Friends and Relatives

     Last week after returning from Utah we were busy doing something just about every day. Monday evening we were invited by park friends, Bill and Carla Dodds, to attend a meeting with them at their Christian church for the second session of a 3-day series of meetings with music and sermons dedicated to the subject of "Heaven." The guest preacher was a visiting pastor who travels nationally. I had a difficult time with my stomach for most of the meeting and had to step out of the chapel but I still heard all. It is always interesting to learn what is taught by other Christian religions. Many of their beliefs correspond with ours but I am always grateful that we have been given a "fullness" of what has been revealed and restored by the Lord to us in these latter days.
     On Tuesday we visited Dad's Aunt Eula in Chandler. While there we picked oranges, tangerines and grapefruit and Dad helped Kevin with cleanup after he had trimmed part of an oleander hedge around the property. We are very grateful that they are willing to share this delicious fruit with us that might otherwise go to waste. I don't think Arizonians fully appreciate the abundance of citrus fruit available in this area. Perhaps they think the same of much of our colder climate fruits that also goes to waste in back yards back home. That evening we went to a karaoke jam in the park clubhouse. Not many people showed up and the equipment was not working properly so several musicians went to fetch their guitars and an auto harp and took turns singing impromptu songs, many of which were unfamiliar but fun, for our enjoyment for nearly two hours.

On Saturday we met with Dad's Queen Creek cousins, Milo, Ivan and Alayne and kids for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went back to Milo and Ivan's home for games for the evening. We had a great time with lots of laughs.
     This past Tuesday we went to a dinner show in the park. We had BBQ chicken, coleslaw, baked beans, a roll and a cookie. Then we were entertained by a group made up of two married couples from Colorado called the "Saddle Strings." They were very entertaining with good music, jokes, audience participation and dancing.

The next day we joined a large group of park residents for a 49th wedding anniversary for park neighbors Bob and Lori Bruns at their 5th wheel RV site near ours. Many of these people have been coming here for years and know each other well. We are still relatively newcomers trying to remember many new names.

And then yesterday evening we met at a Mesa restaurant called Wild Berry Diner for a dinner to celebrate JoAnne Campbell's birthday. She and Peter are our Canadian neighbors across the street that we got to know well last winter. The food was excellent and we all had a great time.

We then came home to another of several swims this past two weeks followed by the animated movie, Robin Hood. At the pool we met a new couple, here for just a couple more weeks from Emmett, Idaho along with two new Canadian couples the arrived recently. The Idaho couple, Terry and Susan Howard, are LDS and we have invited them to attend meetings with us tomorrow.
     This morning we enjoyed the $3 pancake breakfast offered by the park each Saturday. The pancakes are delicious with the usual sausages, scrambled eggs, orange slice, syrup, jam and butter. Then I spent the afternoon at the flea market and then visited Michaels craft store with my artist fried, Gayle Bramwell. Wow, what a store!

A Special Family Weekend

While we were sad that some family members were unable to be present we made the eleven-hour drive each way to Springville, Utah from our winter "home" in Arizona to help Laurie prepare for and to attend the baptism and confirmation of our sweetheart granddaughter, Mckinsie Ockey, on Saturday, January 7. The roads were clear as we traveled there on Thursday and the weather was nice on Friday. Thursday evening we arrived early enough to visit Leon and Chrissy in Payson. They fed us and Brendon showed us his science project showing zero-energy magnetic levitation that he created with a lot of help from his dad. We were even blessed by a visit with Kendra as she dropped in briefly. We then spent some time with a very interesting toy called Bucky Balls and watched some America's Funniest Videos. Leon has always had amazing talent and interests in science and these small, shiny magnetic balls were most fascinating with what could be built with them. Friday I put finishing touches on Mckinsie's dress and helped with preparations for an amazing brunch Laurie planned for the families following the service. Dad worked on his usual list of "Daddy-does" for Laurie. That evening we spent with LaRinda, Trevor and family. That always involves music and art which we enjoy immensely. Then when we woke up Saturday morning there were two to three inches of new snow on the ground and it was snowing, which it did off and on all day. Nevertheless the baptism service was wonderful as Mckinsie shared it with three other girls. Her brother, Ryan, offered the opening prayer, Jordan played the piano for a musical number by some of the children and her sister, Kristina, gave a well-prepared talk on the Holy Ghost.

Following the service we enjoyed the wonderful brunch that had been prepared and everyone visited and enjoyed the time together.

