OCTOBER - GENERAL CONFERENCE, FAMILY, AND FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHT THIS MONTH

We had a wonderful surprise when Andrea called and ask if she could fly in and spend conference weekend with us. Of course, we said yes. It seems that she missed snuggling little Arthur and wanted to spend the weekend with him and her daughters....and us. We loved having most of the Westovers here for the long weekend. Jillian and Lydia even drove in from Idaho to be with us all. Andrea, Jillian, and Lydia arrived on Friday evening. Saturday was spent watching three sessions of conference, playing games and eating. 

President Oaks - our new prophet and president

Sunday was a special day, not only because of the wonderful messages of conference but because Ryan and his family as well as Jon and his family came up that afternoon for dinner. It was incredible to sit around the table and talk and laugh together. We always have a fun time when we are all together. 

We missed Todd on this day

Football is always in full swing in October. We had two home games, both of which Ryan brought his family up from St. George to watch. The second game was the biggest as it was against the University of Utah, our greatest rival. We won that game in the fourth quarter so it was a very exciting game. We ended up standing most of the game. Because of another win against Iowa State the next week we are now 8 wins and 0 losses. 

Half time tribute to America with both BYU
and Utah marching bands performing together.

We took a little getaway trip to Worldmark at Wolf Creek. While there, we went to the temple and a movie in Ogden. The resort's hot tub was very inviting as was just relaxing together in our condo. We were hoping to do a little golfing but, when we went to the club house to grab a bucket of balls for the driving range, we found it was all closed up. It had rained a lot that day so they must have closed early. We, then, decided to come home that evening instead of spending one more night at the condo. We were glad we did as we got up the next morning to snow on the ground. Who knows what our trip home would have been like if we had waited to come home in the morning.

Driving down the Ogden canyon
to the movie

We came out of the temple on Wednesday
to lots of rain.

SNOW in October.
This could be a bad winter

October always brings leaves falling from the trees as well as the final harvest of our garden. This October the leaves were plentiful as we ended up taking three trips to the dump with the truck full of leaves. 

Paul raking the leaves to put in the truck

The last thing in our garden is always the squash. We pulled off 11 squash and gave several away to friends and neighbors. I also baked down a couple of them to make pies. I have three squash pies in the freezer along with 3 apple pies. A friend brought us a bag of golden delicious apples from which I made the pies. We're all set for Thanksgiving.

Apple pies ready for the freezer

A sad thing occurred this month with the death of our beloved prophet, Russell M. Nelson. He was 101. We all knew it would just be a matter of time before he was called home but it is never easy to lose such a wonderful man. He was an incredible leader and prophet who accomplished so much to the furthering of the gospel around the world. He will be missed. His funeral was televised and was a fitting tribute to a great man.

Elder Holland speaking at the funeral

Another sad thing.....We drove to the bank one weekend and ran into a group of people in front of the city offices protesting. It was part of the nationwide 'No Kings' day. It was obvious that it was organized by some outside group as the people had matching signs. If it was spontaneous the signs would have been homemade and all different. More than likely these people were bused in or told were to be on this day. We were so sad that our little Heber community was affected by these left wing lunatics.

We celebrated two birthdays this month - Maggie's and Ledger's. Maggie wanted pot roast and cream puffs for her birthday dinner so that's what she got. There was not one morsel of food leftover.

For Ledger's birthday I made Hostess cupcakes, a tradition for our one year old grandchildren. He loved his cupcake and ate the whole thing. We bought him a dump truck that has some learning gadgets on it to help him count and recognize colors. He loved that, too.

Other happenings this month included two trips to the Hale Center theater in Draper. We had to take two trips because the first time we went down to see the musical, Sister Act, the stage wouldn't work so they had to cancel the show. We were able to schedule seeing the show two weeks later and this time the stage worked. The show was incredible. It was worth the wait to see it. 

At the end of the month, Paul went into the hospital in Orem for a procedure to decrease the size of his prostate so he wouldn't have to urinate so often. We were at the hospital a total of 6 hours with  surgical prep, the surgery and then the recovery time. They needed to watch his urine output for 3 hours to make sure there was not clotting before they would let us go home. He spent two days with a catheter and once that was removed, he seemed to be doing quite well. He's been wanting to do this for a long time and hopefully it will have the results he has dreamed of.

And always last in October is Halloween. We opted not to go to Todd's this year partially because of Paul's surgery but also because all the Leavitt's were going to be there. We usually go down to help pass out candy so Todd and Kailee could  take their children trick or treating but, because even Kailee's parents were coming, we wouldn't be needed.  The night before Halloween, Avery vomited so none of the Leavitts came to Todd and Kailee's home to celebrate Halloween. We could have gone down to help but we also didn't want to get exposed to any illness. It turns out that Avery was fine the next day so could even go trick or treating. Todd and Kailee had to take turns with the children trick or treating so one of them would always be at their home to hand out candy. We ended up having about 20 trick or treaters at our home. It's been years since we've been home on Halloween so we had no idea if anyone would come.

Bango and Mumbo Jumbo - characters
from an old video game.

From a new series the girls are obsessed with -
KPop Demon Hunters

Little Ledger

AND THAT'S A WRAP.

