Here we go with another 3 week update! I *think* the rest of the summer is going to be calmer although it will be over soon...school starts in less than 2 weeks. I really don't want to think about that, though.
When I left off last time (Friday July 21st), I was waiting for Seth to arrive home from YM camp. He arrived safely and as I anticipated, he had a lot of dirty laundry. I was actually gone to get my hair cut when he got home so I didn't see him until after he showered...I'm sure he was really dirty too, but I'm not sorry I missed that! We asked Seth questions about YM camp and unfortunately he was pretty negative about it. He liked some things, but mostly he thought it was too hard...especially all the bike riding. We finally stopped asking questions because he got really mad when he talked about it. Hopefully some day he will see the value in doing hard things, but he's not there yet. He did enjoy spending time with the other boys and he had fun at the beach too. He was quite sunburned, although we've definitely seen worse. He wasn't very happy that he had to spend his first evening at home packing, but we were leaving the next morning so he didn't have much choice.
I was super busy that whole day and ended up staying up late to finish packing, but I did get everything done. Our flight left around 10:00 am on Saturday July 22nd, which meant we had to leave home by 7:00 to get to the airport by 8:00. There was a really bad accident on the freeway shortly before we got to the airport which slowed us down but thankfully we still made it to the airport in plenty of time. (And we are always grateful when we encounter a wreck that we weren't in it ourselves.) The trip itself turned out to be somewhat eventful for me. First, shortly after we took off I pulled out my tablet to start reading the book for book chat. I tried to get a copy from the library but it didn't arrive in time so I purchased a digital copy to read on the trip. When I pulled my tablet out of my backpack and turned it on, I discovered it was broken. Not just the glass...the digital screen itself was destroyed. It looks like this:
I have no idea how it broke; it was fine when I put it in my bag and I don't think it got banged around at all. I probably won't replace it because I have an iPad now and we put the Nook app and the Kindle app on my iPad so now I can read all my digital books on my iPad.
The second thing that happened is that about an hour into the flight I reached into my bag to get something and discovered that it was wet. Apparently, my water bottle leaked. Thankfully, I discovered this before everything got soaked but a lot of things (including my laptop) were damp so we had to take everything out and spread my stuff all over our tray tables and keep my bag open for the rest of the flight so that everything could dry out.
We didn't discover the third thing until later that evening, after we got to Utah and had been there for several hours. I went to get something out of my suitcase and when I opened it I noticed that the zipper compartment was unzipped and my toiletry bag was also unzipped and things had spilled out of it. At first I though my bag had been searched, but there was no note from the TSA inside. Then I realized that even though I had put a lock on my suitcase before we left, I had not unlocked my suitcase when I opened it...the lock was gone. Then I checked one more small zippered pocket and it was also unzipped and the small bag of jewelry I had put in there was missing. I told Frank and we checked our other bags. Frank's lock was still on his bag but Seth's lock was also missing and his suitcase also had zippered compartments unzipped. Nothing was missing from his bag, though. Frank called the airline to report the missing items and on Wednesday (after we got home) I spent several hours gathering and sending all the documentation to the airline so that they can do an investigation. I'm sure I'll never get my jewelry back, but maybe they will pay the replacement costs; we'll have to see. Sounds like it's going to take a long time though. It's not very comforting to know that we can't trust TSA employees! (The locks were special TSA locks that can only be opened by a TSA employee.) I can't help thinking the joke is on the theif, though...that jewelry wasn't worth very much at all. I'm just sad that my favorite pair of earrings were in the bag. I got them over a decade ago, so I'll never find another pair just like them.
With that eventful start, I was a bit worried about how this trip was going to go but we didn't have any other problems. We arrived in Utah just after noon and we spent the rest of that day just relaxing and visiting with Scott, Mom, and Scott's friend Lexy. Tanner had to work until late but he needed a few things (milk & laundry detergent) so we took those things to him and visited with him at his work for a little while.
Sunday July 23rd we went to church with Mom. Her church is in the afternoon so we rested in the morning. Tim & Rachelle invited us all over for dinner that evening. We had yummy pork loin that Tim smoked along with potato salad, baked beans, green salad, and dessert. Taran's family came too so there was a houseful and we had fun visiting until late.
Monday July 24th--it was Pioneer Day, which is celebrated in a big way in Utah but we skipped the parades and such. We did hear a lot of fireworks that evening (and saw a few of them). I the morning I planned meals with Mom since I was doing the cooking while we were at her house. I went to my friend Paula's house for lunch and stayed to visit for a couple of hours; it was nice to get caught up with her. She fed me a BLT with fresh tomatoes from her garden which was very good! Frank came to pick me up and then we went grocery shopping to get food for the meals we planned.
