After being home for only 

12 DAYS

we headed out to UTAH to get

reacquainted with our children and grandchildren there.

We must be crazy......or something!

Our flight was a bit bumpy.....not fun but at least we arrived safe and sound.  Ready for a fun-filled 12 days there.

 We spent the first 6 days with Kevin and Lauren and kiddos!  How fun that was.....

Just hanging out and doing 'whatever'.......  Becky flew up from Arizona to be a 'special guest' on a KSL-TV show about MOTHERHOOD and the importance of that role.  It was a FIRST for KSL......a First Live Audience.  It was standing room only.  How fun to 'watch Becky in action' with her part on the program.  She did a great job....she is a 'natural' at what she does.

And here is our 'little girl' up on stage....front and center!

It was a very, very short trip for Becky.....flew up in the morning to do the show and flew back to Arizona in the afternoon.  And then it was off to the MAC STORE to buy Wayne and NEW IMACBOOK PRO and me a new ipad2!!!!  It just doesn't get any better than that.  Sweet Mamma Mac!

Of course NO trip to Utah is complete without a trip to TEMPLE SQUARE just to make sure nothing has changed there.  Beautiful to be back there again.  We spent one of our days in downtown Salt Lake where we met with Steve Sunday at the headquarters office of LDS Family Services.  We got our 'orientation' on what our job description would be for our new mission.  Great meeting with Steve.

The first Sunday we were there was with K & L's family and we had a little cookout after church.  Mel and Denise came over to help us celebrate being back.  It was good to see them again.  They had been in NEW ZEALAND serving a 3-year mission as the MTC President and 'mother'.

Andy and Geralyn and boys came down too.....the girls had fun catching up, of course.  Girls always have fun catching up on everything!

We took in a MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCOR GAME at the Real Stadium in south Salt Lake.  Andy and the 4 youngest boys came and joined us as well.  Fun evening......albeit a bit chilly!  I thought we left that kind of weather back in Finland.  Go Figure.....

We ventured over to the UNIVERSITY MALL to look for some new dress shoes for Wayne.  We always seem to get them when we are out there because we don't have time when we are at home in Maryland.  Well, low-and-behold, look who we 'found'!!  Our dear MEL and BONNIE HAMMOND!  Can you imagine anything better than that in the Mall!!  We always seem to run into someone when we are there.  We just sat right down and started catching up on 'life' over the past 2 years with them.  They have not changed a bit.  Just as sweet as ever......AAAHHHH......so excited we got to see them.

We got to go visit Mel and Denise in their home.  Fun to see some of the 'things' that I had not seen before that Mel has had for years and years!  Things that belonged to my 

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA MARION! 

 What a treasure......this table used to be in their home in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.  The family used to eat off of this table.

It was off one afternoon to visit the FINLAND CONTINGENT at the Luthy's home.  Mel and Anne Luthy were our first Helsinki Finland Temple President and Matron.  Oh how we loved working under their direction.  And oh how good to see them again!  I love their daughter, Annette, who is a great writer.  I have I think all of her books.  It was good to meet her!

And the WHOLE GANG after lunch!  Left to right.....Veli ja Sisar Alakoski, Wayne and I, President Luthy and Anne, daughter Annette and Veli ja Sisar Gee.

I 'found' a great little recipe book in a little BOUTIQUE in Salt Lake that Geralyn took me to.  It was on how to make WHOOPIE PIES!  Well, I LOVE whoopie pies.....made famous in the Amish Pennsylvania Country.  I just had to give my hand at trying this.  I did and they turned out great the 1st time.  Love this new found little fun thing to make.

My brother John and his wife, Joan and their son, Ben, came over to Andy and Geralyn's to share in our Whoopie Pies.

 One of the days we spent at Andy and Geralyn's home we decided to go to HILL AIR FORCE BASE. Can you believe that we had never been there before even after all of the many, many times we had been to Utah and even in the one year we lived there when Wayne was doing his internship at LDS Hospital as a young doctor.  It was fun.  The boys did a great job of being good.

We took a little 'golf cart tour' of the BYU Campus just because!  We felt we could do that as Wayne is an ALUMNI and we are SENIOR CITIZENS!  You can do a lot as Senior Citizens and get away with it!  :-)  We found a year book in the Alumni House of the year Wayne graduated.  And we found his PICTURE in the yearbook!  How fun for him.....and me!

With a FUN-FILLED trip to Utah, it was time to go back home.  Time to try and unpack and put our lives into some type of 'normalcy'!