I AM OLD

Well, here we are in the thick of the holidays! In some ways I love it, in some ways I don’t. I’ve got 2 more weeks of school and then I’m done! We have friends from Los Angeles coming to stay for a few days before Christmas, and also Ingrid, Jeff and Kalvin will be here for a few days after that. Something to look forward to! However, I still have shopping to do. And I hate the cold.

At the beginning of November I had to pick up a new hearing aid for my mom – her old one had a tear in it. I also canned tomatoes. ..What?? Yes, I had picked a bunch of tomatoes off the vine when the first frost came and I had them in the window ripening. So, it wasn’t a big batch. I still have 3 tomatoes in the window that are green! One night we went down to Ralph and Sandy Edson’s for dinner in their new house. He used to play guitar in the band that we were in when we lived in Los Angeles. They moved up here after he retired, and have now built a beautiful new house. It was a nice evening.

I have been to a couple of doctor’s this month. I went to the eye doctor – this time an ophthamologist instead of just an optometrist – to have the cataracts in my right eye checked. I guess they aren’t getting much bigger so I can wait awhile for surgery. My prescription hadn’t changed much, either. Then I also went to see the doctor about my hip joint. It has been bothering me for some time, but progressively keeps getting worse. First it started hurting all the time when I was on the treadmill (fast walk – not run), so we got a stationary bicycle for me to ride. That’s been a lot better because I don’t put any weight on my hip during exercise, but my hip has continued to get worse. It’s not too bad if I’m just around the house, but if I have to walk any distance (like into a store) I have a noticeable limp and it really hurts. So, the regular doctor had me get an x-ray. Nothing showed up, so I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this Friday. I hope they can do something non-evasive for it – cortisone shots, maybe?

We had our Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday night so that Heidi could join us. She had to work on Thursday. Tyler also joined us, so there were 6 of us. It was very simple, but gave us a chance to reflect on all that we have. Tyler stayed that night and helped Randy put up the Christmas lights the next morning. The 3 of us went to see “The Big Year” that day. It is a movie about bird watching. It doesn’t sound too exciting, but the stars are Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. Narration is done by John Cleese, and a few other stars that I recognized were Kevin Pollack, JoBeth Williams, Dianne Weist, Brian Dennehy, Anjelica Huston, and Corbin Bernsen. We loved it. I still keep hearing the ring tone “♪…the bird is the word… ♫” We came back home and had leftovers and pie. It was kind of nice to not have to do Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving!!

For the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, Randy and I decided to have a “stay-cation.” Friday morning we went to an art gallery downtown called the “Rio Gallery.” They didn’t have much there, but it was enjoyable to walk around and look at the paintings and sculptures that were on display. Following that we were going to go to a much larger art gallery, the “Hope Gallery,” but it was closed for the long weekend. We will definitely have to go there someday, however. They have some pieces from at least 25 different artists, including some of the masters (Rembrandt, Carl Bloch, etc). So, instead we went to the State Capitol building and walked through it. The offices there were also closed, but we could see the paintings, murals, and sculptures that are placed all around the inside. There were also a lot of other displays to see. From there we found a hotel room and then grabbed some lunch. Next we attended a play at the Desert Star Playhouse. It was a satire (as are all their productions) of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It was pretty funny. Then the actors and actresses sang a handful of Christmas carols. It was enjoyable. From there we went to Tepanyaki for dinner and then went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool (Randy only – it was too cold for me) and to sit in the Jacuzzi (both of us).

The following morning we ate breakfast in the hotel lobby (there was also a small-college basketball team there) and then checked out. We drove up to the University and went through their new Natural History Museum. It was beautiful, and quite large. I always get a little put off when they start talking about “millions of years,” but we enjoyed it on the whole.

From there we went to see the movie “The Help” about black families in the South that were no longer slaves, but were basically still treated like they were by the families that they worked for, and how a newspaper reporter writes a book about it. It was excellent. After that, we went to the Living Planet Aquarium and looked at all the underwater life there. It was a pretty good museum, although not too large, and we especially enjoyed watching the penguins. There was glass so that you could see them both above and below the water and they kept chasing each other around and jumping in and out of the water. We then grabbed some dinner at Fazoli’s Italian restaurant (fast food) before going to IKEA. I thought we would just be in and out quickly, but NO. We finally found the exit without getting anything, and left and drove home. It was nice to get away for a couple of days and not think of work or school, but it was also nice to be home and sleep in our own bed!

