13 Days in Utah

I don’t know what I’ve been doing, but it hasn’t been much. I have intended to write a few notes about the time I was able to spend with Jacque and Trace and Wyatt while they and I were in Utah. We all had a lot of things going on, but I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time with them several times.

One of the first things I did was go with them to be set apart as missionaries at 8AM on Sunday the 19^th of August. They were set apart by a stake president by the name of Rasmussen. The blessings he gave them along with the setting apart were incredible. They were promised so many great things. I was very impressed and happy to hear those promises, one of which was that they will be safe and well while they are on their missions. Another was that their children will be well and safe and will make good choices while they are on their missions. Jacque was promised that the language wouldn’t be a problem for her and that she would be inspired about the things she needs to do. Trace was blessed that he would immediately recognize the things that need to be done and that he should not procrastinate the inspirations that come to him, but that he should act upon them and take care of them or get the information needed to the ecclesiastical leaders so that they together could solve any problems. I wish I could remember everything he said but I’ve let it go too long and have forgotten much of what he said. It was really cool that he asked Wyatt to come and put his hands upon each of their heads with the stake president. Wyatt felt honored to be able to do that.

While Jacque and Trace were in the MTC from Monday through Friday I did get together with Brenna and her fiancé Steven and Wyatt for lunch where Brenna works – The Maui Bowl. She serves a delicious fruit concoction with fruit and granola on top. She and Steven became engaged on Friday last week and are planning a 28^th of December wedding in San Diego temple.

Another time we were able to go to dinner together with them, Wyatt, Eileen and Jeff and Dayna at a restaurant where Dayna’s husband Joe is the chef. We had so much food that we could hardly waddle out of there and it was very tasty. They are in the process of introducing a new line of food into the restaurant and Joe did a great job of cooking it. The two owners were there to welcome guests and gush over Joe’s cheffing.

I was able to visit Carly and the baby several times at the Primary Children’s hospital. She is a beautiful little girl and you would never guess that things inside her body are kind of mixed up. I’m happy that they have now been able to take her home. She is probably going to have many surgeries before everything is done. But it is much easier for Carly and Conrad to be able to have her at home now that her arrhythmias have stopped (or at least slowed down). They are both trying to take the classes they are signed up for. Carly is registered for 20 hours of coursework at UVU and Conrad takes welding classes twice a week. It seems to work out pretty well for them to alternate taking care of the children.

I was happy to be able to stay at DeAnn’s house and help out with the things she and her kids needed to get started with their school classes. They are all busy, busy and I hope everything is going well for them. The 2^nd day I was there, DeAnn performed another miracle with a big ward party for her ward. She had sold her car to have the money she needed to register for her classes for her MPA program, so I was able to help her get the rest of stuff she needed. She had a lot of purchases already made. They had a swimming pool in someone’s back yard and she hired Wyatt and Cody to come be the lifeguards. There were several hundred people there and it was another big success.

McKenzie Kline, Jack’s niece, came to stay at DeAnn’s house for a week or so and it was fun to get better acquainted with her. She is Denny’s granddaughter. She returned from a mission to Spain in the spring and she’s getting ready to be married in December. Tyson and Ryder are working in Roosevelt Utah (about 2 ½ hours away) with welding jobs. Ryder is getting his papers ready to send in, when he gets his remaining 2 wisdom teeth pulled, for a mission.

I came home on Thursday last week and found that Jack had survived my being gone 13 days. In fact he may have enjoyed the peace and tranquility of aloneness. I did get to spend the night before I came home with my sister Marilyn, in Salt Lake City.

I am hoping that Jacque and Wyatt will send me some pictures to add to this when I put it on the blog.

Fishing Trip 8-6-12

Davidson’s Family Reunion – August 1-6, 2012

We were delighted that Jacque, Trace and Wyatt showed up on Tuesday, July 31^st, so we got an extra night with them on the front end of the reunion. It was wonderful to see Wyatt back home from his mission. What an outstanding young man he has become (not that he wasn’t already outstanding). I am very proud of the good mission that he has served in the Riverside California area. His last assignment was as Assistant to the Mission President, so he had a lot of experience finding his way around the whole mission, and driving in the Southern California freeway systems. We were fortunate to have the three of them stay with us at our little house.

