MANY MIRACLES IN THE MONTH OF MAY

 At the first of the on the month we got a message that one of the senior boys from our ward, JoJo Hyer, had been is a very serious accident. He was alone in the car and lost control of it. He was thrown from the car and ended up with serious head injuries. He was rushed to the hospital where the neuro surgeon said it would take a miracle for him to live. As a ward, we started an immediate fast and prayed continually for his recovery. Each day, as we got updates as to his condition, we saw miracles. He was conscious, the bleeding stopped in his brain, he could walk backwards and even pass a ball to his Mom in the hallway. It wasn't until there had been a week of miracles that the neuro surgeon finally was optimistic about his full recovery. On that day, a vein in his head that needed to heal began to heal on its own. If it hadn't, a very dangerous surgery would have had to be done. We were in Provo on Saturday so we tried to visit him and his parents. He was in speech therapy so we didn't get to see him or give his mom a big hug, but we left them a couple of Crumbl cookies. The next Tuesday, the miracle of all miracles - he was able to come home less than two weeks after the accident. Many of us, lined up at the park in our neighborhood to wave to him as he and his family drove by on their way home. It was quite a reception. 

JoJo and his mom, Tina

With his family

At the park with his friends

On the Saturday we went to the hospital, we were in Provo to attend the State Track Meet Finals. They were held at BYU and our grandson, Jaiden, had qualified in four events - the 100 M, the 200 M, the 4 X 1 relay, and the 4 X 2 relay. We were glad we made the effort to go watch him as he placed in all four events. He got 5th in the 100, 3rd in the 200, and 2nd in both relays. He was the anchor on both relays because is the fastest runner at his school. He ran a 10.8 for the 100 which was his personal best and a school record. Jaiden is only a junior so we can expect him to be even better next year. To be # 1, though, he will have to beat out a junior from Corner Canyon High School who ran a 10.36 in the 100. We were so proud of Jaiden and all his hard work.

With three of his four medals

We feel like we had another little miracle on Thursday when we went to watch Jaiden in the preliminaries. He ran the 100 about noon but his other events were not scheduled until late in the afternoon. We drove down for the first event but couldn't stay for the others in the afternoon. We were walking out of the field, onto the practice field, and who should we run into but Jaiden. He just happened to be there and we just happened to opt to go out that exit. We were so glad we could see him and congratulate him on his great run. We told him we couldn't stay for the other events but that we would be there, for sure, at the finals on Saturday.

At the first of the month, we celebrated Avery's birthday. She turned 6 this year. She loves the cartoon Bluey so that was the cake that I made her. She seemed thrilled. We love that we can be with Todd and Kailee's children and celebrate special days with them. 

Her cake

Her Bluey presents

Mother's Day was a special day for me. I heard from Jon, Ryan and Andrea via phone calls and Andrea sent me flowers.  Todd and Kailee came up for dinner with their family. I made Kailee's favorite meal, Malibu Chicken with garlic potatoes. We bought an ice cream cake for dessert so dinner was relatively easy to prepare. I even had banana bread in the freezer so I didn't have to bake rolls. The girls colored special Mother's Day cards for me and give me two candy bars. Todd and Kailee brought up chocolate covered strawberries, which were delicious. Paul gave me a card that said we could go to Provo and buy a Minky Couture blanket. I was so excited as I have wanted one of those to cuddle up with on the cold winter nights here. We went to Provo the next day and got in on the Mother's Day 45% off sale. That was a good thing because the size blanket I needed was upwards to $300. Outrageous for a blanket but, oh, they are so soft and warm. I love the one I picked out and will keep it draped across our couch year round.

The beautiful flowers Andrea sent me

My Minky Couture blanket

We had my family to dinner this month. It has been my turn to get the Fullers, Morgans, and Bulkeleys together now for a year. The last time we got together was at the Fullers in April of 2023. Everyone was traveling alot during that summer and the fall just got away from me. It's hard to plan anything in the winter as the roads in the canyon can be tricky at times...hence, a May dinner together this year. I served Salsa Verdi Lime Chicken Burritos and everyone brought something to compliment our Mexican meal. It was good food and fun to be together again after so long. We all vowed we wouldn't let it go that long again.

Toward the end of the month, Deon and Gary invited us to go to the temple with them and then to dinner at P.F. Changs for a late lunch. It would be my birthday celebration from them. Deon made the reservations for the Saratoga Springs temple. After our temple session, we drove to Provo for our lunch. They made sure the waiter knew it was my birthday so we got a special cake and ice cream dessert with a sparkler candle brought to our table. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday.

