California here I come!

Jon's family had a family vacation planned for July, Beth and I crashed it and tagged along. I drove back to California with Sarah, carpooling with Jon and Kristi, we made it to Bakersfield, with blankets and pillows we crashed where ever we could at Beth's and the next morning we headed north! We stopped at a McDonald's on the way, taking over and eating mounds of french fries! We made it to Angel's Camp, where the condo we were staying at was located. We found the nearest pool and grocery store in record time, hitting up both. We got a movie and relaxed for the evening.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed to Yosemite! I have always wanted to go to Yosemite, so the minute Half Dome came majestically into view with waterfalls, mountains, and rivers surrounding it, it was one of those moments when everything you wanted it to be was exactly what it was! I think I'm in love!
With eight little kids we did what we could, we did the small hikes to Lower Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls, went to the Visitor's Center ate lunch, and drove around.

Jon had been planning a more advanced hike since the day he found out he was going to go to Yosemite, he needed a hiking buddy, that's why he needed me! At least I know I'm good for something! The only question remained - who would we take with us? We needed to take two kids, if there would be enough seat belts in the Yukon that was going back. Elise was always a good, I'm not sure she decided that or her dad, but the real question was if we would take William and/or Ian. William found out about the hike and wanted badly to go, his mom said she would see how he did on the little hikes, so to prove himself, he was up with me in front, trying to listen and keep my pace going. Around four we were switching cars, and Ian was a: "I'm want to go." and then a: "No, never mind I don't." Right to the last minute. At the final second he decided that he did want to go, so Jon, Elise, Ian, William and I set out to start a hard hike, late! We had to retie shoes, I made the kids eat something, we packed our water and found a parking spot (which proved to be the hardest part), and we started around 4:40 pm. It was a straight up from the beginning kind of hike, and we felt it right away. William, proved to be the heir, and Ian the tortoise, William would bound up the trail, we had to tell him to slow down and not run all the time. Other hikers commented on him, I'm sure they were just jealous of his seemingly endless energy! William would plop down on any rock when I told him we had to wait for the others, then when they caught up, he would jump up and be ready to go again. Ian (the one I was most worried about) on the other hand just kept going, slow and study. Elise was the hard one to coax up the mountain, Jon had to stick with her and encourage her the whole way, but I'm sure he enjoyed the breaks that they took (I sure enjoyed mine with William!). We did a set of endless switch backs, followed by what we thought would be a flat section, but it went down hill, which was nice, but I hate the thought that we would just have to hike up it later. After that we reached the top of the lower falls and the bottom of the upper, we also reached the view of the next set of switchbacks. It was a little daunting - but trying to encourage my group, I said it wasn't that bad, and that we could do it. Jon looked at me and said,"Stop spewing sunshine Mary!" It was funny!

We started up the next set of switch backs and found these to be longer, steeper and rockier. Everyone was going at a much slower rate at the end, but we made it, and like all hikes, getting to the destination is instantly invigorating! We even hiked down a section of stairs (that we knew we would have to hike back up) to get a better look at the 2,400 ft drop off, the falls and Yosemite Valley! It was amazing. We also got out everything we had to eat (which consisted of some granola and power bars, jerky, dried fruit and water), pieced it out, and then started again, Jon and the kids went down and I went up. I had come so far and it was only another mile to a lookout for Half Dome. So I jogged and walked quickly up to the look out, stopping for pictures, I missed the best time of day for a great picture by minutes, but took some of the famous rock anyway, turned and ran down the hill (and I really did run! it was a lot of fun, and I only almost fell twice, still got a picture of a deer, and made some great time). We stopped for our "dinner" around 7:40, so it had taken about three hours to get up, I made it to the top and started back down at 8, I caught up with the others in about 40 minutes, so at about 8:40 we were still only half way back down and running out of day light. We got out the flashlights and slowed our pace as we hit darkness and the last switch backs at the same time. It took what seemed like forever to make it out, but we did right around 9:30. We got a call from Beth who was worried that we hadn't called yet, and we just confirmed her worries, when we told her we weren't done yet. We got one of the last shuttles back to the general store, got ice cream - that I had promised everyone - the view from the top wasn't what kept William going up earlier, it was the ice cream, he had talked about it the whole way up and back down! He really was a sport, being our guide with the head lamp. We made it to the car, and soon after they finished their "supper" of chips and ice cream, the three kids crashed! Jon and I talked during and listened to songs as we drove the next few hours back to the condo, where we all hit the beds and feel instantly to sleep. I woke up the next morning to find that I was sleeping in a room with Jaden and Melissa. Jaden called out in his sleep, "Harry Potter!" then turned over, woke up, looked at me and said, "Aunt Mary, have you seen Jack the Pumpkin King?" I couldn't help but laugh!

