MARCH - ANOTHER MONTH IN THE BOOKS

 The month of March has been a continuation of what was happening in February - Cancel Culture. Along with the surge of illegal immigrants on the Southern border, cancel culture has become a crisis in our country. It seems that if someone is offended then that action or those words or that book or that event in history must be banned from our society. They have even gone so far as to cancel some Dr. Suess books because of some supposed offensive language. Let's not look at the offensive music of this generation but let's cancel children's books that have been around for 50 years because, in this day and age, they have become offensive. Aunt Jamima syrup and Uncle Ben's rice have been renamed because they featured a black woman and black man on the labels. Somehow that is not an honor but a degrading look at the black race. This is getting out of hand. In journalism, it is now required that if you write the word black in front of a noun such as a black person, the word black must be capitalized. Of course, that does not hold true if you put the word white in front of a noun. 

Not only is race an issue in cancel culture, but anything that suggest gender is now not politically correct. In the Congress of the United States, it is now improper to use any adjective that suggests gender such as Mr., Mrs., Aunt, Uncle etc. These are to be replaced with a gender neutral adjective. Even Mr. Potato head has been renamed to Potato head. I guess referring to male and female is offensive to the transgender person. 

Then there is the war on conservative news outlets. The congress is now wanting to not allow networks like Newsmax to be broadcast on Capitol hill. We are being censured and silenced now with the Democrats controlling all houses of government and the Presidency. A little scary for a country that prides itself on the freedom of speech. 

Enough ranting for the month. I must mention a miracle that happened on fast Sunday. As I knelt to pray that morning to implore the Lord for the things for which I was fasting, I also included my depression about the future of our country. I asked for help to get out of my funk and to find ways to have a more positive outlook for the future. After my prayer, I turned to the scriptures. I was reading the Gospel Doctrine.com commentary on the first chapter of Jacob and read the following.....

    9 things to finding the abundant life......faith enough to make work a pleasure, wealth enough to support your needs, strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them, grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them, patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished, charity enough to see good in your neighbor, love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others, faith enough to make real the things of God, and HOPE ENOUGH TO REMOVE ALL ANXIOUS FEARS CONCERNING THE FUTURE.

I began to cry as I read that last thing I needed to do. Truly an answer to prayer. I need to have more hope for a brighter future so I must put all my fears in the hands of the Lord and live life to the best of my ability.

At the first of the month, we celebrated Kailee's birthday.  She loves German Chocolate cakes so that's what she got for her birthday cake. She was thrilled. We also had her favorite dinner, Malibu Chicken.

Toward the end of the month, several things happened. The first is that we had our second vaccine shot for COVID 19. We were a little worried about it because some people have had some reactions to the second shot. Paul was fine but I had a few aches and pains about 24 hours afterward. It was nothing, though, that a warm bath and a couple of Advil couldn't handle. We will be 95% protected from getting COVID as of April 6th.  Happy Day!!!

Our vaccination cards that show we are fully
vaccinated. Hopefully they won't be needed to board
a plane or enter a restaurant as had been suggested by
the bigwigs in Washington D.C.

Two days following our shots, Paul went into the skin doctor to have some cancer removed from his forehead. He was there for about three hours but at least they got all the cancer the first time around. On his ear a few years back, it took the doctor three tries before he felt he had gotten it all. Hopefully this will heal without too much of a scar. 

The afternoon after Paul's surgery, we went to Provo to run some errands and then stopped at Charlotte's apartment so she could follow us home. She was having a hard time with her roommates and needed a break. That break turned into her moving out of her apartment the following week so she could just live with us till her parents come in April to pick up Jillian and drop off Maggie from BYU Idaho. Charlotte will follow them home and stay there until the Fall semester. Hopefully by then, campus will be opened and classes will be in person. All her classes have been on line this semester which means she is basically in her apartment all day. At least with her here in Heber she has quiet spaces to do her studies, can get a good night's sleep, and had us for company. A welcomed change for her.

All month long, Ryan has been sending us videos of Aubrey's high school volleyball games. We've never seen her play so this was a treat. She played really well and her team was victorious in most games. At two of the games, Grace sang the National Anthem before the game so that was also special to see her perform. No on could attend the Volleyball games so the district arranged for them to be broadcast for families to watch at home. This made it easy for Ryan to forward the link to us so we could watch her play, too.

Thank goodness for modern technology in this time of COVID.
Note the girls are having to wear masks during play.
That's got to be hard.

On the last Sunday of the month, Todd and Kailee came up for dinner, as they usually do. Charlotte was there so that was a treat but the best thing is that Paul had found one of Aria's LOL dolls which she had lost while up here a couple of months ago. It was the doll she had purchased with the money we had given her so she was heart broken when it got lost. Paul found it in the snow bank next to the driveway. It must have fallen in the snow when Aria was getting into the car. Needless to say, Aria was thrilled.

The LOL doll that was found

Playing the turtle game with Dad 

On one of the Sundays this month, Todd and Kailee 
\brought up the girl's scooters. Of course, they had to ride
them down to the pond and back.

