Matthew and Meghan came in on Tuesday, May 31st. They had really enjoyed their trip here and I'm so glad they got to see all that they saw--the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, and Zion. We had taken our kids to those things when they were younger and I wondered if they remembered them, and Matthew said he did. Mason seemed to have done pretty well for all the traveling and sight seeing. I know they tried to take some breaks and let him out to run and play. All that being cooped up is hard on a little one.
They had things they wanted to do here that they hadn't done in December. We went to work Wed. afternoon and worked Thursday and Friday, so they took Mason to the park and splash pad one day (it's warmed up considerably), the Clark Planetarium, the Church History Museum, our Family History Museum, Temple Square and shopping one day. They did a lot while they were here and we enjoyed visiting in the evenings.
For the reunion Robert had cooked pulled pork, pulled chicken, hot dogs, and links and had them all frozen in the frig and ready to go. Friday night I made a Texas Sheet Cake and Saturday morning a big fruit salad. We headed out Saturday morning by 9:00, all loaded up with food and cameras and cords and games. It was a beautiful day--couldn't have been nicer. We had borrowed Sister Isaacson's cart to take the crockpots down the hill to the pavilion we had reserved. The park people had it all cleaned up and washed down for us, so we started moving tables a bit and putting on the table cloths that Richard and Carolyn had brought. They also had centerpieces for each table. By 10:00 we pretty well had things ready to go and people started coming in. Bev came with a big poster of Grandma and Grandpa Parkin in the top center, then each of their kids across under them, then family pictures under each of them. It was really a good idea so people could see how they fit into the family.
Bev and Paul had worked really hard to update a family directory. Bev felt really strongly that it needed to be done and she had spent hours calling people, getting the information, and Paul spent hours typing--even on his 80th birthday!
Linda (Taufer) Ziemer had flown in from California and was staying with Bev and Paul. That was really a treat. I hadn't seen any of them (the Taufers) in 50+ years and had been devastated when I got here to learn that Bruz and Brent, Linda's brothers, had passed away. Her brother, Kim's, daughter, Brittany was there with her husband and two kids. She's a darling girl and her kids look so much like Kim I couldn't believe it. They were absolutely darling. They visited quite a bit with Matthew and Meghan and their little boy was close to Mason's age.
We'd asked Lucky to bring his sound equipment and we had planned to square dance or line dance at l0:30, but people were coming in, greeting each other, getting name tags--it just didn't happen. We'd planned to play games at 11:30 and eat at 12:00, but we got way off schedule. The men hadn't thought we needed to plan anything more than to visit, which I kind of agreed with, but Bev felt we should have things planned so that people felt their time was well spent. We ended up playing one game before lunch, then ate and then had Glen's magic show. It was cute. I think the kids enjoyed it. He really does well. Then we danced and we had pretty good participation considering we had little kids and it was hard to push the tables out of the way. I thought we really had fun. I enjoyed talking with people and the Magic Show and the dancing. People came and went as they needed to do.
Can you tell we're square dancing? Meghan was taking pictures, so Matthew is my partner.
Matthew and Mason are watching the magic show. Bev and Paul brought a cooler full of popsicles, which were a big hit! Those are Brittany's two cute kids next to Mason. I wish you could see the little girl's face--she's such a cutie.
After we got home, unloaded, and rested up a bit, we took Matt and Meghan and Mason to City Cemetery where so many of the prophets are buried. It's such an awe-inspiring place--rolling hills, streets and cross streets and so many names we recognize from church history. Then we went for frosties from Wendy's and back to the apt. to pack their car with a bunch of our stuff to take home--a big tote full of winter clothes, a suitcase with our winter coats, the Christmas wreath Paul and Aimee had sent us--treasures we just can't leave behind.
It was hard to see them go Sunday morning.
On Sunday evening we were invited to Bev and Paul's for dinner so we could all sit and relax and visit with Linda before she headed back to California. Paul had done ribs and they were so good. l loved Bev's salad, I have to have her tell me what all she put in it and we had birthday cake for Richard. We told stories of growing up, asked each other questions, shared memories and laughs and a tear or two. It was such a good evening. We took one last picture of the cousins.
Left to right is Bev, me, Linda, Richard and Judy. You can tell "shortness" runs in the family and I'm not the shortest!
On Monday Bev and Paul were taking Linda to the airport and came by the library. Paul sat down at a computer with Robert and in just a few minutes, he was "hooked"! He said, "I'm coming back. This is fun!" Robert helped him print off a fan chart--one of his favorite things to do and Paul has a lot of genealogy done because he goes back to George Q. Cannon on one side and William Clayton ("Come, Come Ye Saints") on the other side. We all went to the Nauvoo Cafe for lunch and then they were off.
