AIR FORCE WIFE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2009 I went home teaching yesterday with Len Pavia, my partner. He teaches and I sit there and nod my head occasionally in approval. The first stop was to Gary and Lorie Lunt’s. As we were visiting we learned that Gary was at one time the base commander at an Air Force base in Washington State. I hadn’t known that detail before. Len told about a two week trip he and Judy and several other family members took. (He got home just recently.) In response to that, Lorie told about the time in the sixties when they were moving from Germany to Washington State due to a transfer. They flew to New York and had to wait a couple of days for their car to arrive by ship. They toured New York. She didn’t like it. After their car came they started their trek to Washington. She was eight months pregnant and had two little boys an eight year old and a four year old and she was tire and grouchy. She said they stopped at some little town somewhere to get something to eat. The waitress was slow and grouchy and Lori commented on it to Gary while the waitress was away. When the waitress returned one of the children blurted out, “Mama said you’re grouchy!” Lorie didn’t know what to say and feeling less than pleasant herself she just stared her down!

OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN TEMPLE DEDICATION

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Somewhat lazy but enjoyable day. Today there were no regular church meetings in Utah. We had no choir practice and we got to sleep in relatively late. Our session of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Dedication wasn’t until 3:00 p.m. in the stake center/our chapel which is in our back yard. I even hopped the fence and walked over to it early and held down three comfortable seats in the chapel proper for Judy and Jim who showed up only a couple of minutes before the service started. it was via satellite. I had my moments of leaking tear ducts. After the dedication Jim and I helped take down and put away the chairs I helped set up yesterday morning. Corey, who is not in our stake, put a lamb roast on the spit on the barbeque on our back deck. Judy made oven baked potatoes, a salad and prosciutto wrapped, brie stuffed figs. The figs were good but it is something I can only eat couple of. They are so rich. We had a good visit then Corey, Stacey, Jayden and Bailey went home and Judy and I cleaned up the dishes etc. Corey et al looked at a new house today which they really like. They would like to figure out how to get into it. That is all except Jayden. He doesn’t want to leave Issie. He is in heaven. They are in the same class at school this year. Stacey said that both of them gave her nods of the head and looks (the eyes etc) indicating they wanted to be alone the other day. I think it was after school! They are ten years-old.

MY POOR ACHING EVERYTHING

Saturday, August 22, 2009 I am stiff and sore even after taking some over-the-counter pain pills and later a prescription one. I woke up at a little after 6:00 this morning and was at the church before seven to clean it preparatory to the temple dedication broadcast tomorrow. After cleaning we sat up chairs, filled the overflow and all the way to the back of the cultural hall. From there I went to Lajeunesse’s and helped load a U-Haul (some other brand). They are moving to Sunrise Meadows. I came home took a shower and a short nap and then went to McClure’s and loaded the same truck again for their move to a neighboring ward. Brother McClure’s MS is getting bad and they found a home which is more conducive to his condition. Jim was finally up in time for the McClure’s move. Corey was over so he helped too. (Jim was at a LDS singles party until 3:00 a.m.) When we came back from McClure’s, we all went to the pool for a short dip. Judy had taken Jayden and Bailey an hour or so before so by the time Corey and I were ready to get out, the kids didn’t complain. This afternoon/evening there is a neighborhood party at the pool’s pavilion. I made a suddenly Salad; double batch. I added green onions and small shrimp. Hope it goes over well.

BREAK OF DAWN (not a move title)

Thursday, August 20, 2009 Judy and I got up at a little before six this morning. We had an assignment to do a seven a.m. sealing session in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We drove separately since she had to go straight from the temple to work for a mandatory nine a.m. meeting. As I was going through the “S” curve on my way to the temple I had to come to a complete stop and wait for a family of raccoons to cross the road. As they crossed the road they passed the body of a dead raccoon and several of them stopped to take a look before moving on. When I came back the dead raccoon’s body had been moved off to the side of the road. The temple supplied the names which were Chinese and German from the late 1500s and early 1600s. For lunch, Corey and I ate at Bajio’s in Orem in-between work appointments for him. He ate a burrito and I had a salad. For dessert, I worked out in the swimming pool for over an hour. (Kidding about the dessert part.) It had cooled off some for a while but it is getting hot again and I think it is supposed to get into the low hundreds in the next couple of days.

