Traveling Adventures

I'm back...Sorry this is so long...but my fingers got the best of me :)

Well we've had some adventures lately... A week ago J & I headed to Washington so J could finally start his next course of employment. We drove to Pulman, WA in hopes of checking out the University there. It happened to be only 20 miles near a town I spent some childhood days in (ie) 4th & 5th grade. Lewiston, ID. We traveled some beautiful country between Missoula, MT and Lewiston. Up over some mountains, two lanes. We had to chuckle about the signs that informed us about the "rumble lines" in the center of the road. Consequently as we 'rumbled' along, we didn't end up getting to Lewiston until dark.

Without GPS help and running on instinct we headed into town to search for one of my childhood homes. I remembered the name of the street I use to live on. Mostly because the address and name of the street rhymed....432 Stewart Ave.... It's probably the only address in the bazillion of all addresses I've lived that I remember. We did find the house in short order and it hasn't changed much, but what seemed to be a mansion as a child is only a normal size two story house. Lots of fond memories there.

We next headed to Pulman to spend the night and explore the university there the next day. Very pretty University. One on a list of possible places for J to go for a PHD. As we pulled into Renton about 5pm on Saturday there was Tony washing his bicycle just like he washes his car, soap bucket and all. Who knew you could wash a bike like that. Soon Debbie and the two most favorite little guys in my world drove up and we played for the next two days. J will be staying with Tony & Debbie as he works this particular job (thanks you guys!!!)...J's doing a 5 month consulting job for a company called Robert Half at Group Health in Seattle.

I unfortunately had to fly off for my work to St George, UT on Monday. J dropped me off at the airport.....ahhh....the traffic....seemed like an extra amount this morning...I was hustled off into the airport with what appeared to be hundreds of people all converged near the Delta area...was there a massive amount of people heading on a cruise or something?....I looked around and didn't see nearly anyone crowded around any other airline check ins. I finally muscled my way in to use the check in machine to get my ticket only to find I had to stand in a mile long line to check my baggage. I hear a lady say that there was a quicker line curb side if we had already paid for the baggage. I squeeze outside only to find another line..this time a bit shorter. I refuse to look at the time just yet. I get my baggage checked and race off to security.

Could there be anymore people...the line snaked around and around and just as it appeared you'd be almost up to the guy with the little flash lite, the line diverted and snaked farther along. Finally getting to the conveyor belt, I threw my stuff into the gray dish pan, walked through the machine when directed to do so, looked at the time, realized I had less than 5 minutes before boarding, grabbed my gear, threw on my shoes and started running the "17" miles I needed to go to get to the gate. Weaving in and out of slower moving bodies and hurtling rolling suit cases I make it to one of the moving walk ways. Wow I can really go fast running on these things. The next moving walkway has people hogging the space so I opt to run beside it. Hey I am pretty fast...Finally the gate is in site and is boarding..zone 3...that's my zone. Pouring sweat, I smile as she scans in my ticket and I walk onto the plane praying I get a window seat so I can hide. Oh joy I do!!

I fly to Salt Lake City to catch a plane to St. George. Surprise.... they have not given me much time between flights. Down the airport I fly to the next gate which is only '12' miles away. I think "oh come on...it's the same airlines...how can they be so far apart from each other". Apparently big planes and little puddle jumpers don't like to be next to each other. I have 2 minutes to board as I get to the gate.

I do finally get to St. George a little frazzled but still in tack. Small airport...walk off the plane walk 10 steps to the car rental place...get my car...turn around behind me to the conveyor belt for suit case...the baggage has already come and the airport employee is taking my suit case off the belt like I had forgotten to pick it up. I walk outside to be blasted with heat. I hop in my rental car..which is all black...turn it on and it tells me the temperature outside is 106 degrees. I blessed the name of the person who invented air conditioning.