We had a relaxing morning, found a park for the kids to play at, went into some of the small tourist shops, then Beth and I loaded up and headed south, leaving Jon and family to enjoy San Fransisco by themselves.

Sarah Comes To Arizona

Sarah came to Arizona to visit, she came to Tucson for a day and then we headed up to the mountains. We did a lot of Food Network watching and trying new recipes. We went to Jon's and Jon and family came to join us a few times.

We also went up to Big Lake, we were going to go on the Black River hike, and have a picnic around Buffalo Crossing, but despite the fact that we used to go all the time, Sarah and I could not find the road! So instead we went to plan B, which was to hike around Big Lake. We mapped it online after and found that it was 6.8 miles. It was a lot of fun.

Family Reunion!

We had our large Family Reunion this June, the Glen/Pat Crookstons were in charge, so before we ever made it to the mountain work was being done. There were two years of planning, then right up to the last minute (and even once we got to Hawley) everyone was doing different tasks. Dad and Daniel completely revamped the cook trailer, Mark R. (who happened to be at the cabin the few days before the reunion) worked with dad to finish it up (as you can see it went from breakfast to lamplight on more than one day). Aunt Louise, among other things, had a huge project getting the address book updated. I baked! (A lot)

I made a huge pumpkin dump cake (do not triple the recipe in the Bosch!) and cornmeal rolls for the "Thanksgiving" dinner, and white and wheat rolls for pulled pork dinner. I think I stayed in the 10x10 area of the kitchen for over 8 hours that day! But it was fun and I did different roll outs and recipes.

Thursday night Beth and Daniel with their families came, and Friday morning we all headed up to the lake! Grandpa and two of his brothers were there (Jimmy and Richard) with their wives (Lucy and Carol). Grandma was on hand ready to help, enjoying the great-grandkids, and making sure Grandpa and Daisy the dog didn't get into trouble. Dad was either making sure the trailer worked right, we had enough water, telling William he would go fishing as soon as he could, fishing with William or motoring kids across the lake in the boat. The kids were either rolling around in the dirt (OH... it was so dirty! The fine powder would just float through camp if anyone so much as walked! Or worse yet, the wind would pick it up and plaster it to everything!), riding the two bikes Daniel brought, racing the trucks Jon brought (both adding even more dirt to the camp), playing in the hammock Cia brought, throwing fishing lines (or more commonly rocks) into the water, or like the rest of us eating!

The food was, as always, the main event! We had a huge "Thanksgiving" dinner on Friday night with two turkeys and some chickens in the deep fry (purchasing the turkeys was the one thing that was forgotten in the rush to get everything else done - and when it was attempted - only two could be found in Show Low that weren't an exuberant price, so some chickens were added to the mix). We had rolls, vegetables and baked potatoes! Dessert was pumpkin dump cake! A huge hit! The next morning there was eggs, bacon and pancakes (plus a million left over rolls!). Lunch was a sandwich affair, with chips and soda, and dessert was served at cabin site A2, where Carl and Annie's cabin used to be.

As part of tradition we drove up to the old cabin site, searched for our name on a tree (so many kids came for their first time this year that they had to carve their names on a new family tree). Magically a huge tree formed a perfectly naturally teeter-toter, by being between two other trees and over one, the kids loved this and it entertained them and the adults for a good while!

Because we love tradition and magic we had to do a donut tree! Grandma asked Daniel and I to be in charge this year, and we got the special magic words from Grandpa and carried on the tradition under their watchful eye.

So it isn't hard to figure out the magic, but who is going to question it when you get a donut at the end? As Tim said, "Grandpa got away with a lot for so long because our payoff was good!" Or something to that effect!

After plucking donuts off the tree and even better, eating watermelon freshly cut, we all gathered round for a group picture!

With nothing but my baby tripod, I had to get down to set it up!

Back at camp, after a delicious dinner by Aunt Denice's family of pulled pork, we got down to the one thing I was supposed to be in charge of all along: The Play!