GOING TO CHILI’S on a FULL STOMACH

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Tonight was the fund raiser at Chili’s in Jordan Landing for Sierra’s Taylorsville High School drill team so in spite of still being stuffed from sushi earlier, I met Judy, Niki, Greg, Alexa and Gavin for dinner. With a flyer/coupon, 10% of the cost of the dinner goes to the team. It was Alexa’s first day at pre-school or rather she and Niki went and registered for school and got to know Miss Wright and a couple of the kids. Although she is but three years old I think she will fit right in and do fine. Today was purple day for Alexa. She had on purple leotards and a purple top. She had a purple flower hair piece and purple underwear. She even went to the trouble of taking off the other color panties she originally had on and putting on the purple ones. While we were waiting for the food to come to the table, she and I danced in place for a good five minutes with hand gyrations and all. Alexa and I has gots the moves! Long day—I’m tired. See the following blog entry for the Sushi story etc.

SUSHI—JUMP ON IT

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Today eight of us met at Simply Sushi in Downtown Salt Lake and boy did we stuff ourselves. At least I did. I didn’t think Corey was ever going to stop and I wasn’t about to let him show me up. I drove Austin and Molly. Corey had Jim with him in his car since they had a 1:30 p.m. appointment downtown; which fell through. Judy took TRAX to The Gateway where Corey and Jim picked her up. Julie Bird and her sister Susie (sp) came separately. (They took Judy back to work afterwards.) We had a good visit in addition to eating. Jim is driving to Idaho Falls after work to see Jenn…hmmm? He took an inflatable bed and an ice chest to take her some sushi; he asked Danny, one of the sushi chefs there at Simply Sushi to have some rolls made up for him to take up north. Jim will cut them when he gets there. (Since Jim rolls sushi there on Friday nights, we all eat for half price when we eat with him though not when he is rolling—working) Jim will be coming back to Salt Lake tomorrow…I think…hmmm again? After Simply Sushi, Austin, Molly and I drove to Lehi where we met up with Stacey, Jayden and Bailey in the Albertson’s parking lot. From there we caravanned to Jump On It, on the west side of the freeway, where the kids and Stacey jumped on the trampolines and whatever else they have, for an hour. At the end of the hour, for an extra $3:00 a person, Jayden, then Bailey, Molly and lastly Austin did a bungee jump (approximately five minutes each). The older two did back flips. Jump On It, is complicated to find. Jim had a map and walk me through the directions via the phone while Stacey followed in her minivan. During the first hour, Austin got acquainted with, and the phone number for, a cheerleader from some school. Her name is Lydia. I didn’t see her but everyone says she is cute. We’ll have to see how far this goes. I am assuming that since Jump On It, is in the Orem area, she is from down south somewhere too. Austin lives in Taylorsville; up Salt Lake City way. I pointed out a cute girl to Jayden and suggested he go talk to her, but he simply stated that he was committed to Issie. I missed the first 2/3s of the action at Jump On It, since I ran to RC Willey and picked up a white entertainment center.

Three going on Eighteen

GET TOGETHER

Sunday, August 16, 2009 Today our friend/Judy’s very good friend, Julie Bird and her sister Susie (sp) sang “If Thou Had Been Here” in our sacrament meeting and as always did an excellent job and got a number of compliments. After church, they came to our house for beef stroganoff and to visit. Niki was here and attended Sacrament meeting with us. She brought Gavin. Greg and Alexa took a nap. Chris came before Julie and Susie left. Later all our children and their families were here. Three year old Alexa is in love with Troy Bolton from High School Musical. It is so intense that one time when Troy kissed the girl in the movie, Alexa started to cry and said, “I want to kiss him!” today she as well as Sierra and Bailey were trying on some of Niki’s old prom dresses. Alexa put a fancy shopping bag over her shoulder and said she was going shopping to get a toy for Troy. When someone inquired further, she said she was going to get him a blue bicycle. Gavin has finally got walking down pat and is all over the place.

BOB MILLET

Saturday, August 15, 2009 Today while Judy and I were running around we saw Robert L. Millet in the Smith’s in Orem. I told him he was my favorite author now Hugh Nibley is gone. He is arguably the best religious mind at the BYU. He is also an excellent lecturer and I love to listen to him on the roundtable discussions on religion on BYUTV. The last time I spoke to him was on an airplane some years back. I’ve been fighting a migraine all day. Judy thinks it is due to the change in weather. It is much cooler than usual. It rained hard earlier today and there was a hard wind for hours. It is balmy and sunshiny this evening.

AVERAGE DAY

Friday, August 14, 2009 Not a lot to write about the last couple of days. I think I am slowly getting out of my funk. Judy has been back from Drum Corps since Monday morning. Yesterday I ate lunch at Chipotle with Corey and Jim. Today I have been with Jayden and Bailey since shortly after nine a.m. We watched cartoons in the a.m. then played basketball at the park in back of their house. This afternoon we spent at my place. We swam for half an hour until we got rained out. After that we played Monopoly—Jayden kicked butt. Later we played Ladder Ball in the back yard. That’s about it.

