September 19th, through September 25th:

 September 19^th, through September 25^th:  Thursday:  We went to lunch with all of my surviving siblings.  Alice was down from Boise for the baptism of one of her grandchildren and this was the first time we have seen her and my other brother and his wife who live in Alpine.  It was fun to be together and catch up.

L to R,  my brother, Van, his wife, Maude, my brother Tad, his wife, Tove, mom, and my sister Alice.  Aren't you glad to see that all we do here at home is eat, just like in Bolivia.

Friday:  I worked on our son, John’s garage, building new cabinets for storage.  In the afternoon, we took Evan, Charlotte’s oldest, on his birthday outing.  He selected to take a friend, so we picked up Aiden and headed to Boondocks in Kaysville.  When we arrived it was closed for 2 private parties.  They were disappointed, but quickly thought that Chucky Cheese would be an ok alternative.  After which we went to his choice for dinner, McDonalds. 

Left to right, Aiden, Evan and of course mom holding all the tickets.

Dinner at the happy place?

Saturday:  I spent all day at John’s working on the shelves, except for the break in the afternoon that I took to attend Kimball’s, Kate’s oldest son’s birthday party. 

Kimball, the birthday boy. He is 5.

One of the party games-- Angry Birds.

Kimball's dad, Bryce telling a story to the party goers.

Sunday:  We reported to the stake presidency and high counsel about our mission.  There were 3 returned missionaries and another senior couple.  It was good to feel the spirit of these missionaries.  We then went to church and we taught our first lesson to our new Sunday school class.  There were 3 boys and 10 girls--sounds like a session in the temple in Cochabamba doesn’t it?  We wondered if these kids (12-13 years old) would have cell phones.  ALL of the girls had I-phones and were happy to be Facebook friends and even share their Instagram names.  They thought it was “cute” that Mom and I shared a phone. This really is a whole different generation.  Mom and I then cooked dinner.  I had put the pork roast on before church.  Last week’s Sunday dinner of pot roast was rivaled by this week’s pork roast.  I love Sunday dinner.  All week in my spare time I have been scanning old family pictures and posting them on our family group’s Facebook page.  It has been lots of fun and I have enough pictures to continue this for months. 

An example of pictures I am sharing on Facebook with family.  This in 1955 or 56.  L to R.  My oldest brother Gar, my brother, Van, my mom, my sister, Alice, my dad, me, and my brother Tad.

Sunday evening we were picked up by our dear friends, the Belnaps, Paul and Liz.  I went to high school with both of them.  Paul was my best man at my wedding and I toured Europe with him after graduating from high school.

Paul Belnap, my best man, and me.  Wedding day Aug. 3, 1973.

We have been on family trips together and we love them and their family very much.  They took us to Lake Powell to enjoy a get-away with them on their house boat.  We arrived in Page, Arizona about 1:00am and did our grocery shopping at Walmart and then went to the Antelope Point Marina just northeast of Page.  This is the greatest marina; they have carts with drivers that load up all your stuff and then drive you to your house boat.  We spent the next 3 days in heaven on earth.  The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the scenery and being on the lake so much.  I will let the pictures tell the story. 

Does this say it all or what?

Pictures do not do the beauty of this place justice. The contrast of blue blue skies and red red rocks is so incredible.

Can you believe the calm water and beautiful red rocks.

We did get in just to be able to say we did get wet.

Lunch in one of the side canyons.

Labyrinth canyon.

Resting in the shade of rocks.

I hiked up to the top of a hill.  So beautiful.

Our cart driver and Paul in the front and mom and Liz in the back.  We are headed home.

We stopped at the dam. Looking north.

At the dam looking south at the Colorado river.

The drive home was spectacular.

I did have an opportunity to cook one Chinese dinner and one Mexican dinner while we were there.  We arrived home Wednesday evening after stopping in Panguitch for fish and chips, only to find that the mountains east of Salt Lake and Bountiful were covered in snow.  Fall is on the way and it will be getting colder.  We are missing the weather in Cochabamba—eternal spring.

Fish and Chips for lunch on the way home.

The mountains above Bountiful.  Yes that is snow on them there hills.