First couple of weeks back home

And now, we are back home.  I must admit, the first couple of days were rocky.  Our tenant moved out the first of May so the house was a little dusty and it smelled like an old grandma house.  The smell kept me awake first night we slept there (Sunday).  And, the yard was just completely overgrown.  We had someone take care of the lawn but all the flower beds were overgrown with weeds, many of the things we planted had died, and trash trees had cropped up all over the place.  That also kept me awake.  

Thankfully, Beckie drove over on Monday, the 22nd to help us unpack and Steven had the day off so he also came and we were able to forge into our family room/storage unit to find some of the basic necessities (couches, chairs, dining room table, plates, cups, silverware, towels, etc).  I thought I had packed fairly well but it still took me three days to find the kitchen knives.  They were in a box labeled "items too tall to fit in another box"!!!  

All our chest of drawers were old and junky so we didn't keep a single one.  So Beckie and Steven helped us empty a few bookcases and haul them up and we are using them - along with baskets - to hold our clothes.  

Beckie stayed overnight on Monday and helped Steve and me begin to tame the yard the next morning.  Steve and I only have the energy (and heat tolerance) to work in the yard for about 30-45 minutes per day but we are making headway on the front yard.  The back yard is still a jungle.  We make about three trips to the yard waste site every week...

And, gradually, we are winnowing our way through the family room/storage unit.  We went through a fairly large purge two years ago when we filled the room but we are discovering that what we packed away then is not necessarily what we still want to keep now. And so we are purging again - going through each box and tub and reevaluating again the many years of collected treasures.  I have also learned that I kind of like the spartan-like decor we had while in Arizona.  The problem is that this house has FIVE bedrooms and, as the kids grew up and left, we filled those bedrooms with knicknacs and just STUFF!  We are not going to find another five bedroom house so we can't keep all that stuff.  Only, a lot of the stuff has great sentimental value so we are still keeping a lot.  Sigh.... it is a challenge.   As I go through and repack, I am also doing a better job of labeling.  I sure didn't label very well the first time.  I still cannot find certain things that I KNOW I didn't get rid of.....

So, our first week back was just unpacking, cleaning, and doing yard work.  Our second week, all that was put on hold because it was GRANDPARENT CAMP!  So exciting to have all four Southerland kids here from Tuesday through Saturday morning.  This was to help Emily so she could purge and clean HER house in Ballwin but it was also to enjoy four delightful children who I missed for two years.  We put Lucy and Quinn on blow-up twin air mattresses in one room along with Larkin on a crib mattress.  Noah had a full size air mattress in the room nextdoor.  This mirrored the new bedroom set up that they went back to in St. Louis - Noah getting his own room and Larkin joining her siblings in the "bunk room".  Since this was the first time Larkin was to sleep this way, there was some trepidation as to how she would do but, at least at our home, she did just fine.  (I understand she is a bit of a wild child now that she is back home).  

Highlights of grandparent camp were swimming twice at Steven and Tamara's neighborhood pool (even in the rain), watching "A Dog's Journey Home" at the free movies at the Forum Theater, watching several DVDs at our place, playing with legos and beanie babies, and, on Thursday, we spent the day at Nauvoo with Aunt Elise.  We had some good friends performing in the pageant only that week so it was then or never.  It was a long day but I think everyone had a good time.

after the oxcart ride

waiting to get our cookie at the bakery

at the blacksmith

walking to the visitor center

On Saturday, August 3rd, we took the grandkids back to St. Louis because it was a very special day for Lucy - she was baptized.  I got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and her grandma Southerland gave the talk on baptism.  

I will end with a photo of the three oldest - Noah, Quinn, and Lucy.  I'm so happy to be back near them where I can see them a couple of times a month - especially now that I am also teaching piano lesson to Lucy as well as Noah.  

P.S.

Steve and I have resumed our morning walks.  And, just like we did in Anthem, we collect trash along the way.  But, not like in Anthem, we get to enjoy rain and clouds.

Carlsbad Caverns

Friday morning, July 19th, we visited Carlsbad Caverns since it was on our way from El Paso to Wichita Falls, Texas.  It is located in the Guadalupe Mountains which is shown below.  Guadalupe Peak was quite impressive

Below is the view from the visitor's center and me in front of the building

The caverns were just amazing!  We only had two hours to visit so we opted to save time and take the elevator down the 754 feet to the cave rather than walk down.  It was a good thing we did because the elevator also saved our poor legs and feet.  That cave is ENORMOUS!  We walked and walked for those two hours and never saw anything twice.  It was just incredible and I am so glad we made the time to go.

this stalactite is called a lions tail

These are called curtain stalactites

driving back to Missouri

We left for Missouri on Thursday, July 18.  I don't know how we did it but we had more to take home than we brought so we packed our Element to the roof and then had to tie three suitcases up on the luggage rack.  That always makes me nervous because one time, many years ago, we lost a sleeping bag from the top of our van.  Plus, what if it rains?  Well, happily, Steve was a scoutmaster and learned a couple of really effective knots in between that time and now so our luggage did just fine during the three days of driving. 

