Memorial Day Weekend

Wow, this past week sure went by quickly!  But that might be because we drove to Indiana on Friday, starting the holiday weekend a bit early.  Stratton, Julina's step-son, graduated from high school Friday evening which is the reason for the trip.  Only, we missed attending.  The drive from St. Louis to Greenwood is four hours.  Add a couple of pit-stops and it gets closer to five hours.  Only our trip took seven hours thanks to construction and a huge slow-down (and dead stop at times) because of an accident in the middle of Illinois.  So, at 7:00 pm, when the ceremony was to begin, we were still somewhere near Terre Haute slogging our way across interstate 70 in the rain.  I had opted to stay in St. Louis Friday morning to attend a string quartet rehearsal (since we have a performance Father's Day weekend) thinking that by leaving at 12:30, we would have plenty of time to get to Greenwood.  Sigh!  One "perk" of the trip was that we were able to listen to the rest of season 1 podcast of "The Dream".  It was fascinating.   Since arriving here with Julina, it has been a pleasant visit.  Their guest room is now "up and running" so we didn't have to get a hotel this time.  We also brought the dogs.  We had their kennel set up in the back of the Element with their beds inside and they slept the whole way.  They are SUCH good travelers.  

They have had brief interactions with Banjo since arriving and Linus is perfectly comfortable with his "cousin".  Sally is a bit more wary.  Julina and Alex have their handyman coming this week to start renovating their kitchen and laundry room/pantry so we spent part of Saturday helping to unload and pack up cupboards.  THAT will be a big, messy project and I don't envy Julina for having to work around everything for hopefully just a week.  We had a little visit with Shiloh at a local ice cream place called Mrs. Curl's.  She is doing well - working at a different job about an hour's drive away at a Honda manufacturing plant.  

The week leading up to our Indiana trip was busy.  I had a late-evening St. Louis Civic Orchestra meeting Monday.  Steve and I had a Zoom church meeting Tuesday evening.  Elizabeth Crippen came into town Wednesday to pick up her finished mother-of-the-bride outfit and she took Steve and me out to lunch at Red Lobster.  She stayed for dinner to which Beckie also came.  We enjoyed a good game of Scrabble afterwards.  Thursday the dogs got baths, we cleaned house, we packed for the trip.  We watched a movie "Please Stand By" that night.  It was recommended by Elise and is about an autistic young woman trying to make her way from San Francisco to Los Angeles on her own and the challenges she faced along the way.  We started season 3 of the Great Pottery Throwdown and we also watched  "Paddington" sometime this past week.  It was cute but forgettable enough that I didn't enter it into my daily journal and now I can't even remember when we watched it!  

Graduation photos of Stratton were through Jostens which was ridiculously expensive so I refused to purchase them.  But, I wanted a photo of him so this evening, I took a couple of shots.  Plus a group photo minus Alex.  

Getting back to the routine

It was a week of getting back to our regular routine - yard work, getting groceries, cleaning - but, because none of those things had been done since before the trip to Utah, all of those efforts were BIG and, because I am old, kind of tiring.  I finally have all the vegetable seeds planted.  I have put in all the potted plants waiting to be set in the ground.  There is still so much yard work to do but at least I have started (as I type this, I am looking out the window to our vacant neighbor's house.  There is a downspout that is disconnected from the gutter and it appears that starlings have built a nest INSIDE.  The spout goes at an approximate 20 degree angle for a couple of feet before it hits an elbow and becomes completely vertical.  I can't imagine how a nest works in there!)

We celebrated two birthdays this week:  Steven's was on Monday and Julina's was on Tuesday.  

Steve had an eye appointment in Columbia on Thursday so we left the doggies with Beckie and spent the day driving all around Columbia - to the eye doctor, to lunch with Elise, to dinner with Steven and Tamara, to teach a cello lesson, and to visit Melanie, Vikki, and Elizabeth.   ALL over town but it was good to see and be with people.  Vikki has a new kitty who is very sweet and friendly.  Here is Steve with her on his lap.

I got a pneumonia shot Wednesday morning on our way to do grocery shopping and I didn't think any more about it until that afternoon when I started to feel kind of crummy and didn't  know why.  Then the lightbulb clicked on.  Happily, two acetaminophen and a good night's sleep took care of everything.  

