Post Reunion

After the reunion, some of us drove up to Provo to spend a day at John and Allison's. Our family did that and we also drove up to Riverton for a brief drive around of our old neighborhood. We spent a few hours on BYU campus too. After that, we drove home on Saturday and Sunday. We stopped in Moriarty, New Mexico Saturday night. It's such a long drive from Texas to Utah. Someday, it would be nice to fly.

 

Fun in Utah, Part III

We drove down to Mt. Pleasant while we were in Utah.  We stopped in at the Fairview Cemetery to see my grandparents' graves and then we stopped at the old homestead to see the house.  We also stopped in on Clell and Debi unannounced (I don't have any contact info for them) and they let us visit with them.  Their older daughters, Sarah and Gabby, were both there with their husbands and babies, so that was fun to meet them all.  And Clell gave Westley his old bugle, which Westley was thrilled with.

We celebrated Independence Day in Utah with our Fowles cousins.  John and Peter got a game of Axis & Allies going that Caleb and Travis joined.  Danny played too and Westley played a little as well, although he worked on the 4th.  We had cheesy potato soup instead of a traditional BBQ because Westley requested it since he'd been gone for two months and missed having it.  We watched fireworks from John and Allison's neighborhood up on the hillside looking over the valley.  I thought I had gotten some pictures of it, but apparently I didn't because they were not there.  It was a pretty nice holiday.

Fun in Utah, Part I

When we got to John and Allison's house in Provo, we were greeted by this enormous Great Dane named Watson.  Now I knew John and Allison were taking care of a dog, but I didn't know they had decided to adopt that dog.  This dog was such a good dog, so gentle and obedient.  And he was huge!

We went up to the Salt Lake Cemetery to visit Uncle Jordan's grave and also the graves of my grandparents and Uncle Tom.  And it was COLD in Utah the first couple of days we were there!  At least compared to Texas and Arizona.  Apparently a few days before we arrived, it was snowing on Timp!

While we were in the Salt Lake area, we stopped at Village Baker to pick up lunch and then went to the park near our old house in Riverton to eat the lunch.  It was fun to take a picture of the kids all older at the park they used to play at when they were younger.  We also stopped by to see our friends, the Howells.  With all the covid19 stuff going on, we were pleased that they weren't quarantining or afraid to let us visit with them for a little bit.  It was nice to see them and spend some time up in our old neighborhood. 

Fun in Arizona, Part II

While in Arizona, we drove out to our old house in Queen Creek (now San Tan Valley).  The tree out front was put in when our house was built and one very bad wind storm blew it over so Corey had pulled it up as best as he could and staked it back down and it ended up growing at a fairly sharp angle.  However, it has held up since then, now 14 years, and looks to be a pretty sturdy tree now.  It was fun to drive out to the neighborhood we lived in and see how much has grown up in between.  It used to feel very far from Mesa because there wasn't anything in between, but now it's all filled in with neighborhoods and shopping and offices and such.

We enjoyed some popsicles after playing hopscotch.  It was about 105 to 108 degrees the whole time we were there, but we tried to get outside anyway.  I even went for walks most mornings.  It wasn't hard to get up early because the sun comes up so early there.  The dry heat doesn't bother me as much as the humid heat we have in Texas, so it didn't feel terribly uncomfortable to me.

I was able to get together with my former college roommate, Lindsey Bowen.  She shared the unfortunate news with me that she and her husband were getting a divorce.  That made me really sad for her and her kids.  Life can really just be so hard and unfair.

And of course, we enjoyed a lot more swimming.  We weren't able to convince Nathan to go off the diving board.  Maybe next summer he will.

Fun in Arizona, Part I

Of course while we were in Arizona, we went swimming every day.  We stayed from June 15th through June 25th.  Grandpa and Grandma got out their croquet set and I set it up for the kids and taught them to play croquet.  We played it a lot and now the kids want to get a croquet set!

Summer Trip, More Utah

We also got together with as many of the Fellows extended family as possible. Aunt Amy and Matt and Sarah hosted at their HOA pool. Andy and Lori Farnsworth, Ed and Jenna Farnsworth, Mark and Beth Reeves, Matt and Sarah Carpenter, and Amy and Larry were there, plus us and John and Allison.

Kimono Pictures

In Japan, when the girls are three and seven years old, and when the boys are three and five years old, they get kimono pictures done. Sammie, Sakura and Lily are all seven in the coming year, so they wanted to get the pictures done. Elliott is five and Danny is three so they also had them done. Because they were doing the pictures, Kaori also invited Paige and I to have Autumn and Annmarie do it, even though they aren't quite the right age. It was fun to watch them get all dolled up and they sure turned heads walking around the Dallas temple grounds in their kimonos.

Thanksgiving and Big Brothers

I caught the picture of Westley reading to Annmarie and Nathan today while I was making dozens of rolls for Thanksgiving.  I made twelve dozen rolls.  Whenever I make rolls for just my family, I make 4 dozen and usually have about a dozen left.  Since Thanksgiving is everyone except for Jordan's kids, I figured I would need to triple it.  And having leftover rolls is always good. 

Summer Trip, Part One, The Long Drive

We left early on Saturday morning and drove up through the central states, stopping in Lexington, Nebraska for our first night's stay.  One of our stops was at the last Braum's that we thought we'd encounter for some ice cream.  I made sure to choose hotels with pools so we could swim as much as possible.  Unfortunately, I left Annmarie and Nathan's life jackets at the first hotel we stayed at.  They did mail them back to us, but it took forever and we didn't get them until after getting home.  We went to church the next morning in Alliance, NE, a small town that was the right distance from where we were with a ward/branch meeting at the time I needed.  They had the cutest little chapel that was just big enough for their small branch.  Westley and Caleb helped pass the Sacrament.