Mebourne Pettys

Vern and I return from USA, Austin turns thirteen and had the Easter basketball tournament.

The first of April found Vern and I in Las Vegas. We went for a walk up and down the strip then checked out and headed north. We stopped off at a shopping centre and ended up buying a cheap phone. Vern can’t go far without a phone. We stopped for lunch in St George Utah for lunch and a look around the Temple. It was a beautiful warm day and the landscape is so strange around there.

We dropped into David and Laurie’s place on the way through and said hello. The Chadderton family arrived shortly after we did so we had a nice visit and had a look around their cool little home. We left them to it and headed off to Alma and Audrey Callister’s place in West Jordan. They took us out to dinner at a local Mexican place.

Vern and I got up early and headed into the city for General Conference. It took us a bit of time to locate the ticket office but once we found it and got tickets for all the sessions they let us straight in. The Conference Centre is a very impressive building and we sat in different sections for each session. We liked it a lot and really enjoyed the music. Singing with 20,000 people was something to remember. I dropped Vern off at Falecia’s hair salon while I went to the Priesthood session. Afterwards we all met up at the Hotel that Janet was staying at. Bernie Brayton and missionary that served in our Ward was there with his wife and had a lovely visit.

We woke up on Sunday to snow everywhere and it snowed on and off all day. Vern and I loved it. Alma had lent me an overcoat and Vern had a big jacket so we were fine. In between sessions we met the Watsons who were over as well and had lunch with them. After the last session we finally found Sister Danielle Bryers as we walked through Temple Square. She was really excited to see us and we had a long chat in the falling snow. That evening we went down to Orem to have dinner with the Petty and Chadderton families who are all staying there.

Vernice picks up the story from here;

Tuesday 5th April dawned sunny and clear, the Mountains looked great we spent the day with the Petty family. We started off with a lovely lunch that Aunty Ceri had prepared and then we went to do bowling at the BYU campus. We all went so we had the Chaddertons, Nan, the Christchurch Pettys, the Pleasant Grove Pettys, and the Melbourne Pettys with Aunty Janet. It would have been nice to have all our kids there but that was not to be. I thought it was quite an impressive gathering of the Petty family. We all had fun playing our games luckily I didn’t suck as badly as I usually do but I think Dad won on our Lane and Anna came 2nd. I think Jonathan won on the other lane and Uncle David won the 3rd lane. It was fun. We then went for dinner, a couple of us got lost and ended up in a different place so we just got something and went back to the house as the missionary who helped teach Nan was coming over to visit with the family. It was really nice to be able to talk to him and spend some more time with the family.

Tuesday 5th April we had to meet the Chaddertons at BYU campus as we were meeting for lunch with Vernon Heperi and also my friends from Darwin the Eggingtons. Bill and Pam were in Darwin while I was on my mission. He was the District President while I was there but they originally come from Brisbane, he is in the English Dept at BYU and so Vernon got him to come to lunch with us. Nan came also and we had a lovely lunch in the Skyroom, then we went back to Dean Heperi’s office to get t-shirts and wait for our tour guides to show us around campus. Vernon went to school with Nathan, Janet and I and his mum was my dorm parent for a couple years. He’s a really great guy and still funny as. It was so nice of him to arrange everything for us we really appreciate it. We got 2 golf buggy things that have tour guides to ferry us around the campus it was pretty VIP and we had a great time.

We took Nan with us and went into the Carl Bloch art exhibition that was being shown at BYU. He is the guy who has done so many of the portraits and pictures that we use in the church. Afterwards we went to the book store and got Elder Petty’s scriptures and a few things. It was a beautiful exhibition and Dad and I didn’t realise how many of his paintings are hanging in our chapels and temples. Having some time we went for a little drive up the Provo Canyon and look at Sundance. Then we headed down to Manti arriving about 8pm, checked into our Motel and then had some dinner at the little restaurant across the car park.

Wednesday 6th April we were up pretty early as we had to be at the temple at 7.30. It was cold but clear and the Manti Temple sure is pretty. Its so lovely I don’t think you could take a terrible picture of that temple. Inside it is gorgeous and the sealing of William and Jessica was really nice. I’m so glad we were able to go, and to have more than one family of Pettys in the same place is quite an achievement. Uncle David and Olivia took some great photo’s afterwards even though it was freezing. I’m sure they will be top quality he’s such a professional and all his girls are avid photographers too.

