June 28-July 7 Mom's Birthday Celebration - Utah #2

On June 28, we packed up quickly and headed for Utah (again!) in the Pilot, this time via Vancouver to visit for a few days with Katie, Kyle and Max. They moved into a small house in Vancouver proper and wanted us to see how they fixed things up. We drove through the gorge arriving at the house just in time for dinner at a lovely restaurant on the Columbia River. The sunny day made for a pleasant evening, as we walked along the boardwalk after dinner watching the boats, planes, and waterbirds.

Previously an office for Kyle's dad's business, the kid's new place is perfect for a young couple. The newly refinished floors and white paint on the living room built-ins gave the home a fresh, new look. After breakfast, we drove to Portland searching for a roof rack for the Pilot. The Cely family from Columbia would be visiting soon and with seven bodies inside the car, luggage space would be at a minimum. We bought a reasonably-priced rack and cargo net, and had it installed within minutes.

The next morning, Sunday, we discovered what a quick pack job looked like. Mike brought black shoes to wear to church, but unfortunately, they were not a matched pair. He tried to keep his feet out of sight as best he could and no one knew the better, except Katie, Kyle and I. We kept laughing every time he tried to tuck his feet under the chair or bench (Mike's body doesn't tuck well).


Monday morning we took off early for Utah and made it to Morgan late that evening. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday helping with preparations for Mike's mom's 90th birthday party. Her birthday was April 17, but the family waited until we returned from our mission to celebrate. Thursday evening was the big day and Mom A dressed early, then sat like a queen in her chair in the parlor awaiting the guests. Since it was the 4th of July weekend, we were a bit antsy about numbers, but a nice group of people began pouring in and it kept steady for several hours. Most happily, all Mom's siblings made it and we took a wonderful group photo. Kim put together some wonderful refreshments and everyone had a lovely time.





Katie and Kyle, Mike and Amy, plus all their kids, also came for the party plus the 4th of July festivities Thursday night and Friday. Fireworks blasted in the backyard, then everyone set up their tents, cots, mattresses, etc. for the big sleepover. Early the next morning, the Henefer 5K participants pulled out. Kristi was hoping for a first place medal this year, since she bumped up into the 60+ division, but the race official merged the 60+ into the 45+, so she came in 3rd after some youngsters beat her out by a couple of minutes.











Returning to the chaos of the backyard, everyone packed up, enjoyed downing five, giant Sub sandwiches, then were on their way. Amy and her family headed to St. George, as did we, for a weekend at the Gecko House. Leaving the Pilot in St. George, we took the shuttle to Vegas EARLY Monday morning and flew back to Wenatchee. With our upcoming whirlwind schedule, we would need the car, complete with the new roof rack, spotted there for use in a few weeks.




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