I have my handy dandy GPS (megan) to direct me to the town. It doesn't recognize parking lots and the airplane road and just sets there thinking. It's a really small airport and only one direction out of there so I figure I'm pretty safe guessing which way to go...it's not being helpful at all. I head out on the road....nothing in site..and I mean nothing and that's all there is for several miles. No city, no nothing. Megan is still not being helpful so I drive on and finally find a sign that says Salt Lake City one way Las Vegas the other...where the heck did St. George go? After a couple wrong turns I did finally find the interstate....still not sure which way to head. I decided to head for Salt Lake City...I knew some people there that would be friendly enough to direct me. Fortunately as I got on the interstate Megan started working and told me I was heading in the right direction. Soon the town came into site and I could recognize the St. George Temple from pictures I had seen, right in the middle of the town. I was pretty sure I had arrived. I found my hotel..again thank you air conditioning...and crashed.

Had a good week training a new person and meeting good people, explored St George a bit after work each day. Went to the temple visiting center and learned some cool things about the temple. Visited Brigham Young's winter home (I'm guessing he was the first jSnow Bird...perhaps). Neat little town. I finished up with the job I was to do there and headed out of town to the airport for my flight back to Billings. I swear the airport is at least 20 miles out of town in the middle of no where... really! And it's just a one building little thingy.

I am about an hour & a half early before my plane departs. I check my car in, mosey on over to the ticket counter...am the only one in the area..there's only Delta airlines there. I have to check my bag again & get my ticket so I use the machine. The guy hauls my suit case away and five minutes later my ticket finally prints off the machine...thank goodness because the one and only guy never comes back. I walk about 20 steps to where the security is. The 'gatekeeper' looks at me and says (paraphrased) "oh...you are too early...we're all going grab us a bite to eat before the 'crowd' shows up. Besides the chairs out here are much more comfortable." I look around..think to myself...welcome to the world of teeny tiny airports. And go grab a chair next to the 4 vending machines. There are about 6 of us here. Pretty soon the 'crowd' shows up and a flight came in with 20 or so passengers and the 'gate keeper' is back on duty.

I did make it back to Billings. J will be working in Seattle for 5 months. I will be in Billings to keep Doug company while he finishes his last semester of school. My job has asked me to do more traveling and it won't matter where we live they will use me to travel around periodically. So that works out well for now. Not real sure what will happen after J finishes this job...hopefully they will give him more work. He also is applying for different schools to get his PHD so he can become a better paid professor (he has been teaching college, but without a PHD there is not enough money to make a decent living.) If he does go that route schools will start in Sep 2012. We'll keep you posted....

So there you have it.

PS. In my haste I ended up not grabbing my ziplock bag of liquids at the SeaTac airport. So before I crashed in St George...a trip to Target was necessary.

Stacey Coming Home!

Hey you all... just to let you know....Stacey is returning from her mission soon. She will be making the long flight from Salt Lake City to SeaTac airport on Mar 17th and will arrive at about 11am. I gotta say this is a bit more complicated seeings how her parents moved clear over to Montana. But here's the plan. Stacey flys to SeaTac. We come into town hopefully the night before. We all gather at Tony & Debbie's in Renton, WA (our home away from home.) We have plans to have Stacey talk in the Young Single Adult ward she left from on Sunday March 20th. The church building is in Tacoma, WA. 1221 Pearl Street. More commonly known as the 12th & Pearl Street Stake Center. Their Sacrament meeting starts at 1pm. Then Debbie has scheduled the church for a Linger Longer and get together for family and friends to welcome her home. We will have a simple luncheon of sorts and welcome as many of you who can make it. We would love to see you there!! Sorry I don't have pictures to post. We got a new printer and I've not been trained on scanning or importing pictures yet...but we'll get there. Stacey has had such a successful mission and has loved serving the Lord. Can't wait to hear all about it and to hear her speak Spanish to boot :) Gotta love it the missionary work.

Stacey Update

Finally a little update on Hermana Stacey. She is loving her mission. This last transfer they opened an area in Orem but for this transfer she is only english speaking, but she does refer on a lot of spanish contacts to the spanish Elders. I'm just going to show a bunch of pictures and caption them with Stacey's words. Here goes......

