End of Summer

Last Sunday night--after I finished the newsletter, Roy and I drove down to Genola, UT to celebrate Nan and Evan Theobald's 50th anniversary!  I used to think people who made it to their 50th were super old, but now I'm less than 9 years away from that milestone.  We enjoyed visiting with the Theobald family.  Tara had planned the party and put it on in her yard, but I think all of her siblings helped her with the food and decorations.  We played a game that they had played previously at Jenna's wedding luncheon (Jenna is Tara's daughter).  Evan and Nan each held two shoes--one of theirs, and one of their spouse's.  When Tara asked a question such as, "Who wears the pants in the family?" everyone would hold up either a pink or blue sign showing who they thought it would be, then Evan and Nan would hold up a shoe to show their answer.  Needless to say, they weren't on the same page very often.  Nan wanted to play a couple of games so that her grandchildren could hear more about their life--particularly their courtship, but of course, most of the grandkids were more interested in playing on the tramp or watching the horses than participating in the game 😊.  Oh well--even the best layed plans...  We got a few pictures, but the lighting wasn't conducive to great photography.

Catharine with Tyler (Nan's 2nd son)

The Theobald family

Roy, Catharine, Nan and Evan

Monday night I met four of my great friends from high school (and Jr. high and elementary) for dinner at The Dodo restaurant in sugarhouse.  Karen Gardner-Dee, Lisa Badger (Wood--she never took her husband's last name), Bonnie Barker Howard, and Leann Bradshaw Hague.  We talked about our families and other things, but the thing of most note to myself was Lisa's comments about her sons missions.  She has one son in Arizona, and one in Decatur, Georgia.  She said that the boy in Decatur was so busy with missionary work that he had to cancel many of his dinner appointments with members as well as other things that were less important than teaching because he had so many referrels to answer.  Most of these were self-referrals, from church media messages.  I loved hearing this because so often the stories we hear are of the difficulties missionaries have finding people to teach.  Of course, the fact that this was in the Atlanta, Georgia area meant a lot to me, too.  I know there are a lot of religious, bible believing people in the south, but I also know that there are a lot of preachers that spend time preaching against us because they don't want to lose their congregants.  Anyway, this news made me very happy.

Bonnie, Leann, Karen, Catharine, Lisa

Roy took his young men to a Bee's baseball game.  Apparently the Bees were slaughtered.  While he was with his priests, I was at an evening Relief Society Meeting.  

Roy, Luke Bush, Quinn Southwick, TJ Anderson (Dallin's little brother),
Cooper Noice, Erik Grothe, Bryan Willey (Bishop),
Weston Johnston, Logen Garner, Ethan Tea

Elise sent this cute picture of Harvey.  I was on the phone
with her when she burst out laughing because he walked in wearing
her swimming suit bottoms. 

A small sampling of the fruit from our peach tree. We had to pick these because the branch was busted from the weight. I had thinned early on, then Roy thinned, then he thinned again, but we obviously didn't thin enough.  They are delicious--I'll be canning and freezing next week. (The bowl behind holds most of the pears from our pear tree.  It's just the right amount to eat this year--we may be sorry in the future that we planted it as it will probably create a lot of work for us.

After renewing my CPR certification on Saturday morning, Roy and I left again for Flaming Gorge.  We have to enjoy the last of the summer.  Also, it's so nice and cool compared to what we have been getting in the valley this year.  It's a little breezy, and definitely too cool for boating.  Of course, we wouldn't do that on Sunday anyway.  I love that we can still get our meetings on-line for the times we miss going to church.  Last time we were up here we went to the Dutch John ward, but this time we opted to watch our meeting from the comfort of our trailer.  

I had a dream this week--it was just a dream and not very coherant, but I was being asked what I felt was my purpose--having children instead of a career.  I awoke very conscious that having children has indeed been my purpose in life.  Raising children to be wonderful adults (and friends) who have testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have a lot to contribute to the world and to their own children is my (and Roy's) greatest accomplishment.  I wouldn't trade this for fame, fortune or any other path to fulfillment.