TEXAS

We went back to our roots in San Antonio but first we made a stop in Dallas (really in Arlington) to watch one of the best football games ever.

BYU played and beat Oklahoma in the brand new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. That is an amazing stadium and the focal point of the whole building is the enormous screen that runs from the 20 yard line to the 20 yard line. You really have to see it in person to appreciate it. We watched the game again when we got home and seeing it on television doesn't do it justice, no matter how large your TV is. The game was great. I am so appreciative of the respect all the OU fans gave us, both before and after the game. To be honest I stood there with my mouth open not believing what I saw. Needless to say there were many OU fans doing the same thing. I could go on forever about our experience here but this blog would be so long I don't even think I would read it all. We were a little blue in a large sea of red and it was a blast. We are saddened that Sam Bradford was injured and we hope he has a speedy recovery and is back playing soon. The Oklahoma fans adore him. Since we lived in Oklahoma for so many years we understand what football means to them.

I've tried to decide how to write about our vacation in San Antonio and have decided to make a list.

PEOPLE WE SAW AND SPENT TIME WITH

1. Spencer and his friend Wendy (Dewey and Spencer started a tradition a few years ago to go to the BYU opening game no matter where it is played).

2. Tommy and Shirley Owens--Dewey's brother and sister-in-law.

3. Tom and Ann Loomis--Dewey's sister and brother -in-law.

4. Kandy Kay Davis--Dewey's sister.

5. Sandy and Guy March--our niece and nephew-in-law.

6. Johnny and Jeannie Fitzpatrick--our nephew and niece-in-law.

7. Ken and Agnes Owens--our cousins (and we don't have a lot of cousins).

8. President Casey Golightly--our Stake President and now a sealer in the temple--we saw him briefly in between sealings--we missed Kitty his wife because she was in a session.


PLACES WE SAW AND EXPERIENCED


1. The parking lot that used to be JoAnn's home.

2. The beautiful San Antonio River Walk that extends past my house and way down the river. We walked about an hour and a half down the river that used to be only weeds. A lock was built and beautiful flowers and greenery planted. It is truly amazing. When Dewey and I were growing up you didn't dare go where we walked in safety and comfort. Very dangerous back in the 50's and 60's.

3. The pool at the El Tropicano Hotel where I used to lifeguard (a half block from my home that is now a parking lot).

4. The house Dewey's dad built on 334 Cosgrove. There were two kids playing basketball in the driveway and after a few minutes of them probably wondering what we were doing we told them Dewey used to live there and his dad built the house. I think they thought we were strange.

5. The Highland High School Band. They just happen to be practicing when we drove past his high school. Remember, Dewey played French Horn in the band and it is because of that he didn't go to Vietnam--that is another story altogether.

6. Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery where our parents are buried. We put flowers on their graves and visited for a while.

7. H.E.B.--a huge and old grocery store chain that is a lot like a Fred Meyer up here in Washington--they are all over the San Antonio area. I believe they have run everyone else out of business--just about.

8. Costco. Need I say more.

9. Del Webb's Hill Country Retreat. This is the area Ann and Johnny live and probably us if we retire in San Antonio.

10. Heavy thunderstorms and lots of Texas style rain, lightning and thunder.

11. The San Antonio Texas Temple. We actually were able to do a session because we were from out of state. We didn't bring our clothes so we thought that wouldn't happen but since we were from out of state they provided the clothes for us. The inside is the most beautiful temple I have ever been in. It is truly a miracle and a blessing for the Saints in Texas and especially the San Antonio area. When I was little there was one very small meetinghouse on the south side of town. Now there is a Temple. It's amazing. It sits high on top of a hill overlooking the city in a beautiful location.

12. San Antonio College and it's swimming pool and bookstore. This was the only disappointing part because we didn't recognize much of the campus that we spent time going to school at. Everything was remodeled or changed around and only a few buildings looked familiar. And it was a little uncared for--BYU really spoils us.

13. The beautiful Mansion that Claire Whiting lived in and Dewey spent time visiting while attending San Antonio College back in the 60's.

