Where the deer and the antelope play...

Oh, I am road weary! And I'm going to get in a lot of trouble if I miss one more Sunday getting my missive out.

Kerry and I have been gone. Just over two weeks ago, Kerry had some minor surgery done, then we were on the road to Jordan's. He lives just over 1 1/2 hours south of us, and they had asked if we would watch the boys while he and Melissa went to an orientation meeting at the school.

Of course we would! Grandchildren are so much more fun than their parents were!!!

Oh, we did so many naughty things...

We played kickball in the living room.

We brought sweets for the kids.

We watched movies and movies and movies...

We played kickball again.

We let the kids wallow all over us.

We had a ball. Then, the parents came home.

Kerry, Justin and Jayden

The next couple of days were busy ones as we prepared for our trip to the west. We left right after church on Aug 22 and headed into the sunset for our 30 hour trip straight through. (Our time was at a premium, hence the driving straight through. I don't know how many more times I can do that, though.)

It's a long, boring drive. Kerry always tries to break it up with interesting things to stop and look at. We did that a lot with the kids. We would stop at historical sites, Dyersville, Iowa (where Field of Dreams was filmed. We played on the field for quite awhile.). We got out a walked a lot. (Not much of a chance of blood clots when you have old bladders).

Thirty hours later, we pulled into David and Martha's. She always has dinner ready for us. It was delicious. David is looking quite good. He has been working out, and it shows. Sometimes others can see it better than we can ourselves. Keep it up, David!

Early the next morning, after David fixing our breakfast, we left for Oregon. It was another 15 hours. It was mostly desert and wilderness. It was boring. We were almost hit by three deer, who were the same color as the desert.

But, things got prettier as we began driving along the Columbia River. As a matter of fact, it took my breath away. We saw Mt. Hood, which Kerry thought looked just like the mountain for Paramount Pictures.

Columbia River. The mouth of it is where the Coast Guard trains. It's hard for them to find currents and rapids much stronger for training than what they can find there.

When we came into Lincoln City, the full moon was rising. We didn't see it right at first, for it was behind us. But when we stopped, it made our jaws drop.

Isn't that beautiful?

Harmony works in the deli at the Chinook Winds Casino. It's not exactly where she would prefer to be working, but it will do for now. She lost her other job when she came back for Peter's funeral in January.

When we arrived at the casino, we were amazed at how crowded it was for a Tuesday evening. That's because there had been a power outage in town, and everyone came to the casino. She was very busy at the deli (not like where you order lunch meats, cheese, and potato salads. You place your order for fish/chips, nachos, sandwiches, etc.).

But, the thing that absolutely ASTOUNDED me was the amount of little children. Over the next couple of days, we were back at the casino for dinner, etc. and there were always children there. They were in nightgowns, sleepers, strollers, etc. There are free soft drinks for everyone (even if you just walk in off the street), so these kids were drinking cup after cup after cup...

There parents were off gambling.

Harmony said sometimes these kids are there unattended until 2-3:00 am. They have to stay on the tiled part. This has continued to bother me ever since I saw it.

But, our time with Miss Harmony was wonderful. She is really trying her best, and it shows. I was so proud of her. Here are some of the things we did...

We made our own glass floats.

Kerry is blowing through a hose to make the glass ball bigger.

The finished product, which had to cool for 24 hours. They are BEAUTIFUL!

We walked along the ocean front and saw a seagull with one foot.

Kerry and Harmony loved looking through the telescopes.

The backdrops in Oregon are so pretty. The mountains just go rolling and rolling on.

Kerry found a Viking statue to honor his Scandinavian heritage.

Kerry and Harmony tried to get their kite up. This area is renown for kite-flying, but for some reason, the wind did not cooperate with them.

Harmony lives in the house above the front house. Our hotel was just to the left of her house.

In Newport, we saw and heard lots and lots of sea lions. These are the 1,000 lb. males, who are vacationing here from California. The 250 lb. females remain in California. They don't migrate up here. For some reason, they love laying around in this cage - there's about 40 of them in there.

