Chad Gardner is the mission president of the Nebraska Omaha Mission. He and Susie are good friends of ours. We lived in the same stake back in North Salt Lake. He was a member of the stake presidency when Glen was the stake executive clerk. They started serving a year before us.
We loved it when Jacob and Laurie sent us a picture of them with the Gardners. Small world! It really freaked me out when I touched the picture and all four of the people started moving and talking.
It was a "live" photo. I had never experienced one of those before. It reminded me of the Mormon Battalion tour when the photos on the wall start moving and talking to the audience.
During the interview cycle this transfer, I had the missionaries filling out medical forms for an upcoming flu clinic to be held at zone conference.
In the Felicita building, I set up my work stations in the nursery room as it has good air conditioning and was the closest room to the Primary room where Glen was doing his interviews.
These sisters enjoyed themselves so much they decided to stay and eat their lunch with us.
This group of missionaries had just finished their district meeting and then were having their interviews with Glen.
On date night, we found an area in San Marcos that has lots of restaurants. We were excited as we tried one of them and still have a nice selection for more options on other date nights.
In Temecula, I set up the paperwork stations in the foyer as Glen was doing the interviews in the high council room nearby.
We received a new elder from a mission in Mexico. The assistants brought him to us in Escondido after our day of interviews in Temecula. The elders who were assigned to be his companions met us there so we could all have dinner together and hand off the new elder.
Turns out I had dinner with these five elders by myself.
Glen had taken a couple of bites of salad and then had gotten a phone call that lasted the rest of the meal. He finally ended the call after we were all finished eating. He bid the elders farewell and then came back to eat by himself. His pasta was cold and wasn't very appealing to him. SAD!!!
Here are three elders from the Del Mar zone.
For the Vista zone, I set up the work stations right outside the mission office leading out into the huge double-chapel church building.
Right outside the mission office I spied these elders with all these vacuums and couldn't resist the photo op. I told them I really love elders that like to clean.
We brought this group of missionaries and their trainers back in for their second new missionary training meeting. This means they have been out 8 weeks and they are looking a lot more confident each time we see them.
We had a little change in our usual schedule with Dad and Mom's arrival in town. The first meal we had together was a grilled cheese sandwich. We went all out on that one. We were pressed for time because Glen had to get to an evening meeting.
I told them things could only improve from there on out. Mom was thrilled with the Doritos to go along with her sandwich, so I guess it was a win.
We caught Dad and Mom doing exactly what the grandchildren like to do--stare at the photos that go by on the computer screen saver. And look who they are staring at--ME!!
Mom wanted to go to the Safari Park to see what all the hype is about as I keep exclaiming we love going there because it is so relaxing and helps us feel rejuvenated.
Glen had rescheduled a day of interviews so we could spend the day with the animals (and my parents 😉).
This might be my favorite photo.
If that messed with your brain, see what this one does for you.
I always think it's adorable when the little grandchildren are studying a theme park map. It's
almost as cute when older people do that very thing.
The gorillas are always fun to watch. Especially when there is a little gorilla in the mix. Riding on his mother's back.
We enjoyed the bird show. We saw some different birds than we'd seen before, which was nice for us.
The free tram ride around the African plains is a highlight.
Yes, my parents had to agree with us. They can see how we can walk out of there feeling rejuvenated.
It also helps if there is food involved on the way home from the Safari Park to help with the rejuvenation process.
We took them to Coyote Grill in Carlsbad and let them experience the delicacy of the fall-off-the-bone goodness of the ribs there. Mmmm, delicious!!!