Tuesday July 25th--Frank and I had an appointment to do an endowment session at the Provo Temple that morning but since neither of us slept well the night before, we moved our appointment to the afternoon. I had made the appointment for that temple because it's going to be completely renovated soon and I wanted to go there one more time before it changes. The Provo Temple is the first dedicated temple I went to...I did baptisms there a few times as a youth and it's also where I received my own endowment, so it's special to me. I went there many, many times during my college years! I hadn't been there since we moved away from Utah in 1997 so I felt a little lost but so much of it was familiar to me, like the frieze on the wall in the waiting area behind the recommend desk and the chapel and the circular hallways around the ordinance rooms in the center of the building and the altars that light up inside and the celestial room. Some things have changed...the escalators have been replaced by stairways, for example. But a lot of it was very much the way I remembered it and it was sweet to be in that temple again.
(Back in the day, the steeple was gold and there was not an angel Moroni statue on top.)
On our way to the temple we stopped to get a CPAP part for Frank because one piece broke right after we got to Utah. They gave us an unused donated part for free, so that was nice. After we got back from the temple, Shellie came over to visit for the evening and she and I met with Liz (Facetime) for quite a while to discuss / plan meals for the reunion.
Wednesday, July 26th--We visited Golden Spike National Historical Site, which is a couple of hours from Lehi. Tanner was able to come with us. He had to work in the morning so we left around 11:00. I've always wanted to visit this place and it was pretty interesting although the actual golden spike is at a museum in California...that was kind of disappointing!! There are some highly accurate working replicas of the 2 locomotives that met at Promontory Utah on May 10, 1869, though, and they did a little show where the two engines came together, so that was pretty cool. It's a rather desolate place in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful in its own way too. I especially enjoy the lack of humidity when we're in Utah...even though we were outside for quite a while, I didn't get uncomfortably hot.
We thought about going to see the Spiral Jetty and the Thiokol Rocket Garden while we were out that way, but in the end we decided that we didn't have time. Tanner needed to be home by a certain time, so we headed home, stopping to get some dinner on our way.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of our drives in various parts of Utah on this trip. Utah is so different from Maryland. It is not very green, like Maryland is, but the lack of trees means there are lots of wide open spaces with views for miles. It really is very beautiful!
There was a storm in the distance on one part of our trip home and the rays of light and mist of rain looked so cool from a distance...the pictures don't come close to capturing how amazing it was!:
There are also temples all over the place in Utah and I tried to get photos of as many of the ones we passed as I could. Here is the Brigham City Temple:
And here is the Bountiful Temple:
On our way to Mom's from the airport we saw the Taylorsville Temple (still under construction):
And on the way to visit Tanner at work we saw the Orem Temple (also still under construction):
(It's hard to get good photos from the car as you're driving past!)
The Salt Lake Temple is hard to see right now because it's covered in scaffolding so I didn't get a photo of it. We also saw the Draper, Oquirrh Mountain, and Jordan River Temples as we were driving through the Salt Lake Valley more than once but it's really hard to get photos of them from the freeway.
After we got home, Frank and I took some food to Scott because he had to go straight from training (he's going to be a temple worker at the Saratoga Springs Temple when it opens) to his church building because his bishop had interviews that evening and Scott is the executive secretary so he needs to be there for those. We hung out there for a while so we could meet his bishop...Scott speaks very highly of him and he's been a big help to Scott so we wanted to meet him. On the way home, we went to Macy's to get some ice cream cones. They have soft serve ice cream cones at Macy's that are so inexpensive, so we always have to go there a couple of times while we are visiting Utah. That evening I talked to Amy on the phone for quite a while...I needed to get her input about food for the reunion.
Thursday July 27th--we spent this day getting errands and other necessary things done. We did laundry and I did a lot of things to prepare for the reunion food. We did some shopping at Costco for some of the reunion food, made a list of the cooking equipment we would need, and talked to Liz some more to continue the planning. We also did some more grocery shopping for us. A friend who used to live in our ward in Maryland and who now lives in Utah brought over a computer for Frank to work on too. So it was mostly work and no play on this day.
