All in the Family

My Eyring cousins gathered for their quarterly lunch on February 1, 2019, at Catherine Poelman Weight's home.  It is a group of the women cousins from both sides of my Grandfather Eyring's polygamist family--the descendants of my Grandmother Caroline Romney and the descendants of her sister wife, Emma Romney.  Catherine started this group four or five years ago, with just herself, her sister, Midge Evans, three of Aunt Emma's granddaughters, and me.  Ten cousins gathered on February 1, but many others come occasionally, when they are in Salt Lake from San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, or other home cities.  I barely knew Aunt Emma's granddaughters until meeting them in this group, and they are now dear friends.

My grandmother, Caroline Romney, married my grandfather, Edward Eyring, in the 1890s.

Ten years later, in 1903, Emma Romney, Caroline's younger sister, married Ed Eyring, as well. 

Both wives had many children, as shown by this picture of the combined families.  My mother, Rose, is on the front row.  She is the second from the left.  It is unusual to find photographs that include both wives.

This is a photo of Ed, Emma, and their children and grandchildren.  It was probably taken in the early 1950s, before Grandpa died in 1956. There would be just as many in a photo of Ed, Caroline, and their descendants!

LDS temples are, of course, places where we confirm our relationships to relatives, living and dead, and where we also make promises to be faithful Church members.  My visit to the Mt. Timpanogas temple last weekend (my second new temple this year) was more special because I had just felt the love of family at my Eyring cousins lunch.

Kirsten's Farewell

Kirsten gave her farewell speech at her LDS ward in Sammamish, Washington (suburb of Seattle), on January 26 2019.  She leaves for her mission to Independence, Missouri, on February 13, 2019.  Both sets of grandparents flew to Seattle to hear Kirsten speak, and Spencer and Naomi left their studies at BYU to attend Kirsten's farewell speech and reception, too. 

 On Friday night, we ate together at the Little Prague restaurant in Seattle. 

Kirsten's brother, Grant, returned last spring from an LDS mission to Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Our family celebrated Grant's homecoming with a dinner at the Little Prague last spring.  At Christmastime, Lisa and I cooked a Czech dinner ourselves, but we couldn't get the dumplings right.  We returned to the Little Prague to see how the experts cook svickova, the Czech national dish, with its fluffy bread dumplings.

 We also analyzed the Czech kolaches--sweet rolls with luscious fillings, such as apricot and cherry.

Each family member chose a dessert from the treats in the glass case.

 Naomi enjoyed catching up with Kirsten's Grandma JoDee Flindt.

 Kirsten took a semester off from her BYU studies to save money for her mission.  She worked as a teacher at the Seattle YMCA day camp and as a nanny for an Indian couple.

 Herb Flindt and Spencer also enjoyed being together.

Lisa was proud and happy to have most of her family together.  We missed Grant, Michael, and Rebecca, who weren't able to leave their college classes.

Bryce and Alyssa, Lisa's youngest children, have always been good friends.  For several summers, they flew together to Salt Lake City to spend a couple of weeks with their grandparents.  I remember picking the two of them up at the airport, clutching their carry-on bags anxiously.  They were brave travel mates.

 It was also a pleasure to have time with Kyle.

I take my job as family photographer seriously (except when I am working so hard at cooking that I forget to take any pictures at all).

On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, Dave and I went on five mile walks along Lake Sammamish.  We left our hotel before 7 a.m., and were back by 8:30, to drive to Lisa's house and start our fun adventures.  The forests and lakes around Lisa's house are beautiful.  Lisa lives in one of the east suburbs of Seattle, nestled against the Cascade Mountains.

Bryce had an LDS ward basketball game on Saturday morning.  He made nearly half the points for his team and was also an aggressive ball handler.   "Go Bryce!  Go Bryce!" we yelled.

On Saturday afternoon, Kirsten stayed home to write her talk, while Dave and I, Lisa, Spencer and Naomi, and Bryce and Alyssa drove into downtown Seattle.  We bought ice cream cones at a gourmet store in the stylish Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

"Classic flavors" included honey lavender and Rachel's raspberry ginger beer.  Lisa, Spencer and Naomi, and I all own Cuisinart ice cream machines.  We committed to trying to replicate some of those fancy concoctions at home.