Zone conference. Sister High & Me (her current companion)

Sister High & I caught out in a rain storm, later to become a hail storm. (Doesn't dampen their spirits.)

Our service project in Suncrest 10th ward. Planting flowers. This is the finished project.

Mt Timpanogas Temple. Kelsea (a fellowshipper), Sister High and me.

Fall colors!! This is my favorite secret path.

District meeting at the temple. Only two Elders came.

Shay, our fellowshipper. She knows Tony from his mission. (Small world)

I've come to the conclusion that cats like me......He climbed onto me.

Okay all animals like me. This is Lulu a doberman pincer that was raised by datsuns and thinks she is one.

Attack of the walnuts...not a pretty sight......

Two warriors go to it and fight with service. Two happy but tired warriors calling it a day.

District halloween activity. A night of playing Phase 10 and watching Invictus. So this is what my week looked like: Going out with Sister Pittson Monday, the battle with the walnuts, Lacey deciding to get baptised this Sunday, eating lots and lots of candy, speaking in the Suncrest 4th Ward, being idolized by 9 year old girls that want to become our assistants. Making friends with a Doberman Pincer, Getting to 'dress up' for Halloween and watching a movie about Rugby.

Making omletes with Sister Edwards (Geneva 3rd Ward). My cooking, I was happy not to have scrambled eggs.

Lighting the match ....Mu-ha-ha-ha.

(So sorry to have to have you crank your neck. The editor is just too technically challenged to know how to fix this after I've posted the picture).

WA-LA!!! Flaming omlete.

Back to the story about the walnuts....we were given a bag of walnuts to use and I found this little bitty baby walnut.....so cute.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Home sweet home. We live in the basement appartment.

Hermana Rojas and me at Andrey's baptism. Cool spirit.

Interesting shot of me........No that is not a computer, it is a folder...Area book.

Me and Hermana Rojas. Ya gotta love those green walls. (Wow...now that's bright & funky)

Playing "don't break the sabbath" Jenga with my favorite family.

District group shot after a hike up to bridel Veil Falls.

We got to go to General conference. We sat down on the third row right side of the pulpit. When they were going out Pres Eying and Pres Uchtdorf both smiled really big when they saw us and then waved. So cool.

(Here's an excerpt of a recent letter:)

....we had a crazy fast week of door knocking, zone conference, district meeting, three sacrament meetings, 10 lessons, having a general authority in our apartment, meeting crazy old men that love the church but don't want to committ to it and a whole lot of walking.....so the week flew by. I think I am in the best shape I have ever been in. We are getting to know the neighborhoods better and the members want to help us more. ...... The great thing called sympathy, from alot of the doors we knocked we have met a lot of older ladies who are so cute and they want us to stay all day. But the flip-side we have also met a few anti. Sister High is really good about just testifying to them, where as they make me mad and I have to just not say anything or I would end up arguing with them. Which would be bad...... I don't know it's just when someone tells me to go read the Bible, when I read it for almost a half hour a day...gets to me a little. I feel like saying, "no you need to read the scriptures!!" And that would be bad. So I let my wonderful companion testify about faith and we walk on...... I'm still working on that charity thing. :) I do love my area, my investigators, and my members. The work goes on and the Lord is definantly in charge."

CHRISTMAS WISH:

Stacey says " I was thinking about what I would like for Christmas.....I would like you all to write down some of your best mission stories and send me a copy or for like Mom or Nicole or those that didn't go on a mission to tell me some cool spiritual/missionary moments you've had in your life. I would love you to do that for me. I think it would help me stay focused for these last few months. Thanks!"

For those that are reading this and would like to contribute to Stacey's christmas wish....her address is: UT-PROVO MISSION, 2420 N University Ave, Ste 100, Provo, UT 84604.

'bout time computer!

