Pam Surprises Me

Pam calls me and says, "I have something really exciting to tell you"

"YOU GOT A JOB!?"

"No, I wish"

"YOU ARE COMING TO SEE ME?"

"Yes!"

There was a long pause as I let that thought sink in.

We would call each other days prior.

"Only 2 more days"
"Only 1 more day"

"Tomorrow"

Then it came down to hours.  We were so excited to be together.

Jared went to Scout Camp and Kirk had to finish an art project for a church, so

they stayed home.  However, Daphne, Kaleb and Victoria came the long 12 hr long

drive from Phoenix , AZ to Payson, Ut then to Malad, ID.

They fist stopped at Rich's place and followed him up the following day.

This all came about because of the surprise 50th birthday party I was giving Troy.

The first night I took them all on a walk, almost 4 miles. The evening night air was relaxing.

Rich's dog, Duke came along.
Victoria got a little tired, so Pam and I would pull her along by her handle bars.
We had to remind her not to put the brakes on occasionally.

They arrived Friday and the party was Sat, so I was a little distracted and high strung.

I forewarned her I would be till after the party was over.  Mom came up shortly after Pam and Rich arrived. Sundi came over to help me, so between the three of them I had plenty of help

and people to make lots of runs to the stores. Thanks everyone.

Phoenix is in the 100's already, so to be outside in the middle of the day was not only a 

treat to but amazing to Pam and the kids.

For Family Night I wanted to take them to Power House to have a cook out.

But we discovered Victoria gets allergies bad, and that is putting it mildly.

Until we could get her better there was no was we were taking her up to the mountains.

I haven't seen anyone with allergies that bad.

She couldn't keep her eyes open because they burned so much.

She constantly had a damp, cool cloth to wipe her eyes.

Pam thought she was sick and apologized for bring a contagious child to our home.

Come Sunday we decided that she wasn't sick but had allergies, but there was 

nothing we could do till Monday.  She was her self again after getting her medicine.

She was so good coping with her discomfort until then.

They couldn't have come at a better time. Due to all of the rain we have been having,
everything was lush and green.
The mountain sides were covered with Rocky Mountain Dwarf Sunflower.

Pam took all of these beautiful pictures.

We were trying to make this easy, not too involved.
Well we should have thought it out a little bit more, because we forgot the hamburgers.
First we were concerned that we had no way to cook

them, but then discovered that the patties never got into the cooler anyway.

Pam is a "Early to bed, Early to rise" girl, so we would put a movie in and take a nap.

I think she is sleeping there at the campfire, and holding Zeus for warmth.
Daphne had collected a few pieces of wood to carve, until Troy unknowingly
threw them into the fire.

 I had spinach, cilantro, peppers, corn, onions, pumpkin and watermelon still to plant.

They were excited to help, I was so grateful because it went along faster and was more fun

with the kids, dog and cats all in the garden.

I gave Kaleb the bag of onion bulbs to plant and told him to not plant the shriveled, dry bulbs.
He must have found the smallest, driest and most shriveled bulb in the bag and ask, 

"Is this a good one?"
Pumpkin felt right at home with the rest of the red heads.

Pam comes to me feeling badly because Victoria just asked her,
"Why can't I take riding lessons?"

She has a friend in AZ that takes lessons.

I didn't even think of it till then, "Let's saddle up Dragon Fly for her to ride"

"You would make her day"

I only wish that I had made arrangements for Daphne to ride a horse.

 Daphne loves horses, study horses and draws horses.

Every horse that we saw she could tell us the breed and the color.

Daphne was so good to help Victoria saddle up Dragon Fly.

 I don't know how exciting it was to be lead around and around in a circle?

But she seemed to enjoy herself.  Dragon Fly hadn't had someone on her for YEARS.

She wasn't sure what to think, but she was good.

 We took everyone up to Crowther's Reservoir.
I told a man who was fishing that my family came up from Arizona,
"Is that where all the Carrot Tops came from?"
I think it was Victoria who didn't know what a Carrot Top was.
Zeus would plop his belly down onto the cool dirt so aggresively that he would
slide a little on the down slope, Och!

 Pam took these beautiful photos of the flowers I planted in my flower pots.
In fact, she took most of these pictures.

 Daphne gave me, Sundi and Mom these wonderful homemade soaps from the
Farmer's Market in Arizona.
I started seeing adorable painted rocks around the yard. The kids had painted them

before coming up, to give as gifts.  I love them.

Pam and the kids were with us for five whole days.  It was wonderful to spend that time

getting to know each other better. We didn't have much planned, so it was very casual and

relaxing.  We played lots of games with the kids, one loooonnnnggg game of U-No and

lots of Nerts.  Once Wind and Sundi left, the rest of us were able to win a few times.

Thank you so much, Pam for coming all the way up here to see me.
I cannot wait for you to move to Logan.
I have decided that is the perfect place for your family to live.