Friends, and more friends! Thanks Facebook!

Here I am finally getting around to blogging some of our vacation.

We drove to UT on July 17- spending the night in St George,

and continuing up on Saturday to stay at Marcy's house.

Thanks to Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with some

old friends. It's been lots of fun finding out what is going on

in their lives in the past twenty-some years.

On Sunday, Mallory and I went and had dessert with

The Hacking Clan!

Cory and Kim and I went to Junior High together. We believe

we all had Mr Bishop for 7th grade math - we think it was

an Accelerated class (us smarties!!)

I vaguely remember 8th grade math with Cory, and Mr Hoyt, I think.

I remember that class more because I had a huge crush on Cory.

But... I've moved on... (hee hee!)

He and Kim dated all through the rest of school, (I moved away

after 9th grade) and the result is this cute family!

Next time I go visit, I'll try and meet up with them to teach

Kim how to make bread! Will be fun!

The next day I got to meet up with these cute girls, not far

from the actual scene of the below crime.

My partners in crime were Tami Jackson Meadows, and Wendy Lou Hughes!

This is us at a church dance when we were in High School -I think

it must have been during my senior year, but not sure.

( absolutely LOVED the sweater vest I have on, and sad to say,

I still have it. But I don't wear it.)

I think we had planned to coordinat e our outfits that night!

Before we drove to Evanston on Monday, Tami told me that Wendy was

living there again. I don't remember the last time that I had

seen her! I see Tami usually every time we go to UT/WY, but

had no idea that she (Wendy) was in town. We planned to

meet in Evanston at Bear River Park, and bring our lunches.

Here we are - with so much more experience and wisdom in our lives!

And 11 kids between us! (although half of them are Tami's so.. )

Also thanks to Facebook, Kristin Nixon Hopkin came!

Kristin and I met my sophomore year in PE class.. I had just

moved to Evanston from Vernal - and didn't know many people.

She was excited because I was TALLER than she was.

We shared a locker that year- and although she was a cheerleader (ha ha)

we were good friends! She and Vern have been living

in Evanston for several years - I didn't know it..

I haven't seen her since our wedding open house in Alpine.

We've talked once or twice - but it has been so long!

Here are Vern and Kristin with their three youngest -
sorry, can't remember their names. They got married
like a month after we graduated, so Kristin is already a mother-in-law,
with her daughter getting married in August, and she's a grandmother-to-be as well!
It was great fun getting together with them!

And later that week I saw these two great ladies!
I met both of them at the University of Wyoming.
Toni's sister Carolyn is my age, and was in
Lambda Delta Sigma with me.
Karen Heath Penman and I were only at UW for one
semester together - my last before my mission.
She and I sang a song in church, His Hands (no, it's not the
one everyone thinks,) and I've carried that copy around for all these years!
Karen now sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so when
you watch the broadcast on Sunday morning, look for her in the
back row - she's tall like me (I think even taller!)
Toni Buckley Wilkins is a teacher - 5th grade, I think,
at the same school for 19 years!
How's that for dedication and longevity?!
Funny story is that when Toni was coming up to Ogden to meet us,
she had slow traffic and was rushing thru Ogden, and got pulled over
for speeding! She turned on her charm (she IS very charming)
and told the officer she was going to meet her friends!
She got away with a warning and no ticket! Way to go Toni!

I'm super glad that my family humored me on our Family Vacation

and let me meet up with my old friends! I had a great time!

Next blog post about all the fun family stuff we did!

Four Wheelin' !!!

VACATION!!

Although it is difficult to tell, that is ME in the

driver's seat! This is the first time that I have

ever driven a go-cart or anything similar!

I didn't drive one of the quads, but I had a BLAST!

My BIL owns some property that's a bit hilly, so the day

before Thanksgiving, we met up with them,

as well as the BIL we were staying with,

and drove quads & go-carts all over, had a cookout

- roasted marshmallows, hot dogs & had hot chocolate!

The temperature was in the 40's that day - for a high!

It was chilly driving up and down and around!

We didn't get to have any snow, but we did have lots of fun!

We left for UT the Friday before Thanksgiving,

stayed overnight in Kanab, then drove the rest of the way

on Saturday to Bluffdale, to Marcy's house.

We visited with her and played with the kids,

John & Annie, who are growing up fast!

Sunday night I droveMark to the airport,

so he could be back for work on Monday for meetings.

Monday morning the kids and I headed to WYOMING!!

I went to High School in Evanston,

and my best friend, Tami, lives in Lyman, about 30 miles away.

I get to see her only once a year - when we head north.

She fixed us lunch and we had a nice visit!

I wish I had some pics of us from HS -

we were trying to remember when we became friends!

We knew each other in band,and we shared

a locker my senior year (she is a year younger!)

She is an awesome friend - always sending me

cute cards and letters when I was away from home,

on my mission and at school! Thanks Tami!!

(my dad called her mom "the mother of my other daughter.- it was awesome to have her as a friend!)

After leaving Tami's we headed back to Ogden,

to pick up some HoneyBaked Ham,

and then up to Hyrum!

We arrived at Fon & Sally's early evening,

and the kids commenced playing with their cousins -

on the Wii, and the Guitar Hero.

At one point on Tuesday,I had to prohibit Brennan

from playing Guitar Hero - he had bloodshot eyes!!

(they play on a big projection TV in the basement!

Miss Kris was my 2nd grade teacher - My class was the first one that she ever taught - she doesn't teach anymore, but is involved in education and training with the State of Utah. I suppose that she is my oldest friend, not in age, but in length of time I have known her! She live only about 5 miles from Fon & Sally, so we try to visit her whenever we go to UT.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner,

and I think we got tired of dinner rolls,

after teaching Josh how to make them! (I think he'll be a pro!)

We made Mark's yummy creamy mushroom gravy

to go with the Turkey (leaving the plain stuff for the kids!)

On Friday, Annika and her hubby Bret came over

(fun for me, Bret lived in Vernal,

as I did for some of my growing up years -

got to talk about some of the old places!)

and also her brother Casey came

and we played games, and ate, of course!

Our trip home was pretty anti-climactic -

driving, driving, driving.

We were sad that the Three Bears Creamery

was not open in Kanab -

we were looking forward to getting Ice Cream Cones there!

We were happy to get home to our dog, Milo,

and were VERY thankful to the Estrada's for keeping

the Rent-A-Dog while we were gone!

(Really, really thankful!)

So, that was our vacation for the year -

it was nice to get out of town, even though

we didn't get to go play in the lake, or in the snow!
Many thanks to Fon and Sally

for putting up with us each time we visit!

They are awesome!