On Wednesday, August 1^st, more of the family began to arrive for the reunion. Cody and Jade came early evening, Brenna, DeAnn, Luke, Sydne and Anna came that night about 11pm. We had arranged for them to stay at the Quality Inn Hotel, so they checked in there. Eileen, Jeff and Dayna arrived and stayed at Jeff’s dad’s house. Josh, Stephanie, Dakota and Trae arrived in their RV camper and checked in at the KOA campground.

On Thursday morning at 10:45AM, Dan, Babs and Jack arrived at the Sacramento Airport from Atlanta at almost exactly the same time as Tarin, Doug, Addison and Weston arrived there from Denver. So we met them and picked up part of them and they rented a car for the rest of the group. We had planned to just have lunch and hang out until Brock arrived at 2PM, but Brock had found out and informed us that his flight was delayed for 5 hours, so we drove back home. We fixed lunch and packed up the River Floaters and headed down to Lotus Park. While they were blowing up the floaters everyone ate lunch then something like 19 people floated down the American River to the next jumping back on the shore place (about 2 hours later). Jeff and Eileen and Grandpa D shuttled cars down to the pick-up point and everyone headed home to get showers and dressed then at 7PM we all appeared back at the airport to welcome Brock home from his mission.

Brock came down the escalator with a big white “cowboy” or “Southern Gentleman’s” hat in front of his face. His sisters had made a huge sign saying Welcome Home Elder Brock Davidson and there were 31 persons there to greet him: including Jeff, Shain, Bree, Layne, Kenna & Amber, Claudia (grandma) and Brett, Tammi & Cole Smith (uncle, aunt, cousin), Jacque, Trace & Wyatt Kirk, Josh, Stephanie, Dakota & Trae Kirk, Cody & Jade Kirk, Bryan, Leah & Avi Tuttle, DeAnn, Luke, Sydne & Anna Wright, Dan, Babs & Jack Davidson, Gpa Jack & Gma NaDee Davidson. It was a joyous homecoming for all of us to greet him. He looked the same but we could tell that the mission had grown him into a mature and outstanding young man. His last assignment was to work in the mission office, and there he experienced many opportunities to travel around his whole mission for a few months.

We were all wishing that we had been there at the Salt Lake City Airport to greet Wyatt with those big numbers of people, but he was met by Jacque, Trace, Cody and Jade there. However we were all just as excited to greet him when he arrived back here in Northern California.

On Friday, August 3^rd everyone packed up and we all headed out to Sly Park (Jenkinson) Lake where everyone who wanted to were able to take advantage of Jeff’s boat by wakeboarding and tubing, canoeing, swimming and wading. In the evening we all went to the Jeff and Shain’s house and they barbequed hamburgers, hot dogs and we had dinner together.  Teresa and Ryder arrived late afternoon this day too. The kids played volleyball and swam in the pool and we visited and enjoyed the family. The big event of the evening was when they all gathered into the entryway and living room at Jeff and Shain’s home and honored me for my 78^th birthday which was a few days earlier. Jacque had brought many hats, enough so nearly everyone came and put the hat on my head and honored me by saying some very nice things about me. I must say I have a grand family and they were most kind and thoughtful and some funny in their moments. The only thing that would have been better would have been if those of my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who couldn’t come had been there too. I love all of the 74 members of my family more than I can say. And with the 3 more on the way we’ll have 77 this year and I already love them too.

Saturday was the big day for the Luau. The tables and chairs were all set up and decorated the night before by Shain and her family. Jeff and Bryan took Ryder and Sydne and Anna in at 7AM and checked their teeth out and put braces on Sydne. Then before time for the luau, most everyone packed up again for another floating trip down the American River. Besides the individual floaters, Jeff Tuttle brought his big raft along and several people rode on it through the rapids. Everyone seemed to really love those river trips. Jacque and I went shopping for the food for the luau at Costco. Everyone came home by about 3pm. Fortunately a good friend of ours, Nathan Jones, agreed to buy, cook and deliver the meat (teriyaki chicken and kalua pig). So with the help of many hands we prepared potato salad, macaroni salad, yams, haupia, and a ton of fruit salad and by 6pm we were prepared for the 130 people who showed up for the luau. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food after which we were entertained by the Davidson girls, Layne, Kenna and Amber and their guitar and ukulele teacher Dave, and Teresa Wright and her violin. During the entertainment time, Paige showed up having driven all the way from Provo by herself and we were able to enjoy her company for a few days.

