Quotes of the Week

In an era when so many strive to be authentic to their own feelings, we must strive to be sincere before our God. Anybody who espouses moral values will be frequently mocked. We should continue our ongoing and critical efforts to increase morality and protect families.
--Quentin L. Cook

In the school of mortality, the tutor is often pain and tribulation, but the lessons are meant to refine and bless us and strengthen us, not to destroy us.
Richard G. Scott

Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it
Richard G. Scott

Basement Updates; Lagoon; School Starts; Carol Thomas' Funeral

Remember when I had Glen remove the California Carlsbad Mission map (one of two in the mission office) from the wall and took it with us when all the office stuff was being transferred up to the Irvine Mission Office during the dissolving and realignment of our mission?

I had envisioned it in our basement--a memorial of our mission hanging on the wall by the pool table. I knew it would look great there and I was right!!

(Notice the big screen TV on the far wall. And I mean BIG black box big screen TV. I will refer to that later.)

It turned out we had just the right amount of things to hang up by the map to make a great mission memorial. The "Called to Serve" frame had been gifted to us by Lynn Maughan, our mission nurse. We inserted our mission photograph.

Below that is a pencil drawing of the San Diego Temple given to us by Morgan Clawson, one of our Spanish-speaking missionaries.

The framed definition of a missionary was given to us by Andy and Amanda's family when they came to stay with us the first Christmas we were in California.

The picture of California below it with Glen's daily greeting to everybody, "It's another great day in Paradise" was drawn by another of our sister missionaries, Cassie Davis Peel.

As I was attempting to get the collage laid out before hanging all the pictures on the wall, Sarah said something else needed to hang by the small picture. She then got the inspired idea to frame our missionary name tags.

Unfortunately, Glen was unable to find his English name tag in the midst of our move, so I got out our Spanish name tags and we framed those. It is in honor of being called to a Spanish-speaking mission (and I am still giving thanks I did not need to know Spanish to survive in our mission).

I am definitely not fluent in Spanish. Nothing close to it. But, I learned enough to be able to give a talk in Spanish. And I learned enough to be able to understand enough Spanish to know when people are talking about me. Like the several times I was sitting in a Spanish meeting and I would be able to understand the bishop calling upon me to say the closing prayer in sacrament meeting or to share my testimony at a baptism.

I could never figure out why he would call on me when there was a perfectly proficient Spanish-speaker sitting right next to me!! Ahhhh!! See what memories those Spanish name tags evoke from me!?!?

Now back to the TV...

After many years of the boys in the family urging the father in the family to get rid of the eyesore in the basement and buy a new flat screen TV, Glen finally did it. He pulled that monstrosity out and got busy replacing it with something more modern.

I was impressed he read the directions before just getting at it. I love the insert that assures him "This is going to be easy!"

Glen listed the old TV on KLS.com for FREE and he got a couple of phone calls about it, but nobody showed up in person to get it. SAD!! I mean, who wouldn't want this gargantuan TV in their home??

Glen worked hard to get the new TV, the sound bar and the woofer (where did that word come from???) all set up in the empty space.

We got a little creative about the bottom portion of the setup and now feel good about how it looks.

Sarah's little boys were all ready to head off to their first day of school in Las Vegas. I just love back-to-school photos!!

Lincoln is giving the thumbs up that he's going to preschool this year and so happy to be wearing a backpack just like his older brothers Carson and Eli.

Jonah wanted in on the backpack action as well--looking so grown up with his hair combed over to the side.

Jacob and Laurie's children post a great back-to-school photo each year as they begin school in Omaha.

Abe and Klarissa's children got in their last hurrahs of fun and adventure before they settled back down in San Francisco for their school year to begin.

Wynne is all ready for her first day of pre-school.

Glen and I tried to go to as many free summer concerts as we could. We love them so much!! It is so relaxing sitting outside in nature enjoying the musical talents of the performers.

One of the free concert nights was when the Tour of Utah was happening.

We had to wait extra long to cross the street to get to the Brigham Young Historic Park, but it felt like we were watching a parade as the bikers raced by us.

 The racers were soon followed by cars transporting bikes atop their roofs.

The parade continued...

Sometimes the free concerts are held in the Assembly Hall instead of the park.

The temple looked so beautiful against the darkening sky when we walked out of the Assembly Hall.

Rebecca invited us to go to Lagoon with her and her children. They were trying to get in as much time at Lagoon before their school started. 
Couldn't pass up that offer. Especially when it meant being able to wear our matching Lagoon t-shirts once again. Makes us feel unified as a family and it also makes it so much easier to keep track of each other when we all dress alike.