Dad came up with the idea a while back of doing a small play about our Crookston ancestor that was on the Mayflower - hence the "Thanksgiving" theme! So it was handed over to me. I did the research, typed it up and finagled a few costumes, what I didn't do was finish it or print it out - so instead of handing it over to dad to narrate, like I planned, I had to narrate with a little ad-libbing into it. I asked Ian to be Stephen Hopkins, our ancestor, which was the best move I made! The kid was perfect, he did just enough listening to me, playing it up, and adding his own moves. After it was over he cracked me up, when he walked by Dad's trailer and looked at me and said, "I'll be in my trailer." Uncle Loyell thought Ian did a great job and told him so, Ian asked if he thought I'd pay him. So Uncle Loyell gave me a dollar to give to him, after I did, Ian went and showed some people saying... "My first acting job, and I got paid!"

Besides Ian, everyone else did a great job too! It took more coaching (during the play) because they were all younger, but it was fun! The trips on the Sea Venture and the Mayflower (the row boat). All the little kids (but the Indians - which I had to stop from getting in the boat) got in and then out and then in and then out of the boat, and loved it!

The final scene of the play was a descendant line, from Stephen Hopkins down to Carl and his four boys. Here it is:

Stephen Hopkins
Giles Hopkins
Stephen Hopkins
Mary Hopkins
Thankful Maker
Barry Chase
Stephen Chase
Eli Chase
Olive Chase
Rosabell Pitkin
Carlton Crookston

Here is the play:

Scene One: Sea Venture
There was once an adventurous young man named Stephen Hopkins who kissed his wife goodbye and set sail to the new world, on the Sea Venture in 1609. One day off the coast of Bermuda a violent Storm wrecked the sailing ship and cast those on board into the sea. Stephen made it to the shore with 150 passengers. Because the boat was gone Stephen didn’t feel that the governor still had command and tried to get others to stop listening to get others to stop listening to the governor as well. They spent nine months on Bermuda before making their way to Jamestown.
For this attempted mutiny Stephen was put on trial to hang, he was so sorry and cried for his life and his wish to return to his family, a long with the rest of the company speaking up for him that he was let go and sent home to England.
Back home in England he was reunited with his wife, Constance Dudley, and two children, Giles and Constance. Stephen worked as a minister’s clerk. They were a family for a short time before the mother and wife died, but Stephen soon met and married Elizabeth Fisher.

Scene Two: The Mayflower
In 1620 Stephen and his small family were recruited to fill space in the boat that would carry the puritans to America. He did not share their faith but he was willing to give up everything for the adventure and promise of the new world.
Once aboard the Mayflower in the small cramped space Elizabeth gave birth to a new son, Oceanus. The ship was small, and there were a lot of people, many that were sick. But the Hopkins family survived the grueling Journey. Once the new colonists landed at Plymouth, what would be their new home, building a village and governing a people began. Forty-one of the men signed a governing document called the Mayflower Compact, signed aboard the ship November 11, 1620. Stephen was one of those men!

Scene Three: Life in Plymouth
Life in Plymouth was very difficult, sickness and hunger overtook many of the puritans. Caleb, Elizabeth, Deborah, Damaris and Ruth were all born to Stephen and Elizabeth in the New World. Hopkins and a few other ‘strangers’ didn’t lose any children to diseases which distressed the pilgrims, for most of the next generation were not of their faith. They also had new neighbors to learn to get along with. The Native Americans were just as curious and cautious of the pilgrims as they were of them. They spent many months unsure of what moves to make. Then one day Samoset walked boldly into the village saying; ( Samoset comes in and says: “Welcome, Englishmen!”) He spoke a little English and talked with the Pilgrims. He stayed the night in the Hopkins home! He later brought Squanto, who had spent time in Europe and could speak even better English, to herald the approach of Chief Massasoit. Massasoit and the Pilgrims talked and made a peace agreement, signing the treaty right in Stephen’s home on the 22nd of March 1621. Now the Pilgrims had established connections with the surrounding people. Squanto stayed with the Hopkins and taught the colonists many things about the land and people they now lived with. (Squanto teaches the people to farm, hunt, and fish) Stephen was picked to be part of the emissary to Massasoit. He traveled with Edward Winslow on a dangerous and trying journey to speak with the Native leader. They walked for miles and miles, surrounded by unknown woods, with very little to eat, but were received well by the chief and treated kindly. (The two men walk to meet Massasoit)
Stephen was important to the governing of the village. He was assistant to governor through 1636. After which he lived only eight more years before he passed away.

