Quotes of the Week

In family relationships, 'love' is really spelled t-i-m-e, Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

God invites us to cast our old ways completely out of reach and begin a new life in Christ.
--Dale G. Renlund

Even in times of discouragement or stress, we can minister patiently if we are focused on the joy of pleasing God and bringing light, relief and happiness to His children, our brothers and sisters.
--D. Todd Christofferson

I invite you to view technology as a tool to help you strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ. As you do so, you qualify yourself to receive inspiration and guidance about the role you should play in helping to sweep the earth as with a flood of truth and righteousness.
--David A. Bednar

Abe and Klarissa Expecting #4 and Bought a Home in NC; Vent Surprises; Mom's Birthday Lunch

Abe and Klarissa are expecting baby #4. HURRAH!! Their new baby will be a Florida-born baby. Abe showed us he now has a Florida driver's license. 

He and Klarissa are so glad to be out of San Francisco. Not only have they "left their hearts in San Francisco," but they have left their two homes and all their belongings there as well.

Abe and Klarissa have purchased a fixer-upper in North Carolina which will take many months to renovate. At that point they will decide how to move their stuff across the country.

It is a whole different way of living for them now than it was living in the bustling big city.

Looks like Magnus is feeling very autumnal with his choice of cereal.

Sarah's family really enjoys going to Red Rock Canyon and they have now become proud season ticket holders.

Put some boys on some rocks and they can be happy for hours.

Or put some boys in a pumpkin patch and it makes for another adorable all-boy photo.

What a joy to see children enjoying books so much.

Ben and Haley are feeling very sleep-deprived these days. Apparently Levi likes to keep them up at night. Kade likes to keep them running during the day. Between the two little ones, the parents are feeling overwhelmed and appreciate a change of pace every now and again.

So, they come to visit every few days and let Kade run around the house and then I get to hold and admire the perfectly-formed little newborn. 

We have discovered an obsession of Kade's. He likes to stick things in the central vacuum wall inlet. He has put dice in there before. Our television remote control has been missing for weeks. We are sure he put it in there. Who knows what else he's stuffed in those convenient holes in the wall.

After we watched Kade earlier in the week, I noticed three of my decorative pumpkins were missing. 

I looked all over for them and could not find them. Then I noticed the other two pumpkins were missing. 

Good thing Haley was here the second time as she was the one who figured out he had taken out the heat vent, dropped the pumpkins down the opening and replaced the vent like nothing had happened. She also retrieved a few other things that past grandchildren had put down the vent. 

Since the recent installation of our new furnaces and air conditioners, I have been feeling like we should get our air ducts cleaned. They haven't been cleaned since the house was built nearly 20 years ago. I felt like the air would be cleaner if the ducts are cleaner.

So we hired a company to come out and do the job. They spent quite a few hours here and retrieved quite a few interesting things.

This is a pile of some of the stuff they pulled from the vents. The thing that amazed me was the package of wet wipes that was nearly full. 

When I shared this photo with Sarah, she said she recognized most of those things belonging to their family. She said Jonah was an expert at lifting the vent covers and shoving things down into the open hole. 

It was my turn to play the organ on Sunday. It felt like I was playing four organ solos as I played the prelude, the opening and closing hymns and the sacrament hymn without any singing from the congregation. 

Before the meeting, Todd Brimley--the ward music director--was giving me a pep talk as it was my first time at the organ with the Covid no-singing rules in play. He encouraged me to not rush the hymns and to make sure my counting is correct despite him not standing up in front leading the music. 

I did my best to do as he had suggested. Imagine my delight when I checked my emails before bed and read this subject line of Todd's email. I floated off into a cloud of angelic slumber after that.

This is an update on the house down the street from us that sustained wind damage. The other leaning trees that were on their back neighbor's property finally got cut down. Now we'll see how long it takes to get the roof fixed. 

Halloween is sure going strong all around. It is entertaining to see the decorations people put out in their yards. This clown offering "FREE HUGZ" is a bit creepy.

I am now making it a daily ritual to either walk by or drive by this home up on Bountiful Boulevard. The owners reposition their skeletons every single day. It amazes me with all the effort that is made, but it sure is giving me a lot of pleasure with each changed scene.

When we got home from our mission, I was so impressed with the ultra clean tile and carpets in our house. Sarah had worked hard on the floors and I noticed!! I was surprised when she said she was the one who had cleaned the carpets with her own carpet cleaner.

Ever since then, I was determined to buy a machine so I could clean the carpets myself. After more than a year here, I decided it was time to buy a machine. Even more impressive than that, I got up the gumption to try out the new machine right after Glen pulled it out of the box and got it assembled.

I started out on the stairs leading to the basement and for some reason I accidentally stepped on the hose, causing me to twist my ankle and fall down. Thankfully, it happened on the last two steps, so I didn't fall far, but my ankle was hurting so much!!! 

I powered through, though, despite my injury. I had just filled the tank and didn't want to quit until the solution was gone. I did the rest of the stairs, the basement and the family room on the main floor. 

The whole time I kept thinking I needed to get my foot elevated and ice it. But on I kept going as I fixed us dinner and then was so sore I didn't know how I could manage to clean the machine and put it and the vacuum away. 

Thankfully Glen came to my rescue and cleaned all the parts of the carpet cleaner before he had to leave for an evening meeting. I could barely make it up the stairs to our bedroom after he left. 

The next day, I was thankful I had improved a bit and was able to hobble around to get ready for the day and then I was able to use that foot just fine to drive. 

