Yikes! Me and Technology

I should have been done posting about my road trip, but I'm having a hard time - can't seem to get my pictures to download.  I've had some other big breaks in trying to post earlier this year because Picasa (where I put my pictures) updated and I didn't know how to use it. I was so frustrated, but I clicked around enough and finally got the hang it.  Now the problem is either our computer or camera, but more likely - ME.  My lack of ability is probably influencing the situation more than anything else.  I just need to set aside some time to try and deal with it and time is hard to come by these days.

Anyway, I had been putting some pictures together this summer as a catch-up post.  I was working on this before the trek and way before I ever thought I'd head out on a road trip to Utah, but this will have to suffice for now.

I'm still here.  I worked most of summer school during August and yesterday was my first day working in the new school year.  Hopefully I'll get this figured out soon.  These pictures are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we've been up to in the last six months.

Sister Ibarra and Sister Reynders
were introduced for the first time on Temple Square
by our friend Trenton.  It was a fun encounter.

Tommy with friends at the Mormon Helping Hands
service project last April.
They worked at Grace Resources

Cassie and her three youngest
surprised us by coming home from Puerto Rico in April.
Ruben and Jeremiah followed about a month later.

Tommy and the gang at Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium.

Shooting - Tom's latest hobby
How come I just keep posting pictures of Tommy?
Oh yeah, he's the only one getting photos.

Scott, Tom, Sam, and Bill
We had a bit of a reunion this summer.
Bill's family and the Reynders came to visit.
The guys made a trip to Magic Mountain one day.

The week before Hugh and I went on the trek,
Tommy went on a trek.
The Young Adults went with the Lancaster East Stake.
The Young Adults had the option of
just coming up for part of the time
because so many work, go to school, etc.
Tom was there for the whole thing.
He went on a trek as a youth
when he was 14-years old.
8 years later he's doing it again.
He loves the trek.
The YA group made up nicknames.
Tommy grew out his Texas Chops (major sideburns)
for the event, hence, his name was "Chops."

My brother and his wife with their son, Robert.
Bob finished medical school this summer.
He's doing his residency in Kansas City in neurology.

My other nephew David, and his wife and family
moved to Missouri to start a doctorate program
in physical therapy.
They made stops
along the way to their final destination.
Happily they came to see us for a day.

2nd Cousins

This picture is blurry and a little weird,

"Someone is going to break a leg!"

But it also shows all the fun the cousins were having.

Cassie's four boys were jumping and jumping and jumping,

with Ryan (my niece's oldest son) off our garden wall.

Annie and her family came visiting in August

after living in Australia for about a year.

It was so good to see them and they saw my

dad too, of course.  As always - so fun for the cousins!

"No one needs to feel alone
on the road to life,
for we are all invited to come unto Christ
and be perfected in Him."

Elder Benjamin De Hoyos
"True Happiness:  A Conscious Decision"
Ensign, November 2005

Back From "Mormonville"

Salt Lake City Temple

That's what my friend, Lisa, calls it - Mormonville, referring to our road trip to Utah.  We left September 6th and got back yesterday September 12th - 7 days.  Since when do I go on a road trip, let alone with a girlfriend?  Well it happened and I'll be doing a series of posts like I did with the trek.  I'm glad to be home and getting back in the swing of things.  We had a great time.  It was a fun and needed respite.

Description of the experience when Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley:

When we came out of the cañon into full view of the valley, I turned the side of my carriage around, open to the west, and President Young arose from his bed and took a survey of the country. While gazing on the scene before us, he was enwrapped in vision for several minutes. He had seen the valley before in vision, and upon this occasion he saw the future glory of Zion and of Israel, as they would be, planted in the valleys of these mountains. When the vision had passed, he said: "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." 

[Wilford Woodruff, in The Utah Pioneers (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Printing and Publishing Establishment, 1880), 23; quoted in B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Century One, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1930), 3:224]