EDUCATION WEEK THE HIGHLIGHT OF AUGUST

Every August, BYU puts on an Education Week full of classes to uplift and inform. For the past two years we have not been able to attend due to a cruise in 2016 and our mission in 2017. This year we could attend and were so grateful for that opportunity. It was made sweeter because Deon and Gary joined us as well and Andrea, Charlotte, Jillian, and one of Andrea's friends, Lori Meadows. What a treat to be with family and be able to discuss classes and the things we learned throughout the week. Gary and Deon pretty much stayed with us and went to the classes we recommended whereas Andrea, Lori and the girls each did their own thing. Occasionally, we all chose the same class and were able to sit together then. Our favorite classes were Brad Wilcox who spoke about the Book of Mormon and how we can gain further witness of its truthfulness. Randy Wright has been a speaker we have enjoyed and this year he was powerful. His theme was "Live Life in Crescendo".  He counseled us to find our mission in life and then fulfill it. He said there is no retirement from the Lord's work so we must continue to work hard in whatever capacity we are called. This was good for Paul as he often talks about just wanting to retire after our mission but was not able to because of his call as Elder's Quorum President. Other classes included T.C. Christensen, the movie director, who talked about his movies and the miracles of each one. 

In the Marriott

center waiting

to hear

Brad Wilcox

During the week, we ran into many people we knew but what was especially fun was when Bob and Jolene Minarik found us in the Wilkenson Center while we were eating lunch. What a special surprise. We hadn't seen them since we left Spokane 12 years ago. Bob served as a counselor when Paul was a Bishop and we became close friends. Jon became especially close to Bob in his teenage and college years.  Other people we ran into were Denise and Clarine Hayes and Ron and Linda Burgener from our mission in Moscow, Russia. We also saw Dan Tenney from Spokane. 

With Bob and Jolene Minarik

After Tuesday's classes, we all met at Todd and Kailee's home for dinner. Todd had smoked a brisket, ribs, and macaroni and cheese. I brought baked beans, fruit, rolls, and brownies. Everyone raved about the dinner, especially Todd's contribution. (It even brought Charlotte to tears!) The next evening, we drove to Jon and Mindi's home so everyone could see what they had done in their remodeling process. They had ordered pizza for us so that meant no cooking for me again. Hooray!!!! A great week for sure.

"Mama" Cutler and Charlotte and,
of course, her dog. He was always
in the car when we dropped Charlotte
off or picked her up from Sister Cutler.

Charlotte had come a week early to stay with us. On Tuesday, we attended a temple session at the Salt Lake Temple so she could be with her friend from Pittsburgh who received her endowments. Charlotte was able to reunite with some of her friends from her mission who were also in attendance. After the session, we all went to the Nauvoo Cafe in the Joseph Smith Memorial building for a late lunch. The next day we took Charlotte down to Salt Lake to meet her former missionary companion's mother and spend a couple of day with her and her family. Charlotte referred to the mother as 'Mama Cutler' and had a special connection with her, not only because Charlotte was her daughter's companion and they are like clones of each other, but because 'Mama Cutler' has also suffered from anxiety. She was able to help Charlotte know that coming home from her mission early was the right thing to do. 

After the temple session. Charlotte's friend in the one
in the flowered dress.

On the temple steps

At the Nauvoo Cafe....

On Thursday, we met Charlotte at the Hale Theater in Sandy to attend the musical production of 'Newsies.' It was wonderful and it was thrilling to share it with Charlotte as she is enthralled with musical productions. By chance, we met up with Kathy and Curt Morgan after the performance. We hadn't seen the since they returned from their mission to Washington D.C.  We found out they are going to be in St. George in September the same week we will be there, seeing the same shows at the Tuachan theater.





Andrea and Jillian and Lori flew in on Sunday before Ed Week (Charlotte was already here.) We enjoyed dinner together and then a movie. Paul was to have a colonoscopy on that Monday so he was only able to eat clear broth and lime jello. We had ham and all the trimmings. Too sad for him. He played it for all it was worth, even putting a ceramic figure of Eyore, from Winnie the Pooh, at the head of his place at the table. Everyone got a kick out of that. (It turned out that Paul had one pre-cancerous pallop so it was a good thing he had it done even though it had only been 5 years, instead of 10. He has to go back in 3 years now.)

