What a Fun Trip!

We got back from our trip to South Carolina last night. On Monday, we left Salt Lake at 10:30 a.m. and flew to Cincinnati, then on to Greenville/Spartanburg. When we arrived at 6:30 that evening, Joel, Sarah, Eliza, and Tiffany were there to greet us. (Tiffany had arrived there from Illinois two days before, and we were happy to see her. Steven and Rich hadn't seen her since the end of May when she came home from Mississippi for the Mormon History Conference.) From the airport, we went to Sarah and Joel's house, which took about 45 minutes. What a wonderful home they have! We couldn't believe it, it's so nice. And in such a quiet, beautiful country setting. Sarah and Joel had worked out a good sleeping arrangement for all of us--Steven and me on the futon in the study, Tiff in the sleeping bag on the floor in the study, and Richard on the couch in the living room. That seemed to work pretty well for all of us. Eliza didn't know quite what to think about all the new faces around all of a sudden. But she started smiling for all of us before too long. She is SO cute and has such a big, happy smile. Sarah said she just started pulling herself up and standing in the last few days, so that's all she wanted to do while we were there.

On Tuesday morning, Joel and Sarah made some delicious white chocolate bread pudding for breakfast. Yum! Then we got ready for our day's adventure. First, we drove to Clemson's Outdoor Lab, a beautiful nature camp area, and walked around there for awhile. It was a gorgeous fall day to be out in the woods. From there we went to Pendleton, a quaint little town with lots of cute shops and places to explore. In the middle of the town square is Farmers' Hall, where we had a delicious lunch. Sarah told us that is was upstairs in Farmers' Hall where John C. Calhoun, and others, hatched their plan for secession. From Pendleton, we went to Clemson to see the campus. Joel, Sarah, Tiff, Rich, and I took a tour of Fort Hill while Steven walked around outside with Eliza. We loved seeing Fort Hill, which was the home of John C. Calhoun and later his daughter and her husband, Thomas Clemson. It was Thomas Clemson who deeded the land to the state for a university. It's a beautiful setting for a university. After Fort Hill, we skulked around the bookstore for awhile, then went for ice cream at the campus creamery, but it was closed! From there we took a drive past the football stadium and the Calhoun family cemetery, which are right there next to each other on campus. Then we went to Campus Drive where we checked out Clemson gear in some of the stores. By that time we were ready to go home for some dinner--Sarah and Joel fixed some delicious chicken fetticinni alfredo. Then we watched Transformers, which Richard had brought along, before heading to bed.

On Wednesday, we headed off on another adventure. We decided against going to the Biltmore, which would have cost $180 for four of us to get into (Joel and Sarah have annual passes). It would have been fun to see; but, instead, we went to the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, North Carolina. We really enjoyed the tour and seeing how the Sandburgs lived in that old antebellum house, Connemara, located on 240 acres in the North Carolina woods. It was interesting to see their simple yet productive lifestyle. Carl Sandburg was 67 when they moved there, but he continued to write and produced 1/3 of his total writings while living there. His wife operated a goat farm (which is still there today) and raised champion goats. At the home and farm it was very much the way it was on the day he passed away there in 1967. From there we drove to Hendersonville, another quaint town with a cute, historic Main Street. We had lunch there at Mike's on Main, a fun sandwich shop in the old drug store and soda fountain. A few stores away was a bakery where we got cookies for dessert. Then it was a beautiful drive back to Sarah and Joel's through the Blue Ridge mountains, which were so colorful with all the fall leaves. Back at home Joel fixed some cheese pizza and meat pizza, which was just right because we were still kind of full from our late lunch.

Thursday was Happy Thanksgiving day! It was a nice day to relax around home and get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. We woke up to some cloudiness and rain, which made the woods out back look all misty. That was fun to see. To start the day, I went with Sarah and Joel to the annual flicker ball game which their department has every Thanksgiving. We got there about half-time, which was just enough time for Sarah and Joel to get out there and play a bit. They both played well, and Sarah even injured herself somewhat in a dramatic slide in the mud. She wore her gold and maroon striped socks, which I think took the prize for the funniest-looking socks. Especially with her light green capris. While we were at the game, Steven, Tiff, and Rich kept Eliza entertained there at home. The rest of the day was spent fixing and eating a delicious Thanksgiving feast, which Joel and Sarah prepared while the rest of us kind of relaxed. I remember nodding off to sleep there on the couch (during the Lucy marathon), and the next thing I knew, Voila! It was time to eat. We had yummy turkey breast with a brown sugar glaze, mashed potatoes and gravy, yam souffle, corn, and rolls. Richard made gumdrop turkeys for decorations. The meal was wonderful! Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood and looked at all the cute houses in Sarah and Joel's neighborhood. Later, we had room for dessert: either pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie, apple pie, or all of the above. It was all so good! Then we watched Home Alone before going to bed. What a fun, enjoyable day!

