What Happened to the Fall?

It has now been proven that I treat my blog just like my journal. After several months of writing nothing, I try to quickly remember everything that happened and quickly preserve it for posterity.  As there is too much to write I will let the pictures tell the story.

The trees were so beautiful at our house we had to get a picture. The problem was the camera was balanced on the hood of the car so it's not the greatest shot. 

The usual General Conference yoga kickball game. What a pretty place to live!

Celebrating Guy Fawkes with fish and chips

Audrey and the Utah State choirs say Benjamin Britten's War Requireum  at the Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake on Veterans Day. The music was moving.  

I got to go to Washington DC with Sam on a business trip. We felt like real grown ups. We could not stop thinking of our nephew Hudson when we saw all the trains at the Museum of American History. This is only one of the many train pictures. 

When you ask a stranger to take a picture of you it is always best to ask the guy with the most expensive looking camera get up hanging around his neck.  Although it helps if they speak English, nonetheless this picture turned out great.

Probably the highlight of the trip, worth the hours of walking to get there. 

Our flight didn't leave until 3, so we had planned to see all the memorials our last day. It turned out there was a heavy rain, and we had forgotten that once you check out of the hotel you are responsible for your luggage. Sam was so sweet and dragged our suitcases all over the Mall in the pouring rain. It you squint you can see the White House in the background of this picture. 

Yes Sam hauled our suitcases up those stairs. Once at the top the security guard told us there was an elevator. 

This is the closet we got the the Arlington Cemetery as we had already walked what seemed like ten miles and this was were the Metro station was that would take us to the airport. 

The day before Thanksgiving all my brothers and sisters were here. It was so nice to have everyone together. Sadly my mom got sick and had to be in bed during the day she had been looking forward to for months. 

We had a great game of Volleyball at the church. Alison showed us all her moves. 

We spent Thanksgiving with the Powell's in St. George. I was really bad at taking pictures so these are the two you get. It was so nice to relax with family in the warmth of the south. 

Ending up in Enderby

We have been looking forward to the Lee family reunion all summer. Sam and I had a goal to take the oil car the whole way. So we packed up four 15 gallon barrels of oil and were on our way. We had a wonderful surprise for my dad and sisters who had gone to Calgary a week earlier and were meeting us in Salmon Arm, B.C., where the reunion was being held. My mother had planned to go with them to Calgary to attended her parents 60th wedding anniversary party, but discovered her passport had expired in March. She sadly waved good-bye as the trio left for Alberta. On Monday morning she found out that she could enter Canada with the expired passport, if she had three forms of I.D. So we brought her with us to surprise dad and the girls!

After an hour of finding every hotel in Missoula full, we found vacancy at the classy Bel Aire motel downtown. With the neon pink lights burning all night, cigarette burned sheets and pink toilet, I can assure you our stay was a delight.  

Grand Coulee was a fun stop. We ate at the TeePee Drive-in and sadly did not roll a Yahtzee for a free meal. Although we had a lovely lunch with the Christian Motorcycle Association Bikers.  

We arrived in Enderby, the small town we were staying in just south of Salmon Arm, and were received with great enthusiasm. All rejoiced that mom had been able to come. We celebrated with delicious fish and chips.

The next morning, as it was sunny and beautiful, we rented a boat to ride on the Lake. Sam was a great caption. While Sam and I were tubing we crashed into each other and my nose smashed his hand. Luckily I had little bruising, but poor Sam had a swollen finger. Dad got up on skis and showed us all his moves.  

The reunion was fantastic. We had so much fun playing games at the church, eating, playing volleyball, swimming, and of course it would not be a Lee event without lots and lots of talking! 

We drove tandem on the way home and every time they stopped for gas, we would fill up with oil. It is a really great feeling to be at a gas station and not pay a thing! In Dillon my mom spotted a Taco Bus and we had a delightful lunch.  

Backblogged

Here is an update of some fun things that have been going on this summer.


First, Sam converted a 1979 Mercedes 300TD Wagon to run on vegetable oil. It has been a great adventure convincing restaurant owners to donate their used vegetable oil. Chinese food eateries supply the cleanest vegetable oil, making it easier on the fuel filters. Yet this presents a communication barrier as I have to explain to the non-English speaking Chinese owner the why and how of giving us old oil. Then they turn around and explain  this to their hispanic employees. Its a surprise every time we go to collect oil.

 We had a lovely Memorial Day with my family. Mom made homemade fired chicken, we visited the graves of our ancestors in the Franklin Idaho Cemetery, played Masterpiece and Brian and Russell found time to make a bike jump.

The trip to Lake Powell with Sam's family was a blast. I had such a great time being a part of their family tradition. After Lake Powell Sam was off to Washington D.C. for work.

The apartment we live in has a little deck that is perfect for BBQs. We had one with Audrey and Alison while my parents were out of town. Then over the fourth of July weekend the Powells came up and we had a BBQ with my family, and Sam's family.  Ross and Jenny Menlove came and my cousin Ross who was visiting from BYU-I. Sadly I have no pictures of the family BBQ.

The Cache Valley Cruise-In was over the weekend of the Fourth. Gary had a pretty big surprise for Sam.

Sunday night of that weekend we payed games. Monday morning, the Fourth, we went to the scout breakfast. The food was marginal, but it's a fundraiser. We then went down to the high school tennis courts and played tennis with the ball machine. We decided last minute to got to the Hyrum parade and then that night we went to Lewiston for the fireworks. We played volleyball and ate chicken and corn while we waited for the fireworks show. We ended up with the best spot and the fireworks were being shot right above us.  No one would pose for a group picture.