July 1st Sunday
We went to choir practice at 8:00am, stayed to partake of the sacrament, and headed to Twin Falls to attend a brunch for Lon's 50th Class Reunion for Valley High School. It was held at the Blue Lakes Country Club at Bass Lake. We didn't even know that Bass Lake existed!
It was a beautiful location with the Perrine Bridge in view
It has a very nice sandy beach area and boat docks
Classmates with their spouses
Classmates (Val Dille on the front row and Ron Bloxham next to Lon on the second row)
They had spent Friday evening together and Saturday riding in the 4th of July parade in Hazelton together then watching the fireworks. We didn't get home from California in time for these events so were glad that we could spend a little time with them on Sunday morning. The brunch was catered by the Country Club and it was very good.
We came home and took a nap before heading to Boise to stay with Craig and Robbie. Lon and Craig are golfing Monday morning and then we have our dentist appointment with Scottie to get our dental papers filled out for our mission.
Connie actually woke us up from our nap to let us know that Aunt Joy Walker had died on the 30th and the funeral is to be on Saturday. So thankful that we are in town this week, well, part of the week anyway.
On Monday the 2nd Lon and Craig golfed and then we decided to buy Craig's 1997 Ford Explorer.
Lon drove it home and everything seems to work good. We only paid $750.00 for it. This will be Lon's golfing and fishing car as we are trying to sell the pickup and camper before we leave on our mission.
We headed to Scotties and he filled out our mission dentist papers then we met Shayla at her office and went to dinner. It was time to tell her about our mission. She was like Ginger, Mindi, and Tracy, really not too surprised and very supportive.
Tuesday we served our shift at the temple then met with the Bishop to finish up our mission papers. He took our picture and scanned in the information that was needed and now we just have to wait till he gets everything delivered to the Stake President.
The 4th of July was a day of cooking! We had to get things ready for our family reunion. We baked 14 dozen cookies, zucchini bars, biscuits, and sausage gravy. We wanted to get everything frozen so it would transport better. I think we have everything prepared. Just have to get it loaded.
I told Mom about our mission plans. Her response was "Oh no". Connie's response was "Can't you just be happy here". So we have Sarah, Mom, and Connie who are not overly happy that we are planning to go. So thankful for my girls, Tracy and our other siblings who are supportive of our decision. When you are positive that this is what the Lord wants you to do, you have no choice but to move forward.
Dick and Kyla came in on Friday night to stay with us and attend Aunt Joy's funeral. We attended an Open House for Leon and Jane Leavitt, celebrating their 50+ Wedding Anniversary. Visited with Dick and Kyla and bed.
The funeral was very nice and we got to visit with lots of family. We decided to cancel the big Walker reunion as everyone had come to the funeral and not many would be coming back in two weeks for a reunion. That evening we headed to Kimberly to attend an open house in honor of Derek and Kaylie's wedding. We have sure left our house guests alone a lot! We said goodbye to Dick and Kyla and went to bed. We are loaded and ready to head out Sunday morning for our family reunion and they will stay at our house till Monday morning.
Sunday the 8th and on the road again!
We took the truck with Bob Watts' camper shell, picked up Sarah and the kids and headed to Vegas. We got into Vegas at 4:00. It took an hour and a half to check into our rooms at the Excalibur
There were people everywhere!! It was 107 degrees
Sarah and the kids decided to enjoy the pool and try to cool down.
They played for about an hour and a half. Grandpa and I watched
Our motel, The Excalibur
We ate dinner there, $48 for 3 hamburgers, fries and waters. Lon, Chandler and I didn't have any desire to leave the motel. Chan worked on his online classes. Sarah, Ashton and Eisley took a walk on the strip.
In front of the New York, New York motel
It was still over 100 degrees so their walk didn't last very long. We will be glad to get out of this town tomorrow.
We checked out of our rooms, put the luggage in the truck and walked down the strip to find a Denney's for breakfast. Much more reasonably priced.
Chan thought the giant guitar was awesome. There were people everywhere! It was over 100 degrees! Eisley wanted to ride on the tram that goes from one motel to another so we did a little sight-seeing.
Had to visit the M&M store
Almond M&M's are Grandpa's favorite
We have never seen so many colors and flavors of M&M's before. Any flavor you can imagine! I really liked the Neapolitan flavor.
We had to buy some to enjoy on our trip to California. This store was four floors high with tons of M&M products to buy on each floor. After our ride on the tram we headed out of Vegas and had our first truck disaster! We were in about the third lane of a six lane freeway when all of a sudden we hear a whooshing sound from the engine. Lon is able to get to the side of the freeway and he and Chandler get out to look under the hood. Lon doesn't know why he is looking under the hood as he is no mechanic and will probably not know what to do anyway! It is so hot! With the truck shut off we are really feeling the heat. The thought of being stuck here for hours is running through our minds. Opening the windows makes the heat even worse!
Chandler points to a hose that is not connected! They have found our problem!
Luckily Lon always throws in a few tools and his leather gloves. Everything is very hot but he is able to get the hose reconnected. The hose connects our turbo to the air conditioning to keep the engine cool. We are on our way again. What a tender mercy! Prayers are answered.
