End of summer YSA social

Texting missing people.

Sept. 5 we hosted a social for the 5th ward and dorm kids that Jim and Sally Hughes work with now. We shot of water rockets first.  Those who caught them won a prize.

Jared and Andrew were the main competition for Paula and Dani,
who were new to the art of water rocket catching, but still were competitive
 




This was also the first time Paula and Dani had roasted hot dogs.  They also
tried grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire.

 

 

After we ate, they played Kubb then came inside to play cards (Spoons and Nines)  and watch the BYU game.

A week for missionary visits

We've had the great pleasure of being able to visit with eight different missionaries whom we served with on the reservation. This past week has been awonderful and unexpected fun activity.

Kitchen in the Hattaway home

On Sat. Sept. 29, Paula and Sy Hope from Rexburg came down and stayed with us.  They had served in Chinle, and Kayenta  We had a great visit,  did a walk about our garden and played Kings Crown.  They left early the next morning to go to church in Denehotso, and then to visit friends all over the Rez. 

The next day, Monday, who should show up in Blanding but our 3 favorite CNA nurses from the mission: Sisters Klepecz, Harris, and Hunsicker.  They only stayed about an hour, as they had reservations on the Reservation (in Chinle.)  When they headed back to SLC on Thursday, we met them again in Cortez for lunch, along with the Hattaways from Mancos and had another good visit.  Afterwards we all drove out to Hattaway's place, and got to see their gigantic big barn/home and their 80 acres.  We learned from them that Elder Eagan had died, but still don't have any details as to why and when.  Later when writing to Sister Eagan I found out he had a heart attack, though he had no prior symptoms, and went very quickly.



It was only 23 steps up to their home on the top level!
That's how they stay young!

The very next day we got a phone call from one of the sisters who served in the West Spanish American Mission with me in 1965-66.  Sister Elizabeth Jones Palomino and her husband Walter were on their way through to visit their son in Grand Junction.  It has truly been a fun week to reminise about the mission field and the great people we knew there.  I didn't remember to take pictures of the first and last visit. 

Fourth Ward 38 Year Reunion

This picture doesn't quite show everyone who came, or the logistics of getting the picture taken -- which will be a great memory, in and of itself.  At about 7 PM while we were still eating, the top row of sprinklers went on along the hill where we planned to take the picture.  I wasn't worried, as I knew they'd be finished before the picture was taken.  Then Brother Balch reminded me there would be a second row of lower sprinklers that would be going on soon!  So we interrupted dinner and to take the picture before the lower sprinklers went on.  We moved two rows of chairs along the parking lot front for the older folks to use.    
About the time we got everyone positioned on the hill behind them, sure enough the sprinklers went on!  Brother Gardner quickly stepped on top of the sprinkler head by him, and other men followed suite, so we got the picture taken without too much dampness.  However, the water spilled quickly into the parking lot where the littler kids were posed, so they got wet in the process.  Kara and Jamie Laws orchestrated the photo shoot, plus took candids throughout the evening.


It was a beautiful summer evening and lots of time for visiting.

Wilcox guys who attended the reunion

The first out-of-towner to show up that night was Russ Stevenson.  It was so good to see him, as he had helped our boys in scouts, and also with a musical I helped orchestrate.  Unfortunately, he and Connie are divorced..  He came clear from Ogden. He was in quite a few of the slides: plays and scout activities.  Lurlene and Dennis Gutke were there and visited up a storm.  Lurlene had a really fun game recognizing people and gave out five prizes for each category--which made it really fun.  Ethan won one of the prizes for having traveled the furtherest -- Monticello!!  Lurlene is such a good friend and has been for dozens of years.  She also got a gift for me, which was unexpected and a nice surprise. 



Reed and Becky Gardner and Lily also came down.  She came over the night before and we had a good visit. Diane McNeave traveled over from Canon City and stayed with us for 4 nights, and we had lots of wonderful visits

It was a wonderful surprise having Rob, Ethan, and Ryan
come over even though Kathryn was still recooperating.

