Utah Trip #3 - Tiane and Charel Wedding

September was a very busy month for the Rosenlunds. So busy that I have allowed my blog duties to falter considerably.

Utah Trip #3 - Tiane and Charel Allred Wedding
Our month started with a wonderful trip back to Utah for Tiane and Charel's wedding. We left on a Saturday with great weather, though a little foggy, and arrived without incident in the evening. As we approached Evanston, we began to pick up the BYU football game against Oklahoma on the radio and we were excited to hear their good play. We stopped by to visit with Debi and Steven in Springville and had a great evening visiting with them. Steven invited me over to his neighbor's house to watch the last few moments of the great game by the Cougars.

The rest of the week we spent with Mom and Dad and were excited when Ken arrived from Australia. We spent our time before the wedding playing with cousins, eating good food and generally relaxing. Becky and I went to the temple, then Meile and I did baptisms for the dead, all at the Jordan River temple.


One of the very fun activities was visiting "Daybreak Lake." It is a man-made lake near the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. They have a string of small ponds, one with a beach. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, swimming and relaxing. Becky and I (real sticks in the mud) spent our time on the dock nearby hoping the Matthew and Daina did not drown. This small beach trip gets us very ready for visits this winter to California and Florida.

Another fun activity we took was a visit to the Bingham Copper Mine. The mine is 3/4 of a mile deep, 2.5 miles wide and covers 1900 acres. It was amazing to see the huge earth movers, and we even saw an explosion on the far end. It also allowed me the chance to test my zoom feature on the new video camera, and we were able to see the trucks at the very bottom quite clearly. Below is a wheel from one off the big earth movers. Simply amazing.


The highlight of the trip was, of course, the wedding of Tiane and Charel Allred. They are a sweet couple and we are so happy for them both. Dating since high school, they are a committed couple and clearly in love. The wedding was held at the Officer's Club in Camp Williams and everyone had a wonderful time. Meile was a flower girl and I became the defacto videographer. It was a well-attended event, and had a wonderful, intimate party feel. I was again amazed at the prolific dancing from my younger sisters and wonder when we became a dancing family. I was awestruck when I saw my own mother taking part in the line dancing for "Boot Scootin' Boogy." Nice job ladies!


Our sweet little Matthew was not in the mood for partying indoors and required lots of attention. He was particularly interested in the pool out back that had a tarp cover. These pool covers are certainly no safety feature, so constant attention was necessary and Becky carried that load well. Finally, as a last straw effort, she put him in the carseat and drove him around the base for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep. She then parked the van, pulled out our picnic blanket and layed him in the lawn outside for some well-need rest.

Becky and Matthew outside the wedding
(Doesn't Becky look wonderful in her new dress!)

The day after the wedding, we packed up the van and headed right back to Nebraska where school and work were waiting for us. By Friday morning, we were back to the old grind and completing a full day of work and school. It was the shortest work week of our lives, yet we were very ready for a rest.

Upon arrival, Meile and Becky had a chance for a little mother/daughter outing as our local historical museum, the Stuhr Museum held a special overnight activity for the youth volunteers. Meile has been a youth volunteer this summer, where they play the parts of settlers in "Railroad Town" during the 1890s. She also was an assistant for some of the summer classes. Along with a number of other youth and their parents, the ladies slept in one of the old homes, had a pioneer breakfast, and generally had a real nice time.

A Return to Sterling
We took a daytrip to Sterling a few weeks ago to see old friends and welcome home Elder Peter Wolfley from his mission to Armenia. It was a great day trip, a short four hours one way to Sterling, and we had sacrament with old friends. As we pulled in, Meile wanted to rush off and see her friends. Both Becky and I, needing her help and impatient with her impatience, told her, "Just stay here. Its not like they are looking out the windows and planning some welcoming committee."

No sooner had the words left our mouths when a gaggle of young women, who had actually been watching out the windows, rushed up with a flurry of squeals, hugs and jumping around. That will teach us to assume...

It had been just over a year since we had visited last, and it was such a wonderful time to sit in that chapel, exposed wooden beams and crowds of people. My scouts are all very mature young men, if not already gone to college, missions and marriage . My first group of 11 yr old Scouts are already 17 and 18 yrs old, graduating from high school or near to it. As time flies, we realize just how quickly our kids are growing up. We remarked to the Wolfleys that Meile and their daughter Elena were little more than a year older than Daina when we moved to Sterling. Now, they are accomplished young women. Made me feel very old and want to hold on to these kids a little tighter.

A Minivan Milestone
Our family, and in particular the mini-van, hit a milestone on Saturday as we surpassed 100,000 miles. Fittingly, we passed this milestone as we drove by Mormon Island Campground outside Grand Island on our way to a day trip in Omaha. On our agenda: service and clean up at the Bishop Storehouse, a pizza buffet for lunch, then an afternoon at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. We cheered and celebrated the moment, but it was all fleeting. Within a minute, we had made it 100,001 and the moment was gone.


This little van of ours has taken us from Spanish Fork to Sterling, to Grand Island, to Niagara Falls, to Muscatine, Nauvoo, Colorado Springs, to Rocky Mountain National Park. It has traveled I-80 through Wyoming dozens of times, through blizzards, white outs, on those high plains, and torrential downpours through Nebraska on our way to GI. We have seen Kirtland, the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah and Fayette, NY. We have seen a bust of Abraham Lincoln, the four granite faces of Mount Rushmore, the high plains of Colorado, and the corn fields of the land of the Big Red. We have driven by Saltaire, through Eisenhower Tunnel, past the Platte, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. We have seen the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and the Golden Dome of Notre Dame. In only the last two years we have seen dozens of states, toured amazing places, two countries and we have many more memories to go.

Though it seems much smaller now then when we had only three little kids, we have upgraded the van with some things like a luggage rack and twin DVD screens. We've listened to the Wiggles, Raffi, Moose songs, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Creedance Clearwater Revival. We have enjoyed dramatized Church History tapes (emphasis on dramatized), read all the Chronicals of Narnia, Harry Potter, and all the Little House on the Prairie series. We have made countless "NASCAR" pitstops where gas and going potty break the 9 minute time trial, and we look more like a chinese fire drill than fuel and tinkling.

We have seen highs and lows. Laughter, tears, fighting and cheering. At red lights, we all rock back and forth until others at the intersection point and laugh. Even Matthew will chant, "Rock the car!" at every stop.

We have had a number of car sick kids, and in truth, that car has seen almost every body fluid except childbirth. Even the poor dog had his own moment. I have hauled lumber, furniture, pianos, and much more as it is my only "truck."

There are times when we have really wanted to get a new car. Something newer, bigger, and funner. But, it has proven to be an extremely reliable partner over the years, and we feel lucky to have had it. I imagine we will stick with this little van for a number of years to come as we strive to be more responsible and frugal. Lately, we have really tried to "Fix it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." In truth, we only want something else, but we really don't need something else.

So, we'll stick with the old girl for a few more years and do like President Hinkley has counseled. We'll wear it out, make it do and keep on rolling. This van, along with family, have a lot more things to see before our time is up. So, keep an eye out for us and our little white minivan. Who knows? We might just show up on your doorstep sometime soon for a visit!