It's Travelogue Time

Long time no post. So here we go. I'm writing this blog for my benefit as a journal, so if you get bored, that's OK.

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT THAT YOU WERE HERE!!!

Thursday, Jan. 31

Ty and Jarah Lewis were so generous to use some of Ty's accumulated air miles to fly us down to Lewisville, Texas for the weekend on the occasion of their daughter, Katelyn's, birthday and baptism.

Larry and I left for the airport to fly to Texas about 9:30 AM. We dropped off our luggage at the Sky Cap and then drove to the long-term parking lot to drop off the Expedition and then catch the shuttle back to the terminal. As most of you know, I am never cold because Sister Hot Flash lives in my body. However, although it was about 23 degrees and the wind was blowing, and since I never wear a coat, I didn't want to be bothered with one on the airplane. I just wore a long-sleeve shirt for the flight. We parked the truck and got out to run to the shuttle stop. I froze my rear end off. At least I thought I did. It was so dang cold and the wind was blowing and it was snowing. I just knew my fanny was frozen right off in that mad dash to catch the shuttle before it left us. But when I turned around, no such luck. That big booty was still there, dang it, following along right behind me.

Anyway, boarding the plane started on time. Larry and I showed our boarding passes just as a crew member walked off the plane and said air traffic was grounded at DFW for an hour because of high winds. So we just sat around in the terminal area a little longer instead of getting onto the plane to sit cramped up for a longer time. But it wasn't an hour. Our flight left about 45 minutes lates. Flight to DFW was ok, but Larry got a little stomachy upset with the slightly bumpy flight. It took us 15 minutes to taxi from landing to the terminal gate. Then it took 35 minutes to get our luggage. And I thought SLC was slow.

Jessica, Bailey, and Garret picked us up at curbside. Unfortunately, they waited for about an hour for us because the plane was a little late and the baggage took forever. It was cold in Texas that afternoon and the wind was blowing. I about froze down there that day, I guess because it feels so much colder in that humid climate. Russ and Jessica opened up their home to us while we were there. Jackson was gracious enough to let us sleep in his bedroom and he slept with Garrett, even though Garrett didn't want him to. Jackson is eleven, Bailey will be 8 in September, and Garrett will be 3 on the 18th of February.

Russ took Larry and me over to see Jarah and Ty and their kids (Katelyn, 8; Sabrina, 5; and Jason, 3) that evening. The Lewises and the Cooks live only about a mile apart. Jarah had made banana bread, and boy did it smell good, but Jessica had filled us up with dinner so we had no room for banana bread. Jarah told us that Julia was on her way from San Antonio with her kids Brenden, 4, and Natalee, 1, and would stay with the Lewises. They arrived at Jarah's house later that night after Larry and I had returned to Jessica's home. We enjoyed our first night with the kids and grandkids.

Calley wanted to stay home by herself this time, so we let her do it.

Friday, Feb. 1

Larry got up early, as usual, on Friday, and I slept in. That hour time difference is a killer ya know. I was worried about Calley because it was supposed to snow Thursday night into Friday morning and Victoria (ya know, Nanny's Crown Victoria) does not do well in the snow. I had arranged with Sherie Hislop to take her to school and pick her up on Friday if it snowed. Sherie and Steve are such terrific neighbors. As a sidelight, Sherie and Steve are always there when we need them. Since Larry has had shoulder surgery, Sherie cleans the snow off our driveway and sidewalk every time it snows, which as been a bunch this year. Anyway, another problem was that Calley had to work at Jamba Juice on Friday at 4 PM. She had to go to the business, pick up frozen smoothies, take them to UVSC, set up at some event, sell the smoothies, clean up, take everything down, load up the car with left-over stuff, and cart it all back down to Jamba's about 9 PM that evening. I was so afraid it would snow and she would have to rely on neighbors and good friends to help out again. But thank goodness she was able to drive herself.

