Our visit to Virginia

In case you're wondering, this was our favorite site in Virginia, Dallin & Janelle's beautiful family, Dorothy, Ruby, Norah and Gwen. We had such a fun time with them. We were spoiled with delicious meals, lots of hugs and attention from the girls, and touring their beautiful area. They made it very difficult for us to say good-bye. 

Of course, Gwen, is in that adorable stage. She melted our hearts as she was so good at coming to both of us. We arrived on Dallin's 32nd birthday, Thursday, Sept. 22nd. We surely appreciated him making the 3-hour drive to Dulles airport to pick us up and then turned around and drove us back home. Getting to their home isn't the easiest, but it is definitely worth the long day of travel to be with them. One thing I love about visiting family in their new home is now I can visualize them doing things. They don't seem so far away when I know what their surroundings are like, so I'm including pictures of their home inside and out so you can get that visual, too. This is the front of their home, however, they park in the back so they don't access the front door as much. They do have neighbors as you can see from the long row of mailboxes, however, they are all tucked away in their own spot and with all the vegetation, you don't see them very much.

Friday morning we barely woke up in time to see the girls head off for the bus that they catch by their home. It's about a 10-minute drive into Lexington to go to school. We visited their school later that morning and ate lunch with them. The girls were excited to see us there, and Gwen loved seeing her sisters. She misses them when they're gone and gets so very excited when they come home. Gwen points to the picture of Dorothy at school. Norah in the picture with Gwen.

Dad and I met Dallin on the campus of Southern Virginia University where he is an English assistant professor, teaching Writing Composition and American Literature. The campus is so beautiful. We loved seeing the various architecture and surroundings. SVU is located in Buena Vista, about 15 minutes from their home. It's a beautiful commute for Dallin, a very peaceful, lovely drive.

The campus has quite a history, dating back to 1867. It has evolved over the years from being a Seminary to a Jr. College to a College for Women, and finally, in the late 1980's and early 1990's enrollment began to slip and the college became financially unstable, which led to a loss of regional accreditation in 1996. In the spring of that year, a group of Latter-day Saints in Virginia stepped forward to renew the college, assuming responsibility for its assets and liabilities. Since then the institution has experienced phenomenal growth.

You will noticed the statue of the knight in front of the Administration Building. The Knight family were instrumental in coming in and rescuing the school. The next picture is Dallin and Dad standing in front of the building where Dallin teaches. The campus is very unique with beautiful interior especially in the Administration Building. Because of so many LDS students attending, about 92%, there was a peaceful, wonderful spirit on the campus like you feel at church schools, although, not affiliated with the church. You'll see a picture of the church house close to campus where the Institute meets and the dorms on the hill behind the church.

 

We took the girls to one of their favorite parks in the area called, "Boxerwood." A very interesting, clever park where everything is made of wood or natural materials. Endless make-believe things they could do there. Gwen loved wading in the small stream of water best of all. (Norah left, Ruby right).

 

Saturday we drove into Lexington to the campus of Washington and Lee University. What a setting! It began in 1749 as Augusta Academy, founded by Scots-Irish pioneers. It has quite a history which you can read more about, but I won't go into detail here. The University is the nation's ninth oldest institution of higher learning. We visited the Lee Chapel & Museum which was fascinating.

Lexington was named in 1778. It was one of the first places named after Lexington, Massachusetts, known for being the place at which the first shot was fired in the American Revolution. Lexington is also the location of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). It was a charming town, rich in history.

Before we arrived, the girls made a list of things they wanted to do with us while we were there. High on the list was back rubs at night. Grandpa would tell them stories and then I would rub their backs and arms. These were definitely special times for us, too. Visiting their library was another wish. The library is located on this New England style street.

Feasting on Dallin's homemade pizzas was great! It is the only pizza I like and are they ever good! He's an expert at it. Their family tradition is homemade pizzas and movie night on Saturday night.

We enjoyed attending their ward and meeting Madison U. Sowell, the University Provost who participated in hiring Dallin, (he is now on a Sabbatical, or some kind of leave from the University.) Many in their ward are affiliated with SVU or other Universities in the area. It was an important day in their ward as a new Bishop and counselors were sustained. Later that day we took a Sunday drive about 20 minutes away to "The Blue Ridge Parkway." This is a National Parkway noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park runs for 469 miles through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, mostly along the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. We didn't go far, but it gave us a glimpse to the beauty of the valley and this lush area where they live. The Parkway was built in 1936 to connect Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Dorothy is such a wonderful big sister. She keeps the girls busy and happy. Coming home from church she wrote up her "To Do List for the Sabbath," full of many good works. Dorothy, you inspire your grandparents.

Norah is showing off the wall of fame. 

The girls have lots of fun with their piano. This nice play set is a great addition to their yard. Their landlord provided and set up for them. (Ruby left, Norah right...I think).

Without a garage or carport, they make do by building a bike rack, along with boxes for Janelle's herbs and other plants. The back door goes into the kitchen. The two windows are in the master bedroom.

Notice the thick vegetation just outside the backdoor where the girls have their make believe world.

Norah and Rudy are running down the driveway from the back of the house. Dorothy said, I feel like I live in "The Little House in the Big Woods." The trampoline is on the other side, across from the play set.

