What a week!

Thursday: Bridal pictures at Griffith's Observatory in L.A.

Friday: wedding at the L.A. temple, reception in La Canada.

Saturday: Venice Beach

Sunday: General conference, Fresno temple, Fresno sun, Sanger, Madera, Atwater, Ione, Jackson, and finally Pine Grove-my mission areas. We stayed the night with Nola Hofmann in Pine Grove. I had dinner at her home when I was there. She was a great hostess and we loved our time there.

Listening to conference inside the Fresno Stake Center

This I remember, the sun is so bright and hot in Fresno!

High school in Jackson

Chickens in the Hofmann's yard

Monday: Sutter Creek, Lake Tahoe, and Reno. (And very windy roads)

Ice cream soda store in Sutter Creek

Ice cream for breakfast is the best!!

High school in Sutter Creek. This is where Nola Hofmann's children went including Ben Hofmann, Worland High School's Girls Basketball Coach.

Emerald Bay, my favorite spot in all of Tahoe!

Andy and Brian skipping rocks, because it was too cold for anything else.

Eric

Lucy

Look at that blue lake!  My favorite Lake in the world!

Tuesday: Nevada stretch of I-80. Not too much fun. We stopped in Elko to visit with our friends the Williams' that we met when Brian and I were in Kirtland Ohio and they were serving a mission there. Wonderful people!  No pics this day because, well, it's Nevada and not my fav! (Probably because of the many summers I drove across Nevada with my family with zero air conditioning!)

Wednesday: Stayed over night in Wendover, finally got to Utah!  Orthodontist appointments and time with the grandson!

Thursday: Wedding reception prep

Friday: Wedding reception in Orem. I was so busy I didn't take time to snap any pictures. It rained so we moved it inside the church and it turned out well!

Saturday: We said goodbye to my sister and her husband and Lauren and Matt and sweet Van, we will miss them!  It was great to stay with them and hang out for awhile!  We were supposed to leave for Worland, but got a late start and Brian was really tired so we decided to be spontaneous (not something we are used to) and stayed the night in Salt Lake (in the best hotel of the trip).

Sunday: Attended a ward that Brian used to attend with his father to watch the priesthood session when his dad lived in downtown Salt Lake. We got to meet Bishop Davies of the presiding bishopric and F. Burton Howard, an emeritus seventy, who went to high school in Thermopolis!  We decided to walk around temple square and then went to the conference center and got a tour. It was nice!

Open your eyes Eric!

We finally arrived home at 7:00pm!  Whew!  We drove over 3100 miles in a week!  It was well worth it and the kids were pretty chill about it (mostly).  We are tired though and happy to be in our own beds!  What a road trip!  Huge thanks to all those who helped along the way with the wedding in L.A., the reception in Orem and everything in between!  My family is awesome and I'm happy to add John Potter to our already great son-in-law Matt. Our daughters have chosen well!

Basketball banquet

Basketball banquet happened last night. Andrew not only got a varsity letter, he was named as an honorable mention to the all-conference team. 

Worland Middle School Soccer

Eric decided to play soccer at the Middle School this year. The first two games were today in Buffalo. Buffalo is about an hour and a half over the mountain from us. The Ten Sleep canyon was looking beautiful and snow covered. When we drove into Buffalo the fog was thick, but cleared soon. The cold and wind did not. It was freezing!  Eric saw a lot of playing time during the first game against Newcastle which they won. He saw a few minutes in the Buffalo game. He is enjoying it and I'm proud of him for trying something new.

Top of the mountain on the road to Buffalo

The game

The drive home

End of season for swimming and wrestling, National Honor Society

Middle School Conference swim meet was today here in Worland. I volunteered as a timer which was fun and gave me front row seats to watch Lucy swim. She took seconds off her times in both the 50 back and 50 free. She did a great job for never having swum competitively before.  Her and her best friend Fiona had their hair done by Fiona's sister Macy and it looked great!  Taking all that out might take awhile!

Lucy and Fiona

Right before her 50 backstroke, talking with Canton, also from Worland and a member of our ward.

Getting in the water

She's ready!

After a good race!

Peter had his last wrestling meet today in Thermopolis. He didn't do well and lost his first two matches, but he had a good season and improved this year over last and we are proud of him!

Andy was inducted into National Honor Society and a good friend of mine snapped some pictures of him and the rest of the Juniors and Seniors. Here in Worland, National Honor Society is only for 11th and 12th graders.

Andrew with his friend Andy on the left and his friend Ellyse behind him.

Getting his candle lit

The entire group

Andy also went to FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) conference the last part of this week. He took an accounting test and got 3rd place which qualifies him for nationals!  Way to go Andrew!

State Basketball

The Worland Warriors came in 4th in their region and so qualified for state, even though our team has a losing record. The team has improved each game and has come a long way since the start of the season.The first team we met was Cody which beat us handily by over 30 points back in December. Our boys were ready to beat them and we were ahead the ENTIRE game until the last seconds and lost by 1 point! It was heart breaking!  Then we faced Pinedale and won by 10 and then played for 4th place against Lander Valley and won by 5. Warriors came in 4th and fought hard the entire time. Andy was a rock star with numerous rebounds and points scored. He started every game and gave it his all. The photographer got a few shots of him during the three days of play in Casper.

This is just his back, #12, in the game against the Cody Broncs.

Blogs of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

I was asked to write a blog post for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West where I work part time for the McCracken Research Library. I have been cataloging publications from the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and found some very interesting insights to employment and women in the early 1900s. I wrote a short blog post highlighting this collection that the library houses. You can check it out if you'd like, just click on the title below.

Women and Winchester: A Match Made in Heaven

Middle School band concert

Both Eric and Lucy play percussion in the middle school band, Lucy in 6th and Eric in 8th. They did well in the concert tonight.

Lucy

Eric is in the far back right

You can see his head poking up behind the mic

Eric standing in the back

Two short clips of Lucy:

I thought I had recorded more, but I must have not pressed the record button!

Here are links to two of Eric's pieces:

Phantom of the Opera

Drums and cups