Birthday Boys
We celebrated Mike and Reese's birthdays yesterday at the Jons. Reese, sitting next to Mike is 2 weeks older than Mike, and he had a chocolate cake whereas Mike had a white cake. The kids (Nora, Evelyn and Samuel from left to right) thought it was just grand to sample everything. Reese and his wife have yet to start their family.

Weekend at Skyline Resort
We were with all of Marolynn's sisters this weekend at the Skyline Resort outside of Fairview, where Karen and Susan own property and have cabins and trailors, and of course, plenty of ATVs for trips up the mountain on the dirt roads. We stayed in one of Karen's trailors. Although it was a warm Saturday, it was quite relaxing. Up on top of the mountain, you can see Mt. Nebo to the west, where we visited a week ago.

Renewing Acquaintences

We attended a funeral (a cousin of Marolynn) in Arimo, Idaho, south of Pocatello and decided to go on up to Idaho Falls to visit Allen and Lois Suski after several years of not seeing them. First, we visited Allen's folks, George and Lee and then Allen where we were treated to a steak dinner just like in the olds times. Allen and Lois have been in Idaho Falls for 5 years now and they seem to like it.

Nebo Loop - Another Day Trip
We decided to get out of the house today for a day trip, just to view some scenery that I haven't seen for a number of decades and also to discover some places that will be perfect for Fall colors.

Mount Nebo is a few feet under 12,000 ft high and the highest mountain in the Wasatch chain. It is to the south of Utah Valley and there are turnouts on the canyon divide where you can see back north across Utah Lake. The lake is Payson Lake, about 8,000 ft up, which showed a lot of promise for good fishing. If the aspens don't freeze early, Fall colors should be spectacular in this country.

A Quick Trip to New Mexico
We had meant to visit Albuquerque and Santa Fe a month ago, just a year after I retired, but Marolynn was not sufficently recovered from her foot operation. So we went down at the beginning of the week. We stayed in Albuquerque with the Behlings who were nice enough to invite ward friends of ours over to a dinner, so that we could meet them.

On Tuesday I drove up to Santa Fe to visit the Finance office where I worked before I retired. Everything is much the same in the office, but no so in the County where the county manager suddenly resigned a month ago as scandals were beginning to pop up around him. The Board of Commissioners advertised the position and Katheryn Miller who was the Finance Director who hired me and 2 years later left to work for the Governor, was chosen as the new county manager. She doesn't start until September, so I'll have to go back down to see her.

Helen, the accounting manager is about to have her second child, as is Sharon (not pictured) who worked for me. Pat is feeling better now after grieving for the sudden loss of her teenage granddaughter last spring. All in all, the office is in pretty good shape.

Sam's Baby Blessing
This morning, Samuel Paul Griffin received his blessing in church meeting. We don't baptize babies because in LDS belief, young children who have not reached the age of accountability (8 years old) are found without sin before the Lord. But we do bless babies and give them an official name on the records of the Church. Well, my name got into this tyke's name for better or worse.

After church meeting, extended family members gathered at Michael and Jenny's home for some refreshments and a mini-celebration. Mike's other children are growing up, Evelyn at 2 years, and Nora at 4 years. Nora is going into pre-school at the end of the month.