October General Conference with the Johns

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend with our beautiful Johns family. We flew in Wed., Oct. 2nd. We arrived a day early as we were going to the Salt Lake temple on Thursday with our friend, Leslie Jenkins. She has been less active for 20 or more years and over the last 18 months she has become reactivated. She needed a lot of encouraging, uplifting, and strengthening, and I am grateful I could be there to support and help her on this journey. Dad took Gary to work the next morning, and couldn't resist picking up donuts for the children on the way home. That day, Thursday, Oct. 3rd, could not have been more beautiful. It was a gorgeous fall day in the Salt Lake Valley. When Crismon drove up to the sidewalk just outside the Salt Lake temple, Leslie and her parents were right there, too. We could not have planned it. I loved being able to give Leslie a big hug and meet her parents before entering the temple. 

Since we arrived early, we were some of the first in the SL temple chapel waiting for the 1 pm session. It gave us a few minutes to meet some of her family members who were there. A tender mercy was we were asked to be the witness couple. That gave me the opportunity to sit right next to Leslie through the session. Being in the SL temple, they have live Endowment sessions. This was a treat as most of the temples are now with the movie presentation. The murals in the SL temple are incredible. The temple will be closed the end of this year to begin renovation. The Celestial Room was painted in the 1950's to brighten the room. They will take off of the paint and bring it back to it's natural wood. We were privileged to be there just before they close it for about 4 years.

While leaving the Celestial Room, the worker asked if we wanted to have a tour as they are letting workers show the patrons different parts of the temple before it is closed. Listening to events of years ago in the temple were so fascinating. Especially wonderful was having them show us the hallway where the Savior appeared to Pres. Snow. 

Many of Leslie's family were there to support her, including nieces and nephews. Afterwards we gathered at a restaurant for lunch and visiting. It was our treat to get acquainted with her family.

I played chess with Elliot that night. He was definitely beating me, but then others started giving me suggestions. Soon I was ahead, but tears welled up in his eyes, and I insisted that no one help me. It didn't take long after that for him to beat me. We did play checkers, and this time I beat him. To me, chess is much harder. I'm glad for that one-on-one with him. I also had so much fun playing "Duck, duck goose," with Claire and some of the others. She would get so excited in anticipation that she would be picked. So cute! Often Claire would pull out a game and say "let's play. "I loved it.

Friday morning, we headed for the park. Alice-Anne & Dad took a brisk walk together and I had the fun of watching Claire in the play structure. She enjoyed interacting with other children as they came along. That afternoon Alice-Anne and I went to the beautiful Jordan River temple. It was recently remodeled and it's lovely.  What a blessing for the Johns to live just 10 minutes from two temples. Then at conference, Pres. Nelson announced more temples, one being in Taylorsville. That means there will be 3 temples within 10 minutes of them. Incredible! Crismon drove down to Orem for a mini-reunion with some of his family. Many of the Linton's were there, and he got to see Corwin & Lynette and Corwin drove him to the "Anderson complex" where a number of the families live right by each other, and where their new home will begin construction the following week. I stayed to not get too exhausted before the conference. We had a fun evening of playing games. Dad soon joined us.

Gary was a good husband and Daddy to let Alice-Anne and Kenna go to the Saturday afternoon and Women's session. The weather was great! I loved the sunshine, and the mingling with other faithful members at the Conference Center is an amazing experience. My sister Meredith was going to meet me for the Women's session, but the ticket I had sent her in the mail was misplaced. She decided to go down early and try to connect after the afternoon session. Again, another tender mercy. She was running to catch the Front Runner, to take the train from Ogden to SLC. The machine to get a ticket didn't work, so she hurried to jump on. The lady next to her said she had an extra train ticket she could have, and she also had a ticket for the afternoon session of conference. We couldn't help but think that Dad & Mom were blessing us that day so we could have time together. I loved spending that time with Meredith. Crismon was so good to bring us all some lunch from the car in-between sessions, and bring me my transport chair to help me get around the Conference grounds. I was able to manage without using the chair in the Conference Center.

