Millar Moments: November 2023

As always, our October started with General Conference and wonderful messages from our prophets and leaders. We watched the Saturday sessions alone but on Sunday morning our college grandchildren came up to share in the talks with us. It was also the day we decided to celebrate Charlotte's birthday. It was a wonderfully uplifting day except for the fact that Charlotte did not seem to be doing real well. We knew she had been struggling with extreme anxiety but thought she was doing better, until we observed her on that Sunday. She was unusually quite, went downstairs to take a nap and hardly ate any of her birthday dinner or, her favorite dessert, apple cake. The next morning, Andrea called to tell us that she went to the emergency room that night. Apparently, she had vomited up all she ate at our home and, later that night, was experiencing chest pains, hence the visit to the emergency room. The doctors put her on medication to calm her heart, once they determined it was anxiety and not a heart attack. She felt great once she left the emergency room but was told to not eat anything but liquids for 2 days and to take a medication that would cause her to sleep day and night for several days. The doctors wanted to reset her body so she could eat and sleep. That morning, we took her down some protein drinks so she could get some nutrition on her liquid diet. By the next Sunday, she was much better but still couldn't eat anything but some slush. There was another visit to the emergency room a couple of weeks later when she developed a rash. The doctor took her off all medications until she could see her psychiatrist that week. We've saw her several times since and she seems her same perky self.....thank goodness.

We think Allison and Charlotte are listening

The special birthday cake she couldn't eat

Speaking of Charlotte, we attended a play at BYU that she wrote. It was called 'Lemonade' and was a comedy that kept us laughing the whole time. She based her play on the antics of her Dad's family life growing up and the audience loved it. Andrea and Casey brought Lydia and Jillian to Utah to watch the play, too. It was a fun weekend for them and for us to have them all in our home for a couple of days.

Charlotte before the performance

After the 4 shows, the audience has a chance to ask
the playwrights about their plays. The first night, one
person in the audience wanted to know what Charlotte taught
at BYU. When she said she was just a student, the audience
couldn't believe that a student could write such a great play.

At the first of the month, we took our annual drive over Guardsman pass to see the Fall colors. We missed the brilliant reds but the yellows were beautiful. The mountains were snow capped to add to the beauty of our drive. Of course, we ended up at Freddy's for lunch as we love their hamburgers and fries.

Mid month, we wanted to get away for a couple of days so we booked a stay at the Worldmark at Wolfcreek in Eden, Utah. We invited Deon and Gary to come with us. We left on Monday and came back on Wednesday so we only had one full day there but it was fun. As we drove around, we were amazed at the beautiful Fall colors of the trees and shrubs. Eden is set in a little valley just 10 miles up Weber canyon from Ogden.

Of course, ice cream is always a priority when we visit Eden
and the Mad Moose cafe

Our drive up to Powder mountain ski resort

The surrounding beauty of this area

Not only ice cream the night before at the Mad Moose
cafe, but lunch the next day.

We took advantage of the hot tub facility that was just a short walk from our condo unit. While we were enjoying the hot tub, we saw these wild turkeys walking along the golf course. Gary loves wild life and went crazy watching them.

We got home on Wednesday, then on Thursday we traveled to Provo for a BYU cougar club luncheon. This one was a bit different in that we met at the Marriot center to watch a practice of our basketball team. Subway catered the luncheon, so we picked up a box lunch from them and sat in the bleachers to watch the team practice. We didn't stay too long after the team finally came onto the court, as they were only doing their warmups and not playing an inner squad game like we hoped they would do. We probably won't attend next year if they have this same format.

Then for the sadness of the month.....Hamas (in the Gaza strip in the middle east) attacked Israel in a horrific massacre, killing whole families including little babies. The terrorists took several hostages, including some Americans and are threatening them if anyone attacks them. Israel is mounting a counter attack which we all hope will wipe out Hamas, a sworn enemy of Israel and the Jewish people. What is sad is that here in America several protests have cropped up, especially on our college campuses, in support of the terrorist and calling on Israel not retaliate. So sad that people can't see what is happening - Nazi Germany all over again.

On the last Sunday of the month, we celebrated Maggie's birthday. She wanted Hawaiian chicken and all the trimmings so that's what I fixed. Todd and Kailee and their family joined all the college kids so we had a houseful, which we love. Everyone seemed to enjoy dinner and birthday cake and ice cream.

On Monday, the 30th, we held our Ward Halloween Trunk or Treat. This year we decided to hold it at the Stake Center and not at our neighborhood park. We were glad we did as the weather turned very cold. It turned out to be a success with close to 200 people attending. Everyone brought soup or chili to share and the ward provided rolls, vegetable trays, and cookies. The Young Men and Young Women and Primary set up some activities around the hall for the children to keep them involved. After dinner, everyone went outside for the trunk or treat. This is a party Paul and I are always glad is over. The children are so hyped and the parents don't keep track of them. I had to shoo children off the stage at least 4 times and another sister had to keep telling them not to chase through the chapel. But, everyone seemed to have a good time and that's what is important.

The hall all set up and ready for the party

One of the booths the YM set up

The next night was Halloween. Since we get very few children coming to our home, we decided to go to Todd and Kailee's home to help pass out candy while they took their kids trick or treating. Their neighborhood was inundated with trick or treaters so we were at the door almost continually until 7:30. It was fun to see the reaction of the kids to Todd and Kailee's yard decorations. They went all out as usual, adding even more to last year's display. Most of the kids loved it and had fun making the spider jump out and the other things talk and light up. Aria went out trick or treating with her friends for the first time so Todd and Kailee only had Avery and Lincoln. It didn't take Lincoln long to realize that trick or treating was all about getting candy and he loved it. We were glad we could participate somewhat in their celebration.