THE ASSASINATION OF CHARLY KIRK BRINGS SADNESS TO THE WORLD BUT ALSO A REVIVAL OF HIS DREAM

 I must begin this month's blog with the shocking death of a man whose courage and faith in Jesus Christ should be a beacon to all of us still living. Charlie Kirk was a person who went onto college campuses all over the U.S. to speak to the students about truth and God. He was changing the minds of the college students whose brains had been washed with left wing ideology for years. He openly invited debate with students who disagreed with his truth. He also openly spoke of and defended his faith in Jesus Christ. He advocated for marriage and family as well as sexual abstinence before marriage.  He stood first for God, then family, then freedom and was not afraid to speak out on these issues. He was martyred for those belief. It happened right here in Utah on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem on September 10 when a lone gunman shot him. It was such a sad day but seems to have awakened an outpouring of faith around the world. 

On Sunday, September 21, a memorial was held in his honor in Arizona. People came from all over to celebrate this man, including President Trump, Vice President Vance, and most of Trump's cabinet members. The people filled a professional football stadium as well as an overflow arena. It is estimated that over 200,000 people were there and another 100 million tuning in through cable networks. We watched most of the speakers and all of them praised Charlie and his courage to debate truth and his unwavering faith is Christ. Even our nations leaders bore testimony of God and Jesus Christ. The gospel was preached to millions of people from all over the world on this Sunday. We hope this is the beginning of a return to God and civility in our nation.

Loved this meme. Many more Charlie Kirk's
have just been born and are ready to spread the word of God.

This assassination took place at the same time we were in St. George for our annual family Tuachan experience. We were all saddened by this event but still ended up having a wonderful time together. It began on Sunday, the 7th. We all met at our condo at the Worldmark Estancia for dinner. Deon and I decided to serve ham, potato au gratin, spinach salad and corn. Everyone loved the dinner and the time together visiting. 

The next day, we met at Tiffany's for breakfast. We all sat at the same huge table and probably made too much noise for the other diners but it was so much fun. Afterwards, the Fullers and ourselves had some errands to run so we went our separate ways. We had a great visit with Ryan before returning to our condo  for a quick dip in the pool and hot tub. It was then on to Don and Dana's home for dinner. Sam and Kathy fixed spaghetti after which we left for the first of first of three shows. This show as Newsie's and was really well done. The dancing was incredible.

On Tuesday, we went to the Redcliff temple for an endowment session. What a wonderful opportunity it was to have all of our brothers (including Sam) and sisters (minus Sonnie) together in the temple all dressed in white. Most of us met at Jersey Mike's for a quick lunch. That night, Ed and Debbie made a lasagna dinner which we enjoyed. That night's show was Wizard of Oz. It was incredible. The LED scenes were amazing as were the costumes and every other part of the show. 

Katie just happened to come to Jersey Mike's to
pick up a sandwiches for Grace just as we were leaving.

Wednesday, we met at Alumni Creamery for our annual BYU ice cream fix. It was just before this that we had heard of Charlie Kirk's assassination. We were all saddened and glued to the news to see who might have done such an horrific thing. For dinner, Don and Dana cooked individual pizzas for each of us. This is one of our favorite meals each year. The show that night was Little Mermaid. It was well done but we have seen it so many times that the newness has worn off so it was not as moving as the other shows.

At the first of the month, it was peach time as it is every September. Before we left for St. George, I did peach slush and fruit cocktail. I love having those in the freezer for the winter months. We also love eating fresh peaches and we ate a lot of them.  

September also brings more BYU football. We attended the second home game and were glad we won. Todd brought Aria and Avery to this game. They loved it especially all the treats Todd buys them. Maybe they will become avid BYU fans like their grandpa and Dad. 

 

The half time show had the band with lights on their hats.
It doesn't show real well in this picture but it was
quite impressive.

This was our view of that game!!!
This rather large man was sat
right in front of Paul.

It was my sister Sonnie's birthday this month. Deon and I decided to send her a picture of the the three of us we took when we visited her at the care center in Denver last month. We got it enlarged and bought a frame for it so she could set it on her shelf in her room and remember her two sisters. I took it upon myself to wrap it and mail it to her. Luckily she got it on her exact birthday.

The Monday after we returned home from St. George, we hosted an Empty Nester's dinner at our home. The Relief Society president had asked if we would have this one in our home and, of course, we said yes. I set a table of 12 in the dining room, a table for 8 in the kitchen, and two tables out on our deck for another 14. It was a good thing I set that many tables because we filled all of them with 35 in attendance. We served teriyaki chicken on skewers, bread sticks, and peach slush for a drink. Everyone who came brought either a salad or dessert. It was a great evening where we all just sat around and ate and visited. We were glad we could host it. 

Because Fall is totally upon us, we had to take our annual trip over Guardsman Pass into Salt Lake City. It was beautiful as usual even though some of the red leaves had already fallen due to a big wind and rain storm earlier in the week. We did this with the Fullers and afterwards went to Freddy's for lunch before heading back to Heber.

Our Sunday dinners are becoming quite the affair. With Jon and Mindi having moved from Florida to Lehi and the college grandchildren back in Provo, we have upwards to 18 for dinner each week. We always have to set two tables and serve dinner buffet style but we love having so many of our family in our home. When the weather permits, we often end up outside playing wiffle baseball or jumping on the trampoline and, of course, visiting.

Loved this picture of the men visiting

Grandpa and Ledger who is almost one

Loving little Arthur, our great grandson

On the last Sunday of the month, we celebrated Charlotte's birthday. She requested Tri tip for dinner and applesauce cake for dessert. Her wish was granted.

And last, a very sad note. Our beloved President Russell M. Nelson passed away at the very end of the month. He was 101. He was such an incredible man and prophet and will be missed by all of us.