Back to the travelogue. Julia and her two kids came over to Jessica's that morning and spent the day. Jarah and Ty took the afternoon off from work because they were going to Katelyn's school that afternoon to give out cookies for her 8th birthday. So while Jackson, Bailey, Katelyn, and Sabrina were in school, we all went to lunch at Grandy's. That is Julia's favorite place to eat. After Grandy's Jessica drove us to Costco to buy some batteries for my camera. All we went in there for was a package of batteries. But since we had left our cell phone chargers at home, we stopped at the cell phone place in Costco to see about buying a charger. And since the charger would have cost as much or more than a new phone, the kiosk salesman sold us a new phone package of three Blackberrys. And all three only cost $25 each. We were astounded at the price. Since our contract with T-Mobile was up , we transferred to A T & T and got a Blackberry for me, a Blackberry for Larry, and a Blackberry for Calley. Are we spoiled or what? We also got a better minutes package and unlimited text messaging. Now, Larry and I didn't know squat about text messaging, but we learned pretty dang fast. I texted my kids that night and had a blast doing it. I definitely have not been technology savvy, so figuring out how to work the Blackberry was a little challenging for me. It does about everything except wipe your nose.

We left Costco and went to WalMart to buy Katelyn a birthday present. We finally made it to Katelyn's birthday party at the roller rink. It was a huge rink, about twice the size as Classic Skating in Orem. Larry and I just sat on the sidelines and helped take care of the little bitty grandkids while some of the adults and the bigger grandkids enjoyed skating. Only once did Natalee escape and run out onto the skating floor where I had to run chase her down. We had pizza and drinks for dinner while there and a big birthday cookie since Katelyn doesn't care for cake. The kids had a great time. It was really fun to watch them and just be with all of them.

Larry playing with his Blackberry at the birthday party.

Saturday, Feb. 2

Again I slept in. (jet lag, ya know) Russ and Jess have BYU-TV on cable so we were able to watch Pres. Hinckley's funeral. It was so interesting and kept me glued to the TV. I don't remember what we did that afternoon except for the fact that Larry and Jessica went to the grocery store to buy fruit to take to a dinner at Jarah's that night. Guess I'm having a senior moment -- I have lots of them.

Kathy Hines and her daughter Sheryl along with two of Kathy's grandchildren drove down from Norman, Oklahoma, to spend some time with us Saturday afternoon before the baptism. Sheryl's new baby girl Logan was born in December and we hadn't seen her yet, so they brought her to meet her new uncle and cousins. She was such a cutie with lots of black hair. Haven was there too. She is just gorgeous. They didn't stay very long, but at least we got to visit for a short while.

Kathy Hines and Baby Logan

Haven Evans

Katelyn's baptism was Saturday evening at 5 PM. We put on our church clothes and off we went. Katelyn looked so pretty all in white. Her dad baptized and confirmed her. Larry stood in the circle at the confirmation. I was able to get some family group shots at the church, and was really glad to get them, especially since we don't see those kids and grandkids very often.

Ty, Sabrina, Katelyn, Jarah, and Jason Lewis

Natalee, Julia, Brenden Callahan

Jackson, Russell, Jessica, Bailey, and Garrett Cook

Larry and his girls -- Julia, Jarah, and Jessica

Katelyn with Granddaddy Larry and Grandma Penny

Something very surprising happened at the church and later that evening at the dinner at Jarah's home. Larry's ex, his children's mom, was at the baptism with her husband. In the past she has avoided Larry like he had the plague when we have all been together at family weddings or grandchildren's baby blessings. A couple of times she has not even shown up at an event where Larry and I were going to be. However, at the baptism she was very pleasant when she and I ran into each other in the hall. She looked very happy.

At Jarah's home at dinner that evening, Kathy, Larry's ex, was very outgoing. She spoke to me and Larry as if we were all old friends. It was very nice. I was really glad to see that maybe the animosity she had felt for Larry for so many years may be fading into the background of our lives. I certainly hope so. I enjoyed being around her. It was a very pleasant evening. Jonny, Larry's son, and his two children, Hailey and Hayden, came over to visit for a short while. His wife Tiffany was home sick with the stomach flu or something.