Breanne and Dad had a date Saturday afternoon to make homemade Reese's peanut butter candy together but there was too much going on and Dad accepted a rain check in the form of an invitation to attend a Utah Valley University (UVU) Wolverines basketball game against Seattle University that evening along with Kristina's hubby, Jared, since Kristina was ill. Breanne's boy friend, Kellen sits at the scorers table and handles stats and press releases. What appeared initially to be a runaway game for UVU came down to the last minute to decide that the Wolverines won.

Breanne wrote the recipe for the "Grandpa & Breezy's Bars" on a card and Dad came home and mixed up a batch. They were delicious.

Fortunately the storm passed and we had no problem with roads for the return trip Sunday although more storm was predicted for Monday. On the way up we traveled through Flagstaff and passed the Glen Canyon Dam on our beloved Lake Powell near Page, Arizona.

Due to the storm we returned through Las Vegas and Kingman to avoid potential problems in Northern Arizona. The last couple of hours was under a clear sky and a beautiful full moon. A soak in the pool before turning in for the night sure felt good on a sore behind.

Holidays in Arizona

We are told it has been a little cooler than normal this past couple of weeks here in Apache Junction but then this last couple of days it has approached record high daytime temperatures in the low 80's, much different than the Christmas holiday experience back home in Idaho. We sincerely miss family and friends back home but have renewed friendships with friends from last winter here in Countryside Park. This has been an interesting past year for us as we lived for extended periods of time in Arizona, Belgium and Idaho. We never dreamed we would have these opportunities and we are starting to feel like nomads. On Christmas day we opened gifts from friends and family and made calls to all. It was a great time to renew contact with many we don't get to see very often as well as those we are closer to. We are very appreciative of all the gifts and blessings we have received. Lunch was a pot luck affair in the park with a group's table to which we were invited. It was delicious and we made new acquaintances.

Then that evening we went to Chandler to have dinner and games with Dad's cousins, Milo, Ivan, Ruby and Ruby's daughter, Alayne's family at Alayne's home. We had a fun evening.

We have continued to enjoy the pool and hot tub in the park every couple of days, usually in the evening when we are usually there alone.

Last Friday we visited the nearby flea market. As we said last year it is huge and one could browse in there for hours. We bought a personalized redwood plaque to identify ourselves that Dad hung on the front of our motor home.

During the week we visited Dad's other cousin, Norman and his wife Kathy in Mesa. We had just come from his mother, Aunt Eula's home in Chandler where their son, Kevin lives and cares for her. We brought Aunt Eula with us for the visit to give Kevin and his wife Andrea a break. Aunt Eula looks much better this winter than last year. We had a good long visit and went out to get dinner at Taco Bell before returning to home. The evening before new year's eve was our neighbor, Gayle Bramwell's birthday and we went out for Mexican to celebrate with her and her husband, Dick. After dinner we came back to the RV's for cake I bought and decorated with re-lighting candles. We had quite a bonfire and about had to call the fire department before we got them all extinguished. Dick suggested that maybe one candle for every ten years would be better next year.

On new year's eve we watched a couple of movies and listened to fireworks until nearly midnight. On Sunday we went to church (meetings at 1:00PM this year) and then went to Queen Creek to meet with the same cousins and families as Christmas day at Milo and Ivan's home for another delicious pot luck dinner and more games and fun. The following Monday morning Dad went to assist Brother Mason, a former counselor in the Goldfield Ward bishopric, to move. He said it seemed like the entire ward priesthood was there to help.

Yesterday on a shopping trip to a nearby strip mall Dad saw and unique tricycle motorcycle he liked a lot that I didn't think looked all that cool. It had wide rear tires, the back end of an 80's Chevy Corvette and a V8 engine. Dad said he bet it would really kick butt.

Last night we went to a show in the park where a performer named Kenny Miller took us back a few years with impersonations of Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Kenny Rogers  and Marty Robins. He did better on some than others but there was a huge crowd and we enjoyed the evening with Dick and Gayle.

