Quotes of the Week

 Remember change is possible, repentance is a process, and worthiness is not flawlessness. Most important, remember that God and Christ are willing to help us right here and now.

Change is what Christ's Atonement is all about. Not only can Christ resurrect, cleanse, console, and heal us, but through it all, He can transform us to become more like Him.

--Bradley R. Wilcox

Take heart, brothers and sisters. Yes, we live in perilous times, but as we stay on the covenant path, we need not fear. I bless you that as you do so, you will not be troubled by the times in which we live or the troubles that come your way.

--Ronald A. Rasband

We will never know the Keeper of the celestial gate's welcoming embrace if we now embrace, instead, the things of the world.

--Neal A. Maxwell

Jeff's Birthday Celebration; Glen's Waving Hand Surgery; Our Snow Angel

Jeff and Sarah brought the boys over Saturday afternoon so we could watch them so they could go to the temple. It is so nice having them living back in Utah and not very far from us. 

As soon as the boys arrived, Carson asked when his cousins would be coming over. Oooops! I should have invited the cousins! 

I handed Carson my phone to text Rebeccca. He texted, "This is Carson, can u come over?" Then Eli texted, "We are very lonely here." Hahaha!! 

After Rebecca checked to make sure it was okay if her family came over, we anxiously awaited the arrival of the cousins.

Jeff and Sarah went to dinner after the temple to celebrate Jeff's birthday. But, the birthday celebrating did not end then. It continued on into Sunday--his actual birthday--with all of us celebrating his birthday at our home by having Sunday dinner together. 

Of course there was game playing going on. This particular game required flipping of three cards into three cups using a green, plastic stick. 

Natalie was very good at getting all three of her cards in the cups.

Haley was successful as well. 

Even though I didn't capture it in photos, Jeff was on fire with success on every one of the challenges presented that day. He was acting like it was his birthday!!

We were so happy to see Levi. He loves playing with the dinosaur and alligator when he comes here. 

Ben and Haley had taken Levi to the emergency room Friday night late. From this picture we wondered why he was there. 

When we saw the injury and all the blood on the back of him, that told a different story. He had gotten a gash on the back of his head requiring three staples. 

We appreciated our son and sons-in-law dressing for the occasion of giving Glen a priesthood blessing in preparation for his upcoming surgery. 

Sarah served angel food cake that evening for Jeff's birthday dessert.

Since Rebecca's birthday is just two days after Jeff's, the angel food cake candles were shared with Rebecca.

I would say the strawberry angel food cake was a huge success with adults and children alike.

The day after Sunday is Monday, and Monday was the day Glen had been looking forward to with great anticipation for some time now. 

He got up at 4:40 a.m. so he could get one last piano practice session in before heading to the surgery center at 6 a.m. 

Since Glen had opted for a local anesthetic and wasn't going to be put out, there was no IV necessary. The doctor soon came in and initialed Glen's right wrist and jabbed him several times with deadening injections, wrapped his hand, and then we waited a few minutes for that medication to work its magic.

They wheeled him into the surgery room, sent me to the waiting room, and in no minutes at all, they were calling my name to go back because he was done. We had been told it was a quick procedure. They meant it! 

Because of only having local numbing, Glen was not restricted from driving. He insisted on driving us home. We were back home by 8 a.m. 

He was feeling pretty chipper (with his hand very numb) and got busy fixing his own breakfast. He's Mr. Independent. He was taking the post-op instruction of keeping his hand elevated above his heart very seriously.

Glen was getting a little exercise in by walking around the house. I couldn't help it, but every time I see him walking along with his arm in the air, I burst out laughing. Just looks like he is waving to me every time he passes by.

After showing off trying to move his fingers, he did learn that the surgery site was pretty sore as the day wore on and the deadening wore off.

Meanwhile, we kept getting notices on our phones of impending doom expected to hit on Rebecca's birthday. 

Glen had had a long, sore night of not sleeping very well in the basement in his recliner. We had been doing our best to keep his hand iced 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off. 

At breakfast the day after surgery, Glen raised his hand clear above his head and proudly declared himself cured. Any reaching motion would previously cause him to shout out in pain. This was definitely good news!!

More news reports throughout the day to be prepared for "the biggest winter storms of the season" the following day. Seriously!!!!????!!!! 

This has already been one of the snowiest and coldest winters I can remember. Now "the biggest storm" is coming our way?!? We were thinking we surely were coming out of winter any day now. 

The snow started to fall in the evening. It got us out of going to a meeting. Instead, the meeting was changed to zoom and what a blessing that was for all the people involved. By bedtime, this was the snow accumulation.

And we woke up to even deeper snow. Glen was determined to go out and use the snow blower. The doctor said he could but could not shovel. I didn't want him to do either one.

Thankfully, Dallas came up to do our snow removal. How thankful we both were that Glen did not have to do it. Dallas was definitely our snow angel!!

It was a lot of work to remove that much snow. It would have been brutal on Glen's sore hand.

Dallas finished up by throwing out some ice melt.

Dallas had gotten everything cleaned off and had put the snow blower back in the garage when the snow plow  went by again depositing a bunch of snow at the bottom of the driveway. 

Dallas uncomplainingly started up the snow blower and went out once again to clear that heavy snow.

The wrapping that was covering the surgery site was driving Glen crazy! He had had enough and unwrapped it to relieve the irritation it was causing him. 

Lots of bruising in the hand and in his arm for such a short surgery. One more day on the road to recovery.

