Millar Moments: BYU EDUCATION WEEK ALWAYS A JOY IN AUGUST

The Tuesday devotional - an amazing amount of people
attending this year.

The month of August always brings BYU education week for Paul and I. We look forward to this week all year long as it is a time to spend together being uplifted and inspired. This year was no exception. We attended classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday starting at 8:30 each morning. That meant leaving Heber a little after 7 to get to BYU, park, and walk to class. We were tired at the end of each day but delighted with the experience and the learning. We attended a class on how to age gracefully and joyfully which helped us realized everyone goes through the same things we are experiencing with aging - physically, mentally and socially. Another class we enjoyed was humor in the church. We laughed a lot in that class. Our all time favorite speaker is Randal Wright and this year he did not disappoint. His classes were always so full that we were in the overflow two of the days. T. C. Christiansen, the producer of movies such as 17 Miracles and Love Kennedy, was especially fun to listen to. He reviewed his new movie, the Fighting Preacher, and told of its background and the reason for finally producing it. We also went to his session on the making of the Coleville Miracle. We learned of all the actual miracles that took place on that eventful day including one not included in the movie. He told us that after the movie was produced, a sister from Coleville came up to him and told him something her husband had confided in her about that day. They were driving to the school because they had children in the school. As they rounded the corner and approached the school, the husband told her he has seen angels on top of the school. He had sworn her to secrecy but since he had recently passed away she felt she could share it with T. C. Christiansen. We love attending the variety of classes offered at Education Week. A joyful few days, for sure.

Now for the rest of the month.....
At the first of the month, we did a couple of fun things. One day we went to the other side of the mountain and ended up at Nike Outlet store. Paul was in search of some more shorts. He got brave and bought some red ones. A bit of a change for his conservative tastes but they look real good on him with his new white shirt.

That same day we decided to stop at Arby's and buy an orange cream shake for Aria and Avery. We dropped it by their home and Aria immediately began eating it. Avery was asleep. Kailee put part of it in the freezer to save for later. Once Avery work up, Aria went to the freezer, got out the shake and proceeded to share it with Avery. Kailee walked into the room to find Aria feeding it to Avery. So sweet.

Two

girls

loving

the

treat

grandpa

brought

them

On the 6th of August, we took all of Jon's boys out to dinner for their birthdays (minus Jaiden). We went to Texas Roadhouse and the boys really chowed down - rolls and cinnamon butter, a blooming onion, and then their desired main courses. I had a steak salad which was good but Paul's medallions of beef was not. We have a hard time with this particular restaurant every time we go finding something we really enjoy. We probably ought to stick with their ribs.

The gang....Jaiden had football practice and couldn't join us.

Such a beautiful setting
for a golf course.

On Friday of that week, we had a delightful day golfing with Todd. He joined the Alpine County Club with golfing privileges so he treated us to a round of golf and lunch at the club. Paul and Todd golfed 18 holes while I played only the first 9. It was a beautiful day weather wise and the course was immaculate. We totally enjoyed golfing with Todd, even though neither Paul or I had golfed much in the last 2 years.

Todd's looking quite professional here.
He is getting really good - shooting just over par.

Paul and I enjoying the day of golf

The next day, we attended the baptism of two darling girls from our ward - Lily and Charlotte Siddaway. They are twins, though one is blond and the other is dark haired. Their family moved into our ward a little over a year ago and so we took them cookies to welcome them into the neighborhood. Paul and Lily immediately bonded and now they hug every time they meet. We took the girls each a plate of cookies when they turned 8 and promised we would attend their baptism. It was a nice affair.

Sunday was painting nails day, at least for Aria. The 'back to school bunny' had brought Aria a set of nail polishes with lots of different colors. Aria had spent the morning painting Todd's nails and her own so it was Grandpa and Grandma's turn when they came up to dinner. Even before dinner, Aria had her nail polishes out and painted my nail as well as Paul's. She had to do each nail in a different color - yellow, blue, green, pink, and purple. It was quite a ritual. After dinner, Aria noticed that Paul's nail polish had come off after he washed dishes so she wanted to paint his nail again. The bad thing is that she started painting them in the great room and promptly spilled blue nail polish on the carpet. It wasn't a huge amount but it took some work to get it all out that evening.

