Quotes of the Week

 The path of repentance and forgiveness may at times seem a bit scary and hard to do. The Savior is the Master Healer. His divine sacrifice and love for us are the path to regain the clear and true vision of things as they really are.

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

True Christianity, in which we strive to become like our Master, has always required our best efforts.

--Scott D. Whiting

Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we m ight have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.

Marvin J. Ashton

Quotes of the Week

 God is your Father. He love you. He and your mother in heaven value you beyond any measure. You are unique. One of a kind, made of the eternal intelligence which gives you claim upon eternal life. Let ther be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. The whole intent of the gospel plan is to provide an opportunity for each of you to reach your fullest potential, which is eternal progression and the possibility of godhood.

--Spencer W. Kimball

To be angry is to yield to the influence of Satan. No one can make us angry. It is our choice.

--Thomas S. Monson

Choices have to be made. Not making a choice is a choice. Learn to choose now.

--Jeffrey R. Holland

Our 44th Anniversary; Ski Days; Valentine's Day

Monday morning Abe and Klarissa packed up their stuff and went to spend three days at Montage Deer Valley Resort in Park City. Abe had a work retreat there and had decided to bring the whole family out here to Utah with him. 

During their time away, we celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. I was surprised when Glen asked if I wanted to go to Maddox. That is not our usual dinner destination unless we are with his sisters. 

It turned out to be a good choice because Rebecca had just updated Marco Polo spending an hour talking about their Disneyland vacation. She provided our drive time entertainment. 

This fireplace mantel is was what greeted us upon entering the restaurant. Although Valentine's Day is just five days after our anniversary, and the restaurant was all decorated for Valentine's Day, I took it as a personal, warm greeting to us celebrating our anniversary. 

There were love and heart decorations all around.

Even in the restroom there was a lovely red and white heart bouquet. To me, all those things were a representation of our anniversary. I loved the romantic setting!!

Maddox did us well that day!! XOXOXOXO!!

The anniversary celebrating did not stop there. We needed to get some things at Walmart. We took advantage of all the Valentine's things to use to represent our love to each other. 

On the way in, I presented Glen with one of the LOVE balloons on display.

He then gave me some beautiful red roses.

We picked out the perfect cards to give to each other.

That was a fun little diversion before beginning our real shopping, and we walked out of the store not having spent a cent for our anniversary remembrances--but, we have the memories with us forever.

Newland and Wynne went to ski school while they were at the resort. Abe was anxious to get those two back out on the slopes, so Friday he planned a ski day and invited Ben to go along.

Glen and I watched Kade and Levi so both Ben and Haley could snowboard with the skiers. 

Klarissa and her mother took Monty with them for the afternoon while we kept Magnus here with us to play with Kade. 

I got the biggest kick out of Levi who saw Glen lying on the floor and so he laid down right next to him and copied his grandpa's every movement. It was so adorable to watch!!!!

Mid-afternoon something upset Levi and he started crying. I picked him up and within a second or two, he had fallen asleep on my shoulder. He was a very tired baby and the nap did him a lot of good.

The two boys were getting a little grumpy, so we made some popcorn for a snack for them. 

It was very fun for them to sing along with the "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" song while the popcorn was popping.

We did find out that the only popcorn they would eat were the ones doused in butter. The others were "yucky."

Here are some photos up on the Powder Mountain ski slopes.

What an absolutely beautiful day to ski!! The weather had warmed up a bit while Abe's family was here, so that was nice for them to not have to be out in such bitter cold while they were here on vacation.

The video we watched of Newland skiing down the mountain like a pro and passing up his father made me laugh. 

These are some stills of that video. Newland is the small one on the left getting ready to ski past Abe. 

This one is Abe.

Ben much prefers a snowboard to skis. 

The view looking up the mountain made it look not so steep. The view looking down the rest of the mountain gives a different impression. Newland kept up with the adults and was extremely happy at the end of the day. He had had a wonderful time.

