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....