Been having some technical difficulties....thus the reason for non blogging. So here is some catch up...
I made a quick trip to Washington during Conference Weekend and visited my favorite little family.
"Watching conference"....:)

Playing Battleship...Max style.

Can you spell "C-U-T-E"

Out for a drive to check out the fall leaves. Made a detour past the Seattle Temple. The gates were closed but we still got a great glimps.

Visiting Tony at work on the way to drop me off at the airport. These little guys don't get to see Daddy very often. Max was thrilled to ride in Daddy's truck and Tony was 'glowing'.

Part of my back yard. A performance of my blackeyed susans. I also had short 'hedges' of marigolds all along the back of my house. I thought I got a picture, but apparently it's gone to syber space.....

Big summer attraction in Billings. The Saturday market. It runs from first part of July to the first of October.

It's about 5 blocks long with lots of wonderful produce. We have a few Hutterite farms that set up on each block. And a bunch of local big garden farmers. And a variety of other stuff.

We even have a group that travels all the way from Oregon to sell their berries & fruit. The stand gets swormed and sells out fast. The market opens at 8:30am and closes at 1:30pm on Saturdays. If ya want berries ya best get there by 10am or they are gone.....

After the market closes the first of October some friends organized a co-op called Bountiful Baskets which is apparently all over. Any way it's the first time to be organized in Billings and is such a deal with fresh vegies and fruit. Even Saydi dog's checking it out.

J had a birthday SHOUT horray! This is the chair gizmo he got from his mom. There wasn't any where to 'hang' it outside, so he found the thing-a-ma-jig hanger jobber on line & ordered it. And wha-la, he now enjoys it in his man cave.

Now that I'm back...I promise to do an update on Stacey soon. Stay tuned...

Airshow Max & Ryan style..Hey it's an Epperson's passion

I made another trip to tac-town to help with the kiddos. Debbie was off having some much needed fun and I came for some much needed fun. Tony tracked down an airshow at McCord air base to take the boys too. These pictures are a Max & Ryan's idea of a low key show. Not the most thrilling show we've seen and I certainly had more fun snapping pictures of the boys than watching the show. No Blues here...
After waiting almost 2 hours we had the excitement of the first flyers, a helicopter.......

Giggle.....

Max with his 'nocklers' ready...

Oh the excitement........

Finding the 'Pot of Gold"

A reminder where the real treasure is..... Thank-you Heavenly Father. (Billings, MT Temple)

A Walk-A-Bout

It's been a busy summer. We have found ourselves in many places recently. The end of June, Geniel, Debbie, and I went for a long walk-a-bout. We spent a Saturday morning walking/running a half marathon in Sun River, OR. Weez have braggin' rights now..... A feeling of "wow...we did it!!" And survived :) Thanks Debbie & Geniel for letting me talk you into this. It was fun. We spent a great weekend with Ken & Dorothy at the infamous property of LaPine. Awesome place...we even celebrated Max's third birthday out camping. I went with Ken & Dorothy and hiked in to see their Sparks Lake camp site. Some day I'm going to join you on your community campout adventures. The weekend of the Independence Day celebration we made our way to see Mike and Nicole. Here they are up to their elbows making tasty hamburgers for a BBQ. They tried out their brand new Mini Weber. They were delish.

Here we are waiting for the fireworks in Idaho Falls. We've been waiting about 6 hours, but the wait was worth it. It was the first fireworks for a long time where our boys have not been on the Pyro crew. We had a 'blow by blow' (pun definantly intented) commentary from all of them as the show played out. Other that one sideways blow out, the show was amazing, we had a great view safely across the river.

Back in Tacoma (after the trip to LaPine) I had an extra day to play with the boys. We went for a walk in Titlow Park. Max traveling by bike, Ryan glidding along in his stoller.

We discovered the big play thingy and stop for a climb and a slide.

Max turning the wheel of his "Pirate ship"

Ryan manuvering the stairs and loving it.

Later back home...... Max in his red car off to the 'store to get eggs'. Later gater.