Patti's Perspective: August 2016

I love the summer, but not necessarily the heat...although warm is definitely better than the cold. Life is always busy it seems and June was no exception. I had wanted to get to St. George for some time for a little golf, to see Dave and Connie Peterson's new home, and visit missionary friends who live in the area. It all came together the 7th of June when Dave and Connie Pincock stopped by and spent the night on their way to St. George. I joined them for the trip down. We did a "mini" Armenian senior missionary reunion with the Jones, Bluncks, Pincocks and me. We were sorry to Riches couldn't join us. Maybe next time! We didn't remember to take our picture until after the Pincocks had left. So much for remembering in a timely way. Maybe it comes with age.

First things first...get settled into marvelous accommodations at the Peterson's. I had a lovely panoramic view of the red hills of St. George.

I took a picture of the bed so I'd remember how to put it back together

My cart buddy, Connie at Sky Mountain Golf Course

Some of the view at the course

Our Armenian "mini" Seniors reunion:

David & Caroline Blunck, Barbara and Bob Jones

Our selfie attempt

We went to see this cactus that blooms every 100 years

Dave has been really involved with the Sons of the Utah Pioneers and headed up the restoration of a trail to the stone quarries used to build the temple and several other structures in St. George. About 22 boys did their Eagle projects as part of the effort.

Dave clipping errant bushes crowding the trail

One of the locals hanging out in the sun

Me taking a respite while hiking the trail

An Eagle project in the works, graffiti sealing the monument

Connie, Dave and me on the trail

One of the benches built by Scouts and a beautiful view, too

Learning all about the Quarries

Connie, Me and Dave at the St. George Tample

A few days after returning to Provo, I headed out again for Arizona. It was hot there...in the upper 110's so didn't spend long outdoors, but moved from airconditioned house to car to wherever pretty quickly. I was in Arizona to help Rob and Tamsen while she went to Girls Camp for a week and then while the two of them had a long weekend in New York. It was so fun to be there with seven of my grandchildren (5 of Rob and Tamsen's, and two of Sue and Zach's).

Sue and some grands in the pool

Truman all ready for swim team?

Enjoying some pool time

A couple of cuties, Tru and Sue

Somebody's been into the soap and I think I know who

The green-stached boy enjoying a little smoothie

Burke with a challenging lot of letters when playing scrabble with me

August serving his Dad some food on Father's Day

Fathers eating first on Their Day, HFD, Rob and Zach

Tosh with his team at last football game; he scored a touchdown!

Tosh with his fans (Burke and Grandma)

Me with the Arizona grands minus a sleeping Tru

Shortly after this picture was taken, I flew from Mesa to Provo, and not too many dull moments lay ahead. I was able to get together with my "cronies" as I like to call my long-time friends of many, many years. We met at Taggarts up near Morgan, Utah and it was perfectly delightful. There were peacocks and rattlesnakes (there was a sign at the door warning people to not let children play around outside unsupervised and some of our group watched them carry away, on a shovel, a snake they had just killed. Kind of makes you want to sit on a chair with your feet off the ground. Great food, company, and atmosphere.

Peacock being watched over by peahen

Taggart's Cafe

Karen, Janie, Mary Kaye Ginger, Trell and me

A side trip to Mary Kaye's lovely home

I've got to get better at this "selfie" thing

I love my country and am so grateful to be an American. It was fun to participate in some of the 4th of July activities. The Freedom Festival in Provo includes having a bunch of hot air balloons floating the skies. A couple of friends and I made the journey to the field to see them inflate and take off, filling the skies with color.

Me, Joyce & Maxine around 6:30 a.m.

Miss Liberty Belle

A beautiful day for flying, Up, Up and Away

Smokey the Bear

A kaleidoscope of colors in the sky

A wonderful ward mission leader and his wife, from my mission to Washington, Mike and Sue Smith organized a get together in Provo, prior to them going into the MTC. They will be in Argentina for a couple of years. It was wonderful to see them, some other missionaries, and some of the Marshallese people we became acquainted with while serving there.

Missionaries who served under Mike Smith's direction in Clark Lake Ward

Add a few Marshallese to our group

My daughter, Jana celebrating her birthday!

The 4th of July wasn't as beautiful as the 2nd. A friend made arrangements for Joyce, Maxine and I to go up for a balloon ride, but unfortunately, they were unable to fly because of the wind turbulence...so we took pictures with Ronald McDonald, had a little breakfast, and took a picture by our aborted balloon ride. I learned afterwards that my insurance policy would not pay out if something were to happen. Is it still worth doing it next year? He's promised to get us up in 2017, but then I think I'll be at a family reunion and unavailable. Oh well!

A picture with "Ronald"? What could be better than that?

An aborted balloon day...our "ride"

Patti, Joyce and Maxine "grounded"

We had an early start on the 4th and I was able to join Jana's family for a barbecue, some bocce, and Stadium of Fire fireworks as observed from their back yard.

Taguchi's came as well and Tomoo schooled us all at Bocce

A friend, Joann, decided that some "older" women would enjoy a "sweet" ride, so she came by in her mother-in-laws vintage convertible and took us to an old fashioned drive in for milkshakes...and they are half price at Sonic...what a deal! So fun! We just laughed and laughed and had the best time! Sort of makes up for the missed balloon ride.

Our "sweet" ride

Joyce, Maxine, Me and Joanne

I was able to go with my friends, Carl and Joanne, to the Payson Temple one day and hooked up with long-time friends, Richard and Evonne Bolton. We had a fun luncheon at an Indian Restaurant. I probably should explain my black eye. You could say I was in a street fight or suffered from road rage. Actually, I was walking one morning and tripped on a hunk of asphalt in the road and did a "dandy" face plant. I guess I need to learn to pick up my feet or watch better where I'm walking!

Evonne, Richard, Joanne, Carl and me

Richard, Evonne, Joanne, Carl, & Me

This may be the only elephant ride I'll ever get

Sue and the twins came to visit around the middle of July. So fun to have them come. We even had a work project picking several sackfuls of apricots and made jam from some and dried a bunch of others and ate a bunch more. Thanks to neighbors who shared their bounty. I was also able to reconnect with friends from Armenia, Naira and Greg Avoyan and their two cute girls. They recently moved to Utah from California. So fun to see them again and to enjoy some Karaoke. Greg was the branch president in Ararat when we served there as missionaries.

Cousins having fun together: August, Merit, Davis and Kiefer

Jana, me and Sue

Getting apricots ready to be dehydrated! Tasty project!

The last week of July was spent in Park City with the Maughan family and the Olsen children joined us for a few days.. The Sunday after we arrived, I attended the "Visitor's Branch" and happened to run into a friend from Portland that I hadn't seen for a few years I love reconnecting and remembering times shared together.