Caroline and I were the only ones who chose Fritos as our chip choice for lunch.

I can't ever eat a small bag of Fritos without thinking of Grandpa and Grandma Malan offering us Fritos and a can of soda each time we went to visit them. 

I have never liked carbonation, so the fizzy cans of soda never appealed to me. Because of that, my grandparents would make sure to have some Orange Hi-C in their refrigerator for me to drink while my siblings guzzled the carbonated stuff.

We attended the evening viewing and the funeral the next day of Glen's sister-in-law Carol, who is the wife of his brother Chuck who preceded her in death on July 8, 2015.

Karla and Rodger had asked Glen to officiate at their mother's funeral. He did such an excellent job!

Just like what happened so many times while serving on our mission, Glen had been praying for inspiration as to what to say during his closing remarks. Then he woke up with the idea and delivered his message masterfully!

Divinely inspired personal revelation is always amazing!

Glen is with his sisters Joann, Barbara, Maurine and Bonnie.

Spouses of the siblings: Dave and Joann Rees, Rich and Barbara Dunn, Ray and Maurine Hull, Dave and Bonnie Ziemski with us on the end.

We had been invited to the home of Karla's daughter Julene for a family luncheon after the funeral. Their back yard was a beautiful place for the family to gather together.

As we were departing, Karla made sure every family took home a box of Twinkies in memory of her father who had worked at Hostess Bakery for many years.

We started out that particular day attending a funeral and ended the day attending a wedding reception of our former missionary Madeline Jorgensen.

We had a very enjoyable time visiting with three other former sister missionaries while we were eating our refreshments: Olivia Rigby, Kaytlin Porter and Ashley Blair.

Of course Glen couldn't resist having a teaching moment with the sisters as they pulled out their phones to follow along in their scriptures with him.

They love any chance they get to see us (especially him). There's something special about a Mission President. I feel the same way. He was my Mission President, too, and I think there is something special about him as well.

Quotes of the Week

As we grow in that pure love of Christ, our hearts soften. That love will bumble us and lead us to repent. Our confidence in the Lord and in each other will grow. And then we will move toward becoming one, as the Lord promises we can.
--Henry B. Eyring

In the midst of life's greatest storms, do not forget your divine heritage as a son or daughter of God or your eternal destiny to one day return to live with Him, which will surpass anything the world has to offer.
--Ronald A. Rasband

Happiness comes as a result of our obedience and our courage in always doing the will of God, even in the most difficult circumstances.
--Benjamin De Hoyos

More of Portland and On To Yakima; Caleb Home From Honduras

We spent a lot of time the next day in the Washington Park area of Portland. There were trails all through the massive park. It felt like we were alone in a big forest a lot of the time, yet there was civilization not far from us all the time. That made me happy.

I have always been afraid of getting lost in a forest--and especially more afraid of that happening after it really happened to my friend Kelley and me when we went to girls' camp one year in the Uinta Mountains.

We weren't lost for long. Our leaders realized we had kept walking around the lake instead of turning off at the trail leading to the parking lot and they soon came to find us. But it was terrifying while it lasted and I have tried to avoid getting lost in the woods ever since.

There were different memorials and statues all throughout the park.

The Rose Garden was very popular with the tourists.

A sign informed us "the public rose test garden is the oldest continuously operated test garden in the United States. The garden boasts a collection of over 8,000 rose plants and almost 600 varieties."

We continued on our walk through the trails of Washington Park until we came to the Portland Japanese Garden.

Inside the building was a unique staircase. We later saw it being used as seating for a presentation some Japanese women were doing about serving tea to guests. I guess it was preparing the people for their experience going to an authentic Tea House located further inside the Japanese Garden.

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed to be "the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan" (according to their brochure).

 

Another quote from the brochure: "Three primary elements are used in every Japanese garden design: stone, the 'bones' of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons."

My favorite quote from the brochure: "Upon entering a Japanese garden the hope is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility."

LOOK!! This is proof the statement is correct!!

Nothing like a little nap in the peaceful, harmonious and tranquil Japanese Garden to revive a man for the rest of the day.

On we went to see more memorials. 

Then back into the forest we went. Off to find our next point of interest.

This time it was the Redwood part of the forest we concentrated our attention upon.

Just consulting the map to see how much more we wanted to do and see.

We were STARVING by the time we finished spending most of the day in Washington Park. I insisted we not eat anywhere in the downtown area because I did not want another culture shock experience.

So we went back over by the mall and ate at California Pizza Kitchen. It was perfect in the fact we had pizza leftovers to eat for breakfast the next morning.

