A Family Reunion

In the time I have lived in Rigby, I have made some very dear friends. Wanda and her family top that list. For a few months, actually about a year, Wanda and her husband, Mike, have been planning a family reunion for Mike's family. So as the time has been approaching, Wanda has mentioned her preparations and often said I should come up to Island Park to their reunion. In many instances, I would have declined. But because she mentioned this more than once and invited me to come, more than just as a passing comment, I knew she was genuinely inviting me to come up. And I consider Wanda my "sister" anyway, so why not go to the "family" reunion.

Highlights of the Poston/Carey Family Reunion:

• Attending the sealing of Mike's family - his parents and the sealing of him and his siblings to their parents. This was the main event of the family reunion...although the party in Island Park was for a longer period of time. Note: If invited to the temple, especially if it is for a special occasion of family or friends, accept the invitation and go. You will never be disappointed...and you will be very grateful that you were there.
• Going to Island Park for the party. It's one of my very, very favorite places. Note: If invited to a party, especially if it is for a special occasion of family or friends, accept the invitation and go. You will not be disappointed....
• Getting to know Mike and Wanda's older children and grandchildren. Now I can actually put their names and faces together, and I have a point of reference when Wanda updates me on them. What a nice family!!

• Meeting Mike's brothers and sisters (minus one) and some of their children and grandchildren - and hearing some of their stories growing up. (Although he probably makes bread better than me, I don't think I will have Mike teach me how to make it.) ;) What a nice family!!

Linda, Jeannie (Mike's sisters), Wanda, Me

• Enjoying the program on Wednesday night...with Bishop Campbell and his wife Sherrie providing some of the entertainment.

• Excellent food...with all the fixin's. Lee's dinner on Thursday night was waaaaay worth the drive up to Island Park on Thursday night. It was as fun watching the guys prepare it as it was to eat it...fun all the way around. (If I had planned better, I would have just gone up on Wednesday night and stayed through Thursday night.)

Mmmmmm. Joe, Tate and Jason serving up the food.

Kevin, Lee (head chef) Todd, Joe, Tate, and Ty

• Hangin' out with friends...and making new ones.

Thank you Wanda and Mike for inviting me to join you. It was great!

My Home Town

So I was in Tremonton (actually Bothwell) for my class reunion on July 26. So while I was there I thought I should visit a few of "landmarks" in that fine town that I called home for the first 20-plus years of my life.

McKinley School, where I went to kindergarten-6th grade. There is a "new" McKinley (opened in 1973, so I guess not that new) that replaced this one. Since it closed as an elementary school in 1973, it underwent some extensive remodeling and has since been used as the Senior Citizen Center in Tremonton. However, earlier this year, the earthquake that was centered near Wells, Nevada caused enough damage to this building that it will be torn down. Sad really, because it is a fine-looking building...and I don't know why but it looks much better now than it did when I went to school there. But considering my dad went to school there, it is an OLD building.

Another interesting place to visit in Tremonton is the public library. Again, it has aged gracefully and looks better in 2008 than it did in 1978 - from my perspective. Of course, it has been added on to and remodeled.

An item of note is a new sculpture that has just, within the last week or two, been added to the grounds in front of the library. It was created by Val Lewis (brother of my classmate Lanny Lewis). It is of children reading the book 'Peter Pan', and the characters come alive, as shown in the sculpture.

Directly across the street from the library is the oldest LDS church in Tremonton, but not in the Bear River Valley...that is the LDS tabernacle in Garland. Again, this building has had a facelift since I lived here. (Gee, were all the buildings in Tremonton run-down during the 70's, now with new faces in 2008?) This will always be known to me as the "Tremonton 1st Ward" building. (Though, I am still partial to the Third Ward building.)

The final stop on my tour-de-Tremonton before heading home was to see the state of demolition of the high school. My understanding is that the auditorium and memorial gymnasium will be the only things remaining from my good-old-high-school days.

The "girls' gym" was located between the auditorium and the memorial gym. It is now rubble.

Also, the "cubbies" in front of the memorial gym are gone.

The "bear" in front of the school...no more.

I final look at the administration building, which may be gone by the next time I drive by here.

All in all, it was a good day. A time to spend a few hours with classmates and share fond memories and catch up on what they are doing now. It was also a time to visit familiar places of my childhood. To make this complete, I should have stopped by the old Valley Hospital, where I was born (which has been apartments since 1976), and the Tremonton 3rd Ward building, which is where I can trace my spiritual upbringing to...as well as many fun times. Looking back, I really had an idyllic childhood in a community that I will always consider "home".

Bear River High School Class of '78 - minus the "Bear"

Saturday, July 26, was the Bear River High class of '78 30-year reunion. I can't believe 30 years has gone by so quickly! But it has. (And frankly, I would rather be 48 than 18 years old. The body might not feel as limber, but what's in my mind and heart are higher quality.)

