Spencer Golden had a birthday. He was gifted a guitar which has made him very happy.
We FaceTimed the birthday boy when Sarah and her boys were here. Spencer played a song for us and then Sarah's boys joined in singing the birthday song to Spencer.
Not only did Spencer get his learner's driving permit shortly after his 15th birthday, but he also got his braces off. Handsome boy is definitely growing up!
Sarah and I thought it was so cute to see Eli walking and talking with his grandpa as they strolled slowly around the basement together when Glen was getting in a little exercise.
My cousin Angie threw a bridal shower for her daughter Emilia. Nani, Amanda, and I were there representing our side of the family.
We were so sad to learn Dad and Mom were sick with Covid and Mom was unable to attend. She would have loved being there that day.
Two weeks after hip replacement surgery, Glen and I headed to Ogden for a speaking assignment. It was Glen's first public appearance since surgery.
Our missionary Kaylene and her husband Giovanni attend a Spanish ward in Ogden. Giovanni is in the bishopric and asked us to speak in their ward about patriarchal blessings.
Glen, of course, is fluent in speaking Spanish while I am not able to pull a Spanish sentence out of my brain. But I have learned enough Spanish to be able to pronounce words correctly.
I did not want to have Giovanni have to interpret, so we told him I would be prepared to give my talk in Spanish. I used Google translate and Glen to help hone my talk.
I practiced and practiced in the weeks leading up to the speaking date. It appeared I was able to communicate in a manner people in the congregation could understand.
This woman named Maria de Silva came up to us after to talk to us. She told us she worked in the Bountiful and Ogden Temple in the kitchen. We asked if she knew my sister-in-law Lorene Ward and she kept saying over and over again that Lorene was her boss.
Kaylene handed us a gift bag as we were on our way out. She makes sourdough bread, homemade jam, and even homemade butter.
I was impressed with her culinary skills and loved eating it with our meal when we got back home. I sent her a text thanking her for her kindness and told her bread is my love language!!
That Sunday had been a rough day for Glen. He was exhausted from showering and took a morning nap since the Spanish meeting wasn't until 11:30. After we got home and ate, he had a long nap. He was in a lot of pain.
Despite his rough Sunday, he insisted he wanted to keep his dinner appointment with his sisters the next day. He said he's got to eat! He enjoyed visiting with his sisters and said it was worth the effort he made to get there--despite me being his chauffeur. He likes to be in the driver's seat!
Glen rested all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday until 5:00 when we went to our sealing assignment shift at the temple.
The hardest thing for Glen to do in dressing himself is getting his socks and shoes on. He cannot get his right sock on at all by himself and tying his shoes is impossible.
I had the idea to see if I could buy him some white slip-on shoes for the temple. I was able to get them in his size. Hurrah!! That solved that shoe problem.
He decided to just tuck his laces inside his dress shoes, so that solved that shoe problem.
And then the big decision he made was to have me put on his white socks at home. That meant he would look like a dork wearing white socks with his suit. Not our favorite look, but it is a necessary look for him for a while.
We decided the short trip to the temple would be a good test for him to see if he could drive. He did great but was in so much pain and so exhausted after our shift that he wanted me to drive home.
Thursday was our longer shift at the temple doing regular ordinance work. He had had a nap that day and worked in the baptistry and was able to function well enough there. He even drove us home that evening.
This has definitely been a long recovery for the guy. The worst part is knowing he has to do it all over again the end of April with the other hip.
While the only thing Glen wants to do these days is sit in his recliner in the basement, I was happy to leave him for a while to walk down the street to Debi Winder's home.
She hosted a lovely Easter luncheon for our friend group: Colleen, LaVona, Debi, Jane, Jan, and Diane.
Got to get me in the photo to prove I was there! Oh, happy day when we learned Jan has finally gotten her mouth unwired and can now eat something other than her regular yogurt and ice cream!!! Hurrah!!!
Debi passed around some colored eggs which we opened to see what number was in our egg. Then she disassembled her beautiful centerpiece and handed out the correspondingly numbered ceramic Easter decorations to each one of us to take home. What a cute and thoughtful takeaway gift.
Nani came to our home for Glen to help do her taxes. Afterward, Glen surprisingly decided to join us going out to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. He had said earlier that he didn't want to go out and then he changed his mind.
We called Dad and Mom to see how they were feeling and let them know what they were missing since it was our usual Friday lunch time when they normally join us. Their report was they are slowly getting better and some days are better than others.
