First of all the bad...
Things really took a down turn when we arrived at the Manti temple grounds and ran into a man who was letter of the law and no leeway for anything else. It's one thing to stick to the rules. It's another to handle it in a tactless manner and leave the people feeling trodden upon. Not knowing any better we took a game on the temple grounds to pass the time. We had barely started playing when HE came by and very tactlessly told us to put it away. We all felt that he was looking down his nose at us and was appalled that we would even think about playing a game on the temple grounds. My question is...How is playing a simple game on the temple grounds any worse than hauling a pile of pizzas and grocery bags stuffed with snacks onto the grounds? They allow any snacks you want on the grounds, but not a simple game. Later, we were still sitting by the fence because our seats were still in the sun. The same man came by and got after Tom because he was sitting too far from the fence and in the "fire ease-way". For heaven's sake, he was sitting two feet from the fence and there was at least 6 feet between him and the other people in the area.
Thank goodness for the man who came along behind that one. He walked up, and we were thinking, "Oh, great. Here we go again." He says, "I'm sorry. You can't lean against the fence...unless you want to." If he hadn't come by I was thoroughly tempted to leave Manti before the pageant even started. I had such a sour taste in my mouth from the whole thing. Later, I was sitting in my seat and watched a young mother playing "Go, Fish" with her small child. I prayed THE MAN wouldn't come give her a hard time. I was hoping, however, that he would come over and tell me to put my tatting away because it looked like I was flipping the bird. I had it all lined out. "Maybe that's because I am because you won't leave us alone." "This is more appropriate than eating pizza and other snacks on the temple grounds even if it does look like I'm flipping the bird." and "Well, I guess you have a problem because I'm not flipping the bird. Heavenly Father gave me this talent and I'm making an alter cloth for the temple." I would never think to play a game or have a picnic on the temple grounds under normal circumstances, but face it...they opened it up when they decided to perform a play on the grounds and allow snacks in.
And that set the tone for the rest of the trip, and it was very hard to shake it. At least for me, it was easier to become irritated with stupid things for the rest of the time.
The last challenge was getting Zena back from the kids. Poor communication in the beginning meant that we ended up driving all the way to Teton to pick her up. We ended up making a trip to Idaho Falls for dinner (since Rexburg is a holier than thou kind of place and nothing is open on Sunday... literally. Not even gas stations.) So, we left Teton at 7 pm and made it home by midnight. Pretty good considering we were slowed down by our gas gauge saying we were on empty even though we had just filled the tank.
The Ugly...
The Dump Fire that started in Saratoga Springs/Eagle Mountain. It started about an hour before we left the Gruber's house for Manti and we worried about them and our other friends all weekend. My phone was dead so we couldn't call to see how they were doing.
Taken by one of the Gruber's friends
Also, I burned my thumb and pointer finger while we were camping. I somehow manage to get burned at least once a year while camping. Those darned dutch ovens. This time it was the lantern. My cousin Lillian was amazed that I didn't cry out when it happened. That's just the way I am. I never cry out like that. The burns are second degree burns and actually didn't hurt all that bad. I've had first degree burns that hurt worse. The next day I was knitting and doing everything like normal. They are kind of ugly, but not painful at all and healing well.
Lots of visiting with friends and family. We stayed with Tom's sister for the first part of the trip. We were able to visit with them, Tom's brother, his mom and his aunt. We also met friends at Golden Corral in Orem and enjoyed time with them. When we were done there we went on BYU campus and played nerts for an hour because we didn't want to break up the party. These friends live in Georgia and happened to be in Utah at the same time we were. The husband went to high school with Tom, and the wife served in my mission. We also went to Tooele to visit a good friend from our old Salt Lake neighborhood. She is going through some tough times and it was good to visit with her and let her know we're here for her and supporting her.
The Great Salt Lake
Then we went to the Manti pageant. It has been tradition since I was a girl to watch the pageant and then camp in the Manti city park. Some years it has been wall to wall tents, but this year there were only tents around the perimeter of the park. They told us it was because of being opening night. More people come the other nights.
Hannah and James with "Robert"
This group of girls were chatting about the "hot guy" and then came over to talk to Tim. He thinks it's funny that the girls ignored James, but I say it's the Returned Missionary appeal.
Another group came by and we had them do their question and picture with James instead of Tim.
Tim, James and Hannah with some actors
The Temple
Tom with Nephite girls
Tim with Nephite girls. He really doesn't like this photo because he has his arm around one of the girls. He felt uncomfortable doing it in the first place and then to find out she's only 14. Oh, no!
The temple again
Tom is a fan of Ratfink and found out there's a "museum" in Manti.
The temple from a distance
On the way back to Idaho we drove through Payson, Utah. My family lived in Payson twice. Once while I was in 5th through 9th grade and again while I was in college. I took the family past our second house and church building. This is the temple site for the Payson temple. It is 1/4 mile from our second house.
Just getting started.
I also took the family past our first house and the high school. (That's where the old "Footloose" was filmed.) I pointed out the junior high and sites where the old junior high and middle school and city pool used to be. I even showed them where the city library was while I was growing up. It was fun to visit the past.
Here's the dump fire as we drove past on the freeway Friday.
Our final stop was the Bright Family Reunion. It was very relaxed and low key this year and wonderful! The tatted earrings were a hit, and I scored a copy of my cousin's artwork again.
This was the first picture I got several years ago. She actually painted this one at the reunion.
In recent years Stephanie has brought several prints of something she has painted in the last year or two.
This bag was made by Stephanie's sister Lillian. Several years ago she was running a race and wanted to make bags for the people who contributed to her sponsorship. She did such a good job on it!
