Quotes of the Week

 Truly, for those with faithful hearts and eyes to see, the Lord's tender mercies are manifest amidst life's challenges.

--Gerrit W. Gong

My testimony to the Church and to the world is that this is God's very truth. My plea every morning of my life is  "how can I convey what I know to be more true than anything on the face of this earth? How can I convey the reality of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ?"

--Jeffrey R. Holland

Knowing that we are all children of God gives us a divine vision of worth of all others and the will and ability to rise above prejudice and racism.

--Dallin H. Oaks

Christmas Dinners; Snowblower Debaucle; BYU Posters; Abe's Family's Adventures

 Every year we look forward to a fancy Christmas dinner at Jan and Bill Evans's home.

I always love to see her beautifully decorated table.

The presents we each brought were placed on the family room table and after dinner we drew numbers to see what order we would pick a gift. That is always fun to see what is inside each package.

Bill cut into the prime rib and both he and Jan were grinning about how perfectly it was cooked. 

This year they served crab legs with the prime rib.

We missed our prison branch Christmas dinner because Glen refused to miss a BYU game to attend it. We were able to attend our prison district Christmas dinner, and arrived at Trolley Square a few minutes early so we could walk around looking at the Christmas decorations.

The dinner was held at Rodizio Grill. I was SO disappointed when I learned that was the location of our event. I have not enjoyed Rodizio or Tucanos AT ALL and have refused to ever go there again...until this particular evening.

We were impressed to see how many large, private rooms are available there for groups like us to have space to ourselves. 

I was very pleasantly surprised to find things on the salad bar that I actually liked--which had not been the case in the past.

I had a small piece of one kind of meat when the servers started bringing skewers of meat to our table. I also had some grilled pineapple and a couple of grilled shrimp and called that good for me. Glen and the other men were thrilled with all the meat that kept coming around nonstop.

My favorite part of the meal was the cheesecake dessert. I sat next to Teresa Bell, our branch president's wife, and had a very enjoyable conversation with her all through dinner. 

Glen was talking with Gary and Camille Simmons. Gary and Glen both served in the Mexico Torreon Mission and they love to talk about that whenever they get together. 

After our meal, President Clarke spoke to us for a few minutes and then the district presidency handed out Christmas gifts. 

As we were winding down the evening, we saw this couple coming over to talk to us. It was Michael Dahlquist and his wife Jessica. They had been having a work Christmas party in the adjoining room and Michael recognized Glen and came to chat with us. 

It was so fun seeing them and thinking back to our time in Missouri where Michael and Jacob were the best of friends. Of course I had to send this photo to Sherrie so she and Carl could enjoy seeing the four of us together.

FUNNY STORY:

It was just starting to snow when we got home from Rodizio's. The weather report was predicting a foot of snow. We went downstairs to watch a movie and when we were finished, we couldn't believe how much snow had accumulated in those two hours--probably 8 inches of snow.

When Glen switched out the lawnmower for the snowblower at the beginning of winter, we had gotten gas for it and Glen had checked to make sure it started. All was well. 

The storm before this one wasn't too bad, so Glen shoveled the first day and then later decided to use the snowblower, but found it wouldn't start. UGH! So off to the repair shop he took it.

He was told it would take a week, but they would prioritize the snowblowers. Unfortunately, this big storm was upon us just a few days later and we were left without a snowblower.

Glen determined that if there was that much snow that night, and the snow was still falling and was predicted to fall all night long, he wanted to get this first layer cleared to make way for the next layer.

He shoveled for hours. He was exhausted when he finally decided to call it quits and come back inside. The clock shows we were heading up to bed at 1:39 a.m. Short night it was going to be.

Glen was sore all night long, and was uneagerly anticipating another big shovel in the morning. At least it was daylight and the snow had stopped falling, so the driveway stayed clear after he shoveled. 

The snow at the end of the driveway was especially difficult to clear from the snowplows going by. But Glen did it!!!!

That was sure a lot of snow that fell in that one storm.

Later that day, Glen got a call from the repair shop. He was pleased they had prioritized his snowblower because there was more snow in the forecast. 

Imagine our surprise when they said, "You're going to laugh at this...but all we needed to do was put gas in your snowblower." 

WHAT??!!?? I had been with Glen when he bought the gas. Neither of us know quite how it happened that he forgot to actually put the gas into the snowblower, but it sure made for a good, gut-busting laugh as Glen's sore body was screaming pain at him.

Our windows had ice and snow on them and made them look like what you would see in a Hallmark Christmas movie.

I love looking at the snow-covered trees after a snowstorm when the clouds give way to a blue sky.

The third Christmas dinner that I attended was put on for the Relief Society sisters. It was held at Kathleen Morrell's home.

The salads were catered by Plates and Palates and were so delicious. Kim Cowley had made homemade rolls. There was an assortment of sweets for dessert.

After dinner there was a program with readings and a couple of special musical numbers. It was a lovely evening. I was so glad it wasn't snowing that night.

We had another dinner out, but it was definitely NOT a Christmas celebration. We went to dinner at Hug-Hes in Ogden with Kenny Jensen, Randy Bambrough and his wife and daughter, Susan and Hannah. 

After-dinner entertainment was watching the BYU basketball team play Weber State. The earlier BYU football game did not end favorably, so the basketball team having a winning score helped put a smile back on Glen's face.

Because of the Covid illness running rampant in our family, we have not been able to get together for quite a while. We were all feeling much love and very thankful when we gathered together for Sunday dinner. 

Caroline was so happy to see her babies once again!!

The wooden nativity set caught Kade's eye.

While Glen, Ben, Haley and Rebecca were playing their favorite game together, I went downstairs with the grandchildren and was surprised when Caroline handed Levi to me and he stayed contentedly on my lap for quite a while. Caroline is definitely his favorite!

Jacob's family took a little excursion to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to watch the BYU Cougars play the Creighton Blue Jays. 

Logan, Claire and Luke got busy making some posters in preparation for the basketball game in the hopes their signs would attract the attention of the cameras so they could be on TV.

They got there early enough to get their photos taken with some of the basketball players: Alex Barcello and Seneca Knight.

We went to the Bountiful Temple today. I have loved it in years past to see the big, beautiful Christmas posters on display in each yard of the houses surrounding the temple. I was happy to see they were up again this year...

...except this one house who chose to decorate for Christmas in this very unconventional way. Someone PLEASE explain this to me!!! 

We picked up Natalie from her school in Provo and ate at Outback Steakhouse (as per her request--good choice!) before we headed back home. 

She will spend the night with us and we will take her to the airport in the morning so she can join her family in Omaha for the Christmas holiday. Thankfully, she is feeling much better after her bout with mono and will undoubtedly enjoy this trip home much more than her Thanksgiving trip when she was sick with mono.

Abe's family has had some adventures with Klarissa's sister Jen and her family. They went to Costa Rica, followed by a trip to DisneyWorld and are enjoying the Christmas season with a ride on the Polar Express. 

This Christmas season we are finding ourselves feeling so thankful that those of us who got Covid are now doing much better. It makes us appreciate each member of the family as we were praying for each other to regain our health and strength. 

I always love listening to Christmas music in December. As the words direct us to think of Christ, my heart is full of love for Him and for all the blessings we enjoy because of Him,

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!