Wander With Wayne

Last night we encountered a situation that struck me deeply. Perhaps it was so striking because I could imagine close family members in a similar situation. I was very uncomfortable leaving without offering to help but I was also very uncomfortable offering to help.  As we waited for Selina's flight, we stopped for dinner. We selected a restaurant near Adonnis and near the freeway. We at at Denney's Restaurant at about 5th South and 3rd West in downtown Salt Lake City. It happens to be near the homeless shelter and has a lot of transient people in the area. As we waited for our order and ate, I noticed a woman come in and use the phone several times. I noticed that she didn't have anything with her but the clothing she was wearing (very seldom do I see a woman in this situation who doesn't at least have a handbag or cell phone). She seemed worried. As we finished our meal, we still had about an hour and a half before Selina's delayed flight would arrive at 10:...

Monday and Tuesday we attended the Haslem Reunion (Noell's mother's family). This group is especially fun for our family because it is a close-knit family with many of the aunts and uncles near Noell and my age. One of the best experiences I've had at a reunion happened on Monday night. We had a family home evening where two of Isola's siblings shared experiences they had with Isola when she was young. Ray's brother shared experiences of some ancestors and also some memories of Ray when they were younger. Ray and Isola (Noell's grandparents) then shared some memories. We had a great time learning about them and the family's ancestors.  I was glad that Uncle Keith recorded it on video. The microphone system made it easy to hear each person speak. Kaneesha enjoyed learning that her great-grandmother was an excellent pole vaulter. Isola especially enjoyed doing the high jump. None of us had imagined Isola with the thick braided hair down to her waist that ...

We love homemade strawberry jam! This year when strawberries went on sale, we decided it was time to make plenty for next year (we certainly don't want to run out). While Kaneesha was working at Papa John's Pizza, Myranda, Tanner, Noell, and I worked on the jam. Myranda, Tanner, and I worked on cutting out the leaves from the strawberries and Noell did all of the other work. We found some very amazing strawberries. The picture shows one strawberry that looks like two (Myranda and Tanner didn't want to be in the photo). By the end of the night, we had used all of our containers and had a great amount of jam. While the completed number of containers may not appear to be much, the smaller containers in the photo (in the back) are typical jam sized containers. The larger containers are very large. It's great to know we have the "good stuff" preserved for the comming year!

Several times this summer, Tanner has asked me to sleep outside on the patio with him. Each time he's asked, it was not a good night (e.g it rained, or I had an early morning meeting, or I had work). This week we finally had the perfect opportunity so Tanner and I slept on the patio. We visited until late into the night and he enjoyed finding some of the constellations with an iPad app. It was a great night to sleep out. Friday we celebrated Tanner's birthday with Noell's sister, Michelle and her brother Tyson and their families. We enjoyed great pizza from Papa John's (we got it for 50% off because Kaneesha works for Papa John's in Payson). While Tanner enjoyed the artistic renderings from his cousins and the K'NEX set, treats, and other gifts from his parents, he especially enjoyed the X-Box that Adonnis gave him and the game for the X-Box that Kaneesha gave him. Saturday Noell and I went to the Payson Scottish Festival. It was so fun to enjoy time w...

Thursday night we put four motorcycles on the trailer and packed other things. On Friday morning we left at 8:10 and drove to the Salt Lake Temple. It was fun to drive down the freeway in my white shirt and tie as I drove the dirt motorcycles. As I pulled into the conference center parking lot, the person at the entrance saw me in my temple clothes and the motorcycle and said, you must be going to the temple. The adults did sealings as our children went on tours around temple square. They were excited to go to the top of the Church Office Building and the top of the conference center. We drove motorcycles around the neighborhood (it is legal to drive motorcycles on Grantsville streets). We closed the evening in the mountains with a fireside where Clark taught about David & Goliath and how we all will face our own Goliaths and that with faith in God we can overcome them. To help us understand the fight against Goliath, the children used slings (or threw) marshmallows at a sketch...