Trip to Utah - Part 1

We had a fun summer but then life happened - a very busy life - and we got out of the habit writing about our experiences. We’ll try to catch up quickly.

After we got back from our trip to Eastern Europe we had about 10 days to catch up on things at home and then we took a 3-week trip to Utah to visit our family there. This was probably the first time when we had so many adventures getting there. Chicago experienced a huge rain storm right before we got there and was so backed up that they canceled most of the flights out including the flight to Salt Lake City that we were supposed to take. They rerouted us trough San Francisco but the flight wasn’t until the next morning, so we had to spend the night in Chicago. When we got to San Francisco, the jet-way wouldn’t connect to our plane for a long time so we missed out flight to Salt Lake City. United didn’t have any flights out for the same day which all six of us could be on, so they bought us tickets on Delta. Finally 30 hours later than expected we made it to Utah!

Gingerbread cookie gift from Lufthansa, which was celebrating 25 years of service to Astana.

Waiting for our flight to Frankfurt in Astana's new airport terminal

Chicago - waiting for our flight after spending the night in a hotel after our flight was cancelled the day before.

We had a lot of fun with our family and friends there. This time around we decided not to take any additional trips anywhere else but just stay in Utah. I think by July we were already tired of all of the traveling we’d done so far and just wanted to stay in one place for a change.

I think the first outing we did was to the convention center in Sandy to see the floats that were going to be participating in the 24^th of July Parade in Salt Lake City. There were so many fun floats but most of us voted for one particular one that ended up winning the first place!

Looking at floats with Oma.

The varieties of floats were very interesting.

This was the winning float.  It had a working flour mill and sawmill on it.

One of the most fun things we did while in Utah was getting together with our long-time friends Nicole and Steve and their family that we haven’t seen in 5 years. We lived in Iowa City together and became fast friends! Our kids went to the same school, even the same class. Then life took them to Texas and us to Las Vegas first and then to Kazakhstan. This was the first time when at least for one day we ended up at the same place at the same time! We decided to get together at one of the parks up the Provo Canyon, and it was like those five years never happened! We love you, guys!

Kids doing kid stuff together.

Having fun hiking on the trail together....it's a very developed trail.

The adults being grown up.

Great picture of the crew together.

The kids sat at their own table when we went to eat.

Nicole and me - five years and we haven't missed a beat.

The same day we met with Steve and Nicole, we went to the Spanish Fork Rodeo and we brought Oma and Burl, Shellee, and Brennen with us. We went to this rodeo 2 years ago and really enjoyed it, and this time around was no different.

Waiting for the action to begin.

Bronco busting!

Barrel racing was awesome.

Bull riding never disappoints.  The bulls were very aggressive.

The next few days was the Willardson Family Reunion most of which we spent at various places in Ephraim. Cousins had fun swimming at the Palisade Park, and fishing at the Community Canyon Reservoir as well as well as playing games at the hotel, eating at the Fat Jack's Pizza (now Roy's Pizza) and the next day having a lunch and a talent show at Ben’s house in Springville.

Boy cousins - our girls not pictured :) - at Palisade Reservoir

Girl cousins minus Tess (working cherries) and Aubree (on her mission in Peru).

Ephraim canyon on the way to the community reservoir.

At the skyline - we missed the turnoff, and hit the peak of the mountain where there was still snow in July!

Fishing at Community (Spring Hill)

Picnic lunch at the Ephraim Park - playing pioneer bingo with Oma.

To be continued...

Victory Day Military Parade

Last week we had two federal holidays in a row. The first one was the Defender of the Fatherland Day (in other words Armed Forces Day). It is celebrated on February 23 in a lot of former Soviet Union Republics since 1919 except here in Kazakhstan where they celebrate it on May 7. I am not sure why. It is a big holiday here and can be compared to American Veteran’s Day and Father’s Day put together.

Two days later on May 9 we celebrate Victory Day which marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany and the end of WWII or the Great Patriotic War as it is often called here. The surrender document was signed late on the night of 8^th of May 1945 but in Moscow it was already 9^th of May and that is why Victory Day here is celebrated on the 9^th. It is one of the biggest holidays in a lot of former Soviet Union Republics and this year it was special because it has been 70 years since the war ended in which Soviet Union lost about 50 million people.

Usually there is a military parade on May 9 but this year it was held on May 7 (Defender of the Fatherland Day) because Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan, was going to the Victory Day Parade in Moscow on the 9^th where he was one of the key guests.  For about 2 weeks before the parade we saw them practicing. On the way to church we would see some tanks and other heavy machinery. For a few days we saw fighter jets flying in different formations. It was great! We couldn't go see the actual parade because it was on the other side of the river and they cut off the traffic to the area of the parade, so we decided to go to one of the major squares where they put up big screens to watch the parade live.

Walking to Bayterek to watch the parade live on the screens

We invited our friends, the Petersons, to come with us. It was a very warm day, and the leaves on the trees just came out a few days earlier, so everything was dressed in that beautiful light green spring color. There were just a few people when we arrived at Bayterek square but soon more and more people started to show up. We found a nice spot to sit at the foot of the tower with a good view of the screens, the square, and the presidential palace where we could see the air show.

Spencer and the kids with the Peterson kids sitting at the foot of Bayterek watching the parade.

The stage with two screens on the sides at Bayerek.

The view of the Presidential Palace.

The parade was beautifully organized, and featured both historical (from the WWII era) and modern equipment. The largest military parade in Kazakhstan’s history gathered over 5 thousand military personnel, 200 pieces of military equipment and 70 helicopters and military airplanes.We really loved the air show when the military helicopters, fighter jets and other military planes flew in different formations with the last fighter jet formation being a number 70 for the 70^th anniversary since the ending of WWII. At the end they wrote a big “70” in the sky with the smoke.

Beginning of the Parade.

Tanks. 

Veterans of WWII, Just a few of them are still living.

Military helicopters

Jets escorting a transport plane (I think it is TU 134)

New Su-30 SM Flankers purchased from Russia. It is probably hard to see from this angle but they are flying as number 70

After it was over we walked to Keruen Mall for some ice cream where we also found some displays with the pictures of men and women who went to war from this area and with some pieces from their letters to home. It was really neat.

 

The square was full of people who came to watch the parade.

A display at Keruen Mall with the photographs of the people who went to WWII from this area.

I hope our kids will remember this day. All of their great grandfathers went to that war. One of their Russian grandfathers was killed at the very beginning; the other went all the way to Berlin and was there on the day the capitulation was signed. He made it home but died years later from a piece of shrapnel that was never removed from his body. Both of their American great grandparents answered the call and went to war even though they didn't see any action themselves because it was over before they got there. I hope they will remember their heritage and I hope they will remember the sacrifices that so many men, women, and even children paid so they can have the freedom.