Traces of Time . . .

This week 

~ July 4, 2016 
to 
July 10, 2016

in IDAHO ~

How fast these Spriing and Summer months

are zooming by...

Happy Fourth of July

.

We're going to drive up to Lake Cleveland, then through the City of Rocks, ending with supper at the Rupert Square Independence Day celebration.

Driving through Albion, we stopped for a while at their celebration and ran in to Ray and Jolene Robinson.  Their daughter, Becky who lives in Idaho Falls was there with her five children.  The three boys were off to play some old-fashioned games--like gunny sack races--and couldn't stay for a photo.

Lake Cleveland had a lot of campers.

...and a lot of fishermen and women.

We almost got to stay a while for the Almo parade at 3:30, but the policeman blocking traffic told us how to go back a ways and take the rode a mile over to the Citiy of Rocks road.

He said to Dr. Petersen: "You were my doctor when I was a little boy."   

Our kids think Walt runs into someone who knows him anywhere in the world he goes.

Paula Nelson, Debbi Jones sister, walked up to the parade just as we had turned around and were driving by where the police pickup was parked.

At City of Rocks, the young man walking by the parking area for the trail to the look out, kindly took our photo.  He said they had just rappelled up and back down Castle Rock.  His group was from Washington D.C.  He said it had taken them 5 hours.  People do come from all over to rappell these famous rocks.

It took us about 45 minutes to drive through the City of Rocks National Reserve with making that one stop.

Walt took a lot of photos while I was driving. I may add more later.

We got home about 5pm and decided we needed a nap before going to the Rupert Square Festivities to have supper.  But when we woke up, we were still too tired to go, so just had supper at home and watched an old 1938 movie about Alexander Hamilton.

It has been a great Fourth of July together.

Here we are last 4th of July week with Dale and Connie at the Rupert Square where we'd seen "Forever Plaid" at the renovated Wilson Theatre.

Yes, God Bless America today and always.  And God has and always will bless America. That's why we need to always follow Him.  Walt and I pray that we will always keep His 

Commandments and Honor Our Covenants.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - 

 I had Mohs Surgery this morning in Twin Falls.  It only took Dr. Kurtis Reed one cutting to have clear margins from the squamous cell carcinoma spot just below my right eye.

Dr. Reed and his assistant are excellent at what they do!  I am very thankful for their expertise.

Now we're on our way to see the Brewers--Jen, Jerry, and their 7 children--who are in Provo 2 1/2 days after their Brewer Family Reunion in the Vernal area July 1-4.  Friday morning they make the 18-hour drive back to Rochester, Minnesota

We rendezvoused with Brewers Tuesday evening in Orem at Cascade Park.  First thing Walt had some questions for Dr. Jerry about spots on his face that need watching for pre-cancer or cancer sighs.

Also coming were David and Julie, Anna, Sam, and William.  Julie and her four, Jacee, Jackson, Maddie, and Rigdon were there.  Gary, Jacob, and Isaac where there, too.  Steve and Carter were able to come later after something they had to be to.

Sarah, Jacee and Anna were excited to see each other.  Anna and her family are going to Jackson Hole area in Wyoming tomorrow for their Stake Youth Camp.  Julie, David, and Josh are also going.  Julie is the Young Womens' president in her ward.  I thought I got a photo with Anna in it, but guess I didn't.

Jerry's sister, Robyn and her husband Darrin, were flying out at 5am the next morning so they were there with their 4 children.  They live in one of the Carolinas. (I can't ever remember if it's North or South Carolina.)

I didn't get a photo of the siblings till the very end, so only Jen, Steve, David and Gary were there for the sibling photo.  Julie had left with Jacee and Rigdon. Jackson and Maddie rode the few blocks from the park with us to the rental home where they had the big cousin sleep-over with 17 cousins.

Steve and Seth have an ongoing tennis match tradition.  Seth as a 8th grader last year, played on the high school tennis team in Rochester.  Carter came with Steve, but I don't think I got a photo of Carter-who will be a sophomore next year at West Lake.  Carter has been on a great soccer team for many years.

July 6, 2016 - Wednesday

Here's the sibling photo for Wednesday--Jen, Julie, and Gary.
Steve was planning to come Wednesday morning also, but was called in to an unexpected meeting for his job.

 Gary cooked a pancake breakfast for everyone...

