Day 4: How much does Papa love you?

Day 4: This morning, we returned to Joy's First Grade class. Mom helped the kids play an alphabet game.

Then it came time to surprise her with a little birthday party. Mom told the class about how she came to be a princess in our family and then we gave her a Tiara and passed out treats to all the kids.

After the treats, I took a class photo to remember the event.

I spent a couple of hours talking to a man about a business that he has for sale just around the corner from Jayson's house. It is a grave marker and monument business that has been in business since 1888. The family is retiring and selling the business and the house because there kids cannot afford to buy them out. The house is a big old house built in 1911 that would need a lot of TLC to bring it into the 21st Century... but there is a lot of potential for someone.

Deb went and visited Katy at the nursing home where she works. She was very impressed with the work that Katy performs and the conditions that she works in. It takes very special people to be able to do this kind of work.

Grandpa had fun taking photos of Mae this afternoon. We play this little game... Grandpa says, "How much does Papa love you?", and she throws her arms in the air and says, "This much!". Does it get any better than this?

I think she is practicing her primary songs here....






Then she had to tell Papa a story...







For the evening, we went to dinner with Ryan, Teresa, Haylee and Joy. We ate lots of ribs and chicken. It was a good day!

Tomorrow: BYU v.s. Arizona and Heidi's new adventure... J Dawgs at the stadium!

Day 3: Kangaroos, Temples, and "Ry Ry"

This morning we went to Kangaroo Zoo with our grand-daughters Haylee and Mae and our daughters, Katy, Teresa, and Heidi. Kangaroo Zoo is a large warehouse space filled with giant blow-up bouncing and sliding stuff. Haylee had a blast jumping and sliding with Grandma... Mae was not so excited about bouncing but she did have fun playing with Papa in the "under 2" area.

Grandma got challenged to a couple of races to the top of the slide and down. Heidi beat her up pretty badly. I was really impressed with how well Haylee climbed to the top by herself and slid down the tallest and steepest slide there. Everyone got a workout.




Papa met a man that just moved here from Longview, Wa. He retired at 65 and started wood-carving. He has started a wood-carving club here in Spanish Fark and he invited me to come to a special seminar they are having on October 12 and 13 in the VFW hall. He told me that an old friend that I made back in 1985 and stayed in contact with at many Nation Scout Jamborees is going to be the main speaker at the seminar... His name is Bill Burch and he is world famous for the scout neckerchief slides that he carves out of Quaken Asp. I guess he si getting quite old and has some health issues so I would not mind seeing him again. He has

We went to lunch at Winger's... usually not something I would brag about. However, I do need to brag about Haylee. Grandma asked her if she was 2 years old and she promptly replied "and 5 months!" I don't know where she pulled that one from, but she was correct! We just about fell out of our chairs over that one.

Then it was on to Salt Lake City for Grandma, Heidi, Mae and me. Grandma went to the Relief Society Building to see the Young Women Exhibit in the basement. She was able to get some ideas for different activities. Mae had fun crawling around on the pretty rug. Grandpa and Heidi enjoyed the exhibit that displayed a circa 1920 Beehive Uniform. The girls actually earned merit badges and "beelines" (ranks) for doing things that were pertinent to the times like sewing, canning, baking, gardening, bee keeping, and killing house flies... yep you read that right... they had to kill at least 25 house flies in one day!

Grandpa and Mae went to the reflection pool in front of the Temple and took some photos. It was 100 degrees today so I thought it would be fun if Mae put her feet in the water... she loved it! There were lots of weddings going on today, as usual... I had fun watching the photographers.

Heidi went to a restaurant supply store on the way home that was kind of like a "candy store". They had everything you could imagine in there except for what Heidi really needed... some "hold cold" apparatus to use for her J Dawg catering cart that she will be using this weekend to sell dawgs at the BYU Football game. She has her permits and licenses and she is going to sell J Dawgs at every home game this year... and she gets to keep the profits... She is probably going to save up enough money to buy Jayson a real special Christmas gift... yeah, I think that is what I heard her say... something about a Nikon D300 body...

Tonight Deb and I went to Lehi and spent the evening with our oldest Son, Ryan. Teresa was at the movies with a friend so Grandma took Haylee for a walk and to swing at the park, while Ryan and I worked on my "Aperture Artistry" website. It was a very nice visit and we will see them again before we leave... Haylee was not real happy about going to bed while Grandma and Papa were still there!

(Your going to have to turn your computer on the side to see this one because I could not figure out how to keep the blogger from rotating it horizontal...)




Now that is a beautiful reflection!







After a stop at the Orem Wal-Mart (the busiest one in the world... what were we thinking?), we are back in Springville, for the evening.

Day 2: J Dawg, First Grade, and BSA...

First stop: The World Famous J Dawg Shack!

It is amazing how many dawgs are served out of this shack that is not much bigger than "Lil".

Jayson was working today and Heidi and Mae came down for the photo op with Grandma.

The dawgs are still delicious (it's the Special Sauce)!










After lunch we went to visit Miss Edwards' First Grade Class at Hillcrest Elementary School.










Miss Edwards read "Smokey The Bear" to her class after their recess. Then "Papa Chief" got to help teach a class on Fire Safety. After the class, they had lots of good questions (and stories) about fire.

It was a real honor to share the classroom with Joy... and kind of strange too (it made feel old).




This evening, Jayson took his Boy Scouts to Salem Pond to do some fishing. They did not catch any fish, but the weather was beautiful and the pond was too!

Afterwards, back at home, Jayson and Heidi made a batch of Bulgogi (a delicious Korean meat dish that I have not had for many years), and we all went to bed (well I will be there as soon as I finish this post!)

Day 1: In the Beginning...

Day 1:

We got a late start because the Camry had a nail and a screw in the same tire. Fortunately, Les Schwab was able to fix it and we were on the road by 10:30 (only 4 hours later than planned).

We gassed up in Ontario, Oregon and then again in Centerville, Utah. The Camry beat the Mini by 4 mpg (Camry 38, Mini 34)... I was surprised. We contemplated stopping in Mountain Home, Idaho for the night but decided to press on to Springville, Utah. Our plan was to stay at Heidi's parent's home but it was too late by the time we arrived at 2:30 a.m. (15.5 hours), so Jayson and Heidi set up an airbed for us for the night. (They were asleep when we arrived but they left the door open and the light on for us). Joy and Katy were also spending the night so it was a full house!