Sunday, March 8, 2026

From St. George on Monday to St. George on Sunday


Monday morning saying goodbye to California friends.  Tom, Laura and Diana.  These folks are actually Mary's friends. She and I stay at Tom and Diana's when we drive down to do the flea market at PCC, this being our third year. Laura is a friend of Diana's whose family moved to New Zealand last fall.  She could not get a Visa to join the family because she was sick.  She is well now and working on the final papers for her move.  It was fun to get to know her.

We pretty much drove straight home, stopping at the DI in St George for a doggy potty break, and some shopping for me.

Mary and I traveled through some heavy rain fall in the dark just before Beaver, which was stressful.  Mary doesn't like to drive in 'weather' and was all set to spend the night at our house, when the rain completely stopped, she headed home from our house around 10.  

On Tuesday I had made an appointment to visit Alysa in American Fork.  She had asked me to get her some clothes from DI, so I left early enough to go shopping at the DI in Springville on my way.  I also found this original horse portrait to reframe and sell.

At the check out I happened to look at the signature and it said, "Emma Wolfenstein, who was one of our missionaries on our second mission.  She did this in 2015, before her mission, but I thought, what are the chances? 

Here's a picture of Emma on her mission.  Now I am not sure I can actually part with the painting.


I had to stop at work to drop off a larger item I had purchased and took a chance to take a picture of the outfit I had found for Alysa.  There are brown corduroy pants, the floral top, a cross-body brown purse and a sweatshirt with a butter fly in the same color scheme.

Here she is at the Developmental Center Cafe modeling her new duds.  How cute is she.  And she loved the outfit, it fit great.  That was lucky.

While I was there, I noticed Randy and Diana Grahm staring at me.  So fun.  They weren't sure it was me, but when I reacted to them, they knew.  Randy used to work at the Developmental Center and knew about the great prices at their little cafe, so he and Diana eat there once or twice a week.  It was fun to catch up.  We met the Grahams through the Heuers and Moes, as they all three lived in the same ward in Highland. That was fun.

Then on the way out I met this nice young man.  His name is Abinadi, we talked about his name, and I told him about Abish (Becca's former nanny) and Teancum Clark who lives in our ward here in Payson. (For the uninitiated, all three names are unique to the Book of Mormon)

That night I laid out all the goodies I had gotten on my trip to California and took pictures.  Its called a loot shoot, and later posted it all on my Insta and FB pages.  This artwork has sculpted flowers that are laid on and painted into the picture.  She's a keeper.

Can you see her peaking out next to the fireplace here?
Here's the whole shoot, including the top hat I got for Dad.  All those I've found in the past have been for a small head.  Dad has worn them on and off, precariously perched on his head. This one is large, and actually fits his head.  Yeah.

Here are some majolica pieces that I'm keeping, as well as old leather books to sell, and paper dolls too.

The painting reminds me of my sister-in-law Julie.

I picked up a whole box of historic pictures, and the little book shown here is about a little girl who can be both sunny and sulky.  The one version is on one side and then you flip it and the other version is on the other side.  Not sure I can pass that on either.

The next day at work,  Robbie Lamb told me he had brought in a painting that was very old, and I would love it.  Its a primitive from the early 1800's, nope not a fan.

When I worked on Thursday, this group came in.  I thought the girl looked so familiar, and asked her if she lives in Payson.  I felt very silly when she turned out to be our just former Stake President's wife, Sister Zapeda.  She asked my name, and said, "Oh I know your husband, he wears the bow ties."  Yep the very one.  Too fun.  Her folks are from Washington and she always brings them to Treasures to entertain them when they visit.

Nadine had messaged Dad and me about joining her on a trip to St. George that weekend.  She wanted us to ask one of our kids to come with her.  The Gun Lock Falls were running, and she had booked the trip hoping her son and his family could come along.  The falls only happen when the Gun Lock reservoir overflows, which has happened 8 times in the last 30 years.  She and Mark had happened to be there when it was running before he passed, so when there were predictions the end of the year that it looked like it might overflow, she had booked all the weekends in March hoping to catch it.  Unfortunately, it was early and her son could not make it.

We asked Davin if he and Adi could come first, which they could not, so ended up inviting Trevor's family.  Trevor and Nell knew Nadine, and Trevor served with her husband Mark in the Young Men's Presidency when they lived in our house during our first mission. The condo had just 6 spots for our family, so since Eva and Scott are both away from home, it worked out great.

Trevor played the guitar, which Nadine loved because she is such a music person.

Here are Nadine and Penny.

On Saturday Trevor, Nell and their family and I went to DI there, and then to the local farmers market.  I bought a heart shaped necklace for a friend from him, and he taught me how to tell the difference between dyed Halite and real turquoise.  

The fruits and veggies were beautiful, but I saw the folks unloading them from boxes typical of produce wholesalers.  That's disappointing, and sort of ingenuous, if you ask me.

Still beautiful though.

And here's a very poor picture of the family at the market.


It was also fun to stop for fancy sodas at a soda shop owned by Trevor and Nell's former neighbor. 
Next on the agenda was the hike up the red rocks to the Gun Lock Reservoir. Thanks for the fun pic Trevor.

Here's Trevor Nell and the girls.

Down by the flow.


The falls were beautiful 

Trevor gets a bit of shut eye.

more...

The word was out, and there were lots and lots of people crawling all over the red hill.

Here Nadine and her niece take a selfie.

Nell, Penny, Trevor, Papa, with Eleanor behind.

What a fun afternoon.

Brie, Nadine's niece.


Trevor and Eleanor.

After Dad fell going down to the streams, about four feet of bumping along the rocky path, Trevor was very supportive of his Dad on the way out.  Always a great kid, even if he is in his forties now. When Dad seemed to be navigating well on his own, and I was very nervous about a fall of my own, he assisted me through the worst of the downward trail. Thanks.

Eleanor again.

Penny hustling along.

Nadine even ran into a missionary she knew when she was a young married in Canada.

Here I am in all my hiking spender.

That night we all went to a great Mexican Restaurant Trevor found, then off to a play at the Tuacahn.
After the play we looked up to see if we were related to the four members of the Million Dollar Quartet.  I am related to Jonny Cash and Carl Perkins while Dad is related to Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.  Interesting!

 
And you know your mom can never pass up a good photo board. I think Dad, Trevor and Nadine loved the play the most as all are into music.

This morning, we signed out of the condo and went our separate ways.  Nadine and Dad and I went to church where the speaker mentioned a not so famous woman in Church History, laughing because he thought no one would know her, Emily Hill Woodmansee.  The funny thing is that Dad and I knew who she was ... she wrote 'As Sisters in Zion', as a handcart pioneer.  The poem was published in a magazine at the time. Later, much later, Janice Kapp Perry, doing research, found the poem and wrote the music, and it was included in the 1985 hymn book.

We got home around 3:00, and I took a nap to recover from all the fun, while Dad ran over to the stake to help with Stake business. 

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