I love General Conference and all the messages were so inspiring. It's an amazing opportunity to be there and feel the spirit of that special gathering with the leaders of the church, and 21,000 people. We came home to a delicious dinner prepared by Gary, freshly made sourdough bread, and African Peanut soup. He had the house in order and the kids prepared for the Sabbath. He then began working on the Christmas Star Pastry for in the morning. What can't Gary do? He's something else! Then Spencer demonstrated his programming. Creating a hangman game on the computer was very clever. We had so much fun having him share that with us.

After another amazing meal, Sunday morning, we hurried to the Conference Center with Gary and Spencer. There's nothing like actually being in there in person. Listening to the Tabernacle Choir is magnificent. We enjoyed the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast first and then the session.

After the last session, we headed to Big Cottonwood Canyon. Gary was so good to push me up this steep climb. Around the bend came a nice looking Mormon family. We couldn't believe it when we realized it was really Delon, Clyde, Kendra, Myreel & Jarom, and their two girls and Jarom's mother!!! What are the chances that you would run into family on a trail in Utah when they are from Arizona and we are from Oregon. It was so incredible!!!! Oh the joy of seeing family when totally unexpected was simply amazing!!! We had so much fun visiting with them, but soon we had to end as it was cold just standing there and not moving. The canyon was spectacular with the symphony of colors. What a perfect ending to a very special day and weekend. That evening Elliot played "Waterfall" by Jon Schmidt. It is quite astonishing to see how he learned that music this summer by his sheer determination. He is one smart, talented kid. When he sets his mind to something, there is no turning back. He goes forward with such driven focus.

Gary took us to the airport early Monday morning. Vivi is always so good to pick us up at the airport. We had a marvelous Conference weekend with the Johns. Being home is a blessing, too. We're grateful we live in the beautiful world, with family that love and care for us. We are so blessed!

School & Stake Conference in September

School is in full swing, and now that we have Vivi’s two girls at West Gresham Elementary school, Kaeley in 2nd grade and Daisy in 5th grade, and Clark in Dexter McCarty Middle School, we feel the routine for the school day preparation rush in the morning in getting children out the door. We are mostly in the background for now. Vivi has a part-time job from home that she is doing. Not many hours, but a little to help her get back in the working world. This is the last year for the West Gresham School. It's over 100 years old, and next year Kaeley will go to Hollydale School. It's fun that Vivi's girls could go to her same school, as well as Clark.

Our stake conference was Sept. 21-22nd. It always brings a lot of pressure and stress for all the preparations, but it is a joy to be part of serving in this stake. We didn’t have a visitor, so Crismon had three talks to give. We are all blessed by his humble, loving spirit and his teaching from the scriptures. We’re grateful that all went well. It was nice that Julia was in town and could be there to hear Dad speak. She hasn't had the opportunity to really hear him speak as a Stake President.

Vivi’s daughter, Kaeley, was baptized on her birthday, Sept. 22nd. There were many that came from their previous ward, some from our ward, and with both families, the room was packed. Sam Caudle, Brett's cousin baptized her, and Crismon confirmed her. It was wonderful to have Julia, Austin, and baby Dallin come from WA. Our weekend with them went too quickly. We've loved learning from the Come, Follow Me program this year, a companion with our study of the New Testament. Daisy and Kaeley put together some good quotes and pictures for us to remind us of what we're learning. We’re grateful for many blessings in our lives. We look forward to General Conference next week.

Visiting Emily & Bronson in Madison!

We had a terrific time in Madison with Emily & Bronson for a week. Emily helped me with this post, but uploading the post she wrote for her blog. Much of this is in her voice, but I'll add a little here and there. Emily set up a photo shoot with her friend Natalia, because she said that we needed an updated, good photo for our funeral program someday. Haha! Hope that isn't soon, but we're glad that she pushed us in the direction, because it's nice to have these photos.

MY MOM IS GORGEOUS - nearly 68 years old!!!!! 

My parents left Wednesday morning, Sept 4, (4:30am to be exact!) back to Portland. I loved having them here so much! This was the first time we've ever been in a position to host my parents since our tiny Provo apartments didn't quite cut it.

