Day 1: Drove Mark to Tacoma for EFY. Drove to Baker City, Oregon to spend the night. Listened to LDS General Conference CDs en-route. Sick with cold symptoms and felt feverish. Very rough night.
Day 2: Felt a bit better. Ate best restaurant-made omelet ever at the hotel's attached restaurant. Made it to my destination--Kaysville, Utah.
Day 3: Met up with sister Melanie, Swedish cousins (Monica, Johan, Elias and Edvin) and double-cousin Mary Lynne and her boys at City Creek in Salt Lake City. (Didn't think to take photos. I must have not felt well.) Prepared gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough for wedding luncheon.
Day 4: Drove to Highland. Made 16 batches of cilantro lime rice and several batches of horchata base for wedding lunch. Toured sister Melanie's new house in Lehi and saw Swedish relatives again before they left for hot Las Vegas. Wished them luck with the heat.
Day 5: Returned to Utah County. Purchased desserts and other stuff for wedding lunch. Helped decorate church for wedding lunch. Back to Kaysville. Baked cookies. Made key lime pie. Daughters Annica and Rachelle arrived. Picked Lance and Mark up at the airport at midnight.
Day 6: The BIG day. Left Kaysville early. Attended wedding of Preston and Elizabeth in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. Hurried to church to prepare food for wedding lunch. Lots of helper ladies from Lane and Cindy's church congregation. Wedding lunch was a success thanks to husband Lance and helper ladies. (I was too busy to take photos.) Wedding reception. Tired!
Day 7: Too tired to attend sacrament meeting at 9:00 am. Attended one at 11:00 am instead. Dorothy delivered note and money Mark sent to her late husband back to Mark. Told funny and true dog story. (Perhaps I'll devote an entire post to this soon.) Traveled to Rexburg, Idaho. So happy to see and hold granddaughter Maddy (and see her parents, too).
Day 8: Fun baby-sitting Maddy, shopping with Rachelle and treating family to dinner at the "taco bus restaurant." Saw Nelson at his grocery store job. Maddy is a clever little girl and sneaks food to dog Max under the table.
Day 9: Another fun day of baby-sitting. Pizza for dinner.
Day 10: Returned to Utah. Purchased 3 suits for Lance at Mr. Mac in City Creek from favorite saleslady, Maddy. Dinner with Lance's best childhood friend, Scott, Lei (Scott's wife) and Mark (Scott's brother). Mark gladly accompanied us as he wanted to get "dirt" on his dad. Cousin Mark (lots of Marks involved here) arrived very late.
Day 11: Baking and cooking for reunion. Made another batch of GF chocolate chip cookies. Mark's son Steven and Steven's girlfriend arrived for "inspection." Girlfriend seemed nice enough to me, but my vote doesn't count for much.
Day 12: More reunion food prep. Potato salad this time. Made marinated tomatoes to accompany dinner. Swedish relatives arrived after their Las Vegas/Cedar City trip. Fun times!
Day 13: Van full of people driving to family lodge in Mink Creek, Idaho. Lance drove. Monica rode shot-gun. Edvin, Johan and Elias occupied the middle row of seats. The two Marks and I got the back row. I took barf bags as a precaution. (They were not used.) Fun times at the P. family reunion. 145 attendees. Fun for me to see everyone. These two crazies (brothers Mark and Jeff) hadn't attended a reunion together in several years.
Canasta tournament partners, Scott and Mark:
Brother Blake in background; Monica and boys in foreground:
The picture which must be explained: the two Marks. Big Mark had a job interview in Seattle shortly after little Mark's birth. The two Marks met at SeaTac airport, and I took a photo of Big Mark holding Little Baby Mark. This is the same pose 16 years later:
Bagpipe playing in the backyard: Mark, Lance and Johan:
Day 14: To Lehi to attend church with Melanie and Greg and family. Three full rows of relatives in attendance. Entertained Maddy during church. Twins Layton and Lloyd ordained Priests after sacrament meeting. All of the relatives congregated at Melanie and Greg's house for a celebration lunch. Lance and I slipped away briefly to visit LaVerl, Lance's "second mom" from San Diego. She's 93 and looks and acts years younger. Back to Kaysville for an easy make-your-own sandwich dinner. Lance bid "hejda" to the Swedes.
Day 15: Up early to take Lance to SLC airport. Stopped in Bountiful to pick up seminary posters. Lunch at Chuck-a-Rama (Monica's choice). Mark sick with upset and painful stomach; ordered to stay away from little Swedish boys. Tried to tour Air Force Museum. Closed due to the sequester? Big disappointment. Went to Harmon's grocery store instead. Melanie came for dinner bearing 5 different types of cheesecake slices from The Cheesecake Factory. Made a key lime pie for Monica. Many, many desserts along with sandwiches for dinner.
Day 16: Aebelskivers for breakfast. Elias ate 12 but wanted more. Drove Swedes to the airport and bid them a sad farewell. When will we reunite? Mark still not feeling too well. He and I traveled again to Rexburg. Dinner at Wingers. Mark recovered enough to eat an entire rack of ribs. Treated Rachelle and Nelson to dinner at a Thai restaurant later. I ordered water.
Rexburg photos: (Maddy, of course, and Nelson and Rachelle)
Day 17: Traveled to and through Yellowstone National Park--one of my all-time favorite destinations. Mark used the empty ice cream bucket my mother provided to empty the contents of his stomach shortly before arriving in West Yellowstone. He then felt much better. Made stops at Old Faithful (saw famous geyser erupt), Old Faithful Inn, West Thumb, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Drove past Mammoth Hot Springs (too crowded to stop). Saw a grizzly before Mammoth, LOTS of bison and elk, a pelican, chipmunk and crows. Made it through the entire park (except for the northeastern section) in 5 1/2 hours. Wanted to stay longer, but our schedule did not permit it. Spent the night in Butte, Montana.
West Thumb:
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:
Animal friends in order of appearance: bison, grizzly bear, elk
Day 18: Drove 595 miles back home. We made a quick stop in St. Regis, Montana to see the free trout museum and to get a huckleberry shake. Travel music courtesy of The BeeGees, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Carly Simon, Carole King, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (selected by Mark!), and The Doobie Brothers.
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