We are doing pretty well. We had a wonderful summer. We enjoyed several shows at the Eccles Theater in Logan as part of the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater productions. Our very favorite was “les Miserable”. We actually attended 3 times; once just us two; once with Julie and Dave; and once with our good friends, Carolyn and Mark Baird. We could not believe it but they got better and better. In addition we drove over to Bear Lake to go to the Pickleville Theater – a family owned playhouse – to see the popular version of “Who Shot Juanito Banditio?” We laughed and laughed. And as usually happens, saw some good friends in the audience. And we ended our theater going with a trip to Tuachan in St. George to see “Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat”. It is one of our favorite shows and we are still humming some of the themes.
Our free time is limited somewhat by our temple service mission. We served a two year Temple mission that ended in March of this year and agreed to serve another two years. We serve each Saturday afternoon and evening except when the temple is closed for cleaning or general conference. We have extra duties now, that require us to be ready to work/serve at 1 pm each Saturday and stay until all the members have left the temple that night, usually leaving between 10:30 and 11:00 pm. It makes for a long day but we enjoy the opportunity to serve and it is a great way to prepare for the Sabbath.
Recently we had two Saturdays off. The first one for Women’s Conference and next Saturday is for General Conference. This meant that we could actually come down to our home in Mesquite and stay for almost 3 weeks. And we had a great time.
We had some down time, but not too much. One night we went to a Luau at the Pioneer Center (rec center) here in our Sun City community. We did not know a soul but sat with a nice couple who had moved here 6 years ago from Salt Lake and enjoyed getting to know them. After a dinner they had entertainment with a “band” from the Polynesian Center in Hawaii and three dancers. I will try to include a picture of the girls. The young man did some fantastic dances also but he was hard to capture with my phone. At one point he did a dance with a lighted torch and it was fun to watch.
One week, our neighbors took us on a drive on their Razors – off road vehicles – up on top of the Mesa we live nearby. I had been fearful that I would be frightened, but they are very sure footed and we moved with no difficulty and I wasn’t scared at all. The ride was a little bumpy but not bad, and all in all it was exciting and lots of fun. So of course we had to go check out Razors. And we bought one, used, but not many miles and in good condition. It is an 800S for those who might understand those things. I would have preferred red, but you take what is there and so it is white and yellow.
We planned a trip to see the North rim of the Grand Canyon. (In our car) We knew it was nearby and made reservations as close as we could get with two months notice – about 40 miles away from the north rim. But it was well worth it! We discovered that the Grand Canyon is only about 3 ½ hours away from our home in Mesquite. And the views and scenery were well worth the drive. Huge pine forests interspersed with groves of aspen trees that were in all their fall glory of yellow and gold. We drove along the rim drive and stopped at each Vista point walking short distances. It was so much fun we made reservations for a year from now at the Grand Canyon Lodge.
We cherish our time in our “get away” home. We love it more and more down here. The weather could not be better right now. We enjoy our neighbors and our yard is a real bonus – we absolutely love being outdoors watching our plants grow and thrive and listening to our water feature. Felt even installed a solar powered spot light that comes on at night to let us see the water flowing – the light is not very bright but is a nice highlight feature.
