On August 3rd, Lon's Valley High School Class of "68" decided to have an impromptu class reunion for anyone who could come to town. They really had a good turnout. We met at the Blue Lakes Golf Course for a catered brunch and visiting. It was a very nice event.
Lon is in the blue shirt on the back row.
We headed to Eden, Utah for our family reunion on the 4th. Eden is about 20 minutes north of Ogden, Utah. It is a very pretty valley and was very green for this time of year. Mindi and Justin were in charge this year and they found this house for us to rent for 3 days.
This is the back yard. It is three levels, 3 bedrooms and a bath on the top floor,
the master bedroom and bath, a den, front room, kitchen, bath and laundry on the main floor
and a bedroom and a bunk room with 4 bunkbeds, a bath, a family room and a movie theatre on the ground floor. The hot tub is beside the table with the umbrella.
The front of the house. It was very nice.
Those who were able to attend this year:
Lon and Nancy
Mindi and Justin Parker
Tracy, Eisley, Sarah, Chandler Thompson
Loren and Nathan Parker
Jacob and Hannah Dow
Ryanne, Shayla and Justin Egbert
Debbie, Jaikka and Ginger Thompson
We had 18 attend, missing Gideon Denning who is in the Navy, Isaac Parker who is serving a mission and has just arrived in Japan
His first year was spent in North Dakota Mission and
Ashton Thompson who is preparing for a mission and stayed home to work, and all of Justin Egbert's kids who had to work. We were missing 10 total of our family.
After everyone arrived, we ordered in pizza for supper. We had a great ping-pong tournament and card games to get everyone reacquainted.
These 4 were the most competitive
Ginger and Mindi taking on Shayla and Jacob
Chandler, Jaikka, Ryanne, Sarah, Nathan and Loren
A family of deer came into the back yard just before dark to eat
The most interesting item for the evening was checking out the master bathroom!
Most of us had ever seen a Bidet before. I think each of the grandkids had to try it out. Chandler had detailed instructions for all😂
We really felt spoiled getting to sleep in the master bedroom.
We got up early Friday morning and found more deer in the back yard.
They didn't seem to be afraid of us as we watched from the baloney.
8 of our group took off to go golfing. We had 2 foursomes - Justin E., Jacob, Chandler and Lon - and Tracy, Ginger, Shayla and Mindi.
The selfie just didn't turn out, so Justin took the photo. You can see some dark clouds forming over the mountain, but we were able to enjoy the sunshine and the rains came when we were finished.
These 4 stayed to golf the back 9 and the rest of the group came back for lunch and then we went to the lake.
Tracy, Shayla, Justin and Lon
Ryanne and Chandler returning from a trip clear across the lake. The wind has come up and it was tough paddling for Chan, but Ryanne helped with her stick😏
Mindi and Ginger
Chan and Ryanne are actually on a paddle board, but it was so flimsy that it just sunk.
Eisley, Sarah, Debbie, Jaikka, Ginger
Mindi and Chandler finally took the flimsy paddle board and used it as a float tube
Ginger, Debbie, Sarah and Jaikka
Jaikka liked Grandpa's straw hat
Jacob and Hannah and Nathan and Loren were definitely the experts with the paddle boards, but I didn't get a good photo of them😕.
The wind came up and it looked like showers were coming in, so we headed back to the house to prepare supper.
We are having taco's and all the trimmings, and we kicked a breaker, so Ginger warmed up tortilla's sitting down!
The kitchen was great
We had to break up the game to get ready to eat though
Hannah, Chandler, Sarah, Debbie, Ryanne, Jaikka, Loren, Nathan
After supper, a corn hole tournament was played.
Mindi, Shayla, Chandler and Justin
Lon and Jacob went on a long winning streak but was beaten by Mindi and Justin.
Eisley loved the hot tub every evening. The movie theatre was also in constant use each evening by someone.
On Friday evening, Lon and I were asked to take a few minutes and tell the family our story. We are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this year. I brought our wedding book along so the grandkids could see what we looked like 50 years ago. We enjoyed cake and ice cream to celebrate. What a fun evening
Ryanne and Chandler enjoying the hammocks in the front yard
Justin P, Jacob and Hannah, Loren and Nathan
Lon and Tracy salving the problems of the world
Or maybe the Justin's got them solved already?
Saturday morning was time for Mindi's hike.
It was not too hot for a 3mile hike.
It was so fun to hike with these special people
Mindi was worried about the hike because she hadn't done it before, but she picked a perfect one for this group.
Back to the house for a huge breakfast with anything you could want to eat😋.
Lon, Justin E and Shayla headed back to the golf course.
As you can see, it has gotten a bit cold with showers, but that didn't detour anyone from having a blast.