Abe had put Wynne in another ski school class that day. She loves learning so much, so whatever "school" she gets to go to, she's very happy. She was also happy with the way her drawing of Dora turned out.

Saturday morning Abe and Klarissa packed up their stuff once again and headed to the airport. It had been nice seeing them once again. It helps us get to know their younger ones a little better since we don't get to be around their family very often.

Once they were on their way, we turned our thoughts towards the play date we had scheduled for that day.

Dad and Mom had recently spent a few days at the Vegas Archery Shoot. Mark and Thadeus have been enjoying archery and decided to enter the competition. Needless to say, neither of them took home the winning prize money, but it sounds like they all had an enjoyable time while they were there.

We were anxious to hear all about their trip when we got together with my parents and Nani at Hale Centre Theatre to watch a play.

It was a very colorful set and the play was very fun.

I especially enjoyed when the stage turned and the little live band would play and sing. 

We ate at Red Lobster as per our usual play date experience. It was nice to have Nani with us enjoying the cultural event. 

Sunday Prison Report: 

The new inmate, the interrupter from last week, was not in attendance. That made it much easier for the district council member and his wife to give uninterrupted talks in worship service. They did an excellent job. 

It was fun for us to be there to hear a fellow district council couple deliver their messages. Usually we are speaking in another branch when this happens in our branch, but because this couple needed to switch weeks, we got to hear them speak.

We had 16 inmates in attendance for the first hour. Usually about half of them leave and don't stay for Sunday School. I sat next to a small Spanish-speaking man. He told me he's been in prison 17 years and he's got at least 3 more years. He was put in prison when he was 20 years old. 

I was feeling bad for that man and was surprised when he then said, "Time has gone by so fast in here." I thought that was a very interesting thing to hear from an incarcerated person. I responded by telling him I hope he has learned some things in prison that will help him in the future.

The response from this quiet, humble man was, "Oh yeah, I have changed. I am a different person."

Now on to Valentine's Day. 

We had a very low-key Valentine's Day on Monday. I loved the little Valentine remembrances I got that day. My ministering sisters left a treat on the porch.

The Cowleys left a plate of sugar cookies on the porch.

My sweet friend, Jan Evans, brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers. 

WOW!! I sure feel loved every single time I look at those flowers. They are so beautiful! They are definitely the gift that keeps on giving. 

Goldens' Water Leak; Abe's Family Arrives; BYU Game

This post will begin where the other one left off with the Golden family at Disneyland. They had a fabulous time. 

It wasn't too awfully crowded, so they were able to get on the rides they wanted. 

They tried their hand at artwork drawing the character Groot.

Dallas produced his own kind of artwork with this photo featuring Rebecca, Spencer, Caroline and Madison. 

Imagine the scene of the Goldens in "the happiest place on earth" when Rebecca texted us during a Thursday night BYU home game and asked if we could go to to their home and check their thermostat. 

They have a Nest which they are able to program when they are away from home, but for some reason their internet wasn't working. They were worried it was affecting the thermostat and didn't want the house temperature to get too low for fear of the water pipes freezing.

The weather had been frigid for several weeks, so it was a legitimate worry. 

Glen told her we would stop by after we got home from the ball game. Just as they suspected, the house was extremely cold!! Glen tried to set the thermostat, but realized that it was on the preset that makes it go down to 42 degrees when both phones are away from the home. BRRRRR!!!! 

Dallas asked if Glen would go reset their internet router to see if that would fix the internet issue. Thankfully the router was down in the utility closet in the laundry room. I say thankfully because when Glen opened the door, he could see the water heater was leaking. 

Strangely, the water was coming out of the top of the water heater and running down the side of the water heater. 

Glen used towels to mop up as much water as he could. Unfortunately, I noticed all the water was not going down the nearby drain. It was also seeping under the back wall which is the wall that goes into their newly-remodeled family room. Their brand new carpet was wet. OH NO!!!!!! 