Painting Grandma's nails

All nails painted and beautiful

Also on the same Sunday, Aviary showed us her walking skills. She's a little slower than most to walk and even now prefers to crawl, though she is quite capable of walking.

Audree Quick messaged me and wanted to get together. She lives in Washington and was in Heber visiting her daughter. Audree was a young woman when we lived in Spokane. I worked with her in Young Women's and her parents were friends, though a bit older than us. Paul and I met her at Cafe Rio and had a nice visit. She has five children and a couple of grandchildren. It's hard to believe that Paul and I are old enough that the young people we worked with in Spokane could be having grandchildren. Where does time go?

That night, we attended a neighborhood party held in Greg Olson's backyard. Everyone in the Crossings Estates was invited and so there were a lot of people. We each brought a treat to share and spent the time visiting while being serenaded by the Small family. They are neighbors living across the street from the Olson's. The whole family has great voices and play many musical instruments. It was a delightful evening and good for our neighborhood.

The next day, Paul got stung by a wasp on his hand while he was working outside. By the evening, his hand was quite swollen and started to itch. We didn't think much about it until the next day when it began swelling even more. We decided we needed to buy some allergy medicine and as soon as he took it, the swelling started going down. He was very allergic to bee and wasp stings a few years ago and went through a 5 year allergy treatment program. We thought that would protect him for the rest of his life but maybe not. He will have to be real careful not to get stung again and if he does I'll make sure he takes the allergy medicine immediately.

This picture was taken in the evening of the bee sting.
It was even more swollen by the next afternoon.

Two more birthdays were celebrated at the end of this month. We took Carly and a friend out to dinner on Thursday of Education Week. Her friend was staying with her so we all went to Mod Pizza together. We enjoyed the delicious pizza there and then went to the frozen yogurt place close by. We had a good time with them both.

At Mod Pizza

Enjoying their yogurt and each other

Todd's birthday was August 27 so on Sunday, the 25th, we celebrated it. For dinner, we served Hawaiian chicken and for dessert a Dairy Queen ice cream cake - Todd's favorite. We enjoy being with them each week when they come up to Sunday dinner and it's especially nice when we're celebrating something special.

Aria had to help blow out the candles

A special birthday hair do for Todd, complimentary of Aria.

We ended the month at the first BYU football game of the season. It's hard to believe that football season is here again. BYU started their season playing University of Utah, our long time rivals. We did not look too good and Utah won by several points. It's been at least 12 years since we've been able to beat Utah in football. Of course, Utah is picked to win their league's division so they are really good. BYU is just an average team though they are scheduled to play some pretty big names in college football. It could be a dismal season.

Picture taken from the horseshoe part of the stadium where
Deon and Gary and many of their family was sitting.

It's wasThan Ilum's birthday so he flew in
for the game. His family was already
hIere dropping off Sydney at BYU.

Don and Dana met us at the game
and then stayed with us for a couple of day
before we all left for St. George.

A scary thing happened at the end of the month. Mindi got really ill. The doctors thought she had a kidney infection and gave her medication. The medication only made her sicker, seeming to affect her liver. Her eyes and skin turned yellowish and her skin started to itch. She lack energy and couldn't sleep at night due to pains in her extremities. She ended up in the hospital overnight for tests. We were quite concerned for her and called the family to have them keep her in their prayers. It took a few more days for the prayers to be answered but she soon started feeling better. We were grateful for the answer to our prayers.

I must cover one last happening. All month long our ward was in charge of the sacrament meetings at the Abbington, a facility for the elderly. Paul, being the Elder's Quorum president, was asked to arrange for the speakers, music, and Priesthood members for administering the sacrament. I lead the music all month for him and he gave one of the talks the first Sunday. It was a big responsibility for him but each sacrament meeting was wonderful thanks to the speakers and special musical numbers from our ward.

Now for Aria and Avery........