...with a syrup tasting contest.

The one everyone liked the best was the homemade one, made from the recipe handed down from my Grama Huffaker, to my Mom, to me and now to our kids and grandkids. It's made with Mapeline--and I think the recipe is actually the one on the box that 

the bottle of Mapeline comes in.

Then Jerry changed the dressing from 

my Mohs surgery of the day before. 

 

 He said it looked perfect.  My eye didn't turn as black and blue and they expected it to.  However, I had put ice on it--15 min every hour--on our drive to Utah the day before.

I was surprised and happy that I hardly had any pain.

It just still had a little bleeding of fresh blood, so Jerry tightly put the covering tape on with instructions to 

not change it for two days.  

Not everyone gets to be checked by the head of the Dermatology Surgery Department at Mayo Clinic.  And he won't like me telling everyone what a 

great Mohs surgeon he is!  

Dr. Brewer is the one who trained Dr. Reed, whom Jerry said is the best resident he has had at Mayo Clinic.

So I'm in good hands all around!

Then we got to go on a wonderful tour of BYU with Seth and Sarah, who as 9th graders, are hoping to go to BYU and they and their family are allowed to be driven around campus and stop to go into the building of the major they are considering.  Then they are given a packet that explains how to prepare to become a student there.  (Mainly it takes working hard for top grades, high ACT, service and leadership experiences, plus other skills.)

Here's Sarah and the excellent guide for her tour in front of the Performing Arts building, which Sarah is interested in as of now.

Here we are in front of the tour cart.  In addition to the driver-guide it holds 7.

Next stop was at the apartment where Jen and Jerry first lived when they were married, then over to The Riviera where Jen, her brothers and sisters, and also Jerry lived during their years at BYU.  All seven of our children graduated from BYU.
I didn't get out of the van to get photos, but I did get a photo of the sign for "Creamery on Ninth" where they all stood in line for 40 minutes to get BYU Ceramery ice cream cones.  They were all too tired to stand together for a photo with their cones.

After pizza for supper, Jerry put on the movie "Back to the Future III,' while most all the kids watched that while the adults talked out on the patio.  Sarah had fun with Abbey and Jacee.  They are all near the same age.

  We have 4 granddaughters born in the year 2000--so Janie has coined them as "The Millennial Girls."  But the other granddaughters born a year or two later all have fun together.
Here is Sarah with Abbey -- who is the first of the Millennial girls (the others are Emma, Ashley, and Anna).

And here is Sarah, Abbey, and Jacee--ages 14, 16, and 13.

Everyone was tuckered out at the end of this day.

July 7, 2017 - Thursday

Had 13 cousins together today...

Have had as many as 18 together to be with their Brewer cousins this week. Fun cousin time.

We said goodbye to the Brewers as we left the "Hang Time--extreme trampolines" in Provo as the last cousin activity before the Brewers will be on their way at 5:30 tomorrow morning to make the 18-hour drive back to Rochester, Minnesota on Friday, July 8.
In birth order are twins: Seth and Sarah, 14; Ben 11; Joshua will be 9 on July 31; Lizzy 6 1/2; Adam, 3 1/2; and Anna 1 1/2.

After lunch at Golden Corral, we had a rest at Julie and John's, then headed home about 5:30, pulling in to our driveway at 9:30.  It was exactly 210 miles from Saratoga Springs to Burley.

After they got packed Thursday night they watched an old movie filmed in Utah in 1993 about kids playing baseball.": "The Sandlot."

July 8, 2017 - Friday

Brewers headed out at 5:30 a.m. for Minnesota. We called at 10:30 this morning and they were in the middle of Wyoming. 

This afternoon we went to the viewing of Laurel Anderson Jensen's husband, Reed Jensen.  Laurie was a nurse at the Cassia County Hospital Emergency Room for many years.

She was always an excellent nurse.  Walt appreciated her expertise all those years that she helped him with many emergencies that were brought to the hospital.

Here we are with Laurie's oldest daughter, Tamara.  Tamara said to Walt: "You were a big part of my growing-up years in Burley.

At the dedication of the grave at the Riverside Cemetery in Heyburn, I had left my camera in the car, so didn't get any photos there.  As we were driving back to Burley, we stopped at the cheese and ice cream shoppe on the first floor of the "Upper Crust" Restaurant.
What a serendipity to be there at the same time as Charmaine Ralphs and her daughter Becky, and Becky's two daughters.
It's always nice to have a little ice cream on a hot summer afternoon.

