GROUP SHOTS

    Oh, Monday, Monday ...  What a day.  

There was laundry to fold, book titles from my old book journals to put into the spread sheet Dad set up for me so I can do more efficient searches of questions I have about books I've read over the last 27 years, like "have I already read this book?" 

I also, finally got around to finishing up this group of trunks by doing the last one on the bottom.  I started on the stack in January, and now it's done.

Here is what they looked like in January

Halfway there ...

Me working on the last one on Monday.

Then Dad headed to Barbershop Practice, and I headed to Salt Lake to see how Aunt Joyce was doing.  Dianne and Bruce had been visiting with her but had to leave when she received another visitor because she was in intensive care. I was just glad I got to see them before they left so I had a chance to visit for a minute.

She was in intensive care because when they were putting in a port for dialysis she threw up, and aspirated.  They worked on her so intensively that Joyce, who was conscious, had a sense of watching a TV medical drama emergency on TV, and then realized it was her emergency.  When I went in, it was to meet Darby who was visiting with Joyce, talking about ideas of what to do with Joyce's horses.

On Tuesday two guys from BYU came to make specific choices of places to shoot for the student movie that the gal previewed last week.

Later I headed up to St. Marks to find Clark and Jo visiting.  One or both of them were there every day this past week.

Joyce looked so much better.

On Wednesday I was off to work.  Here I am with Joette nee' Harmon from the Payson ward, who was  friends with Emily.  That was fun.

and Speaking of Emily, who also loves fairy tales, like her Mom, I loved this C.S. Lewis quote. How about you Emily?

When I got home that night, Dad had cleared off the chipping paint from the roof of the van and applied some spray paint.  It has not done well in the weather since being replaced in the garage by Dad's new jeep. Didn't he do a great job, and for only $7.50 ... 

That night Dad joined others in the stake to spread these wood chips

around this play area up at Peteetneet. He really is the energizer bunny.

    On Thursday morning I walked at the cemetery with Tina, in the red, and ran into Bobette Bridenbaugh.  That was fun, and I realized that she reminds me of my friend Kim. It not just the glasses, blonde hair, and short stature, she is also fun and bouncy. 

At work on Thursday, Nell and Trevor came in to say hi, as they were in south county doing the parade of homes.  So fun to see them, and I encouraged them to choose a book to take home ... yep, I'm that book lady.

How cute are we?

After work we met up with Bri and Dave who were taking us to dinner for Father's day.  Not sure how I got included, but we went to Kay's Kitchen and got to see Rui's family too.  Always a good time.

I wanted to show you this picture of Becca and girls from her office out getting some exercise, golfing as it happens ... don't they look great?

Because here I am with my girlfriends out getting some exercise on Friday morning, kayaking as it happens, on Salem Pond.  This is Kathy and Ann .... and weirdly, I had the same impression about Kathy, as I had had about Bobette the day before ... she also reminds me of Kimi and for the same reasons.

What do you think?

Well, Dad wanted to share this shot of Tim and Emily DeWitt as they get a gift basket from their realtor as they get a new house.  Not sure why Becca has a square halo, I've only noticed a round one before.

On Friday we had hoped to stop and see Joyce on our way up to Bountiful to Aunt Shirley's sister Debbie's funeral services. Unfortunately, she was in dialysis at the time and was not allowed visitors.  Here Dad is talking to Hannah, my friend Arlene's daughter.

Thie is Doug and Shirley with Andrew and his wife and one of their daughters.

Here they are with Megan and her youngest son.

Again, Lady pallbearers, my friend Arlene, and her daughter just to the right of her, and Uncle Doug too. There is also Cousin Andrew second to the right.

Here are Debbie's 5 surviving siblings, with my brother Doug just behind. Debbie was the oldest, then my Sister-in-Law Shirley, then my college bestie Arlene, next came Carol, David and Lon.  Not shown in order. (in photo order,  Arlene, David, Carol, Shirley and Lon)

Arlene and me.

Dad, me, Doug and Shirley. Then it was off to Morgan, Utah, Because ...

 

Friday was also midsummer in Finland .... so of course, true faux Finns will want to celebrate it here ...

Fortunately, the darling London's are still hosting this event in Morgan.  This group is of the Watson's, Dad's and my first mission Presidents, us and then Jace and Hannah Jordan who we served with in Finland when they were singetons, and the Harrises who we served with as a couple.

This darling girl is the Smith daughter.  Her name is Eliisa Smith, just like her mom.  I was soooo confused.  You can see her Dad over her left shoulder here.  The Smith's saved us by being our only senior couple friends during covid after the other senior couples went home.  We started going out to their home an hour away as soon as we were allowed to visit those over 70, as had been the restiction initially in Finland, in the meantime we played zilch on face time. Oh, how we came to love them.

Here we are with Burke and Toni Rees, Dad and he were in the big LTM 

group of 24 who arrived in Finland in August of 72.

This is me with Eliisa's daughter Eliisa and with Berti, who was in Finland before Dad and whose mission overlapped just a few months with him.

These are all missionaries who served with the Watsons.

These are the missionaries that served with Sister Wade when her husband was the mission President, plus 3 wives, 2 of whom served with her on her later mission to Finland.

It was such a blowsie  day, but nice because that made it cooler.  Still, it was murder on our hair.

On Saturday I did the decorative painting on the fun antique cupboard I bought a month ago.  We are trying to get the room cleaned up and organized as Nadine will be coming over for dinner and a movie here in a few weeks and it's the only place in the house we can see a movie with others.  It seems the family room has become sort of a stopping point for stuff going to the antique mall, so it's good to try to figure out a better system.

Today we got a sub for our primary class and went to Ron and LaVern's farewell!  Here we are with some of the former Mosida missionaries. The Gurrs, the Hays, Sister Pittman, the Marvins, the Crumps, the Smiths, the Lathrops, the Perkins, the Brimhalls and the current directors the Newmans.

These folks went to the Crumps house.  Perkins, Crumps, Hays, Newmans and Brimhalls.

And some DeJa'Vu, selfie-ing with another

of Emily's buddies, Jennifer Nee' Crump.

We headed home where I did Joyce's laundry and made her some nut bread, before we headed back to Salt Lake for a visit.  Bruce and Dianne were there, and this time we could all be in the room, for a lovely visit, that included some fun old Larsen Stories, so old that they dealt with Grandpa Charles missionary journals, and Aunt LaRee's letters to mom. 

Here are half of our parents' surviving children.

And in the mood to snoop around the internet concerning other relatives, I came up with this dandy ... probably at the Larsen Brothers Shell Station because two of the brothers are wearing service station garb ...  Left to right ... My Dad, Monte, Grandfather Charles Larsen, Tenny and Gene. 

or Rudolph, DerMonte Roosevelt, Charles Oscar, Tennis and Eugene. (We had talked about the brothers' fighting names at the hospital.)  

Bruce said that when Dad was young he got teased about Rudolph Valentino, and just about the time that cooled down .... along came Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. 

And on that happy thought I will bid you adieu.