For the reception we had a brunch of pancakes, scones and ham with cake for the reception. It was a nice intimate affair with Jessica’s family and William’s family. Other than the food it was a Japanese theme and the food was nice and we got to meet everyone. It was all over by about midday and after saying our goodbyes to the happily married couple and family we headed back to West Jordan. The chapel we had the reception in was really something. It was built before the temple and the chapel was amazing, altogether a very impressive building. Manti reminded Janet and I of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls only minus the good coffee joints or any coffee for that matter.

That evening we met Falecia, her son Cole and her sister Jenny Zurzolo at a Mexican restaurant in SLC. It was Red Iguana apparently the best Mexican in town. It was very yummy thats for sure. Jenny had flown in from Denver that afternoon so she could see us and spend a couple days with Falecia which I thought was really nice. Once again great company and good food makes for a very pleasant evening. We went back to Alma’s and visited for a bit with him and Audrey before we crashed.

Thursday 7th April Nathan and I dropped Janet off at the Gateway which is a shopping place in the city and then went to the temple. This definitely was one of the high lights of our trip. We got to be the witness couple in a live session and while were sitting in the chapel before the session started I recognised the missionary that was on our flight from Auckland to LA so I went and talked to him and found out he had just finished his mission and had served in Wellington NZ mission and knew Elder McLean and Elder Triantafillakos I think his name was Cord!! What a very small world, he was there with his mother. The Salt Lake temple is beautiful Nathan and I were just gawking at stuff the whole time. It was very impressive.

After the session we met up with Cami and Jackie Vaetoe and their kids. They are Uncle By and Aunty Leesha’s brother’s kids, Uncle Darren. It was so very good to see them. We all went to Chuck A Rama for lunch which is a smorgesboard and we really liked it. We stayed there til about 3.30pm and had a really good visit with them. They live in Ogden which is North of Salt Lake City so nice of them to come in and see us. Cami had her four kids Dezmin, Damien, Divinity and D’Angelo and her stepson Isaac. They’re so cute she also has two other step daughters’ named Yoshi and Yamauri who weren’t with her but these 3 kids are her boyfriend Isaacs kids. She works full-time and has just got a house and has all these little kids I think she is amazing. She’s a gorgeous girl too. Jackie is so beautiful she reminds me a lot of her daddy we got to meet her two kids Enrique who is five and a darker complexion and Elijah who is two, blonde, with fair skin and blue eyes.

The weather was really bad but that evening we went to the Jazz v Portland game. It was pretty woeful for Jazz but it certainly is a great atmosphere. Even with the weather being as crappy as it was the place sure filled up. Portland dominated the game. Aunty Janet and Alma came with us and we were sitting in different spots but ended up in the same area by the end of the night. It was a good night despite the rain. Alma and Audrey are such lovely people. They are so generous, its been nice staying with them and a bonus having Aunty Janet with us, you know she is always great value.

Friday 8th April we left about 9am and took the truck to head down to Bryce Canyon. It was blizzard like snow but even under these conditions it’s a pretty spectacular place. Nathan wanted to look at rocks while he was here and that’s exactly what we did. They were all bright orange covered in snow, quite the sight. Aunty Janet and Nathan walked along the ridge from one lookout point to the other. The amazing thing about that is there’s no safety railings or anything just a straight drop down if you fall. Nathan got to drive the truck for a bit and its a pretty big truck too. Americans and their trucks! You know I can see why they have them in Utah but they’d look pretty silly in Melbourne. After site-seeing through Bryce Canyon Alma had to be at the pre-dinner for the wedding he was attending the next day. Thats why we were able to get down there as Alma’s friends were having a wedding near Zion National Park. They had hired out a ranch and the wedding was there in the snow!

We were wanting to slip into a cabin and enjoy the sites without going to the wedding as we didn’t know these people but that was not to be. We ended up right in the middle of the dinner arrangements and managed to get out of those as we felt quite uncomfortable, not that the wedding party and family made us feel that way but, we did that on our own. We ended up just going back to the other house rented by the grooms dad Tom Rosenberg while the dinner was on. That was a bit better. The ranch really looked like those ranches on TV it was so picturesque and when Alma came back he bought us dinner of buffalo meat and instructions that we had to go to the wedding the next evening. We hadn’t packed anything so we became the Australian Wedding Crashers.

