On August 9, we woke up to a very different America. On August 8th, the FBI raided former president Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Supposedly, they were looking for documents needed by the Archive department, even though President Trump had been cooperating with that department. It is even reported that the Archive department had come in February to collect what things they needed, yet the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) felt they had a reason to invade Trump's private residence. He was not there nor were any lawyers allowed on the scene during the raid. This is a scary time for our country. If the FBI can do whatever they want to harass a former president and one who is probably a candidate for the 2024 elections, they and the DOJ have become the policing arm of the White House. A raid on a former president's residence has never been done in the history of our country. Interesting though, the FBI has interfered with the last two elections. In 2016, they spied on then candidate Trump and announced a probable connections with Russia. (This was later proven false, the accusations coming from a fake dossier paid for by his opponent, Hillary Clinton.) In the 2020 elections, they purposefully hid information about Hunter Biden and his connection with China and Russia and then reported that it was Russian disinformation. (This too has been proven false as more and more evidence is surfacing about these connections and the millions of dollars he and his dad, now President Biden, have been paid by these two enemies of the state.) And now this raid to try, once again, to discredit former President Trump and come up with some reason he can't run in 2024. This is a disgrace to the freedoms we hold dear here in America. If the FBI can do this to him, they can do it to anyone that stands in their way of total and complete power. I'm wondering if the newly passed bill that increases the IRS department by thousands of inspectors (this department bigger now than all the other federal departments combined) isn't another way to come after those of us who are conservative and don't approve of this administrations tactics. So sad that we are becoming a 3 world dictatorial country.
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| Is this what is happening today? |
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| Word has it that this action by the FBI and DOJ has energized the voters to come out in November and vote against the Democrats and the Rhinos. |
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| This is what the Democrats are doing to our constitution. Not only was the raid on Trump's private resident illegal, so is the forgiveness of student loans by this president. |
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| So sad when Europe can see what's happening to our beloved country. |
On a happier note, we attended a performance at the Hale Centre Theater at the first of the month. The production was 'Singing in the Rain,' a musical taking place when the motion picture industry was transitioning from silent movies to 'talkies.' It was a darling, fast paced production with actual rain falling on the stage in a couple of scenes. We went with the Fullers and they were very impressed with the theater as well as the talent displayed in the production. We went to Freddy's for a quick dinner afterwards. A very enjoyable afternoon and evening.
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| Taken at the end of the show when the whole cast came out to 'Dance in the Rain,' leaving their umbrellas on stage when the exited. |
We babysat Todd and Kailee's children so they could go the a Backstreet Boys concert. Todd had purchased the tickets as a gift for Kailee for Mother's Day. Lincoln is still pretty young to leave with a teenage babysitter so we went down to help out. We met at Costa Vida for dinner and then stayed with the kids until about 10 pm when a neighbor girls came to sit with them till Todd and Kailee got home. Of course, we had all the children in bed and asleep before we left. A couple of cute things happened while we were there. Lincoln started to fuss when he realized his parent weren't there. I brought him over to the couch with the girls who were looking at some videos on their I-pads. I sat Lincoln between me and Aria and he was content to watch the videos, that is, until Aria got up and left. He started to cry immediately and didn't stop until she returned to sit next to him. This happened a couple of time. When putting Avery to bed, after we all watched a movie together, she asked if we were going to be there when she woke up in the morning. I said no but that we would see her on Sunday. She immediately asked if we were going the church with her. So sweet. When she was saying her prayers, she thanked Heavenly Father for letting her go to Costa Vida for dinner and for having Grandpa and Grandma here to watch her. We love these children and are so glad we get to share in their lives.
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| Todd and Kailee at the Backstreet concert in SLC |
Now for the miracles of this month......
Paul and I have a new calling - Activity Chairman for the ward. We about fell over when the Bishop asked us to do this as we are old and really aren't into ward activities at our age. Our committee is the Priesthood and Relief Society committees rather than having our own committee. We held a meeting with them and planned an End of Summer Party at the park in the Crossings. We invited our whole ward as well as any non members who live within our ward boundaries. The party was a dinner and games. The ward purchased the chicken for the dinner and ice cream bars for dessert. We asked everyone to bring a side of some kind to supplement the chicken. The YM/YW arranged for some activities for the children. The miracle occurred when it rained literally all day up until 4:00. By 5:00, we had blue skies above us and by 6:00 when the party started the weather was perfect. We had brought tarps for families to sit on if they didn't bring chairs. We had prayed all week that the weather would cooperate and at the last minute it did. It was like Satan was trying to get is to cancel because he knew several non members would come.....and they did. Among the almost 200 there, at least 5 families attended that were not members and they felt very much loved and accepted.
