A fairly rare event occurred over this Fathers Day weekend in Soda Springs. My parents and all of their children were in the same place at the same time. I can’t remember the last time this occurred.

For a few weeks, my favorite brother Perry and I had been talking about getting together in Soda Springs on Saturday, June 14th to help put the house back together after the inside had been painted. My brother was planning to stay Saturday night and leave after Church on Sunday to drive back home to Wyoming.

Meanwhile, Nina had been emailing my sister Eileen, who thought she and her husband might come up for a bit on Saturday. Mother told us that my sister Terry and her husband would probably come up from Ogden, Utah on Sunday afternoon. So we decided to make two trips to Soda Springs … one on Saturday morning and one on Sunday afternoon. That way we would see everyone.

The paint job on the inside of the house is very well done and has really freshened up the inside. By the time Nina and I got there on Saturday, most of the furniture moving-back-into-place was done, so Perry and I worked with Dad to help him finish up the gate to the back yard he’s been working on for several weeks. While we were doing that, my sister Eileen and husband Phil arrived on their motorcycle. They had ridden up on a beautiful Saturday morning from Sandy, Utah.

My sister has been hard at work taking old family photographs, reworking them, printing them, and framing them. She spent the rest of Saturday and some of Sunday putting these pictures up on the walls. She has done a fabulous job and I’m really quite impressed. She’s got a good eye and a great talent.

We had to leave mid-afternoon after installing the swamp cooler to be back in Pocatello to pick up our granddaughter Madison. Dawnmarie’s family is vacationing in northwest Montana and Kirk’s parents dropped Madison off in Pocatello on their way south to Las Vegas. We like to have the grandkids stay with us for a week when they turn 12 … just the grandchild and us to do a little bonding and this was Madison’s week. We’ll take her back to Montana at the end of this week when we go up there for a visit.

Sunday afternoon we went back over to Soda Springs. My brother and my sister Eileen were still there and my sister Terry with her husband Allan had arrived. We had a delightful dinner (expertly crafted by my wife Nina) and lots of fun conversation. At the end of the afternoon we assembled on the front porch and a neighbor came over to snap the shutter on some pictures. The rare event has been captured digitally. And a good time was had by all!