Finally, I attended a missionary farewell for Clint Hubbard, the youngest son of Connie (Mach) Hubbard. It was nice. It’s hard to believe that everyone around my age has all their children grown – I. AM. OLD!!

Here comes November...!

Well, I continue to be amazed at our incredible weather. I am loving it!! Ends tomorrow, though…

General Conference was the first weekend of October. It was great, as usual. I got to watch all the sessions and I even watched the Priesthood session online after-the-fact. Our November Ensign should be here sometime by the next week and I’ll get to read all of the talks, plus I also get the CD’s so that I can listen to them in the car. Those usually come in a month or so. I am in awe that I live at a time when the words of our modern prophets are so available.

We also had our Stale Conference this last month. On the Saturday evening where adults are invited, the Stake Presidency and all of their wives spoke. That was nice. Then on Sunday morning, it was actually a Regional Stake Conference, so it was broadcast from the Conference Center downtown. We got to hear the General Presidents of the Young Men (David L. Beck) and Young Women (Elaine S. Dalton), a member of the seventy (Craig C. Christensen), and the main speaker was the Apostle David L. Bednar. It was also a really good meeting.

We had the Primary Sacrament Meeting program last month. All of the kids did a great job on their parts, and they sang their hearts out. I have found a few tricks during Primary that gets them to really sing. I have an assortment of silly hats and I bring one every so often. The class that sings the loudest, or the best, gets to have their teacher wear the hat during the next song. I am amazed at how well they do just to see their teacher look ridiculous. The older Primary kids are very competitive. If I have a reward for the half of the room that sings best/loudest they will sing real well, so I try to come up with new ways of doing that. It is wearing me out, but I love to hear them sing!

Jesse and Amanda went on a cruise in the Mediterranean that they really enjoyed. Tyler came over and helped Randy put in storm doors on the French doors off the dining room. (Randy had previously put a storm door on the front door.) Heidi ran in a half marathon for the first time and did real well even though the farthest she had ever run in training was 5 miles. Ingrid and Jeff dressed up as gypsies for a Halloween party with Kalvin as their monkey. And Dylan’s letters from the mission field sound as if he continues doing well and enjoying his service. This picture is from a Zone Conference that he attended. He is the second from the right.

Monday night was Halloween and we had lots of trick-or-treaters come by – not as many as in years past though. Connie handed out the candy again this year. So (big breath) – holidays, here we come…!

Goodbye to fair weather.

Well, I can’t complain about it being October – the weather has been beautiful. It has felt like San Diego for a couple of weeks! The lows at night have been in the high 50’s and the highs during the day have been in the mid 80’s – perfect.

At the beginning of September Randy and I attended a free Billy Dean concert down in Payson. They also had free ice cream, kettle corn and drinks! We have a CD that Billy, Marvin Goldstein and Thurl Bailey performed together on, and we love it. Marvin actually came out and played piano for a few songs at this concert. We didn’t stay for Billy’s second set since it was on a week night, but we really enjoyed what we got to see and hear.

I have been a little reluctant to give blood at blood drives anymore, because I usually don’t feel too good for a few days, but our Stake had one, so I went. They had a hard time keeping my blood flowing because my veins are so small, but I finally filled up the bag (after they messed around with the needle several times) and I actually didn’t feel bad at all afterwards. And, my bruise was small.

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner one night. They have a new challenge where you make a list of non-member friends and pray for them every day for 3 weeks. The sisters will visit them, if possible . The promise is that after this 3-week period one of those individuals will be prepared to receive the missionary lessons. We will start this program as soon as I finish these two classes that I’m in right now. We have had several letters from Dylan since he arrived in Ohio. It sounds like he is loving it and doing great. They were scheduled to have a baptism last week.