Scene Four: Descendants
Stephen’s oldest son Giles, married a girl from Massachusetts and had a son named for his father, Stephen Hopkins. This Stephen grew up, married and had a daughter named Mary. Once Mary was grown she married and had a daughter named Thankful. Thankful married a Chase and had a son that she named Barry. Barry had a son that he also named Stephen. Stephen had a son named Eli, who had a daughter named Olive. Olive had a daughter named Rosabell. Rosabell had a son named Carlton who grew up and married a beautiful girl named Annie and had four handsome boys.

It was a really fun reunion and we have such great memories (and pictures) to prove it! As I was talking to my friend Ruth, who lives in a nursing home, the only child of two deceased parents, both of which died her father in Nazi service in Russia, and her mother behind the iron curtain in East Germany. She was married for a little while to an American GI before they got a divorce, but wasn't able to have children, I thought how lucky I was to have the family I do, and how lucky we are to be able to share times like these together. She loved looking at the pictures of the family and thanked me for bringing them in.

May and June!

Hanging out in Tucson in May...

Taking Pictures for Holly and Killen's wedding!

Night hike with friends!

Camp Zion!

Friday of Memorial Day weekend I went up to Mt. Lemmon to help put tents up for girls camp this summer. It wasn't a sacrifice on my part because I was able to go with good friends and great people, spend time in the pines, eat tin foil dinners and a pancake breakfast and go for walks on the rocks! I had a great time! After it was done, I went to Greg's bishop's house (where he is house-sitting) and went swimming, cooked dinner and watched a movie on the big screen! Their house is amazing! And it was fun to just hang out and enjoy it for the afternoon and evening.

Katy Comes to Visit!

End of April beginning of May Katy and the boys flew down for a visit, before setting out on a trip with her parents to CA. We got a lot of fun in for the week she was here. Aunt Louise came down too. We ate Chinese food, went for hikes, ate Chinese food, played at grandma's, went bird watching, ate Chinese food! Grandma and Katy love Chinese, Dave does not, so when Katy is here it is a good excuse to eat it (I even took my friend, Ruth, out to Chinese for her birthday during this time, and each time I had left-overs so I took them to school for lunches)- but I have to say after not having it for a while, I think I'm all Chinesed out for the next year or so- but it was so good!

We picked fruit, blew bubbles, and chased after trains to take pictures of. I have to say that I don't even notice the trains anymore, but Evan sitting in the back in a car seat can spot them and hear them the second they appear!
We went on a hike with my friend Greg to Saguaro National Park, driving around and exploring the visitor's center too. Greg and I ended up carrying the boys, though Jacob walked all the way in, because we talked Katy out of bringing her stroller on the bumpy trail. Then Katy and I went in search of a rookery of cranes, only to find that it was actually herons, at Columbus park. I didn't know they nested in trees! It was really cool, and we got some good shots of one heron that was out catching fish. Then we tried the sweetwater wetlands park for more birds, and it was pretty cool, but it really stunk! It took a while to get used to the smell! But we did see some interesting birds and even a few hawks for Katy!

We took pictures of everything! Especially the boys!

Utah

Because Rachel was in Arizona going to Utah and Aunt Louise was going to Utah and coming back to Arizona in another week, I thought it would be a good opportunity for a break (as if I didn’t just get off Spring Break!) But seriously I really felt I should go so I packed up for a week in Utah. I would be in Utah for Easter AND conference! Rachel, my friend Greg (who came up for the weekend too) and I stuffed ourselves in Rachel’s Corolla and started up early Thursday April 1 for Provo (for Greg) and Salt Lake (for Rachel and I). The drive went really quickly, storms on all sides but nothing really on top of us. We took our time and enjoyed the drive. Before we knew it the day passed and we were dropping Greg off and pulling into Rachel’s house where we dropped into bed and were asleep before we knew it.

Friday Rachel went back to work and Kori picked me and took me to her house, where I got to hang out with Carson and Chloe. Makenzie got home from school and got ready for ballet, and we did a impromptu photo shoot.

