Going for an Actual Walk

Steven didn't feel well during the night last night and still felt crummy when he woke up this morning, so he didn't go to work. He stayed home and rested and felt pretty well by afternoon. So this afternoon we went for an actual walk because it was actually pretty nice outside--not too cold or stormy or anything like that. We decided to walk down to the old neighborhood. It made us glad we don't live down that way anymore. Coming back up 4th South we stopped by Carolyn Mock's to see if she was home and she was. We visited with her for a few minutes before she had to go visiting teaching. It was nice to see her. She seems happy. She's dating Sid James who used to be in Dad's college before he retired. He was also married to Grandma F's first cousin, Dawn, who died a few years ago. So we've known him for a long time. Carolyn said to tell Tiffany that she has the rock Tiff painted there at the cabin along with that cool picture of the distant storm which Tiff took from the front porch of the cabin.

Earlier today I went for my annual eye exam from Dr. Parsons. Everything checked out A-OK! At my exam a year ago he was a little worried about glaucoma, so I had the glaucoma test today and I passed! He said everything looks normal. That was good to hear. After the eye exam, I went to the Art Museum at BYU to meet up with the club friends. We had a tour of the Minerva Tiechart exhibit and then ate lunch in the cafe. I had the turkey harvest croissant sandwich (a regular on the menu) which has cinnamon cream cheese and apple slices on it. It was quite delicious.

Steven gave the lesson tonight for FHE. He talked about Pres. Monson and his life leading up to becoming President of the Church. He is such an amazing man! He never served a mission because he joined the Navy during the ward. Then after the war he went to school. At age 22 he was called to be a bishop. (He once said he was the youngest bishop of this dispensation; but when Uncle Russell heard that, he corrected Elder Monson, telling him that Leo Sanford Taylor [Dad's grandpa] had been called as a bishop at age 19 in Red Mesa, Colorado. So that is no longer said about Pres. Monson.) He was called into a stake presidency at age 27, as a mission president at age 32, and as an apostle at age 36. What makes him so amazing is that with the heavy responsibility he's had all these years, he has still found time to personally minister to people in so many ways.

Last evening the Barretts came for Sunday dinner (minus Nate who was home teaching, or "visiting teaching" as Riley said). We had chili and cornbread. Lindy brought a delicious salad that had mandarin oranges in it with lost of tasty greens. The girls sure love their salad! They were good chili and cornbread eaters, too. For dessert we had cherry pie and ice cream since we missed having it last week and we were only two days past George Washington's birthday anyway. We'll take any excuse for cherry pie. The girls liked hearing the story about George and the cherry tree and never telling a lie. Riley seemed to be recovered from her tearful trauma in sacrament meeting. We had her tell Grampa what her idea was for her mom's talk--that she could get help from Gramma if she got nervous. We told her that was a great idea and she was smart for thinking of it. Cute little thing. Really, who knew that she was hearing what Lindy said? Anyway, we had a fun evening. The girls watched Star Wars with Rich for a little while while Sidney played with Grampa. Camden talked to Tiff on the phone when she called. Riley chose not to because she was busy with her pie; but later, when we were singing "Happy Family," she sang out really loud, "WE LOVE TIFFY YESSIREE." She and Camden can't wait for Tiff to come home on March 7 so that they can have another sleepover.

Lunch with the Club Friends

Today was lunch with the Club friends at Brick Oven. Jary Carter was the organizer for this one; but she had to go to St. George (she lives there half the time), so she didn't even come. But we had a good turnout with Julie, Sandy, Colleen, Ann Snow, Ann Sumner, Johnnie Sue and myself. I spent some time this morning getting a new program roster made up because everyone keeps losing theirs and then they forget when it's their turn to organize the get-together for the month. When I gave them the new rosters (printed on rocket red paper), I told them no more losing their program rosters. For lunch I had a 1/2 steak and philly cheese sandwich and a salad. It was pretty good.

This evening Steven is at the MTC again greeting 12 more new elders. That's 24 new missionaries in two weeks, so the branch is getting back up in numbers again. Steven said he would go over and pick Richard up this evening since it's supposed to be snowing again tonight. I'm sure getting tired of these storms.

Christmas Party with the Club Friends

It's Tuesday night and I didn't go to the MTC, which seems kind of strange. Steven went by himself because I had my annual Christmas party with my Aesthia club friends. It was a lot of fun. We met at 5:30 at the Riverside Country Club for dinner. All eleven of us active members were there, plus our two inactive members (Pat Petersen and Ann Sumner), so we had thirteen in all. Before dinner, we assembled our gift baskets to take later to Sandy's in-laws, the Dallins, and to Edna Nelson, an older widow whom most of us in club know from the "old days" in Oak Hills. We did a third basket for Ann Snow to take to her mom in Salt Lake tomorrow. The baskets are for the Twelve Days of Christmas, with one gift to be opened each day until Christmas. My donation to the baskets was a snow globe nativity, to open on Christmas Eve.

Dinner was really nice. I had poached orange roughy served on jasmine rice in a coconut lime sauce. Does that sound good or what? It was delicious, something I would definitely have again. It was garnished with some shredded carrots and thinly sliced lime-marinated cucumbers. Yum! During dinner we gave Colleen Hanks a Willow Tree figurine titled "Mother and Daughter," since her mom, Vera Millett, just passed away. Colleen loved the figurine. She read a thank-you note, written by her mom last year after we visited her with a gift basket. We were all glad that we had been able to visit her last year in her lovely home.

I did the favors for the party again this year. I found some cute, tall Santa figurines at Evans Gatehouse. I wanted thirteen, but they only had twelve that we could find. Their inventory list showed thirteen, but we couldn't find the thirteenth one. So I got a cute little nativity set which cost the same as the Santas. I thought if all thirteen of us show up, then we'll need the extra favor. Sure enough, all of us were at the dinner. Julia and I worked out a little trade beforehand. She said she would actually prefer the nativity set over the Santa, so that was her favor. But we just had the Santas on the table and they looked very festive. No one knew that we were short one Santa and that Julia's favor was different. I didn't want Ann or Pat to feel bad like they shouldn't have come or something. So, all in all, everything worked out. Edna was thrilled to pieces that we would remember her with a visit. She said, "This makes Christmas for me." The Dallins were also very happy with our visit. They told us about their early courtship and marriage days during World War II. It was just a very nice evening.

Steven got along well at the MTC. The devotional speaker was Elder John B. Dickson, of the Seventy. After the devotional, Steven met with the new district, District F, that came in last week. Two of the elders in District C (from the group of 19 that came in a month ago) were scheduled to leave for the Dominican Republic MTC this Thursday, but Elder Lewis broke his foot on Monday. So his departure plans are on hold. His companion, Elder Albers, will leave as scheduled. That is the second athletic injury for District C. Their first week here, Elder Mott broke his ankle and had to go home after surgery. Districts C and B (the 19) have been keeping Steven busy.

This morning Lisa Murdock and I went visiting teaching. Lisa finally had a day off from work at her husband's dental office. We visited Fay Butterfield, Kelli Johnson and Debbie Runnells. Fay is back from California where she was helping to care for her granddaughter who was in a coma after a car accident. She is out of the coma and making good progress. Kelli is scheduled for foot surgery on Jan. 4. Lisa is in a dither with Miranda's wedding and subsequent move to Pennsylvania coming up. It's all good, though.