Trip to Utah

I drove with Brenda and her girls to Utah for a visit. It's good to have relatives in Utah because there's always a lot to do there.

Brenda took the girls up to Ensign Peak. She said it was steep and had lots of grafitti.

Kate composed this photo.

Grace, Maia, Kate, Laura and Sydney

I spent Saturday night and Sunday with Gail. She was on her way home from Vegas where she'd been babysitting. So she picked me up after she arrived back at the airport. We stopped by the strawberry days celebration in Pleasant Grove and had strawberries and cream. 

I enjoyed being in her home. She has built a peaceful oasis there in a beautiful walled garden setting. We had a good visit. It was nice to go to church with her, sit next to Jessie Penrod in RS, and meet Gail's neighbor/good friend named Debbie. She lives 2 doors down and is also a divorcee. Gail always sits with her in Sacrament meeting.
Gail and I also went to the church-wide meeting about missionary work. It was super great and brought back wonderful memories. I watched for Esther singing in the choir but didn't spot her.

Then Gail hosted a supper for us. Don and Lois came down and it was good to see them. Brenda and Velvet brought their five girls who had fun playing in the back yard. Gail has lots of toys for kids. 

Sisters

Back in Salt Lake we went touring Brigham Young's home. Brenda told the girls if they would each ask the sister missionaries a question, they would get an ice cream cone at the mall. So they all did, even 6-year-old Kate! The old-fashioned flower gardens were just beautiful!

Then we walked around the temple and stopped to see the Cristus statue.

An Outing

We drove up to Buena Vista and rode the ferry.

Then we went to Albany to the Carousel Museum. That's a place well worth visiting.

They are in the process of making an old-time carousel and it's taking years of painstaking volunteer work. The carvers work from pictures. Then the painters take a long time too. Finally an auto shop puts a finish on them. This is a mock up of the carousel.

Eldon on 1st Ave. W. in Albany near the museum

The designer's drawing on the wall

The animals are hollow in the middle to allow for expansion in temperature and humidity changes. So they put a time capsule in each.

Each animal has a sponsor who works with the designer to put on the details they want. For example, there's one animal who's a likeness of a family's dog, a racing dog they adopted after he could no longer race. They sponsored it after he died. They had his collar put in the time capsule.

A carver at work

Being stipple painted

Artist's rendition

The carver is working on it (well, he's taking a rest actually)

A final product

Plans for a building to house it eventually

It is right next to Montieth Park, which will draw a lot of people.