Jonny with Hayden. I didn't get a good photo of Hailey.

Ty spent some time showing me his photos from his business trip to Sweden this past December. BTW, the fruit salad we took was so fabulous. Here it is February and the watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, honeydew, blueberries, and strawberries tasted like it was harvest season in late summer. I couldn't get enough of the fruit.


The evening came to an end all too soon. We really had a great time with everybody.

Sunday, Feb. 3


Man, oh man, oh man! I though 9 AM was an early church time, but church started at 8:30 AM in the Lewisville 1st, I think, Ward. Jessica and Jarah are in the same ward. I dragged myself out of bed and we made it to church just a teensy bit late, so we had to sit on the folding chairs in the back. I always like to go to church in different places just to see how they do things. Sacrament Meeting was good, Sunday School was good, and I was definitely interested in Relief Society since I'm 2nd counselor in our ward. I was a little disappointed in the RS. The lesson was great and the testimonies were very spiritual and uplifting. But here's the deal. I got into the RS room when there were just a couple of sisters in there. Jessica had to teach Primary and Jarah had not yet come into RS from the Sunday School class she had to teach. Anyway I sat down on the second row and I decided I would just wait and see if anyone would say anything to me. No one did. People began to file into the room, the presidency was busy getting ready for the meeting to begin, but not one person came over to find out who I was or to just say hi. A young lady sat down beside me and said not a word. But at least somebody sat down beside me. I was still intentionally keeping my mouth shut to see what would happen. Finally when the meeting began the president acknowledged visitors and I introduced myself. Ya know, I have made it a personal mission of mine to go out of my way to talk to both ward members and visitors in our ward. It took me a long time, but I have finally begun to see the importance of getting out of my comfort zone to help others feel welcome and included. So Jessica, when you read this, please don't feel I'm criticizing your ward sisters. It was just an observation. I could have spoken out to others. I just chose to see what would happen.

Sunday afternoon was a very lazy one. We laughed, talked religion, watched a couple of video Russell had about latter day prophecies and the Lehi Cave. Jarah and her family and Julia with her children came over to Jessica's for dinner so we could spend a little while together before Larry and I left for the airport to return to Utah. It actually got hot and muggy that day.
Thank you so much, Jarah and Ty, for flying us to Texas. And thank you so much, Jessica and Russell, for opening your home to us.


Larry and I returned to Utah that evening, leaving DFW at about 10:15 PM. When we got to Utah, it was cold and snowing. We dug ourselves out of the long-term parking lot and finally got home about 1:30 AM. Calley had made us a chocolate welcome home cake. She's such a sweetie and wonderful daughter. Oh, I forgot to say that Larry and I discovered the game called Brickbreaker on our Blackberrys. We played it a lot on the plane ride to Utah. I don't like video games at all, but this one was kind of fun.

I was so tired when we got home that I took a Unisom sleeping pill because I was afraid that even though I was tired, I wouldn't be able to go to sleep. I do that a lot. Well, guess what? I couldn't wake up Monday morning. Not even to go to a RS presidency meeting. I hate feeling drugged like that, but I sure did sleep good. In fact, I only got out of bed for a couple of hours to fix something to eat for Larry and Calley and then I went back to bed and didn't get up until 5:30 AM on Tuesday morning. I wouldn't have gotten up then except for the fact that I had to be at the Provo Temple at 7 AM to work the phones.

Tuesday, Feb. 5

So, now here I am on Tuesday night at about 9 PM finishing up this blog. I'm sure I left out a bunch of stuff that I will remember from our trip and wish I had put into the blog, but those senior moments are killers.

I made plane reservations tonight to fly down to Laurel's house on Feb. 19 for four days to help her out after her surgery. It was cheaper for me to fly than for Larry and me to drive, so he'll just stay here and take care of Calley while I take care of Laurel and her family for a few days. Oh, and I ordered two cases of Girl Scout cookies from Laurel. Anybody want to buy some cookies?

And can anybody explain to me how to get several photos across instead of in a straight line down on this blog?

AND DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT THAT YOU WERE HERE!!!!