 We then spent several hours at Pike Market.  Lisa and I wandered together through the Polish pottery and spice stores.  We checked out the many varieties of mustard at the gourmet store and paused to buy several French magazines at the news stand.

 Kirsten gave a powerful talk at her Sunday morning Sacrament Meeting.  I had a special treat waiting for me at Church.  When I mentioned, in an email to my Eyring cousins, that I might miss a cousin's lunch because I would be in Seattle, Linda Rose, a cousin I had never met, asked if she could meet me during my trip to Seattle.  Linda (Aunt Jen's daughter) lives in Olympia, 90 minutes drive from Sammamish.  I invited Linda to Kirsten's farewell and to the reception at Lisa's house afterwards.  Linda brought with her a cousin I know and adore, who lives in Gigue Harbor, near Olympia--Caroline Clive (Aunt Catherine's daughter).  Caroline is 87, but she could pass for 60 or 65.  Both Linda and Caroline were warm, dynamic, and delightful.  As Caroline listened to Kirsten's speech, she whispered, "She's a believer!"  So true.

Left to right:  Fred Rose, Bryce, Linda Rose, Naomi (behind), Caroline Clive, Kirsten, Alyssa, Lisa, Dave, and me.

The weekend was fun but hectic.  Dave needed a nap before we dashed for the airport to catch our Sunday evening plane.

Adventures with Mike

 Heidi was with her mother at an "accordion symphony" in Houston, during the weekend of January 20, 2019, so Mike came with us to St. George.  I am impressed with how many new things creative people can find to do in old places.  Just when we thought our St. George restaurant choices were limited to Texas Roadhouse, Painted Pony, and Costa Vida (all good, but much frequented), we discovered Viva Chicken.

 Viva Chicken is a Peruvian "fast casual" place with great roast chicken accompanied by Peruvian drinks and sides.  It seems like just the thing a returned LDS missionary would have dreamed up....

On Saturday, I ordered a feast of chicken, accompanied by yucca fries, hibiscus tea (made from dried hibiscus leaves), two bean dishes, cilantro rice, and two spicy sauces.  Restaurants are a risky business, but Viva Chicken was bustling, and we plan to become regular customers!

Mike also accompanied Dave and me to the St. George Temple.  That temple has strong family ties, since two of my great-grandmothers, Catherine Romney and Mary Eyring, were ordinance workers there after their husbands died.

Mike spent Saturday afternoon taking photos of Heidi's beautiful sister, Calise, and her fiance, Ammon.

Dave and I drove to our favorite spot in Southern Utah--Zions National Park.

We stopped at our favorite art gallery in Southern Utah--the Worthington Gallery in Springdale, near the entrance to the park.  The annual "Arts in Zion" festival was going on, and there were artists in residence in more than thirty galleries throughout St. George and surrounding towns.  This artist posed in front of one of his paintings.

When we returned home, Mike, Calise, and Ammon had finished their photo shoot and were celebrating with pizza.  Heidi's brother, Kelvin, came along for the day.  Calise, Ammon, and Kelvin are students at Southern Utah University in Cedar City.  Kelvin, Calise, and their brother Ben are all studying accounting, and Ammon studies mechanical engineering.

On Sunday, after Church, we ate at Dave's restaurant choice, the Black Bear Diner.  It was hearty, American food, just the type of place Dave's parents, Cliff and Carol Spendlove, used to dine at when they lived in St. George.  The retired folk at neighboring tables reminded me of Cliff and Carol.

The Arts in Zion shows continued on Sunday afternoon.  We drove to Kayenta, an upscale development near Snow Canyon with several art galleries to visit.

"There will be photographs," I promised Mike when I suggested gallery-hopping in Kayenta.  Michael studied each photograph closely, suggesting how the photographer (who owned the gallery) had posed each shot and captured the light.  Mike took notes as to where each photograph had been taken--he hopes to improve his already formidable photography skills with more photo trips.

I also enjoyed the other arts, such as carved gourds.

This chalk painting had such good 3D perspective that the arch and Native American dwelling seemed to rise out of the ground.