She also had plenty of time to visit others and also the college folks.  Some of the Webb and Carroll children came and many who had been scattered into other wards in Blanding also joined us for the evening.  It was wonderful visiting with so many people and Brother Ogle kept things moving.  Once everyone had been served (which was tricky -- since we ran out of the main dishes) he invited people to come up
and share memories of the 4th ward.  That went especially well, and was our main entertainment besides the tour de force -- the slide show.

Larena Nakai Eldridge and family.  LaPriel and her
family lived for a short while in our ward.

How it all began

I had wanted to do a slide show for several years and show it at a New Years Eve party for our ward.  We had been in 4th ward since its inception and I had literally hundreds and hundreds of pictures of ward events. However,  last year on Aug. 14 when the Blanding 4th ward was dissolved, I determined that we'd need to orchestrate a reunion instead.  My walking partners helped me brainstorm ways to do it.  Our preferred date conflicted with Women's Gen. Conference, so we moved it up a week to Sept. 22. 

 

All eight bishops of the ward, along with their wives are still living in Blanding which was significant in and of itself.  They were always ones to know a good thing when they saw it so none had moved away!!  I enlisted their help from the first, and asked each bishop to write a brief history of their tenure, for a history I wanted to include in a written history.  About a month later, President Mike Bradford found some quarterly reports and 4th ward conference information which he gave to me.  This was a wonderful addition to the history. Sister Pincock also had a copy of a script Helen Shumway wrote for the 20th anniversary.  I was able to use some of that information also, but ended up not publishing it in the book.  It is, however, included in the files on the DVD.  The published history ended up being 28 pages long.  The school district media did a wonderful job of printing it thanks to Karen Bronson's help.

The slide show consisted of nearly 800 slides.  I probably had that many in my own collection to start with, but not all were high quality.  There were over 20 people who brought pictures for me to scan. Glenna Webb and Jon Hunt brought over a large amount which especially was helpful.  As more pictures came in, I was more selective and started removing some of the earlier pictures.  Thus the editing went on and on!  Even after the final showing, I discovered 10 wonderful pictures in an album I had overlooked, and I added those.  So the last ones to get the DVD copy, also got a few more pictures.

Because of the expansive time frame-- 38 years of history, activity and hundreds of people-- the show grew exponentially, finally ending up 1 hr. and 20 min. long, which averaged 10 min. per bishopric.  As a result the show wouldn't fit on a regular single layer DVD, and Matt Rogers gave me a quick lesson on using double layers and best choices and how they worked.  Verbatim brand worked lots better than the Ridata which I also tried.  Everytime I made a copy I got the message that the show hadn't been mastered correctly for burning onto a double layer, but the Verbatim discs still played great on a DVD, (unlike the Ridatas)  which was a huge blessing.  I really felt I was guided and watched over through this whole process by angels who made it happen.  I was so thankful by the end of the program, that everything ran well, and that the audience seemed to enjoy it.  I spent a lot of time the next week pressing more DVDs and getting them distributed.



Janet with Robert and Lurlene

Steve helped with set up and clean up, and also gave editing suggestions on the slide show.  Others who helped with special assignments included:

MC: Robert Ogle; Food, set up: Eileen Fahey & family; Decorations: Hurst family; Prizes: Lurlene Gutke; Games:  Silvia Stubbs; Flyer Delivery:  Cec Tibbitts, Kelly  Pugh Family, Joel Tate, Brian Kirby, Steve Wilcox; Name tags: Diane Balch; Table Toppers: Cherie Shumway; Orders: Calvin Balch; Production: San Juan School District Media Center: Rebecca Stoneman and Karen Bronson.

Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries

Jason Deere challenged the youth to commit to a date to turn in
their mission papers.  Anthony just happened to be a part
of this young man's photo commitment which he had posted
on Facebook!

We gathered up as many as the adult members of the family who could come and we all went to a red-neck missionary concert with the Nashville Tribute Band Aug. 25. 

Sandy's outdoor amphitheater was a great location.  Though a wind came up for a few minutes, it calmed down and we even had fireworks in the background. We met first at the Black Bear to eat at Nathan's suggestion.   It was quite good with lots of choices. 