Al, the allosaurus, was given to Steve by Sister Fairbanks, a sweet young sister missionary, the week before we left so he has become our vehicle mascot.

We drove as far as El Paso on Thursday, passing through Las Cruces that has a really cool giant roadrunner statue alongside the interstate.

We left Phoenix early enough to get to El Paso in time to drive around some of the places of my youth.  We visited my elementary school and junior high (now called a middle school) and the two buildings, called the "cottages" where I attended first and second grade.  They were built right in the middle of my subdivision - separate from the main elementary school (I wonder what they are used for now???)

The house I grew up in was built in the 1950's during the post-war building boom.  We lived in a nice middle-class neighborhood in a house with three small bedrooms and two bathrooms.  My mother worked very hard to make our lawn the mecca for all the children on the block because we had NO sticker weeds to attack our bare feet.   She had an iris bed along the entire east side of the house.  A large rose garden in back and we had two apricot trees and a peach tree.  She always grew sweetpeas on the south side of the house every spring.  We had the nicest house on the block.  Well, not any longer!  Our house is the most GHETTO on the street, now.  You can see the huge fence surrounding the property.  Instead of grass, it is completely surrounded by cement.  And, the red brick has been painted a bilious orange.  I got a little better photo from the house next door, where my best friend Jamie Kaye lived.  Like many old urban neighborhoods, mine seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance because more than half of the houses look tidy and well kept.  So sad about mine

Jamie Kaye's grandmother owned a motel just north of our subdivision and it is still there!!! That is the original sign.  We used to go swimming at the pool that was in the back of the property.

Not to be missed was the church we used to attend on Douglas Street.  It is certainly not the typical Mormon church design and it is now on the national historic registery.  I was a little worried that, being a Thursday evening, there would not be any meetings being held inside and we would not be able to see the interior.  But, happily, the sister missionaries had a correlation meeting with the ward missionaries that night and so I got to show Steve around.  It has been remodeled somewhat so not all the rooms inside were the same but it was close enough...

We ended our day in El Paso at a steak restaurant.  Yum!

Friday morning, we continued our drive eastward.  We visited Carlsbad Caverns - which will be a separate post - and then on into Texas.  SO flat but getting greener with every mile...

We stayed in Wichita Falls, Texas Friday night.  We got in rather late but still managed to sneak in a quick visit with Sarah and Dan Babbel who used to live in Columbia.

Saturday, it was pedal to the metal through Oklahoma and finally, MISSOURI!

We arrive in Columbia at around 6:30 in the evening.  Steven and our ward's missionaries had gone to our house and set up our beds but we had nothing else to make it hospitable so we spend Saturday night with Steven and Tamara in their beautiful new home just north of us.  Almost immediately after we arrived, we had to unpack our wrinkled Sunday clothes and drive down to the stake center to meet President James at 8:00pm in order to be released from our mission.  We couldn't do it on another day because he was going out of town the next day.  And so, just like that, the name tags were removed and we were regular citizens again - ready to resume regular life again.....

Remaining Days in Arizona

July 1st - Steve and I were invited to join in the departing missionary activities at the mission home.  Highlights were an amazing steak dinner, a testimony meeting, and just spending time with missionaries we have known their entire of service making them particularly beloved.

Steve and me with Sister Kristen Fisk

Below are photos from the mission office on the last Leadership Training Meeting Tuesday.  We in the office just loved those days because we got to see so many of the missionaries all at once.

Elders Loutzenhiser, Egan, Faber, McNatt, Glaus, Tyler Johnson, Hill

Elders Price, Thacker, Hopkins, Cooper, Anderson, Sister Maclaughlin, Elder Aiken

me with Sister Sierra Maclaughlin

Elder Fawson

On Monday, July 15th, our replacements finally arrived.  Elder and Sister Thornton.  They had just come from the recently closed Idaho Nampa Mission where they worked as vehicle coordinator and office secretary so they needed very little training.....just that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Steve and me with Sisters Strong and Faulconer

Tuesday, we all drove up to Cottonwood to a Zone 1-2 Conference  and our very last vehicle inspection.  

Below is a photo of Steve and me at the conference and of us with Elder and Sister Harris.  

On Tuesday, July 9th, my sister, Juli, was down in the Valley for a doctor appointment and we got to spend one last bit of time together at the Phoenix temple and then back at the house for dinner.  Boy, I am sure going to miss seeing her regularly!

On Saturday, July 13th, Steve and I had dinner with Jim and Joan...

And on Sunday, July 14th, we went to Mesa and had dinner with Amy, Cory, Cade, and Colby.  (That is little Eva on Cory's lap.)  Lots of last farewells with dear family members.  Our time in Phoenix has been like an extended family reunion!