IT'S FEBRUARY....HOME ALMOST 2 MONTHS.

We were blessed with a beautiful
snow storm.  Nothing like a Heber
winter scene.

Where has the time gone?  We have been home almost 2 months now and our mission is becoming a distant memory. We are so much back into the groove of life at home that, sometimes, it seems like we never left home in the first place. This month has been one of getting social security benefits back in place, setting up physical and dental exams, reuniting with former senior couples from our mission, and traveling to see children in Oregon. 

Paul spent many days trying to get me re-enrolled in medicare. His application was processed without a hitch but mine was not. It took two trips to the Provo social security office and several phone calls before he was successful. All that delayed our getting our annual physicals for a couple of weeks. Paul received a clean bill of health from his physical but I found out I have a thyroid issue and my blood pressure is too high. That all means new medications for both problems. The doctor seems to think that my being so tired after returning home was a result of the thyroid not working as it should. It will be interesting to see if I feel significantly better with the medication.

Our stake conference was held on the 17th and 18th of January.  I was asked to talk in the Saturday night session.  My job was to motivate other senior couples in our stake to put in their mission papers. I spoke a bit about our mission experiences and stressed how vital senior couples are to the missionary effort and how desperately they are needed. (We just found out that the Moscow Mission is going from 22 senior couples to 11 by this spring.  We are afraid that is typical of most all missions and that is so sad.) Hopefully couples in our stake will recognize the great need and decide soon to go on missions as a result of what I said.

Kitchen table ready

Dining room table ready

On the Monday of the next week, we had a group of couples over to our home for dinner.  It was our 'empty nester', or what we call our 'free birds,' dinner group. Most of the couples are from our ward and number about 20.  We provided the main course (tri tip and chicken breasts, oscar style) and they brought the salads, breads, and desserts. After dinner, they wanted us to tell them about our mission. We had prepared a slide show of some of the highlights of our time in Russia so we spent about an hour showing our pictures and talking about the joys of serving a mission. 


The rest of the week was very busy. It reminded us of our mission days of 'cooking every second.'  Wednesday,Todd and Kailee brought Kara and Nicole and her children up to have dinner and visit.  We love the fact that Todd and Kailee want to come be with us. We had dinner and then sat and visited and played with Nicole's darling girls.

Kailee adores her two nieces

Thursday, we prepared dinner for Richard and Jeanie Pierson who were in Utah to visit their children living here. They were the couple from our mission with whom we did a lot of sightseeing. We were so glad they would take time away from family to come up to Heber for dinner and a visit. It was fun to reminisce and catch up on happenings in each other's families. There is a strong bond of friendship developed when you serve so closely with senior couples on a mission. ( We also cooked Sunday dinner for Todd and Kailee....four major meals in one week...oh so much like in Russia.)

I kept trying to imagine what it was like watching Paul
play here in high school.  I could almost see him
shooting his jump shot from the side of the key...
definitely his favorite and best shot.

Friday, we decided to attend the temple and then met Todd for dinner at Pizza Factory. (We had been craving their delicious breadsticks.)  Kailee was babysitting Nicole's children so she couldn't join us but we saved her some pizza. After dinner, we attended the Pleasant Grove High School basketball game. They were playing Alpine, the defending champions.  It was a fun game to watch and Paul was loving being back in the gym in which he once played while in high school.  We even found the state championship trophy which his basketball team won back in the 60's.  



The rest of the month was taken up with physical exams, trips to shop for clothes to replenish our wardrobes and to Costco to update our food storage.  We also started our membership at Fit Stop and went to work out for the first time in 18 months. We were a little sore afterwards but it sure felt good. Of course, we continued to teach our Sunbeam class of 6 adorable children.  We have learned that we must have many activities during our class time with them to keep them focused on what we are trying to teach.

