MANY MEMORABLE MOMENTS IN MAY

The month of May was a busy one with many wonderful moments beginning with Mother's Day. Paul and I were alone on the actual day but Andrea and Todd sent flowers and all our family called or texted to wish me a happy Mother's Day. It was a nice day with Paul barbecuing steaks for us. 

The next weekend, we traveled to St. George for Julia's farewell talk in her ward. She did an amazing job and will be such a wonderful missionary. She started home MTC while we were there. 

Dinner after Julia's farewell

Julia was set apart on Tuesday
of that week

Officially a missionary

Home MTC

Before we left for home,
 we dropped by to say our final goodbyes to Julia

We stayed in St. George the whole week after the farewell because Todd had invited us to be with them at the Arcadia Resort for the Memorial Day weekend, starting that Friday. During the week, we relaxed a lot, visited friends and family, did a puzzle, and read. It was kind of nice not to be on any deadline for a few days. 

The puzzle of the BYU stadium.  I think
Paul may have put in one piece.

On Monday, we visited our neighbors who have a second home in St. George and were staying there for a couple of weeks. We both commented that it was the longest we had visited since they moved next door 10 years ago. It was nice.

Tuesday, we went to the Red Cliff temple and enjoyed the session. After lunch, we went back to the condo to await Deon and Gary. They were on their way to California for a grandson's homecoming. We invited them to stop and spend the night with us so they didn't have to drive the whole way in one day. They arrived around 4 and we went to dinner with them at a Mexican restaurant, of course. That night, we watched a movie and they left after breakfast in the morning.

The next day, we visited dear friends, Dick and Sunny Reinhold, who moved from Heber to St. George. We wanted to see where they were living as it was a 55 and older community. They invited us to have lunch with them at their facility which was very nice. They are living in a place where you lease an apartment and then pay a monthly fee for your meals that are served in the dining room. There are all sorts of activities for them to do which is key for Sunny. The facility is very nice but we realized we couldn't live that kind of life. We had a great visit with them. (Side note: we had talked about wanting to see the Reinholds while we were in St. George. We stopped in Fillmore for lunch and decided to go the Iceberg hamburger place there. We ordered our food and went to sit down at a booth when we noticed Dick and Sunny there in a booth across from us. That was quite a little miracle. It was there we arrange to come visit them on Wednesday.)

Dick and Sunny in their apartment
which they love and wouldn't want to
be anywhere else at this stage in their lives.

Thursday was a day of relaxing waiting to hear from my brother, Dave, as to when a good time would be to come visit. Finally, it was decided we'd come in the evening so went to dinner at In'n Out before going to their home to visit. We were glad we took time to visit Dave and Susette as we had a great time catching up on each other's families as well as what's happening in their lives. Darrell, my other brother, joined us as he lives with Dave and Susette. We stayed longer then we had anticipated as it was such a fun visit.

Friday, we moved out of our Worldmark condo and moved into the Arcadia Resort. Kailee's sister and her family joined us and then Todd and his family came in about 10:00 that night. We spent a lot of time at the pool area which included a lazy river, a water slide, a pool and 2 hot tubs, as well as a kiddie pool area. The children loved every minute of their stay. On Sunday, I fixed a dinner for everyone including Ryan's family who came to join us. Everyone left on Monday.

We left Monday morning before 10 hoping to avoid Memorial Day traffic. We didn't as the traffic was heavy for most of the trip home. We made a detour into Pleasant Grove to put flowers on Paul's parent's graves. We were glad we took time to do that but were happy when we finally made it home to Heber.

While we were away, our new neighbors moved in. We met them just as we were leaving for St. George and they seem nice. They have a 10 years old boy and 2 yappy little dogs. They have fenced in their back yard for the dogs but if they are outside when we come out, they run to the fence and bark. We'll just have to get used to new neighbors after 10 years with the Smiths. We did visit our new neighbors and took the some cookies on Saturday. We had a good visit with them. They have totally changed the inside of the house with new floors throughout and several chandeliers. 

The new fence

They have yet to water their lawn. Hopefully that will
change when they get settled.

Also on Saturday, we visited our old neighbors, the Smiths, in their new home. They are still in the process of putting up shelving and unpacking. It was nice to sit down and visit with them for a while before they took us on a tour of their new home.  We will miss them terribly as neighbors.

Our granddaughter, Lydia, is serving her mission in Arizona. She surprised us with the sweetest hand written 2 page letter. In it she thanked us for all we had done for her and for raising her Mom in the gospel. We loved the fact that she would take time to write such a loving letter.

Our Lydia

At the end of this month, we finally found a Sunday to celebrate Avery's birthday. Her birthday was the day after mine, April 29, but we couldn't find a Sunday to celebrate with her till the last of May. She is really into puppies so I made her a puppy cake and bought her a talking puppy and a sticker book of dogs and puppies. She seemed to love it all.

