Wander With Wayne

This week we had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time with my family. After work, on Tuesday, we met Kaneesha for dinner (she had flown in from Virginia). We then drove to Blackfoot, Idaho. It was so nice to see Kaneesha again.  On Wednesday morning we drove to the Rexburg Temple for my niece, Kylee's wedding to Dax Tomlinson. The wedding was well attended and the ceremony was special. It was especially nice to see Kayla and Brent enter the sealing room. Kayla was married outside of the temple to her first husband (Josh Padilla) and has had a long difficult return into a position where she could be married in the temple to Brent. This was the first temple wedding in the family that Kayla was able to attend. She said it was very special for her to be there. We enjoyed a wedding luncheon where I visited with my brother-in-law Jason Arnold most of the time. Jason and I have so much in common, that I really enjoy visiting with him. At the reception I enjoyed seein...

In May of this year, I started working at the Lindon Cannery. It was such a blessing to end the commute to Salt Lake. Also, because of production, we worked four ten hour days. This left my Fridays free to do the things I, and my family, needed. I was typically gone from home about the same amount of time each day that I had been gone when I traveled to Salt Lake (but I didn't have to go to work on Fridays). On September 30th it was publicly announced that the Lindon Cannery would be merging with the Murray Cannery.  On November 14th we had our last day of production at the Lindon Cannery. Besides being the final day of canning in Lindon, it was also the last day any of the canneries in the church canning system were expected to be canning in glass jars. All of the glass jars from every cannery were sent to Lindon to be filled with spaghetti sauce. Noell brought Tanner in to participate on the last day of production. I took him around and showed him how the cannery wor...

Before sharing some about our anniversary, I want to tell you about our Family Home Evening. Noell gave a good lesson on gratitude and Tanner was in charge of the activity. Tanner decided to do something he'd seen in "The Friend" magazine the night before. He had Myranda make a Thanksgiving Tree and each of us made leaves to tape to the tree. On each leaf we were to write something we were grateful for and add another leaf each day. The tree is now full of autum colored leaves and is fun to see. We even taped some of Kaneesha's oragami cranes to the tree. Tuesday was Noell and my 20th anniversary. It's amazing to think that we have already been married for two decades. We're nearing the point that we've been married longer than we've been single (although that is a few years out for me).  A few weeks ago, Noell was invited to attend a presentation to get extra credit for one of her classes. She asked me if I'd join her at the presentation ...

Tanner's creative photography Today, as we were in Sacrament Meeting, Noell pointed out that it was snowing. By the end of church we had a couple of inches of snow on the car. When we got home Tanner and I quickly shoveled the snow off the sidewalks to make it safer for the young men collecting Fast Offerings. The snowflakes were so large that the sidewalk was covered again by the time we finished. Tanner took some nice photos of the snow for you to enjoy. On Monday, Noell and my mother flew to Virginia to visit Kaneesha. They faced 18 hours of flights and layovers before arriving. Kaneesha knew Noell was going, but didn't realize that her grandmother would also be there. It was a great surprise. They returned on Friday. Myranda, Tanner and I tried to survive without Mom in the home. I left for work at 5:30 each morning and Myranda got up on her own and made sure Tanner was up before she left. They made it to school every day without any problem. They are s...

Atle & Tom's Retirement at Lindon Cannery The last two weeks have been very tiresome. Two individuals working with us at the Lindon Cannery (Atle Tessem and Tom Hardcastle) retired at the beginning of the month. Mark Hansen and I have been doing most everything alone (with the help of the missionaries and volunteers). Instead of putting in 10 hour, physically demanding days, we have been working as hard and as fast as we possible for 13 and 14 hours a day. Often we haven’t had time for a lunch or even a snack. To add to the pressure, on last Tuesday Mark left work at 2:00 pm (his mother’s health was failing quickly). She died on Wednesday morning at 4:30 am. Because of her passing, our manager (Roger Lloyd) stepped in so Mark could be with his family. Both Tuesday and Wednesday were extremely long. Mark felt bad and returned to work on Thursday. We anticipate this week being less stressful (instead of canning, we’re changing from canning to bottling). Mark stayed with ...

