35th Anniversary Weekend

It’s been a long time since I have posted! Randy and I got to get away for a few days to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, so I thought I’d share a few pictures from our adventures.

Thursday morning we went to the new Living Planet Aquarium.

It was very similar to the old museum, except bigger. There were quite a few displays that looked like they might have had something there before but were empty, and even more where there was space for future displays.  We didn’t go into the movie ($4 extra per person) and there was now a space for parties, etc. A lot of schools were there. Anyway, we thought the higher price ($16 per person) was a bit much and although it’s nice to see once, we probably won’t go there again.

We then drove up to the Bountiful temple and ate lunch in their cafeteria before doing an endowment session. It was a beautiful temple, although it was up on the hill and I would hate to drive up there with snow on the road! It was a wonderful experience, though.

Bountiful Temple

Then we drove to Logan and checked into our hotel, the Crystal Inn.

There was a HuHot Mongolian restaurant just up the street, so we ate dinner there. We hadn’t eaten at one since we lived in Topeka, so it was kind of fun.

Lastly we attended the Old Lyric Reperatory Theatre to see the play “Tons of Money”. This is a farce where a husband and wife are in terrible debt, he stands to inherit a lot of money, they fake his death so that the money won’t all go toward debt, etc. It was pretty funny.

Friday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel - they have a complimentary breakfast that was really good - eggs, omelets, sausage, bacon, waffles, toast, bagels, muffins, cereal, fruit, juice, etc.  Then we attended the Logan Temple and did another endowment session. It was also very nice, but I was surprised at how small the Celestial Room was for such a big temple. The inside has obviously been modified since it was built, so the Celestial Room might have been bigger before.

Logan Temple

We ate lunch and headed up to Bear Lake. It’s about a one hour drive up Logan Canyon. We passed the lodge that we stayed at with Tyler and Dylan a few years back with the horses for riding, and I was surprised that the lake was only about 15 minutes further up the road - I hadn’t known!  Randy was really surprised at how big it is. We got out and went down to the water, but it was kind of an overcast cold day, so we didn’t stay too long.

Bear Lake

Bear Lake

We had enough time to rest for about one hour before we grabbed dinner and then went to see the movie “Maleficent”.

It was pretty good, although the story is changed a bit from the fairy tale I remember. When we got back to the hotel we went for a swim in their pool. The hot tub was too hot for me to go in past my knees, but the regular pool water was really warm, so we swam for about a half hour.

Finally, on Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel again, and then headed down to the Brigham City Temple. It is really new and absolutely beautiful, but probably closer to the size of the one in Omaha, Nebraska that we used to attend. We did a sealing session, got to sit in the Celestial Room, and then headed down toward Ogden.

Brigham City Temple

In Ogden, we went to the George S Eccles Dinosaur Park. It was free for a few hours on Saturday 10-2 (not sure if that is all the time, or just for that one day). It has a fairly large museum with dinosaur bones, imprints, and a lot of information.

It has a laboratory where you can see scientists working on current projects. There are also a few dinosaurs that are automatron - which was kind of fun, and scary for at least one of the small patrons!

Then they have a large outdoor area with about 30 dinosaur models that are life size and in a natural environment. There is also a playground for kids, duck feeding, panning for gold, digging in sand for bones for kids and places to get food or frozen ice. It was really enjoyable.

From there we went to the Hill Air Force museum. It had a lot of old planes, outfits through the years, a movie, etc. There was enough information on the plaques and murals that you could stay there all day and not read everything. There were 2 great big buildings that housed the old planes, and even more outside. It was pretty awe-inspiring.

Then we headed home, got something to eat and watched a movie before heading to bed. I should mention that through all of this I had a sore throat and head cold, so I wasn’t feeling too well.

I am SO grateful for everything that I have and the opportunities that are before me. What a wonderful place we live and wonderful time to be alive!  Compared to most of the world, we live like kings. Now, if I can just sell my house . . .

The weather outside is frightful

My last blog was over 2 months ago! I guess I’ve been extremely busy. And since we’re in the midst of the holidays, it will only get worse for awhile. A winter storm rolled in and there is snow outside. It looks very pretty – but it is cold, and I HATE being cold!!

Randy’s knee is not getting any better. He is still putting ice on it a lot when he’s sitting down in the family room. He still walks with a limp. He has realized that he will never run again and that’s somewhat depressing. Getting older is not for sissies!

For Thanksgiving this year we (Randy, Tyler, Dylan and I) drove over to Ingrid and Jeff’s house – it’s about 1 hour away. I took some cold cuts (carrots, celery, broccoli, peas, etc) and a pie, but it seemed weird to not be cooking. All the food was wonderful and we had a good time playing a game, enjoying each other’s company and just relaxing.

She let us know about their new baby that is on the way!

Ingrid’s birthday is this week, so I took her gift with us and she opened it then. Talynn’s birthday is next week, and they’ll have a party on the weekend for that. They also have their anniversary and Jeff’s birthday – besides Christmas! December is a very busy month for them. My brother Derek, his wife Rita, 2 of their boys Jeff and Alan, and Rita’s mom Letha came to visit my mom and Connie and to bring them Thanksgiving dinner. I am amazed at all the blessings that I have in my life to be thankful for.