An old friend of Randy’s, Gene Vice, visited from Alaska for a few days. He was one of Randy’s best friends when he was growing up in Topeka, but Randy had lost track of him for the last 30 years or so. Thanks to good ole Facebook, he actually found Randy and asked to be his friend! He was down here visiting his kids, so he stayed at our place for a couple of nights and drove around with Randy one day.

We celebrated my mom’s birthday on the Sunday following her 93^rd birthday. We had a lot of family over, so that is always fun. The kids ate their cake and ice cream outside and played on the trampoline. I also provided them with sidewalk chalk this time, and they were able to draw all over the basketball court.

This has been our month to clean church facilities, I guess. One week Randy helped to clean the church, another week I helped to clean the church, and one night I helped to clean the temple. What a blessing to be able to help! Our ward’s contribution to the Day of Service was to clean up around a lake and the trail in the woods behind it at a housing development called “The Cove” (it’s about 4 miles up the canyon from my house), to clean up around a walking trail at another park, and to weed an area near the parking lot at church. While I was picking up trash through the woods, I saw a couple of deer. They were only about 15-20 feet from me and they must have been mule deer because they had such big ears. This actually would be a great park for our reunion if we need it this next summer. It has a covered pavilion, sand volleyball court, and there is fishing and ducks to feed around the small lake. I was only able to help for about one hour, but service always feels good!

The General Relief Society broadcast was the last Saturday of September. It was wonderful, as usual. Pres. Uchtdorf spoke, as well as the General Relief Society presidency. Randy and I were gone that Saturday night, so we recorded it and I watched it the next morning. General Conference is this weekend. I always love that. There are so many great messages and there’s always at least one that really applies to me.

So, I have just a few days left of the two classes that I am taking right now (I took a Final for one class last Friday), and then I only have one class left. YEA!!! I have felt pretty good about most of the classes that I have taken and about the instructors. However, one class that I have had this term (Marketing Research) has really got me mad. I have a research report due at the end of class that will serve as the final. I sent the instructor an email asking him about some requirement that seemed impossible, and about how many pages it was supposed to be. He answered me by asking for clarification and what it was in regards to. I thought I had been very clear, but I further clarified my questions and sent them back. He replied using quotes from the book and using one word totally incorrectly so I still wasn’t sure what he meant. And, he didn’t answer me as far as how long it needed to be. So, I sent another email and asked him again how many pages it needed to be and if we needed a reference list (I couldn’t find anywhere in the book or on the instruction sheet that addressed these two questions). I waited 5 days. School policy states that questions will be answered in 48 hours and his class policy states that all correspondence will be answered in 24 hours. So, I sent another email that told him I had been waiting 5 days for the answers to my questions. He replied with “Please refer to assignment requirements.” (the noise you hear is me sounding exasperated) So, I sent him ANOTHER email saying that I had checked all the requirements and the book and couldn’t find any information. I told him that I would only make it long enough to address those things that were expected and I would have no reference list. I also sent a copy of this email (and all the other ones in this chain) to my advisor so that she would know what was going on in the event that I was marked down for those things. When this teacher saw that I had cc’d the email, I received a reply (within one hour)that I was on the right track, and he wanted to know who this other person was. By the way, his emails showed that he did not have a very good grasp on the English language (he is a foreigner – Shahid Sheikh), and all his comments on my essays seem like they are written by another person (or they’ve gone through a translating machine!!). Anyway, I got a call from the school and I could tell the woman I spoke to was really grossed out by the whole situation. She told me a reference list is ALWAYS required for papers. She wanted me to forward any other emails that I had from him to her. So, I may cause him to lose his job, but he really has no business teaching at this level even though he has a PhD (supposedly). If I end up being killed, you will all know why (seriously).

I was supposed to go to jury duty this past week, but I had to call each evening to see if they needed me on the following day. I called Friday evening for Monday – no go. I called Monday evening for Tuesday – no go. I called Tuesday evening for Wednesday – no go. Mind you – I was told I would be penalized ($1000 and/or 30 days in jail) if I didn’t do this and/or show up when I was called. I called Wednesday evening for Thursday and the recording said that I would not have to do jury duty on either Thursday or Friday. It was a relief since I had a proctored final set up for Friday, but it was a hassle to have to call on a daily basis. I guess I still could be called up at any time, but I should at least have several weeks warning before I have to go through this again.