Monday we were happy to spend time with the girls. I think they were happy to miss school, too. We picked up lunch at McDonald's and then had a great time playing at this park that is like Imagination Station. They were pretty clever in their hiding when we played "Hide-n-Seek." (Ruby in striped dress.)

Janelle being the super organizer that she is has made this little house so livable and cute. If anybody can do it, it's Janelle. Check out the bed that she designed, and figured out all the measurements for, with Dallin assisting with the building of it. This provides them with some well used space for storage. When getting to the storage, the bed stays up with hydraulic lifts. So cool! (Ruby left, Norah left.)

Our trip went way too fast. We're so happy we could be with Dallin & Janelle and their adorable girls and get acquainted with their new surroundings. We enjoyed late night visiting, and we were glad to hear how happy Dallin is with his job, the students, the faculty he works with, and the great opportunity he has at SVU. (Ruby left, Norah right).

We hated to say goodbye Monday afternoon. Dallin drove us back up to Washington DC, to Gens and Annie's house for us to spend the night. Then Annie drove us to the airport the next morning. It was so convenient as they live about 15 minutes away. Gens was helping Hans drive their moving van to Miami, so we had the fun of seeing Kristi and their children as they were staying at Gens & Annie's, too. 

Seth had a friend that was teaching at Washington and Lee University. He invited Seth to come and give a talk as he knew his brother taught at SVU. Preston accompanied his Dad that weekend, and they had a nice time visiting Dallin & Janelle and family, too.

Accomplishments & events this summer

I was so happy I tackled the book Russka, a historical novel about Russian history. It was quite the project to get through it as it was 948 pages. For the record, I finished on Friday, July 16th.

Kristina Muldoon is a sister I visit teach. We worked with her a great deal this summer getting her into new housing, after she spent several days with us. She has many challenges, and I'm grateful that when she was in a time of need she reached out to me. She is pictured in my post about friends.

Julia was such a good "mommy" to the Vance children tending them for about 10 days. We had fun having all the cousins together for time in the hot tub and treats. I had a special day with Julia before she headed back to Idaho. We had so much fun walking on the Springwater Trail together, making bread, and going to our favorite, traditional place together, Truffle Hunter for lunch. She is my Julia Joy. I will always remember that day as I marveled I made it through the entire day without pain in my legs and feet. It was very unusual as I walked about twice the number of steps I usually do...over 7500 steps. I know the Lord blessed me to have this special day with her, and to enjoy it so much.

Ruby and Norah had made some cupcakes and they brought them to us as they wanted us to have some, too, when they came the end of May. We hadn't had a chance to try them yet, but they were hard as a rock by that time, but Julia loves this picture of us, so I included.

Isaac graduated from Kindergarten. We couldn't be there, but we were glad we could attend Sydney's final orchestra concert. We were so proud of her receiving the outstanding student in her class that night, too. More beautiful pictures in Hawaii. I'm glad Bryan gets a chance to relax with his family, and I'm especially happy when Meredith & Bryan can break away for a date together, usually hiking in their beautiful surroundings.

Our Malin Lewis Reunion

After our family reunion at Bear Lake we stayed at Alice-Anne & Gary's home over the weekend. Seth & Tiffany and their boys came by for dinner that Sunday evening and Ondalynn surprised us and came by to to wish Dad a Happy Father's Day. It was a fun mini-reunion.

Monday evening we flew to Phoenix where Meredith Ashton picked us up at the airport. It was so fun to see and Norm. We stayed that night at their nice missionary home by the Mesa Temple. In the morning we went to the Visitor's Center to see their displays and have Meredith do some of the tour for us. By noon Malin, Sally, and Jacob came by to pick us up so we could drive on to the Gila Valley for our Malin Lewis Reunion. It was an extremely hot day about 110-115 and the air conditioning in Malin's car didn't work all the well. So it was challenging. The desert is so dry and hot! We finally made it. 

We enjoyed a very fun reunion that Wick & Lynn had organized. Most of the food was catered. Many stayed at the Marriott and we'd visit family at breakfast. It was a little more expensive than some of the other reunions because of the hotel cost. Duraye stayed in our room with us. The other difficulty was the extremely hot days. We held the dinners and some of he activities in a church building. Crismon went with the youth to the Safford temple early one morning. The last day we spent up the Graham mountains where there are many fun family memories being in the mountains that Grandpa Lewis especially loved. We also took a quick look at the cabin that the Lewis' have had for many years. Now Wick owns it and it is used by his family, or others who want to stay. We appreciated all that Wick & Lynn did to organize and prepare for such a great reunion.

One of the funnest times was attending the David Archuleta concert in Safford. Because David had been in Slovenia early in the year and Elder Lorenzo Lewis escorted him around the mission while he was on a concert tour, he had heard about our family reunion in Safford and that we were going to go to his concert. He promised Elder Lewis that he would give a shout out to the Lewis Family. He forgot to do it, so when he saw Instagram messages that the Lewis Family had been in full force to his concert, he asked if we could come back to the Performance Center so he could get a picture with us. That was very fun!

Crismon shared some ancestor stories of how the Lewis' came to Arizona. We had a wonderful reunion with our extended Lewis family. This was the first reunion that none of our children were with us, so that was different.