THATCHER, AZ

We took our first born to college! She decided to attend Eastern Arizona in Thatcher Arizona. Eric's cousin Babette & Roger Daley live there and Megan was able to stay with their family her first semester until she met some friends to room with. We took two cars out so Megan would have wheels. (We were a little nervous about her car making the trip as it is 15 years old --- it did great!) While there we went to Lake Roosevelt near Globe and boated and skied. We also went to the cemetery to decorate the grave site of Madison & Mckenzie Rhoton - Babette and Roger's first grandbabies who passed away shortly after birth a year ago. Thatcher is also getting a new temple which will be opened in the Spring of 2010. It was fun to see the progress just in the few short days we were here. It was hard leaving Megan ---- but what a blessing to have family in Thatcher! We love the Daley's!!! Our baby's growing up!!!

First Day of School!

What's Summer without a Day At the Beach?

The Connor's, Laker's and Schauers headed to one of our favorite beaches, Oceanside for a fun day! We stopped and got $5 footlongs at Subway and we had a great day in the sun!

Day 8 - Family Photos & Heading for Home

Wow! What a week!! It took a lot to blog it all but felt it important since we did so many things, had an amazing time and were able to see family and extended family on both sides of the family tree.

We were debating on whether we should head for home on Sunday or MOnday concenred with Vegas traffic and all. Eric felt like we needed to get back so we thought it we left Springville at 1pm that we would hopefully miss the bulk of the traffic between Vegas and Barstow and get home around 10pm. Well, close, we got home at 11pm. We did hit traffic in spots --- and was grateful it didn't last too long. We figure an hour total in delays.

We were exhausted -- especially Eric as he drove! We sure enjoyed ourselves and appreciate the hospitality we received from our Springville families. My sister Diane lives 200 steps from Ruth Ann so it was so fun to see her and her family as well.














Eric nicknamed these two cuties Jam & Jelly. Brenna on the left is Jelly and Abby is Jam!

Madison sure enjoyed playing with the girls and hanging out at the Crook's house. Here's my neice Debra along with the girls. (Thanks again for the Chex Mix Deb!!!)

Here's me and two of my 6 sisters --- Diane and Ruth Ann.

The Leishman's have been on the go and have lots of changes in store for them. They are leaving Tuesday for a much needed two week vacation in Hawaii. We look forward to them living in Las Vegas soon!

Here's my nephew David with Jen.

Well, that's about it for our Utah Blog. Here we are all ready to head back for Murrieta. Thanks for letting us stay with you Harrison's. We love you guys as we do all our Utah family!

Day 7 - Temple Sealing, Oquirrh Temple Open House & Carlie & Seth's Reception

We attended Carlie & Seth's 1pm sealing at the Jordan River temple and then went to lunch with the Justice Family at Cafe Rio. (loved it!!) Megan was with us and my neice Wendy brought up Brandon, Jason and Madison on her way to SLC. This was great -- thanks Wendy!!

As a family we attended the Oquirrh Temple Open House which was a-mazing! South Jordan is the only city in the world that has TWO LDS Temples. So cool -- and Joni and Kenneth live right between the two of them. It was very easy to hit the Open House at 5:40 before attending their 7:30 reception. Great planning!! (patting myself on the back here!!)

The Guest Book Table.

Eric and the father of the bride - Kenneth! These cousins need to spend more time together.

Seth & Carlie Rasmussen!

Table centerpieces - each table had different pictures of the happy couple!

Kenneth making one last threat and Seth determined to stand up for marrying his bride!

Kenneth, Carlie, Seth and Joni.

Amazing cake! Looks like 6 layers? (We left before they cut it -- darn it!!)

Notice the candles stand designs are replicated in the cake design!

The cake table.

More photos and decorations.

BYU catering for the food -- yum!

The tented room -- gorgeous!

Uncle Jim & Megan. (He likes to call her "Muggin")

Mike & Joelle - they are due in October . . . it's a boy!

Newlyweds James & Ashley Justice- sealed on June 12th!

Diane & Larry Justice (Eric's cousin). We had such a great time hanging out and visiting with the Justice's. We missed the rest of Uncle Jim's kids as we love them too.

Day 6 - Jordan River Temple Endowment & Wedding Dinner at the Joseph Smith Building

Today, Eric and I had to be out the door by 7:30 am to make it up to the Jordan River Temple for a 9:20 session. We were concerned with traffic and being a Friday and thanks to a lot of 10/80 schedules it wasn't bad. We made it in plenty of time and enjoyed being in the endowment session for Carlie (Eric's cousin Kenneth's daughter) endowment. Eric and I were asked to be the witness couple.

After the session, Eric ended up going over to spend some time with Kenneth and I drove back to Springville as Megan had a hair appointment. Eric was later dropped off and together we drove up to SLC for the wedding dinner at the Joseph Smith Building. We arrived at 6pm only to find NO parking at the JSB and turns out there was a huge performance in the conference center by the Choir so temple square was a mad house. No parking at the conference center because of this event which forced us to be about 4 blocks west of the JSB. We had to walk forever -- as Utah blocks are huge and it was over 100 outside. By the time we got there it was 6:45ish and there were a few others who had the same issues. We were not happy campers but we did start to feel better in the air conditioned room, with food in our stomachs and then got to visit with family members. Yeah!!!

We left about the same time the concert got out so we got to fight more traffic. We originally thought we'd come up to Temple Square on Sunday to see the Spoken Word performance in the Conference Center. But after seeing all the construction on temple square and all the parking issues, we opted not for this trip.

Day 5 - Golf, BYU Football Tour, Bridal Viel Falls, Cabella's & Dinner with the Maughan's

At golf, (yes, this is his fourth round for the week), Eric met a young man named Cort who is from Temecula. Turns out he works for BYU Football in their logistics department while attending BYU. He played the back 9 with them and took a liking to Jason. He invited us to take a tour of the BYU Football Athletics Facility - a rare opporunity. We saw all kinds of BYU football memorbilia, coaches offices, team rooms, work out facility, taping areas, locker room, etc. Jason and Eric were in heaven -- and the girls seemed to enjoy it too!
Below is a special granite rock that certain team members get to chisel on whenever they do something great on or off the field that Coach Mendenhall set up. Pretty cool!

Eric and Jason standing close to the Charger Helmet - these helmets have plaques below them that show where the BYU players have moved onto in the pro ball level.

BRIDAL VIEL FALLS - After the tour, we headed up Provo Canyon to see Bridal Veil Falls which normally aren't this big this time of year. It was over 100 degrees but we enjoyed walking up to see the falls along the Provo River. After today --- Eric is thinking more and more what a great place Utah is to live (play). He wished he brought his kayak.