Beckie came over for dinner Tuesday night.  Afterwards, we enjoyed watching a documentary on Linda Ronstadt. Beckie got the full doggie treatment.

I went over to Emily's on Friday afternoon to teach music lessons and I also did a little bit of work in her yard.  There were several small "trash" trees trying to get started in places not wanted so I took my clippers cut them down and my Tordon to paint on the stumps.  I did dig up one redbud and I have planted it in our yard.  I also dug up three raspberry plants for our yard.  Three of the four raspberry plants we ordered from the Arbor Day Foundation did not live, as well as the pie cherry tree and the red maple so I called them on Friday to report this and happily, the raspberries will be replaced.  They are all out of the cherry trees so we will get a refund.  And, since the maple was a freebie, I just dug it up and put in that redbud.  

I got to glaze my pots on Saturday but I won't be able to pick them for two weeks.  Can't wait....

Steve and I finished season 2 of Relative Race last night - yay green team - and we watched Paddington (on a strong recommendation).  And, that is about it for this week.  

 

Utah and then back home

 Well, we are back in Missouri this evening but I will start this blog with our last three days in Utah.  First - Mother's Day last Sunday....

Steven, Steve, and I attended church with Sarah at her ward at noon.  Then, we headed down to Spanish Fork for the blessing of baby Ivan Sebastian at 5:00.  It was the "grand conjuction" of Lambsons and Merrills:  Sarah, Steven, me, Steve with Emily, Joe, and kids who had literally just driven in from Colorado (where they had stayed over Saturday night) plus Ryan's parents, Craig and Andrea, and brother Andrew with his wife, Megan, and sister Stephanie.  Craig's parents came, bringing cousin Brady, as well as Andrea's mother.  After the blessing at the house, we all trooped a short distance to the neighborhood association park which had a nice pavilion for a potluck meal.  The food was delicious (of course) and it was nice to visit with everyone but temperatures were a bit on the cool side and when the sun went behind a cloud and the breeze kicked up, it was kind of uncomfortable.  Having it at  park was great for the Southerland kids who had been cooped up in a van all day.  

Emily and family rented a lovely airbnb in nearby Salem.

and on Monday, Emily took newborn photos of little Ivan while Steve and I drove Steven to Grantsville to visit with Michelle and Mike.

Late Monday afternoon, we dropped Steven off at a former missionary companion's home in Provo where he was going to spend the evening.  But we had a bit of extra time so we made a detour to visit the home in Orem where Steve grew up.  It was so fun to see it - to see how HUGE the spruce tree had grown - and to marvel at how tiny it was. (two bedrooms upstairs, one downstairs, one bathroom, tiny eat-in kitchen)

Steve and and I drove back to Spanish Fork to pick up Connie Jo and Laura (mother and daughter) and we drove up to Heber to visit Sean and Kristin Collins, our former mission president and wife.  Connie Jo and Laura (both widowed) were Senior Women's Auxiliary Support Missionaries in the Arizona Phoenix Mission and Steve and I got to know them fairly well there.  Connie Jo lives in Spanish Fork and Laura lives in Payson and Steve and I stayed with Connie Jo the two nights that Steven was in town since it would have been rather crowded at Kirsti's.  We had the entire basement to ourselves at Connie's.  But, I digress.... neither ladies had seen the Collins since coming home from their mission so they were delighted to accompany us up the mountain (literally) to see the Collins who have a "cabin" outside Heber up at Daniel's Summit...and it was literally a summit - over 8,000 feet and the aspens had not leafed out yet.  They have an incredible place - made of logs at least eighteen inches in diameter - and three stories high PLUS a completely separate building (connected by a covered walkway) that is called the Arizona Phoenix Mission as it is completely devoted to keeping and entertaining former missionaries from the mission.  The lower level has a full sized pickle ball court and an indoor pool with walls that can be raised to make it outdoor in the summer.  The upper level is a huge open area with couches, fireplace, full kitchen, ping pong and pool tables, large screen television - all meant for visiting and socializing.  Where do they stay, you ask?  WELL, in the main house, on the upper level are two huge dormitories on either side - one for men, one for women.  Each dorm has twelve queen size beds arranged as bunks. 