Paul telling the children about Daniel in the lion's den

The children in costumes after acting out the story of Daniel.
Left to right - Daniel, the lion, and the king 

The last Friday of the month, we had made plans to meet Jon for lunch.  It seems like we never have a chance to visit with him, hence the invitation to take him to lunch. Paul was up most of the night before, very sick with a flu bug, so I drove to Lehi alone and met Jon at Cafe Rio. We had a great visit.  It is nice to take a minute to catch up on what is happening in our children's lives. 

An incredible display
before introducing the team

Our view of the game during
the first half

On Saturday, we decided to go to the BYU basketball game at the last minute. Jon was there with Mindy. They were guests of Jon's company and were treated to dinner before the game and court side seats for the game.  Pretty nice!

Our view of the game during the second half when we joined
Mitch and Michelle Davis and the Wrights in the expensive seats.

Quite a different perspective

Sunday, February 1st, was Super Bowl Sunday and we had a houseful of guests by the time the game started.  We had a pot roast dinner with Todd, Kailee, Tara, and Nicole and her family.  Kailee's brother, Weston, brought up two of his friends, a little later, and they enjoyed chicken enchiladas and chips and salsa that Kailee had made for them. The game didn't turn out how we all wanted but it was an enjoyable afternoon and evening anyway.


At the last minute, we decided it was time to take a trip to Oregon to see our family there.  We called Andrea and Ryan to see if they would be available if we came the first week of February. They were excited for us to come so it was off to Oregon on Monday, the 2nd of February. We drove to Ontario the first day then onto Portland on Tuesday. We stopped by Paul's niece's home to visit his sister, Yvonne, who is living there. She is suffering with the early stages of Alzheimer's. It was good to see her and Bill but sad to see the condition her mind is in. We wondered if she really remembered who we were. Cheryl had arranged for Elaine and her family to come by for dinner so we had a delightful visit with all of them for a couple of hours.  By 7:00 in the evening, we were on the road, headed for Eugene to visit Andrea and Casey and our granddaughters. The trip from Portland to Eugene seemed endless as our excitement to finally see them was very great.

We came bearing gifts from Russia. We bought matrushka dolls for everyone. Allison and Lydia were amazed to see how small their matruska dolls got. Andrea and Casey received a set of three stacking dolls depicting each of the prophets of the church. They look great in their family room.

Maggie trying to slam

Our visit with Andrea's family was wonderful but all too short.  On Wednesday, we took Allison and Lydia out to lunch for Allison's birthday.  It was fun to be with them. That night, we were left in charge of the girls as Andrea and Casey had an appointment to keep in Salem.  Paul took the older girls to Young Women's and then we popped popcorn and watched a movie with the two younger girls. When the older girls returned home, we did the 'slam' with them.  We had brought special cookies from Russia so we could have the girls participate in the Moscow Mission tradition of slamming...drinking hot chocolate through the chocolate covered cookies. It was fun and very messy.  We so love our beautiful granddaughters.

Jillian wasn't quite sure about the whole thing

Charlotte with the messy melted cookie in her hand - still yummy, though.

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Andrea

The next day was Andrea's birthday so we spent most of the day with her. We went to Casey's office to see all the changes they had made in the past couple of years. They have quite an extensive event rental business. We were very impressed. Andrea is now going into work most every day and loves being more involved in the business than ever before. That night, we took Andrea and Casey out to dinner. Her choice of restaurants was Texas Roadhouse so we enjoyed a wonderful meal there with them to celebrate her 42 years.

The darling Valentine box Maggie
helped Lydia make

Casey being silly at Bed, Bath and Beyond

Friday, we left for Medford to spend the weekend with Ryan's family.  Again, we were so excited to see them but a little apprehensive wondering how Nathan would react to 'Ma and Pa.'  He was just a toddler when we left on our mission so he would not have remembered anything about us.  When we drove up, Nathan was the first at the door with a big smile on his face.  We soon knew our worries were ill founded as Nathan immediately took to Paul and wouldn't let him far from his sight the whole weekend. It was so fun to see everyone once again.  We have missed them so.  