I am NOT ready for summer to end!

Wow. August was quite a month! I knew we had done a lot, but I was amazed when I looked at the calendar. I got pictures of a lot of it, so I will include them.

First, Randy had back trouble (along with his usual Meniere’s and neuropathy –feet- problems). So, his doctor had him go to the chiropractor. I guess he has arthritis in his left hip from all those years of roofing, and he had 3 vertebrae that were smashed together. He saw the chiropractor for several weeks, 3 times a week and they decompressed his spine and generally worked him over. He feels much better now, but I’m not sure how long it will last.

We celebrated Heidi’s 27^th birthday on August 4^th. She has turned out to be a beautiful young woman. I gave Mom another perm, and hopefully got everything straightened out with her hearing aid. It was feeding back horribly, but we think we finally got that taken care of.

We went to a wedding reception for the son (Michael) of my visiting teaching partner, Jill Young. She is divorced, but we got to meet Michael’s dad, also. In addition to being my visiting teaching partner, she was my partner when we were ward missionaries for the first three years after I moved here, and she is wonderful.

Ingrid and Kalvin got to come for the whole week when Jesse would be here and Dylan would leave on his mission. Randy was also able to take vacation time for that week. Jeff stayed in Colorado because their female Vizsla dog was pregnant and about to have puppies. Ingrid drove the full

nine hours here by herself – I think she is very brave. It was very nice to visit with her and bond with 4 ½ month old Kalvin. Jesse and Amanda eloped – they got married on Thursday, August 18^th and then got here on Friday evening and we all went out to dinner at Tepanyaki. It was wonderful and we had a great time with all the kids.

On Saturday we all (except Dylan) went up to Ogden where Heidi, Amanda and Ingrid

participated in a mud run for girls (and 3 guys that were dressed up as girls!!). It was fun to watch and they all did great. Jesse and

Tyler got some good pictures, but they misjudged where they were going at the end, so they missed the very last of it.

For Jesse and Amanda’s reception, we borrowed tables and chairs from people in the ward and set them up on the basketball court. We moved the table and chairs around that are usually on the back porch and strung up some white Christmas

lights outside. We put butcher paper on the tables so kids could color with sidewalk chalk if they wanted to. After we had pizza for dinner – it poured outside! Even though it had stopped by the time the reception began, everything outside was soaked. So, we

changed plans and had everything inside. Tyler went out in the rain and retrieved the lights which we hung up inside. Ingrid decorated our family room and dining room with the vases and paper flowers that Amanda h

ad brought. Amanda had frozen all the food and brought it with them, so we set all of that out on the kitchen counter/bar. They had only received a few RSVP’s so they thought it might be real small, but we actually had a large crowd considering it was just family and a few friends, and it was very enjoyable.

On Sunday Dylan and I spoke in church on the 4^th Article of Faith. He did a great job. Jesse and Amanda went, Tyler was there with Lydia, and Ingrid and Kalvin were there. Randy, my mom, Connie, Derek and his wife Rita, my sister Becky, and Connie Hubbard were also there. Heidi had taken the entire weekend off from work and had intended to be there, but she had participated in a motorcycle ride for fallen police officers that was a lot further away than she anticipated and then started an hour later than she thought it would. So, she didn’t arrive here until Sacrament Meeting was over. Even though Dylan is always saying that all his friends are on missions, he had quite a large group of friends there. That afternoon we drove over to the “Up” house. (Heidi let Jesse and Amanda take her motorcycle). It is a duplicate of the house that is in the animated

movie “Up” and is only a little over a mile from our house. It is pretty amazing.

We celebrated Dylan’s 20^th birthday that night - several weeks early since he will be in the MTC on the actual day. Ingrid and Tyler made ‘beach’ cupcakes since

Ingrid remembered (and we found it on video) that Dylan had wanted to go to Ohio for vacation when he was about 7 years old because of all the beaches there! We also played Pictionary Man with the game that Ingrid got Jesse and Amanda for their wedding – it was a lot of fun.

