Ryan and Gracie just walked up to me holding their swimsuits. Ryan was yelling gibberish excitedly and literally jumping up and down. I guess they want to swim.

Good-bye to Grandpa. Utah pictures. Ward Primary movie day.

June/July

While Michael and Jonathan were in Brazil, we had a very nice visit to Provo. Most of the municipal water districts in Utah have tap water that is more pure than bottled water. Drinking tap water was a novelty for the kids. I drove up Provo canyon so the kids could find waterfalls. They played with cousins non-stop, got “bear hugs” from Grandpa and enjoyed showing off for Grandma who is recovering from both knee and cataract surgery. It was cute because one time we were saying a prayer before a meal and Grandma had her hands in her lap rather than folded so Ryan walked across the room and folded her arms for her. I’m glad she’s got Ryan to keep her on the straight and narrow.

There are a few new wonderful family-friendly activities that made vacationing there really fun. The Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point rivals the Children’s Museum in Salt Lake and Dinosaur Museum as far as wonderful kid-fun. We joined my brother Andrew, his wife Nikki and their family for the Lehi horse parade. All the small towns in Utah send their beauty queens and cowboys to it. They loved watching all the cowboys and pretty girls riding such beautiful horses and throwing out candy. The renovated Bean Museum at BYU was a hit. I had to drag a child (I won’t name which one) kicking and screaming to finally leave. However, my personal favorite was the new and improved Provo Recreation Center. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the most fun Rec. Center in the US. Inexpensive child care for the really little ones without a TV so they don’t just sit like zombies. Pagers provided for the parents. Both indoor and outdoor playground, waterslides, lazy river, life vests, splash pads, rock climbing wall, basketball courts, track and weights and workout equipment that overlooks the children’s swim area. Gracie still doesn’t get that it is 12 hours away and keeps asking to go there.

My high school choir director, Paul Larson retired and I was able to go to his Alumni Concert and sing our goodbyes with a few musically inclined friends from a long time ago. I was able to meet up with two of my dearest friends, Dawn and Tanya at the Blue Lemon in American Fork. I also was able to meet up with Heidi, Janae and Stephanie, three wonderful girls Heavenly Father put into my life by having us serve missions together in Portugal. We met at the Scera Park in Orem.

The biggest treat of course was having lots of quality time with my grandpa. My sister, Sarah not only let us stay with her but insisted on watching my children so I would have lots of time with him. We certainly weren’t expecting him to pass away so soon but it was very therapeutic for me to be there with him in his final couple of weeks and days. I was holding his hand when he died. I’m trying to write up a tribute to him that I’ll eventually finish and post on this blog though words just don’t seem to capture the breadth or depth of such a simply amazing man. The Plan of Salvation became so much more real for me this last month.

With a hectic schedule between Brazil, L.A., AZ, San Diego and Utah in three days, Grandpa and Grandma Neyens helped with rides and a couple days of a watching Jonathan. Michael and Jonathan flew up for the 4th and the funeral. I am quite proud of the extended Donaldson clan and show them all off to Michael at the 4th of July breakfast meant a lot to me. The boys all went kayaking at Payson lakes while the girls had a tea party. Then fireworks with The Stadium of Fire fireworks in the background were really exciting for all. Michael said, “Now I see why these aren’t legal in California.” The 5th was my grandpa’s funeral. When James saw his body at the viewing he said, “That’s a copy of Great Grandpa.” He got it right on. His Spirit was gone and James recognized that obvious difference. My grandpa’s one funeral request was the song Non Nobis and that I sing a solo. He had requested this latin version of Psalms 115, 14 years ago or so I suppose I’ve had time to practice. I admit I thought that wasn’t a very nice thing for Grandpa to do to request that someone make a fool of themselves in front of hundreds of people at your funeral but it went much better than I feared and I appreciated the support I felt from my sisters, cousins, Mom and most importantly Michael.

Since we’ve been home the kids have been keeping me busy as always. The other night James had a pile of what must have been 80 books for me to read to him before bed. Good luck with that one kiddo!

James said, “I wish I were Dad. He never gets in trouble.” I said, “What about me?” His reply, “You get in trouble.”

I was walking out the door and told Jonathan to “be good.” He replied, “You be good too.”

Jonathan was the only kid in his primary class on Sunday and made us all thank you notes and gave us lollipops that he hid on our pillows. Somehow James who has quite the sweet tooth and the sweet eyes was able to get Michael and I to give him our lollipops, that boy.

Grandpa Neyens is getting deployed for a year to a top-secret location so we had a good-bye get-together for him last Saturday in Carlsbad. Later, we joined Grandpa and Grandma at their house for a six-foot sandwich and soccer game. He was teasing Gracie and they were calling each other names like, “You’re a cake”. You know, typical three-year-old humor. She said, “I’m Jesus’ Sunbeam”. She’s obviously learning something at church.

The kids had swim lessons this week and Ryan couldn’t stand to be left out so I’ve been spending a lot of time in a pool holding a smiling little munchkin.