'Pa' was a big hit with all the grandchildren

Soon after we arrived, we all piled into the car to go to the girl's elementary school to see Julia perform in a reader's theater. She lit up when she saw we had made it in time to see the production. The late afternoon, for me, was filled watching Julia's and Aubrey's dance lessons. Paul helped Ryan put up blinds in the playroom while we were gone. 

After her performance, Julia had to show us her
 artwork on display at her school.
It had won the award for most colorful.

One of many dragon figures
seen in the parade.

The next morning, we went to a parade in Jacksonville to celebrate the Chinese new year. There is quite a large population of Chinese in the area and they were a part of the founding of Jacksonville.  It was then off to Julia's basketball game in which she played a few minute, got poked in the eye, and didn't want to play anymore.  We took them all to lunch at Mucho Gusto's and spent the rest of the day playing with the grandchildren. Their favorite game.....'Snarf,' a card game kind of like a group solitaire.  (I used to play it in Spokane and we called it 'Mormon Bridge.') Katie and Aubrey are quite competitive and seemed to win most of the games. Sunday, it was off to church and then a quiet afternoon and evening at home.

At the parade

Julia was thrilled with the gifts
we gave her for her baptism -
a journal and a CTR necklace

Of course, no visit by 'Ma and Pa' would be complete without
dilly bars from Dairy Queen

Monday morning, it was back on the road to come home. It was easier to leave Oregon knowing we would be back in less than a month for another visit.  We had to leave when we did, though, in order to get home in time for a special dinner engagement.  On Wednesday, we met three other couples from our mission at the Roof Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake. Dennis and Clarene Hayes were in town visiting children and grandchildren, having just returned home from Moscow the previous week...hence the get together. The Jensens and Milestrups also joined us. It was a pleasant evening eating good food, sharing great memories, and strengthening mission friendships.

The beautiful Joseph Smith
Memorial Building

The view of the Salt Lake temple
from the restaurant

From left to right: Janet and Jon Jensen, Dennis and Clarene Hayes,
Leslie and Allen Milestrup, and myself and Paul

And so we have another month in the books.  Life is good.

HOME 4 WEEKS.......... AND STILL ADJUSTING TO POST MISSION LIFE

We have been home from our mission, now, for about a month and thought it would be good to continue journaling our post mission life. The adjustment has been easier for Paul than me.  I have been very tired but Paul has had the get up and go of an 'energizer bunny.'  I think, for me, it is 'mission lag' that is causing my body to be so tired but Paul is convinced I am sick.  He is anxious to get me into the doctor but we have to wait for our medicare coverage to be reissued. Paul's coverage came through just fine but mine in still in process....a mistake made by the social security department not noticing that we had sent in two applications and not just Paul's....oh the joys of working with the government.  We dropped by the social security office just today and got discouraged when we walked in and over 40 people were waiting their turn to talk to one of three agents.  We would have been there, literally, all day. Hopefully someone will return our calls.  We have left three messages as of today.

Our mission blog ended with our release on the Sunday we returned home. The following day was our wedding anniversary.  We had talked about going to Ruth Chris's Steak House since way before coming home from Russia.  We hadn't had a nice, juicy steak for 18 months so it was off to Park City Monday evening, even braving a snow storm.  We thoroughly enjoyed our salad, steak, cheese potatoes, asparagus, and complimentary dessert. Very full but very satisfied.

We were glad we came home before Christmas as we were able to spend Christmas eve with Jon and Mindy and her three children.  It was nice to get to know her and her family a little better.  We had some delicious Mexican food which is Mindy's family tradition. Though we told everyone not to buy us any gifts, Jon and Mindy gave me a scarf and Paul a Far Side book.  It was a good evening and we finally began to feel the Christmas spirit a bit.  Christmas day was spent at home by ourselves except when we delivered tea rings to a few people.  One stop was to Guy Blaine's home.  We found him all alone, too, so we invited him to our home for dinner. We had a delightful visit with this dear neighbor.