14. Lily Mae Saenger's house--so happy a family is living there now again. After Lily Mae died I think a few offices bought the place.

15. Drove by and took pictures of the Dallas Texas Temple.

16. The Ballpark at Arlington (where the Texas Rangers play).

17. Flooding of the I35 highway we were on going back to Dallas to catch the plane (we barely made it--we were the in farthest lane--actually the shoulder lane--with water coming half way up our wheels--another 10 minutes and the lane would have been entirely underwater and impassable).

18. Stranded in the airplane without being able to take off for an hour because of level 4 and 5 thunderstorm cells that were overhead. Plane was swaying back and forth on the ground.

19. Our Timber Trace house. Still looks pretty good. If we would have kept it it would be paid off by now. That would be nice.

20.  Tommy and Shirley's beautiful home in the country, where donkey's woke us up and birds of every kind flittered about.

ANIMALS WE SPENT TIME WITH

1. Ken's 10 deer.

2. Chessy--Tommy and Shirley's Golden Retriever.

3. Fluffy--Tommy and Shirley's cat.

4. Tucker, Lady and Charlie--Tommy and Shirley's three donkeys.

5. Bonnie--Ann and Tom's (that used to be Sandy's) West Highland Terrier.

6. Oreo--Tom and Ann's cat.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE FOOD WE ATE

1. Pancho's Mexican Food buffet in Arlington (Spencer really wanted his Sopapias that he remembers from his childhood).

2. Whataburger near our hotel in Farmer's Branch (better than we remember them to be--but we were hungry after the game).

3. Aw Shucks in Dallas (the best fried shrimp and shrimp cocktail in the world).

4. Serranos Mexican Food in Austin.

5. Delicious Tamales in San Antonio (the very best tamales in the entire world).

6. La Fondas Mexican food in San Antonio (our all time favorite Mexican food).

7. Huisache Grill in New Braunsfels--fantastic Chicken Fried Steak--YUM YUM YUM.

8. Seafood Island in San Antonio for what else--seafood.

9. Family reunion BAR-B-Q on Labor Day with all kinds of homemade food--thank you family.

10. Mexican food at Johnny and Jeannie's--excellent.

11. And all the fun good things in-between at Tommy and Ann's, i.e. breakfasts, snacks, caffein-free Dr Pepper, etc.

I believe this blog has rambled enough. I'm sure I missed some things. I never heard the coyotes at Tommy's.  But we saw beautiful birds and wildlife. They live on a farm that we love. It is so peaceful. We had a great time from beginning to end!

BYU/Oklahoma

Today's the day we fly to Dallas to see the BYU/Oklahoma game tomorrow. 21 1/2 point underdogs huh? We'll just have to see about that. If our offensive line jells and gives Max the protection he needs, I see a win, 35-31. I can dream can't I!

Linbo's Blueberry Farm

Today Paul, Andrea and I went to pick BLUEBERRIES.

It's the annual trip to the blueberry farm that Paul and I do every year. It's about a mile from our house. I actually went on Thursday too. I can't get enough blueberry picking.



Linbo's is a nice place where Mr. Linbo has Classical music playing throughout the field. Very peaceful. Very delightful.



Today was the first time Andrea had ever been blueberry picking.

We had fun. We went when the farm first opened at 9am. It was cool and perfect.

We picked 26 and 1/2 pounds of blueberries in an hour. We also ate a lot during that hour.



We may turn blue by the time we wake up in the morning. We are now sipping on blueberry lemonade.

Blueberry Pie next

Utah

We left for Utah on Wednesday, July 22nd. Drove to Boise and spent the night, had a lovely FREE breakfast at the hotel we stayed in, and arrived in Salt Lake City at Jeffrey's apartment about 6 hours later (maybe 5 hours later--I lose track of time when I'm doing most of the sleeping and Dewey is doing all of the driving). It's the first time we've been to Jeffrey's new apartment, and we discovered it is very close to the freeway and very easy to find.