Saturday 9th April most of the house ended up going to Zion park to get some breakfast which was about 1pm by the time we did that as no-one seemed to be serving breakfast. We found a little diner in a place called Blondies and had breakfast there for about 15 of us. The rest of them went back to the house to chill and then get ready for the wedding and we went on to do the tourist stuff at Zion Park. It was a crappy day but we did have bursts of sunshine which is quite impressive amongst the whiteness of the snow. We got some spectacular view and pictures and it was well worth our while coming down and looking at rocks! The wedding was a t 5pm so after our sight seeing we went back to the house to change into what we had on and pack our stuff in the truck as we were leaving after the wedding. The wedding was beautiful they are a very good looking couple and there were some good looking guests there too. Don’t know if we really fitted in but they were all so nice. Nathan helped pack and stack chairs as the wedding was on the mountain under shelter and the reception was in a barn really nicely decked out. We didn’t stay for the reception but it certainly was a nice affair. We got home about 11.30pm and were waisted but it was a good trip. We visited with Audrey for a bit before we went to bed.

Sunday 10th April we got up and went to church in Uncle David’s ward. Nathan wanted to see what church would be like in ZION!! It was testimony meeting so that should tell you something. Their ward is only a couple blocks and when we walked in they had seats all set out extending into the rec hall and by the end of the meeting it was all full. There was a baby blessing so that could account for some of it. But we attended all meetings and they were good. Olivia and Jane bore their testimonies which were great, they are such lovely girls. Olivia came and got me after Sunday school class to go and speak to some of her friends who wanted to hear the accent it was cute.

We went around to Uncle David’s after church and while we were there the home teachers came walking around the corner, Nathan got a real kick out of that. We went back to Orem to where Nan and Uncle Mark were staying to visit with the newly married and the family for the last time before we had to go to lunch at my cousin Ruth Boxall’s house. She is my cousin on Nana’s side. Her grandmother and Nana’s grandmother are sisters and she has a lot of genealogy that Nana wanted and we came away with a lot of work to do which is great. We had a really nice visit with them her uncle Joseph Maere came and his family who Nathan and I went to school with also Mark Burgess and his family who we went to school with also. His sister is Joanne Martin who lives in Gold Coast. It really was a lovely visit with them. Great food and good company again makes for a very enjoyable evening. In there little street lives their Stake President, their Bishop and Victor who is Ruth’s husband is in the bishopric and also their neighbour is Hyrum Smith great grandson I think he’s in his 80’s now. We went back to the Callisters and visited with their family as Chabre had come home from uni to visit with us and their eldest daughter and her husband came over to visit with us also and of course their youngest daughter Cassidy was there as she’s still in High School. It was really nice to hang out with them. They are real good people.

Monday 11th April we allotted as our shopping day and headed out to go and find the stuff on the list the kids had given me to get while we were there. It was a full day we picked up Olivia because she knew where some of the stuff was and we spent a lovely morning with her. She had just been with the Petty’s in Orem as they were all flying back to NZ today except the newly weds who have some more time on their own before they fly back to Christchurch to start their new life together. We dropped Olivia off at around 2pm and then proceeded on with more shopping.

We had a good day and got everything we needed and came home and went out to dinner with the Alma, Audrey and Cassidy at the Cheesecake Factory which is not like our cheesecake factory as it was a restaurant with really good food and cheesecakes. Dad wanted of course an American meal and had chicken and biscuits he enjoyed that. While we were there we saw a polygamist man and a couple of his wives, only in Utah. We went home full and content chatted a bit then went to bed. What I especially love is the NBA thats on all the time its great to see all the games I loved it.

Tuesday 12th April I was meeting up with Falecia and Nathan and I wanted to do the Church History tour so we went back into Salt Lake and Janet went to the Gateway while we did the tour. This too was something that we loved it we took our time going around it and really enjoyed the whole experience. It certainly is an amazing place and to read the history of how Salt Lake came about was great. We met Aunty Janet at the Deseret Book Store afterwards and bought a few more things.

Nathan and Janet dropped me off at Falecia’s Salon while they went to get a bit of lunch and then go to the airport to pick up Johnnie who was flying in. I had a lovely afternoon with Falecia, we went to lunch and then went back to her house. She has a lovely townhouse not far from the city so we could go and chill there. It’s certainly been nice spending time with her. We met Dad at her Salon at about 5pm as he had gone and done a little more sight seeing after dropping Aunty Janet and Johnnie off at the hotel. He went up to Ensign Peak and found the area we’re going to buy our house in when we move to Utah, like that’s ever gonna happen!