Lastly I need to discuss my health. Since mid April I've been struggling with unexplained aches and pains in my body. Something seems to be attacking my joints causing swelling especially in the ankles and knees. I finally went back to the doctor as the medication he had prescribed earlier for me wasn't taking the pain away. He took blood to test for auto immune disease and rheumatoid arthritis. He also put me on a low dose of Prednisone, a steroid. He wants me to take it for three weeks and then come back in so he can decide what else, if anything, we can do to relieve the pain. The Prednisone worked well for the first couple of days but doesn't seem to be helping too much now, even though I doubled the dose. I'm so tired of hurting and hope we can get to the bottom of my problem. (The results of the blood work came back and it's negative for rheumatoid and auto immune disease but it did show my body was full of inflammation. It'll be interesting to see what can be done about that.)

I hate to end on a downer of the note but that's the way it is.

APRIL -- A MONTH OF BIRTHDAYS, GRADUATIONS, FUNERALS, MISSIONARIES AND A FUN TRIP

We'll start the month report with our week long trip to Lake Havasu, Arizona vis St. George. We invited the Fullers to go with us. They met us in St. George as they needed to be home a day before we did in order to go to a bridal shower. We stayed in St. George on Saturday and Sunday before leaving for Arizona. On Saturday we went to dinner with Don and Dana at the Texas Roadhouse. It was noisy but enjoyable. Afterwards, we went to their home for dessert and more visiting. On Sunday, I fixed a big breakfast and we just hung out until it was time to go to church. We went to Ryan's ward and then to his home for dinner afterwards. It was nice to be with them for a bit. We left for Lake Havasu on Monday morning. It was about a 5 hour drive. We stopped at the overlook at Hoover Dam. It was good to get out of the car and walk around for a bit. 

We checked into our World Mark condo that afternoon. It was an interesting condo, done in Arizona flat roof style. It was old but in good repair and took care of our needs for the 4 days.  It had a view of the lake which was nice but the road noises made it so we had to keep the slider closed if we were watching television.

On Tuesday, we decided to explore the area and ended up at the London Bridge, an actual bridge imported from London. The founder of the city of Lake Havasu wanted something to draw tourists to the area. He purchased the bridge when it was being replaced and had it dismantled with each granite piece being numbered so it could be reassembled in an exact likeness. He had it shipped via boat to San Diego then by truck to Lake Havasu. It was rebuilt over dry land and then the dirt was dredged out to form a canal under the bridge, turning the peninsula into an island. There is an English village built near the bridge complete with red telephone booths. While at the bridge we booked a sunset cruise on the lake for that evening.

At the entrance of the English village

The bridge and telephone booth

We had some time in the afternoon, so we hung out at the pool and hot tub. The pool area was very nice and not crowded, which was great. In fact we had the area to ourselves until the last few minute when another couple joined us. 

The cruise was a wonderful way to see the lake and all the lighthouses set around the lake.  We boarded the open air boat around 6:30 for a 2 hour cruise. We were given lots of history of the area and saw most of the southern parts of the lake as well as the canal and London Bridge. Our guide was very informative telling us about the area and each of the lighthouses that we saw. There are 22 replicas of lighthouses from around the world. They light up with a red light at dusk to help guide the boats still out on the lake. 

On the boat

We didn't pass all 22 lighthouses but I got my fill of seeing lighthouses. (I've always loved lighthouses.) By the end of the cruise, the sun was setting so we could see the lights of the city reflecting on the lake as well and the London bridge lit up. It was beautiful and so worth the cost of the cruise.

The next day, we did laundry at the condo laundromat before going to Jersey Mike's to pick up lunch to take to the lake for a picnic. We were told where the best beach area was so we drove there, found a table in the shade, and enjoyed our sandwiches. The pigeons were plentiful and loved when we'd throw them a crumb or two. It was most enjoyable to just relax and watch people and the boats on the water.  Later that afternoon, we went to a movie and saw The Great Awakening. Afterwards, we found a Mexican restaurant where we had a delicious dinner. (We always have to eat one meal at a Mexican place when we travel with the Fullers.)

Waiting for our clothes to be done. 

  Enjoying Jersey Mike's at the lake

The next day, Thursday, we decided to drive to Parker dam area. It was about an hour long drive where we saw the south end of the lake. The rest of the afternoon was spent completing the puzzle that Deon and I had worked in our down time at the condo. The next day it was back to St. George where we dropped Deon and Gary off at their car so they could hurry home to Heber.  We checked back into the Worldmark.  We met Ryan and Katie and Nathan at the Pizza Factory for a quick dinner, after which, we watched Nathan play in a volleyball tournament. He will be a great player if he keeps it up. Saturday morning, we packed up and traveled home to Heber. A fun trip where we visited places we had never been. 

