June, July and August 2018

Janiel Benson was a big part of our life when we lived in Cottonwood Heights.  Dennis and I had the opportunity to visit her at least once a month for about 20 years.  

Michael and Jordan had been helping me at the cabin when we got a message saying that they had a new baby sister.  On the way home we stopped by the hospital to see Maren Sage Clark.  Michael tore his shirt while he was working up there.  He is also wearing a beaded bracelet he got in Africa.

They are good workers and like to earn the money. Maren was born June 21, 2018. 

Rachel and Ely drove down from Seattle in June of 2018 for the purpose of having Dennis baptize Ely Nolan Thomas.  His birthday was June 6 and we had special permission from the stake president to have the service in our building.  It was just for Ely and no other children.  He looks very happy and proud to be a member of the church in this picture.  Everyone helped with leading the music, playing the piano, setting up and taking down chairs.  I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  Afterward we had a luncheon at our home in Cottonwood Heights.  Donna and Michael Hawks who Rachel knew from Washington made an effort to come as well. Pat Lowe and her husband Steve who live in Utah came as well.  Pat is a sister to Donna and they are cousins to Dennis.

July 1, 2018 Newly baptized Ely and cousin Beth Beus at temple square.

The old benches are about to become firewood.  July 3, 2018, the grand boys
are eager to help take apart the old benches that are deteriorating.  

We built new benches to go around the new and improved fire pit that Dennis built.  I had made the old benches out of some shelves that were in the bunk house.  These benches will not have to be covered with tarps in the winter to protect them from the snow or repainted in the spring. 

We were all at the cabin and most everyone decided to run the traditional Independence day 5K.  I did it, not in wonderful time but I'm glad to have done it. Wednesday July 4, 2018

I do hope these boys maintain good relationships throughout missions, marriage and adulthood. 

Dennis built a zip line and a platform for the children to access the zip line.  It is a popular 

attraction for the grandchildren.  We seem to have space for this sort of playground if we go west behind the cabin.  The zip line is where the corral used to be.

Dave Dalton our new neighbor who bought the cabin that used to belong to Marvin and Dorthy Wallin built a new gate.  When he built his new cabin he found that he had to take the top off the old gate and partially disassemble it.  Dennis helped him stain the new gate.  

I wanted to hike in the Mount Rainier National Park and I also wanted to go to Canada again to see Butchart Gardens and the San Juan Islands. I had asked Rob and Rachel if Dennis and I could take Ely into Canada with us for a little Vacation. Before we went to Canada Rachel, Rob and Ely drove down from Seattle and met us very early at Mount Rainier National Park and we hiked together.  The wild flowers were absolutely beautiful.  The next week Dennis and I went to Canada with Ely.

 

Rob had hiked to the summit with Chad months earlier. When we arrived to their home he showed us a slide show of the adventure.  Rachel had pack us a very healthy lunch to eat after the hike.  It included some "melt in your mouth figs" from the tree in her yard.  They battle the raccoons each year to see who will get the figs first.  An air show over the water in Seattle.

 

The beautiful San Juan Islands, Ely at Butchart Gardens, Craigdarroch Castle, hiking on Vancouver with Dennis inside a huge tree, swimming and reading at the hotel and sushi for dinner in the park.

 

Sunset at Alki Beach, Seattle and Dennis and me with Mount Rainier in the background.

As we were driving home from the Rainier/Canada trip in the Northwest Amy called and said that a woman in her ward was going to sell her home.  I had been looking for a smaller home with less yard work.  This woman lived in Willow Bend, a gated community near Amy.  I called her and asked if we could see her home.  She said she had decided not to move but told me the name of another family in Willow Bend who was going to move.  I called that woman and she said a family had already looked at her home and more family members were flying in from California in two days to see the house.  I asked if we could see the home the next morning as we were still driving from Seattle.  Dennis and I looked at the home on Saturday morning (the next day) and made an offer on it.  They accepted our offer on Sunday and said the other family was disappointed about not getting the home.  We started packing and getting our home in Cottonwood Heights ready to be put on the market.  

