Moving to our new apartment

We moved to our new apartment on St Patrick's Day.  Green became the color of our cleaning.  Green shirts to clean in, green gloves, and a green broom. - Thank goodness what Richard swept up wasn't green.  We even had Green 409 - and it really worked.  After sweeping came mopping.  I think Richard was hoping he might find gold at the end of this chore - or at least a rainbow.  No such luck, though.  Finally we made it to our new apartment where there are green plants, green trees and flowers.  Yea for the Luck of the Irish.

Martha Sharp

One of the people on the Mormon Battalion March was Martha Sharp.  She was played by Kym.  She is a drama teacher at BYU and came by to see how she looked in the production.  She was pregnant when she made the film and the baby she is holding was born after she finished.  She had never seen the finished production so it was a surprise to her as well.  She said her family really enjoyed the whole thing.  It was fun to have this "celebrity" come through.  We all had to have our picture with her.

Heather Jensen and family at the Battalion

     There was a family taking pictures by the cannon so I went to ask them if I could take their picture.  Surprise!  It was Heather Jensen and her family.  They lived in our ward when their oldest daughter Alisa was 1.  She's now 16 and driving.  It was so fun to take them through the Battalion and as you can see they really enjoyed panning for gold.

A-6 on the Midway

The Aircraft Carrier Midway

While Darlene and Richard were here we toured the Aircraft Carrier Midway.  There was an A-6 on it with a zillion other planes.  The unique thing about the A-6 is that it is the plane that my brother Vern flew while he was in the Navy.  It was a big plane that could refuel in the air during the Vietnam War.  The pilot and navigator sat side by side.  It was a reminder of the sacrifice so many have given to keep our country a land of freedom and opportunity.  I'm not sure if he flew onto the Midway but he did fly from an aircraft carrier when he was at sea.  
   The aircraft carrier is huge.  When at sea, besides all of the planes and other things, there were 4300 people aboard.  

Darlene and Richard enlisting in the MormonBattalion

Getting outfitted

   We were so excited to have company from home.  Darlene and Richard came to visit us.  They enjoyed the tour and were excited to watch some church videos in one of the two theaters we have.
They stayed several days and even though it was chilly, it was still warmer than Utah. 
   They were staying at a picturesque park in Bonita.  The shade and space for their 5th wheel was ideal.  It was about a half hour drive from San Diego so we went there for dinner.  Dinner was good but the company was great.  Thanks for coming to San Diego.

Jeff and Michelle visit

Jeff and Michelle

We were conducting tours one day when one of the couples came to relieve us saying that someone from American Fork was here to see us.  Imagine our surprise when we saw Jeff and Michelle.  They were in San Diego for the BYU game - which they said was awesome - and came to the Battalion.  We took them through the Battalion and went out to dinner afterwards where we caught up on each other's families.  One thing that we have found at the Battalion is the number of people who have ancestors that went on the march who are drawn to the Mormon Battalion Historical Site.  It was fun to show Michelle and Jeff some of the actual historical things that have been donated - two muskets - one that has the name of the Battalion member who owned it carved in the Stock.  There's a fife that the great-great grandson of George Washington Taggert, the Battalion member who owned it, was surprised to find it here.  He had wondered what had happened to it. 

Keeping busy is Richard's motto and he has done some painting at the Battalion.  He scraped and painted the platform the pump was sitting on.  He said it was good to use his muscles once again.  He definitely misses his shop at home, Then, he painted the water pump out in the activities area.  It's now a bright red! He also painted the wheels on the Cannon out front.  We'll have to admit that supervising is something we're learning to enjoy.  The sisters take most of the tours so we look forward to the transition times when we can help them with that.