The puzzle

April is a month of lots of birthdays and we celebrated three of them. For Jon, I fixed his request for Sunday dinner of chicken in cream sauce and cream puffs for dessert.

For Clark, he chose teriyaki chicken and rice but also asked if I could make some teriyaki steak on skewers, too. I decided I could pull out an old recipe for beef teriyaki and adapt to what he wanted. It turned out good. He also requested pazookies (big chocolate chip cookies and ice cream) for dessert, which was nice and easy for me.

For my birthday, we invited Deon and Gary to go to a movie with us. We saw the new film called Michael, a film about Michael Jackson's family life and career. It was a good movie and gave us insight into Michael Jackson's life and personality. We, then, went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. A wonderful birthday, for sure, especially with all the birthday wishes I received.

Graduations were also a part of this month. Maggie and Kasey Lighthart both graduated from BYU. That's quite an accomplishment for them. Because of limited tickets, Paul and I couldn't go to any of the graduation ceremonies but were able to celebrate with the graduates at a dinner at our home. They had requested Chicken Parmesan so that's what I fixed along with angel hair, asparagus, Olive Garden salad and breadsticks. All the Westovers were there except Lydia who was in the MTC. Kasey's parents and brother joined us so dinner was for 12. It was a good evening spent eating and visiting. The next day, the Westovers left early in the morning to help Maggie and Kasey load a U-Haul truck so they could move all their things to Oregon. The drive was not uneventful, though. Andrea was driving Maggie and Kasey's car and it started heating up. When they took it to a mechanic, they were told that the head gasket was blown. They knew they couldn't drive it all the way to Oregon so they had to find a hauler that would hook to the back of the U-haul truck, as well as a rental car to drive.  It wasn't an easy task but they were successful finding both needs back at the Salt Lake airport. Needless to say they didn't get as far as they had hoped on Saturday so had to drive all the way on Sunday. Luckily they made it and now all are safely in Springfield, Oregon.

This was Maggie's capstone project. It was quite impressive
as she has written and illustrated 3 children's books and is
working on the 4th.

Now for missionaries. We have three grandchildren going out on missions this Spring. Lydia entered the MTC in Provo in mid-April and is now serving in the Gilbert, Arizona mission. We attended Jaiden's farewell on the 26th of April. It was great as we got to talk with him for a bit as well as all of Jon's boys. Jaiden gave a very heartfelt talk bearing testimony of the gospel, our Savior's Atonement, and the temple. He will make a great missionary going to El Paso Texas speaking Spanish. He starts the MTC at home the first Wednesday on May and enters the Provo MTC for language training on May 20th. Our third missionary will be Julia who leaves at the end of May. So proud of these grandchildren who have decided to serve the Lord.

And then there was the funerals......

We attended two this month. The first was the son of our dear friend, Fay McQuire. His son, Scott, had suffered from cancer for a few years. The treatment worked for a while but in the end they just had to keep him comfortable with pain meds. It was a blessing for him to go but hard on the family members who are still here.

The second funeral was for a friend who served with us in Moscow, Russia on our mission. He and his wife had an area assignment so they traveled all over Eastern Europe. We got to know them quite well going out to many restaurants with them. His wife, Clarene, died three years earlier from Alzheimer's. Denise had devoted his time taking care of her. He died of congestive heart failure quite suddenly - a surprise to all of us. He was friends with the Fullers as well as Kathy and Curt Morgan. They had all lived in Bakersfield at the same time.

 Other happenings in the month include a BYU luncheon where three athletes spoke to us. The most notable was Richie Saunders, the basketball player, who injured his ACL mid season. He was an intricate part of the team and the leader. His story was inspiring. We were so glad we went to this luncheon. Paul even won a white hat during the ticket drawing.

We had a family dinner at our home this month, too. This was for my family members who are here in northern Utah - The Morgans, Fullers, and Bulkeleys. I served Teriyaki chicken, friend rice and stir fried vegetables. It seemed to be a big hit. We visited for a long time after dinner. It is always fun to get together with family.

And last, there was Avery who was hospitalized for pneumonia. She woke up Easter night and couldn't breathe easily. Kailee took his oxygen level and when it proved to be dangerously low, Todd rushed her to the hospital. At the American Fork hospital, they determined she had pneumonia and needed to be on oxygen.  Because they don't have a pediatric unit there, she was sent in an ambulance to Primary Children's hospital in Lehi.  the next afternoon, we went to Lehi to help babysit so Todd could go work out and then relieve Kailee at the hospital. I brought them chicken noodle soup for their dinner which they appreciated. The next day, when Avery was released, we brought all the kids milk shakes from Chick Filet. The kids were excited when they saw them. We were so glad Avery's stay in the hospital only lasted a day and a half. 

Hooked up to oxygen

One meme about Easter which was on General Conference Sunday this month -