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!

Funeral for a Friend

Today Steven and I went to Doug Cox's funeral. He died last Thursday after 18 months with lung cancer. Doug was asst. director of the Bean Museum for 28 years, so he and Steven have worked together for a long time in the College. We always enjoyed Doug and his wife, Ann, every year at the Bean Museum Christmas party. Doug and Ken Packer always made sure that there was plenty of good food and fun at the party. Just last year at the party Doug and Ann seemed pretty optimistic about his chances of beating the cancer, but I guess it was not meant to be. The funeral today was a very nice tribute to him and his life. Every year at the party Ann always tells us the latest happenings with their six children, so we have always felt like we know them, even though we didn't meet them until today. Their youngest son, Trevor, is on a mission in Guatemala.

After the funeral, Steven and I had lunch here at home with Richard, and then Steven went in to work. So I just did the usual things for Monday: some laundry, Curves, and a nice walk at the track. The weather was beautiful again today after being rainy and "blustery" (as Lindy described it) yesterday.

Richard gave the FHE lesson tonight on "Gratitude" in preparation for Thanksgiving which is coming up next week. We're really looking forward to our trip to South Carolina next Monday to see Sarah, Joel and Eliza, as well as Tiffany, who will be flying there on Saturday.

Fresh Air!

It rained last night and this morning, getting rid of all that yucky stuff in the air. Then the storm clouds cleared up and it's been another beautiful fall day. We've gotten some good chores done around here today; that's what Saturdays are for, I guess. Steven got some really good things done outside and in the garage. I did something fun after I dropped Rich off over in AF. First, I went grocery shopping at Macey's, then I ran over to the Blue Goose Boutique in Lehi for a minute. It's kind of hard to get into all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, but I just wanted to see what was happening. Our friend from the MTC, Jana Rampton, used to own the Blue Goose Boutique when it was Jana's Blue Goose. Now it's Teri's Blue Goose. I liked it better when Jana had it. After the boutique I had to fight all that northern traffic to get home again. It's crazy over there in Pleasant Grove, American Fork and Lehi. That intersection there in Pleasant Grove on the way to the Temple has got to be the worst. They keep trying to improve it, but it only gets worse. They were doing more work on it today, so the traffic was really bad; but maybe it will get better eventually. Richard and I have just about given up going that way. Then the craziest thing happened on the way home this evening. I was turning right onto State Street in PG, and as I did, this speeding car came out of nowhere and went right between our car and the car in the lane next to us. We were glad nothing bad happened. That was crazy.

You Can't Eat Too Much Thai Food

Well, like Lindy says: "You can't eat too much Thai food." So this evening, Steven and I went with Russ and Lorene Nielson to the Thai Chili Gardens restaurant here in Orem and had a delicious dinner. Russ and Lorene invited us, and we were happy to oblige. Lorene served her mission in Thailand, making her a Thai food lover, too. Steven and Russ were happy to let us girls make the menu decisions, and Lorene seemed to like all the same things we do, so we ended up with our usual favorites: fresh spring rolls, mussaman curry, pad Thai noodles, plus stir fried veggies & pork. We would have had mango rice for dessert, but they didn't have it. The waiter said mangoes are out of season right now. (Good thing they weren't out of season at Thai Village yesterday. I did think the mangoes could have been riper, but they were still good.) At the end of dinner, Russ and Lorene gave us the good news that they are expecting a baby girl in March. Russ is Steven's assistant in the College, who was hired a few years ago. After working with Russ for awhile, Steven thought it might be nice to line him up with a cute single girl we knew from our BYU student ward days, Lorene Flake. So Russ took her out; and long story short, they ended up eventually getting married. It's our one and only matchmaking success story.

I went over to the Barrett's for awhile this morning to stay with Riley and Sidney while Lindy went to Camden's class to help out. Sidney was asleep, so Riley kept me entertained by showing me all the cute pictures that she and Camden have drawn and by bringing me lots of good food down in the playroom.

Tiffany called this afternoon from a cafe in Mattoon, Illinois, where she and her roommate, Alyson, were having lunch. She said that Elder David Loveless, a missionary from our ward here in Orem, was also having lunch there with a group of elders. Just last Sunday I told his dad that Tiffany was living in David's mission (Illinois Peoria), so he thought that was interesting. He said David was serving in Effingham, which I told him is about 30 (actually 39) miles from Charleston. We didn't know that in less than a week they would be running into each other in Mattoon! David didn't know Tiffany was back there, so he was surprised to see her. We keep finding out that it's a pretty small world.

