super summer

We had a super summer visiting family, teaching summer school, and two major home repairs completed along the way.

In June, I called the gas company because I suspected there was something wrong in the gas meter because it was running everytime I went by it. They came out and immediately shut off the gas to the house. There was a leak between the meter and the house. So, we were responsible for fixing the line. Our wonderful home teacher, Bishop Cottrell, helped us arrange (and also dig) for Bro. Witbeck (he has a ditch witch) and Fred Kartchner (he has a shovel) to come and help us dig the trench for the new line. Both Doug and I helped dig the trench. It was a big job, 180 feet and 18 inches deep. Then we had to wait for the plumber and county inspectors to do their part. After two and a half weeks, we had gas again. We also have a new roof! We finally opted to have a metal roof put on our house. One of my former student's father did the actual putting the new roof on, but we had to have the old roof off first. So Doug and a group of high priests from our ward came and pulled the shingles and bad pieces of wood off the house. They were done in two and a half hours and even hauled off all the trash. During all these projects, I got a bit of yard work done too. Summer school went really well and quickly too. It was a very productive June.

Of course, the highlight of the summer was our family vacation. Here is a quick rundown:

We (Doug, Chelsea, Mom, and I) left St. David after church on July 10th and drove all the way to Sedona. We spent a peaceful day at the cabin and had a nice visit with Tara Golden. Doug even caught a couple of fish for my dinner. The next morning we cleaned up and drove to Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival. We watched "Romeo and Juliet" which was pretty good. On Wednesday afternoon, we arrived in Logan to stay with Rachel's family. That next week was spent preparing for the family reunion. Rachel had actually done all the planning and work before we got there, so we just helped with the finishing touches. Besides the preparations, we got to see two musicals "South Pacific" and "Oliver". The latter was our favorite because our grandson Joseph played one of the orphan boys and a pickpocket. That was a thrill! The Wednesday after our arrival, we headed off to Porcupine Reservoir for the Davidson family reunion. What a fun time! For four days and three nights, we talked, hugged, laughed, played in the water, slept a little, lounged in the shade, played games, and ate some really awesome food. It was heaven and we didn't want to leave. We can't thank Rachel and Trent enough for all the work that was done for this reunion. It was perfect!! When we got back to Logan, we had more awesome news. Tracy had given birth to her first baby, Daphne Lois Cochran, on Friday, July 22. Dad had already decided that we would go to Colorado to visit Tracy on our way home but now we were even going to see Daphne. We left Saturday afternoon and drove from Logan all the way to Fort Collins. On Sunday, we got to Lamar and had a wonderful visit with the Cochrans. Monday we had a great lunch at a Chinese buffet across the street from our motel and then played games till we had to leave. We went back Tuesday morning to say goodbye and then drove to my Aunt Jean's in Romeo, CO. We went for Mexican buffet that evening and got to see my cousin Vince, his wife and daughter. Mom was so happy to get to see her sister. We chatted till late that evening and left after breakfast to drive back home. We were all grateful to be back home but also for such special memories for this summer.

Hope all of you made some good memories too. Here are some pics too.