Quotes of the Week

Obedience is not a process of pounding our souls into something we are not.  It is the process by which we discover what we truly are.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The fundamental truths of the restored gospel were revealed as the timing was right.
--David A. Bednar

Think the best of each other, especially of those you say you love.  Assume the good and doubt the bad.
--Jeffery R. Holland

When we put God first, all things fall into their proper place and drop out of our lives.
--Ezra Taft Benson

Tree Down, Carpet Cleaned, County Fair

One morning I looked out the back door to see two men and one of them was scaling the wall.

Our neighbor had been complaining about our tree leaning over into their yard and was worried it would break their fence.

Well I guess this took care of that.

The finished look is a half chopped tree.

Our latest group of new missionaries reporting for training. The assistants are on the back row.

We got notification of carpet cleaning days in all the church buildings. Our mission home was on the carpet cleaning rotation as well. White booties were the order of the day while the carpet was wet.

Can there ever be enough sunset beach photos? Complete with the Oceanside Pier in the background?

When we arrived in our mission a year ago, we drove by the Del Mar Fairgrounds and wanted to go there one day. We were so busy.

One date night Glen determined we were going to go check it out. When we got there the place was a ghost town. No one there. Nothing going on. We wondered why.

This year we learned the fair runs from the first weekend in June until the July 4th weekend. Since we reported for duty July 1st, I guess that explains the problem.

We went early in June and had success this year.

We enjoyed watching the horse show. The part we saw were the horses with the super long tails prancing around the arena.

Any time we see a big chicken, it makes us think of the KFC Big Chicken famous landmark in Marietta, Georgia.

There are a lot of food options advertising very hugely what they are offering to the public.

We decided to get a Texas-sized turkey leg for dinner to see what all the hype was about.

Our taste test determined we liked the BBQ chicken I ordered better than the turkey leg.

There were tables of flower blooms on display.

Here's what a blue ribbon flower looks like.

Different kinds of art and garden displays were interesting to look at.

We did not go on any rides. They were expensive. Carnival rides just never look that safe to me.

We kept commenting on how uncrowded the fair was compared to the Minnesota State Fair where it was shoulder to shoulder, streets and streets full of people.

Horseshoe art winning first place.

Nighttime view of the fair.

Now we know what goes on at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Quotes of the Week

If you desire to make a difference in the world, you much be different from the world.
--Elaine S. Dalton

There has never been a greater need for us to profess our faith.
--Dallin H. Oaks

Heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven.  And they forgive.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We tend to compare our weakest attribute with someone else's strongest.
--Marvin J. Ashton

June Gloom, More Chalk Art, Transfer #9

The bird of paradise flower grows year round here in Carlsbad. It is so prominent it is featured in a mosaic in the sidewalk at the big intersection in Carlsbad Village.

We had several days where it was so foggy we couldn't even see the mountains driving up to Temecula. The bridge was hidden from view until we were very close to it.

We enjoyed some more scripture art in the parking lot of a church. Glen really liked the last one.

One Sunday I got up super early to drive with Glen up to Murrieta and I sat in the car studying while he went to his early morning stake missionary coordination meeting. We then drove to this building in Temecula which we had never been to before and attended all three sacrament meetings.

We set a goal at the beginning of the mission to try and get to all the wards in the six stakes in our mission every year. We are finding ourselves a little short of weeks as we are nearing our one-year mark and have not quite reached our goal.

We like to walk outside our neighborhood on Monday mornings because the trash cans are out and it is a stinky walk. So, we like to take adventures when we have the time. This particular day we drove to Encinitas and walked around the neighborhoods near the ocean.

June Gloom has set in and this photo captures the feel exactly. The definition is "a period known to the locals as May Gray and/or June Gloom often darkens the coastal skies of sunny southern California with a layer of marine stratus." One can hardly tell where the sky ends and the ocean begins.

This cactus we spied on one of our walks wears a hat and has a heart.

We always see surfers in the ocean no matter how gray the skies or how cold the weather.

Transfer #9 was upon us. That means a delicious breakfast for the assistants on Tuesday morning.

They drove the van to the airport to help haul passengers and luggage to the mission office.

We greeted three new missionaries.

Glen interviewed each one of them and I talked to each one of them about medical stuff. We fed them lunch and then paired them up with their trainers.

When we are done with the new missionaries, we hurry home to get the potatoes cooking for our roast beef dinner with the departing missionaries. The assistants always help with the clean up. Since Elder Romney was leaving this transfer, we now have a new assistant joining Elder Higginson and Elder Horton--Elder Hadfield.

We had this kind elder present us with some gifts--a poem he had written and a portrait of us. We loved them!

The Radfords and Kopenhefers wanted to attend our dinner and testimony meeting, so we had a full house. These are the sixteen departing missionaries. We had Hermana Adams spend the night with some sister training leaders who live nearby so the elders could have full roam of the house. 

 (back row) Elder Yancey, Elder Halsey, Elder Myers, Elder Wilde, 

Elder Phillips, Elder Johnsrud, Elder Maloney

(middle row) Glen, Elder Bundy, Elder Anderson, Elder Kindmark, Elder Romney, Elder Marchand

(front row) Me, Hermana Adams, Elder Ramos, Elder Ruhl, Elder Sedgwick

Another transfer completed. The cycle begins again.