Those coming were Tammy and Nathan, Chris and Pam, Ashley and Anthony, Andrew and Amy, and Heston and his wife.  It was very enjoyable and a testimony builder.  I think everyone enjoyed it, though Steve wasn't over excited -- despite the fact it was his birthday present.  The long drive may have had something to do with that. 


We stayed that night with Autumn and went to church with them.  So we were able to visit with all five families up north.  Headed back home on Monday, Yeehaw!  When I got home I downloaded two of Katherine Nelson's songs to use on the Ward Reunion show: Born Brave and Home Sweet Home. She was the opening act and performed for about 30 min.  I love both of those songs.

Finishing the Deck

 

Orlo had a week's hiatus from the deck project when he went back to Arizona for Sheila's graduation with her nursing degree. She was top of her nursing class and was also the student speaker at graduation. It took about two more days to add the extension to the top so that the stairs would have ample room to disembark.

 

 As you can see the change also opens the window up more, as the stairs are now 3 feet further west.  With the addition of the platform to access them at the top, it also provides more shade along the sidewalk and planter, and he only had to add one more support, as he could attach to the house.  I like the deck a lot and I think Dad does too.



Lawsyn Margaret's Baby Blessing

 

Anthony and Ashley and their three beautiful children.

 

A huge gathering of the Wilcox, Farnsworth, and Burdick Clans converged on Mountain Home, Utah to celebrate Lawsyn's official name and blessing ordinance on August 5.  Anthony gave her a wonderful blessing and she looked adorable, as did our other two new grandchildren, who also lent their voices to the occasion.

Isabella born May 9, Ryan born June 7 and Lawsyn born June 25

 

Little toesies in a row

We came up the day before and stayed at the Farnsworths.  Grandpa Sam had been in the hospital in SLC, so Ashley's parents had been with him and didn't get back until later.   He was able to be there for the blessing on Sunday, however.  Rob and Kathryn, Nathan and Tammy, Andrew and Amy and Chris and Pam and their families were able to be there.  Theron was gone, so Autumn didn't try to drive over on her own.

 

Lawsyn isn't sure about who all these strange people are holding her

 

Isn't Ryan the cutest little bundle!

 

The girls have had enough of picture taking for one day, thank you!  Ryan remained unperturbed throughout the day!

 

Brendan and Laurie Come to Visit

Nathan delivered precious cargo to Blanding  July 28, bringing Laurie and Brendan down to spend a week with us.  We are so happy to have them come.  The first night Ethan came over and they all ended up in the same bed.  I'm not sure how comfortable their sleep was.

We did quite a bit every day they were here. 

Steve took the kids fishing, we taught them how to play Kubb.

One afternoon we took a picnic and traveled down
through Montezuma Canyon.

Laurie made a baby quilt for  Isabella.

They even went crawdad fishing with hot dogs.  They came back with a lot, so Steve taught them how to cook the crawdads, and then we ate them...or at least some of us did!  They had a lot of fun catching them, however.

I helped Laurie design and make a baby quilt using  2.5 inch strips. First we picked out the fabrics and then she learned how to use a rotary blade to cut strips.  We tried tying it outside on the deck, but it was so bright -- we had to wear shades!

The finished quilt with the binding on!  This picture also shows
the beautiful sunflowers we grew this year by the garage.

I also took Laurie down to meet Autumn Evens. She is one of the young singles I go visiting teaching too. Autumn offered to let her ride one of the horses. Laurie was so happy about that.  I think it was her first time to ride a horse bareback.

 We invited their Lacy friends over for a sleepover on the new deck which was a lot of fun for all of them.

One night we had a neighborhood social while they were here and shot water rockets off in the orchard.  Everyone loved getting wet.

 

We took the kids back to Altamont with us Aug. 4th when we went up for Lawsyn's baby blessing. On the way up we stopped at the museum in Price and visited all the Dinosaurs!

Run, Laurie, Run!

It was a busy and fun week, and I think it was great for all of us to break away and have fun.
Nathan and Tammy drove over to Mt. Home Sat. night and stayed at the lodge at the foot of the hill where the Farnsworths live. Rob and Kathryn also stayed there.