Lunch with Karalie at the Left Fork Grill

Tiffany and I just got back from Salt Lake where we had lunch with Karalie at the Left Fork Grill. It's a place that Karalie recently discovered, and she thought we might like it, which we did. It was funny getting there. We were looking for the Flat Rock Grill. I had also been thinking it was the Flat Iron Grill. When Tiff and I came upon it, it was the Left Fork Grill. Karalie said, "I can't ever get the name right." Tiff and I thought we must be at the right place because it was the only "grill" around where we were. Anyway, the food was delicious! Tiff had the meatloaf which was served with the best chili sauce ever! I had the chicken schnitzle, which was really good, as well. It had a tasty brown sauce on it plus two kinds of cheese, but it wasn't too cheese-y. Karalie had a reuben sandwich and french fries. We liked everything. For dessert we had to try the blackberry cream pie and the pecan pie. Yum! That was probably some of the best pie ever, and I'm not kidding. Karalie was modeling some of her new head gear. Today she had on a cute black cloche, which was very becoming. After lunch we went out into the parking lot, where Karalie took off her hat and showed us how much of her hair was gone. It was pretty short and sparse. She had just picked up a new wig, which needs some more work on it before she can wear it. She says she still feeling pretty good, and she could taste her lunch today, so that's a good report. We hope she continues to do as well with her two remaining treatments as she has done so far.

The sleepover last night was a big success. The girls were up bright and early this morning, ready for some fun. (Grampa and I thought they must have slept soundly, but I guess that wasn't really the case. There were a few trips to the bathroom and a few nightmares that Aunt Tiffy took care of during the night.) The first thing the girls wanted to do this morning was for Tiffany to play her "Meet Me in St. Louis" CD. Then they came to see if Grampa and Gramma were up. We were--just barely. The girls were hungry for pancakes, so Grampa made some tasty honey nut oatmeal pancakes with help from the girls. They also helped set the table. They each had three pancakes, so Grampa must have done a good job making them. After breakfast, it was time to brush teeth, get dressed and comb hair. Camden and Riley were amazed that I could do "big girl" pony tails. After hair-doing there was still time to color before we had to load up and head over to PG to drop the girls off before taking Richard on over to AF. After dropping Richard off, Tiff and I headed to SLC to meet up with Karalie. What a fun day we've had.

Tiff's Home for Spring Break!

Tiffany made it home today for her week long Spring Break. Her day began early as she had to catch the 5:30 a.m. train (The City of New Orleans) from Mattoon to Chicago. Thanks to Greg for getting her to the train station and seeing her off. Once in Chicago, she had to go from Union Station to Clinton Street station to catch the CTA train to O'Hare airport. She called me while still on the train to Chicago and said, "I'm leaving from O'Hare, right?" I told her that was right. She has flown out of Midway a couple of times. In that case she has to catch a different train once she gets to Chicago. I should have realized then that she hadn't checked her travel plans too closely before she left. Once she got to the airport, she called and said they were having trouble pulling up her itinerary at American Airlines. (I had told her she was flying American. That means I hadn't checked too closely, either. I was mainly looking at the flight times and flight number when we were talking on the phone last night. Duh. I didn't really look at the airline.) When I checked my copy of her itinerary on the computer, I saw that she was flying Delta instead of American. No wonder. But we finally got it all straightened out and she got checked in with Delta. She said she'd print out her itinerary next time. (When you order your tickets a few months in advance it's hard to remember the details unless you print them off or check everything right before you leave.) Then, once she landed in Salt Lake, she started looking for me and couldn't find me. I had been looking for her, as well. She called me but I didn't hear my phone, so I didn't answer. About 10 minutes after I knew she should have arrived, I looked at my phone and saw I had two missed calls from her. I called her and asked where she was. Come to find out, she was in Terminal One and I was in Terminal Two. That's funny. Terminal Two is where Delta flights come in, but she said she just went to the terminal nearest the gate where she arrived. But we finally got together after a few miscues. Thank goodness for cell phones.

On the way home, we stopped by the Barretts. Steven was there watching the girls while Nate and Lindy went to see Vantage Point. He had agreed to stop by there after dropping Richard off so that Nate and Lindy could leave for the movie. I didn't think Tiff and I could make it in time for them to leave, and I was right. So we met up with Steven and the girls at the Barretts, then we all came over here for the big sleepover. Even Sidney came; but only for dinner and fun, not to sleep over. We had a delicious dinner of Uncle Kevin beans and spaghettios. Sidney loved it so much she had three helpings of each. Camden and Riley enjoyed theirs, too. Then we had mini chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The girls had fun visiting and playing with Tiff and Grampa while Gramma cleaned up. Lindy and Nate came by and picked up Sidney, who was getting pretty tired by this time. After the girls brushed their teeth and had prayers, they watched some Hairspray with Tiff and Gramma before going to bed. They were so tired, and so was Tiffany. I hope they're able to have a good sleep.

