All Children Arrive For the Setting Apart and Speaking In Church

We were so happy when Jacob's family arrived in town from Texas. In the later hours of the night, Abe's family arrived and Ben and Haley made it safely here as well.

The next morning our daughters' families joined us for a whopping total of 14 grandchildren under one roof. Glen secured 3 brave babysitters to watch 12 of the 14 grandchildren so their parents could go with us to be set apart.

Not only did Jacob and Laurie get to go to the setting apart, but also Natalie and Emma.

 

Dallas and Rebecca were happy their children were well that day so they could attend.

Abe and Klarissa were excited to meet with an apostle.

Sarah and Jeff were in very good spirits despite the fact they are soon to be orphans as Jeff's parents are now serving in the Canada Halifax Mission and will not be home for another year.

Ben and Haley were very happy Haley didn't miss her flight despite losing her bag at the airport and searching in vain to try and find it.

Since our trip to the Holy Land, we always especially love to see artwork depicting Christ in the place we so recently visited.

It made for the perfect backdrop for our group shot of all who were there with us that day. I was so happy my Dad, Mom and sister were able to participate in the events unfolding in our lives.

Off we walked down the hall to get set apart.

We met in the room where the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve meet.

 Elder Neil L. Andersen set Glen apart and Elder Craig C. Christensen set me apart.

Sunday was Father's Day and Klarissa got busy making an egg/bacon/bread oven muffin for the men in the family. So kind of her to be serving them that day.

It was the big day where we were speaking in church and hosting lots of family and friends at our house after the meeting.

I didn't take any pictures during the party, but we sure enjoyed visiting with the family members who stayed for a while after. I very much appreciated all the work the family did to make sure the luncheon went smoothly. I didn't even have to do a thing but put the ham into the big roaster before we left for church. Glen did that, so it was a very easy morning for me as we had set up the tables the day before.

It was a beautiful weekend. We were so thankful all of our children and grandchildren were here and participating with us in everything.

 We took some family photos, but there were a couple of in-laws who weren't around when we finally got to taking pictures. So it ended up being just us and our children.

  Love them LOTS!!!!

Salt Lake City G&K Retirement Parties

Since Glen worked 13 years at the Salt Lake City plant, those people felt a great need to also acknowledge Glen's retirement with some festivities honoring him. We had a delicious dinner at Carvers Steak & Seafood Restaurant.

Bob Davis, the general manager who replaced Glen, did a great job presenting Glen with some memorabilia that had meaning to Glen and most of them made us laugh.

 How could we forget the uniforms at Kennecott. I was a G&K employee during that big transition to get that company into their new uniforms.

 Maverik has been a big account for G&K and we were given a logo mat to help remember that company.

Those invited were all the department heads, route managers, route reps and sales people, along with Harland Norris who was Glen's old regional vice president, and Joe Clausi who is now a regional director of sales and is one Glen had hired.

We laid out the loot when we got home. He received pretzels, pistachios and cashews because that is what he ate a lot for lunch. He loves SweetTart Smarties and got a 5 lb. bag of those. They gave him a green watering can to remind them to always ask questions to help them be better (inside significance to that which they all laughed about and I didn't quite understand).

I was disgusted to see they had given him a fur-ball-looking squirrel which I always disliked displayed in his office and now we can look at it every second if we want. He got G&K golf balls to use on p-days. They presented him with his own safety glasses to keep. There was a baggie filled with elastic bands labeled "wallets" as Glen now loves to use them as his money clip/credit card holder.

My favorite gifts he received were the gift certificates to various restaurants, the picture memory book of the Salt Lake plant expansion project that Glen instigated, the clock and the yellow smiley-face guy in honor of Glen's positivity and happiness day in and day out.

We both absolutely LOVE the wall clock with the beautiful inscription on the plaque. It is definitely going with us to the California Carlsbad Mission to be placed in Glen's home office.

Craig Beals gave Glen this wall hanging along with a beautiful note to Glen thanking him for being a father figure in his life and being there for Craig whenever he needed help or advice.

The next day we were invited to the plant to participate in their Spirit of Excellence employee luncheon with an inclusion of recognizing Glen's retirement as well.

The ladies at the back table insisted Glen (we) sit with them. They LOVE him!

And they especially LOVE to DANCE with him. (?!?!) Yes, I am wondering why myself! He will be the first to admit he is not a dancer, but they insist on dancing with him whenever they get the chance.

We really loved that a sandwich truck had been arranged to feed the people. It was to commemorate Glen's love of having ham and cheese sandwiches whenever they went out to lunch.

Awards were given to the employees and then Glen was recognized for his many years of service in Salt Lake City. 

After Glen said a few words, it was time to break open the pinata.

 G&K Services has been a great company to work for the past 33 years! 

 G&K (Glen & Kim) love G&K!!!!

Let the Retirement Parties Begin!

Glen was happy I was able to join him in Minneapolis for his last week of work. We stayed in the hotel right next to the G&K Services building.

I was able to see his work space where he has hung out with all these people--plus more--for the last 2 years.

We walked into a room full of G&K employees.

Doug Milroy and Ian Davis presented Glen with a beautiful crystal retirement plaque that lists all the positions he has held and all the locations he has worked.

Previously, several people had presented him with different gifts as they told stories about him. Someone mentioned how cheap Glen is that he lived at the hotel and ate their free breakfast and their free dinner and then he would bring bottles of water to work that he had picked up at the hotel and would buy a sandwich out of the vending machine at work for his lunch.

Doug presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Glen also received a beautiful memory book the women on his team had prepared for him. It had some of Glen's favorite quotes mixed throughout the photos. The picture that got me the most was the one on the back cover--a picture of Glen's empty chair.

Those people really love Glen and it was very difficult for them to tell him good-bye for good.

A beautiful cake was on display waiting to be served up to all the employees.

That evening we were invited to a lovely retirement dinner at McCormick & Schmick's Steak & Seafood Restaurant. We had a room all to ourselves with the people Glen felt most close to. He was thrilled Dick Fink was there and said a few words to the group. He was a past President and CEO of the company.

Dan Slade, Andy Panos, Ian Davis, us, Dave Luby and Doug Milroy. These are some of the people Glen worked closely with over the years.

One day we had a special surprise when we learned it had been arranged for us to go to lunch with Forrest Klingaman, the man who hired Glen to work for G&K Services. He is 91-years-old and very spry and still has a keen mind. It was a delight to spend time with him.

It turned out to be free pie day at the restaurant and that was an added bonus to an already wonderful lunch experience.

We felt there was some divine intervention getting in touch with Forrest. First, Dan had to do some investigative work to even find Forrest's phone number. Forrest told us he was surprised to receive that phone call from Dan. He had been having trouble with his phone and people hadn't been able to contact him for a couple of weeks before or since that one phone call.

Speaking of a phone call--we received one from Abe that last evening we were there and he said his layover in Minneapolis was extended to 3 1/2 hours and asked where we were. We were at the Mall of America and had just ordered our dinner. He gave us his order and used Uber to get from the airport to the nearby mall.

Abe was a bright spot in Glen's farewell week.

Glen had made friends at the hotel. Myrna helped with the food each day.

Kent was the bellman and Marion worked the front desk welcoming "Mr. Thomas" every time he arrived. She was very emotional about his leaving. She told me he was always so happy and never complaining about anything. It was quite touching to see tears flowing from her eyes as she talked with me one day. She could feel something special about Glen and I tried to help her see it is because he follows the Savior and tries to be Christlike in all he does.

Farewell G&K Services. Farewell Marriott. Farewell Minnesota.

 It's strictly California for us for the next 3 years.