Saturday Greg picked me up and we went to the conference center to try to get into the morning session, but we found the stand-by line full and tons of people asking for extra tickets, so we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial building where we sat in the chapel (the most ornate chapel the church has I suspect). We were entertained by drawing boats and watching the Morris code of the blinking exit sign until the session started. After it was done we met up with a few more people from Greg’s ward and Bryan M. (who used to live in Tucson and now lives in SLC and sings in the Tabernacle Choir). We all went to Chipotle (Greg’s choice) for lunch. I watched the second session at Rachel’s, then Rachel and I went to Ben and Kori’s.

Sunday found the two of us at Ben and Kori’s for Easter breakfast (Waffles!). We then watched the morning session of conference, ate a sub sandwich lunch, dyed Easter eggs, put a puzzle together and watched the last session (it went by so quickly!). Then we had Easter dinner- Kori is amazing and had the whole day planned out.

Monday I woke up early, drove Rachel to work and headed to Provo, where I was supposed to meet Greg and hike the Y. The forecast was for snow and it looked it, so I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to hike anyway, then I knocked on the door and it was answered by Greg’s sleepy cousin, Autumn. She looked at me not sure what I was doing there, Greg (still half asleep) showed up behind her. But in under 30 minutes Greg was ready, fed and we were on our way. It was cold!! BUT fun! It was my first time to hike it and Greg was a great tour guide. To continue with that role, we walked around BYU and Greg showed me where he lived and went to classes. We went back to his cousins’ where we ate some sandwiches and Greg was met by his ride back to Arizona and I headed back to SLC. Back at Kori’s I tried to help do some packing (what Kori’s been doing for weeks now- they bought a new house!). For dinner my cousins came in from Wisconsin, for David’s (my cousin) wedding. We had dinner and talked. Then Kori, her sister, Rachel and I went to a movie.

(If you guessed that is a little boy who likes to dress himself in stripes? You'd be wrong -according to him - if you guessed Anakin you would be right!)
Tuesday, we all congregated at the Salt Lake Temple for David and Vanalorin’s wedding. It was COLD!!! Snow covered everything! It was beautiful but frozen! The sealing was simple but beautiful. After a few pictures and meeting wedding guest for other weddings from Edinburgh and Nigeria., we took a detour on the way to the luncheon to get the keys to Ben and Kori new house and for Rachel and I to see it for the first time. It is such a cute little house! The luncheon was yummy - and we ate cake! Funniest part was that Rachel and I drove David and Vanalorin to their hotel! Aunt Louise’s car’s transmission went out! So we aren’t sure exactly how we are going to get home. Later for dinner we met with all the cousins and family in town for the wedding at Chuck-a-Rama, a huge buffet where we sat and talked for a long time, I even was able to give my little cousin Allison a lesson on French braiding (we even covered fish tails) and braid her hair.

(The wedding day - snow everywhere! A few pictures are out on temple grounds a few at the luncheon!)
Wednesday, started out well- Aunt Louise and I went to the Salt Lake Temple for a session! After that I met with Rachel, was able to met a bunch of people from her office, who I always hear about, then Rachel and I went to lunch at one of the places that she eats at - Thai Lotus. After that I went to Lehi, to help with the cleaning, Kori had her hands full coordinating carpet cleaners and kids, so when it was time for me to pick Rachel up, I took Carson with me.

Thursday, I thought that I would have a nice run in the park, since the days were getting warmer. So after dropping Rachel off at work I drove to Liberty Park and started around the running track. After three times around I was rounding by the parking lot when I saw an officer standing next to Rachel’s car. Not knowing what else to do, I ran up only to find a huge blue handicap sign right in front of the car. I was at a lose as to how I could have missed it and as to what I was going to say. I only had to run up and I was asked if it was my car, she then told me that she wasn’t going to site me because it had been covered up by the construction workers. It was then that I noticed that she was pulling a tied up trash bag off the sign. I really thought I’d been going crazy! But it was just the construction workers! She asked if I could just move it as soon as possible, I told her I could do it then and did. Once in a new parking space I took off for my final lap. After panting back to the car I reached for the keys - only to find that I hadn’t zipped up my pocket as I had the first time! Oh my - what a morning! After praying I started to back-track, covering the first half very slowly, because of course that is the time I chose to go cross-country. After 45 minutes or so, I saw two little old ladies and thought that I should ask them, so I did. They had found it! They said it was another 20 yards back, they had picked it up from the snow, and placed it on the edge of the sidewalk!