Camden's Ear Ache

Yesterday (Wednesday) Steven went with Richard and me over to American Fork to drop Richard off for work. Then we went by Macey's to stock up on some things during the big case lot sale. We got a bunch of canned goods to "beef up" our food storage. (Lindy--you could go get some garbanzo beans while they're on sale. Those are good food storage items.) On our way to Macy's this weird snow storm blew over. It started out as just a few flakes and then more and more. We could see this "ginormous" (as Tiff would say) storm cloud barreling our way, bringing with it wind and snow. We were in the store as the worst of it passed over. Then it was gone.

On the way home we decided to stop by the Barretts. We went inside. All was quiet. No one was there. We could tell that they had made a speedy exit. Not long after we got there, Lindy came home with the girls. Camden was crying and we could tell something was wrong. It turns out, her ear was hurting. She had been at dance and the dance teacher had called Lindy to say that Camden was crying and complaining that her ear hurt. So Lindy took Riley and Sidney and went and picked Camden up and took her to the doctor. The doctor looked in her ear and then took some wax out, but said that Camden's ear didn't appear to be infected. She gave Camden some Motrin and then sent them on their way. Camden's ear was still hurting when they got home, and she was pretty sad. So Grandpa cuddled with her for awhile and she settled down a bit. When Daddy Nate came home, he and Grandpa gave Camden a blessing to help her feel better. I was upstairs with Riley and Sidney. When I said something to Lindy about the blessing, Sidney folded her arms as soon as she heard the word "blessing." Riley read to me about monkeys jumping on the bed, and Sidney read to me to out of a couple of books for about five seconds each.

Before long, Camden started perking up while lying on the couch and watching a movie. We were glad to see her starting to feel better. I told her that I used to have ear aches when I was a little girl and my mom would put something in my ear to help it feel better. When we got home, I called Mom (Grandma Great) and asked her what she would do for my ear aches. She said that she would barely warm up some olive oil (baby oil will do) in a teaspoon and put a couple of drops in my ear followed by some cotton in the ear and then a warm, moist pack held against the ear. I remember that it did help my ear feel better. Mom said I used to scream and scream with my ear aches. I have waxy ears, too, just like Camden. We hope she continued to feel better and that she was able to have a good night.

Good luck to Karalie today with her second chemo treatment. She got lots of fun head gear and jewels at her head-shaving party on Monday. Her friend ended up not actually shaving Karalie's head but just cutting it very short. Also, we're looking forward to Tiffany coming home tomorrow for Spring Break and our sleepover with the girls. We're going to have lots of fun.

Someone "BIG" Spoke Tonight

We never know who is going to be speaking at the MTC each Tuesday, but tonight it was even more of a mystery. When Steven and I went to the cafeteria for dinner, we saw Pres. and Sis. Boone leaving the cafeteria. Usually, they and other members of the MTC presidency have dinner with the evening's speaker in the VIP dining room. Because we saw them in the cafeteria, my first thought was that we wouldn't be having a general authority speaker tonight. We were eating with Bro. Rampton, who said he had passed the VIP dining room on his way in and it was empty. When I said I didn't think a general authority would be speaking, Steven said, "That might be, or else the general authority who's speaking chose not to have dinner beforehand." My feeling was that the speaker wouldn't be a general authority; maybe members of the district presidencies would be the speakers, which was the case at one of the devotionals about a year ago.

When we went in to the auditorium, Steven and I found our places way up on the back row. That's where we were assigned to sit since Steven and some of the elders from the branch would be helping with the ushering. He went off to usher and I stayed in my seat. Two sisters from our branch came by and were happy to see me. We greeted each other, then they asked, "Do you know who's speaking tonight?" I said, "No. But I'm thinking it might not be a general authority." They said, "Oh, we were thinking that it's going to be someone 'big' because we've seen Security checking under the seats, and we've never seen them do that before. We're really hoping to hear someone 'big' speak before we leave." Then they went off to find their places. It seemed to be taking longer than usual for the picture of the speaker to come up on the big screen. When it finally did, it showed Elder Holland as the speaker. You could hear all the missionaries start chattering with anticipation. The sisters passed by again a few minutes later and Sis. Crabbe gave me a big smile and a "thumb's up," so I guess that meant they were excited to hear from someone "big."