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| Blue skies!!!! |
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| We set up the food under the covered bridge. |
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| Our beautiful park where we all gathered. |
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| An egg toss for the youth |
On that same Saturday, Jon called and asked if Jaron could come stay at our home for a few days. It seems that he was kicked out of his mom's home again for being a few minutes late for curfew. Jaron drove up to Heber and came to the park where we were. The miracles came when we needed to sell Jaron's truck as it would not make it all the way to Florida where Jaron was going to be with his Dad. The alarm system had a problem and, on a whim, Paul called Joey Hyer to see if he could come disconnect the alarm. He came over Sunday after church and fixed the problem. Before he left, he said he wanted to buy the truck. He called the next day and said he could pay $8500 for the truck. We talked to Jaron and Jon and they both agreed that it was an ok price. After Joey drove the truck, he said he would give Jaron $9000 for it which made us all very happy. The other miracle came when we found out that both Jaron and Joey banked at Mountain America and there was a branch right here in Heber. The whole transaction took all of 20 minutes on Tuesday. Little tender mercies for sure. After the truck was sold, we took Jaron to the outlet malls in Lehi and gave him $100 to buy a few pieces of clothing. We, then, took him to lunch at Mod Pizza and to his mom's home to pick up a couple of boxes of his things she had set out on the front porch.
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| Monday night he and Paul cleaned out the truck |
On Tuesday afternoon, Andrea and Casey and their whole family came into town. They brought two cars and a truck and a trailer filled with the things that their 3 girls would need at BYU this year. Allison moved into the dorms at Heritage while Charlotte moved into the same apartment that Maggie lived in last semester. Maggie and Kasey moved into their first ever apartment as a married couple. The trailer was filled with furniture they were given by an elderly man in Oregon. We didn't see a lot of the Westovers as they were busy getting everyone settled but we did manage to meet them for dinner in Provo at Chuck a Rama. We took Jaron with us, of course, who seemed to enjoy the food and the company.
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| Jaron's new look. When he came to us he had a mustache and a goatee. Tuesday, he decided to shave his goatee and then, on Wednesday, he shaved his mustache. Such a new handsome look!!! |
We took Jaron to the airport early Thursday morning to catch a flight to Florida. Another miracle happened when Jaron walked up to his gate and met his brother, Braydon. Braydon was flying to Florida to see a friend who had just returned from his mission. Why this was a miracle or a tender mercy was that when Jaron left his home on Friday he swore he never wanted to see his mom or brothers again. He was angry about how they had all treated him. With Braydon at the same gate at the airport, they were able to talk a little and hopefully soften Jaron's feeling about his brothers.
Andrea and Casey left on Saturday, but not before we left for Cedar City. We had the privilege of being in the temple with our granddaughter, Aubrey, when she received her endowments in the Cedar City temple. She was just bubbly when she entered the temple and loved being there. She especially loved the initiatory ordinance and blessings pronounced upon her at that time. Her other grandparents were there as well as her sister, Lauren, and her new husband. It is always so special to be in the temple with family. After the temple, we met at Costa Vida for a late lunch before driving to St. George. We stayed at the Worldmark there. Saturday, we treated the family to ice cream at the Alumi Creamery. Sunday, we went to church with Ryan and his family and then had dinner with them. We love having them living so close to us. We returned home on Monday.
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| At the creamery - a tradition whenever we go to St. George |
On the last day of the month, we had a repairman come to make, what we thought would be an easy fix to our fire sprinkler system. It turned out to be a two hour ordeal where he had to replace a sprinkler head which meant he had to drain the water solution from the system, replace the sprinkler head, refill the system with the water, and re-pressurize the system. Luckily, we didn't just let it go as it could have set off the system and sprayed the water solution al over our great room. We think we were sitting on a time bomb.
Now for just a few darling pictures of Lincoln and the girls.
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| Every Sunday, Grandpa gives the girls a flower he picks from our yard. This particular Sunday our Hibiscus bush was in full bloom with its gigantic flowers. |
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| Lincoln pulled himself for the first time at our home. He's getting to be such a big boy. |
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| Looking back at his Mom for some praise |
And a thought to end on.....
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