Finally, back in the car I drove to Ben and Kori’s where I tried to help pack and clean. Rachel got off and we had a fun dinner, watching some TV, and even though we didn’t have to get up in the morning we went to bed early.

Friday, Rachel and I got up and for a relaxing morning. We ate the Gordon Special at the Blue Plate Diner, when we ordered it the waitress pointed out the cutest little old man heading to the register, and told us that it was Gordon! We did a little shopping, but without much money it wasn’t really worth it to spend our time doing it, so we headed over to Ben’s; today is Moving Day (the first half). Rachel took Ben to U-haul, and he came back with a truck, and it all started. We started moving everything into it, as we progressed so did the number of Ben’s Elder’s quorum that came to help. Thanks to them it didn’t take much time to fill the whole huge truck. After chatting for a few minutes and saying their goodbyes, the help left. As a reward Ben took the rest of us to Café Rio for dinner! Yumm barbacoa! We were all set to have a nice sit in at the restaurant, when Chloe got sick all over Ben! So we changed our orders to-go and went back to Ben’s where we sat around the kitchen on a few random chairs left - or the floor to eat, which funny enough, weirded out Kenz and Carson. Ben and Kori worked on cleaning, while Rachel and I went back to her house where we made cupcakes and cinnamon rolls for the next day. It was midnight when we dropped off the warm googy rolls for Ben’s house for Kenzie’s birthday breakfast. Completely tired we all went to bed!

Saturday we got up, ate the cinnamon rolls and went to Ben’s where we all split up in different cars to get them all to Lehi. Ben drove the truck and I drove his car. Carson was sick on the way - you can’t have a normal move when you involve kids. We got to the new house and started unpacking, which went so well because Kori is the queen of organization! Kori’s family came and helped and again it went quickly, though we were tired, working around a sleeping Carson! With the U-haul returned and the family working on unloading boxes, I took a paper with orders on it and found the nearest Subway to get Kenzie’s birthday lunch. When I returned and passed out subs, we all sat in a circle on newly put together chairs, to eat the first family meal in the house! Kenzie made sure that we took a break to open presents, telling us exactly how we would preform the ritual. We were to give her the gifts one at a time going clockwise around the circle! Rachel and I both gave her princess books, but the big gift was a new bike that Kenzie knew she was getting, but Ben tried to play mind games to make her doubt it. We worked for a little longer, then Rachel and I went to her house to take a much needed shower - we had planned on going out again for dinner, but with sick kids there was a change of plans and Rachel and I picked up pizza and ice cream and returned to Ben’s new place, for Kenzie’s birthday dinner. Rachel and I left when the kids were put to bed to go to a movie - we saw “Letters to God” which looked like a tear-jerker, and it would have been if it hadn’t also been badly acted, badly directed and had more of a plot. The storyline was great, it just needed something more. We almost walked out, but lasted for the full five hours (it was only like two but felt much longer!).

Sunday, Rachel and I went to her ward, then we decided to see how many temples we could see! So we started our Temple Tour in Salt Lake (where we walked through the church history museum as well), then we drove up to Bountiful, getting pictures at both. Next we drove back down the valley to Jordan River and Oquirrh Mt. Then across the freeway to Draper, and over the mountain to Mt. Timpanogos, stopping in Pleasant Grove to witness the birth of some lambs, and in Provo, to retrieve Greg’s pillow that he left and I said I'd return to him, we ended our tour at the Provo temple. After our last picture we jumped in the car and raced to Ben and Kori’s to eat dinner and play with the kids. This time only Rachel left, I stayed at Ben’s for the night because it was our (Aunt Louise and I) plan to leave for Arizona in the morning if her car was fixed.

Monday, the car place called and said that it might be another week before the part to fix the car was even there! After a few minutes of indecision, Aunt Louise decided to rent a car to take us back to Arizona and she would use the jeep or Dad’s truck for the next while, she and dad were planning on going up to Utah again in May. So Kori drove us to the rental place and we loaded our stuff into a white dodge minivan and started down south. We stopped for lunch at a grocery store, and got enough food for a week, so we didn’t have to stop again except for gas, so we cruised on down, fighting the one giant wind storm that was the bottom half of Utah and the top half of Arizona, driving through constant sand clouds of low visibility. We made a quick stop at the Monticello and the Snowflake temples - just to say we did! When I drove the rental through Mesa, I had to stop and get a quick picture of that temple too!