Elder Holland came without Sis. Holland, who was taking care of some grandmother duties. So we just got to hear from Elder Holland. He gave a great talk, as usual. The last couple of times we've heard from him he's been very animated. He can be funny one minute, and then serious the next. He spent quite a bit of time on his introduction, telling the missionaries, "I love you, I honor you, I envy you, I'm proud of you, I admire you." Then he talked about his own mission saying, "No young man was ever more affected by a mission than I was...My mission meant everything to me...Every significant thing that has happened to me in my life has happened because of my mission...That's why I love you, because I loved my mission." He then said, "I have more in common with you now than I did prior to my apostolic call; because an apostle is a missionary, a witness for the name of Jesus Christ in all the world. As I am a missionary, so are you apostolic. I'm an Apostle (big A) and you are an apostle (little a), a witness, going out to declare the name of Christ in all the world...Don't you dare go out there and miss the opportunity to apostolic...We (Apostles) get up on time, so we want you to get up on time...Don't miss a minute (of your mission). In a matter of moments, this is going to be over...Don't you dare go home with a regret...Pull up your socks and go to work...We grow up when we show up at the MTC. We put away childish things. We grow up overnight....Welcome to the work."

He told the missionaries that "people pray for you all over this Church. Missionaries are probably the most prayed-for people in the Church, next to Pres. Monson. You and Pres. Monson are neck and neck, with people you don't even know praying for you." That reminded me of something that happened a couple of years ago. I think Camden was almost three. I had been with her during the day on a Tuesday, and I told her that I was going to be with the missionaries that night. Her eyes got big and she asked, "Will you see the Prophet?" I told her, "No, I probably won't see the prophet; but I'll be with his helpers, the missionaries." When I told Lindy what she had said, Lindy said that when Camden says her prayers she prays for the Prophet and for the missionaries. So to her, the Prophet and the missionaries go together. If I was going to see the missionaries, then I would surely see the Prophet. In our meeting with District C after the devotional, I told the missionaries that story about Camden and they liked the thought of little children praying for them. All in all, it was a great evening. What a treat and blessing to be able to hear from Elder Holland!

Grandparents' Day with Camden

Today I got to go Grandparents' Day at Lindon Elementary School with Camden--my first Grandparents' Day as a grandparent. (I've always been the parent in the past.) It was so much fun! Grandpa and Grandma Barrett were there as well, so Camden got her share of attention and help making her gingerbread house. Grandpa Taylor wished he could have been there, too, but he needed to do some catching up at work from everything that stacked up while we were in South Carolina.

I was already there in the classroom when Camden came in and she was happy to see me. She hung up her coat and bag and then we found a spot to sit and do our gingerbread house. Her teacher really had everything set up well with an empty milk carton, graham crackers, frosting, gumdrops, jelly beans, marshmellows, candy canes and cereal squares--everything we needed to make our house. We were well underway when Grandpa and Grandma Barrett arrived. They sat down by us and started to help decorate the house. I was sitting by two kids, Jacob and Vanessa, who didn't have anyone there to help them. Vanessa said she was waiting for her mom, but Jacob said he could use some help. So I started helping him and we were getting things going by the time his grandma came to help him. He was happy to see her. Vanessa still had no one to help her, so when I offered, she said okay. Their teacher had already started helping her a little bit. She was having fun just sticking stuff on the milk carton with frosting. She's a little Down Syndrome girl and didn't say much, but she was having a lot of fun. She wanted to use all the candy canes she could find. Then we put jelly beans and gumdrop everywhere. When she would stick something on, I'd say, "Good job!" and she'd look up with this big smile. I was glad I could help her. Camden and the Barretts were doing a great job with her house, and she seemed happy that I was helping Vanessa. After the houses were completed, we got to eat a cinnamon roll and then the grandparents left. It was a lot of fun. Grandma Barrett said this was her first Grandparents' Day, as well, even though Camden isn't her oldest grandchild. It's surely fun being a grandma.

Tonight Steven and I went to the MTC. We went off our usual schedule and had dinner here at home with Richard (since he's off work), and then Steven and I went in to the devotional together. The speaker this evening was Elder William R. Walker of the Seventy. His wife was with him, but she didn't speak. He gave a good talk on 10 Way to Be a Good Missionary. Afterward, we met with District B for their district meeting. They are some of the new missionaries that came in two weeks ago tomorrow. There's a chance that three of them will be transferring to an intermediate branch, but they didn't know for sure yet. After that meeting was over, we went in with District A for a few minutes for their closing hymn and prayer. Steven offered the prayer in Spanish, and the missionaries seemed to appreciate it. They are leaving tomorrow for their respective missions: Elders Blake, Piggott and Garcia and Sisters Perry and Tupou to the Texas Houston East mission; and Elder Porter to Washington DC South. Elder Romney and Sister Huffaker left yesterday for Oklahoma. Elder Turner's visa to Spain hasn't come yet so he doesn't know when he's leaving for sure or where he's going.

(Well, it's kind of late, so I'm going to head to bed after such a fun day. Buenas Noches.)