Love, sweet love

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that when I went to BYU 31 years ago this fall I knew not ONE PERSON in the entire state of Utah.  Not one.  Which is why I’m always amazed that 31 years later I know what sometimes feels like millions of people in Utah.  I married into a Utah family, some of my siblings stayed in Utah after college, many of our NC friends moved to Utah after finishing at Duke, etc.  Whatever the reasons, we know now more people in Utah than we could ever visit in just a few days.  We did, however, give it the college try.  We also got to see some friends in Idaho while taking Josh to school.  I wish I had more pictures than I do, but after the first few “darn I forgot to get a picture” moments I did better.

1.  On Saturday afternoon I took Jared over to his friend Bryson’s house.  Bryson’s family lived in NC and moved to the San Francisco area right when we moved here.  They just relocated to Salt Lake this summer and Jared was so happy to be able to spend a little time with Bryson.  I enjoyed catching up with his mom Christine.  In the 2nd picture Bryson had changed his clothes so that he was ready to go to a wedding reception—he really didn’t hang out dressed like that!

Bryson’s family found a house with something very unusual for Utah…a magnificant view.  (Golf course plus distant mountains.)

And I felt right at home in their neighborhood.

2.  While Bryson & Jared were hanging out I went and had lunch with Russ’s sister Marilyn.  It is always such fun to get to talk with her and never ever long enough.

3.  On Saturday night we had a NC bbq in Orem with families who’d been in NC in 5 years before we moved.  It was great to get to see so many people there.

4.  On Sunday night we had a family party—pictures in another post.

5.  The kids went home with my sister Andra from the family party to spend the night at her house, then went with some of her kids to the trampoline place on Monday.

6.  After the trampoline place on Monday we picked up Jared’s friend Eli and took them to a skate park in Orem.

7.  On Tuesday Eli’s mom, took him out of school early and we drove up to Salt Lake where they spent a couple of hours at an indoor skate park.  It was an amazing place.

8.  While Eli and Jared were scootering Audrey & I went and had lunch with our friend Amy.

9.  Tuesday night the kids & I met up with Russ’s brother Larry, his wife Gaye, and their daughter Sarah at Sub Zero in Provo.  After getting ice cream we went over their house and had a great time talking while the kids played ping pong.

10.  We arrived in Idaho Falls Wednesday evening & had dinner with my dear friend Susan & her family.  Susan and I had a great time staying up talking until we were bleary.

11.  On Thursday after doing some shopping in Rexburg we went and had dinner with Peter & Brenda, our fabulous babysitters from many years ago.  It was such fun talking with them and getting to see all of the kids they’ve had since leaving NC.  (5 more!)

12.  Friday morning we went back to Rexburg to get Josh checked into his apartment.  While he was doing his grocery shopping I seized the moment to chat for a while with my friend Brona who works at the Rexburg Walmart now.

13.  We stayed Friday night with our friends the Galbraiths who left NC the year before we did.  The kids as always had a great time hanging out and I enjoyed catching up with Shaleign & Joel.  I bullied Shaleign into having a picture with me even though she wasn’t all fixed up.

We tried going to see the Northern Lights but didn’t see anything, darn it.  I did enjoy the bright stars which are a novelty after the long cloudy Oregon winter.  Here is Joel’s cool night picture.

And a surprise picture I found on my camera.

 

That’s a lot of loved ones to see in that short of a time, don’t you think?!?