The day before Elise returned to Texas, we had the girls
(and Nick) for lunch at my house. I
cooked a crustless quiche (Grandma Ila’s recipe), and a pear salad. Crista even drove down (she said it was a
hard decision whether to come—that hour + of driving). Unfortunately, we missed Jieun because Hyeji
was sick (and then all her kids got it).
Wednesday Roy took Caitlyn up for a procedure at the Primary
Children’s hospital and a bit later I took Elise to the airport. Caitlyn had a steroid injection on each side
of her jaw. Because she had to be
perfectly stabilized, she was anesthetized.
She is always emotional when she wakes up from being put out, and she
was miserable and uncomfortable the rest of the day, but we are hoping the
injections will help the inflammation in her jaw to settle down so that the
Humira (drug) she’s taking can be more effective and she can have some relief
from her pain. She also had an
appointment with Dr. Guinn (the jaw pain specialist) the following day and he
adjusted her splint and suggested some things she might do to help. He said he was surprised she could live like
this, the tension in her jaw was so acute.
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| Before |
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| After |
Gratefully the rest of the week has been more fun, especially for me and Roy.
Thursday morning, we picked up Christine and headed to
Vegas. We had a lot of fun visiting with
her for the long car ride. She had
thoughtfully prepared little treat bags with chocolate, Valentine candy and lip
balm, and a beautiful Valentine table runner for all of us who would be on the
trip.
Roy had decided to take me to Vegas on my birthday to watch
a couple of shows. He brought it up at
Jacob Christensen’s reception while we were visiting with Phil and Char, Nan
and Bruce and Dave and Becky. Nan had
just gone to a few shows and so she was a good source of knowledge. Phil and Dave said they’d like to come. We asked Christine if she was interested, and
of course she was immediately in since her grandchildren live there. She found us an inexpensive place to stay
through her in-law’s time share.
We arrived in Vegas with just enough time to check in, relax
for a short time, and get dinner before the first show. We saw “Love” A Cirque
de Solei with Beatles Music. Watching
the people is as entertaining as watching the show. Vegas gets a wide variety of humanity. The dancers and acrobats were very talented
and extremely strong.
Friday the girls went shopping except for me. I went with the boys hiking. We picked a trail (I was willing to go 5
miles if the rise in elevation was limited).
After a few minutes on the trail we asked some young men (from France
maybe) if it was 2.5 miles each way, or 2.5 miles round trip. They said it was only about a mile in and a
mile out, so we thought maybe we’d try the adjoining trail which professed to
be 5 miles. What I didn’t realize was
that the switch made the hike a climb with a 2000 ft. rise in elevation. We walked on a fairly steep trail for about
an hour, and then it became a very steep trail.
We climbed for maybe 30 minutes more, but Roy and I hadn’t brought
snacks, and we only had one water bottle each.
Mine was nearly empty. Steve
shared his granola bars, but we thought it expedient that we turn around. Steve and Phil kept going and made it to the
top of the mountain. We found Dave who
was waiting at the bottom, probably very disappointed he couldn’t hike (He’d
hurt his knee and was supposed
to limit his steps), then we got out the grapes and oranges and refueled and
rehydrated. It was a pleasant wait for
Phil and Steve because the weather was perfect—sunny and cool. I have to mention that Dave called me for my birthday--from the back seat of the car on the way to the hike.
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| Steve and Phil hiked to the top of the mountain you see above us. |
That evening we ate dinner at Emeril’s at the MGM
Grand. Crista had recommended this
restaurant. It was expensive but very
good, and everyone seemed happy with their meal choices. They had corn bread on the table and it was
very tasty. They made sure Char and Dave
knew that they couldn’t eat it. We had
read some reviews that said the service was slow, but we didn’t find that to be
the case at all. The waiters were
extremely attentive to the point that everyone’s plates were laid on the table
in sync, and they watched carefully to clear the plates as we finished.
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| Expensive, delicious, and TINY |
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| Crab Cake |
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| Pecan encrusted redfish |
The MGM grand (where we parked the car) was a little further
away from the Flamingo than we thought.
