What a Vacation!!!

Well, Richard and I are back from our fabulous vacation in Utah. We love those majestic mountains and being able to spend time with our Utah kids and seeing their new homes. We drove out early Thursday the 14th and arrived about 7:30 PM at Dave and Brooks cute new 2 bdrm apartment. We had dinner there and were joined by Jeff and Rachelle. It was a lovely evening. We spent the night with them...Thank you Carter for letting Grandma and Papa sleep in your room...and then left early for the first of two days of the Zrii "Rising Star Academy" business training seminar. It was fantastic and so enlightening. We are very excited about this new business adventure we have started. It is the best thing to come along in our lifetime and will allow us to fulfill our dreams and help others along the way. Friday evening we had dinner at B & D's with J & R and enjoyed the evening together. We then moved into the guest bedroom of Jeff and Rachelle's new home just 5 minutes away. It is a 2 bdrm condo that is really nice too. Both families have just moved in so we were there to see the putting up of pictures and the arranging of belongings. What a process when you are just getting ready to start college!! I admire all both couples have accomplished in such a short period of time. Well done family.

Saturday was our second day of training in SLC and then back to Brook and Dave's for dinner all together. The meal prep was shared by Brook and Rachelle. What good cooks our sons have.
We enjoyed the time Saturday evening talking, taking a walk around their duck pond park like apartment grounds (where I got my toes mistaken for bread nuggets by the "friendly" ducks that surrounded us), laughing and playing games together. Sunday we went to church with Brook and Dave so that we could help out with Carter as they try to adjust to their new ward. It is the Millcreek Second ward in the area where Pres. Hinckley was Stake President many years ago. It's just down the street from their apartment.

We had a big surprise waiting for us when we walked into B & D's apartment. George, Seneca, and Emeric were there. They came down from Idaho Falls to surprise us and visit for a couple of days. We were very happy to see them. We all had dinner at Jeff and Rachelle's condo and enjoyed the evening together with lots of chatter and surprises. It was a mini family reunion.

Sunday evening we packed up and left for the second portion of our vacation...BYU education week in Provo. We were able to stay with Rachelle's grandparents, Jim and Jean Dunford in Orem. They have become good friends and we enjoyed staying with them and thank them for their hospitality. We attending BYU Monday through Friday going to 8-9 classes each day except Monday. We ate at Fuddruckers for dinner Monday which is a tradition for us. We were emotionally and spiritually fed learning many things with topics from Organizing our lives, to music by Marvin Goldstein, to Leadership skills and learning about the middle East. There are so many wonderful teachers and topics...something for everyone. Richard and I attended more classes together this year than we have in the past and that was lots of fun. We absolutely love Education week!!!

Saturday we met up with the kids again and went to lunch at The Gateway Mall, road "Tracks" to the SLC distribution center in the Joseph Smith building to make some purchases, then drove up to the Campus of the University of Utah to the book store while Jeff got his text books, then back to Jeff and Rachelle's to wait for her to get home from work. We took our family out to dinner at "The Old Spaghetti Factory" at Trolley Square. On the way home Jeff had to go to the Law school to pick up a Sylibus for a class so we got to see the Law school late at night. He can go into the building 24/7 with a special card he has so he can access whatever things he needs to do the work he has to do. We were happy to see where he will be spending so much of his time the next 3 years. Richard gave both of our sons a Father's blessing for their new challenges as they start a new phase of their lives.

Sunday morning we left Jeff and Rachelles for home at about 8:30 AM. We had a quick and safe trip home stopping for an hour or so at the Philpott's to see their wonderful, growing family. It was a fantastic, eventful, uplifting vacation. Thank you to all our Utah family for sharing it with us. We miss you.