Friday July 28th--We made two batches of pulled pork for the family reunion (in crock pots). Frank and I drove to Provo, picked up Tanner at his work while he was on his lunch break, and took him to lunch. We wanted to go to a Greek place, but discovered that it wasn't open so we went to the BYU Creamery on 9th instead. We enjoyed visiting with Tanner a bit and we got some mint brownies and a mini "cougar tail" while we were there too. We did some shopping on the way home. Curtis and his family arrived while we were out doing our errands. That afternoon, Seth, Andrew, and Jonathan went swimming with Scott and Lexy and Lexy's condo. The rest of us enjoyed visiting with Curtis & Julia. Curtis made dinner for all of us...pork chops with peppers, onions, and mushrooms. It was good! Daniel and his new wife Kari came for dinner also and Daniel had some really interesting stories to tell about his recent work in Alaska. That evening we played a mystery brain challenge game with Scott & Lexy while we waited for the pork to cool down enough to put in bags and freeze.
Saturday July 29th--We made a third batch of pulled pork and enjoyed more visiting with Curtis & Julia and family. I also went shopping for clothes. I wanted to get more Sunday clothes so I will have more things for Seminary and I knew I'd have a lot more good options in Utah so I told Frank that's what I wanted for my birthday this year...to go clothes shopping in Utah. I started out at Kohl's and found nothing there but I noticed a Burlington Coat Factory right next door and decided to check it out. I found a couple of skirts there. Then I went to Down East and they had tons of good options. (Why can't there be a Down East in Maryland??) I've learned from experience that I need to try on everything that I even remotely think will look good...a lot of times, things that look good on the rack don't look good on me and things that I'm not sure I like end up looking really good on me when I try them on. So I spent probably 3 hours there trying things on! It took forever because I had a lot of skirts and a lot of tops to try on and I wanted to try a lot of the tops with several of the skirts and vice versa. A lot of things just didn't look good on me and none of the tops looked good with the skirts they had there, but I did find a couple of tops that I knew would work well with the 2 skirts I got at Burlington (and they looked good with my jean shorts too) so I got those, plus a couple of dresses. That evening after dinner we took Seth, Scott and Lexy to get Macy's ice cream cones.
Sunday, July 30th--Scott was giving a talk so we went to his ward with him. Tanner met us there too. Scott did a great job on his talk and I was actually really impressed with his ward. We stayed for the 2nd hour and there were so many great comments and insights shared during the 5th Sunday lesson. One of Scott's friends commented to me "You look JUST like Scott!" I'm not sure that is much of a complement. (You look so masculine! 😆) After church Daniel & Kari came to dinner. Shellie came over also and we enjoyed visiting with all of them.
Monday, July 31st--We got a notice late in the day on Sunday that said that work was going to be done on the water and sewer system on Mom's street the following day. The notice asked us to "refrain from using the toilets, running water, or doing anything that would send water into the sewer / water system between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm. Crazy!! So nice of them to give us so much notice and time to prepare! We decided that it would be okay to use a little water, we just tried not to use it as much as possible. I took a shower by getting wet, turning off the water, soaping up, and then turning the water back on to rinse off. Lots of fun! Frank and Scott went to see the movie Mission Impossible. I agreed to go pick up Jared & Jessie at the airport so that Scott could go to the movie (originally he was going to pick them up). Mom came with me to the airport which was helpful since she knows the way better than I do and she was also able to keep in touch with Jared via phone to coordinate pick up, which allowed me to focus on driving. Scott smoked ribs for dinner for all of us--super yummy! Hans and Griffin arrived that evening and we enjoyed visiting with them. I spent quite a bit of time working on reunion food planning...I was making a spreadsheet with the grocery list. I was going a little crazy for a while but I finally got it figured out.
Tuesday, August 1st--We made muffins and eggs for everyone for breakfast. It was Jessie's birthday...she and Jared borrowed Mom's car so they could go to breakfast at a crepe place and then they did some shopping at BYU bookstore and DI. Frank, Seth and I went to BYU too. There was a lot of construction going on, including the beginnings of the new arts building that will replace the HFAC. Currently, it is just a big hole:
Most of the quad is torn up right now while they are doing constuction. We got some food at the Cougar Eat and then did some shopping at the BYU Bookstore, where we ran into Jared & Jessie. I got a BYU sweatshirt and a BYU t-shirt, Frank got a BYU t-shirt, and Seth got a BYU hat and some nice flip flops.
After we left BYU, we went for a drive up Provo Canyon and on a whim we decided to drive up to Squaw Peak. The views from up there were incredible, but both Seth and I nearly had heart attacks on the drive up there since we were on the side of the car that was next to steep drop offs most of the way up! I know it's ridiculous, but I have always been scared of heights and I think I get worse the older I get. I'm really glad we did it anyway though because as I said...it was beautiful!!