In Idaho, last weekend, Myranda and Clara played several duets from Les Miserables. Neither of them had played the songs much, but they both did great. It was fun to watch. Oh, Myranda had just gotten out of the shower. Myranda is such a great sport. This week was an extremely busy week at work. Besides an extreme amount of hours at work, the work was very demanding physically. One night Noell and Myranda were gone. Tanner had cooked dinner and this note was waiting for me when I walked in the door. The dinner was great. What an amazing son. Myranda made homemade ice cream for the family. Tanner and I have been on several walks lately. Tanner on a mound of dirt near some homes being built in our neighborhood. While on a walk through the Hollow, Tanner we saw a deer, just behind Tanner in this photo. The deer left just before I was able to take the photo. Tanner and I walked to the temple and home. This was truly a great memory.

Dad: Picking Apples Last weekend we were able to visit family in Idaho. Noell picked me up on Thursday from work, with Myranda and Tanner. We had terrible traffic through Salt Lake (evidently others believed it would be a great idea to get out of the area the same time we did. We stopped to drop some barrels (excess empty food barrels from the Lindon Cannery) off at Clark's home. We visited for quite some time as I rode with him to pick up several of his children.  In The Cave We enjoyed the visit, then went to my parent's home. We arrived late (after 10:00 and Dad was still awake). We visited a bit with Dad, before he went to bed. At about 1:00 I decided it was too late, and I went to bed. Noell and Mom then visited until after 4:00 am. This Looked Like a Door in the Cave Friday morning I helped Dad pick some of the apples in his trees. We discovered that Derek and Ofelia had brought their family to Idaho Falls. We met them and Becky's family on F...

I began this last Sunday. Instead of trying to add to it and list what happened this week, I'd better make certain I post this. Here's what happened over a week ago... For quite a while, we have had amazing amounts of rain. On one day it seemed like the rain kept circling from all directions. At different points of the rainstorm it seemed like the rain hit windows on all different sides of the home. The rain came hard, lasted long, and the wind blew.  Tanner's Crossbow At the Payson Onion days Tanner saw a little wooden crossbow. He was excited about it and asked if we could spend $15 to buy one for him. I took a careful look at it and even had him take a photo of it. Instead of spending $15 on a little crossbow, we spent several nights and a lot of quality time making our own. It was fun to see it completed. The first bow we planned to attach to it broke as I attempted to bend it. I then studied a longbow that Noell's Grandpa gave me before he passed away ...

It's been a little more than a week since we left Kaneesha. We miss her every day and love to receive text messages and see Facebook updates. She injured her quads in her first pre-season game and is anxious for the healing to be complete so she can play again. She hasn't missed any games and the trainer has been keeping her in good condition for when it is healed. She continues to participate in the practices (with limited activity). We're anxious to see her first home game (live via the internet).  Selina at Airport On Monday we took Selina to the airport. Unlike me, she was wise enough to take that the legal documents that she needed. We checked her bag, then said goodbye. It was a very busy airport day. We would like to have stayed and visited with her longer, but Noell was beginning her first day back in the university. It is never fun to say, "Goodbye" (or even, "See you later.") but as Selina is a very special part of our family, the good...

Street Performer in Baltimore Kaneesha after waiting for our flight to arrive (notice the fingernail marks) Our family is facing some of the largest changes we've ever experienced. It has been a fun but difficult week. On Friday, we took Tanner to Idaho, to stay with Becky and for Kaneesha to say goodbye to family in Idaho. Saturday, Kaneesha, Myranda, Selina (our former exchange student), Noell, and I then returned for our flight out of Salt Lake. Noell's brother, Tyson, took us to the airport for our "red-eye" flight to Charlotte. At the airport I realized that I didn't have my driver's license. It was a little awkward, but I was able to make it through security. After arriving in Charlotte, Kaneesha took an earlier flight to Baltimore and we arrived two hours after her. By the time we arrived at our hotel, we were exhausted and slept for hours. Myranda wonders if this is the typical size White House We saw some of Baltimore that ...