They fight and argue a lot with their mouths. They honk and bark a lot.

This one guy keep scratching himself with his flippers.

People drop cages and catch lots of crabs. This one little kid took a crab out and let him crawl toward my toes.

We ate a BUCKET OF CLAM CHOWDER at a restaurant named Mo's. Bobby Kennedy visited there just two weeks before he was shot. Doesn't Harmony look pretty? She seems better than I've seen her in quite awhile.

I LOVE lighthouses! Harmony took us to one at Yaquina Bay.

Our time ended there too quickly. It was very, very hard to leave her. But, I will always cherish the good times we shared there in an area she now calls home. (Love you, my Harmony...)

Kerry and I returned to Utah (15 hours of mostly desert and wilderness again) and stayed at his sister, Content's for the next two nights. She always makes us feel like we are part of her family. Son David, his wife Olivia, and their sweet little boys were there - Ethan, Caleb and little baby Rhett - who was only 3 weeks old. Daughter Truly was there, too. I love making connections with my nieces and nephews...

The main reason we took this trip was for Kerry to attend his 40TH HIGH SCHOOL REUNION!!! Wow...It was fun watching him connect with friends he grew up in Utah with. His family moved to Utah when Kerry was 16 years old, so he left friends in California to make new friends in Utah. As we prepared to leave, two of his very closest friends in school were talking with me. They will help Kerry with the next reunion in five years, since HE WAS UNANIMOUSOLY VOTED TO HEAD THE NEXT ONE! As I said goodbye to them, one of them said, "You know, I was aware that Kerry had married. But, I didn't realize he had married such a cutie!"

A cutie. Now, that has stuck in my brain ever since. A cutie. I'm 55 years old, I'm saggy, I'm baggy, I'm a lot of things. But, I don't think cutie was ever on the list.

A cutie. Hmmm...

Kerry's 40th class reunion. There was just about 100 in his class. These were able to come. An email was sent from the girl he was engaged to several years before he met me. She has MS and is totally wheelchair-bound, barely able to get out of bed. She's had four different cancers and has had 12 operations in three years. Her youngest child, a daughter, died at age 20 of a massive heart attack.

I nearly cried. I have not been able to stop thinking about her. When I met her 20 years ago, I thanked her for sending letters of support to Kerry when he served his mission. She got him through some pretty tough and lonely times.

We attended church with Content and Larry, stayed the night with Kerry's sister, Harmony (who's preparing for her wedding!) and headed for home on Monday morning (another 30 hours...). It was a good trip. It was a long trip. It was one of the most rewarding trips ever - until we reached a rest stop in Wyoming that posted this sign:

I couldn't get out of the car. This sign scared everything right back up in me.

This month, we wish a happy birthday to:
Kristi - dau of Kerry's brother, Steve - Sep 3
Kylie - g-dau of Kerry's brother, Steve - Sep 3
Earl - Jean's husband - Sep 7
Larry - husband of Kerry's sister, Content - Sep 9
Jonathan - son of Kerry's brother, David - Sep 9
Steve - Jean's son - Sep 14
David - son of Kerry's sister, Content - Sep 15
Vaughn - son of Kerry's brother, Kelly - Sep 15
Erin - d-i-l of sister, Betty - Sep 16
Topher - son of Kerry's brother, Chris - Sep 20
PT - son of sister, Betty - Sep 20
Orson - Kerry's Dad, who would have been 92 this year - Sep 30

And a happy anniversary to:
Rachael & Scott - dau and s-i-l of Kerry's brother, David - Sep 5 (today!)
Gay & Kent - Kerry's sister & her husband - Sep 14 (she died of ALS in 2000)
Justin & Erin - Betty's son and d-i-l - Sep 25
Adrienne & Adam - dau & s-i-l of Kerry's sister, Joy - Sep 27

Love to y'all...
Miss P