CHECK-UP

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 This morning at 9:00 I had a doctor’s appointment with Shelly Ebert NP for a check up. I took with me a list of some typical blood sugar and blood pressure readings. She was ecstatic over how well I am doing and told me not to change anything.

FAMILY REUNION

Saturday, August 08, 2009 Today was the Jepson family reunion at a park on Bountiful Boulevard in Bountiful, Utah. Niki, Alexa and Gavin picked up Sierra and Jim rode with me. We had a good visit with family we don’t often see and the kids played on the playground. It was Niki’s idea to visit for an hour or two then go out for lunch. Generally of course everyone brings a lunch. It is a major part of the visiting and we all share. As usual Cousin Rick (Jepson) made homemade root beer the job my dad had for so many years…sugar, water, root beer extract and dry ice. This year Rick also made one with Lemonade…carbonated…it really turned out well. He said he (or someone) had tried it previously successfully so he was confident it would be a hit. Sierra brought her fifty raffle tickets hoping to sell them. I will refer you to Jenn’s blog entry on the subject and my comment to her blog. http://jjnern.blogspot.com/ Some of the buyers who bought five tickets ($5.00 worth each) were Christina, Rick and I think Brent. I bought seven, all the cash I had except a $20.00 bill. There are a lot of less than wealthy people in our family and I chose not to approach them. After the reunion, the six of us went to lunch at the Olive Garden on West Temple in Downtown Salt Lake. Mari, the general manager is a friend of Jim’s from when he used to be a waiter at Olive Garden and she gave him his lunch for free and gave us all a celebration cake which was nice of her. Later this evening Jim and I went first to Sears in the Provo Towne Centre Mall and then drove along University Avenue and State Street looking for a water distiller. Jim is into drinking nothing but distilled water. Yuck but oh well. I wouldn’t mind being able to not have to buy distilled water for my CPAP machine. I woke up crying from a sad dream last night but choose not to include it in my blog entry.

THEY HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE DAY

Friday, August 07, 2009 Today was my day to watch Jayden and Bailey. They prefer to stay at their house which is more boring for me and from nine in the morning to five thirty/six in the evening makes for a long day. At one point Jayden could tell I was not overly enjoying myself and offered to play catch with the football for MY sake. Good on yea Jayden it was fun as long as it lasted. The three of us earlier went to their school and played wall ball. Later this evening Corey and his family, Greg and Niki and theirs and I went to Teppanyaki in Lehi for dinner which was fun. Alexa especially enjoyed climbing on and looking at their large tropical fish tank. She did not like it when the Teppanyaki chief made fire on the cooking surface twice. She turned her back to it but peaked back at it through the corner of her eye. Afterwards Jayden and Corey came over to my house to pick up the first book in the Harry Potter series for Stacey. Since I had two copies of it, Jayden took one for himself. He read the first page to me while he was still here. Corey put the last of the molding on in the little bedroom and Jayden and I wrestled. I’m glad Jayden and I are good enough friends that he will wrestle with me and tease and harass me. Bailey and Alexa do too.

G.I. JOE and CPK

Thursday, August 06, 2009 Corey had gotten passed to get free tickets for the sneak preview of the new movie G. I. Joe. I got the passes from Corey and was at the Gateway at a little before 4:00 p.m. when they started handing the out actual tickets. They gave out more passes than there were actual seats so we wanted to be early enough to insure our getting in. After getting the tickets, I got in line for the movie itself and was in the first forty or fifty people or so. Corey and Jayden showed up at a little before 5:30 and joined me in line. While we were waiting for that last hour before we could get in, we chatted including talking to the people around us. There was a really pretty eleven year old girl next to us who showed some interest in Jayden including whispering to her cousin who was with her, and Corey and I as tactfully as possible kidded Jayden about her. He really does handle things like that well if we don’t go too far with it. The movie was a lot of fun. It was action packed almost constantly from start to finish. It was so loud that Jayden kept his fingers in his ears the whole time but watched the show intently. After the movie, the three of us went to the California Pizza Kitchen to eat. While we were there, I told Jayden he was a good sport and handled the kidding about the cute girl well. He laughed and jokingly said. “That’s ok. When I get home I will put the frustrations out on Bailey.” (i.e. take my frustrations out on Bailey.) Bailey and Stacey saw Monsters and Aliens at a theater in Sandy. It is a tamer movie for kids.