The main level has the huge great room with vaulted ceiling, a kitchen with two islands and two refrigerators, a laundry area with two washers and two dryers, an office, and the master bedroom suite (with another washer and dryer).  The lower level has five bedrooms - each with their own full bathroom, another great room area with fireplace and large screen television, a weight room, AND a small movie theater, plus a huge food storage area that included three floor-to-ceiling water storage tanks.  Oh, have I mentioned that Sean Collins is CEO of Costa Vida restaurants and Fat Cats entertainment centers?  Yeah, LOTS of money.  But, at least 75% of their home is dedicated to serving all the missionaries of the Arizona Phoenix Mission so they are generous to a fault.  We enjoyed dinner and a lovely visit before driving back down the mountain to home.   (Connie Jo brought her one-year-old six-pound bundle of adorable energy Shitzu dog named Concha)

Tuesday morning, bright and early, we drove Steven to the Salt Lake airport and then we continued on to Ogden where we ate some breakfast and spent the morning hanging out at Sarah's place catching up on family business, emails.  Sarah got off work at 12:30 

and we took her up to Maurine and Cal's in Liberty to visit some more and to spend the night.  Originally, Sarah was going to be out of town on Wednesday so we had arranged for Maurine and Cal to help us drop our car rental back off and to take us to the airport.  But, her out-of-town plans fell through so she was free to hang out with us.  We had a lovely visit and we were so well cared for! (rotisserie chicken for lunch, steak and baked potatoes and GF apple crisp for dessert).  

Sandy, Maurine and Cal's sweet dog

here we are in front of our rental van at Maurine and Cal's 

We bid farewell to Maurine and Cal at the airport and then began our odyssey through the Salt Lake airport.  First, the lines through security were the longest I have EVER seen.  They moved fairly quickly but they just wrapped around and around and around.  Then, we had the incredibly long walk to our gate.  Picture a letter H with TSA at the bottom left side of the H.  That was at one end of concourse A - which is quite long.  The horizontal part of the H is an underground tunnel under the tarmac and it is also quite long.  Then, the right hand part of the H is concourse B and our gate was clear at the bottom end of the letter.  Why they made just one tunnel under the tarmac - in the middle of the two concourses - instead of a tunnel right where the TSA checkpoint was is beyond me.  Or why didn't they create a shuttle between the two concourses?  I felt so sorry for really old people who had to navigate such long distances.  Sure there are moving sidewalks but they only help a tiny bit.  Ugh!  Anyway, we finally made it to our gate and our flight home was great.  I watched the movie about Ruth Bader Ginsberg "On the Basis of Sex".   Beckie met us and drove us home to our two doggies who were SO glad to see us.

Two other events that happened after we got home and then I will end.  This is already too long...

Our ward hosted a campout Friday night down at Washington State Park - about an hour south of Saint Louis near DeSoto.  We packed up the dogs, the tent, the twin air mattresses and away we went.  After setting up our tent and before dinner (which was provided by the ward), we checked out some petroglyphs that are in the park and we looked at the Big River that flows through.  It seems perfect for canoeing and kayaking.  

 

The weather was just perfect.  About twelve families came - some just stayed for dinner and the campfire but most spent the night.  Steve and I and the dogs had an OK night's sleep.  Put in two twin air mattresses, two dogs with their beds, and two tall people and we were quite squished in our little three-man dome tent.  We will try using just a full-size air mattress next time to make some room on the floor for the dogs and their beds. (or we will buy a larger tent) As it was, they had to sleep at the bottom of our sleeping bags so our feet movement was restricted.  But, it was still fun.

During the week, we all received the new CDC guidelines which then prompted Saint Louis City and County to modify their restrictions so today at church, we got to attend mask-less.  And, it just so happened to be the first day to have second hour meetings.  It felt so wonderfully weird to me because we have been so restricted for so long.  

