Comings, Goings and Passings Through in August

Nobody told us that once you turn 80, get ready to say goodbye to so many friends and relatives. We've had far too many funerals to attend this summer, including 3 more this month.

But before I get to those, we were excited to have our daughter, Stacy, and her daughter, Maddy, come for dinner and stay overnight with us on their way to Provo - a great passing through! Maddy will begin her junior year at BYU. 

For fun, I had a Hawaiian theme for dinner, serving chicken and veggie bowls with marinated, grilled chicken, grilled zucchini, onions, peppers and fresh pineapple served over coconut rice, and fresh peach cobbler for dessert. We put a lei on each of them when they arrived and we wore our Hawaiian garb.

I made fresh Brazilian limeade - tasty!

I made a yummy appetizer with Boursin cheese, peach preserves, fresh cherries and pistachios.

It was so fun catching up with both of them and hearing about their busy, busy lives.

Stace and Maddy wanted to watch Roger play softball next morning before they left for Provo. He goes to batting practice and plays a game in a league twice a week after he plays pickle ball.

We got a fun surprise this month when Roger's cousin, Karen, who has lived in Canada since early after she married, contacted him to tell us that her granddaughter (her daughter's daughter) was coming to St George to attend Utah Tech. Her daughter, Emily, and husband, Mike, drove their daughter, Ruby, to drop off, and they came over to meet us, helped her move in, then headed for home - a fun passing through. We served them dessert and became acquainted - very nice people, and Roger and Emily took this quick pic as they were leaving.

The next coming was our granddaughter, Ellie, who returned that same week and we had her over for dinner Sunday. She brought roommate Naomi. We had Tuscan chicken over mashed potatoes, bruschetta, fresh tomatoes, pickled cucumbers and corn and Dubai chocolate mini cakes for dessert. We'll look forward to having Ellie over a lot this year.

I'll just throw in a pic Josh sent us from Ithaca, New York, where Josh is getting his MBA at Cornell. They said they saved our Christmas money to do fun things with the kids, and here they are at the zoo. They're the cutest widdle kids!

Next going we took was up north for my Aunt Gary's Memorial. She passed away in an assisted living from SLC, but she and Uncle Ron (my dad's brother) raised their family in Boise. We drove up the night before and stayed with Patty and Hal. Patty fixed us a tasty supper, complete with fresh peach pie, and, bummer, we didn't take pics. Whenever we stay with relatives when we travel, Roger takes a pic of the bed so we'll remember how to arrange the pillows, and, alas, this is the only pic we took!

My Aunt Gary was a beautiful woman! I thought it would be fun to show her at her prime, instead of a 96-year-old.

Here are her children and their spouses - Vance and Diane, David and Loriann, Laurie and Joe, Randy and Todd and Liz.

I am the oldest cousin on both sides of my family, my sister, Patty, next and brother, John, next. So I didn't grow up playing with, getting in trouble with, etc., cousins. We lived by 2 families when I lived in Caldwell as a kid, who would visit from Boise on holidays, sometimes, and Ron and Gary were one of the families. I have never lived near my cousins as an adult, but somehow, partly because we have had sporadic reunions and visits through the years, we all feel a strong bond and we really care about each other. I absolutely loved seeing these cousins!

Me, Sarah and Scott Bedke, (Nedra's son)and Karleen and Skip (Al, Jr.) Gabrielsen (Al's son)

So proud of these men - Scott is  Lieutenant Governor of Idaho and Skip is a wonderful pediatrician.

Nedra's son (great singer), Eric and me

Roger and me with Alex (Nedra's son) and Kathy. Alex works for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We just learned that Alex invented the program that connects the Family Search to the Church website so when you go the church website under you name and click on ordinance ready, it will come up asking which ordinance, and his program will provide the name or names from Family Search.

Now I get to tell about getting to make connection with my adored and beloved Aunt Nedra, my dad's only sister and my last aunt or uncle left. I have happy memories as a child, visiting her when she was a teen-ager in Logan. She made a fuss over me, took me to movies at the wonderful ( it seemed so grand as a child) Capitol Theater, took me for treats and other activities. Oh, how I loved my Aunt Nedra, and I always have through all of these years! She is 93 and still navigating.

After Aunt Gary's memorial, we hugged everyone goodbye, then we drove to Ogden to visit Carol, Roger's cousin, Brent's, wife. Brent passed away after a 6-year struggle with cancer. His funeral was 2 days later. He, Roger and Carol are all in that infamous Weber Class of '62, and all rode to school together their senior year. Brent grew up down the street from Roger and those two cousin boys, Brent just 2 weeks younger than Roger, grew up on their joint farm, doing all kinds of things together. Brent was a good and fun-loving guy and Carol is a doll! I got to know them through the years we lived in Ogden, where they always lived. Carol's dad was a doctor and she is a nurse and an outstanding person.

 Chyrrl (Roger's sister), and her husband, Glynn, Carol, Roger, me, and Roger's sister, Susan, are at Carol and Brent's home. We had a lovely, reminiscing visit.

We attended another pickle ball party in Pine Valley at Lorraine and Steve Swift's lovely 2nd home, between all of these comings and goings. Fun people! Luckily the big fires in the Pine Valley region earlier this summer didn't get to the area where the Swifts live!

And the big event on August 27 was Roger's 81st birthday! Long story - a medical scheduling mix-up for a routine test on his birthday was then delayed until the next week, so our celebrating was less than usual, so we'll have to make it up later. But we did have a nice steak dinner and some nips from these yummy treats! I sure do love this guy!

And this is a going that we're very sad about - we lost a dear friend at Sunbrook, who has been fighting illness for a long time, Pattie Haynes. She was one of the most upbeat people I have ever known, always finding the good and the beauty in everything and everyone. We will miss her!

After we attended her funeral, we ate a Japanese lunch at Sakura, where we haven't eaten for a long time, and it tasted yummy.

Life never stands still. The comings and goings and passing throughs are, and will continue to be, constant in our lives, no matter old we get.

 

Celebrating July

Roger and I celebrated the 4th at home this year with a brunch of red, white and blue homemade waffles and trimmings. . . 

. . . and an early dinner of Longhorn Steakhouse ribs. Excellent ribs!

Roger's pickle ball crew had a little early morning treats party. He plays with lots of fun friends on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings each week. Wish my knees (well actually, also my back, balance, etc.) would let me play!

On July 8, it was off to Jerry's Bell Cross Dude Ranch in Cascade, Montana, for the annual Class of '62 Gathering/Reunion of buddies and spouses. Roger looks forward to it every year, and, though I don't do the cowboy stuff much anymore, I genuinely love his class friends and their spouses. They are such great people, so down to earth and fun.

This is the scene from the front of the ranch house.

We arrived Wednesday evening in time for dinner, prepared by the full-time cook and staff.

Next morning, Roger got to do, probably, his favorite thing they do at the ranch, shoot skeet. I have to say, he is very, very good at it! It's a sport where quick reflexes are key, and those, he's still got big time!

Someone passed out little packs of peanuts to have with or put in our cokes, like they used to do in the day!

One of the activities was a corn-hole tournament. Couples' names were listed on a chart in single elimination competition. I had never played before, but my partner, Roger, is very good (Drats!). I started getting the hang of it in our first competition, which we won. Then, back-to back, we played our second game, and we won that, which placed us in the final competition, playing for the championship. As it turned out, it was one of Roger's best friends, Danny, and Roger's old girlfriend, Carol (who was playing for Danny's wife, who is on oxygen), who were our competitors! We were ahead 19-17, but then Roger put the beanbag in the hole, which is worth 3 points, when he was aiming to put it on the board, which is worth 1 point. That put us over 21, which is the winning number. So you have to go back to 17, and Danny and Carol ended up winning. By then, 3 games in a row, I was tired. I have to say, I'm not very competitive and I just wanted to sit down. 

You know that you're really out in nature when you have a visitor like this!

Jerry announced that there would be a 2-hour ATV ride. Now I know Jerry's time clock after I've had a few visits to the ranch, so I opted out. They returned almost 4 hours later.

Taking a break

Such a wonderful group!

They traveled to the meadow, where we have usually had lunch, but they didn't this year, because we had 2 meals each day this year, brunch and dinner, instead of the usual 3. There's an old cabin and pretty view of the surrounding mountains.

Next day was the trail horse ride, and the participants of that have narrowed down to 7 this year, and that's counting the staff cowboy who led the way. Everyone now needs a stool to help them get on and off the horse, except Roger. He hoists himself on and off with no problem. He got a lot of teasing for that!

Roger took me on a fun ATV ride all around the property in 1 of the 2 air-conditioned ones. Now, that was fun!

We visited Danny and Lyle fishing in the pond they stock with fish.

This is a working ranch, too, and they have about 150 head of cattle and about half a dozen are longhorns.

Some of us went to the barn where they're feeding a baby fawn who was abandoned by its mother.

We posed for a pic in front of the fireplace on the final night before dinner.

Roger's "Wilson Boy" buddy, Danny Gibson

Danny and his cute wife, Carol - the long and short of it!

Dinner the final night is always on the patio, and a country and western band come to the ranch to entertain us. We had delicious filet mignon steaks with all of the trimmings.

It was Joan Heaps' birthday and we all sang to her. She's such a lovely, gracious lady!

Not a lot happened in July. I mostly stay in the AC. We've started working on our final combined personal history, searching for and sorting pics from the past on our computer. 

Susi Lafaele, my "boss" at the Chamber of Commerce, where I volunteered for over 8 years, sent a text to me and 2 other long-term volunteers with this pic from the past, saying that she missed us and wanted us to go to lunch together.

So here's our updated pic. It was so fun to reconnect. Susi's a real doll! She left the chamber a few years ago and is now in charge of the Washington County Fair, where she has made big improvements. I think the best change is getting it moved from August to April. So much better in this hot desert climate!

I had to include this cute pic of Rick, Jodie, Abby and Blake at Disneyland. Rick is such a good sport to take them there every year, and Blake was a real daredevil this year, going on every ride with Abby, home from her mission. He loved it this year!

On Pioneer Day, the 24th of July, we stayed home in the cool house and I made Roger's favorite, Sloppy Joes and potato salad and Key lime bars. We watched the parade in Salt Lake on tv and saw some fireworks out our window that night.

Roger has finished out the month taking advantage of the summer deal at Copper Rock Golf Course. He's gone 3 times with different foursomes. He says it is very challenging, and he shot 3 over on the back nine, 39, the last time he went and was so happy!

We enjoyed our celebrations this month. I am celebrating that hot, hot July is over!