Fall Colors, a Birthday and Family Visits

Fall Colors

Today the fall colors were at their peak in Little Cottonwood Canyon. We went for a drive after Church and took pictures, but they don't capture the panoramic grandeur of what we saw there.

The aspen trees around Tanner Flats were such a bright gold color, they seemed to glow.

The oak trees were every shade of red and orange. Motorists, cyclists and photographers were everywhere along the side of the road trying to take it all in.

I just love the colors of fall. Thank you, Brent for taking me up the canyon and stopping a million times for pictures. I love you.

Happy Birthday, Katharine!

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful autumn days ever, and it was fitting since it was Katharine's birthday. We celebrated by going out to dinner with her family.

Happy Birthday, Katharine. We love you!

Jane's favorite part of the night was all the tissue paper to play with.

Mom and Dad's visit

Mom and Dad came to visit for General Conference. It was so nice to be together. They packed a lot of activity into a few short days but still had lots of time to just enjoy each other's company. One afternoon we took a drive up the canyon to see the early fall colors.

A highlight of the weekend was getting together with the cousins to hear reports from Mom and Dad and Bob and KLynn. We were fascinated to hear about their life in Moscow. There are so many faithful people serving the Lord in various ways around the world. Aren't we lucky to be related to some of them?

For those of you who searched in vain, here is proof that we actually did sing in the family choir during the Saturday afternoon session of Conference! Brent's cousin sent us this picture. (Linda and I got to sit together in the soprano section.) We were thankful for the opportunity and for the Spirit that was present in our weekly rehearsals as well as during the conference. It was so interesting to be in the choir loft as the general authorities were speaking and to think of the members of the Church all over the world who were listening to their inspired counsel. They speak in front of cameras and a huge live audience but their messages are directed to each individual in such a personal way. To me that is a modern miracle. I'm so grateful for the privilege of hearing the word of the Lord from His prophets and apostles.

We had lots of help for our Priesthood Night tradition of baking pies while the boys were at Conference. When the guys got home we enjoyed four kinds of pie (and lots of pie crust cookies) while they gave us a report on each of the talks they had heard in the Priesthood meeting. Thanks for all your help making pies, ladies!

After all the pie, Dan showed us some video clips from his recent business trips to Africa. Our brothers are going to all kinds of interesting places and meeting interesting people!

Brothers and sisters are the greatest!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa finally got to meet Jane. She loves them and they love her. Thank you for coming to visit and for such a wonderful weekend together. We're grateful for your examples of love and service and pray for you always.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Earlier this month, Angie and I met for a weekend with Mom and Dad in St. Louis. It was short, but so much fun. We love to be together, especially in one of our favorite places!

I love my sisters and am always so happy when I can be with them.

We were treated to a fabulous breakfast on a rainy Sunday morning before church. Thanks, guys, we love you and were so happy to be with your family.

As a happy coincidence, our trip was on the same weekend as Dad's induction into his high school hall of fame. We went with them to the school, where he received a medal and we were given a tour of the school. It was great to see the inside of the school and the basketball court where Dad had been captain of his high school team. His picture was already hanging on the hall of fame wall where the students can see it every day. In the auditorium, Dad was introduced and then gave a lovely speech about the blessings of good friends and teachers and the joy of service. We are so proud of you, Dad!

The festivities continued the next day with Dad riding in the community parade, on the back of a 1961 Corvette. Go, Dad!

I wish we could instantly "blink" ourselves to other places so we could see all of our family any time we wanted. But until that happens, I'm glad for the wonderful times we get to spend together every now and then. A loving family is the greatest treasure in the world.

Labor Day Picnic

Diane organized a cousins' picnic for Labor Day. It was at a beautiful park that David and Karen C. had found for us. Here are some pictures. See if you know these people--they are all your relatives!