Before I end this blog entry, I must talk about a speaker at one of our Sacrament meetings this month. An Elder Cook of the Seventies, came to our ward because he was visiting a family in our ward, the Sargeants.  At the end of the meeting, he took a few minutes to speak to us about the miracles the church has experienced during this pandemic.  He said that baptisms are higher than they were before the pandemic because the missionaries have learned how to more effectively use technology. He also said that he had been working with the governments in the Phillipines and Africa to see how General Conference could get to the people in those areas where the internet service was not good. As a result, General Conference will be broadcast on National television making it available to millions more people. The Lord knows how to grow his kingdom even when a pandemics strikes the world. 

I also heard something else that inspired me this month. It was, 'Life is hard. It's not meant to be easy. If it was, we wouldn't grow and stretch. It's challenges that make us into better persons and bring us closer to Christ.'  I loved that. We just need to work through the hard things, relying on the Lord in faith and hope for a bright future.

And that's it for another month.....

FEBRUARY - THE GOOD AND THE BAD

 This month I am determined to focus first on all the positive things that have happened in this month. For the last several months, the negatives have been so much on the fore front of my mind that these were what I lead with in this blog. This month will be different, I promise.

This month, we added equipment to our new exercise room. After having the floor laid at the end of January, we immediately went out to find the perfect recumbent bike. A recumbent exercise bike is one with a seat with a back on it. Both Paul and I would have a hard time riding for any length of time on a regular bicycle seat. We also bought a TV cabinet to store resistant bands, weights, etc...and hopefully eventually a television. Paul put the cabinet together the first day and then tackled the exercise bike the next day. It took him a few hours but the ending result was well worth it. We already had two exercise balls so with the purchase of a mat, I could use the balls to add to my workout routine. We still needed to get resistant bands, weights, and a bench. We found those items at a home exercise store in Sandy later in the month. After putting the bench together and some eye hooks into the wall for the resistant bands, we felt like our exercise room was complete.  We now have enough equipment to give us a pretty good balanced workout of aerobic and toning exercises. We are committed to getting into better shape. We have not been to the gym in over a year partially because of COVID. Now we can workout anytime we want without the inconvenience of having to go to the gym. The exercise room will also add value to our home, much more than a second office.  A great addition.             

Bike, cabinet and mat ready to go 

Adding the bench to our room gives us a way to work
with the weights and do some toning exercises as well.

Another fun thing that happened was on the first Sunday of the month. As usual, Todd and Kailee brought the girls up for Sunday dinner. Before dinner, though, the girls donned their snowsuits and boots and went outside to do some sledding. This winter has been unusually lacking in snow, especially in the Lehi area where they live. We had had a pretty nice snowstorm that week so Todd and Kailee wanted the girls to have a chance to go sledding down a hill or two. Our yard's slopes didn't work so well but Kailee found a beautiful hill in our neighbors yard and Aria had a ball. That was the first time she had sled down a hill and loved it. Avery was a different story. She didn't like sledding but loved eating the snow. Fun day for them and for us watching.

The next morning, we packed our suitcases and headed to St. George, with Deon and Gary, for a little get away to warmer weather.  After stopping for gas and lunch in Spanish Fork, we drove to St. George and arrived about 5 o'clock. We checked into the World Mark, unpacked, and enjoyed of spaghetti dinner and a relaxing evening together.  The next morning, we contacted Dana to get the pass codes to their new home in the Brio development in St. George. They were still at their home in Washington, but we wanted to see their new Utah home. We had seen it when it was being built but not the finished edition. Dana has it so electronically wired that she can unlock the door from Washington as well as see what going on in their home in St. George. When we arrived, Dana unlocked the door and we went inside. They have done a beautiful job making it into a very comfortable second home. Our brother, Dave, was in the process of trimming out some window so the home was a bit dusty but we could see why Don and Dana love to stay here for part of the year. With sunshine in Southern Utah and rain in Washington, no doubt why this would be an inviting place to spend several months.

Don and Dana's new home in St. George, Utah

On our way to Don and Dana's home, we drove out to the city of Washington, where Ryan and Katie have purchased a lot. They would like to build and eventually move there permanently, if their children could adjust to this area. They are wanting to get out of Oregon and the liberal policies that are driving the state. They are talking about renting a home in the St. George area for the upcoming school year to see how the children like it. If they like it, they would sell their home in Medford and build on the lot they purchased. If it doesn't work out for them, the lot is a good investment. It's in a great area where many new homes are being built. It's in a great school district and close to the new temple being built. If they actually move there permanently, we would be tempted to sell our home here and build two smaller homes - one in Heber and one in St. George. Just a thought.

The view from the development in which Ryan bought a lot

We also called my brother, Dave, who lives in St. George to set a time to visit him and Suzette in their new home. After looking through one of the model homes in Brio which Paul loves, we went to lunch at Freddie's for one of their delicious steak burgers. By two thirty, we were at Dave's and had a nice visit. Their home is beautiful and will be even more so once all their little projects inside get done.  We love having two brothers living in Utah. 

While at Dave's, Paul tried Suzette's back stretching machine.
He kept going back until his head was pointing downward.
Afterwards he said his back really hurt so that's not the machine for us.