First of all, I have to give a big "thank you" to Julie Stokes, Corinne Atwood, and Vaughn Hess for organizing and arranging all the details. Julie did a great job of getting bios on a lot of people so that even if they couldn't make it, we could catch up on where they are and what they are doing. The reunion was held at Marble Park in Bothwell. It was a great time and great food!!

Me, Julie Stokes and Corinne Atwood. They organized the whole thing!

Mark Walker and Vaughn Hess

Todd Thornley and his wife, Rosa

Jay Munns and Mike Larsen aka "Otis"

Corinne Atwood, Jamie Findlay, Me, Krisanne Veibell,

Cathi Walker, and Dixie Wood

Eric Olsen (who was on the 25-year committee..with me), Melanie Henley (who is on the 35-year committee), and Scott Anderson

Lynette Drysdale and Julie Stokes

Brian Kerr, Alan Riser, and Alan's wife Larraine

Dana Hardman and her husband, Bryan

Last year a bond was passed to do an extensive remodel - just short of a complete rebuild of both high schools in Box Elder county. The Memorial Gym and the auditorium are what will be left of what was there when I was in high school. I'm not quite sure what the contraption is - something used in construction - but this is the pedastel where the Bear used to be in front of the high school. (I am going to do a separate blog for some of the sites in Tremonton, and include more pictures of the high school demolition.)

Well Woes

I don't usually blog much during the week because I don't want to bore anyone with the mundane. (Not to say that I won't ever blog about work or midweek activities.) Usually I like to blog about something fun and exciting. Not today.

Today I am just going to blog about today...and little of last night.

Last night, I had set one of the sprinklers to run all night. Then as I was getting ready for bed...you know, brushing teeth, washing face, etc...I went to turn on the faucet - but no water. No water!! So I went outside and checked the sprinkler, which only minutes earlier was working fine. No water. Well, being 11:00 p.m.-ish what could I do but to go to bed knowing that I would either have my morning shower the next day at the office or the gym.

So this morning, off I went to the gym to get myself ready for work. And the first thing I did upon arriving at work was to call the well-drilling company. So this afternoon, a couple of good gentlemen from Forman Pump Service came out to get my private culinary water system working again. Yeah!! Hurray for running water!!

Palisades Creek

This summer is going to be gone before I know it. I have to get as much hiking in as possible. So, Lois Suski (I work with her husband, Allen) came out to my house and we went to the Rigby 8th Ward pioneer breakfast and then drove out to Swan Valley. Just enough time to let breakfast settle and give us some good energy. We took the hike along Palisades Creek to the Lower Palisades Lake on Saturday. The trail is very nice...some shade, some sun, and a very gradual uphill. It is four miles from the trailhead to the Lower Lake. It is beautiful the entire way. And you can tell from the pictures that it was an excellent day to be outside. The temperature at the beginning of our hike at 10:00 a.m. was 69F, and heating up to the 80s by the time we got back to the car at 4:30. (Not bad for July 19.) All I can say is that I need to do more hiking, camping, etc.

Lower Palisades Lake. The small black figure about halfway down on the left side of the photo is a moose.

Me

Lois Suski

Of course, on our way home we had to stop at the Rainey Creek store in Swan Valley and get square ice cream cones. I am already planning our next hiking trip. I'm thinking the Bechler area....

80/60

80 years ago today, July 18, one of my greatest hero's and truly the most important woman in my life was born. Today is what would be Mom's 80th birthday...and what would also be my brother, Stephen's 60th birthday. Yes, Mom had her first child on her 20th birthday.

I like to think that if she were still here, I would take the day off work and spend with her to celebrate her 80 years. But since she passed away over eight years ago, I will have to celebrate Mom and Stephen's birthdays in my own way. So, I am still taking the day off...and hopefully doing some things that will be celebrations of their lives in some way. This morning, I am going to the Rexburg temple...and it's because of my mom's teachings and example from the time I was a little girl that I am able to do this.

This afternoon and evening I am getting together with some of my Creative Memories consultants and we are having a "consultant crop" and I am going to spend that time working on a digital scrapbook of photos my mom saved over the years.

It will be a good day of celebration!

4th of July Celebration - Day Two

If one day to celebrate the 4th of July is not enough, this year I had two days of celebrating...of course without the fireworks on day two. Today the agenda was to head to Montana via Ennis to Virginia City, then a brief stop in Nevada City, up towards Three Forks to Lewis and Clark Caverns, then back through Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs on the way home.

Dad and I had visited Virginia City last year on July 4. It has a fascinating past...talk about the wild, wild west. So we thought it would be fun to take Marlene and Steve to visit there as well.

A few pictures from Virginia City, Montana: