Salt Lake Marathon

Jonny and Jenny flew home from Chicago on April 13. Jonny came to run the Salt Lake Marathon and Jenny came to run the half marathon.

It was a family affair. Dave and Michael, from our family, ran the half marathon, with Michael coming in very fast, 1 hour and 46 minutes. Jenny ran the half marathon with her brother, Danny, and Jenny's sisters, Tori and Tess, ran the 5K.

Jenny's parents, Dave and Shelly Leatham, invited us to a "carb" spahetti dinner on Friday, the night before the race. We were charmed by Jenny's nephews, Jude and Josh...

by Jenny's warm and inclusive family, and by Jenny's mom's dessert tray, with strawberry tarts and cherry chocolates.

Michael came directly to the Leathams' house from his apartments. He still had paint on his hands from painting over graffiti!

Saturday morning, our family was up early, dressed for the race. It was cool but not rainy--perfect race weather.

After the race ended at Gateway, we gathered to celebrate.

No one was very perky Saturday afternoon. We lounged downstairs, watching movies.

Jenny and Jonny flew back to Chicago Sunday at 1:30 p.m. "It was just a quick trip," Jenny said, but how we enjoyed each moment with Jonny and Jenny.

One curious experience of the weekend was getting the outside of our house painted. The painters wrapped Dave's car in white plastic to keep it from getting splattered, and they used a crane to get to the top floor!

Stuff

Moving new furniture into our basement. Emptying furniture out of Grandma Calder's house. Storing my share of Grandma's books and puzzles and Christmas decorations in our garage. Lugging Kent's gifts from Grandma Calder to a storage unit. Dave and I spent the April 1 and April 8 weekends managing "stuff."

We redecorated our basement around the photograph of the Wasatch Mountains which we bought in Springville, near Zions Park. It is full of plums and golds. We added the plum-colored chair from Mom's living room, and a leather couch, ottoman, and rug suggested by our decorator, Bobbie from Bassett Furniture.

We bought a state-of-the-art, big-screen TV, hooked it up to Netflix and Direct TV, and suddenly we have an "entertainment center." This weekend Michael, Dave and I watched documentaries on Enron, Mugabe's Zimbabwe, meth, the Afghanistan war, and the Appalachian Trail.

Kent and Toshiko stayed with us the weekend of April 1, and we worked together to get their furniture and paintings from Grandma's house to a storage unit. Dave was in St. George and Michael saved the day by providing the muscle to move bookcases, couches, and a marble-topped table into Kent's "Cubes" storage unit.

The weekend of April 8 was the big Move-out, with Scott, Kent, Dave, Jean, Michael, and I all sorting and moving. We rented a 16-foot dumpster...

and a truck that Dave drove all over town--to our house, Scott's house, Kent's storage unit, the library, and Deseret Industries--delivering Grandma's "stuff" to its new home.

There were moments of sadness and tender memories as we entered Grandma's door with its familiar "God Save Our Troops" sticker...

and as we reminisced over the many marks on Grandma's family room door, showing the heights of all the grandchildren throughout the 23 years Grandma lived in the home.

There wasn't much left in the house by Saturday night, April 9, and nothing at all by the following Friday, April 15. The contractor can finish painting, and then we'll list the house for sale.

Scott, Dave, Michael, Jonny and I cleaned out the last things on Thursday night, April 14.

The happy side was that there were plenty of Grandma Calder's treasures for everyone--books and Ethiopian baskets and Calder ice cream boxes. We boxed up all the "family history" for me to sort through as I write the book about Grandpa. There were treasures there, as well, from scrapbooks of Grandpa's mission, to yearbooks from Utah State University edited by Grandpa, to letters he wrote his children.

Our garage is full of treats--a new Santa and wooden reindeer with horns...

a few vintage puzzles and the dining room chairs that Grandma Calder designated for Lisa.

Stuff--we tried not to get too fixated on the materialism of it, but to relish the happy memories it preserved.

Coming and Going

How to exit this life? What should the ritual be? Should I tuck Dave's running shoes into his casket? Should I invite family members to wear necklaces or pins to my funeral, all from my beloved collection of 300? Should we sponsor a wake at which mourners tell stories about Dave's practical jokes? Dave and I mulled these thoughts after the funeral of Mel White, Lindy's father, on March 26. Mel's funeral arrangements reflected his life and loves particularly well. Mel cherished the out-of-doors, and Dave and I remembered running into Lindy's mom and him in Yellowstone one summer, happily hiking near Jenny Lake. A painting of Mel hiking in the forest was propped next to the sign-in book at Mel's viewing. The casket was a pine box, and an arrangement of pine cones with a fishing rod tucked among them was lovingly placed on top. Everything reflected Mel.

The Whites had Scottish roots, and Mel's children and grandchildren competed in Scottish bagpipe and dance festivals. Mel's grandsons, including Nicholas, played bagpipes at the cemetery.

Funerals are times to embrace family, as well as to try on new ideas about mortality. It was good to hug and talk with Alan Dale, Lindy, Nancy, Jason, Pat, Michelle, Tricia, Nicholas, and Jessica.

Saturday evening, we joined our friends the Emmers, Joneses, and Wildes for a dinner by four great cooks. Julie's rolls, Deanne's curried tilapia, Jane's salad, and my apple/cranberry crisp were all the best.

"I look forward to parties with this group because the conversation is so good and it never stops," Deanne said. We congratulated Jane and Spencer on their upcoing mission to Johannesburg, South Africa, as perpetual education fund missionaries. We exclaimed over Deanne and Bob Wilde's remodeled "great room," in which they'd hosted 58 relatives for Thanksgiving dinner. And we wished Paul and Julie Emmer bon voyage on their trip to Rome with their daughter, who is an art professor!

What Stays in Vegas?

"What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas" proclaim the ads for that sin-sheltering city. Dave and I have little to hide about our adventures in Vegas, but we do feel that what is really staying in Vegas these days is us. We left Vegas on March 5, after my firm retreat, and Dave was on his way back March 9 for a psychology seminar.

Great food and great shows--that's what draws us again and again to Vegas. The highlight of this weekend was "Jersey Boys," a musical about rock'n'roll star Rudy Vallee. We loved the music, the dancing and acting, and the bittersweet story. We also loved the Vegas-style production--spacious theater and comfortable seats, and awesome special effects.

Another discovery this trip was the Wynn, a sister casino to our old favorite, the Bellagio. It had the trademark breathtaking lobby...

and indoor gardens.

It also had a buffet as luscious as the buffet at The Bellagio, but without all the crowds.

The Wynn is a stunning place, day or night.

We loaded up on shows at the discount ticket booth for both Friday and Saturday. We spent one afternoon at "Piano!" hearing all the songs Lela Benson never taught Michael--bebop, cool jazz, rock'n'roll, show tunes.

We also spent an evening with "Human Nature," rated Las Vegas' best singing group. They were a quartet of white guys from Australia who sing Motown! We had front row seats, with all the advantages and disadvantages thereof. We saw every smile, every bead of sweat, but we were also overwhelmed by the booming speakers at the side of the stage, right next to us. The only solution--go see the program again, but sit in back....

We spent some time just wandering Vegas, people-watching.

Dave, of course, checked out the latest flamingos at The Flamingo and bought a new plastic version for our St. George yard!

We paused at the ad for an all-day pass to seven buffets (would it be physically possible to munch our way through them all??)....

and the shop selling fried everything.

Vegas was a good time this weekend--a place to just hang loose.