We headed next to Yakima, Washington. We were going to spend the weekend with Mark and Michelle's family as Caleb had recently returned home from his mission to Honduras and was speaking in church.

Their family was finishing up Michelle's family reunion and so we had some time to kill until we were hooking up with them for dinner that evening.

We stopped at a grocery store to buy us a snack for our lunch. MMMMmmm!! Miniature Magnum bars! So delicious!! So glad I had some lactaid pills in my purse so I could indulge!

We decided to visit the Yakima Area Arboretum and get in some exercise walking around there.

As was wont to happen on this trip, I began to feel uneasy. Glen was walking us toward the path by the water on the other side of the fence. It was looking a little sketchy and I was sure we were off the Arboretum property at that point.

I held my breath and moved clear off the path when a man on a bicycle approached us wielding what looked like a weapon of some sort. At least I conjured up how he could use that round metal thing as a weapon.

The words of the popular game "Clue" came to my mind as I imagined the journalist report of our untimely death. "Glen and Kim Thomas killed by biker dude with a lead pipe in the Arboretum." 

The man passed us by without incident, I regained my composure and we walked on. Glen soon found a sign board by that far fence showing proof we were still on actual Arboretum grounds. 

We walked a little way along the path by the river.

I felt better when we walked away from the path and found legitimate Arboretum signage.

 Then we were into the fir tree part of the Arboretum. 

On our self-guided tour, we decided to stop for a rest on a bench and watched what was going on around us. 

There was a big quinceañera celebration set up in the yard by the building.

The 15-year-old guest of honor was walking all around the grounds with her photographer getting different poses.

This one was my favorite!!! There she was flat on the ground as her photographer climbed a tree to capture the moment.

More of the garden area.

Our self-guided tour was complete once we got to the nut collection.

Meanwhile, Dad, Mom, Nani, Andy, Amanda and Maggie were on their way to Yakima that day. They stopped in Zillah to sightsee/see this site.

The Teapot Dome Service Station is a former gas station built in the shape of a teapot located in Zillah, Washington and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (This information brought to you by Wikipedia.)

The station was built in 1922 on what later became U.S. Route 12. Many such novelties were constructed as roadside attractions as the national highway system in the United States expanded during the 1920s and 1930s. The unique service station continued in operation as a full-service gas station for some years. 

It was relocated in 1978 and again in 2012 where it now serves as Zillah's visitors' center.

The group got situated in their hotel and we took a look at the view from their balcony and decided that path needed to be walked upon. There is safety in numbers and I didn't see any suspicious characters lurking about, and it turned out to be a lovely little walk for us.

We also went on a little drive to see the Apple Valley Eye Center where Mark will be working at a future date. It will be a much closer commute than where he's working now.

As we were walking around the building and probably looking like we were suspicious characters, the owner arrived on the scene. He had stopped to get something and it happened to be at the exact same time we were there and we got to meet him.

He invited us in and took us on a tour of the vision center. It was much better than peering in through the windows. We could en"vision" Mark there at work and that was a nice thing.

We finally got the word from Mark that their family had arrived in town and we planned to meet up for dinner at Old Country Buffet.

Rachel, Preston and his girlfriend Danielle came in a later carload. We were happy they got there before we left the restaurant so they could get something to eat and visit with the group. 

Caleb came home from his mission to his younger brother towering over him. How did Thad get so tall???

Michelle's brother had retrieved the much-anticipated box of my clothes that had gotten delivered to Mark and Michelle's address and handed it to me after dinner. Everyone shared in my happiness that I hadn't lost all those clothes!!

On the Sabbath day we joined in worship services at the ward Mark presides over as bishop. It was wonderful hearing Caleb speaking about his mission and his love for the people and his love for our Savior.

Hailey and Elijah weren't able to be there for Sunday, but they had been there when Caleb arrived home from his mission and got to spend some time with him then.

Caleb showed us the lining of the suit coat that was specially made for him. It looks like the Honduras flag.

We admired some other souvenirs he had brought home with him.

While we were there, we got news Mike's daughter Cheryl was in labor. She labored for hours which turned into days. Then she gave birth by Cesarean section to baby girl Charlotte weighing in at nearly 10 lbs. What is it with such huge babies these days (i.e. Magnus, Kade and now Charlotte)??

We were unable to attend the baby blessing of Charlotte Zaetell and I was glad Nani sent me photos of the baby all dressed up in her white outfit.

It is interesting that the younger generation loves the name Zaetell. Jacob and Laurie used Zaetell for Natalie's middle name and now Cheryl is using it for her baby's middle name.