In March I was asked to attend a CUPA-HR Conference in Portland, Oregon. Luckily, Roger was able to go with me. We flew in Friday evening, rented a car, and drove up to Seattle for the weekend to see Chad, Rosa, Khalina and Ammon.
We went to the zoo and the beach, played with the Wii band, and attended church on Sunday. It was a nice relaxing, fun weekend with the four of them. (And, yes, I really was there, but evidently I took all the pictures.) Sunday evening we drove back down to Portland for my conference. Our Marriott hotel was on the waterfront so, while I attended my seminars on Monday and Tuesday, Roger explored -- which is what he loves doing.
Monday evening we did some exploring together. Tuesday evening we took the opportunity to go to the Portland Temple. Wednesday we traveled home.
On April 1st (April Fools Day?), it looked like this:
The snow didn't last long, though, and a couple of days later we took off for a week in Illinois and Ohio so we could spend some time with Monica and James and kids and Nicole and Matt. We spent time at a couple of fun parks, at a children's museum, and at the zoo in Columbus. We only saw James the first day because he and another law student flew to China the day after we arrived to compete in a "client counseling" law competition. (By the way, it was a world competition and they took third place. Pretty cool!) Matt and Nicole signed the papers on their new home while we were there, so we got to see it in its "before" stages and help a little with some of the prepping that needed to be done so they could start painting. We were able to attend the Columbus Temple while we were there and go to church with Nicole and Matt.
In each of May, June, & August we spent a weekend with Roger's parents.
Roger plays his banjo and his parents dance.
We spent Memorial Day weekend with my parents.
Then in June we welcomed two sweet little granddaughters into the family. Jim and Lynnette were able to take Abi home right away, but Lili needed some time in the NICU, so I spent several days helping with Abi at home and taking turns visiting Lili in the NICU. What fun to have two of them to cuddle!!
(We didn't actually get to see the two of them together until they were a month old. The day after our two were born, my sister's son and daughter-in-law had twin girls also. Two sets of twins in the family!!)
At the end of June, we attended the Losee Family Reunion and went camping for the first time in this....
and had a "sleepover" with them....
I think everyone had a good time............
The first of July we were able to spend a few days with all of our children and grandchildren -- the first time in two years that we've had them all together. There is getting to be a lot of us (27), so it gets rather hectic at times, but we love it and wouldn't trade those opportunities for anything.
The babies were the biggest attraction!
We packed as much into the week as we could.
Of course, eating is always a must.
And a get-together with cousins...
We also hung out at Temple Square.
We went camping and canoeing and hiking.
And got very dirty!
We rode the horse.....
and fed the horse....
and fed the chickens......
The grandkids broke a pinata.
We celebrated Rosa's birthday....
And Ryan's birthday.
We girls went to the Utah Shakespearean Festival's presentation of "Pride and Prejudice" while the guys tended kids. It was great!!!
It was a great week.
After the reunion, Monica and the kids stayed for a couple more weeks. Carolyn and Jennifer and their kids stayed for a week of that so we had a house full of grandkids for a little longer.
When Monica and the kids were ready to head home to Illinois, Roger and I drove out with them. It was a lot of driving, but the kids did well (with some good breaks to run around), and we made good time.
We met James in Nauvoo and had time to look around the historic part of Nauvoo
before we went to the Nauvoo Pageant.
The afternoon was beautiful, but by late afternoon, it started to rain really hard. When we asked if they would still hold the pageant, we were told "Of course!"..... so we went to the pageant.
And pretty soon, it wasn't raining as hard. And then it wasn't raining at all. And the pageant was wonderful!!
The next day we finished our marathon trip to Monica and James'.
Then Roger and I rented a car and drove on over to Nicole and Matt's home in Ohio. Since we saw the "before" stage, we were able to appreciate all the hard work that they have put into their home and enjoyed the opportunity to see the "after" stage.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
We arrived early enough that we were able to eat, go for a hike and play a game before the evening ended.
On our way to the airport the next morning, we were able to stop by the school where Nicole works and meet some of the teachers and students she works with. It was a fun way to end our visit.
Labor Day weekend we had a fun visit from Lynnette and Jim and Lili and Abi.
We tended while Lynnette and Jim went out for a birthday lunch. One of those "perks" of being grandparents that we wish we could do more often.
That weekend was the official end of our summer, but we managed to fit in one more family reunion and another overnight camping trip in the trailer.
We've actually been home five weekends in a row -- I think that may be a record!
We could have posted an unlimited number of pictures -- some of you probably think we posted too many. A few of you might wish that we'd posted more. But we'll leave you with one more picture -- appropriately, it was taken at sunset as we went up the mountain last week.
A beautiful way to end the summer.
3 comments:
I love the part where you came to see me. That was fun. Let's do that again.
Thanks again for driving out with me. I owe you.
And I love you. That's all.
I love it! I also liked the parts where you came to see us. It makes me miss the summer for that reason.
That is a lot packed into one summer! Thanks for the days you were packed in with us :)
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