I was able to go to Ogden to pick up Mom and Nani so we could go to lunch together at Olive Garden to celebrate Mom's birthday. Dad has been gone hunting with Sam the past few days, so it was a fun thing for her to do while she was home alone. 

Now here's some more good news... This morning when I got up, I found my ankle had improved so much that I have been able to walk around and do things today almost as if the injury hadn't happened. I still have to be careful going up and down stairs as that still hurts a bit, but otherwise, it's feeling pretty great. HURRAH!!!!

I was sad to learn my friend Diane Stewart, who lives across the street, now has Covid. She said she woke up on Saturday with a little head cold and since she works at a dental office, she decided she better get a Covid test done before going to work and she tested positive. After a couple of days she was feeling fine and said it felt like a regular cold--only this time it is called Covid. Crazy!! But, I am so very thankful she has a mild case and keep praying that Grant will not get it.

This time of year is so beautiful with the changing of the leaf colors. 

Despite the sign that winter is coming, I'm going to enjoy the beautiful fall colors while they last.

Quotes of the Week

The Lord Jesus Christ is a champion of second chances--and third and fourth chances too.
--Joni L. Koch

Even when we are found faithfully keeping the commandments, there are trials and tragedies that could interrupt our joy. But as we strive to overcome these challenges with the Savior's help, it preserves both the joy we feel now and the joy we anticipate.
--D. Todd Christofferson

Read the scriptures aloud to your children on a daily basis. Let them take turns when they can... It will help them to have the doctrine of Christ embedded in their minds and in their memory banks at an early age. I have great hope for your families.
--Russell M. Nelson

The prayer Heavenly Father seems eager to answer is our plea to be led to someone who needs our help.
--Michelle Craig

Baby Levi Home From NICU; Caleb's Visit; Church Every Week Now; the Goldens Meet Levi

The day finally came when baby Levi could come home from the hospital. For being born 5 weeks early, it was a blessing he spent only 9 days in the NICU; so not very many days Ben and Haley were making runs to the hospital to visit him. What a blessing!!

Levi weighed 5 lbs. 4 ozs.--2 ozs. heavier than his birth weight--when he was released to go home. 

One of these days he's going to be big enough to fill his car seat. For now, we'll just enjoy the teeny tininess of this precious little baby.

Ben and Haley invited us to their home that evening so we could meet our 18th grandchild.

Kade was pretty pleased with himself as the big brother helper.

I have always thought it a special moment at birth when parents see their newborn child for the first time. I likewise have always thought it a special moment when a child meets his newborn sibling for the first time. So sweet. So special.

After more than four years, my childhood friends (Tammy Bruin Gentry, Kelley Carruth Martin and Shellie Bolingbroke Anderson) and I got together to catch up on each others' lives. We got take-out from Costa Vida and brought it to our home so we could eat and chat for hours. 

There was a mix-up in our communication with Pam and she ended up not being able to meet that day. We all felt very sad about that. 

My nephew Caleb had asked if he could drive down from Rexburg to spend the night with us so he could be in town the following morning to spend time with some people from his mission. He is a delightful person and we were happy to host him that evening.

I was very happy I had leftovers to feed him a late dinner as he said he was definitely hungry. I had baked some cookies for him and sent some home with him the next day. I showed him the hot pad he had helped his mother make for a gift for me many years ago. Little Caleb is all grown up now!

Well look at us going to church on Sundays now after all those months of doing home sacrament meetings. Not a fan of the need to wear masks during our Sabbath worship service, but such is our life right now during these Covid-19 times.

We invited Ben's family over for Sunday dinner. They felt it would be fine to have the Goldens over as well since they consider we have all been sharing germs with each other these days.

The Golden children admired the new baby from a distance and then joined in with the Sunday popcorn popping.

Dallas and Rebecca each had a turn holding the baby. Newborns are so sweet and such a gift straight from heaven.

Two days later, we watched Kade while Ben and Haley took Levi to his pediatrician's visit.

That was the day I have my weekly Relief Society Zoom meeting, so Glen watched Kade the first hour he was here. 

It didn't take Kade long to get all the popcorn fixings out of the cupboard and look at Glen with his expectant eyes. It was a great snack for him until his parents got home and we could have a late lunch.

I enjoyed taking Kade outside for a while as the weather was so beautiful. 

The report on Levi was good. He had gained a pound. He is healthy and doing well. 

Glen took some time one afternoon to take apart the basketball toss that we have had in our basement for many, many years. Parts of it were broken and it was easy for little people to pull it over. I was very worried about it hurting a little someone, so he got it disassembled and out in the trash for pick-up the next day. 

That part of the basement looks so bare now with nothing there. It's a little bit sad when a little part of the past goes away. We have some great memories of our children, their friends and the grandchildren throwing the little basketballs into the hoop over and over again as fast as they could.

Jared and Lexie Skabelund Hopkins came over to introduce us to their baby Henry. I am calling him our first mission grandbaby as he was born to two of our missionaries who married each other.

I continue to enjoy my morning walks, although it has gotten very cold in the mornings! There are lots of outdoor Halloween decorations to look at along my route.

At one house, there is a new skeleton scene every few days. I didn't get a photo of the day they had two skeletons in a bed. This day the skeletons were sitting on a bench (one with binoculars, the other with a camera) with their skeleton creatures all around. 

Today there was a skeleton party going on. The skeletons were wearing party hats and had party blower noisemakers in their mouths. Two of them were playing with a piñata while the other three were playing limbo. 

Looks like Kade is getting into the Halloween spirit of things with his vampire teeth.