The whole idea to move had been brewing in my mind for some time but it came to a more definite plan when I was at the Draper Temple one day.  I was sitting in the Celestial Room and in prayer I asked what I needed to do.  The answer came loud and clear but as a surprise when I heard the word, "move".  I looked and thought about several locations but nothing seemed right, until the option to move to Draper came into play.  The Lord definitely had his hand in this.  

There was a lot to do after living in our home for 22 years.  The girls were so good to help.  We gave a lot of stuff away especially to our children such as the barbecue, bedroom sets, the foosball game, lots of patio furniture, tables and chairs, desks, the china closet, an entertainment center, yard tools and so much more.  The piano I had purchased from mom's estate went to Rachel.  

The family was very helpful in the moving process. Everyone got into the act.  

Dennis went through boxes of stuff he had stored away.  He sorted through it all.  We were moving into a home half the size so we couldn't keep all of it.

Here we are on one of the moving days at our front door.  

Bobby and Phil Colton from our old Union 2nd ward wanted to give us a going away party, mainly because Dennis sang in the choir and they practiced at the Colton home. Dennis and I worked with Don and Rebecca Reese in our calling to have a social every other month for the older men and women in the ward.  I also taught the youngest primary age children with Rebecca.  I really appreciate the Reese's humility and sincere desire to build the Kingdom of God.  They will be there in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.  I hope Dennis and I are with them.  

Theresa Schubach was a good woman that Dennis and I enjoyed getting to know.  She is a Clinical Social Worker and Therapist.  She had  heard about having a patriarchal blessing and wanted one.  The bishop said she would need to attend church so we invited her to come and sit with us.  I was so glad when she was able to receive her blessing.  

I took some pictures of the house as we were packing up and getting ready to sell it.  

I spent a lot of time in that yard.  It required a fair amount of maintenance.  Dennis and I built the pergola and I planted grapes on it.  It served well for a quiet place to sit and also privacy from the Beau and Maria Backman yard next door.  As the house was located in a river bottom we had lots of rocks to landscape with.  Every time we dug a hole to plant anything we ran into a good size rock.  We had a lot of wedding parties in the back yard.  

We took out the old wooden fence we build when we moved in 22 years earlier.  I felt we needed to access the full yard so we put in the wrought iron fence up close to the sidewalk .  Dennis helped build another pergola on the other side of the yard. I planted lilacs that would grow tall on one side and Fine Line Buckthorn trees behind the pergola with still more shrubs and trees on the other end.  My thought in doing so was that in a few years those trees and shrubs would offer privacy in time.  We finally sold the home in August of 2019 to the Liddel family.

Africa with Clark's and Allen's June 2018

 

Candace was going to go to Africa with her boys on a humanitarian project but decided not to when her due date for Maren was a week just after they would get home.  Dennis and I went instead to chaperone.  Eric thought it sounded like a good trip so he and Isaac went also. We flew to the Heathrow Airport in London and then to Nairobi . They slept with mosquito netting around their bed.
The trip was from June 1 to June 12, 2018.

 A bunch of happy boys.  We traveled in safari jeeps.  Issac, Josh Totten, (the son of Heidi Totten the director and founder and director of 100 Humanitarians) Jordan and Michael.












We went to an animal farm to start off the day.  Michael was feeding the giraffe some pellets of food.  Yuck!

Jordan was delighted to be up close to elephants as they were being fed.

Hamburgers at an outdoor cafe for lunch.

At the bead shop run by women.  Underprivileged women made beads and jewelry.  I bought a red necklace and bracelet.  Other hand made goods were for sale also.

Back at our first lodging  Mt. Zion Hotel after our first day in Nairobi, Africa.

  Our hotel in Bomet.  Party time.

                         Some in the group painted this building others helped plant trees with school children.  The whole village came out to see us and be where we were.

