Monday morning Abe and Klarissa packed up their stuff and went to spend three days at Montage Deer Valley Resort in Park City. Abe had a work retreat there and had decided to bring the whole family out here to Utah with him.
During their time away, we celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. I was surprised when Glen asked if I wanted to go to Maddox. That is not our usual dinner destination unless we are with his sisters.
It turned out to be a good choice because Rebecca had just updated Marco Polo spending an hour talking about their Disneyland vacation. She provided our drive time entertainment.
This fireplace mantel is was what greeted us upon entering the restaurant. Although Valentine's Day is just five days after our anniversary, and the restaurant was all decorated for Valentine's Day, I took it as a personal, warm greeting to us celebrating our anniversary.
There were love and heart decorations all around.
Even in the restroom there was a lovely red and white heart bouquet. To me, all those things were a representation of our anniversary. I loved the romantic setting!!
Maddox did us well that day!! XOXOXOXO!!
The anniversary celebrating did not stop there. We needed to get some things at Walmart. We took advantage of all the Valentine's things to use to represent our love to each other.
On the way in, I presented Glen with one of the LOVE balloons on display.
He then gave me some beautiful red roses.
We picked out the perfect cards to give to each other.
That was a fun little diversion before beginning our real shopping, and we walked out of the store not having spent a cent for our anniversary remembrances--but, we have the memories with us forever.
Newland and Wynne went to ski school while they were at the resort. Abe was anxious to get those two back out on the slopes, so Friday he planned a ski day and invited Ben to go along.
Glen and I watched Kade and Levi so both Ben and Haley could snowboard with the skiers.
Klarissa and her mother took Monty with them for the afternoon while we kept Magnus here with us to play with Kade.
I got the biggest kick out of Levi who saw Glen lying on the floor and so he laid down right next to him and copied his grandpa's every movement. It was so adorable to watch!!!!
Mid-afternoon something upset Levi and he started crying. I picked him up and within a second or two, he had fallen asleep on my shoulder. He was a very tired baby and the nap did him a lot of good.
The two boys were getting a little grumpy, so we made some popcorn for a snack for them.
It was very fun for them to sing along with the "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" song while the popcorn was popping.
We did find out that the only popcorn they would eat were the ones doused in butter. The others were "yucky."
Here are some photos up on the Powder Mountain ski slopes.
What an absolutely beautiful day to ski!! The weather had warmed up a bit while Abe's family was here, so that was nice for them to not have to be out in such bitter cold while they were here on vacation.
The video we watched of Newland skiing down the mountain like a pro and passing up his father made me laugh.
These are some stills of that video. Newland is the small one on the left getting ready to ski past Abe.
This one is Abe.
Ben much prefers a snowboard to skis.
The view looking up the mountain made it look not so steep. The view looking down the rest of the mountain gives a different impression. Newland kept up with the adults and was extremely happy at the end of the day. He had had a wonderful time.
Abe had put Wynne in another ski school class that day. She loves learning so much, so whatever "school" she gets to go to, she's very happy. She was also happy with the way her drawing of Dora turned out.
Saturday morning Abe and Klarissa packed up their stuff once again and headed to the airport. It had been nice seeing them once again. It helps us get to know their younger ones a little better since we don't get to be around their family very often.
Once they were on their way, we turned our thoughts towards the play date we had scheduled for that day.
Dad and Mom had recently spent a few days at the Vegas Archery Shoot. Mark and Thadeus have been enjoying archery and decided to enter the competition. Needless to say, neither of them took home the winning prize money, but it sounds like they all had an enjoyable time while they were there.
We were anxious to hear all about their trip when we got together with my parents and Nani at Hale Centre Theatre to watch a play.
It was a very colorful set and the play was very fun.
I especially enjoyed when the stage turned and the little live band would play and sing.
We ate at Red Lobster as per our usual play date experience. It was nice to have Nani with us enjoying the cultural event.
Sunday Prison Report:
The new inmate, the interrupter from last week, was not in attendance. That made it much easier for the district council member and his wife to give uninterrupted talks in worship service. They did an excellent job.
It was fun for us to be there to hear a fellow district council couple deliver their messages. Usually we are speaking in another branch when this happens in our branch, but because this couple needed to switch weeks, we got to hear them speak.
We had 16 inmates in attendance for the first hour. Usually about half of them leave and don't stay for Sunday School. I sat next to a small Spanish-speaking man. He told me he's been in prison 17 years and he's got at least 3 more years. He was put in prison when he was 20 years old.
I was feeling bad for that man and was surprised when he then said, "Time has gone by so fast in here." I thought that was a very interesting thing to hear from an incarcerated person. I responded by telling him I hope he has learned some things in prison that will help him in the future.
The response from this quiet, humble man was, "Oh yeah, I have changed. I am a different person."
Now on to Valentine's Day.
We had a very low-key Valentine's Day on Monday. I loved the little Valentine remembrances I got that day. My ministering sisters left a treat on the porch.
The Cowleys left a plate of sugar cookies on the porch.
My sweet friend, Jan Evans, brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
WOW!! I sure feel loved every single time I look at those flowers. They are so beautiful! They are definitely the gift that keeps on giving.
