Family Time...St. George

We headed off into the wild blue yonder looking forward to spending a week with family in St. George...we pride ourselves on keeping our cars in good repair. Fears of repeating what I experienced a time or two as a child (sitting by the side of busy highways with broken down cars) has been my motivation. Well, I suppose our good luck ran out. About 20 miles this side of Amarillo our super reliable car DIED! We were so bummed...we are so unfamiliar with car problems that I looked at Bill and said "Now what do we do?" Before he could answer we heard Christine from the back of the car say "Call Allstate. We have roadside assistance." When I asked her how she knew that, she said she had seen it on a commercial:) Too funny. I did call Allstate, and although we don't really have roadside assistance, the nice lady was able to help us...Thank goodness for modern technology. Between Bill's iPhone and iPad, we were able to figure out where we were...because it really was the middle of nowhere...this is Taxas we are talking about! After a very long and uninteresting story as well as a 2+hour wait along a busy highway, we drove out of Amarillo in a brand, spanking new GMC Yukon XL...we had no idea how many of the gadgets worked...actually, I still am not sure of many things. But all was well and we handled what could have been a very stressful situation surprisingly well.

Passing time while awaiting the tow truck...

Still waiting...in the middle of nowhere:)

A nice shot of Christine's shoes...

And here she is...all loaded up:( That truck in the picture will be our ride into Amarillo. We had to pay $100 extra for the extra car...little did we know Bill would be driving. What a silly arrangement. I was certain we would add a speeding ticket to the day's tab...the tow truck driver was leading the way---we had no idea where we were going---so in order to keep up with him, Bill was speeding down the highway! We arrived w/o a ticket and ready to buy. We were in and out of the dealership in about 1 1/2 hours. Not an ideal way to purchase a new car...but hey, we are not your "normal" folks:)

Although we were staying in St. George, we headed south to Vegas to see Cirque du Soliel's "Love" (it's a tribute to The Beatles.) I was a lot of fun...Bill and I aren't big fans of Vegas...in fact, we couldn't wait to get out of there, but we did enjoy the show.

We met 2 former Dallas missionaries for breakfast. Milton Williams and Mark Metcalf are both living in St. George and attending Dixie State. It was great seeing them. We have been so blessed with great young men serving in our ward...Grant is especially close to these two guys:)

A quick visit to Southern Utah University. 50 miles north of St. George...both William and Christine will most likely be attending there in the fall.

A cool replica of Shakespear's Globe Theatre.

Uncle Bill and Ky...we'd kick Ky out of the family because he's a Ute fan, but we can't...he's a Casper, so he has to stay:)

Let the fun begin...William brought his dance game for the Wii and ALL of the family was groovin'. Even Great Grandma Casper enjoyed watching and participating. There were 33 of us, we were only missing Laws and Bryson...they are both serving missions. Because our numbers were large, we reserved Papa and Grandma's church...it was wonderful being able to spread out. I didn't take any pictures of the set up in the gym...shame on me. It was perfect though...just take my word for it.

Friday morning most of the cousins, a few of the parents and Papa went to the St George Temple to do some baptisms...It was such a special time. I would not have wanted to be anywhere else...being in the presence of such great Casper youth, all worthy to be in the temple, was priceless. The Temple...always where I want to be with my family.

Papa arranged for us to borrow 5 authentic handcarts, one for each family. We loaded our blankets and lunches up and walked a few blocks to a nearby park for a family picnic. The weather was perfect and being together was wonderful too. The kids, as well as the adults had a great time...

Lots of family pictures on the steps at the St. George Temple

Friday night we surprised Papa with a 70th birthday party. It was perfect and he was surprised and touched. Songs were sung and a wonderful DVD of his life was watched and both Grandma and Uncle Richard said a few words about their feelings about Dad...we had cake and laughed...a great time!