Such adventures we had last week! On Wednesday, February 2, after we got home from work, Stacey and I drove to Buffalo, New York, where we spent the night so we could catch a flight out of the Buffalo Airport early on Thursday morning. We were headed west to visit family on a short five-day jaunt. We have a great connection with Southwest Airlines through Stacey's sister Roxann, who gave us standby tickets. The price was perfect, but sometimes things don’t go as planned when flights are full. Going west, we had no problems. We flew from Buffalo to Phoenix where we had a layover and a delayed flight, but that was okay. Roxann came to visit us in the terminal and we got to spend a few hours with her, which was great. Then we caught a flight to Salt Lake City and Geoffrey picked us up at the airport. From there we drove to dinner.
On Groundhog Day, February 2, 1978, I arrived at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, (it was really the LTM - Language Training Mission - back then) headed to my mission in Japan. On that day, I met a fellow missionary, Jay Williams, from Orem, Utah. We became friends and have remained so ever since. Every year Jay and I write to each other on Groundhog Day, but this year, since I was in Utah, we decided to have dinner. So Geoffrey drove us all down to Draper and we picked up Jay and headed to dinner at a Japanese restaurant (what else). The food was very good, which surprised us because the chef and the waitress were Hispanic. We had a great time eating and reminiscing. After dinner we dropped Jay off and headed to Geoffrey’s house in Herriman.
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| Japanese food with Jay. |
By the time we got to Geoffrey’s house, it was late (especially for Stacey and I whose body clocks were set to Eastern Standard Time) and the girls were asleep in bed already. We retired for the night and on Friday morning Ellie and Gwen were up and out of bed and ready to have a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa.
Over the next days we read books, put puzzles together, colored, played games, read more books, and had a great time. I got some great early birthday cards from Ellie and Gwen and presents from Geoffrey and Joni.
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| Reading books. |
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| A solar system puzzle. |
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| Coloring. |
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| Early birthday gifts for Grandpa! |
The reason for our trip was to meet our newest grandchild (and first grandson) and be there for his blessing. Needless to say, when we saw Henry it was love at first sight. He is six weeks old and as cute as a new grandchild should be. He got lots of holding and cuddling while we were there.
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| Stacey reading with Ellie and Henry. |
Over the course of our visit, we managed to eat out a lot, a rare treat for Stacey and me. On Friday Geoffrey and Joni took us to lunch at JCW’s, a great burger place. On Saturday Geoffrey took Stacey and me to the In ‘N Out Burger (we had to – we only get to eat at In ‘N Out when we’re out west). We introduced Stacey to Animal Fries and their Neopolitan milkshake.
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| Lunch at JCW's. |
In the short time we were there we also got some visiting done. First there was Jay on Thursday. Then on Friday afternoon we visited our dear friend Kent Jacobsen. On Saturday afternoon our nieces Larkie, Shay, and Audrey and Audrey’s little boy Gideon, came over to visit. And we got to spend a few hours on Saturday evening with cousin Rick and Melony (and Dickens, of course). Hannah and our niece Emma (Steve and Linda’s daughter) drove down from BYU-Idaho on Saturday night and spent Sunday with us. On Sunday, the blessing day, we got to be with Tante Kathy Birch and Joni’s parents and her sisters and their families. It was great.
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| Visiting Kent. |
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| Stacey and her nieces. |
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| Rick, Melony, and Dickens. |
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| Hannah and Emma with Henry. |
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| Geoffrey and Kathy with Henry. |
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| Geoffrey and Joni and children. |
Our time went by too quickly and then it was Monday and time to head home. Our trip home didn’t go as smoothly. We didn’t take into account that we were traveling on the day after the Super Bowl (we never pay attention to the Super Bowl, having no interest whatsoever in football). Geoffrey dropped us off at the Salt Lake City airport early Monday morning. We were supposed fly home the same route through Phoenix to Buffalo, but our flight to Phoenix was full – there were no standby seats available. So we began scrambling trying to find alternate routes home. We decided to fly to Las Vegas where it looked like more flights east were available. We spent the entire day in Las Vegas waiting for any fight we could get. At last a flight to Baltimore had three open seats and we got two of them. We arrived in Baltimore at midnight and spent the night trying to sleep (unsuccessfully) in the terminal. At 7:00 a.m. this morning we boarded a flight to Buffalo without any problems. We landed in Buffalo at 8:30 a.m. and were home by 10:30 a.m.
Our trip was so great. Even the rough trip home couldn’t spoil it. It’s good to be home. We’re a bit tired, having not slept much last night. We have a pile of laundry to do. And in a few minutes I’ll be headed down to the barn to do the chores (my nephew Dax did them for me while we were gone – thanks Dax!).
Now after being with so much family in so short a time, here we are, just the two of us again. But now we are more excited than ever for our family reunion in July when there will be a great gathering of family again. That’s what makes me the happiest, my family.