Other happenings of the month include going to the Wasatch County fair for the first time in the 12 years we have been here. We made an appearance in order to visit Melanie Mair at her jewelry booth. She's been selling 5 dollar jewelry now for a few months and we wanted to support her and let her know we cared about her.  We have been assigned as Jesse and Melanie's ministering couple and felt it was a good time to let her know of our assignment. I bought a couple of necklaces.  

At the machine.....

We had Olivia come spend 4 days with us so she could make her 12 year old quilt with grandma. She's actually 13 but last year we didn't do any 12 year old 'quilt making' celebrations because of our mission. Next year, we'll have to do Lydia, Carly and, maybe, Allison, if we can get her to come.  She's now going on 15. While Olivia was here, we completed her quilt, the majority of which she sewed herself. She had taken a sewing class in school so it was easy for me to turn the sewing machine over to her to do most of the stitching. Her quilt turned out darling. We used smaller 6 inch blocks which meant a little more sewing but it was worth it when we had a finished product.  We took her to see Christopher Robin sat the movie theater in Park City and, of course took her the Dairy Keen for a shake. On Friday, we drove to Todd and Kailee's so we could babysit while they went out on a date. It took Aria a minute to warm up to Olivia but it wasn't long before Olivia had her pretending to be a princess and putting flowers in her hair. We took Olivia home once Todd and Kailee got home. It turned out to be a busy but fun few days with Olivia.

Tying the quilt....

And the finished product.

We celebrated two birthdays this month - Carly and Todd. We took Carly out to dinner just before we picked up Olivia. When given the choice of where she wanted to go to dinner, she chose In 'N Out. Stranger than truth. She had been asking to go there for lunch for a couple of days so was thrilled when we offered to take her. We ended our time together by going to Fro Yo for a cup of frozen yogurt. 

Cute Carly

The last Sunday of the month, Todd and Kailee and family came up for his birthday dinner. He chose Parmesan Chicken for dinner and for his birthday dessert, a layered treat of a short bread crust, a cream cheese mixture, and topped with fresh peaches. It is his favorite. I tried to make it to look like a cake so I made it in a spring form pan. It looked good right after I took the sides of the pan off but then it started drooping. It was also very difficult to cut but it tasted delicious. 







On the last day of the month, we met Masha, from Russia, for a late lunch at PF Chang's. She had recently returned from her 18 month mission to Eastern Russia and was visiting America before returning to Moscow to find a job. It was so fun to talk with her and hear about her mission. She says that, with the new laws in Russia, they couldn't contact on the street but if the could strike up a conversation with someone, and if that person brought up the church, they could invite them to a discussion at the church. She said the average baptisms for one month in her mission was 4. It seems slow but at least the law hasn't completely shut down the work. It was obvious that she loved her mission. Masha is an amazing sister in the gospel and we were grateful she wanted to spend some time with us.

With the end of August always comes peaches. During the last week of August and the first week of September, we bought and processed 6 boxes of Lemon Elberta peaches. We canned 40 quarts of peaches to add to our 4 from last year for a total of 44 for the year. We also did 24 pints for Dad and Mom. (We'll have Deon and Gary take them to Bakersfield.) After canning, we froze 12 bags of fruit cocktail to add to the 3 in the freezer from last year. It was peaches for slush next, freezing 7 bags to add to the 7 bags left from last year. I'm thinking I want to do a couple more recipes of slush to get the total up to about 18. Slush is our favorite. It's always nice when peaches are done for the year. (Note: In September, we bought another box of peaches and froze 8 more bags of slush - total 22 bags of slush)

For most of the month, our skies have been filled with a haze from the fires in California, Nevada and Utah. Luckily, we haven't had the smoke smell but, on some days, we could hardly make out the outline of our mountains. We were grateful for the heavy rain that came at the end of the month which seemed to clear out our little valley. Most sunsets were accompanied by a brilliant red sun. The picture only shows the red around the outside of the sun but, in reality, the whole sun was a deep red orange.



Now for Aria and Avery......


Aria loves her baby sister, Avery. She takes good care of her, especially after she decided Avery was the little frog friend of Rapunzel's. 

Aria is in love with the 'Cars' movies. She loves to pretend she is Lightning McQueen. Her Dad and Mom have to assume the character of other cars in the movies so they can race with Aria. Of course, Aria as Lightning McQueen, always wins. While Jillian was here, Jillian became Sally, Lightning's girl friend, and was Aria's constant sidekick. Kailee took her to see this 'Mator' truck. Aria was so excited.

One more cute picture  of Avery

On the day we babysat for Todd and Kailee, Avery and I were twins.