Once the water was turned off, the water quit leaking, so that was a good thing. We got a fan going on the wet carpet and left hoping the furnace would stay on and the water pipes would not freeze anywhere.

That turned out to be a very late night for us. Glen went down to check on the house the next day and found no more water. Hurrah!! The house was warmer, so that was good, too. 

Dallas and Rebecca were able to find a plumber in their neighborhood who charges reasonable fees and was able to check the water heater that very next day. He was able to get a new water heater installed before the Golden family arrived back home Saturday evening. What a blessing!!!!

The Goldens could continue their trip knowing their home and their water would be warm when they got home. That's enough to keep a smile on their faces.

Friday was the day Abe's family boarded a plane headed from North Carolina to Utah.

They got here late that evening, but not too late to stop for Cafe Rio (their favorite!!) take-out for their late dinner.

It always makes me smile when I see a line-up of toys indicating there are little ones in the house.

The next morning we served French toast as per Newland's request. It seems to be a popular favorite among the grandchildren. 

It was a great way to start GAME DAY!! Abe and Klarissa headed out early so they could enjoy spending time in Provo, which included a shopping trip at the BYU Bookstore.

Is it obvious this family loves the "Y" as much as Glen does?? Go Cougars!!!!

BYU was playing Gonzaga that day and everyone was pumped to hopefully see the Cougars beat the Bulldogs. (Fingers were crossed...) 

Abe had an extra ticket and invited Ben to go with us. We picked up Natalie at her cosmetology school and met the group for dinner at Brick Oven.

Klarissa wanted a photo of Glen's salad which always manages to have a brown hue to it. I told her she needed my colorful salad to provide a good comparison. Point made!!

Our group was too big to fit on one table, so our family sat at the small table and the Jackson family sat on the big table. Klarissa's parents had flown in from Florida to spend the week here as well. Klarissa's brother Morgen had his family there, too.

Ingrid took Abe's three youngest back to Morgen's home to watch them during the ball game. The game attenders were Morgen and Mike Jackson, me, Glen, Ben, Abe, Klarissa and a very excited Newland wearing his new BYU outfit. 

Newland had the best time walking the perimeter of the Marriott Center picking up all the free BYU giveaways he could see. 

Let's just say that despite all the excitement of the fans waving their long light sticks, it wasn't enough to propel BYU towards a win. Boo hoo!! Oh well. It was still a lot of fun for the Thomas and Jackson families. 

Before Abe's family headed off to church, I wanted to get a photo of them. Newland and Monty got in place instantly.

Pretty soon Wynne was in place.

There's Magnus joining his siblings. Everyone SMILE!! Our ward had stake conference that day, so Abe found a ward in another stake for them to attend at noon.

When they got home from church an hour later, it seemed like a great time to pop some popcorn to hold everyone over until our mid-afternoon dinner. Monty had not experienced the popping yet. 

We had to indoctrinate him into the Thomas family tradition of Sunday popcorn.

Glen and I had gotten up early to go to our branch sacrament meeting before heading to the prison for those meetings. Let's just say it was a very long two hours for me that day. 

There were several new inmates attending. One of them was very vocal. He is a young man and had so much to say and sometimes said things toward the speakers in a very confrontational way. 

During Sunday School, he wanted to comment on everything that was said. I was exhausted by the time we got home. I had admired the inmate Sunday School teacher who remained so patient with that man and the others who made long, drawn-out comments. 

He was able to take each random comment and take one little part of what was said and bring it right back to the lesson. It was amazing! 

I had to laugh at what David Wheatley texted out to the Olympus Branch leaders after we got home. President Bell and his wife were in Hawaii and missed it all.

We invited Rebecca's and Ben's families over for Sunday dinner. Of course Caroline was so happy to see her babies. And there were even more babies for her to enjoy that day.

After-dinner entertainment was playing games. It's always fun to hear everyone laughing and having a good time while playing together.