BEYOND THE SUNSET

8/25/95 Somewhere beyond the sunset, There shines a bright new day, Where clouds are light and airy, And the month perpetual May. Somewhere beyond the sunset, There’s a hope of better times, Where people do not hurry, And impatience is a crime. Somewhere beyond the sunset, There are children still at play. If I can see tomorrow, I’ll forget my yesterday. Somewhere beyond the sunset, The sunrise shows it’s rays; And I may see that sunrise, If I live beyond today.

I DON’T GO THERE ANY MORE

Fred Jepson Sunday, August 09, 1998 Once there blew a cooling breeze, And there were flowers on the hill, But that was oh, so long ago, Before my longings did set sail. I looked toward the rising sun. My wanderlust began to soar. I traveled down that one-way road— But I don’t go there any more. My recall brings back daisy-times’ And summer evenings soaked with rain; But often too there was the sad’ And winter nights so filled with pain. And access to my wondered past’ Was ever shut behind that door. And that was then— and this is now; And I don’t go there any more. Now there calls yet farther shores, And greater ventures on the wind. I feel the gale behind me blow’ To where tomorrows all begin. Yet low, there lingers ever still, A longing for that former shore. But I know; I’ve tried in vain, I can’t go back there any more!

LIKE ROASTING A HOTDOG

MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2009 continued At 3:30 Jayden, Bailey and I went to the pool for a little over an hour. As he often does, Jayden grabbed me by both ankles and while I was laid out flat on top of the water, he twisted me round and round. He calls it “rotating” me. Every time my face was skyward I grabbed a breath of air. Today when he finished doing it for the first go-around he announced in a pompous tone of voice, “Like roasting a hotdog!” Observation: Like father like son I have noticed on many occasions, Bailey will give in to Jayden’s demands or desires on what to do etc, though she can, if she gets riled up enough, strike out, demanding her way, and will even lay into Jayden with both fists flying! Jayden’s retort to that is often, “She didn’t get enough sleep last night!” I’m not sure what exactly happened but as we were getting out of the pool, Bailey got angry and yelled out, “Jayden!” She left the pool and ran home. I have no problem with that except sometimes Saratoga Drive can have busy traffic that time of day and I am unsure how careful she is; especially when she is angry and/or in a hurry.

G I JOE and THANK YOU

MONDAY, AUGUST03, 2009 My grandson Jayden is on an especially aggressive “good Manners” kick! He is pretty good with the please and thank you's all the time but today he is above and beyond. For instance today I took him and Bailey to Wal-Mart to get them something from the toy department and me a sandwich from Subway. He and Bailey picked out a G.I. Joe, The Rise of Cobra, Snake Eyes Sword & Mask set with accessories to share. They said “We are sharing the key-chain with my dad.” I must have gotten a half dozen thank yous between picking it out and the checkout counter and even before picking it out. And after buying it, he said, “Oh Grandpa, by the way I want to give you an extra thank you because when I tell my mom and dad, they are going to ask me, ‘Is there someone you want to say ‘thank you to?’” When we got to my house, he borrowed my phone, called his dad and told him what was happening including telling him about the thank yous. As a side note when we were next in line to pay, Jayden pulled our cart out of the way and stepped back and said to the lady behind us, “You can put your stuff on the belt. We are getting out of the way for you.” Or some wording similar to that.

WHAT WILL HE BE LIKE IN COLLAGE?

SATURDAY, AUGUST 01, 2009 Thanks to Stacey having to work and Niki having a migraine, I spent the day watching Jayden, Bailey, Alexa and Gavin at Niki's house. It went rather smooth considering. Gavin is getting pretty good at walking and go as far as he wants. He just gets insecure or whatever and sits down or grabs your hand after a while. After dropping Jayden and Bailey off at Corey's work at 5:00 I picked up Austin and drove him to where he was acting in "Opening Night" then picked up Judy at Trolley Square. Then the two of us went to watch the play. After the play Judy and Austin and I ate at Hires Big H on 7th east and then we drove home. I thought Austin did an excellent job of acting in the play. He played the part of Dan, a high school student playing the part of Jack Blackwell, a rich man who marries a woman who, as it turns out, marries men for their money then her accomplice Vinnie kills them. In the play, Austin/Dan/Jack smokes. Hmm. Tonight Jim, Jayden, Bailey and I went to see the play. It was the first time for them. Jayden and Bailey hooted in laughter throughout it. For whatever reason at the end Jayden said, “I can just imagine what Austin will be like in collage!”