On Sunday the 5^th most of the families had to leave to go home. Josh and family left at the crack of dawn because they had to get home for Josh to leave on another trip for work to Florida at the crack of dawn on Monday. Teresa and Ryder left early too. Cody and Jade left at a more reasonable hour. Brenna and DeAnn and her family left right after Sacrament Meeting, but attended that with us. Tammi and Brett and Cole left Sunday morning after Jeff took Brett in for some tooth work. Eileen and Jeff and Dayna left mid-morning. Tarin and Doug and family left after church too having attended Sacrament meeting.

So the people left were Jacque, Trace and Wyatt. They stayed through Sunday night and left early on Monday to go to Southern California where Wyatt served his mission to visit with his friends there. Dan and Jack, Jeff and his 5 kids and Layne’s friend Josh took grandpa on a fishing trip on Monday at noon. They had tin foil dinners and s’mores etc. for dinner that night and bacon and eggs and rolls for breakfast the next morning. They all seemed to have a good time and even caught several fish which they brought back for us to cook for Tuesday dinner. Dan, Babs, Paige and Jack left Tuesday night at 11:30pm to head back to Atlanta where they arrived at 6:30am in time for Dan and Babs to go to work. 

So all the family fun is over, but the memories are still with us and we hope to be able to do this again in a year or two. Families are forever. Someone said, “If I can’t be with my family in heaven, I don’t want to go there.” And I feel the same way. I hope I can be good enough to be blessed with all my loved ones near for eternity.

Grandma D

Davidson Reunion Posts

Harrison Siblings in Northern California

FAMILY REUNIONS JULY/AUGUST 2012

Harrison Siblings Family reunion. Everyone attended church on Sunday, then we had dinner at our house for Virden's family, my siblings ~ Virden, Jean, Adele, Vicki, and Karla, Jeff's family and a friend of Jack's from North Carolina (Earl Buckley). There were 30 people here and it was a little crowded, but lots of fun to have everyone around.

For Monday, July 30, 2012, I had reserved a limousine. The driver picked us all up at the hotel where some of the family had spent the night. We were taken to Muir Woods to see big and tall trees. We spent an hour or so walking among the trees in the park. We had lunch there (chicken salad sandwiches on croissant rolls, chips, grapes, cookies and drinks), then went on to Muir Beach where most everyone at least got their feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. We continued on across the Golden Gate Bridge (and watched as the fog began rolling in and then into San Francisco. My plan had been to have dinner at Fisherman's Wharf before we came home, but since we had only had lunch about 3 hours earlier it was decided that we would just continue on over the Bay Bridge and come on back to my house. Probably the only downside to the whole trip was when Adele requested the driver for a bathroom stop on the way back. He did stop in a town about half way between the Bay Bridge and our house. It was a nice Chevron Station that was very clean and nearly everyone (but me) was excited because there was a McDonalds across the parking lot where they could go for the purpose. I was appalled that they were getting out of a Limousine and going into McDonalds. They all went and the driver and I just waited for them to return after he pumped gas into the limo. I was just going to wait until we got home, but he talked me into going into the Starbucks that was in the same parking lot so I did that – a little more upscale than McD’s? It was a fun and interesting day. The limo kept us all in one place where we were able to visit and enjoy one another's company. Since we only had 7 people we also took Claudia (Shain's mom) along with us. We got home and had leftover sandwich ingredients and fruit, but we missed out on the sea food dinner.  It was fun. I’m glad we did it.

On Tuesday we pretty much just hung out together at my house and visited and ate. We were sad to miss Marilyn and Dennis from the group, but they had other things going on during that time. Those who were together were Virden and Jean, Adele, Vicki, Karla, Jack and I and Claudia. Virden and Jean left in the afternoon. On Wednesday morning Adele drove to the Sacramento airport for her trip back home. Karla and Vicki were going back to Utah and Karla had rented a car when she flew into Reno, so they left to go back there later in the afternoon. Thanks to you all for coming, and for all the money you left behind.