This afternoon, the Saint Louis Civic Orchestra planned an "open rehearsal" at a park in Overland.  The idea was to meet in an outdoor setting and just play together for the first time in over a year.  Rain threatened - in fact, I had to use my wipers as I drove there - but a window in the clouds occurred right at our start time and we played for ourselves and for a tiny audience of family and friends with the sun shining overhead.  And, it was SO FUN to play again.  We read through the Schubert Unfinished Symphony and Beethoven's 6th Symphony and I am very impressed with this community orchestra that I have affiliated myself with.  They are on a par with the Columbia Civic Orchestra, I believe.  Below is a photo of the cello section and the pavilion where we played.  Because of Covid worries and other obligations, we didn't have the complete orchestra but we certainly had enough musicians to cover each part.  I have been on cloud nine ever since....

Second Week in Utah

 Get ready for a huge photo dump as I share our week's activities here in Utah...

Last Sunday, we attended church with the Housemans in Lehi.  (in back are Matthew and Ryan, then Steve and me.  In front is Lori, Alison, and Rich) and then we drove to Salt Lake for a Lambson sibling get-together at Dave's house

(Steve, Cal, Jeff, Darla, Maurine, Michelle, Jo, Dave, Sarah)

We spent Sunday night through Tuesday morning with Michelle and Mike in Grantsville and stopped in to visit the Doris and Elliott Morris (and their adorable dog, Wallie) in Stansbury Park after we left Michelle's

We drove back down to Spanish Fork to be with Kirsti, Ryan, Alice, and Ivan for a couple of days.  We visited an all-abilities park nearby Tuesday afternoon.  Alice loved it!

Wednesday morning, Steve, Kirsti, and I drove Alice up to stay with grandma GiGi for the day and we stopped in at the BYU bookstore for a new BYU car decal (we lost the old one when our back window broke a couple of months ago).  We visited the Provo Cemetery next - to look for Steve's grandpa's and maybe his great-grandmother's grave.  We were successful with grandpa, but we will have to do some more research for great-grandmother's resting place.  We drove back to Spanish Fork on old State street highway and saw that the very first apartment that Steve and I had - an old motor hotel in Springville - is still standing and still being used as apartments.  Later that day, in Spanish Fork, we also found the first house that Steve lived in until he was three.  And, we went on a walk around Kirsti and Ryan's neighborhood after dinner.

Thursday, we left the Merrills around noon and headed north, stopping first in Orem to see Matt and Ruth Chatterley, Steve's dear high school friends.  Then, we drove up to Liberty where Maurine and Cal live and stayed for a couple of days.  They took us on several drives around Ogden Valley and the views were just gorgeous.  They are high enough in elevation that spring has just started there.  They sure do live in a beautiful part of Utah!

Our drive up to Powder Mountain ski resort in the east part of the valley

Spring flowers at Maurine's place

David O. McKay's childhood home in Huntsville in the south part of the valley

Causey Reservoire in the south east part of the valley

Driving up North Fork behind Ben Lomand (mountain) in the west part of the valley.  Sandy, their dog, came along on this ride...

We said goodbye Saturday morning and returned to Sarah's in Ogden.  We stopped at the home of Moana and Steve Burns who live in North Ogden.  We have known the Burns family since early in our Columbia days and their kids played with our kids.  (from left to right:  Moana, Steve, Greg, Patrick, Phil, Heather, Telisa - not there were Katie and Rob).  We didn't stay long since all the kids were there to help build more shelves in Moana's garage for her mother's day present.

At 4:00, we drove down to the Salt Lake airport to pick up Steven who flew in for little Ivan's blessing later today.  After dinner at In and Out, Sarah took us on a tour of the Nature Center where we visited the critters and then walked on some of the trails.  We finished the evening with s'mores around a campfire in Sarah's back yard.  

Sarah painted this critter on this beaver-gnawed tree.  

a beaver lodge on the property

Movies/Shows watched this past week:

The Year the Earth Changed, My Octopus Teacher, three episodes of Relative Race (season 2), and one episode of Top Chef in Italy at Kirsti's.  Soul at Maurine's (neither Cal nor Maurine had ever seen it).

We have had a super time here in Utah.  But, I confess, I am getting travel weary and I am looking forward to returning home this coming week.  Beckie is our hero for watching Sally and Linus back home and, happily, we have had doggie fixes while here - with Sandy, Maurine and Cal's dog, and with Bones and Lily here at Sarah's