Home Again

Sunday morning we had a great visit with Matt and Kim and heard all about Matt's kidney-stone woes. When Grandmother left for church at 1:00, we headed up to Peoria to the Youngs. Their AC was broken when they arrived home from Virginia, so they spent the night at the Hampton Inn. By the time we got there, the AC was still catching up, so their house was still a bit warm. We went for Greek food for supper, since life at their house was topsy-turvy. 

Monday early we set out for home. It was a beautiful day for travel with spectacular cloud formations most of the way home. Northern AZ has had lots of rain and is lush and green, which is so surprising this time of year. Since the landslide on Highway 89 has closed the road, we took 89A again across Navajo Bridge, along the Vermillion Cliffs, and up into the Kaibab Forest. We stopped for lunch at the Jacob Lake Inn and then hightailed it on home. Special thanks to Kris for several of the photos taken with my phone.

 Try some pita

 Early-morning goodbyes

 Where the Vermillion Cliffs meet the Kaibab Plateau

 Lush and green

 Looking back as we head up into the Kaibab

 Jacob Lake Inn dining room: how 'bout those drapes?

 Cloud show over the Kaibab Forest

 The cloud show continued well into Utah

 The heavens gave way around Fillmore

 The mountains got a good soaking

A Boucher sunrise in Provo after yesterday's storm

This was a quick, warm, and very fun trip. We plan to return when the weather is cooler in the fall or early winter. Things will likely be rather calm around here for the time being, so the posts will probably taper off a bit. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Tyler and Nicki Boynton

Saturday, 27 July, we drove down to the Gilbert Temple project to have a look; it is getting close to completion. At San Tan Village, we found a few books at Barnes and Noble before lunch at In-N-Out. In the evening we took the Aunties to Tyler and Nicki's wedding. It was nice to be with family to celebrate the occasion.

 

Gilbert Temple

Toward what will be the main entrance

Lunch!

Grandmother and the Aunties

Kris and her baby brother

The venue

Sandy and Chip

The family gathers

Waiting for the ceremony

The ceremony

Christopher captures the moment

The gift table

Kris and Jon waiting for our turn at the buffet

 

Sheraden, Megan, Ryan, and Brittany

More Boyntons

The father and mother of the groom

Lovely flowers

Good food

Matt and Kim with the bride and groom

It was a great day. Tomorrow we are off up the road to Peoria to see the Youngs, so there will likely be a bit more to report. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

Mesa in July

We have descended into the Valley of the Sun in July! That seems counter-intuitive, but we have come for Tyler Boynton's wedding and the wedding happens to be in July, so we will just grin and bear it. The trip down was good with and almost without incident. Just north of Flagstaff, however, we encountered the most unusual storm I have ever seen. We could see thick dark clouds ahead that had ripped open and were drenching the Sacred Mountain with a column of water. As we ascended south on Highway 89, we could see the water moving west toward the highway. By the time we got even with the storm it had moved over the road and within seconds we were in the midst of the most torrential rain I have ever encountered. EVER! And I saw some doozies in Brazil and one in East Texas and Louisana. It was terrific in every sense of the word; I love rainstorms!

The heavens ripped open

 Shifting west

 We slowed to a crawl

 Solid water

We found Grandmother well. For supper we went to Tia Rosa's: a Mesa tradition.

 

 Grammy and Grandmother

Cute girls!

Mark and Nancy came by last night and visited for a while. Today is the wedding and we will report later. This is all for now though.

OXO

D.

24th of July 2013

We had Phillip with us almost every evening for 6 weeks while his family was in Hawaii. We ate, visited, and watched some Waking the Dead. We enjoy these weeks every summer. The Royal Baby, George, was born just in time for the Pioneer-Day celebrations when we like to fly the British flag. This year we killed two birds with one stone: ancestors and baby. Anna and her friend Rose Brereton arrived from Reno on the 24th and we gathered the family that evening. Today, Thursday 25 July, we drove up the canyon to Sundance and over the Alpine Loop so Rose could see the glories of Mount Timpanogos. This evening the Boynton and Taylor cousins gathered at Rod and Vic's for an ice cream social. Great fun!

 Pippy at the grill

 Yum

Celebrating the Royal Baby and English ancestors

 Rose and Anna

 The Ringers joined the celebration

 Morning walk with Uncle

 Anna and Rose at Sundance

Stewart's Cirque

 Anna and Rose

 Dinner at Pizzeria 712

 Boynton and Taylor Cousins

 Vic, Kris, and Rod

 Anna and Phil

 Paul, Ellie, Emily, and Millie

Maura, Carrie, Anna, and Rose

Rose is originally from Italy and the Boyntons enjoyed the Italian connection. She married an Englishman and lived in England for a number of years. We enjoyed the English connection. Tomorrow we are off to Mesa, so we will be posting a report of the adventure. This, however, is all for now.

OXO

D.