Referee's corner

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Garn's brother, Larry and his wife Pam brought their daughter Cassandra up from Manteca, Calif. to BYU for school this year and stayed with us for a week. They actually left Fri. morning at 8am to go home and we started packing for our trip in the motorhome to go trilobite hunting. It's been a busy summer so I guess going back to school for me will be like a break but I'm not looking forward to getting up early again. Larry is a diabetic who is legally blind and suffering kidney failure so he had to go to dialysis here twice. He actually said the dialysis unit here is much better than in Simi Valley, Calif. where he goes 3 days a week. He can't walk very well so negotiating our split entry was a bit of a challenge but he usually stayed either up or downstairs once he came in. We got Cassandra moved into a really nice condo across the street from the campus. She has 3 roommates who are all seniors and really nice. Since C is a freshman they are giving her all kinds of tips on how to handle her first year. She'll do great. I loved my time at the Y. Well, gotta get to bed, (ah, no dust or flies....see previous blog)

If you like dust, heat and flies then this is the place for you...

Yesterday, Garn and I along with Misty and Dan and the boys took our motor homes down to Antelope Springs (no antelope and absolutely no water) We did see what used to be Sevier Lake, dried up. It is about 1 hour on a dusty rutted dirt road south of Hinkley, Utah which is about 31/2 hrs from Murray somewhere past Delta out in the middle of nowhere. I thought my back would never recover from the josteling and banging getting there. All to find little fossils on pieces of slate formed 1000's and 1000's of years ago. I had no idea it would take so long, be so dirty and have so many flies! They covered the doors of our motor homes and got inside. Misty's boys had a great time finding these pretty amazing fossils imbedded in the slate. Dan and Garn were in their element too. This is definitely a guy thing. If it hadn't been for Dan and Misty's great dutch oven meals this gal would have rebelled! (Of course I couldn't just leave the barren wasteland; no people or even cell phone bars for miles!) The boys would come back dirty and dusty and thrilled with their finds. I must admit those trilobites were pretty amazing and after Misty and I hiked up to the top of a mountain and could see for miles and look down at our little motor homes and find the kids spread out all over like ants, it had a rugged beauty. We found some pretty amazing rocks on the way down and saw a lizard or two. In the end I was kind of glad I went,( if only to see all the guys' eyes light up at the wonderful finds). But I'm never going again!! Things bounced around the motorhome so much that pipe fittings rattled loose and leaked, food in the fridge spilled and bounced all over and the layers of dirt on the outside of the motorhomes was a sight to see. Even with the windows closed the dust and flies got in! Yeah, this would make a great scout overnighter. I bet you could get a load of merit badges going there! Now that I'm home and showered, I feel much better about the whole 24 + hour ordeal. (But I'm still never going back!)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

They're gone....

At 9am this morning Mandy and the fam. pulled out of the driveway and headed back to Texas after 6 short weeks of vacation. It is a sad day today. Mandy celebrated her birthday yesterday by going to lunch with Garn, me , Jon and the kids to Red Robin and then last night Jon and Mandy went to Hale Theatre with Jon's parents. Mandy also celebrated Mon. night at 9pm by going Lazer Tagging with Julie, Katrina, Kelly and Karen. They had a blast! We also went to Jumpin Jacks play place and jumped and slid on all the blowup and bouncing apparatuses (or is it apparati?) Anyway we all got rub burns. The equipment is new and slick and really fast so the natural reaction is to put your arms or hands out to slow your speed but that only results in blisters! But it was so fun!! We raced and ran around with Misty and her 4 boys and had a great time! Tue. we went to Thanksgiving Point for Two-Buck-Tuesday with Mandy, Jon, and their 4 kids and Austin and Devan, Mike's twin boys aged 14. We visited the dinosaur museum with hands on exhibits. There is a lot there but because everyone else was taking advantage of the $2 deal, half of Salt Lake showed up! Normally it costs $8 a person so this was a really good deal. It was however VERY crowded. Still fun, though. Today I'm doing laundry and getting ready for Garn's brother, Larry and his wife Pam from Calif. They're coming in Mon. to drop off their daughter, Cassandra to BYU and then come up and spend a week with us. I'm hoping to be able to go down to see Cassandra at her condo at BYU. She's a fun girl and I'm excited she's attending the Y. Well, better go and change the laundry... I wish all my family were close...... I miss you all terribly.