It wasn’t really a problem for anyone but Dave. We were short on time so we headed out to the
strip thinking we could hail a cab for Dave and Becky. We soon found it didn’t work like that--the cabs pick people up at the hotels--so Roy
and I ran ahead to get the tickets. Dave
and Becky walked a little longer and then found a bus. Miraculously everyone made it in time.
We watched the Donny and Marie show at the Flamingo. The theater was sub-par, but the show was
fun. Donny and Marie had tremendous
energy (for being the same age as dad and me).
Donny danced a lot more than Marie did, and we noticed that there was always
someone to help Marie get up or down a step.
The audience was interesting, there were a bunch of women that thought
Donny was just so wonderful. They wanted
to touch his hand, and when given the chance they’d touch his face. One took his face in her hands and said,
“You’re just so beautiful.” It was kind
of gaggy. 😊
My favorite part was when Donny sang "Close Every Door" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Marie sang an opera song that was fabulous, also.
After the show, Phil and Steve walked the several blocks back and retrieved the
car. Dave had nearly walked 10,000
steps. 5X what the Doctor ordered. He didn’t complain though he must have been
hurting.
Roy and I are not usually terribly spontaneous with our
schedules, we usually have something we have to get back for. But this time, when Charlotte invited us to
spend another night at her home in Saint George, we found that we wanted to
extend the vacation. So, after meeting
them for lunch at Coyote’s, and cutting grape vines at the Granary in Santa
Clara, and having a cookie at a gas station Char told us about, we headed over
to their place.
Matt Nielson (Tristan’s husband) was in town with three of
his kids. Alayna had a soccer
tournament. Char and Phil went late to
watch her, and then Phil left her with Matt and came and joined us for a
hike. We hiked up Padre Canyon to the
saddle. It was about 5:00 when we
started and took us about an hour to reach our destination. Phil was trying to catch the sunset with the
perfect lighting. He thought we’d
started too late, but it turned out to be just beautiful—both looking into snow
canyon, and looking back past the Tuachan theater into Saint George. It was a fun hike. On the way down we ended up hiking in the dark
which extended the time a bit. Phil is a
fast hiker and he was like a mountain goat on the way down. I felt the need to be careful with every
step.
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| In the dark at the end of the hike. We're were safe! |
It was after 7:00 when we got back to the cars, so Phil took
off in a hurry to get Charlotte. They
picked up Thai food for our dinner and we met back at their home.
While we were visiting we discovered that Matt Nielson is my
3rd cousin twice removed. We
used the Family Search App (we all got on the same network, went to more
options and searched for “relatives near you.”) We are related through my great great grandfather Lorenzo D. Johnson.
I came from one wife, and Matt came from the other. Lorenzo is his fourth great grandfather. That is a pretty close relationship. Roy and I are about 10th
cousins. I am curious how closely
related Matt is to Tristan. They might
be 3rd cousins once removed because they are closer to the same
generation, or 4th cousins once removed, which is how close Jeff Cook is related to Amy.
Today is Greta’s birthday—Happy birthday! We love you.
We got to Facetime with her Saturday night to see
her eat her birthday cake. She liked the
frosting best—so did Ruby 😊.
Greta had pink frosting all over her hands.
It took her a few minutes to get the hang of what she was supposed to do
with the cake, but then she enjoyed it.
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| Greta's 1st birthday |
Now we are driving home.
We didn’t have any church clothes packed. Roy said goodbye to Char and Phil as they
headed to church but I missed them, so, Thanks Phil and Char, we had a great
time.
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| Elise sent this picture with the caption "Name that Baby" because she thought it looked like Bev, below. The picture is of Thomas. |
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| Bev The following are pictures sent to me on (or around) my birthday. |
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| Ruby |
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| Ori, making a cake with candles |
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| Effie, eating dirt as usual And a blast from the past   |
Above: Christine and Catharine (about 1966) and Christine, Glenn, Catharine and Philip (front)
A funny story from Elise:
After falling with the ladder trying to climb the bunk bed, Mav and Max
went to the garage with Elise to go run some errands. While loading Beverly into the car, Mav took
hold of the garage door as it was going up. He didn't let go. Elise heard screaming and turned to see him
at the top of the garage, hanging on for dear life. She ran as fast as she could saying,
"Don't let go, don't let go..."
Luckily, he held on and she got him down safely.
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