Midway (NOT halfway) House

After a hectic week last week, we've enjoyed a quite relaxing (although way too short) weekend.

Because Thomas' family had made arrangements for events surrounding his grandmother's funeral to take place on Thursday and Friday, we in turn arranged our work schedules so that we could get as many of our hours in as possible, and still attend those events.

Elma was a talented artist, and the family displayed some of her works

Elma's children: Jeff (Thomas' dad), Bonnie, Jon, Judi, Scott.

These are some of Elma's grandsons. They were her pallbearers. All of her children's families are represented here.

We enjoyed seeing so much family, and I got to meet several cousins who live far enough away that I had not met them yet. As it turns out, some relatives, like Thomas' brother's family (from Washington) and his cousin Colin's family (living in China), happened to be in town just visiting at this time, and so were able to be there for the funeral.

two of the three sets of twins that were present

Our niece, one of the twins, Lydia

This is Thomas' mom Kathleen with her cousin Steve

Mom Kathleen with Colin and Jeanetta

Thomas' cousin Carlye

Thomas' cousin Carlye, again

Descendants of Mark and Elma Bradshaw, plus spouses, who were in attendance. Big, good-looking group!

Thomas' younger brother, Samuel, returned home from his mission (Arizona Tempe) last week! We hope he gets some rest next week, after flying from Arizona, to Florida, to Utah, and back to Florida all over the course of about 4 days. He was a wonderful missionary and we look forward to his return to BYU this fall!

For this weekend, Thomas and I took a much-anticipated trip back to his family's cabin in the Heber Valley area. The last time we were there was the week after our wedding, and while the weather was definitely different (we didn't get almost-snowed-in this time), it was just as nice to be in such a peaceful, homey, and green place.

A wet winter and mild first bit of summer has done this place a lot of good!

The Cabin!

We got lots of relaxing in, with free time to read and watch movies to our hearts' content; we even played a game, Not at All Trivial, which Thomas recently found at DI. We took a short (but very steep) hike on Saturday morning (we think at the Mill Flat trailhead of the Wasatch Mountain State Park). We weren't expecting the trail to be so steep, but we felt better that the 4 cyclists that were going up at about the same time weren't expecting it either, and we felt even better that they turned back before we did :o)

Worth it? I think yes. Even if our legs did not agree.

Later in the day we went to Midway's Main Street to take a look at the glockenspiel clock atop the Midway Town Hall, constructed in the 1940s. We were disappointed that the town hall appeared to be under construction, but we are guessing it will be back to normal in time for Swiss Days in September.

On our honeymoon, we happened to drive by this glockenspiel clock a couple of times when it was putting on its show, but no such luck this trip.

Many of the buildings in Midway - including this gas station & restaurant - have a Swiss look to them

The Bees Knees ice cream

We also stopped by the Homestead to see the famous crater, we drove through the Midway cemetery, and we took a trip up to the Wasatch County Memorial Hill.

Pretty poppies around the Crater

At center, you can see Memorial Hill from The Crater.

Thomas and Lisa on the Crater

How's this for a fabulous picture? We saw this brilliantly orange dragonfly as we were leaving The Homestead. It's chilling on a car antenna.

After leaving the cabin today, we went out to West Jordan to attend the missionary homecoming talk and open house of Thomas' cousin David, who just returned from the Texas Lubbock mission last week. It was another great excuse to visit with family.

In addition to the missionary homecomings on Thomas' side of the family, I am happy to report the homecoming of my aunt and uncle who just completed a two-year mission in Bulgaria and also returned last week. I haven't seen them yet but we are so grateful for their example to us!

oxox