Ben had a birthday. Time to celebrate! He chose for us to eat Smokin' Bones take-out at our home. The children were having fun building magna tile creations for the two little boys to knock down.
Kade likes to pretend the floor is hot lava. Madison was playing right along helping him (and their animals) go from one end of the house to the other alternating plastic boxes and lids to step in so they wouldn't touch the hot lava floor.
No surprise to anyone when Ben requested game playing after dinner.
Another request by the birthday boy was a chocolate Oreo ice cream pie for his birthday treat.
Kade's wishes came true with a candle in an Oreo cookie so he could blow out his own candle.
Ben spent his actual birthday flying to New York with his family to spend a couple of weeks visiting with Haley's family.
Kade says, "I look like Dad!" So funny!!
They made it safely to their destination!
They were able to enjoy some boat time on the water. Cutest little water boys.
Ben and Haley's vacation didn't end as they would have liked. Their flight got canceled and they had to spend many hours at the airport trying to get on another flight.
They finally split up with Haley and Kade on one flight and Ben and Levi on another flight.
We attended a free concert at the Bountiful Park. Bill and Jan Evans and Dennis and Jane Crandall were sitting by us.
I wasn't too thrilled when the woman in front of me was blocking a good portion of the performers with her hat. Then partway through the concert she opened up a huge umbrella to give to her husband to use to protect him from the sun.
I thought I had a bad view...but...we were just laughing at this view that Jan had of the performance. This is what we missed seeing. There wasn't anything going on but singing and instrument playing, so it was a good concert to just sit and listen to the music without watching what was happening on the stage.
The next week we attended Handcart Days at the Bountiful Park. There were pioneer and Indian displays, big, blow-up attractions for the children, tables with umbrellas for shade, and a line-up of booths offering food, drink, candy, snow cones, cotton candy, etc.
We by-passed those things and went over to check out the few food trucks that were there and ended up buying our dinner from a sandwich truck. Our meal was delicious!
As we were walking around that evening, we saw Bill and Jan Evans at the Joshua Creek concert and sat by them.
We had a much better view of what was happening on the stage through the entire concert this time.
The next evening, in the huge conference center at the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day concert, Rebecca and Dallas just happened to pick the aisle where Bill and Jan were sitting.
Speaking of Bill and Jan--they were kind enough to invite us over to their home for another dinner with friends. We are SO HAPPY we are their friends!! Upon arriving at their home, we spotted a deer in their neighbor's backyard.
As always, I look forward to seeing how creative and beautiful Jan has decorated her dinner table. They treated us to Mandarin take-out food. (Rick and Debi Winder, Grant and Diane Stewart, Jane and Dennis Crandall, Bill and Jan Evans, Lane and LaVona Lewis, Glen, Bruno and Colleen Kossin) Sarah sent this photo of her boys getting their free Slurpees at 7-Eleven on July 11th (7-11).
Glen wanted in on the free Slurpee at 7-Eleven on 7-11. He got two--one for me which was really for him because I have never liked that carbonated treat.
Dad and Mom helped entertain us while we had our car at the shop for a maintenance appointment. We ate at Goodwood Barbecue. They hadn't eaten there for a very long time and it was a delicious experience for them.
Ironically, out of all the restaurants for Skyler and Shayla Higginson to choose for our dinner out with them--they chose Mandarin. That made Mandarin food for us twice in less than a week's time.
Skyler was one of our missionaries. I hadn't realized that they have a daughter. My how these missionaries are growing up!!
Yet another missionary dinner for us at Chili's. JD Hadfield wanted to introduce us to McKenna. They will be getting married in October. That was exciting news!
Glen arranged to have lunch with two more of our missionaries. Their choice was Apollo Burger. Dawson Wall and Hiroto Miyagawa are in the same ward now and it was fun to get the update on their lives.
Hiroto came to our mission from Japan. He knew English pretty well, but still needed to learn a lot. After serving in the United States for two years, going to school at BYU-Hawaii and now going to Ensign College, I had to compliment him on how well he speaks the English language.
Hiroto was such a joy to be around. He always had, and still has, a smiling face, whether he understood what was being said or not. He was always eager to work hard and do his best. I always admired the few missionaries we had who came from foreign countries.
Dawson was also a very dedicated missionary and now serves as the elders quorum presidency in their student ward. Dawson helped Hiroto find a place to stay when he moved here from Hawaii.
When Rebecca is not able to take Brooke to work at Lagoon or pick her up after work, I am happy to help out.
I enjoy picking her up after work because she is always eager to share what happened to her at work that day. It never fails that she exclaims several times how much she loves her job.