If you look really closely, you may be able to see the Provo Temple in this photo. It's a white speck next to the green mountain on the left of the photo:
And in this photo I zoomed in to get a picture of the Orem Temple (kind of hard to see):
The Saratoga Springs, Provo City Center, and Mt. Timpanogus Temples were also out in that valley somewhere but we couldn't spot them for some reason.
After we got down from Squaw Peak, we drove a little further up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. We could tell that there had been an avalanche there sometime during the winter.
Avalanche damage and debris:
That afternoon Jared, Jessie & Scott went shooting while Frank and I did laundry and did some shopping for snacks and water. When they got back, Jessie opened her birthday gift from us:
Then we took our family to dinner to celebrate Jessie's birthday. Jessie chose a place called The Kokonut Grill...it was a Hawaiian BBQ place and it was pretty good.
On the way back to Mom's house after dinner, we saw another storm in the distance:
That evening we played some Jack Box games and stayed up late, waiting for Amy and Maddie to arrive. Their flight was delayed several hours so they didn't even leave Texas until after they should have landed in SLC, but they did finally arrive safely.
Wednesday, August 2nd--this was the first official day of the Pew Family Reunion. In the morning we did some final food shopping for the reunion. Thanks to the fact that Liz, Shellie, and Rachelle had all purchased some of the food (and we had purchased some previously as well), there wasn't a lot of shopping left to do...mostly we needed to get fresh produce and some dairy products. Once we got back from the store, we packed all the food into coolers and then filled our car up with the coolers as well as the suitcase we'd packed with our clothes and other items that we would need for the next 3 days. It was a tight fit but we got everything in and headed south for the reunion site around noon, stopping in Provo along the way to get some lunch. Our reunion was held at a place called Wind Walker Homestead. It was near Ephraim, Utah...about an hour and a half drive from Lehi. As we got near our destination, we could see that a storm was blowing in. You could literally see the clouds rolling in and the wind lifting up clouds of dust:
Curtis & Julia and family had already arrived the night before. They met us at the dining hall and helped us unload our food right before the rain started. Erick & Liz arrived shortly after us with more food which we helped unload in the rain. Everyone else arrived over the next few hours. Everyone got settled in their "Ranchettes" (they were all like mini apartments).
Warm welcome at the dining hall:
The dining hall:
Our ranchette. It was divided into 4 apartments...two downstairs and two upstairs. Emily & Sam were above us.
The dining hall was very large, with a pretty big kitchen, plenty of room for tables, a seating area by a fireplace, and a ping pong table and pool table. The ping pong table and pool table were very popular!
Frank and I were on the dinner crew that evening along with Daniel & Kari. Amy helped also because Jeremy was supposed to be on the dinner crew but he had a conflict and couldn't arrive until later.
The kitchen had a large island, two ovens, a large refrigerator & freezer, and plenty of pots, pans, platters, utensils, serving bowls, etc. Our main complaint about the kitchen was that there were so many flies! They were buzzing everywhere and it was a challenge to keep them off of the food. Also, the ovens didn't work very well. Sometimes they got hot and sometimes they didn't.
Scott, Tanner, Jared & Jessie arrived shortly after dinner began. They were delayed because Jessie had a hair appointment that day that took much, much longer than it should have.
After dinner, Rachelle had planned some games which were a lot of fun. We divided up into teams and completed different challenges and it got pretty competitive! I missed the first game or two because we were still cleaning up dinner but I arrived in time for the cotton ball relay (everyone puts vaseline on their noses and tries to pass the cotton ball from nose to nose). We also did "elephant bowling", a bubble wrap popping challenge, and a water relay. My team was the champion of the water relay!
Seth's team during the water relay:
Tanner's team just finished a challenge:
Jessie's team finished the cotton ball relay first:
My team working on the cotton ball relay:
Scott doing elephant bowling:
Tanner doing elephant bowling:
Jared doing elephant bowling:
Seth enjoying the spectacle:
Seth's team during the water relay:
My team (and another team) during the water relay:
My team doing an awesome job during the water relay:
Jessie's team working on the water relay:
After the games, we all returned to the dining hall where we played a "get to know you" game and then we had a dance party. It was fun!
There was also more pool and ping pong playing:
Thursday, August 3rd--Our main activity on this day was a hike in nearby Maple Canyon. We also had free time in the afternoon for swimming, visiting, and we did a service project...putting together English kits for immigrants trying to learn English.