Jane and Jane got to meet each other

Brent and Jeff (Jane's husband)

Mindy (Steve C's wife) with their youngest, and Sarah (Roger and Wendy's daughter)

Rachel and her little guy

Karl

Rachel, Jane, and Wendy

Carissa (Billy's wife)

Karen (David C's wife) and two of their girls, Lauren & Megan

Joanne and Debbie

Self portrait--Julie, Karin, and Becky

Jane, Wendy, and Sarah

Thanks, Diane! It was a great idea and we appreciate your helping us all get together.

A visit from Angie

We got to have Angie here with us for a whole week! We loved just being together. She came while Derick was away with the Young Men on their high adventure camp on the Guadalupe River in Texas. On Sunday we celebrated Father's Day and Angie's birthday. (That night we watched clips from yesterday's Royal Wedding on the internet and thought of Dave and Lizzie with their family in Sweden! You can read about that on Aunt Bonnie's blog.)


Brent was sick but was did his best to put on a happy face for the occasion. He took this picture of all of us in the dining room.



On Monday we drove up to visit Julie at her Especially For Youth assignment in Ogden. She's the health counselor for a different EFY session each week. The EFY staff all love her! We like to call her Nurse Julie--Linda and Angie even watched "Heavyweights" again in her honor. We left just as 400 kids were arriving for check-in at EFY. By the way, you should see the amazing First Aid kit they provide Julie with for EFY. It's huge!


Angie and I decided to visit the Ogden City Cemetery to see where "Grandpa-the-Great" Angus Tulloch Lochhead, Sr., his wife Wealthy Lake Lochhead, their parents and siblings are buried. I hadn't been there since we came to Utah for Aunt Karin and Uncle Steve's wedding when I was 10 years old. It was really nice to be there. We took pictures of all the family headstones. This one is a large monument that says "Lochhead" on one side and "Lake" on the other.


(Where did my other font disappear to? I might never get this figured out. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for having the pictures in order this time! )

Next we stopped at John and Katharine's to visit Katharine and Jane. They were in the neighbor's swimming pool. Jane loved being in the water and looked cute in her hat. Thanks for the delicious lunch and fun visit, girls! It was such a great afternoon being with you.



The next day we visited John at his work and he took us on a tour of the whole facility. It was so impressive! I don't know if it's OK to put up pictures from that since we didn't think of asking permission to photograph. But it was really fun to see John at his job and to have him tell us all about how they make tables, fixtures, and paneling for Apple Stores, hotels, law firms, board rooms, concert halls, and the Conference Center. In one area we saw seat backs for a new temple being built somewhere. We got to wear protective goggles in the huge manufacturing area and followed John all around the place. He seems to know everyone and what their job is. They all seem to like him, too, which is no surprise to anyone.

Angie and I had lunch downtown with Brent and Linda--she's been filling in for their receptionist this week--then took a stroll through Temple Square. The flowers were gorgeous as always and it was an absolutely perfect June day.

Thanks for coming, Angie! Happy Golden Birthday.

Congratulations, Grads!

The Lowes and the Petersons have had a great time together this week, celebrating our two new BYU grads, Andrew and John! It was a little nostalgic for the moms....

Remembering so many fun years together as they were growing up in St. Louis...

Remember these guys?

So on Thursday we met at the Marriott Center for their graduation from BYU!

The graduates and their families filled the Marriott Center...

We sat in the bleacher seats and watched 6,000 graduates file in! We were excited to know that John and Andrew got to sit near eachother in the graduate section. Elder Todd Christofferson was the speaker. It was a great program and a cheer went up when President Samuelson announced that the candidates had been accepted for graduation! After the program we all met outside by the bell tower and took lots of pictures...

We're so grateful our boys have married such wonderful girls. We love you, Katharine and Erica! We appreciate all the love and encouragement you've given and the blessing you are to John and Andrew. They are lucky to have you!

Congratulations, guys, we love you!

On Friday the individual convocations were held for each college. Andrew's was in the morning and John's in the evening.

After the business school convocation on Friday. Congratulations!! We're so proud of you.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Happy birthday Lisa! We love you!!