The kids were talking about hiking up Mt. Timpanogos Sunday night into Monday morning.

However, they decided to just do a shorter hike, so Randy, Ingrid, Kalvin and I were able to go along. It was on the back of Mt. Timpanogos and went up to some waterfalls (Stewart Falls). It was beautiful. It was supposed to take about 45 minutes each way, but because we are old and slow, it took Randy and me a while longer than that. I was sore in my calf muscles for days afterwards – sad. Tuesday night we went to watch Heidi play in a championship coed softball game up at the University of Utah and they won! Then we came home and took Dylan over to the Stake

Presidents office so that he could be set apart for his mission. Ingrid was able to join us for that. Tyler was going to come up, but he got stuck being a ‘good Samaritan’ down in Provo! On the way home from that, Ingrid got run into (with only minor damage and no injuries) and Dylan and Randy joined her for about 1 ½ hours until everything was completed by the police officer.

Wednesday morning I helped Dylan pack everything for the MTC after I got back from taking Connie to work. Tyler even went to one of Dylan’s friend’s houses to try and find some things that had been left there, but didn’t have any luck. We all met down at the Italian Place in Orem (Heidi couldn’t come because she was working at the zoo) and had some steak sandwiches. After saying good-byes, Randy and I drove to the MTC with Dylan.

We said good-bye to him and he had a friend that is already in the MTC that was able to meet him there, so our farewells were quick. I am so proud of him for deciding that this is what he should do. Tyler did say that he was able to see Dylan playing volleyball on Saturday morning when Tyler was on his way up to go rock-climbing, and that he looked happy. We finally heard from him on Wednesday (Aug 31) and it sounds like all is well.

Thursday evening I went to a Primary picnic and ate a wonderful pulled-pork sandwich and had some nice visits with other Primary workers. Randy wasn’t able to go. Then on Saturday Randy went to a park where various bands (including his) were playing and I was able to join him around 6pm. While we were there we ran into Kenny and Susie Lovell – small world. We also heard from Jesse that they had trouble with their car’s radiator in Hays, Kansas on the way home. They had to leave the vehicle there and borrow Amanda’s mother’s car. I hope it doesn’t cost them too much to fix!

Ingrid’s dog had her puppies on Tuesday morning, August 30, 2011. She ended up having eight of them, but one puppy was dead and Ingrid said it looked like he had been dead for awhile. Ingrid had to help a lot, but she said that by the time her dog was having the last few, she finally had the hang of what she needed to do. There are four males and three females and about half of them are already spoken for.

Lastly, my tomato plants are giving us really big tomatoes! I don’t know if it is the kind of plant, or what, but they are huge. Randy wants to eat at least one, but I will probably ‘can’ most of them.

♫ Oh, What do You Do In The Summertime? ♫

I am loving this summer weather – I can’t hardly get enough of it. I am in the middle of 3 weeks off from school, so I am trying to get a lot done. I have still been doing a lot of yard work – both in my yard and service projects. I love it. I have also painted the window-well covers in the back yard (metal grates) and stained the pole on our patio table. While I was working in the back yard I discovered a toad in one of the window wells. I don’t know if he was lounging around the pond and accidentally jumped down there, or what. It’s about a 5 foot drop. Anyway, he seemed to be OK so I rescued him and let him get away while the dogs were in the house.

Randy, Tyler, Dylan and I were able to fly down to Aurora, Colorado and stay with Ingrid, Jeff and Kalvin for a couple of days over the 4^th of July weekend. It was nice to be able to actually interact with and hold Kalvin rather than just see him for a few minutes in the ICU. Jeff’s mother was also there, so we got to know her a little better. That Sunday Kalvin received his baby blessing and all the men got to participate. We all had a nice time. Since 4^th of July celebrations were going on, we just watched a few fireworks from our bedroom window when we got home that night. Heidi participated in a 'dirty girl' run here in Salt Lake that weekend - they run in mud. She seemed to have a lot of fun. Their team was nicknamed “Guns and Garters”. Because there were so many people that signed up for the race and they could not all be accommodated, another race has been scheduled for this month. It is the same weekend that Amanda and Ingrid will be here so Heidi got them signed up to run it that Saturday morning. Hopefully, we’ll be able to go and watch.

