El Salvador, then Utah/Idaho...

This week...in El Salvador, then Utah/Idaho...

    No this isn't last week's post.  We did go to Utah and Idaho again.
We decided on Thursday morning August 7 that we needed to go to the funeral of his sister, Phyllis, which was the next day: Friday, August 8.
     I couldn't find an available airplane reservation, so we thought we were too late to get to Utah and Idaho.
     Jaime López  called Church Travel and they found two seats on a United Flight leaving at 12:20 noon.  This was at 9:00 as we were about to start the temple presidency weekly meeting.
      Walt's counselors told him that he should go and they would cover our shifts.

       President López drove us to the airport--a 45-minute drive-- and we were to the gate just before noon, where we learned the flight was delayed an hour.  So our two-hour layover in Houston was cut to an hour.  We cleared customs and immigration and got to our gate just as they were boarding. (Too close for comfort!)
       We landed in Salt Lake City at 9:30, but after renting a car, with a plan that we would get a hotel near the airport to get up early the next morning to make the 4-hour drive on to  Wendell.
        However, after calling then stopping at several hotels along the way, Walt asked why there were no rooms available.
        They told us that because of two big conventions in the Salt Lake Valley and a rodeo in Logan, there was no rooms available anywhere in Salt Lake or Cache Valley.
          We ended up driving all the way to Burley, arriving at 3:30 a.m.   ....
         We rendezvoused with all of our kids, except Steve, on Friday morning and car pooled to Wendell for the ten o'clock viewing and the 11:00 funeral.

           The funeral program was very well done by the six children of Phyllis and Dale Bunn.
Here is the photo that was with her obituary.

Here is a photo from her high school days.  She graduated from Wendell High School in 1950.  If it were in color, you could see her bright, natural red hair.

Jeanine Gunderson Bunn, wife of Don was very tender when she was helping Brenda and Beverly put the temple veil in place for their mother just before the casket was closed.

    And her daughter, Rhonda Jane Bunn Hill, sang ♫♪"I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked"♪♫ as her Grandmother Phyllis had asked her to do back when Phyllis had returned from a trip to the Holy Land with the Bodily's.

Matthew Bunn gave the dedicatory prayer of the grave.

And here is a tender moment when Becky Bunn Vipperman--who came from Portland, Oregon--was with her Grandfather Dale Bunn.

Here are Walt with his brother Dale by their sister's casket.

Here are our six children who were able to come:

Janie, Gary, (Steve has a new job in Utah and was not able to get off), David, Julie, Brian flew in from Tennessee, Jen flew in from Minnesota.

Here are the six children of Phyllis and Dale, plus the other Ray & Jane Petersen cousins.  Twenty three of the  26  living of the 27 came to the funeral.  They all loved their Aunt Phyllis! 

(I hope someone got seperate photos of each family so we can see them closer.)  Could someone please e-mail us the photo of Dale and his family together, and Dale Petersen and all his six children? Thank you.  And did anyone get a photo of the 5 of Bonnie's 7 living children who were there together? We would love to have that, too.

By family--not by order standing:

From Bonnie & Mutt Smith and Bonnie & Chuck Degler families: Bonnie-Bliss; her daughter Janet Miller from Colorado; Brent from Bliss; Kevin-Alaska; Christopher-Oregon; Andrea-Boise.  

From Phyllis & Dale Bunn family: Don, Matthew, Mitchell-all Wendell; Max Clifford-Pocatello; Brenda Tagestad-Washington; Beverly Inglis-Boise. 

From the Walt & Eileen Petersen family: Janie Fisher-Rexburg; Gary-Saratoga Spring; David-Draper; Brian Petersen-Tennessee; Julie Peterson-Saratoga Springs, and Jen Brewer-Minnesota.

From the Dale & (Vicki who passed away in 2000) Petersen family: Ruth Cole, Heather __________, Cliff, Ray, and Nate Petersen. All of Dale's family was able to come from Utah.

"She was our favorite aunt!" they said.

We appreciate their spouses, children, and significant others who came with them.

Here are Bonnie (Bonnie's first-born daughter), with her daughter Janet McCrorey Miller who has been in Bliss from Colorado helping her Mom after hip surgery--one in March, the other one on July 9.

Here are Bonnie's 8th born, Andrea from Boise, and 6th born, Kevin Degler here from Alaska.  We weren't fast enough getting the photos before Bonnie's 3rd and 7th born Brent and Christopher had to leave.

Here we are with some Prescott cousins: Susie Sommerkorn--Kaysville, Utah; Lynda and Jim Prescott, Hammett, Idaho; Sharon and Bill Prescott, Caldwell.

Here are the five living daughters of Stan & Vida Petersen.

Petersen cousins: Left to right: Lareen Fox, Karla Reynolds, Mary Kate, Audrey Hibler, Jean.  I think they are all from Utah.

They, too, loved their "Aunt 

We did get a photo of Mitch and Matt with Walt.

        After the funeral Jen rode with us to Rexburg and are staying with our oldest daughter Janie, her husband Shawn, and their children.  

        We will drive to Salt Lake tomorrow morning for our 12:30 noon flight back, scheduled to land in San Salvador at 7:45 tomorrow evening.
        Maybe more later, maybe not.
Monday morning at Salt Lake Airport. About ready to board at 12:00 noon.  We left Rexburg at 5:30, and got here at 9:45 a.m.