30 years of marriage and counting...

Well, June is gone and we’ve hardly had any really hot weather. I wonder what July will be like? I can tell it’s summer, though, because there is so much going on that we hardly have time to breathe! We celebrated Tyler’s birthday, Jesse’s birthday, and our 30th anniversary along with everything else.

Early in the month, Randy flew to Philadelphia for a conference for work. He wishes he had been there a little longer, so he could have seen some sights. He has had some weird skin problems, so he went to the doctor. He had one “bump” taken off his back and it turned out to be skin cancer, but they say they got it all. He also had a bump on his jaw, so the doctor sent him to a dermatologist for that one. The one on his jaw turns out to not be cancerous, but they are going to freeze the area so that it won’t grow back.

We were both signed up to help as volunteers at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House, but Randy stayed home so that I could go. While I was there we had a terrible lightning and thunder storm and the Angel Moroni on top of the temple actually got hit by lightning! I think they are going to have it re-gilded on his face, arm and trumpet where it turned black. You can see the lightning rod coming out of his head in this picture - but I guess it missed!

We have a few more chances to help at the Open House, so hopefully Randy will get to volunteer during July. My sister, Becky, came and visited with my mom and Connie while we were gone. My mother, Heidi, Becky and I got to do the tour through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House one day – it is beautiful! Our nephew, Alex Little, stayed a few nights with us and a few with Tyler while he was visiting friends and family up here. It was good to see him.

Jesse quit his job at the bar-b-que restaurant because he had major conflicts with the new assistant manager. He enjoys working in the food industry, so he is going to try and find another job at another restaurant. Meanwhile, he says he will do some work for his Uncle Danny doing roofing when there’s work. Tyler has started school again. He is working 3 LONG days a week and going to school on the other 2 days. He is taking a larger school load than he has in the past. Heidi broke her thumb playing on the softball team from work. Because she injured it off the job, they are making her take sick days, comp days and vacation days instead of putting her on light-duty. She goes back to the doctor today and he will determine what needs to be done next (it’s in a splint now). Ingrid is doing well and working lots of hours at the daycare. She teaches the Sunbeams at church. She has posted on Facebook some pictures of rock climbing that she and Jeff did recently. Dylan flew to Kansas and went on a pioneer trek with our old Stake, so he got to see a lot of his old friends. It rained most the time and things got pretty muddy, but he enjoyed it. He also got to hang out with friends for the next 9 days or so until we brought him back home.

We’ve been traveling a lot the last week or so. Here’s a quick rundown of what we did: We drove to Aurora, Colorado on Friday and went to dinner with Ingrid, Jeff and his family. His father, mother, brothers and sisters all got to come from the different states that they live in, so we got to meet them. They are a great group of people. On Saturday Ingrid and Jeff had their Open House at a lake not too far from their apartment. The weather did not cooperate, however, and it was cold, windy, and tried to rain a few times.

They had family pictures taken down by the water where there was a wind-block of trees, so that was not too bad. (Here's a picture of all the kids and their spouses or girlfriends.) It got a little warmer as it got later in the afternoon and some people even ventured out on the jet skis.

We left from there and headed toward Kansas. We stayed in Salina, Kansas that night and drove straight to church in the morning and attended the ward that we used to live in. It was a lot of fun to see so many of our old friends. We also attended the Spanish branch Sacrament Meeting so that Randy could see people there. That afternoon we drove down to Burlingame, Kansas to join family members for a bar-b-que for Father’s Day. It was nice and relaxing to just sit and talk for several hours.

We drove by our old house and noticed the changes that the new owners have made. They have done a number of things that we had always hoped to do (larger back deck, enclosed the carport into a garage), but it does not look nearly as neat as we kept it! Here are a few before and after pictures:

BeforeAfter

Before

After

We stayed at Randy's brother Danny’s place that night.

Monday was pretty uneventful in the morning, but in the afternoon we picked up Dylan and joined Jesse and Amanda for a movie. Then we all went to dinner together. We stayed at Danny’s place again that night. Dylan stayed at his friend’s Scott’s house again (he’d been staying there the last few nights) and we picked the two of them up in the morning and headed back toward Colorado. This is what most of Kansas and eastern Colorado look like mile after mile after mile (disregard the chip and all the dead bugs splattered on the windshield!).

Tuesday evening Jeff and Ingrid cooked us a wonderful steak dinner and then we all went swimming in the pool there at the apartments. Randy and I just stayed in the water a short time, but the rest of them swam for a couple of hours. In the morning we drove by the Denver Temple and snapped a picture.

Then we headed off for Utah, arriving here early in the evening. It was a quick trip, but we got to see a lot of family, friends and beautiful scenery, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. In the end - family is what really matters.

We were home for one day on Thursday, and then on that Friday Randy and I took off to St. George, Utah for a 30th anniversary “get-away”. We arrived there about 4:30, found a hotel room and went to a session at the temple, which I had never been in before. We were in a room with a mural on one wall, which was not too impressive, but the Celestial Room was beautiful!

We then went to dinner at a steak restaurant in town.

The next morning we drove to Manti, Utah. We saw an accident on the way that looked horrible, but I don't think anyone was hurt.

We also had to stop for a herd of sheep at one point.

We were also able to attend a session in this temple. They still do “live” sessions in the Manti temple and don’t have a movie, so we got to see all the rooms and the murals on the walls. They have wooden benches instead of individual chairs, which Randy actually liked better, but I found a bit uncomfortable. I loved all the dark woodwork and the terrestrial and celestial rooms were breathtaking.

From there, we headed home and arrived back in Riverton about 5 pm on Saturday.

Monday Dylan left for a pioneer trek with our Stake here that lasts until Thursday. It’s going to be a lot hotter this week, with no rain in the forecast. It will be interesting to see what the difference is, if any, between the two treks.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Mom and Connie are doing great. Happy Birthday to Alicia, Connie, Terry, Michael Parry and Cadence! Happy 4th and 24th of July to all!!