There and Back - Again

Yes folks, we have been off traveling around the country again in the most important thing I can think of to do these days - visiting family. We began on November 24 to allow a pretty good sized (and cold) storm to pass through in front of us. Although we were held up at the 20/80 junction for a few hours, the weather was great for our drive to Boise, and we had dry roads for the most part. They were wet with patches of snow over the summit, then there was some ice and snow pack around Jordan Valley, OR, but other than that it was smooth sailing and clear (i.e., cold) weather. The next day we were treated to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner by Andy & Saramarie, complete with all of the trimmings - including appetizers of bacon-wrapped lil smokies baked in bbq sauce. As you can see, we also had Italian soda - and more pie than we could eat in a week - how spoiled we were. Thanksgiving evening we went with Saramarie & Andy to his sister's and had fun with all of his family there. What nice people, and great pie. His grandparents Tibbets were there with one of his cousins who is attending BYU; which leads to an interesting story that I will leave for another posting.

Our gracious hosts:

While in Boise we did a lot of shopping, picking up some good buys on ties. We also went to see the latest installment of Harry Potter. It was pretty cold outside, and snowed once, but all in all was really a great time. Oh yes, we also went to a superb Mexican restaurant. I don't recall the name, but if you are ever in Boise, you need to go, it is wonderful.

Monday was the next break in the weather so we broke loose and went to Rexburg. Again we were blessed with great weather and dry roads, except around the Jerome/Twin Falls area. And we noticed that I-84 was closed from the junction with I-86 to the UT state line. Good thing we were heading north. When we got to Rexburg the roads were still snowpacked in town (not on the freeway), and the cold and additional snow while we were there kept them in that state during our visit. It was a veritable winter wonderland. I got exercise shoveling snow as well as a lot of experience driving in the snow.We had a great time hanging out with Peter & Leigh-Ann in their really nice apartment. As you can see they have it well-decorated for the holidays, and we felt the warmth of their holiday cheer there. We also played a lot of games (see their blog for pictures), which were all a lot of fun. And of course we had yummy hot dogs.

The rose between the thorns:

Thursday, between storms again, we were off to Utah to visit with the Ottley clan and with M. What a whirlwind! We finally dropped off the load of stuff we had been hauling around for M at her apt. on Friday, then grabbed a bite to eat, spent a little time in Barnes & Nobles, and went to "Christmas Around the World" with the BYU Folk Dancers. Pretty exciting. That night, and most all of the weekend was pretty much a double-date with M & Nathan. We had a lot of fun with them as they are great company and very nice people all around.

Saturday we all went to the annual Ottley Family Party at Don & Jana's house. We are so grateful that they host this annual family reunion and provide such a delightful setting.

As usual, everybody brought lots of food. Soups with bread and lots of other things was the menu for the night.
And of course, the best part of the evening was the company. Look at this company of characters, for example. We got more pictures of all the participants that we'll put up on a separate post.

Oh yes, here are a couple of Deutsche kinder that we were priviledged to hang around with for a few days.

More characters:

Sunday we began early with music and ended late with music. Early we went to the MTC broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word.

Including a photo op of our traveling companions in front of the Conference Center. This photo taken by someone who obviously knows what he is doing. It was pretty cold that morning, but over all it was pretty warm, relatively, in Utah.

After going to Church with Don & Jana, and dinner with Paul & Sharon (who were our gracious hosts while we were there), we headed to the Provo Tabernacle for the annual Adventsingen. Great music to end the day. Here is a photo of the alpenhorn after it was all over.
Monday we went to the Costco in American Fork with Sharon & I became a believer - it is much better than Sam's Club. We then attended the dress rehersal of M's singing group that performed on Wednesday, and got ready for the trip home. But the fun wasn't over as we went to Harry Potter again, just for good measure and with good company. (By the way, we saw many of the trailers for upcoming films and about died laughing at "Cowboys & Aliens", a film by Spielburg with Harrison Ford. Definitely one to miss.

The trip home seemed short as we had much to discuss, and it was thankfully quite uneventful.

Now we are scrambling to put the house together for the holidays, and get all in readiness. Lots of work, but the fun kind. We look forward with anxious anticipation for family to gather.