After a couple of hours on the road, we are climbing the last hill and over the top is our destination, about an hour away when we again hear that dreaded whooshing sound.
This time Lon knows exactly where to look for the problem.
Reconnecting the hose. So thankful for leather gloves and a leatherman! We will try to find a new hose in Big Bear!
Ginger and Shayla arrived just before we did and Mindi got in a few hours later. The weather here is only in the low 70's Hurrah! We are going to enjoy this!
The cabin is very nice, but not too clean. We put the 8 kids in the bunkhouse. We moved mattresses from the main house so each had a bed to sleep on.
The bunkhouse is above the garage. There were over 30 stairs just to get to the front door with even more in the house to get to the kitchen and front room then more to get to the other bedrooms. We got a workout every time we left and came home again.
The driveway was so steep that Grandpa had to park the cars because it was a bit scary.
After a good nights sleep and a wonderful breakfast, we headed to town for a heated game of miniature golf.
We broke up into 3 teams Debbie and Sarah went shopping
The rain started just before we finished, but we finished in the rain
Team #1 Chandler, Mindi, Gideon and Ashton
Team #2 Jaikka, Ginger, Shayla and Ryanne
Team #3 Grandpa, Isaac, Eisley, Hannah and Grandma
The winners, Lon 1st, Shayla 2nd, and Mindi 3rd
Hole in ones: Ryanne 1st with Gideon and Grandma tied for 2nd
And the golfers who took last place. It was fun but the rain sent us home for lunch.
Thunderstorms and rain were predicted each day so we tried to schedule our activities between storms. We spent about 2 hours waiting for the rains to move on and headed back to town to ride on the alpine slide.
Sarah was the only one that decided not to try this. I was a bit nervous as I had never been on a ski lift before.
Here are a few of us heading up
Chandler and Ashton
Ryanne and Jaikka
Hannah and Eisley
Ginger and Lon
Mindi and Shayla
You went up on the ski lift then got into your own personal go cart and headed back down.
Lined up and waiting for our turn to go
Jaikka, Ryanne and Gideon
Shayla, Hannah, Ginger, Isaac, and Grandma
darn good selfie Shayla!
Grandpa, Chandler and Debbie
Ashton, Gideon, Isaac, Ryanne and Jaikka
And we are off. The first time everyone went at OK speeds but the second time down they went full throttle, except Grandma. I only went once and it was at my own safe "very slow"
Ashton
Gideon
Ryanne
Jaikka
Mindi
Shayla
Eisley
Hannah
Debbie
Chandler
Ginger
Grandpa
Grandpa
Isaac
And Grandma is on her way
Everyone was waiting for me to get to the bottom
I was met with cheers from my family Sarah was our photographer and got everyone as they came down As you can see, the skies are threatening again but everyone that wanted a second trip down was able to do so before the rains came again. Part of us headed back to the cabin while those who wanted to go shopping took off. What a fun day with our children and grandchildren.
Lon found a new hose for the truck and Wednesday morning about 5 Lon, Ginger, Debbie, Chandler and Gideon headed to Moorpark to take Debbie home and to load up "treasures" that Lon wanted to bring home and try to sell. The girls were getting rid of a stove top with a hood, an oven, sink, bike, etc. Lon just couldn't stand to throw them away cause they were in such good shape. They planned to be home by around 1. The hose came off once again but other than that the trip down and almost home went very smooth. But when they were about 15 miles from Big Bear the traffic came to a stop. They waited for about an hour and found out that there had been a mudslide and the road was closed! After talking to people, they decided to take highway 38 so around they went and after another hour found that that road was closed due to the fires. They were told that the other road was now open, the mudslide cleaned up, so back they came. It took them 4 hours to go those last 15 miles. It had turned into a very long day for them and we were just happy that they made it home. There are storm warning all around us for flooding and severe thunderstorms.
And while these 5 were "enjoying" their adventure:
The rest of us headed to the trailhead for Castle Rock for a hike
Mindi took this foto
Then Sarah took this one
And we are off. It was a very steep climb up but was only a mile. Grandma bringing up the rear
The weather was great for the hike, overcast and cool
The grandkids thought it was so funny when grandma got a phone call on the mountain! My childhood friend Barbara Fuller called to see if we could have lunch. I told her thank you for calling, I needed to sit down and take a break from the hike!
This is the point when Grandma stayed behind and let the young ones go on
Ashton trying to convince his mom that he could help her across the boulders, "Just take my hand"
She finally did!
Grandma with Ashton, Jaikka, Ryanne, Hannah, Isaac and Eisley The thunderstorms are coming in so we need to head for the cabin before we get soaked.
Isaac helping grandma down the trail
Mindi, Shayla and Mom
What a fun hike. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the weather reports and worrying about our travelers and praying that they will be able to get home tonight!
The hot tub felt good in the late evenings
We enjoyed playing games together. These cousins really get along great.
playing spoons, this game can get a little rough!
So thankful to have everyone home and safe this evening. We sure do miss Justin and Nathan and Tracy who could not come due to work and getting ready to leave on his mission. Debbie had to go home cause of the contractors remodeling their kitchen but so glad that she could come for a couple of days. The kids have been great help with chores and fixing our meals. We have been eating way too good!