Our activity was helping to plant trees in Bomet with the school children

After planting trees the women of the village in the picture with Jordan thanked us by fixing us lunch.  I went back behind the little house we were eating in to watch the woman who was making chapati for our lunch.  It is an African flat bread much like a tortilla.

As we drove back to our hotel I took a few pictures of houses we saw as we passed by.  This one has clothes drying on the line, a woman working in the front yard and a satellite dish on the roof. 

There was a lot of dry dirt all around.  I wondered if this man was grinding corn.  The cactus in the back are indicative of an arid area. 

This is typical of the dwellings and businesses.  Dry land with paths going to and from houses.

.  This was a typical street that we drove down as we went to our work projects.  Small villages along the way with people selling what they had to earn a profit.  

This picture is of the group after a day of service projects.   

At one village the elders had us sit and they gave us a new African name.   I don't remember what mine was but it mean active and always busy.

  

Eric was the instigator of this race when we visited a school he wanted to see if the Kenyans really could run as fast as everyone says they can.  He was fast but they were faster.  Some didn't wear shoes.  Isaac was right behind Eric.


 Jordan and a new friend.  Isaac and a whole school of friends.

  

These roads were wet and so slippery in the mud that we kept sliding and tipping.  The possibility that we could tip over was so real that I had to get out and walk until we got to a dryer road. I think Eric got out also.  I was literally scare for my life.  The next day one of the jeeps did get stuck in the mud to the point that they couldn't get it out and we had to have a different jeep.  

The school we visited.  A tall, poised professional teacher.   

A stop along the way.  This was the Great Rift Valley where Africa is splitting in two parts because of the movement of tectonic plates.  

                            The House of hope girls who were rescued from abusive situations.

The House of Hope bunk beds.  This operation is run by a pastor and his wife and family.  

 Planting gardens in bags.  First dig up some dirt, mix it with manure, fill the bag and put in the vegetables.  The families sell them at the market.

Putting up a chain link fence around an area where  they are going to build a cultural center. The Safari Resort

We watched the hippos in the water.

It was amazing to ride in a Safari Jeep and see the animals in their natural habitat, the Masai Mara Game Reserve.  

Michael was on the correct side of the jeep to get this photo.  The lion was about 6 feet away .

On Sunday we asked the Safari Resort if we could use a room, a computer and chairs.  We watched the world wide devotional that our Prophet Russel M. Nelson was giving to the youth of the world.  It was amazing and unforgettable.  I'm so glad they could accommodate us.  

After the safari we drove all day, many hours, to Nairobi where we stayed at one of the Mully Children's Family School.  Charles Mully takes in very needy children and educates them in one of his several schools.  We had watched the Charles Mully movie before we went.  This was a highlight of the trip for me.  When we arrived it was later in the evening but the children came out and greeted us and gave us flowers and sang to us some beautiful gospel songs.  They were such a contrast to the children we had been seeing who were ragged and dirty. These children were neat, well mannered, well groomed, and sang like a professional choir.  It made us all cry.  

Michael and Jordan gave Esther Mully a copy of the Book of Mormon.  

             We took a tour of the school and their living and eating quarters.  The children are grateful that "Father Mully" has rescued them and they study from 5 in the morning until 10 at night with just breakfast, lunch and dinner breaks plus a little time for recreation and grooming.

                                 
     This is Jacobs Well as we saw in the movie.

Esther and Charles Mully bought this property and the house behind me for their retirement property.  Instead they are using it as part of the school and all of the thousands of children they are helping. 

We went to a separate school  about 30 minutes away where young mothers with babies and children have been rescued and were they to learn practical shills like sewing, beautician work and technology work so they can go out into the community and support their children and family.  

We planted trees at the school where the young mothers who were actually children themselves lived.  Dennis and I decided to support the girl in the middle and her young boy who was about 2 years old at the time.  It is only $50 a month and she will take two years of vocational training before she is able to leave the facility. Her name is Winnie Jelagat.  

 

Winnie with her son.