Short trip to Tucson

This picture was from last week when Crista was down.  Uncle Nick should receive 

Uncle of the year award for taking 6 little girls into the hot tub.  Later Camden got in, too!

Ori and Hyeji went with us to "Cinderella" at the Centerpoint Legacy
Theater.  It's the new "politically correct" version.  Roy and I 
don't like it.  It takes away some of the magic of the original.

We still had a great time with these two beautiful grandchildren.

Thursday we went for a quick trip to Tucson. I've only been there once before when I helped Rosilene and Glenn when she was pregnant with (Emily?).  Of course, I don't remember anything about that trip except playing with Josh. 

When we arrived in Tucson we went immediately to an airplane museum.  Roy loves 
WWII aircraft.  The B-17 is his favorite.  The man he is talking to flew 26 missions in a B-17.  He was the tour guide for the day and was telling stories about his experiences.  He was funny and interesting.  And, he was 99-years old.  He mentioned he was lucky.  I think that was an understatement.

Catharine in front of a B-17

A story about a B-17:  Several years ago, for Roy's birthday, I gave him a gift.  He was able to go for a ride in a B-17.  I stayed on the ground to watch because I don't love airplanes enough to have paid to go with him.  The ride was probably only 1/2 hour or so, maybe less.  I think he thought it was pretty awesome.  The next day, a pilot and small crew flew the plane to the next location (they were touring the plane around to show it off),  In flight, a fire started on board the plane and the pilot had to crash-land in a corn field in Missouri.  He was successful in saving himself and the crew, but between the fire and the crash, the plane basically disintegrated. Roy was grateful he was able to fly in it before it was "retired," and that it didn't start on fire while he was inside!

That evening we went to a play called, "Arizona Smith and the Relic of Doom."  The theater is pretty much identical to the Desert Star Theater in Salt Lake, but we couldn't find anything to show they were affiliated with each other.  They do the same kind of plays--melodramatic spoofs.  The little band of a pianist, a bass guitar player and a drummer were the hit of the show in my opinion, but the actors were pretty talented, too (more comedians than actors).

We spent the next day exploring Tombstone, Arizona.  Roy had had me watch "Gunfight at the OK Corral" with him before we left, then we googled to see how much of the movie was historically accurate.  We took a tour of the town and watched a gunfight, then walked around and through a lot of the shops.  It's very touristy, as you can imagine.  We didn't take any pictures.

Near to Tucson are some mountains that climb to about 9,000 feet above sealevel.  It was going to be 82 degrees in Tucson that day, but we chose to find cooler weather.  Still, it was nice and sunny and beautiful.  Below are some pictures from our drive (and hike).  We had to keep the hike to an hour since we were due to fly out at about 4:50.  

We had a picnic for lunch with food we'd picked up from Sprouts.  This time it was my turn to

take a picture of Roy with food in front of him.  Luckily for him, he hadn't started eating yet.

If you look on top of this Seguaro cactus, you'll see a little bird.  I took another step closer and it flew away.  It was called a Cactus Wren.

Roy is standing in front of a different variety of prickly pear cactus called "polka dot cactus".  In the background and in the 2nd picture you can see that the Seguaro cactus was freely disbursed throughout the landscape.

Jennie sent me these pictures.  They were tending Yuli.  I had had her earlier that day while Jieun took Dan to the doctor.  She wouldn't nap at my house so Jennie and Jordan came and picked her up so she could nap in her own crib.

 

This is Yuli.  They got her one year portrait done (a little late).  By tradition, they dress the child in the Hanbok (traditional Korean dress) and put a number of objects in front of her/him.  The objects the child picks up predicts some of her future.  Yuli grabbed a brush (for art), coins (wealth), and a gavel (some sort of job in law).  All I know for sure is that she's a little cutie.

Today was my last ward conference.  I was excited for it because it was my home ward and it was my turn to speak to the youth.  I haven't been sick for over a year, but I came down with a cold.  In this day and age, you don't go anywhere with a cold.  The positive was that I was able to listen on-line to both the sacrament meeting, and the adult Sunday School class which was taught by the 2nd counselor of the Stake Presidency, as well as the Stake Sunday School President and the Stake Relief Society President.  I think I mentioned before that our theme was based on the scripture, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." The 2nd counselor shared some stories about the faith he's gained through some of  his trials, and how he's held on to his faith and belief. He told about a trip to Disney Land with his four children (about 16 years ago).  He said that his oldest son (age 10 at the time) constantly needed to go to the bathroom, and on the last day of their vacation, he didn't even want to go to the park; he just wanted to stay in the hotel room.  On the trip home, he googled about his son's symptoms and the symptoms suggested his son was diabetic.  They made an appointment and took him to the doctor, and sure enough, he had Type 1 Diabetes.  This is a very serious childhood illness (Grant Nelson, Tristan's son has this and Tristan and Matt and Phil and Char can probably understand some of the worry of these parents).  This boy struggled more from the lows of blood sugar than the highs, and when his blood sugar would get too low, he would have seizures and sometimes pass out.  President Y said there were nights when the spirit would tell him to go check on his son, and other nights when he would hear his son in the kitchen, so he would listen to make sure he was able to get something to eat.  If it got quiet, he'd run in to try and catch him before a seizure began. When all this began, our 2nd counselor gave his son a blessing.  He said that he had a strong impression to bless him to be healed.  It's been 16 years, and that healing has not come to pass.  However, he said that he has faith that someday it will happen--even if it's not in this lifetime.  I was touched by his story.  We have to lead with our faith, as the father in the bible did--"Lord, I believe." 

 

From Phil's letter:  I wasn't as close to this cousin as Phil was, nevertheless, I want to record this event in my life also.

"The cousin that I have had the closest relationship with is Ray Gammell. He is the second youngest son of my mother’s half sister, Louise. While still living in Springville, until I turned nine, I spent a lot of time at Ray’s home. His father, Blake, bred Arabian horses for show and it was always a fun time playing in the barn and watching the horses. Surprisingly, we never rode them. Ray didn’t like horses. For him, they were work, and he didn’t have the pride in them that his father had. Ray is in charge of all the equipment for the Clyde Companies. Considering the size of the company, he has a heavy responsibility. Ray’s wife Lori died this week. She had a great spirit about her and was always so positive and happy. She has battled cancer for a number of years, and finally lost the fight. She was 63. I always admired Lori because of how she overcame a dark tragedy in her family. In 1987, her mother – described as a religious zealot – lost her mind and, after withdrawing money from the bank and burning it in the fireplace, took the life of one of her children and her husband, then she took her own life. Lori had that family history to live with. I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to carry the burden of that experience, but Lori did so with grace." _________