We’ve had a lot of work done on our cars lately. Obviously, “when it rains, it pours.” We’ve had to have new brake pads and rotors on the Honda. We also had to have a dampener removed from around the axle because it was making a lot of noise, but didn’t serve any useful purpose. I had been driving around without air conditioning in the Blazer because it was out of coolant. I finally had time to take it into the shop, had them plug the leak, and fill it up with freon. Now it is very comfortable. Of course, then there seemed to be a leak in the radiator, so I replaced the radiator cap. Since that didn’t seem to do anything, I put some stop-leak in and it seems to have done the trick. I’ll have to keep my eye on it for awhile, though. I need to get the oil changed soon, also.

I shampooed the carpets on the main floor and up in the bedrooms. It’s still not looking great, but it’s better than it was. I also rearranged our bedroom – just for a little change. I put new blinds on our French doors (with Randy’s help) since the old ones were falling apart. I also did my best to clean out the garage, but it is rather hopeless!

Connie had a full week to celebrate her 60^th birthday. She took the day off on her birthday which happened to be a Wednesday, then we had the extended family over for cake and ice cream on Sunday evening, and then the following Tuesday Becky Preece took her out to Tucano’s restaurant where she got a free lunch.

Randy and I taught Dylan all 6 of the Temple preparation lessons and we did the same for another young man in the ward that has recently received his mission call. Randy and I went with Dylan to the Jordan River Temple so that he could receive his endowment. It was a wonderful experience. I have had to send $500 to the Cleveland, Ohio mission for a bike, helmet and chain. I guess missionaries there ride bikes. I have started his monthly payments of $400 a month, also, since he reports in 3 weeks. He has started purchasing the clothing and miscellaneous items that he will need on his mission. Tyler is going to let him use the luggage that he used for his mission eight years ago. John Preece just came back from a mission in Hong Kong, and Kenny and Susie Lovell (he’s one of the Bartlesville Boys) just came back from Chile where Kenny was a Mission President. I wasn’t able to attend either of their homecomings.

Finally, I got both the puppies coats trimmed for summer so they wouldn’t be so hot. I think they actually look cuter with more fur, but they are easier to scratch this way, and I’m sure they are a lot happier!

Sunshine - at last!

I’ve been doing lots of weeding and working in the yard this month – and it feels good to be outside working in the dirt and feeling the sun! I’ve been taking care of our yard, but I also weeded another family’s yard for a couple of hours (for service), and I weeded for 3 hours at the temple this week.

We celebrated Tyler’s birthday, honored Randy on Father’s Day, called Jesse on his birthday, and celebrated 32 years of marriage! Dylan got his last booster shot, obtained a copy of his driving record to send to the mission president in Cleveland, and has had half of his temple preparation lessons. We also received a letter telling us that we need to send money for a bike, helmet and lock. He has been working at the zoo showing buses where to park, driving/riding the train, and working at the carousel and front gate.

At the beginning of the month Randy took a trip to Boston for a safety meeting. He got to go around and see a lot of historical places and really enjoyed that. He felt alright during that trip until the last day. He has really had more Meniere’s attacks since the operation on his ear, than he was having before. He even had 4 episodes in one week! One day I drove him to the surgeons and he got a shot in his eardrum – it was also supposed to help, but didn’t seem to do anything.

I only have 2 weeks left in the two classes that I’m enrolled in right now. One of them is Strategic Management and Business Policy which is not too bad, but the other one is on Research Methods and it’s a killer! I cannot wait until it is over!

This July 4 weekend Randy, Tyler, Dylan and I are going down to Colorado for Kalvin’s baby blessing. It’ll be great to see them and will be a nice little getaway. Heidi is running in a mud race – I hate to miss it, but I’m sure she’ll have fun. Their team is called Guns ‘n’ Garters.