The hike was to Maple Arch. It was fairly challenging but not too bad. The hardest part was when we got close to the arch because it was steep and there were a lot of loose rocks on the trail. My fear of heights didn't help me much in this situation, but I did manage to make it to the arch and back with Jared's help. The canyon was very beautiful and I saw a squirrel and a couple of deer.
The drive to the canyon was beautiful too:
Under the arch:
Some swimming photos (the water was too cold for me):
Fun sign by the pool:
The ride back to the homestead was beautiful too and we had to stop in Moroni to get a couple of appropriate photos of Frank by a business:
More free time fun:
Jared & Jessie had to leave that evening because they had a flight back to Maryland...Jessie's family had a reunion in NC starting on Sunday and they needed a few days to regroup before leaving home again. Scott drove them to Provo to catch the train for the airport and Frank went with Scott to keep him company on the drive back. Jared & Jessie's flight was delayed and they missed their connecting flight, but they finally made it home safely.
On Friday we spent most of the day at a lake at Palisade State Park. We rented a kayak and others rented a paddle boat, some canoes, and some single person kayaks. We had a picnic lunch and played in the water all day. We passed the Manti Temple on the way over:
Seth was nervous going out in the kayak the first time and almost chickened out but then he decided he loved it and we couldn't keep him out of the boats after that!
Beautiful drive back to the homestead:
We all took showers and had dinner. That evening we had a program where we learned more about each of my four grandparents. Four of my siblings took turns talking about one of the grandparents, sharing photos as they talked. At the end, Erick had put together a quiz for the inlaws, grandkids and great-grandkids. My siblings and I were not allowed to take the quiz (I did it mentally and got all but one of the twenty questions right!) We sang a song that Izak wrote about the strength that comes from our ancestors...it was really moving and beautiful!!
We also took a family photo with everyone who was still there (Most of Curtis's family had to leave before then, as well as Jared & Jessie).
More visiting and family time (not all photos from that night; some were earlier):
We got to bed late and then we had a rough night because Scott woke us up in the small hours...he got sunburned at the lake and he was really suffering. We gave him some ibuprofen and Frank gave him a blessing. During the blessing, Frank had the idea come to him to get water bottles and soda cans out of the refrigerator and put them on the worst spots on Scott's legs and ankles, then put a towel over his legs to hold in the cold. That seemed to help and Scott was able to go back to sleep eventually. (His sunburn continued to cause him pain for several days but it's finally getting better now.) My feet got sunburned too but thankfully they didn't hurt a whole lot, even though they looked pretty bad:
Saturday, August 5th--That morning we cleaned things up, packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes to everyone and headed back to Lehi. Tanner drove Scott's car since Scott hurt to move and he was really tired too. We followed them to Tanner's apartment in Provo and then I moved to Scott's car and drove the rest of the way to Lehi. We passed two more temples on our way to Mom's house. The Payson Temple:
And the Provo City Center Temple:
We spent most of the rest of the day recuperating but that evening we took Scott, Lexy and Seth out to dinner to celebrate Scott's birthday (early). He chose a restaurant called Mi Ranchito. It was pretty good. Erick, Liz, and Erin came over that evening to visit...they were all heading back home the next day. Hans headed home early Sunday morning as well--I was the only one awake to see him off.
Sunday August 6th--We originally planned to go to church with Mom but then our plans changed. Scott had a meeting with a member of his stake presidency that morning and they called him to be the 1st counselor in his YSA ward Bishopric. He won't actually be sustained until Sunday the 20th, but since we were in town, he got permission for Frank to ordain him as a High Priest that day. They wanted to do the ordination right after his Sacrament Meeting, so we went to church with him again. (Tanner came too.) I'm sure a lot of people in his ward have figured out what's going to happen since they proposed that he be ordained a High Priest and had everyone give their consent during his Sacrament Meeting, but that's okay. We are really grateful that the timing of this calling worked out so that Frank could be there to do the ordination. Poor Scott had to wear flip flops with his suit to church that day because his feet were too sore and swollen to put on socks or shoes. After the ordination, we went to Mom's ward and went to Sunday School with her; Amy and Maddie were there as well.
After church, Tim & Rachelle's family joined all of us for dinner. We had a lot of leftover food from the reunion so we ate that, along with some fruit and cookies and banana cake that Rachelle brought. (The cake was for Scott for his birthday.) Uncle Lee & Aunt Dianne came over later to visit with us all; it was great to see them!! Amy had a flight back to Texas that evening so there were more goodbyes to be said.
