves.

Glynn, Chyrrl, Pam, Roger, Craig, Sherie, Scott, Grandma Lois and Susie

A few days later, newlyweds Josh and Jaylene drove from their new apartment in Orem to visit Lois, Josh's great-grandma. Every time Roger would show Grandma the video of them dancing their graceful and elegant waltz at their wedding reception, she would say, "I am going to give that boy the biggest hug when I see him!" 

She gave him several!

 

The reunions were non-stop and oh, oh so wonderful!