The beautiful reflection pool
by Temple Square

Friday was a special day. We drove into Salt Lake to temple square and met Lena, one of our young single adults from Russia.  She was in Utah for the holidays so we picked her up and drove her to Heber to stay with us for the night. We took her to Pizza Galleria in Heber and then came home and watched a movie.  The next morning we had sour dough waffles and then drove her back to temple square where she was meeting a former missionary friend who was taking her shooting.  After dropping off Lena, we looked up another young adult from Moscow who is serving a mission on temple square.  She was in the Beehive House and just beginning a tour when we arrived. We joined her group and enjoyed her presentation, after which we had a delightful visit. She was so thrilled we had followed up on our promise to look her up as soon as we got home.

Dropping Lena back off at temple square after a night with us in Heber

With Lily outside the Beehive house

We went go to the BYU vs Gonzaga game at the Marriott center that afternoon.  The Cougs lost but it was an exciting game, played to a sell out crowd.  We had purchased our tickets while still in Russia which was a good thing as we would not have been able to get in had we waited.

Sunday, we gave our mission report to the high council and then our homecoming talks to our ward. The bishop didn't give us a specific topic but challenged us to motivate other couples to go on missions. We talked about all the blessings of serving a mission and how vital senior couples are to the work.  We shared personal experiences and the many blessings and miracles we experienced while serving. Afterwards, the bishop told us we 'hit it out of the park.'  We were thrilled that Jim and Janet Harmon, Bob and Janet Rands, and Dee and Susan Humphreys made it up from Orem to hear our talks. Also in attendance were the Bradfords, a couple we met in the MTC and followed each other's missions through our individual blogs. It was good to see them again. Elder Ricks showed up as did Garrett McClintock, a BYU students who was in Moscow on an internship last summer. Jon and Mindy and family also came. Elder Johnson and his girl friend dropped by our home after church to say hello. They had attended another homecoming at the same time as ours. So thoughtful. We were glad that Jon and Mindy and her children could stay us for a quick dinner before they had to head back to Lehi.

Because the Rands were in town to spend the holidays with their daughter, Heather, we arranged to meet them and the Harmons and Humphreys for lunch at LaJolla Groves, a favorite restaurant of all of ours. We did this Monday afternoon despite a major snow storm that hit that morning. We had a wonderful time visiting. It is always fun to catch up on the happenings of each other's family as well as all of our Spokane friends.

We visited with our neighbors, Mitch and Michelle Davis, Monday evening.  They had been out of town since we had come home and this was the first chance we had had to see them.  We took them a tea ring and a little gift we had purchased for them in Moscow.  What wonderful neighbors we have.  We thoroughly enjoy being with them. Mitch invited us to a movie promotional night the following evening.  It was held at the Utah home of Larry and Shauna King located in the upscale Provo river bottoms neighborhood. Their home was enormous and beautifully decorated for Christmas. We hobnobbed with the rich, and not so famous, people from the Utah and Heber valleys. Mitch had arranged a prime rib buffet at the King's in order to pitch his new movie idea. He has written a script about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith called the Carthage Conspiracy. It is based on the court proceeding records of the trial of the accused murderers.  It is a court room drama with flashback scenes that show the mob actions against the Saints that led up to the murder of Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, in Carthage jail. Mitch is hoping to raise ten million dollars to make the movie, five million of those dollars being set aside to pay stars with name recognition. It is quite an undertaking.  We just wish we were in a position to add a $100,000 to the project as we feel it could be a powerful tool for the church. That is the smallest denomination with which Mitch wants to deal. It was a fun evening and a real revelation as to what it takes for a small time movie producer/ director/ writer to get his work on the screen in major theaters.

