JULY 2020
On July 1, Kory and I met up with Lori’s family and Jared and Josh and spouses for dinner at Fuji.
Lori and her family were just getting into town for the 4th of July weekend. On the 3rd, Kory went up to Teton Valley and golfed with the guys. On Thursday, me, Kory, and BJ went to the same links course in Tetonia to golf again. I had fun driving the cart and enjoying the incredible view of the peaks.
On July 6, we took Chloe and Phoebe to Reed’s Dairy for some ice-cream. On July 7, we had a little cook-out with Austin and Leah and the girls and then everyone went for a bike ride to Sunnyside Elementary and played on the playground.
Throughout the week, Kory and Phoebe went car shopping,
since Phoebe decided she’s ready to buy a car. They ended up buying a Nissan Versa and Phoebe is pretty excited about it. Especially excited not to be
driving our old car with no air conditioning. We were tempted to get rid of it,
but Caleb might need to drive it for a while.
On July 11, Kory, me, Isaac, Phoebe, and Caleb drove down to
Utah for Brad Kunz’s wedding. We checked in to the Hyatt at Thanksgiving Point
and then Kory and I went to the ceremony, held in someone’s back yard that
lives right on Utah Lake. It was a beautiful location, although it was 100
degrees. The ceremony was beautiful, and I cried a little when they said their
little speech to each other. After that we had dinner there in the yard. Then
Kory went to get the kids for the reception, and I went to see Bob and Wendy
for an hour or so. When we all got back to the reception there was dancing and
visiting and Phoebe caught the bouquet, so who knows….. Kory impressed us all
with his dance moves. We got back to the hotel around 10:00 but then Phoebe
realized she had left her purse, so Kory drove back again.
On July 16, I went to lunch with Kristi, Mom, and Amy to
celebrate Kristi’s birthday—and a belated birthday for me and Amy. It was so
fun to visit with them and we decided we need to do it more often.
On July 18, Kory and I went to the Tetonia golf course
again. We met LaRell there for nine holes, and then Kory went the back nine on
his own. I had fun driving the cart and enjoying the view. We’ve decided that
might be our favorite golf course so I’m sure we’ll be there more often. After
that, we headed to Grand Teton National Park. We parked at one of the turnouts
and biked about six miles to Jenny Lake. The view was AMAZING and the trail was
great—not too steep. We had so much fun. We took a quick look at the lake and
biked back. Next time we want to ride the ferry across and hike.
On July 20, we met at McKenzie Grill with some of Quinton’s family and friends and had dinner and cake to celebrate the upcoming wedding.
On July 21, I had my last class day of BYUI. So nice to wrap up the semester and have a break for a month or so. That night, we went to Reed’s Dairy with Austin, Leah, and the girls for a treat. On July 22, we went on a bike ride with Austin, Leah, the girls, and Caleb down to Snake River Landing. We ended up biking over to Manwaring Cheese where they serve amazing gelato. I had the mango and it was awesome!
When we got back, Caleb wanted to go driving, so we took him to the church parking lot to drive around. He’s done with the online part of the course, and now he gets to start the driving portion. It will be nice when he has his license and is all set to drive.
Phoebe and Isaac got
registered for classes this Fall at BYUI. Covid or not, Fall semester is
happening. I have chosen to teach face-to-face, but it’s socially distanced, so
I can only meet with half of the class at a time, all wearing face-masks
(including me). It should be weird and interesting. Thursday we got ready for
Madi’s wedding. We also had the painter show up and start working on the family
room. It will be nice when that’s all done. He’s painting the entryway and the
family room because they have 30-foot ceilings and I don’t want to try painting
it myself. That night I went to a viewing in St. Anthony for my friend Angela
Buchanan’s son. He was killed in a car accident with a few other teen-agers
from Sugar City and St. Anthony. Very sad. That night, Kory went to the wedding
rehearsal to practice walking Madi down the aisle.
On Friday, we did some last-minute things for the wedding
and got ready. We stopped by Love at First Bite to pick up some refreshments
around noon and headed over. The girls had fun getting ready with Madi, while
Kory and I prepped stuff and waited. The venue, The Barn on First, was cute and
they had decorated so nicely. We would definitely use them again. The ceremony
was held out in the garden and Quinton’s brother officiated—he got his license
online—and did a good job. Afterwards, we had pictures for about an hour while
Bees Knees set up the buffet.
The food turned out great and we had a nice dinner, then
everyone shared thoughts and memories of Madi and Quinton. We had a break for
about an hour as we got ready for the reception/dance. We planned to mostly
serve wedding cake, but I got a few other things just to be sure to have
enough, so I set those up. The reception was fun with aunts and uncles and a
few cousins. The Kunz Family really rocked their dance moves the whole night.
By the end of the night, Kory and I were exhausted. But everything went well
and it was a great, memorable day for the couple.
On Sunday, the 26th, Kory turned 57. Hard to
believe—he looks so young. He had a bunch of meetings and we did Come Follow Me
and went to sacrament meeting. We grilled burgers on his new grill and then
later other kids came over for some strawberry shortcake and gifts. I got him a
bunch of Kansas City Chiefs paraphernalia, since he doesn’t have any and he
grew up in Kansas City and is a big fan. Phoebe got him a book and a puzzle
which we immediately started working on.
On the 27th, Caleb started his drives for
Driver’s Ed. He completed them throughout the week, so he now has his permit
and gets to do his 50 hours of driving before he takes the for-reals test. He
seems pretty comfortable with it. On Tuesday, July 28, Madi and Quinton took us
to dinner at Red Robin. I also submitted my grades for BYUI and was officially
on vacation.
On the 29th, Kory and I packed up everything but
the kitchen sink and headed up to Island Park to the Gee Reunion. This was a
reunion with me and my siblings’ families. My parents rented a cabin on the
reservoir from our relatives and we had a great time. We missed David’s family,
but everyone else came, with a few kids missing for work, etc. The kids loved
being right on the water. They spent most of their time on Evan and Jodi’s boat
tubing, knee-boarding, etc or kayaking and swimming in the water. The parents
kept on eye on the kids and visited. That night, Dad wanted all of the adults
to go on a boat ride, so we did, and we ran out of gas! Haha. It was pretty
memorable. Some of the guys started rowing us with an oar, then a boat took
pity on us and towed us back to our dock.
Thursday was more of the same, with a talent show that
night. Jodi’s family did a kazoo chorus. Nate’s family featured Andrew playing
the piano and Charlotte doing some nice dance moves. Kristi’s family had a few
of the kids do a TikTok dance. From Shawn’s family, Kami and Caden did a
guitar/mandolin duet and sang. For my family, Kory and Terry did a trombone
duet to the Sound of Silence and Sweet Caroline. Everyone got into the second
one, singing along. Dad did a spoof of Blue Bayou with Abby on the guitar. Then
Mom shared memories of each kid from the family histories. It was a fun night.
On Friday, some of us went to Harriman and biked the Silver Lake trail. The kids and hardcore mountain bikers did some of the steeper hills. It was a beautiful day!
That night the men blessed Bridger, Jodi’s new
baby. Each day we had a morning and evening devotional, with each family taking
a turn sharing a thought, leading the song, and saying a prayer. Each family
also took charge of a meal. It all turned out so great and we were so glad we
did it, despite all of the uncertainty with Covid.
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