To back up to the beginning of their arrival, I should note that Wednesday morning the day they arrived (very late that night), I woke up feeling awful - worst cold I've had. I stayed home, got an antibiotic, which I ended up taking but didn't do anything. Not a good timing to get sick.

Bronson was a trooper and has put in 12 hour days, arriving at work at 6:30pm and coming home at 6:30 every day that week because of a big conference at Epic (big wigs from hospitals come to learn about updates to the software, etc), and on top of that, he has to help out (traffic control, passing out backpacks, and working in the store), and still needed to get his work done before taking Friday off. So despite the long days, he stayed up until 11pm to go pick up my parents.

Thursday morning, I worked for a few hours while my parents slept, then my vacation began! While I wasn't feeling 100% better, I found I was feeling about 10% better each day. That morning I went and got my hair cut.

I came home to nap and needed to nap every day for a couple hours (pregnancy + getting sick = wipes you out!) My mom and I made chicken noodle soup and hung out until Bronson came home. My parents read by the pool while I made some rolls and we watched the BYU football opener against Utah, no question there, we lost.

Friday, Bronson took off work, and we went downtown to see the capital building. It was so nice to see downtown when there weren't crowds! We had perfect weather. We then went to the Memorial Union (UW Campus) and got pizza and Babcock ice-cream from their much fancier and modern "Wilkinson" center.

We came home, took naps, and then had our pictures taken by my friend, Natalia! After scanning in 5,000 (no exaggeration) photos last year, I realized how few professional photos my parents had of themselves and together. So I knew this was a must. (See photos above!)

Saturday, we explored Epic and gave them the complete 10,000 step tour! Except my mom rode in the transport chair ;) I still manage to get lost around Epic so luckily, Bronson gave us the royal tour.

Mom and Dad treated us to Mexican food at our favorite restaurant that afternoon and then we watched BYU women's volleyball play Marquette (from Milwaukee).

Sunday, we went to church and went to an open house with our realtor, but we decided not to pursue the house. We had dinner, went for a walk, played Splendor, and watched 60 mins clips. This is a MUST SEE!

Monday, Labor Day! We drove to Devil's Lake (an hour away), which was a popular destination for families! We found a spot to set up for a picnic and games in a more secluded area so it was quieter. What was funny was for how little members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there are in Wisconsin, our spot happened to be next to two other families in our stake! We set up chairs and a table and played Cover Your Assets and read for a bit. 

We came home to have a quick bite of dinner before going back to Epic for a bonfire activity with our ward. Families made s'mores and roasted hot dogs and we socialized. Later that night, we watched Won't You Be My Neighbor, the Mr. Roger's documentary that came out last year (fun fact, it is the highest-grossing documentary to date!) It was fun because my mom recently finished reading the book and could provide additional insight during the documentary. It's only available on HBO, so we signed up for a 7 day free trial, because the next night we also watched the documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. 

Tuesday, we relaxed a bit in the morning, by eating a crepe with fruit breakfast and then spent a couple hours on Goodreads. My mom and Julia are really big book readers and I always feel inspired to read after being with them/talking with them! Mom knows audiobook and library book apps better than I do - so she helped me out, now I'm feeling inspired to read. Let's see how long it lasts! haha.

I used to be an avid reader growing up. I didn't read classic literature but loved Nancy Drew in 3rd grade, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes in 4th and 5th, and Tuck Everlasting, Ella Enchanted in 5th to name a few.

That afternoon we visited the Olbrich Botanical Gardens - where we saw sooooooo many species of plants! It was stunning to think Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother created ALL of this, every plant, every human, everything! They made this world so beautiful for us!

There is a large population of Thai students that attend UW Madison, so this was donated by the Thai government as a thank you. It's the only Thai sanctuary (or whatever it's called) outside of Thailand. It's gold plated and there were no nails used to create this structure. 

We stayed up late watched the documentary listed above and said goodbye!

We had SO much fun and miss them tons! We are so glad they made the trip to come see us, especially during this perfect time in Wisconsin - not too hot and not too cool! Can't wait for mom to see Wisconsin in the dead of winter Feb/Mar 2020! ;)

More Epic pictures...