That evening we then took the Callisters out to dinner. We went to their favourite Sushi restaurant which was really nice and then afterwards had icecream at a place that mixes whatever you want into the icecream. I have to say America has a really big variety of stuff and things are always bigger but I still have to say that the Aussie/Kiwi candy and chocolate would have to be the best absolutely no doubt. I actually don’t like American candy at all which is definitely a good thing for me. Once again, good food and great company has been the theme of our trip, It was an enjoyable time. We had to say our goodbyes to Audrey before we went to bed as she would be gone in the morning when Alma dropped us off at the airport. We stayed up and visited for a while.

Wednesday 13th April our last day here in not so sunny Utah. We packed our bags and then met Janet, Johnnie and Falecia in the city for lunch before we were dropped off at the airport. We first had to pick up Cassidy at school so she could come with us. I went in with Alma so I could have a nosey at their school. Cassidy showed me around where the gym was and on our way we went past the Choir room which is the Glee Club and also the dance class and the gym was huge. It had four courts there and there was a class in at that time. On our way back to the car we also ran into some kids practising their lines for drama in the corridor it was a happening 10 mins. It was very interesting and well worth me poking around. We had a nice lunch and Alma and Falecia got to meet Johnnie and then we were dropped off at the airport ready for three consecutive plane rides home.

Our flight was at 3.30pm to LA and so after checking in we finally got to rest and wait for a little bit. Our plane was a tiny little thing only 3 seats wide, which also added to our little adventure. When we got to LA we had to get our bags and find a shuttle to the Air NZ departure area. It’s a very big airport but we had a lot of time. Our flight was at 9.30pm and we arrived at about 5pm so after checked our bags in to Melbourne we settled down to a long wait. We had some dinner at Burger King and then waited to board. Our flight was delayed but we finally got on at about 10ish and settled in for a long flight. I could only get about a couple hrs of sleep and ended up watching movies. We had some kick arse seats on that plane and it was a pretty pleasant flight all things considered.

After landing in Melbourne we got our bags and Marion and Calvin picked us up. Calvin had a neighbours shoot so after dropping dad and the bags off Marion and I took Calvin to his shoot which was only an hour and then did a bit of shopping at Knox City. Marion had a YSA dance that night and Cal had a couple things he wanted to get. Luckily Cal drove us home because I was getting pretty knackered by the end of the day. The kids liked all the stuff they got and it made it easier that I got specific instructions on what to buy as it made the experience a lot less pressured. By the end of the day Nathan and I crashed early

Saturday 16th April Nathan and I were up early and he had to fix Carmen’s bed make a study table for Marion and we cleaned the house and did the washing all back to normal the holiday now just a memory. The next time would be nice to have kids with us but who knows if there’ll even be a next time.

Sunday 17th April we’re back at church in Fairfield, Marion had a YSA fireside in Wantirna and Carmen, Nathan and I had the YW broadcast which was good. I love our Sundays we get to talk with you kids and just spending time with you all is a real treat for us and one that Nathan and I cherish so much. We really like you kids go figure.

Back to boring me;

Back to work and it is really busy. I lost another member of my team this week; Olivia has taken the package and has moved on. She was happy to go. Our Ward had temple baptisms so I took down Austin and Carmen; we stopped by McDonalds on the way home.

Friday the twenty-second was Easter so we had a long weekend. As normal Vern was involved in the Easter basketball competition and we had a house full of her family who are down to play. They all headed down to Dandenong early Friday morning and didn’t come back until Saturday night. I had the house to myself for two days and was looking forward to getting some Playstation time in but the network was down so I just watched TV instead.
Vern spoke in church on Easter Sunday about the Atonement and did a great job. All her family came along to hear her speak. After church we had a big lunch. Austin turned thirteen on the twenty second so we had his cake on the Sunday. That evening we went down Wantirna for a fireside organise by the Basketball gang. It was good, Vern sung and the speakers were good.

Monday the twenty fifth and Tuesday the twenty sixth were public holidays. Monday morning Vern, Courtney and I went for a walk around Coburg North and the Merri Lake. That night most of the gang went into the city to watch Melbourne Storm play the New Zealand Warriors rugby league team and I took Carmen, Jardine and Pahnia to see a movie. Vern’s family headed back to Canberra on the Tuesday.