Snowbirds Head South

Upon arriving home both Dad and I immediately came down with a nasty cold and cough, probably picked up from the ship where there were many who were coughing. Trying to recover from this delayed our departure for Arizona by a few days longer than planned. As is was, we pretty much just dumped all the freezables back into the motor home without organizing and left on December 14th to beat a predicted storm. Prior to that we did manage a trip to Idaho Falls to visit the McKnights for Travis's 11th birthday with the amazing cake that Leslie made

and to Pocatello to see Lance, Aubri and Taylor

as well as a brief visit with our dear friends, the Liljenquists and Gardners. In Utah our first night we spent with Laurie, Evan and the Ockey family in Springville, near Provo. The O'Donnals were able to come over from Provo for a while and we stopped at Brendon's school to see Leon's wife and son, Chrissy and Brendon, on the way south next morning. We were sorry we missed seeing Leon. That evening we made it to the St. George area and visited our beloved former Salt Lake City neighbors in the St. George suburb of Washington, Utah where we stayed with Murray and Collene Taylor overnight. While there my cold worsened again and I also became ill. Murray and Dad gave me a blessing and the next morning I was feeling a little better so we continued our journey. That night we stayed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona where we had many memories of our stay there last December.



While we were stopped along the south end of the lake for breakfast we also spotted a coyote doing his best to avoid us.

The following day, Saturday, we drove on to Quartzsite, Arizona where I went shopping for stones to make wire wrap jewelry at the flea markets along Kuehn Street. We then looked up and went for a visit with our old friend, Phil Mortensen who camps there on BLM land in the desert nearby every winter. After our visit we left Quartzsite and arrived at Countryside RV Park in Apache Junction about 6 PM that evening and set up camp for the next four months during a beautiful Arizona sunset.

Our first order of business after setting up camp was to dress down and head for a relaxing swim and soak in the pool and hot tub.

They were as clean and warm as last season and continue to be among the main attractions, besides our friends we have made, for us here. Since then we have made several trips back to the pool. Dad also called his cousins that live in the valley and one day while we were out and about we drove out to Queen Creek to visit Milo and Ivan Walker, whose home was our service project last winter to repair and paint the exterior. They were doing well and we had a nice visit. This morning we enjoyed the Saturday morning $3 pancake breakfast at the clubhouse. It is great with all you can eat pancakes, link sausages, scrambled eggs and a slice of orange with the trimmings. We then got in on our first shuffle board scramble. The boards are so well waxed that it is a real experience learning how far the puck travels with such a little push. It was a lot of fun and we met several new people, some of whom had been spending winters here at Countryside for the past thirty years. Tonight is Christmas Eve and there was a golf cart light parade and a party in the clubhouse. Many residents also do a nice job of decorating for the holidays.

This is our humble little Christmas tree.

Yesterday we got our internet up and running and have enjoyed Skyping with some of our kids and friends. This year we have a cell phone contract, however, instead of the prepaid plan from last winter so we are much freer to use the phones without the earlier limitations.

An Amazing Three-Week Adventure

This series of posts is our travel log for a three-week adventure that took us from home to Milan, Italy by air and from there onto the Costa Fortuna cruise ship to begin a trans-Atlantic voyage that would take us to visit twelve ports of call in six countries on three continents, cross both tropics and the equator while sailing 6645 miles including seven full days at sea after which we flew home from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Wed Nov 16
We buttoned up at home and, due to snow predicted for Thursday morning, we headed to the Airport Comfort Inn in Salt Lake City right after going to the viewing for Sister Dorothy Johnson to spend the night. Dad had been her home teacher for years and I was her visiting teacher. Her son, Brent and his wife Kathy are also close friends as well as Dr. Brent being our dentist for a number of years.

Thu Nov 17
We got to the airport and boarded our flight for Dallas/Fort Worth. We were traveling with two other couples,

Drew and Lorraine Day

Bob and Carma Johnson

both from northern Utah. Drew is a former Brazilian Mission president. There we boarded our next flight for Madrid, Spain. After sitting on the loaded plane for over an hour waiting for mechanical problems to be fixed they announced we would be changing planes. The flight that was supposed to leave at 5:45PM wound up leaving at 9:00PM.

Fri Nov 18
Due to the late departure from Dallas we missed our connection in Madrid and were re booked on a flight at 4:00PM to Milan, Italy. What they didn't tell us was that the boarding passes they gave us were only vouchers which we learned at the gate. After a mad scramble the six of us finally got booked after we were told there were only two seats left on the plane. This delay caused our luggage not to get to Milan with us. We also missed our shuttle to the hotel. A kind young lady who spoke Portuguese at a watch kiosk let us use her cell phone to make phone calls (our phones don't work in Europe) and we finally arranged a taxi to the hotel for the six of us.

At the hotel we had a late dinner waiting for us and met Larry and Cheryl Stamps who are leading our group on this trip.

After being up for twenty-eight hours with little sleep on a cramped airplane on the nearly ten-hour hour flight from Dallas to Madrid and all else we had experienced we finally hit the sack.