And suddenly it is Thursday morning!
We headed into town in a rainstorm but by the time we got to the rental place the rain had stopped so we rented 2 paddle boards and 2 kayaks and headed to the Big Bear Lake.
There wasn't any sunshine but the cloudy weather made the water warmer for them.
Chandler and Ashton
Jaikka and Ryanne
Gideon and Isaac
They followed each other out into the lake
Eisley and Hannah
Hannah and Eisley
Somehow they took turns with the kayaks and paddle boards and everyone got a turn on each. They played for about two hours and the clouds started looking very black so they came back. They were all tired by the time they got to shore, but they had a great time.
Lon and Ginger left after the kids got on the water and hauled garbage and checked out the golf course. Everyone that wanted to golf had brought their clubs with them but at a price of $44.00 each for 9 holes it was decided that it was just too expensive here. We loaded up in the middle of a downpour and headed back to the cabin for lunch. It was then time for our pool tournament!
The cabin had a game room with a pool table and some kind of an electric game machine.
Ashton ended up the Thompson Family Pool Champion
Hannah and Shayla played the shortest games by scratching on their break
It stopped raining so some headed back to Castle Rock to hike
The girls, Shayla and I decided we didn't have another hike in our legs so we watched a movie instead
Lon and Isaac
Hurrah! I made it to the top
Lon with Mindi and Ginger
So glad that everyone was able to take the hike. It was a beautiful view from the top. Big Bear Lake is in the background.
We ate leftovers for supper then had our un-birthday birthday party with prices for all and cake and ice cream.
Everyone made themselves a lunch for tomorrow as we will all be on the road. We got all of the leftover food into the freezer so it would be frozen for the ride home. We even got all of the mattresses put back where they belonged and the cabin pretty much cleaned before we called it a day. Tomorrow will be up early and a long day on the road for all.
Friday morning the 13th
Mindi headed out first as they have a plane to catch. It was hard to say goodbye to her and the kids as this will probably be the last time we will see her until after our mission. But we can Facetime and keep up with each other on our blogs - but it was still very hard.
Shayla and her two took off next. They are driving straight through to Boise - so thankful that we will all be able to text to see where everyone is and that they are safe going home.
Mindi caught their plane on time, Ginger had an uneventful trip home, Shayla got home about a half hour before we did and we got to Tracy's about 10:00. It had been a very long day for all. So thankful that we had Sarah and Chandler to help with the driving. We had a wonderful reunion!
The sister's got a photo together
But felt bad cause their brother wasn't with them so they added him in
Saturday the 14th
We spent the day getting unpacked, grass mowed, camper shell returned to Bob and preparing lessons for tomorrow. It does feel good to be home. It has been a marathon few weeks with all of our travels.
We had our appointment with the Stake President on the 17th and now we just have to wait to receive our mission call. This mission is so different than our first two as we really don't know where we will be going for sure. We were able to pick a few choices of where we would like to serve, but it is now in the hands of the Brethren and the Lord.
Ginger and Jaikka came to town on Thursday the 19th. They met Mom and I at the church just as we were finishing our Lunch Bunch. They went to Twin with us to help Grandma pick out a new blouse. Ginger golfed with Lon and Tracy Friday and Saturday. Shayla came down on Saturday, but Ryanne and Gideon had to work so they couldn't come. She picked up Aydan and Dillon so we all met at Tracy's house for lunch. We had Tracy's bunch, Ginger and Jaikka, Shayla and Aydan and Dillon, Steve and Bev (Sarah's parents) and us. I can't believe that I didn't take even one photo! Ginger and Shayla headed to Boise around 5. It was very hard to say goodbye to Ginger and Jaikka knowing that we would not see each other until after our missions. Boy are we thankful for Facetime. At least we can see each other but good hugs will have to come when we fulfill our missions. We came home to get ready to attend Lon's 50th class reunion for Jerome.
It was held to the Barn. It was too crowded, hot, and the food was not good but Lon enjoyed visiting with a few of his classmates. Not a good place for a reunion!
Lon and George have gone fishing a couple of times. On Monday the 30th they fished at Magic and came home and cooked the fish and we had a nice supper with them and Carl Hunter.
We had fresh corn on the cob and cucumbers from the garden
The flies were out so Lon and Carl enjoyed shooting them with George's salt rifle
They even took care of a few bees
We were able to spend some time in the temple doing work for our ancestors. We got some baptisms done on the 28th. We arrived at the temple on the 20th and met a couple from Chile. They didn't speak much English so it was our privilege to help them. The shift coordinators thought that we had brought them to the temple and were shocked when we told them that we didn't even know them but in reality, we felt like we had known them forever. They were so kind and loving. Oh how we hope that we can again serve our mission among these amazing people. The Spanish people just have such a special spirit.
They met us outside the temple and asked for a foto with us.
We have had a busy month visiting with family and friends who are living now and accomplishing the work for family who are living on the other side of the veil. Life is good and July has come to an end. Summer just keeps speeding by.
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