This day was particularly great for her as she received an "I made a difference today" pin. Good for her!!
The sisters and husbands' date for this month was Maddox.
As usual, Dave and Bonnie love El Matador, so even though we don't love Mexican food--we always go there because it makes them so happy.
We had a fun experience at the Days of '47 rodeo at the fairgrounds. We kept remembering about the major lightening storm of last year when we were in that stadium and we had to evacuate in the pouring down rain--twice. This time the weather was very cooperative. HURRAH!!
Our experience at Hale to watch the play Silent Sky was a lovely experience. We enjoyed that true story and even shed a tear at the touching ending. We love Hale!!! They do plays up right!!
Our next-door neighbors, Julie and Shon Rasmussen, come to town about once a month and this time they invited us to Sunday dinner. They had also invited Jon and Alexis Schmitt and their son Clayton. We were wondering how all of us couples are connected.
We knew Schmitts on our mission. They were mission leaders in San Diego as we served in Carlsbad. When we were very new in the mission, and feeling so overwhelmed, we went to dinner with them.
They shared some of their experiences and knowledge with us and we so very much appreciated their insights and tips.
Schmitts know Rasmussens from living in Arizona. Schmitts have just moved here in preparation for his new assignment as a General Authority Seventy. We are excited to hear his talk in the upcoming general conference.
Julie had set the table so beautifully and Shon grilled the steaks just perfectly. After the Schmitts left, Shon and Julie took us on a tour of their newly-remodeled home. After watching all the construction workers going in and out of their home for many months, I was anxious to see the finished product.
We had a very enjoyable evening!
Our missionary Cassie and her husband Trevor and daughters Eden and Sonora were in town from Witchita and so we got together with them at Fat Fish.
Glen lets the missionaries pick restaurants and turns out this one was a sushi restaurant. Not our favorite kind of food...
I finally settled on a bento box consisting of chicken, rice and salad and gave the sushi rolls to Cassie. Glen likes raw salmon, so he had that, rice and edamame. We are not putting this restaurant on our list of must-go-again.Our missionary Chaylen and Spencer Simmons picked another restaurant that was new to us. It was a pizzeria in downtown Salt Lake City.
We ate our pizzas and then ordered gelato for dessert. They had quite the set up where the customers walk in the gelato side to wait until being seated in the pizzeria side.
Dallas and Rebecca invited us to go to the Josh Groban concert with them. We invited them to go to dinner at Zupas before the event. We saw David and Sylvia Webster on their way into the Vivint Arena for the concert.There was a singer and then a band who played before the real concert began.By the time the headliner Josh Groban arrived on stage, we were all more than ready to listen to the lovely tunes of that wonderfully talented singer.
We had a lively group of women sitting in front of us who were really moving and grooving to the music. My favorite part was at the end when he sang "You Raise Me Up" and "The Impossible Dream." It was the cherry on the top of the concert for sure!!
I also enjoyed our walk back to the car. The weather was so wonderfully comfortable as we chatted with Dallas and Rebecca. We were so happy they invited us to join them that evening.We saw the absolute most beautiful, brilliant white clouds today. They were so impressive I had to admire them for a while. WOW!! Nature can sure impress!!
Glen has now officially retired from his job as Welfare and Self-Reliance Manager for the Church. He returned his work car and his work computers and two monitors and now his side of the office looks very bare. 
We enjoyed the cute card Mom and Dad sent to Glen which said "All play. No work. That's the new you! ENJOY YOUR RETIREMENT!"So we're off tomorrow on a retirement vacation. Las Vegas, California and St. George--here we come!!
PRISON UPDATE
I was really touched when I read this article about the ribbon-breaking ceremony at the new prison. Governor Spencer Cox removed the dead end sign at the entry to the road to the prison and wrote "to new beginnings" on the sign.
The article also mentioned the following:"It is in our best interest that this prison and this facility is not a dead end, that it's actually a place they can hit the reset button and leave here better than they came. The more modern facility will offer inmates more services and opportunities to turn their lives around so they can become contributing members of society again.
"We know that someday most of them, almost all of them, will be back with us living in our communities. Our neighbors. And our hope is when they return to our neighborhoods that they will have a new sense of community, that they will have the tools necessary to rebuild their lives. And that doesn't happen if you just put people in a box."
Word has just gotten to us that some of the branches (including our Currant Branch) are going to be allowed to have worship service on Sunday.
We are sad that we will be out of town, but we have been having weekly meetings to prepare for whenever this would happen. Dave Webster will be in charge with everyone else being as well prepared as we can be for this historic event.
We love our couples. They are such hard workers and desire so much to magnify their callings and help these men we are called to serve. We feel very blessed!!
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