Monday, August 7th--This was our last full day in Utah. We did laundry and I did some cleaning at Mom's house...Scott asked me to clean the downstairs bathroom sink (he was still hurting too much to do it himself). I also vacuumed all the upstairs rooms and the stairs and downstairs hallway. Frank, Scott, Tanner, and Lexy went to see the movie "Meg 2". Erika came over to give Mom a haircut and Gwen and Rachelle came over to get haircuts too; I enjoyed visiting with all of them for one last time. After everyone got back from the movie, I went shopping for clothes again. I had heard about a place called Sweet Salt that I wanted to check out. They also had a lot of good options and I tired on a lot of things there too although I didn't spend quite as much time as I did at Down East. I was happy to find a skirt and 3 blouses that I liked. I got a half slip and a full slip too...I've been looking for those for a long time and haven't been able to find them anywhere so I was happy about that too. My mom also gave me a dress that she purchased that didn't fit her so I am pretty well equipped with Sunday clothes for a while! Tanner took Seth to see the Barbie movie that evening...they both said it was hilarious. We said our goodbyes to Tanner and tried to get to bed at a decent hour but didn't really succeed. I said goodbye to my mom too since we were leaving very early in the morning. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but we're so happy we got to see everyone and spend some wonderful time together.
Tuesday, August 8th--Our flight left SLC at 5:45 am so we were up really early to get to the airport and turn in our rental car by 4:00 am. When we got on the plane, Seth managed somehow to get his finger caught in his seatbelt...it was so strange! I was worried that our flight was going to get delayed while they figured out how to get him free, but thankfully they figured out what to do without a lot of trouble. And even more thankfully...his finger wasn't hurt much and it is just fine now. It looked a little pinched right after we got him free, but now you can't even tell.
We had a stop and a plane change in Dallas, where we bought some sandwiches to eat for lunch on the plane later.
Everything went smoothly (no leaking water bottle, no broken electronics, no items stolen out of my suitcase) and we got home in mid afternoon. It is always good to come home! We got unpacked, had some dinner, and everyone went to bed early but me. (I was kind of wired and had some things I wanted to get done.)
The rest of this week has gone by fast as I've been trying to get caught up on things at home. On Wednesday August 9th I planned a few day's worth of meals and bought some groceries. In my planning, I ended up going through everything in my freezers and some of my pantry and cleaned a lot of stuff out. Frank worked from home that day. That evening he and Seth went to the YM activity...they baked muffins and shared them with the YW. I felt kind of sad staying home, but I had a lot to do.
Frank hurt his foot while we were in Utah (hit it on a wheel of his luggage in the the dark one night) and since we've been home it has been hurting a lot more. It was really bothering him in the night Wednesday night so he didn't sleep well at all. He asked to work from home again on Thursday so he could go to the doctor. The doctor sent him to get x-rays but we don't know the results yet. They were supposed to call him back today but they didn't. I spent Thursday, August 10th doing more meal planning, doing laundry, vacuuming, etc. I also spent hours going through all the receipts from our trip and getting all the finances caught up.
Today, Friday, August 11th, Frank went to work but he came home early and worked from home this afternoon. His foot is still hurting a lot. I got a few groceries this morning and I have spent the rest of the day writing this blog post. It has taken a long time since I had so many photos to add. I think I am finally caught up on everything, though. I am ready to get back into a regular routine and I have a lot of things to do to prepare for Seminary. Seth spent a few hours this afternoon with the boys in our former car pool family. He is going to be watching their cats for them next week while they are out of town. He starts Driver's Ed next week too so I'm sure we're going to keep busy.
We have been really sad the last few days to hear all the news about the wildfires on Maui and the complete destruction in Lahaina. When Frank lived on Maui, he lived just north of Lahaina (his mailing address was actually a Lahaina address). When we were in Hawaii last year, we rode bikes all over Lahaina and did some shopping there too. We walked all up and down Front Street and shopped and had lunch there also. They are saying on the news that Front Street burned to the ground and that there are no houses left in Lahaina. It is so sad that so many people lost their homes and businesses, not to mention the loss of life. The place that we stayed on Maui was far enough north of Lahaina that it is probably okay (although they probably don't have water or power). I am so grateful that we got to visit last year and that I got to see all the places that Frank lived, worked, shopped, and hung out before a lot of it was destroyed. But I feel so sorry that so many people are suffering such great losses right now. It's so tragic!
I guess that's not a very happy note to end this post on, but it is really late and I have nothing else to report.
