Well, I've been home for a few days and have not yet reported on my vacation to Kansas and Tennessee to visit with family. So here it goes. Hopefully my memory holds and I don't forget vital things.
Anyway, I flew into Kansas City where I was picked up by mom and dad who had driven from Arizona to Kansas. We stopped by the Cabela's because they said it was really cool and the last time I'd flown in, it was Christmas Eve and they were closed. So we took a peek in the store and it was really cool. Lot's of fish aquariums, lots of artistic taxidermy with the wildlife arrangements. Sort of made me feel like I was in the wild. We pushed on to Waverly where we stopped in to say hello to Grandma Phillips who had just turned 90! We woke her from a nap and she was grumpy at us at all for waking her, but was delighted to see us. The best gift I can get from my grandmother is one of her sweet hugs. I know they are sincere and I just haven't had enough of them in my lifetime. We spent the evening at my Aunt Judy's home on the farm where we joined some other family from Canada and chatted over grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. It was so beautiful outside. I loved not baking from the summer heat! I marveled at the green surrounding the farm. It was really something I didn't appreciate enough as a kid when our family would visit for summer break. Having lived in Arizona the past ten years, I really appreciate the green landscape in Kansas.
The weekend was family filled. Saturday we had our big Phillips Family Reunion. My grandfather has been gone for years, but he has three living siblings. I didn't know anyone of this extended family, but I learned to say "I belong to Dean Phillips" and they seem to know that meant I came from the Robert Phillips Klan, which had the largest turnout due to us celebrating Grandma's birthday. I chatted with a few cousins whom I hardly know, but am familiar enough to chat with a bit. Funny how normally we'd be total strangers, but because we are related, we sit and chat. There was food, food, food and tons of cake. Dad put together a really great power point of Grandma's life in photos. She loved it. She sat silently and watched is twice. It was so touching to watch the photos that are only a sliver of representation of her life. May we all live lives in which we can look back with fond memories, no regrets. Sunday, I went to the LDS Branch there in Burlington, KS. I had remembered it being larger in numbers. Sad to hear that the membership has been struggling to maintain activity in the church. So many are still "young" in the gospel and do not yet have the testimony or faith to withstand change that often comes in the leadership organization of wards and branches. We chatted with the missionary couple that was serving in the branch and they reported that there was much work to do in strengthening the saints there as well and spread the gospel. I wonder how strong I would stand if I were alone, without my strong surrounding of solid friends who believe in the same standards as I do. I'd like to think I as strong enough to stand keep up my standard of living as I do now. Anyway, after, I'd requested that we stop by the cemetery where family is buried. I wanted digital record of their gravestones for genealogy sake for my own personal history. Grandpa Phillips, Uncle Ron Phillips, Grandpa and Grandma McReynolds were all buried there. I have a hard time hold onto my emotions as I walk with up most reverence there. I am always overcome with the power of family and the eternal bonds that tie us so that we will meet again someday. There is much I'd like to learn from my relatives that I did not have an opportunity to hear in this life. With this on my mind, I had a really hard time bidding Grandma good bye that evening as we dropped her back off at the rest home she resides at. I couldn't help but wonder if that was the last time I'd see her in this life. It still makes me sad to ponder this.
Monday, I was on the road with mom and dad. I was crammed in the back of their faithful Sentra. Lucky for me I was sitting next to all of the road trip snacks mom packed for their month journey. We stopped by a Russell Stover's Discount store. Everything was 70% Off. We loaded up on as much chocolate as we thought would make it in the hot car. We had enough of the sweets to keep us going for the rest of the trip. We landed for the night in Branson, Missouri where we took in a magic show. I have no idea how the guy did any of his tricks. It was amazing. He made a full helicopter appear right in front of us. It was pretty crazy! It's a very busy tourist town. We stayed overnight and were on the road again on Tuesday morning. We crossed into Kentucky and crossed the Mississippi river. That is quite a site to see when all you are used to are the dry river beds here in Arizona. We arrived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee that evening where I would camp out on my brother's couch the next few nights. It was good to visit with his family. I've not been able to be close to them since I moved from Utah to Arizona and now they live in Tennessee, so our time was valuable there. Nathan loaded us all in the minivan the next day to take us on a beautiful drive to a cave in which we took the walking tour of. It was a very commercialized cave and I think Brad, my oldest brother would have not approved of the big ballroom that came complete with a concession stand in the largest cavern. Brad is an employee of the National Park Service and he's more about preserving such caves from such tourism. Oh well, it was interesting and my nine year old niece wants to get married in the ballroom of that cave. We'll see if she remembers that when it actually comes time to get married. We did some grilling, I made a huge batch of salsa using some fresh peppers Nathan had harvested from MTSU's garden farm. Everyone was saying I was making too much salsa, but it was nearly gone by the time I left to return home! Nathan showed us around the area pointing out nurseries that seemed to dot the country side. Since he's the "plant nerd" we all appreciate these things more now. On the Fourth of July we all climbed into the van again and went to Smithville, TN. There was a bluegrass jamboree going on for the 4th. The streets were lined with craft booths. The music stage had a live band that was playing tunes for the clogging competition. There were food vendors selling things like fried green tomatoes, gator on a stick, shark on a stick and anything deep fried! Mom was brave and purchased a gator on a stick. Mom, Dad and Liz tried it, I was the only one not bothered enough by the flavor to finish it off. I think I mainly tasted the greasy breading. The meat was a combination of chicken meats fish. Sort of weird. We wondered until we wanted real food and opted to leave the festival to find a park to have a picnic, feasting on turkey and salami sandwiches with potato salad. The park was nice and we lounged until our tummies were full and the ducks in the pond were fed as well. Our next family adventure was to let Nathan just drive the country side, get lost and enjoy the area. We saw lots of really nice nurseries, farmlands and wooded areas so different from what I'm used to. We ended up finding a really nice lake where we stopped for a quick photo. We got down to a quarter tank of gas, a weird clicking noise (they think as a result of my poor nephew having crashed the van the previous night) and a time deadline for Pierce (the nephew) to get home to go to work at his job. Nathan plugged in his GPS and the nice lady told us how to get home again. Fireworks at MTSU were wonderful. Their symphony did a wonderful job at accompanying the show. We returned home to shoot off our own fireworks. Since we grew up in Utah, fireworks like these were not available for use. So Nate and I went crazy buying fireworks we didn't know what they did. Only one went a stray towards mom and dad's parked car. Only one was still on fire when it hit the rooftop, but no damage was done. The only one left shattered by the fireworks was their poor dog Cornflower! I was headed home the following day with fond memories and love for my family. It's good to be home, but always good to have opportunity to visit with family for quality time. I love you guys! Thank you so much for such a great time!
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