I can't let the day go by without mentioning: It was another beautiful fall day. The only drawback was the inversion which made the air kind of yucky. The orchard owners down the street had a big fire going that caused lots of smoke which the inversion trapped down low, so the evening walk at the track was pretty smokey. Other than that, the weather's still beautiful.

Lunch with the Girls

Today I had lunch at Thai Village in American Fork with Lindy, Camden, Riley and Sidney. We had a lot of fun and the food was delicious. When we got out of the car at the restaurant we could smell that yummy Thai food, and it turned out to be as good as it smelled! We had the usual--fresh spring rolls, Pad Thai noodles and Mussaman curry and rice. Camden loves the spring rolls and rice and Riley loves the noodles. Sidney loved sitting up at the table like a big kid. For dessert we had--you guessed it--mango rice. Camden thought she was in heaven it was so good. So we had a fun outing today.

Yesterday I had lunch in SLC at Tuscany with the "other" girls--Karalie, Wendy, Relva and I got together for a "sisters" lunch. The food was good--I had a beef and polenta dish which was very tasty--but the service was pretty bad. They need to do something about that, because it's a nice place with good food. Someone who wasn't even our waiter brought Wendy's, Relva's and my dishes, but Karalie just sat there and sat there. Finally, she told someone to get our waiter and then he came along with her order. He had totally forgotten about her. But it was fun anyway. We had a good time visiting.

The weather has still been beautiful these last two days. Today Steven took the day off from work and went on a four-wheeler ride up Hobble Creek canyon and beyond. He got back just after dark. He said it was one of his best adventures ever and he saw some beautiful fall scenery. So he thinks he can be ready for winter now after such a nice outing.

On Tuesday night Steven and I had dinner at the MTC in the cafeteria with the Romneys again. Rick's food choices weren't quite so funny this time. We had a nice visit with them, and then we got to hear from Bishop and Sister Richard C. Edgley at the devotional. Sis. Edgley talked about "Faith vs. Fear" and how "courage is to act in the face of fear." I think the missionaries liked that message. Bishop Edgley said that he is the original nerd from Preson, Idaho, and that Bro. Brenchly (the music director at the MTC) is the second nerd from Preston, long before Napoleon Dynamite came along. Then he told about a missionary who wasn't being let in by a lady until he mentioned that he had come all the way from Preson, Idaho; then the lady was very excited to let him in because she wanted to find out about Napoleon Dynamite. Bishop Edgley then talked about the principles of missionary work: (1)Remember who you are and who you represent, (2) Carry the message, (3) Keep the message simple, (4) Remember the worth of one soul is great, (5) It's the Spirit that testifies, (6) Be worthy, and (7) Work hard. So that was good advice. In district meeting afterward, the missionaries all seemed to find something in the messages that they felt was meant for them. It was a nice evening at the MTC.

P.S. Referendum One ended up losing almost two to one. I guess a lot of people fell for the negative ads.

A Most Spectacular Day!

I have to comment about the weather again. It is a most spectacular fall day today! It's nice and sunny, the air is cool and crisp, the leaves are still pretty. I can't believe the days we've been having. I wonder how long this gorgeous weather will last. I enjoyed my walk over at the track--the weather was perfect for a nice fall walk. Maybe it is trying to make up for the days now being shorter.

Today is election day. Steven voted on his way to work and Richard and I just got back from voting a little while ago. We hope that all the scare tactics of the opposition against school vouchers didn't derail Referendum One. Yesterday morning when I heard Bill Clinton on his trip to Utah on Sunday telling the people to vote against vouchers because a vote for vouchers would be a vote to take money away from the poor and give it to the rich, that clinched it for me. I thought if I were a fence sitter wondering how to vote, that would make my mind up fast. I hope that more people, like me, would think, "If Bill Clinton's against it, then I'm for it!" We'll just have to wait and see what happens. To think our own governor is for it and Bill Clinton's against it, and it very well may go the way of Bill Clinton.