On Friday it was time to leave for home. The week surely went by fast. Joel fixed some delicious grits (purchased at Farmers' Hall) for breakfast; we took one more walk around the neighborhood, then packed and left for the airport at 12:30 (taking along some turkey sandwiches for the road, or for the air, I guess). Little Eliza was asleep in her car seat, so she didn't even see us go. She probably wondered where we were when she woke up. Tiffany was staying for one more day. (Joel and Sarah got to make lots of trips to the airport for us!) We had a short 37-minute flight to Atlanta, then caught our flight to Salt Lake City from there. That flight was 3 hours and 44 minutes, but it was a good time to read and relax. (One thing I like about flying Delta is that they give you snacks. American and United don't give snacks. You have to buy them. So I like to fly on Delta.) When we arrived in Salt Lake the cold air was quite a shock to our systems after being in the mild South. We caught the Diamond shuttle to pick up our car. A little boy on the shuttle was talking to his mother and said something about the people on the shuttle. He said, "They look angry." His mother said, "They're not angry, just tired." It made me think we better smile, even if we're tired. It was good to get back to Orem, but we surely had a fun trip!

Today Steven, Rich and I went over to the Barretts and watched the BYU vs. Utah game with Lindy and the girls. (Nate was at the game with his dad, who his mom said had to get the doctor's permission before she would let him go.) We took Arby's for lunch and had a fun time with Lindy and the girls. Thank goodness BYU was able to pull out a win in the last minute. Tiffany called during the game to say she had made all her connections and was on the train to Mattoon; she called later to say she had made it home to Charleston safely. She was expecting Sis. Stowell to pick her up at the train station in Mattoon, but Greg picked her up instead. I'm glad we all made it back safe and sound. What a great Thanksgiving vacation we had!

Off to South Carolina

Steven, Richard and I are off to South Carolina tomorrow. We're looking forward to seeing Sarah, Joel, and Eliza along with Tiff who arrived there safely last night. Our plane leaves at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, and we're scheduled to arrive in South Carolina, via Cincinnati, at 6:10 p.m. EST. We'll return on Friday, and Tiff will go back to Charleston on Saturday. It should be a fun time for all. We hope Nate and Lindy and the girls will have a nice Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma Barrett.

We had a pre-Thanksgiving Sunday dinner tonight with Lindy, Nate and the little girls. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie. Steven wasn't home to cut up the turkey (he doesn't like to do it anyway), so I did it. And I say "cut up" because I mangled it pretty well. It still tasted good, though. Lindy brought sugar cookies and different-colored frosting, so she and the girls and Richard had a fun time creating Thanksgiving cookie masterpieces. Sidney said, "I love you, Grandpa" when Lindy told her to, and that's really what she said. She is quite proud of herself when she does big people things. She was rocking in Grandma FT's little rocker and kept clapping for herself because she was so big. Before they left, Riley asked if Grandma could play just one song on the piano that they could dance to. So Grandma played "Praise to the Man" for them to dance to.

Steven and I got to speak in sacrament meeting at the MTC today. The subject was "Gratitude." The branch nearly doubled in size with all the new missionaries that came in last Wednesday. Some of them still seemed a little shell-shocked today. In my talk today I told the missionaries a little story on Steven. Last Tuesday night, the night before all the new missionaries came in, I went to bed after Steven was already asleep. I tried not to wake him, but he kind of woke up anyway, and asked, "Are the new missionaries doing all right?" I said, "Yes, they're fine." He said, "That's good," and went back to sleep. He later said he had been having dreams about all the new missionaries coming in. In Steven's talk he reminded the missionaries that we need to be thankful in all things and let the Lord know we're thankful for His hand in our lives and the opportunities we have to be doing what we are; namely, for the missionaries, to be serving a mission at this time and in this place.

He was a little late coming home this evening because he went to the hospital to see one of the new elders, Elder Mott, who had surgery this morning after shattering his ankle yesterday playing soccer during gym time. It was only his second gym time at the MTC. Things went well during the surgery and he should be recovered well enough in nine weeks to go to Uruguay on schedule.

Well, time to finish packing and go to bed. We hope to have a fun trip tomorrow. Adios for now.