On New Year's Eve, we delivered more tea rings to people in our ward who had brought us Christmas treats.  We wanted them to have them for their New Year Day's breakfast.  Later in the afternoon, Jon brought his boys up to spend the night.  It was so good to have them in our home again after 18 months.  It was a quiet New Year's Eve spent eating dinner and then watching a movie.  Jon and his boys left New Year's evening after an afternoon at the recreation center and a Mexican dinner.

Four of our six Sunbeams

Our new calling in the ward is team teaching the Sunbeam class of 3 year olds in Primary.  They are straight out of nursery and hardly know how to sit in a chair....especially the large chairs in the classroom we have been assigned. The bishop appproached us just before Sacrament meeting on the Sunday we gave our homecoming talks. He said he was going to call us to the Primary and asked us, on the spot, if we accepted. Of course, we said yes, so we were promptly sustained during the meeting. When we found out we were to teach the three year olds we just laughed. Quite a difference from teaching the young single adult Institute class in Moscow for 18 months.  The Lord has a way of helping us grow and stretch with each new calling. The next Saturday, the Primary had a 'get to know your teacher' breakfast and we were there to meet two of our six students. We have taught this class, now, twice and each time we have come away exhausted, but resolved to figured out how to reach these little ones.  We have learned to have lots of activities with little bits of the lesson in between, in order to keep these sweet spirits involved. We are sure it will get easier as the children mature and come to know what it means to sit on their chairs for more than a minute.  

Oksanna at our home in Heber

We had another special friend from Russia come to visit us last week. Her name is Oksanna and she was one of our Pathway students who finished her first year with us just before we left.  She was in Provo visiting the former sister missionary who taught her the gospel.  After spending some time in Oregon earlier, with the senior couple who served in the area where she was converted, Oksanna returned to Provo and got in touch with us. We went down on Monday evening to pick her up, took her to Olive Garden for dinner. then brought her up to our home for popcorn and a movie.....and a visit into the wee hours of the morning. We love connecting again with our Russian friends.  Oksanna's husband, Timur, is a real movie buff so we invited them both back sometime to stay in our home and have a movie watching marathon. We suggested they come in the summer time when it is warm as there is so much to do and see. Hopefully they will take us up on that offer someday.  

We took Oksanna back to Provo late the next morning, ran some errands, and then met Bob and Jan Holiday for lunch. They wanted to hear all about our mission experiences before they left on a two week cruise two days later. Again, it was great to reacquaint with dear friends.  It was then off to Costco to start replenishing our year's supply of food.....$400+ later and still not done.

One of the highlights of last week was attending the temple for the first time in over 18 months.  Not having a temple in Moscow really made us appreciate having the Provo temple only a half hour's drive away.  It is the first time we had seen any of the new films which came out just after we left. We saw one of the three and were so amazed at the changes made...not in content but in feeling. At one point, we were both in tears watching it. We can't wait to see the other films. It will be so good to be able to attend the temple more often.

Paul dusting the high ledges in our living room.
The area carpet was being cleaned out in
the garage.

Since we have been home, we has taken on the project of cleaning our home. Todd and Kailee left our home in great condition but we hadn't done a real deep clean in the 8 years we have lived here.  We had carpets and upholstery cleaned and Paul climbed up ladders to even dust the high ledges and shelves which are so prevalent in our home.  This process has involved reorganizing drawers, closets, and storage areas. Paul even put together a foosball table whichTodd had left  in our storage room. He said we could use it if we wanted, so after cleaning out our storage area, we decided it would be a good addition to our family room. It will be so fun for the grandchildren to use. We finished cleaning the last room just yesterday and it feels great to have an especially clean and organized home. Our carpets, furniture, walls, and floors have never looked better so all our efforts have been worth the work.

With each passing day, I am getting more energy and being home seems a little more normal for both of us.  We are amazed at how much we miss our mission life but know this is where we need to be for now.