I'm finishing up a little laundry then will head over to AF with Richard. Then it's off to the MTC to meet Steven for dinner and the devotional. I wonder who will be speaking.

Another Nice Fall Day

I'm going to keep track of these nice fall days so that when it turns cold we'll remember that we did have some nice days before winter set in. It was cool enough for a jacket over at the track, but a nice day for walking. I wonder how long it will last. I'm waiting for Dad to come home. He was stopping by the MTC on his way home, but he thought he'd be here by 5:30. (It's 5:35 right now.) As soon as he gets home we're going to go to Berg Mortuary in Provo for Uncle George's viewing. Grandma called me on Tuesday, I think it was, and told me he had passed away. He's been sick for awhile I guess. So his viewing is tonight and the funeral is tomorrow at 11:00. Dad and I thought we'd go by the mortuary and visit with Aunt Lyle and the cousins and then go over to Springville. I've been wanting to try that baked apple chicken dish that they have at Cracker Barrel for fall. I hope they still have it. So we'll go to Cracker Barrel and then over to the T's for a visit before heading to AF. In addition to Uncle George's funeral tomorrow is a bridal shower at Aunt Tamera's for Cousin Michael's fiance, Sarah, at 2:30. I think I'll plan to go to that. I just remembered, I haven't told Lindy anything about it, so I must give her a call. Well, I just heard Dad pull in, so I guess we'll head out. I hope everyone's having a good day!

It's November!

Today the Halloween decorations are coming down and the Thanksgiving decorations are going up. We MUST enjoy these nice days of fall before Thanksgiving without giving into all the festivities leading up to Christmas. (Starting December 1 is fine with me.) The fall wreath is on the door and little pilgrims placed strategically around. Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. Dad, Rich and I are surely looking forward to our trip to South Carolina on the 19th and our visit with Joel, Sarah and Eliza, as well as with Tiffany who will be flying there from Illinois on the 17th. We'll miss all the Barretts, but we're sure they'll have a nice time with Grandpa and Grandma Barrett for Thanksgiving dinner.

It has been another lovely fall day in Orem. I got my hair done today and went to Curves and walking at the track inbetween spurts of Thanksgiving decorating and laundry. It's nice when Steven can be home in the evening as he is tonight. (That's when he gets his ironing done!)

Another Beautiful Fall Day!

It was another beautiful fall day here in Orem. You couldn't ask for nicer weather. Today was my hairdo day and a day for laundry. I also went to Curves again because I won't be able to go tomorrow. (I usually go every other day.) I also had time for a nice walk at the track this afternoon. While there I saw Cheree Marcov and her two cute little boys. She said to say "hi to the girls" (she saw Richard while there at the track). On my way back from AF I stopped by Lindy's and played with the little girls while Lindy finished a big sanding project on the Barbie house which she has been trying to get to forever. The girls and I had fun in the playroom--Camden and Riley fixed lots of good food for Sidney and me. Sidney quite enjoyed all the things they gave her to "eat." Then tonight Bro. Sanders came for a home teaching visit and talked to us about conference. Now we're on our way over to AF to get Rich and to make a stop by Macey's. Tomorrow I'm heading down to St. George with Karalie so we can attend Auntie Reah's 90th birthday party on Saturday. Steven and Richard will hold the fort down here, and then I'll be back Sunday in time for dinner, which Lindy was nice enough to say she would fix. Steven's hoping that the Rockies will do better tonight than last night when they lost to the Red Sox 13-1! Adios for now.

A Most Beautiful Day for a Walk

I think Sidney and I had the best walk ever this morning. It was such a gorgeous day! While Lindy was doing pre-school, I got Sidney bundled up in her warm gear and we took off for a walk. It actually wasn't cold, just kind of cool with a slight breeze. The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue without a cloud in sight. Then with the fall leaves and the cool, crisp air it was a perfect fall day for a walk. Sidney was enjoying it and just relaxing in her stroller. Then she went to sleep, she was so cozy. We ended up walking for an hour and a half! It was so fun!She woke up when Camden arrived home on the school bus. Riley had a good day at pre-school. Lindy said she was the best student in the class. So what a fun fall day! I just got back from Curves and now it's time to run to AF then to Macey's for a minute. I'm looking forward to a nice evening here with Steven home. He's glad that the World Series starts tonight and he can be here to watch it. He's rooting for Colorado.