Saturday, July 17, 2010

PHOTO STORY

Eva, Esther, Bruno, Beatrix, Briga and Monica Ingold (maiden names)

Getting crafty with Hadley and Cole Tiffany and Kelsie Conover. We made cards for our missionary in Japan, Trey Robinson, and wrote him letters.


Then we decorated head bands with the feathers Hadley has been collecting from her chickens. This is Kelsie with her head band.

And this is the head band Hadley made.

When we went to Melanie's last Sunday her neighbor came and asked if we could help rescue some ducklings that had fallen down the storm drain around the corner from her house. Six ducklings were recovered from the first storm drain and two more at the next one. They were carried to the canal in a fishing net where they were reunited with their frantic mother. This is Trent Conover holding one of the babies.


The day before, (July 10th), Theresa participated in the Lavender 5K near Mona, Utah. Even though I didn't get up early enough to see her walk/run, she did urge me to come down and enjoy the festival with her. It was great fun. Can you see the blooming lavender fields in the center of this photo? This is the biggest essential oil distillery in North America.


Theresa and I both made lavender wreaths. For $10 we were allowed to use all the fresh cut lavender we wanted, so we really piled it on our grape vine wreaths. Oh I wish you could smell them. Heavenly!
On our way home Wednesday our truck completely broke down near Scipio so we had to have a semi tractor move our trailer to a storage yard and get our truck hauled back to American Fork to a dealer. That was 88 miles. Can you believe the tow truck broke down too and Warren had to help the driver replace belts before he could use the hydraulics to unload our truck. Then to top all that excitement we couldn't get a rental car because none were available. Kevin came to our rescue and brought us his truck. We spent the night at Melanie's in South Jordan and didn't know how long the truck repair would take. Warren insisted that I fly home because I was so done in and have been having lots of neck pain. I flew home Thursday afternoon and Warren ended up driving the truck and fifth wheel train all the way home alone on Friday.

Today we were honored to attend the baptism of our grandson, Carson Speer. It was a beautiful baptism and we had a delicious brunch.

The Speers - Angie, Justin, Kai, Carson, Riley and Kamden.


This is Emma Sorensen (Jeff's daughter age 2 1/2) is modeling a hat and gloves Aunt Kari made for Emma's sister Zoe.

It's great to be home for a few days to rest up and catch up. Our plan is to go camping with friends Bill and Sylvia Fisk on Wednesday for at least a week. It is very HOT here (112 degrees). Although I LOVE being home it will be nice to be back in the mountains where it should be much cooler.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

TELL ME A STORY!

The old Swiss group: Heidi Blaser, Lorenz Rindlisbacher, Esther and Briga Ingold, Susan Blaser, Monica, Eva and Beatrix Ingold, Ernst Blaser, Bruno Ingold and Howard Rindlisbacher.

Cathedral in the desert, looking out, at Lake Powell

Our latest 'investment', two weeks per summer on the Redrock Oasis at Lake Powell. It includes two kayaks, which are lots of fun!

Kevin and I send greeting from Lake Powell.

What a month this has been! We have been in Logan for a week, during which we sold our RZR to my friend Diane and went for a long, rough ride with them up Millville Canyon. While we were we were still in Logan my uncle Theo Erni (my mom's foster brother), who lived next door all of our Logan years, died suddenly. We had to extend our Logan stay for three days to be there for the funeral. That also made it possible to go to the mini 'Swiss Reunion' with our substitute cousins who immigrated from Switzerland about the same time we did and were in the same church district with us over there.
OK, so we finally got to Mapelton, to park the trailer at Natalie's and left the next day for our time share houseboat at Lake Powell. We spent and wonderful week there, but on the last day dad and I went for an early morning 'soft' ride up a narrow slot canyon. Going up I encountered a ski boat with a water skier and barely missed taking out the skier. I continued up the canyon but soon realized Warren wasn't behind me. So I turned around and found that Warren hadn't missed the ski boat, but had ended up under the prop, where the whole side of the wave runner had been scrapped up and the rear corner 'chewed' up. It was really a miracle he didn't lose his leg. He did get a puncture wound, which necessitated a trip to the ER for antibiotics.
We had a great time with Natalie and her family when we got back to Mapelton. Wednesday morning we left her house to go half way home, but we had trouble with the truck near Scipio and had the truck completely break down. We were just able to coast down the exit ramp into a 'Flying J' gas station. There we were able to get a mechanic who told us we had to get towed to a dealership. The closest one that could work on the truck was back up at American Fork. We also had to arrange to get the trailer towed to the mechanics lots, where he let us store it until we could get back for only $50. The towing of the truck was about 120 miles and cost us $400. Sadly, when we were almost at American Fork, something happened to the two truck. It turned out to be broken belts making it necessary to turn off the AC (99 degrees) and the alternator did not work. Again we were just able to coast off the freeway and into the dealership, but our truck couldn't be fixed until he could find belts, get them installed and unload the truck. In the mean time I had called to try to get and rental car, only to be told they didn't have ANY available. Kevin kindly came to our rescue, working only 3 miles from where we were. He let us borrow his truck. I took him back to work and went back to wait for Warren at the dealership. The tow truck driver didn't have the needed tools to put the belts on his truck, so Warren had to jump in to help him with the tools he always carries in his truck. We spent the night at Melanie's. Warren insisted that I fly home today because I'm worn out and we didn't know how long it would take to get the truck fixed. Fortunately the truck is fixed (pressure oil pump) and he will be on the road Friday to come home! WHEW! What a vacation!