Tracy, Sarah and Eisley headed mountain biking. The rest of us headed to the Snowbasin Ski resort and mini golfing.
Hannah and Loren
Chandler, Ginger and Jaikka
Justin P
It didn't look like a tough course when we got there, but it was very tough!
The ski lift went right over the top of us
The wind really cooled things off!
We had a ball and had the course to ourselves as we finished
Back to the house for hamburgers and hot dogs, cooked to perfection by Justin E.
I think that everyone had a great time and joined in the activities that interested them. We had lots of games going on at all times and those who wanted to sleep in or take naps were free to do that also. It was very laid back and the food was great. We always hate to have these kinds of events come to an end but Sunday morning we all helped to clean the house after a great breakfast, then one by one everyone headed for home.
These four amazing children have given us so much love and joy over the years, along with a few fears and tears! No, they are not perfect, but they are perfect for us. They have always amazed us and continue to do so as they grow into such loving and kind parents. They will always be our little children, but it is so special as they all try to take care of us now. 50 years have come and gone so quickly. We have been so blessed and look forward to many more reunions with this bunch. By Sunday evening, everyone had made it to their homes safe and sound.
Lon's bucket list includes golfing at the Blue Lakes Country Club on it. He has been dreaming of this for years. One of his classmates finally arranged it. On the 11th, Lon, Bruce Baisch, and Terry Konicek and one of Terry's friends Carol Canender met at the Country Club for a best ball scramble.
Classmates: Lon, Terry and Bruce
At the club house
Bucket list: Golf Blue Lakes Country Club - checked off!!
They had a great time.
We went to Idaho Falls on the 18th. We met up with the Roberts for a late lunch at Smitty's Pancake House.
Lorna and Deloy Roberts served with us in the Guatemala City Temple Presidency. It was so fun to visit and get caught up on each other's lives. Then we went to Shelly and visited with Frank and Pauline Price for an hour. They are both having health issues. We have been so blessed to be healthy now. We got to Karen and Drew Miller's house around 8pm.
Lon and Drew spent Friday and Saturday running gas lines throughout the house to convert it from all electric to all gas. They got the new gas dryer installed. The water heater will wait till the old one gives up the ghost. They worked till about 7:30 on Friday and we ran out to visit with Randy and Tally Newman and see their new home. They have the basement left to finish but are working on the yard now. It is a beautiful home, and they seem very content with this move from Oregan City to Rigby. Karen figured out what herbs our bodies need and gave us each a cranial. We got home at 8:30. It was a nice trip, and we were thrilled to be able to help our friends.
On the 22nd, Iraima and Robert Otteson called, and we were able to meet up with them for a visit. They were coming through on their way home from Seattle.
They had taken Iraima's aunt and cousin to Seattle to visit family
It has been a few years since we had seen them. We enjoyed a visit and then took them on a tour to see where the old church was, the home that Grandpa and Flor lived in and the home where Iriama and Ramond had lived in when they were here.
On the 25th, we got 27 quarts of corn in the freezer.
We didn't have time to let the kids know that it was ready, so we were on our own this year.
We really missed Mindi and Tracy's help, but got it done! The bags are full of husks to be delivered to the Jackson's horses. We've been blessed to get most of our canning done before the end of the month, when we start our new "mission" in the Twin Falls Idaho Temple
August 29th: We met as a presidency at the Twin Falls Temple and Brother Kjel Neilson, the temple recorder, took us on a tour of the entire temple, from the ground to the steeple. We attended the Monday cleaning crew's devotional. So nice to meet these special people who come to the temple every Monday to deep clean and repair in preparation for Tuesday morning. We then met in President Harris's office, and he set each of us apart in our new callings as members of the temple presidency. It was a beautiful meeting, and we were each blessed with specific blessings to help us through these next three years.
On the 30th and 31st, we met at the temple in the president's office for our Temple Leadership Training Seminar. This was broadcast over the internet from Salt Lake. The seven of us who make up the temple leadership counsel attended, the Harris, the Taylors, the Thompsons and Brother Neilson. We were taught by Elders Bednar and Gong, President Nelson, Elder Kevin Duncan, President Dallin Oaks, President Eyring, Sister Aburto, Bishop Waddall, Sister Camille Johnson, Elder Mark Palmer and Elder Holland. It was an amazing seminar. We learned so much. Brother Robert Simmons, an area manager for the temple department joined us on the 31st. We were spiritually and mentally fed! Our retiring temple presidency and matrons prepared shacks and meals for us these two days. We were physically fed very well. It was a wonderful two days and we all are filled😀💟.
President Thompson and I are excited about this new calling "mission." We have one more day of training before we actually take over the reins of the temple. We are ready!
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