Look at what a difference a day (and a bandage removal and a shower) can make!!! This right-hand-waving man now looks like the Glen we all know and love. And he's back at the piano! 

He has been using the piano as a way to tell if he is improving in the healing process. Couldn't play it the first day. Played a song or two the second day. Playing greatly improved third day after taking off the wrapping. Today--he is playing like a pro!! 

We just got our piano tuned this morning, so Glen just had to give it a try. 

Anniversary Vacation Continued: Old Mormon Fort; Las Vegas Temple; Home to Cookies

For as many trips as we have taken to Las Vegas, I can't believe we have never gone to the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Well, Tuesday was the day for that adventure. 

We got there early in the day before there was too big of a crowd gathered. A random man was there taking photos of everyone, and he was gathering tips right and left. Good for him and his ingenuity in figuring out how to make a buck, or two, or many more!

The weather report had been warning of high winds in the area and we have picture proof the wind was getting wilder and more gusty as the day went on. We also noticed a distinct decline in temperature throughout the day. 

Next on our list of tourist attractions was the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park. 

We watched a video about the fort being built around the natural springs coming from the ground.

By the bridge is a marker depicting the Old Spanish Trail.

In the courtyard outside the museum is a statue of Helen Jane Wiser Stewart. She was called "The First Lady of Las Vegas."

Helen's husband promised her that their stay on a ranch in the middle of the desert would only be for two years. Two years later, her husband lost his life in a gun fight. 

As the plaque nearby states: 

Helen stepped out of her traditional role as wife, mother, and homemaker, to take over the "Los Vegas Rancho." She never looked back. She expanded the ranch to nearly 2,000 acres, and became one of the largest property owners in the Las Vegas valley. 

Helen sold 1,835 acres of her property to the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad in 1902 for $55,000. She kept some land for herself and donated some land to the local Paiute tribe. 

She was the first postmaster in the valley, the first woman in Las Vegas to serve on a jury, the first woman to serve on the Clark County School Board. Helen shaped early Las Vegas into a vibrant community. 

Local leaders shut down the city of Las Vegas during Helen's funeral in honor of her pioneering spirit.

This adobe building is the oldest structure in Las Vegas. 

Something didn't look quite right in this room. 

The pioneer lady had toppled over. 

This is part of the wall of the old fort.

This is the garden area.

Various tools, wagons, handcarts, and other things were on display inside the fort.

This shows the corner of the Stewart Ranch house.

As we were finishing up outside, the wind started blowing like crazy. It was so strong.

When I went inside, a man commented that he saw me out there trying to fly. Not too far from the truth! Look at how gray and dusty the sky was from all the wind.

We went back to our room to get cleaned up for our afternoon activity. It was nice to get out of the strong wind gusts.

Shockingly, by the time we were headed to the Las Vegas Temple, the dirty gray sky had changed to blue and beautiful. Thankfully, the wind had calmed down so I didn't look like a wind-blown tourist walking into the temple.

We attended an endowment session and enjoyed watching the workings of the ordinance workers in that temple now that we are ordinance workers in the Bountiful Temple.

We love to go to the temple and felt like this was a great thing to include in our vacation itinerary to do on Valentine's Day. 

We tried to get into a buffet that evening, but the line was too long and we didn't want to miss our last show. We hurried over to the Rio Casino, where our show was located, hoping to find somewhere we could eat in a hurry. 

In past years, we have loved going to the Rio buffet, but it is one of the many that has stayed closed down. We weren't having much luck, and time was running out. 

As we were walking up to the second level in hopes of finding a food court, I commented that I would be happy if I could just eat a big, soft pretzel. I LOVE bread!!!!

Surprisingly, as we came to the top of the stairs, what did we behold but none other than a Wetzel's Pretzels!!! I was so giddy with excitement I could hardly stand it. 

Glen was happy to see the words "hot dog" next to the word "pretzels" on their signage. He said that would work for him for dinner. We added lemonade to our meal and YUMMM!!! So happy we didn't have to starve during the show.

The show we were seeing was "WOW - The Vegas Spectacular." We were happy to see it was in a nice venue with a fancy stage.

We had good seats right up close to the stage. There were all types of dancers and performers throughout the production. The big, back part of the stage was a water feature. Lots of dancing and splashing in the water. 

The front part of the stage was circular and a lot of the performers came down there, which was great for us as that was right in front of us.

I took some photos of the three strong men who were wowing us with their feats of strength, balance and teamwork. 

The show was so intriguing with lots of things to look at that I didn't take any other photos. I declared it my favorite of all the shows we had seen. What a great one to end on.

But, the evening did not end with the show. Nope! Glen had his taste buds set on stopping at Baskin-Robbins back at our casino for a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone before turning in for the night. 

Meanwhile, a little fondue action was going on at the Excell household on Valentine's Day. 

Look at these yummy chocolate-covered strawberries happening in Abe and Klarissa's family.

Not sure if this gigantic Rice Krispie treat had anything to do with Valentine's Day, but it makes one wonder if Magnus was able to eat that whole thing.

Kade sent us the cutest Valentine. 

When we arrived home from our vacation, someone (an anonymous cookie maker) had left the blue plate of cookies on our doorstep.

Cowleys brought over the booklet with some more sugar cookies. I love sugar cookies!!

I do have to say that it is so fun to have our anniversary and Valentine's Day both in the same love month of February. 

What a wonderful celebration we had together in Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.

We'll be back there soon. March Madness is right around the corner. 

But, first--Glen's hand surgery. He has been counting down the days. Now he's counting down the hours until he gets some relief from the pain.