At P.F. Changs

After coming home and dropping off the men,
Deon and I went over to Kim's home to see
her new grandbaby. This is Kyle's new daughter
and Deon and Gary's new great grandchild.

We are excited about a new place in Heber for uplifting entertainment. A couple in our ward bought the old Ideal Theater and has turned it into the Ideal Playhouse. They have updated it with new seats and sound equipment as well as LED screens all along the walls of the theater. We went to the grand opening where we were treated with a sample of the entertainment that would be coming to the theater. They are planning on doing a couple of musicals which should be wonderful based on the singers that performed for us from those shows. They have such exciting plans to involve the whole community at this facility. It will be a great addition to our little Heber. 

On Sunday, the 19th, I had to teach Gospel Doctrine class in our ward. Jamie Coombs, for whom I have been her ministering sister for years, asked if I would substitute for her. I couldn't say no so all week I was preparing a lesson. It was on Zeniff and Abinadi so they were good scripture blocks to teach. I compared Zeniff being over zealous to Abinadi being zealous. The idea was to be zealous in our testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel, even if we have to stand alone, knowing that we can do so in the strength of the Lord. I think it went well. It was actually fun to teach again as it has been years since I have had the opportunity.

Ryan came to stay with us on that Sunday. He had business meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Orem and Linden so he spent Sunday and Monday nights with us. He invited us to come to Provo and meet him and Aubrey for dinner on Monday. We went down early so Paul could try and make contact with a few of his Pleasant Grove classmates. They are planning a get together for the class this summer and Paul agreed to take 30 names of classmates and let them know. When they don't respond to his calls or texts, we try and visit those who live close by. Before dinner  he made contact with 3 of them. Dinner was at Mo Bettah's, an Hawaiian restaurant. We had never eaten there so it was fun to try something different. The food was really good and we enjoyed visiting with Aubrey and Ryan. 

After dinner we headed home to Heber, but in the canyon, just 3 miles from Heber, we were stopped due to an accident. We were told it would be all night before the road would be opened again so we had to turn around, drive back down the canyon, up to Salt Lake, and then through Parley's canyon. Instead of getting home about 8:00, we didn't get home until almost 10.  Lots of driving, for sure. The accident was a really bad one. A tanker carrying propane, jack knifed and slide off into the reservoir. They searched for the driver but couldn't find him and the tanker was leaking propane into the lake. Not a good situation. The road remained closed all the next day until about 6:00 p.m. The driver obviously was killed. So sad but a miracle that many other cars were not involved as that part of the road is two lane and, usually, very busy with lots of car going both ways.

Pictures posted on Facebook of the tanker in the reservoir

We had a fun Memorial Day weekend in southern Utah. Todd and Kailee arranged for a beautiful home at the Arcadia Resorts in Santa Clara, Utah. They invited us to come with them. The unit was huge, sleeping up to 26 and seating 18 at the dinner table. They gave us the master suite as they wanted to be upstairs with their children so we had a king size bed and a huge tub, much to my delight. The resort had lots of activities in the club house and the pool area was amazing, complete with a lazy river, water slide, hots tubs and a kid's play area. Todd and Kailee's girls loved even the water slide. We were there Saturday afternoon till Tuesday morning. We were at the pool Saturday afternoon before going out to dinner. Sunday, after church, we took the kids to the dinosaur park. We had a picnic lunch there and then the kids played in the splash pad. It kept them cool and having lots of fun. When we got home I cooked a Sunday dinner for everyone then we just relaxed for the evening. Monday, we spent most of the day at the pool. Paul and I left for a bit in the afternoon but then returned to the pool. In the late afternoon, Ryan and his family came for a barbecue and time at the pool.  Julia and Grace were so good to play with Aria and Avery in the lazy river and the water slide. It was such a fun weekend.

In the lazy river

Our Subway picnic

Loving the splash pad

Yummy popsicles

Lincoln loved his car floatie.

Barbecue dinner with Ryan and family

Before we left for St. George, we drove to Pleasant Grove to put flowers on the graves of Paul's parents. This has become an annual tradition for us.  We would always do it on Friday after our temple shift. Since we no longer work in the temple, we went on Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend.

I loved these memes to remind us of the reason for Memorial Day.

Then on a sad note for our country....two days after celebrating the freedoms secured by those who died for our country, the New York courts convicted Donald Trump on 34 felony counts. These were trumped up charges meant to keep Trump off the campaign trail and hopefully out of the race. The felony charges would ordinarily be misdemeanors, like an accounting error. The judge was biased and the jury from a totally democrat district. We lost our republic when the justice department became political to stop the leading Presidential candidate.

I'll end with a couple more memes I thought were worth posting:

And then a couple more that give us courage in this troubled world: