Abe's 20-Year Reunion; Colored Leaves Drive; General Conference Weekend

 Abe's Etowah High School 20-year reunion was coming up. Abe asked me to get out his yearbook and send him photos of the pages of senior photos so he could refresh his memory of all his classmates.

So, I ended up taking a walk down memory lane along with Abe.

His senior photo is the last one on the second row. His good friend John Tegtmeyer is on the same row.

Abe is number 35 and Teg is number 54.

I got a good laugh out of reading some of the senior quotes--especially Abe's.

We loved seeing this photo of Abe standing in front of our Georgia home. 

In looking at that front yard, we couldn't help but remember the big tree stump right in the center of the yard that had been there since we moved in. 

One summer we were feeling like Abe needed a project to keep him busy and earn some money, so I gave him the assignment of getting that stump out of the ground. 

Thinking it would take him many hours, days and possibly weeks to accomplish that goal, I was shocked to see how his mind was working to get the job accomplished.

He hooked up the stump to the back of the van and pulled that thing right out of there in no time. This boy is amazing when he sets his mind on something!!

Abe met up with his friends Justin Harkins and Ben Evans at a park to let their children play together.

I was glad to see Abe and Klarissa with John and Sarah Tegtmeyer at the reunion. All these guys were such good buddies during junior high and high school. 

Abe took his family from Georgia to Tennessee to Dollywood. FUN!!

When I noticed a map showing good routes to take a driving tour to see the changing leaves, I suggested we do it sometime. 

Imagine my surprise when a day or two later it was Glen suggesting we take the leaf drive. So off we went! There was so much beauty to behold! 

We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and through Midway where we stopped for lunch at the Goochy Goo (picked the restaurant solely on the name). 

More driving on past Aspen Grove and up over Timpanogos Mountain where it started to snow. Wasn't expecting that!!

Enjoy the views:

One of our missionaries, Laurie Masangkay Funk, texted me that she was going to be in the Saturday afternoon general conference session multi-cultural choir. 

We kept our eyes peeled for her and finally saw her during the last hymn. She is on the left wearing purple. She talked about her experience afterward and told about how special it was for the choir members to have President and Sister Nelson approach them after the session to speak with them.

She said it felt like he was giving every country represented a warm embrace by the prophet. She was also thrilled to be singing "Hark All Ye Nations" because that hymn became special to her on her mission. I especially enjoyed hearing "This Is the Christ" sung at the end of the session. 

My heart was touched as I heard these words of that song, "I feel His love, the price He paid. How many drops of blood were spilled for me? With saints of old in joyful cry, I too can testify; This is the Christ." So beautiful!!

We had a quiet general conference Saturday. On Sunday we served ebelskivers for breakfast before the morning session. 

Caroline was so happy to hear Ben's family would be spending all day Sunday with us. She sat on the couch waiting and watching for her babies to arrive. She doted on them all day long. She is such a devoted baby watcher. Rebecca calls her the baby whisperer because she is so good with babies.

Madison got a little time with the babies as well. 

This is the crew listening to conference.

When conference wasn't on--let the games begin!!

We had a lovely day listening and eating and playing together. I love family togetherness days!

Here's a funny story:

Someone Glen works with texted him early one morning. He sent this photo and asked if that is Glen.

Glen took a look and responded back that it looks like him, but he can't remember when that photo was taken.

After he was all showered and ready for the day, he showed me the photo. I immediately asked who those people are and why he was showing me the picture.

He told me that man is him and Glen had put on the suit and tie he was sure he had been wearing in that picture.

I emphatically told him that is NOT him. That man is NOT the man I am married to. He was insistent that it is him and even wore the same clothes to prove it to me.

What was getting me was Glen was so convinced it is him even though he could not remember taking that photo and he did not remember meeting that girl. Another thing is Glen has nothing whatsoever to do with the Church's FSY program. It was all so hilariously funny to me.

Finally, I had Glen pose just like the guy in the photo and I showed him that they are two different men. Even when I showed him both pictures, he was still convinced it was him. I guess because there are not very many people with such flat heads, he thought the flat-headed guy had to be him.

It is so blatantly obvious to me that these are two VERY DIFFERENT men. Now you be the judge!!

(Glen is finally admitting that guy is not him; but thinks he is a great doppelganger.)

Canoeing Down the River; Levi Turns One; Missionary Reunion on Game Day

The City of North Salt Lake sponsored a canoe river run one Saturday and when Dallas invited Glen to join in with their family, he decided to go for it. Brooke had invited her friend.

Glen's canoe buddies were Spencer and Madison. 

The canoes were provided by the City for those people who did not have their own.

Life jackets were provided as well.

I guess it's good to have a "dry run" before getting in the river...???

And they are off!!

We had dinner at Longhorn with Glen's sisters and their husbands: Barbara and Rich and Maurine and Ray. 

We enjoyed another play date with my parents. We were so appreciative that a woman offered to take our photo at the picture wall and then laughed about how the whole point of standing there was to get the name of the play we were seeing in the photo. Oh well...

Glen and I had picnic lunches at the park two different days. The weather was so nice and the colored leaves provided beautiful scenery.

Our friends have raved over the fish and chips truck and so when I saw a notice of it at a location near us, we grabbed some food to eat at the park.

Glen gave the food a two thumbs up. I gave it a one thumb up. 

Our friend Jan wanted to borrow Glen's scooter. She had hurt her calf and was hoping this would help her be able to walk through stores without pain. 

Her request made me laugh as we had noticed her lawn had just been mowed--she mowed it with ice attached to her sore calf. And all her Halloween decorations had been set up--which she also did with her sore calf.

There's no keeping this girl down!!! She has more energy in her pinky finger than I have in my whole body!!!!

The beautiful sunsets are getting earlier and earlier as the days are getting shorter and shorter.

Joe Cowley is our ministering brother and since we haven't talked to him or Kim in a long time, we were excited when they invited us over to their home for dinner. I LOVE it when I don't have to cook!!! 

Here's a fun fact: Elder Sean Douglas who spoke in the Sunday afternoon session of general conference talked about his granddaughter Ruby who was born with her esophagus not attached to her stomach. She recently needed another surgery to reconstruct her hand which was not fully developed at birth. 

He said Ruby demonstrated great faith and confidence in her upcoming surgery because she said she knew Jesus would hold her hand.

Sweet story. Sweet little girl. Joe and Kim Cowley share that little Ruby as a granddaughter. She is the oldest daughter of their son Matt and his wife Buggy. 

My cousin Deanna posted these photos and an article about her mother's retirement from teaching. What a proud moment for my Aunt Anna Mae.

This is a photo of Natalie in action doing highlights at her cosmetology school. I love this photo as she looks so happy working on a client (which was a friend she recruited for the procedure). 

Ben and Haley's little Levi celebrated his first birthday. I was so happy they invited the Goldens and me over to be part of the celebration. Glen was working that evening and was unable to attend.

Kade picked off the orange and green and then ate just the white frosting--no cupcake.

Kade picked out this gift to give to his brother and Levi loved it.

Kade enjoyed this gift of Levi's. 

I had an eye appointment. Everything looks great except for the chalazion on my bottom right eyelid that just won't go away. Not only did I see the eye doctor, but I have also been seeing an eyelid specialist over the past several months. 

The good news is the lump in my left upper lid has gone away with the warm compressing and eyelid cleansing I have been doing. Fingers crossed that the annoying red lump on my right eyelid will calm down once and for all!!

We had a missionary reunion the Friday of general conference weekend. We had approximately 68 missionaries in attendance, most in person and a few on zoom. Some of them brought their spouses and a few brought their (hopeful) future spouses. We had 5 babies in attendance. Seven of the couples were missionaries that served in our mission who married each other. 

Dallas so kindly got the zoom meeting all set up and also recorded it so those missionaries who missed it might have the chance to watch if they want to.

We mixed and mingled for the first hour. The second hour we went into the chapel and had a devotional. I shared my thoughts first.

Then, as usual, Glen was the cleanup hitter scoring a homerun out of the park with his message. The missionaries love hearing from him and he never disappoints!!

I know I was using baseball lingo, but instead I should have used football jargon because football was foremost on Glen's mind when we got home from the reunion. 

It amazes me that Glen would even schedule something on a BYU game day. Remembering back to when our children were falling in love and looking toward marriage, I told each one of them that they better not plan their wedding on a BYU game day or their dad would not show up. 

Now, here he was having a reunion on game day. WHAT????!!?? That Friday has traditionally been when a lot of missionary reunions are held and so I guess we were just figuring we had to stick with that tradition. 

Glen was sad to miss the two hours of warm-up talk leading up to kickoff. But, he was recording the game, so he was happy he could at least watch the game when we got home. 

Well... Something happened when he tuned in where he lost the recording. He only caught the last little bit of the game. He could not get it to work to watch the part he had missed.

Talk about a sad, unhappy and frustrated man!! He watched parts of the game on YouTube, but he said it was all grainy and it was a horrible way to try and watch a game. 

He vowed that we will NEVER have another reunion during football season. And perhaps (I couldn't help but think), we might have had a little better attendance if it hadn't been a game day. Who knows?

Now on to Halloween news. On October 1st, I noticed the home on Bountiful Boulevard had their skeletons out in the yard. That means that every day this month, there will be a different skeleton scene for me to enjoy.

The safety goggles on the sawing skeleton made me laugh. As if skull eye sockets need protection!

Nani has a home in her neighborhood who does the same thing, so we have been sharing our daily skeletal photos with each other. It's fun for both of us to see the creativity each day.

Quotes of the Week

 Brothers and sisters, I believe in angels! We are all here today, a giant army of angels set apart for these latter days, to minister to others as extensions of the hands of a loving Creator.

--Carlos Godoy

My dear friends, when we resist the little temptations, which often come unexpectedly in our life, we are better equipped to avoid serious transgressions.

--Ulisses Soares

The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life...Revelation can come hour by hour and moment by moment as we do the right things.

--Julie B. Beck

We have been blessed abundantly in this general conference to learn about eternal principles from the Lord's authorized servants. Now, our individual responsibility is to govern ourselves according to the truths of which they have testified.

--David A. Bednar