We dropped off his big care package, visited for a while, and made arrangements when to see him again. Arrived at Devin and Carl's around four. We beat the rush hour traffic from Salt Lake to Springville--yay.

Hayden is growing so fast and is so beautiful!



We had a great time with her. We read to her,

and babysat her while her mom and dad took some together time.



We played, went on walks, and went to the BYU Bookstore among a other fun things.

We ate and ate and ate! We had Mexican food twice: once at Bajio and then the next day at Maria Bonita.

We had a "J Dawg" at our favorite hot dog stand just off the BYU campus.

The most Delicious hot dogs ever.

We went to Jeff's pizza place, Este's.





He made us the best pizzas we have had in a very long time.



Maybe the best pizzas ever.





We also had a Thai meal one night.

On Sunday we went to church and then made ribs and corn on the cob.

All this doesn't include the treats we had. I do have to mention that BYU makes the best chocolate covered chocolate donuts I've ever tasted.

We only had one each.

Hayden is like her Grandpa Owens. She has her own agenda. While at the BYU Bookstore she walked all over the place and didn't care if we were right beside her or not.



I really need to walk more than I do (and I think I'm walking a lot now) so I can keep up with her. She loved the balls and would find them and carry them around for awhile. She's going to be either a basketball player or a soccer player or a volleyball player or anything she wants to be player. She may even be a Queen of Love and Beauty someday (that's for you Carl!).

During Sacrament on Sunday one of the Sacrament speakers talked about the old (1850) pioneer cemetery in Spanish Fork that had been restored by the Boy Scouts, the city and the county. It sounded intriguing so later that day Devin, Hayden, Ella, Buddy and I went out to find it. Actually we started out to go and feed the ducks but got sidetracked and went in search of the Pioneer Cemetery. With a little telephone help from Dewey (and the Internet) who stayed home with Carl we found it. We didn't expect to see what we found.

It was beautifully restored with a rock fence and a statue, planted trees and shrubs and grass.



It overlooked a river valley with the mountains in the background. What a wonderful memorial to those early Saints who sacrificed so much.

The duck pond was our next stop and it was a pretty place by an industrial park.



We were in Utah on Pioneer Day, however we did not go to the parades or see fireworks. Carl had a holiday and we enjoyed spending the day with him. That's the day we drove to Salt Lake and had pizza with Jeffrey.

We couldn't be in Utah without spending some time at Costco.

I know, we're pitiful, but that is always fun.



One day we went to PetSmart for the dogs and Hayden. I also saw the place where Devin takes her recyclables. Way to go Devin.

We took walks and bought bread at our favorite bakery in Springville.

And the list goes on. We visited Carl in his office at BYU where Devin and Carl did their usual dance greeting.

We watched Coraline in 3D--well at least Dewey and Devin watched it in 3D but Carl and I took off our glasses and, even though some things were blurry, I liked it better.



The colors were brighter without the blue and red glasses.

We had a fun moment with Ella. When we were packing up and getting ready to drive away, Carl, Devin, Hayden and Ella were on the steps waving goodbye to us when all of a sudden Ella sneaked down and ran past the parked cars and jumped into our car. When Devin started to retrieve her she started barking as if to say "I want to go home with them". It made us feel good that she loves us that much. We kept asking Carl and Devin if we could take her home with us for awhile but Devin was afraid they would miss her too much. Buddy and Ella are best friends and play perfectly together.



Is there something wrong with us? My grandsons can't stay with us for a few weeks and now my grand dog can't either. Well, maybe someday.

Buddy had a first while we were visiting. He didn't have to go into his crate while we were out. With Ella being a good example they both were free to play, sleep or whatever while we were gone.



When we returned home we discovered that it was hotter here in Puyallup than in Utah. On Wednesday the 29th of July we hit an all time record high.

Over 100 degrees. We are not used to that kind of heat here. Not enough air conditioning-- especially in our house. Whew!

Thanks Devin, Carl, Hayden and Jeffrey. We had a fantastic time!!!!!!