Traveling

Monday July 8 we left home at the crack of dawn… or close to it… to start our drive to the family reunion.  We drove with Deborah and her children.  I really like her car.  It’s quiet and comfortable and fit us all quite well.  We stopped at the cheese place in Osceola, MO for a break and snacks.

We got as far as Paxton, Nebraska on Monday night. We ate at Carlos O’kelley’s, one of Tom’s favorite places.  Samantha insisted she wanted to eat a jalapeño pepper—in spite of our assurances she would not find it tasty.  However, we let her try it and it was comical to see her face change from delight to distaste.

I’d been reading a book about the handcart pioneers and was mindful of the river crossings and the flat and hilly terrain we passed over.  It’s amazing we traveled in two days what took them months to cover.

We made it to Salt Lake City by Tuesday evening.  The children were surprisingly good considering the long days of traveling.  Ian was delighted to see his family again.  Deborah was less than excited that the city decided to fix her sewer at exactly that time.  We were a little inconvenienced by not being able to flush toilets for a few hours, but they worked quickly.

Wednesday Tom and I went to the temple.  We’d wanted to go to the Salt Lake Temple.  We drove there in time for the 2 pm session, but discovered it was closed.  We shopped at Trader Joes, and still made the 3 pm session at the Jordan River Temple.  How nice to be so close to so many temples.  We stopped at a Seagull bookstore, but didn’t divest ourselves of much money there.

Thursday Ian and Deborah took us to Tucano’s for lunch. It’s a Brazilian place where they come around with different cuts of meat and offer them to you.  They also had a salad bar and vegetable bar which was equally delicious.  They give you small samplings of different meats, so you don’t think you’re eating all that much… until you suddenly realize you’re stuffed!  But delightfully so!

We swung by Deseret Industries to look for shoes for Steven.  Tom found some old videos he couldn’t live without.  And he’d forgotten a tie, so we found one there.  Then in the afternoon we headed to Callie’s baptism.  It was at her Grandma Gray’s ward and many of her White relatives were there as well.

It was a very nice baptism.  Joshua gave a talk on the Holy Spirit and did a great job. Some of Callie’s cousins sang.  Then we went to her Grandma Gray’s house for a dinner.  We’d made brownies and pasta salad to take and they had cake and tasty tacos.  But I was still full from Tacano’s and just forced a little ice cream down.

Bryn and Kay Lineback came to the baptism.  They were friends of ours in Okinawa, and I haven’t seen them for ages.  Rebecca has been friends with Bryn for years.  It was so nice to see them and visit with them!  I hadn’t seen Dan’s parents for a long time either, and I enjoyed talking with them again.

 Steven makes friends with anyone with a tablet!  Below father and son visiting.

When we came home, we packed for our trip to the reunion.  Friday we left for the long drive to Portland, OR.  We passed through such a diversity of scenery.  From arid to lush green.  I love the Columbia River Gorge going into Portland!  We had a great view of Mt. Hood on they way in.

Savanna met us partway into Portland.  She drove Tom and I to her and Adam’s house while Deborah went to her in-laws house to visit for a day or so. Denali and Carter are such cute and happy kids.

Danali was so loving.  “I love you Grandma Fox!  I’m so glad you came to visit!”  Carter has this 23 hour a day infectious smile.  And they fed us well.  What’s not to like!

We were surprised at the chilly Portland mornings.  Savannah is reveling in delight at the cool temperatures and I’m freezing.  So we went to Goodwill and Tom and I found some heavy shirts.  I also found a neat, pocketed rain coat.  The price tag was $14. But in the sleeve was an original tag for $238!  Between the two of them we kept warm!

I had been looking at new laptops and had wanted to get Tom a tablet for his church work.  Adam had some ideas.  We went to Costco to look at options, and I came home with both a laptop and a tablet.  Laptop needed more RAM and Tablet needed a case, we went online and got those to be delivered at the reunion.

It was fortuitous because Tom had some people at the reunion to help him load and use his tablet.  And I had other smart nephews to get rid of the bloat-ware and add the RAM when it arrived.

Sunday we went to church together.  Church was close by so Tom and I walked there and back. Miranda and Dan arrived on Saturday afternoon, so we walked to church together.  Rebecca and Dan and family drove to Portland on Saturday so after church we all had dinner together.  Then we drove to Washington for the family reunion.