Our wish was for them to be better the next week so we could all get together to do finances and also Dad's taxes. That wish did not come to pass. So, we picked up Dad's tax info on our way to Nani's home so Glen could do finances with her and then do Dad's taxes while we waited for Nani to do her volunteer service helping at the blood donation spot for her stake.
Afterward Nani suggested Goodwood and insisted we order their gigantic onion ring appetizer for her and me to share. We were sad our parents were missing out on our dinner together again that day. I had dropped off Chick-fil-A for them and that was our show of love to them because Mom loves their sandwich and milkshake so much.
I substituted on Friday at the temple. Glen came to pick me up at the end of my shift, and SURPRISE!!
Steven and Patricia Morgan, our tripping buddies from Albuquerque, were sitting in the back seat.
They had helped drive a friend's moving van and car to Idaho and tagged on a stay with Patricia's sister and mother who live in Centerville. We were so happy they chose to spend a couple of hours with us.
They went with us to Olive Garden for dinner and then we went with them to Handel's to get ice cream.
It is always fun to be with our friends. So happy it was an awesome surprise awaiting me when I got to the car and discovered them there.
Mark, Michelle, Nina, Thad, and Kate arrived from Yakima, Washington so they could attend general conference.
They attended the Saturday morning solemn assembly which was both the girls' favorite part. They loved standing when their group was called to sustain our new prophet, President Oaks.
On Sunday we hosted the Ward family Easter dinner since Mark's family was in town.
The cousins' table was exceptionally cute to see them all talking and laughing together.
We took our missionary Arlin Ogando and her friend to dinner. She was in town for general conference and was staying with this family friend and his family.
He served a mission in the Dominican Republic where she is from and helped teach and baptize her father. How fun for him to see the lasting influence his missionary service had on this particular family.
She was staying the week after general conference which then allowed her to attend our missionary reunion.
Brandon Cattich (on the right) begged Glen to let us have a reunion. He told Glen all we had to do was secure our church building and prepare messages to give after we had a sit-down dinner which would be taken care of by him, and we wouldn't have to worry about a thing.
He recruited Jarom Hyde as his number one helper and one of the sisters he got to bring the drinks. He had somebody in his ward paint two beautiful posters to use for decoration.
Those two guys and their wives prepared all the food for breakfast burritos. The food was excellent, served on time, and was a hit for everyone who came.
It reminded us of the many zone conferences we attended the three years we were mission leaders.
There were 30 missionaries with their spouses. Some brought their children. A few came alone. It was a lot fewer than expected, but it was a very nice evening.
True to their word, we had to do nothing that evening but give our messages. They did all the set-up and all the clean-up. We were so very impressed!! Especially since Glen was in no position to be able to do anything requiring physical exertion.
We were exhausted by the end of that evening. Glen had gotten up early that morning to do his early morning temple sealing shift.
He only had a couple of hours until it was time to go back to the temple for him to seal Angie's daughter Amelia to her new husband Nathan Thompson. Thankfully, he was able to take a nap before we needed to report for duty at the missionary reunion.
On Sunday I played the organ. We hurried home from church so we could give three patriarchal blessings. Glen has never done that many in one day before. By the time we did those and got each one transcribed into the first draft, it was dinnertime.
Popcorn was our food of choice so Glen could eat while he did a zoom call with Brooke who had asked for some help with an upcoming interview and to interview Glen for a podcast school assignment. Talk about a busy day coming off a busy Saturday.
Monday I was all revived and ready to go to a birthday lunch celebration for birthday girls Jane and Diane. We went to Hug-Hes and had an enjoyable time together as always. Love having such good and generous friends. Much thanks to Jan for treating us again!!
It's that time of the year--prom time. Caroline was looking beautiful in her blue and white dress.
Wynne celebrated her 11th birthday by going to Dollywood. We caught her in a free moment to FaceTime and then she was off to get in line for another ride.
Jonah's 9th birthday began with retrieving his $10.00 gift from the tooth fairy. Great way to start a birthday. The fairy was much more generous than usual since it was his birthday.
Jonah had requested his mom make him a whale birthday cake. So cute!!
Well, since I am soon to expire--pacemaker battery is running low after 10 years of use--I am scheduled to get a new one.
Have to quickly get my surgery done in between Glen's hip surgeries and before my cardiologist retires in June.
Good news is when Glen hit his five-week-post-surgery mark this week, he has been feeling much better and is feeling stronger and less exhausted.
