A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA AND A VALENTINE'S PARTY HIGHLIGHTED THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY

This month, we felt a need to visit Paul's brother, Derrill, in California. He has an advanced case of Alzheimer's and we don't know how much longer he will be with us. He was in an Alzheimer's facility for a little while but that turned out to be a disaster. He was angry and just wanted to be home. At the advice of the doctors, Irene, Derrill's wife, had the bathroom in their home remodeled so he could be helped with showering and other needs. He moved back into his home a few days before we got there and seemed to be doing much better. They have a full time, live in sister who is there 24/7 to help Irene. She assists Derrill and cooks all their meals. She is a God-send as Irene could not handle Derrill on her own. We think he remembered us but it may have been because Irene prompted him about our coming. We were glad we made the effort to see him but we were so glad to get out of California. The traffic is horrific and the freeways are filthy with liter the closer one gets to Oakland. Give us Heber anytime. (Side note: Paul's brother-in law, Bill, passed away at the end of the month. He was in his 90s.)

At the airport waiting for the bus to take
us to the terminal. Sadly, I failed to take a picture of
Derrill and Irene

We got home just in time to put the finishing touches on our ward adult Valentine party. It was a progressive dinner where everyone was assigned to go to a host's home for a lasagna dinner and then progress to the church for a dessert buffet, visiting, and dancing. We had arranged for a live band. Steve Anderson, from our ward, has a band and gave us a really good deal to come play for an hour and a half at our party. He also strung lights across the ceiling of the cultural hall to add to the ambience of the room. It was a great evening and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We think they were blown away when they walked into the cultural hall and saw the room, the band, and the dessert bar. We were glad it all came together so well.

Filling 50 crepes for the dessert bar. I cut them in half to
make 100 servings then made a strawberry topping for them.
They were all gone by the end of the evening.

The cultural hall

The centerpieces

The dessert buffet table

The band

Finally, after several Sundays of having to tell our college grandchildren they couldn't come to Heber for dinner because of snow, they were able to come for dinner on the second Sunday of the month. It just happened to be in time to celebrate Allison's birthday. She wanted chicken and cream sauce for dinner so that's what I fixed. I had made a mud pie a couple of week prior to this so I wrote happy birthday Allison on the top of the dessert and it became her 'birthday cake.' It was all delicious so she was happy.

Earlier in the month, Katie drove to Heber to watch Julia in a state dance competition held at UVU in Provo. When Julia's team made the finals, Ryan brought Grace and Nathan up to watch her perform on Friday. We met them for lunch at Blaze Pizza after our temple shift. Once the competition was over, Katie and Nathan came up to Heber while Ryan drove Grace back to St. George. On Saturday, we ate dinner at In N Out before going to a  BYU basketball game. Nathan was thrilled to be able to go to another game. He is in love with all things BYU. They left on Sunday before a massive snow storm hit Heber.

In the parking lot before the game

Nathan was thrilled when we gave him
this light up 'Y' for his BYU decorated
bedroom. Katie sent us this picture when
they got it hung.

Speaking of Ryan and Katie, we were supposed to travel to St. George at the end of the month to see Ryan and Katie's new home and a performance that Grace was in.  We were also going to look at a few homes in the Parade of Homes while we were there. Due to predictions of more snow that weekend, we opted not to take the drive. I was terribly disappointed but knew it was for the best. 

Another disappointment came the day before we canceled our St. George trip when we got word that our 3 temple trip to London, Paris, and Rome was canceled. We had booked it last summer with Latter day travel and were so excited as it would allow us to see the places in Europe that we had always wanted to visit. The tour also included a cruise that would take us to Barcelona, Spain and a couple of islands in the Mediterranean before dropping us off in Rome. It would have been a dream vacation. We were told the company could not promise everything the tour included due to the market, inflation, and COVID restrictions. We have since booked a cruise out of London that will take us to 8 ports in the British Isles and then on to Paris where we will take a tour to the beaches of Normandy. It will be for the middle of May. This is what we had planned to do until we heard about the 3 temple tour. We'll just have to take a Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Rome to see those cities.

Looking up possible port excursions for our cruise

For a couple of months, Paul had been having trouble with his shoulder hurting and making it hard to sleep. He went to the orthopedic doctor who had performed his last shoulder surgery several years ago. He was thinking he would have to have this other shoulder operated on but instead the doctor gave him a shot in the shoulder and suggested he go to physical therapy to see if that would take the pain away. The last resort would be surgery. The shot gave him immediate relief and the physical therapy seems to be helping, too. The physical therapist is working on both his neck and shoulder as his neck was also giving him angst. 

Here we are at Mod Pizza in Park City
after the doctor's appointment.
Notice his Web MD shirt - a Christmas
present from Todd and Kailee. He loves
to wear it when he goes to a doctor's appointment.

Another thing that have happened this month was a fireside put on by our Stake Relief Society featuring Sheri Dew. It was on a Thursday night and became a 3 stake affair. The chapel and cultural hall were packed. I went with Deon and we met her two daughters, Kim and Kacee, there. Sister Dew's message was for us to close the gaps in our lives that might separate us from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was a most uplifting evening.

Some marvelous changes have occurred this month in the temple endowment film. The new film includes several pictures of the Savior and explains, in detail, the covenants being made during the endowment. The new version answered some questions for me that I had wondered about. Paul and I went to a session this month and came away feeling like we had just been hugged by the Savior. It was a marvelous and enlightening session.

On the last Saturday of  February, we attended our final BYU basketball game. We played San Francisco and we won quite handedly. We were grateful to end a rather dismal season with a decisive win. It was a significant game as it was the last game we would be playing in the WCC conference. Next year's basketball season will be played as part of the Big 12 conference. That should be interesting. We may not win a game for a few years until we can build a better team.

..... Then on the next to the last day of the month, Paul and I braved a snow storm to drive to Todd and Kailee's home, in the early morning, so we could be there when a plumber arrived to remove the cook top and faucets in their kitchen. Todd and Kailee took their children to Orlando, Florida so they could experience all the amusement parks there including Disney World. The reason the plumber came to remove those items is because they were having new counter tops installed in an upstairs bathroom and their kitchen. After lots of noise and dust and most of the day, the job was completed and looked beautiful. We were glad we could do this for Todd and Kailee otherwise the installation would have been put off for another week.

The bathroom

Quite a change from the granite they had before
in their kitchen.

Now about the weather here in Heber. We're not complaining but we still had about 24 inches in our backyard and it snowed another 8 inches at the first of the month and 8 plus inches at the end of the month. The piles of snow have never been this tall in all the winters we've been here. The old timers are saying this is what Heber used to be like. We won't see our grass or the far side of our driveway till June at least.....and the winter isn't over yet!!

The latest snow storm of the month

Winter's handiwork on a neighbor's home

Now for a couple of funny memes -

Inflation is out of control

This month the government allowed a
Chinese spy balloon to fly all the way 
across the US before they shot it down.
Not good!!