I have most of December off from work since the temple will be closed for cleaning. I’m giving people at work my CD from last year since I have some left. Randy and I took mint brownie mixes around to the people on our circle and we will give them to the people we visit for church. And I will make up some fudge for Randy’s work and just to have around. We have decided on a theme for this year’s Christmas card and Tyler is working on it. I wonder how much longer we’ll be able to do this since the family is getting bigger – it has really been a fun project for us each year!

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date” – William Shakespeare

Well, it is now Fall and Summer is gone. Every year about this time I find myself digging my heels in and wishing summer could last longer. It’s not that I don’t like the changing of the seasons, but I grew up in southern California and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to cold weather – never. I really enjoy the holidays – but the weather could be warm and I would still like them. 

Here’s what we have been up to this month: Randy, Dylan and I went to one of the church’s canneries on Labor Day and spent a few volunteer hours canning corn.  There are a few big fields near us where some of it was grown and Dylan worked out in the trucks that brought it in (he was FILTHY when we were done). I worked at a station where I stood and eliminated ears that were gross or too small (they end up in animal feed) as they came down a production line. It reminded me of the TV show “I Love Lucy” where Lucy worked on an assembly line in a candy factory. Except I didn’t stuff any corn in my mouth! And Randy worked at a station where he could sit down most of the time, since he’s recently had knee surgery. He made sure the kernels of corn and the waste were separated.  

We celebrated Dylan’s birthday one day early and all my kids except Jesse were there. It’s hard to believe my youngest child is 22! I’m not that old ! !

A week later my mom celebrated her 95^th birthday. We had over 50 family members here and ate cake and ice cream. (I had lots of pictures, but they were REALLY candid and had someone making a funny face in each one – oh, well. I don’t want to get sued!! :)

We attended the evening portion of Stake Conference on Saturday and there were 2 different couples that spoke first. Then the Stake Presidency spoke. All of the talks were great. For the Sunday meeting we had a broadcast (along with the entire southern half of the valley) where the speakers were a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, Primary General President Rosemary Wixom, Elder Russell M. Nelson and a taped talk by Pres. Boyd K. Packer. It was wonderful, as usual.

Randy had a band job down in Provo at the Riverwoods Center at an outdoor pavilion. I was going to be one of the back-up singers (along with Dave Wayt) since the 2 girls that usually sing couldn’t be there, but Dave’s daughter ended up being able to come, so I got to sit and listen instead. It was a good thing since I had a sore throat and a cold and almost no voice.

I have started working “on call” at the Jordan River Temple helping with banquets served down in the cafeteria area. So far, they have only needed me one day a week, but the weekend of General Conference I will also be serving the authorities and their wives up at the Conference Center in between sessions.

We attended a farewell for my cousin Sande. She is leaving for a mission to Raleigh, North Carolina this week. She just retired from teaching accounting at the high school here, and she will be helping with accounting in the mission office, so it will be perfect for her. It is not too far from where she served her first mission over 30 years ago in Roanoke, Virginia.

We will have the annual Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting the last Sunday of this month.  The kids have been practicing the music all year and practicing their speaking parts for the last few weeks. I love the fact that the speaking parts have been in the kids own words the last few years. I think it means a lot more to them, and gives the rest of us something to grin about! They are pretty cute.

Well, that’s been our month of September. Look out cooler weather – here we come….

“There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart”

August has been a busy, busy month. First – At the beginning of the month I sanded, stained, and finished a couple of bathroom cupboards a darker color. They were blond wood before, and I used ‘walnut’. I plan on doing our master bath also, but I haven’t had time yet.

Before

After

Randy had knee surgery where the doctor went in arthroscopically and cleaned up his meniscus. He was on crutches for several days, but it is healing nicely and he is now recuperating. Hopefully he will be able to walk without a limp soon!

Ingrid’s female Vizsla had her 3rd litter of puppies – 7 males and 1 female. They figure they will let her have one more litter and then ‘retire’ her from being a ‘mama’.

By far the most exciting thing to happen is that Dylan came home from his mission August 22. Jesse and Amanda arrived from Texas on Tuesday evening and then Jesse did a stand-up bit on Wednesday night at Wise Guys. I hear it went real well. Then on Thursday we went to the airport to pick up Dylan. Words cannot express what a great feeling that was. 

We took him to see the Stake President that evening to get released as a missionary. On Friday afternoon/evening we went out to Ingrid’s place. First was target shooting, then dinner, then games. Fun times. 

Randy

Jesse

Tyler

Amanda

Jeff

Ingrid

Dylan

Saturday some of the family went up to Park City and rode the zip line. Dylan talked in church on Sunday. He did a great job – it was spiritual, humorous, and he even included quotes from the Primary children from letters that they had sent to him. On Monday several of my kids went to a sculpture garden and then hiked up to “The Living Room” above Salt Lake City.

On Tuesday morning we took Jesse and Amanda to the airport early in the morning and they flew home. Dylan cleaned out his dresser and closet and got rid of a lot of clothes that don’t fit him anymore and some other miscellaneous items. It was a great week - life is almost back to normal.