Tuesday (the 7th) we were ready for PDay! I called Jim Parkin and asked to borrow the Parkin book he had at the reunion. I had never seen it before. We took it to the library and took the spiral ring off of it and scanned the pages onto a flash drive, but because we put the pages into the scanner a few at a time, they were mixed up and then we had a heck of a time trying to get them to print out--it was just crazy. We finally left about 3 hours later because Robert was about to lose his religion, and that didn't seem like a good thing to do at the library!
Wednesday morning I got a message on the computer about a virus and to call a number they gave me for Microsoft. We didn't call that, but looked up the number for Microsoft and called that. It took the guy awhile, but finally he said it was o.k. and then wanted to sell me protection for 3 years for $500. We said, "No thank you," and immediately left for the computer guys at Revo. We took both computers in and asked them to check them out and be sure they were o.k. We returned Jim's book to him, ate lunch in Sugar House, and went to work.
Brenda Vaughn had foot surgery on Thursday, so I'd made some soup Wednesday evening and we took it to them. The Relief Society had already been there and people from their social group, so we knew they were well cared for. She seemed to be doing well.
Friday morning I had the spiritual thought in prayer meeting and I gave a little thought in last October's Ensign about using our time well. That's something I feel I could improve. Robert took hot dogs and corn dogs to the library and fed the young elders. He enjoys doing that and they appreciate it.
Saturday was the Family History Block Party and we had barely missed it last year, so we weren't sure what to expect, but felt there would be crowds of people and we're usually super busy on a normal Saturday. The staff people had done a lot of work setting up tables and computers for a Discovery Center and then a big picture taking area. We weren't sure how it was all going to work. At 10:00 I stepped outside to watch the bagpipers come marching down the street and they were wonderful! I loved it. There were lots of people coming in, especially families, and I was hosting, so I would suggest that they go to the Discovery Area or the picture area, which they seemed to enjoy. Then it started to rain and the staff people brought the audio equipment inside. I was on the info desk by then and they were setting it up right in front of me--yea! Works for me! So the western group performed and they did several old songs--"I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Yellow Rose of Texas," etc. We all enjoyed singing along.
When my hour there was up, I went on the floor to help. A man who had been in the day before was looking for someone who may have been in the Revolutionary War. He had one ancestor verified, so he knew quite a bit about that time period. We were looking for a name on Fold 3 and found several possibilities. Then the Polynesian Dancers started performing. They had young men and women, a darling little girl, some older dancers and a lady who told some stories. I really enjoyed them.
We had oodles of people that day--I have no idea of the count, but I know it was a lot.
We managed to take a picture of just us and then with a whole group from our floor. We dear love these people and will always cherish our time with them and appreciate so much all that we have learned from them. We went home at the end of the day exhausted, but feeling it was one of the best days ever!
On Sunday we fed the young elders--just two, but the e-mail said one of them can't have gluten and can't have dairy. So I planned meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and broccoli, but I couldn't think of a dessert without flour or milk! So we brought out some chocolate covered gummy bears and orange slices and they were good!
Our Aloha party on the 13th was a piano/organ concert by Pres. and Sister Klopfer. They performed in the chapel of the stake center and asked us to come in Sunday dress. The music was beautiful. They each played solos, then duets. It was mostly songs we recognized like "Autumn Leaves" and some show tunes, and some classical songs I didn't know, but it was all beautiful. they played for about 40 minutes and then we went into the cultural hall to visit and introduce those coming in and those leaving--every time there are more that we know, and it's so hard to see them go. We'll be in the next group to go. I feel a little more ready than I did in May, but it's going to be hard, I know.
President and Sister Klopfer are so dear to us. We love them dearly.
Monday I was asked if I could help Jason with the VIP tours on Thursdays and Fridays when Sister Hunter is off. I said, "Sure," then met Jason and found out that my first one will be this Friday--a Chamber of Commerce group and there will be too many of them for one room and so we will split the group and Jason will do part of them and I will do part of them--WHAAAT?!? I've never run the computer from up front before and he likes to take them into historical records and show them how to Browse Records--I don't usually do that--I've got a day and a half to learn!
Yesterday we went to Revo to pick up our computer, went to WalMart and came home to eat a Subway sandwich and collapse! We did the Chesterfield weekend, the reunion weekend, the Block Party, with working the weeks in between, and I justcouldn't go another step. We sat down to watch some TV and both fell asleep. We were just exhausted. When we tried to put the anti-virus program on the computers last night, we ran into problems, so took them back today--there's just no end to it. He was able to get the laptop back to me, but had to keep the PC.
Today was mission conference. President and Sister Larson were the main speakers and were great. He talked about the change in his life when he was diagnosed with cancer and the atonement became very real. President Tate spoke about smiling, helping others, showing gratitude and asked us to pray the next 4 days and just express thanks without asking for anything. I've done that before and I have so much to be grateful for, I can do that, but it always seems that I want to ask for blessings for my family, too, but I'll try it because we were asked to.