Walt had me drive over to the river while we finished our ice cream.

There were several boats at the Snake River this afternoon.

July 9, 2017 - Saturday

Before entering the temple with Debbie Cunningham Harrell.

Three hours late Debbie came out front to take photos with her Burley 3rd Ward friends who came to be with her in the temple--Bishop Steve and Michelle Gerratt; Dave and Marilyn Gibbons--her home teachers; Dan and LaRae Crane; Terry (an officiator in the session) and Pat Greenman, formerly Burley residents; and Walt and Eileen Petersen. LaRae Crane and I are Debbie's visiting teachers. Walt and I taught Debra the Temple Preparation lessons.

I am going to put the above photo in again and make it extra large to try to get a good closeup of Debra.

Then Sister Swallow came out after finishing her Saturday morning shift at the temple.  She was Debra's attendant.

It's not often to be able to get a photo of your temple attendant.  Sister Swallow was an excellent attendant.

This is Debbie's sister, LaDonna who came before the session and waited the whole time until her sister had finished her session.

It was so nice to have Bishop and Sister Gerratt as the witness couple. So Michelle was sitting on one side of Debra, and as her escort, I was sitting on the other side of her.

Then we had lunch at The Sizzler with Debra, LaDonna, Dave and Marilyn Gibbons.

I had learned several years ago from Brother Gibbons to tell a person going through the temple for the first time that they only had to remember two things: 1. Their new name, and 2. How they felt.  So many new things are learned in the temple, that it takes going many times to learn and remember everything.

Debra said she was going home and writing everything down of how she felt.

As we were going to the temple doors at eight o'clock, Debra told us that her bishop and then the stake president had told her that as she entered the temple, to leave the outside world and all her worries outside and feel the peace and serenity in the House of the Lord.

It was an honor and privilege to be with Sister Debra Cunningham Harrell this morning as she received her endowment at the Twin Falls Idaho Temple -- the House of the Lord.

July 10, 2017 - Sunday 

David and Marilyn Gibbons spoke at Sacrament Meeting today.  They had written down that the Bishop had asked them to speak on July 17.  But they spoke today when they saw their names printed on the program.  And they gave great talks about missionary work. And Dave spoke about his three years as the first counselor in the Idaho Twin Falls Mission - 2013 to 2016.

Bishop Gerratt also called on Gary McCall and Steve Ormond to come and share their testimonies.  They also did a great job.

Our Sunday School lesson #26 covered Alma 223-29 "to encourage us to strengthen our conversion and increase our desire to elp other become converted."  Ken Weeks teaches with conviction and gets class members involved in answering questions, along with discussing the scriptures covered.

Candace Wyatt taught our Relief Society Lesson #13 "The Temple--The Great Symbol of our Membership."  

It began with a quote from the Prophet Howard W. Hunter:

"It is the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church worthy to enter the temple."

Here is a great  quote from the lesson about temples.

          "The temple is a place of instrution where

            profound truths pertaining to the

            Kingdom of God are unfolded.  It is a

            place of peace where minds can be 

            centered upon things of the spirit and 

            the worries of the world can be laid aside.  

            

            In the temple we make covenants to obey

            the laws of God, and promises are made 

            to us, conditioned always on our faith-

            fulness, which extend into eternity"

                            --The Priesthood and You, Melchizedek

                                             Priesthood Lessons--1966, Salt Lake City:

                                             The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

                                             Saints, 1966, p. 293

The Stake Relief Society President, Sister Boemer, who was visiting, said that she thinks of her temple recommend as her "Passport to Heaven."

Monday, July 11, 2016

We were so saddened this morning to see in the news that a tree had fallen on a family's tent at 4:00 a.m. while they were sleeping in the Provo R.V. Park by Utah Lake.  Then we saw

our friend, BenJoe Markland's, post that it was his family!

They are visiting family in Utah.  They moved to San Salvador in October 2011 after we had been there just three months.  He was called as our Stake President there just a week before we finished our three years, three months' service in El Salvador.

President Markland posted on his face book page:

He had just posted this on his face book page two days before, Saturday, July 9, 2016: