Utah part III

Wednesday morning was more relaxed (at least for me). An Elder who used to serve in our area, Elder Lymon, now works in a rock climbing place in Orem. He gave us a good deal on rock climbing so Alex, Sarah and I spent the morning there while Lisa headed out shopping.We had a great time but it only took a couple of hours before our fingers and fore arms were very tired.

After we were done Sydney Hoopes came and picked up Alex. Sydney was a good friend of Alex's in San Diego before there family moved to American Fork. Lisa then came and picked up Sarah and I and we headed for lunch at the "Creamery on Ninth". We drank some of the best chocolate milk you will ever taste.

After lunch we picked Alex up and off we were to Alycia's second lacrosse game of the week. Once again her team dominated against another very good team. This was perhaps the most miserable day of the week for us. By the end of the game it was hailing and it was cold. If you double click on the picture after the game you can actually see the hail coming down.

After the game we warmed up in the car as we headed out to Georgina Baxters house for dinner. Some of my fondest memories are the Sundays in Rosemary when George and Karen Baxter would invite our family out to their house for Sunday dinner. We had a good time visiting and boy could she cook. Karen Baxter passed away from cancer a few years ago but Lisa has stayed in touch with most of the kids. On Wednesday four of the five kids were able to get together so we could visit with them all. What a great time that was reminiscing about the good old days. It was so fun to see them all grown up and many of them are married and have little children of their own. My kids on the other hand are now grown up much like they are. It was a lot of fun.

The reason we stayed in Utah for the whole week rather than head home after the weekend was because Kira had an appointment for Evan to see a specialist at the Primary Childrens Hospital to discuss an experimental drug that she is using for SMA kids. We had an appointment Thursday morning at 8:00 AM (groan) and another on Friday morning at 8:30 AM (another groan). Ben and Sharley arrived at Sanchez's around noon. As soon as they arrived we loaded them up in the car for another drive into Salt Lake to pick up Alycia. She didn't have classes on Friday so she spent the rest of the week with us.

When Lisa joined the church as a young teenager she thought she was the only member of her family to join the church. As it turned out she later learned that she had an ancestor who joined the church in Nauvoo and became a rather prominent member. Frederick Kesler (don't you like his name?) wrote his autobiography and kept a daily journal up until the day before he died. He was also a very sentimental fellow and in his old age he built a trunk and put some of his favorite possessions in it. He passed this trunk down to his children and told them they had to keep it in the family. In the 1970's a member of the family donated the trunk to the University of Utah's special collections library on the condition that any member of the Kesler family could come and view the contents anytime they wanted to. On Friday after Evans appointment we wanted to. In this picture you can see me with one of Frederick's canes and his Nauvoo sword. Pretty cool don't you think? He also has an original hand written page from the Book of Mormon that was recovered from the corner stone of the Nauvoo house, pebbles from the hill Cumora, Jordon river and other cool places. A first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (called the book of Commandments at the time) and many other cool relics. He was a real pack rat. Saturday we slept in late and reluctantly packed up the van for our trip home. It was a good week and I'm really glad we were able to go but it is always nice to be able to come home again.