Dave and Suzette enjoying their new home

The next day we didn't have much planned but didn't want to just stay at home so we decided to check out a place I had seen as we drove to our condo on Monday. It turned out to be right by a beautiful cemetery with an area honoring all who had died in wars defending our country. The park I had seen from the road, turned out to be an incredible children's park with a prehistoric dinosaur theme. There was also a train that took us on a 10 minute ride around the park, through a tunnel and some dinosaur bones. There is a place inside a volcano with picnic tables and an area that leads to some sliding tubes. We loved the water area, complete with a waterfall and splash pad, perfect for the hot summers for which St. George is known. We immediately thought of Aria and Avery and how much they would enjoy this place.

Definitely the oldest people riding the train on this day

After spending about a hour in the children's park, we chased down a skim boarding place on the Virgin river  but weren't that impressed. We then drove out to the Tuacahn theater to buy tickets for the shows this summer but found out they wouldn't go on sale until the next week. During our drive, we passed the St. George temple, now closed for a two year renovation project. It was really torn up. They must be gutting the inside as well as reinforcing the foundations. Lunch was at a relatively new Zuppas where we enjoyed soup, salad and sandwiches. On a whim, we drove out to Santa Clara, which used to be on the way to California when we were young. Now it's just a suburb of St. George, quite out of the way from the freeway. After stopping for a Dairy Queen ice cream, we headed back to World Mark to spend a quiet afternoon watching one of the Jason Bourne movies.  We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant that evening and then settled in for the second movie in the Bourne trilogy. The next morning it was time to head home. A short but well needed break in our routine and the cold weather.

The construction happening at the St. George temple

This was also the month we were scheduled to get the COVID 19 vaccine. On the day of our appointment, we had some second thoughts about it so decided to cancel our appointment until we could talk with our doctor. I had read both pros and cons about the vaccine and needed to be reassured that it would be safe for us. Of course, the doctor encouraged us to get it and assuaged many of my fears. We then scheduled an appointment to get the shot the following week. We were braver that time and took the first shot. (It's a two dose procedure for 95% protection.) We did not have any reactions so we are a little more confident about getting the second vaccine shot. That'll happen in mid March, one month from the time of the first shot.

This was too funny but too true. The COVID counting is 
so not accurate, especially the death count. If you die with COVID
it is considered a COVID death whether COVID caused the death or not.

Thought this was funny - seen at the Orem Gandolfo's
where we often grab a deli sandwich for lunch.

Now to politics and the terrible situation our country is in just 6 weeks after President Biden took office. Immediately, Trump was impeached again by the House of Representatives, this time for supposedly inciting insurrection because of the breaching of the capitol building on the day he was giving a speech to his followers.  When the Senate heard the case in February, it was rejected. Of course, the vote was down party lines except for 6 republicans who voted to impeach. Such a farce. This charade only served to fortify Trump supporters. 

Since last month, our rights are being canceled more and more. This is a scary situation. The Congress is proposing that conservative media such as Newsmax not be allowed to broadcast what they say are lies. What is funny is that the mainstream media has been spewing lies by twisting facts for 4 years about Trump and his administration. We have had to put up with this and now that the left is in power, they say we are lying. They want to ban such speech because it differs from their point a view about things. One of the things that has made America great is the right to express differing opinions and being able to make up our own minds as to what is true and what is not. The left is trying to cancel any speech that is contrary to their propaganda. This is so what we saw happening in Russia.

Still this month, the capitol building is under the protection of the National Guard, even after it has been discovered that left wing extremists planned the whole attack on the capitol building. Of course, some of the Trump supporters also went into the capitol building which they should not have done. It has also been found out that Trump requested 10,000 National Guard troops to be on the capitol grounds because of the size of the crowd expected n January 6.  This request was declined by the speaker of the house because she felt it would be bad optics. It's beginning to look like the whole thing was planned to make Trump look bad and to insure the proceedings to question the electoral college vote would not happen. 

The sad thing that is continuing to happen is that the court cases about election fraud are being declined to be heard even by the Supreme Court of the land. No evidence has been allowed to be presented yet the cases have been denied. How can our America have become so corrupt that even the highest court in the land can be manipulated to bow down to the left's demands. There is so much evidence of election fraud that totally would have turned the election to Trump but no one is willing to hear it in a court. If this can't be resolved then our elections will no longer be safe from even more widespread fraud and our America will not longer be the nation of the free.

Patriots - the American people who care about America's future
Stealers - the democrats, Congress, and the courts
TOO SAD

Just a  little more ranting.... Here are few memes that express just how we are feeling about the situation in our once beautiful country of America.

                                   Biden's executive orders are undoing everything good that

Trump put into place during his 4 years. This administration is
not looking out for the American citizens nor putting our country first.

Now for some memes that give us courage to face the future.......

One of the joys of our month....When we were in St. George, I texted Kailee to see if she needed us to babysit on the Friday after we would get home. She said she didn't but sent this darling picture. Aria had asked who her mom was texting and when she found out it was Grandma, she wanted Kailee to take a picture and send it to us.  So Sweet!!!!!