More about our Utah trip

I have more pictures I want to upload of our trip to Utah. I took the pictures with my Dad's camera and so will post them when I get the CD he's burning for me with all the pictures on it. Mostly they are of the girls from the Bitner reunion on July 22. It was at the Tahition Noni Gardens in Orem. The gardens were beautiful and it was a lot of fun to see extended family members and meet new ones. We watched a Bitner DVD put together by the reunion committee. Descendants provided the voices for Brenneman Barr Bitner's children as they told about growing up in the Bitner household. As the stories were being told pictures were shown. It was nicely done. And to answer the question we are most often asked: No, neither Pres. Hinckley or Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin were there. For those who don't know they are cousins. Their mothers are half sisters, each coming from a different plural wife of Brenneman Bitner.

Sunday (July 23), was spent attending the Spanish branch my parents serve in. The girls enjoyed using headphones for the english translation for Sacrament Meeting and because they were visitors the Primary children sang the Hello song to them in Spanish during Primary. We then spent the evening at my paternal grandparents house eating dinner and celebrating Avi's 81st birthday. He hates candles and so the girls cut out 81 paper candles, taped them to toothpicks, and placed them in the cake. Avi laughed so hard when he saw the cake. He was all prepared for real candles holding a cloth up to his face so the smoke wouldn't bother him.

When I called Joseph Sunday evening to see how his day at church went he informed me he didn't go because he was fighting fires at home. The night before several thunderstorms rolled through and lightening sparked a fire the next valley over to the west. He could see the smoke as he prepared for church. As he was going east over the Bloody Runs on the way to church he noticed the fire was coming east over the Slumbering Hills, heading towards our farm. He turned around, changed his clothes at home, and started discing all around the outside perimeter of our section that's on the eastern slope of the Slumbering Hills. (Luckily the disc was already hooked up to the tractor!) Joseph said several fire crews showed up and stayed all day working with their equipment trying to stop the fire. It burned right up to where Joseph disced but went no further on our property. It did burn several sections of the neighbors property to the south of us. When we arrived home Thursday afternoon it was quite a sight to see blackened earth for several miles going up the mountain-side. Seems the action always happens when I'm gone. :D

Monday (July 24) was our biggest day attending the Pioneer Day parade in the morning and then going to the zoo in the afternoon.

Tuesday (July25) we were able to see the new Joseph Smith movie being shown at the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was incredible! Poor Eve asked for tissue about half way through and just couldn't stop crying. It took a good 15-20 minutes after the movie for her to compose herself. I'm glad she is very tender hearted and sensitive. When asked how she liked it she said, "I liked all the parts I could see when I wasn't crying." At least she took it all in good humor. We also spent some time in the morning before the movie visiting with my maternal grandparents Guelito and Guelita and taking pictures. Guelita loaded us up with her homemade tortillas and jams and jellies. YUM!

Wednesday (July 26) was spent relaxing and resting for our drive home on Thursday. We also got to visit with my Uncle Jed who came into town in the afternoon from Arizona. That night Grandpa V lit foreworks in the street and the girls quite enjoyed the show. Fireworks are illegal here in Nevada because of the danger for wildfires so they rarely get to see any. The little ones also enjoyed waving sparklers around. It was a nice ending to our trip.