Having Fun with Sidney

Today I got to have some fun with Sidney while Lindy had Riley's pre-school at their house. When I arrived there, Sidney was still asleep and Lindy was getting the kids started. She had the house decorated so cute and everything all planned and set up nicely. It looked like lots of fun would be happening. I watched the kids do their puzzles for a few minutes. Riley was being so good and meticulous, doing everything just right. I can't say so much for the little boys, however. Sidney woke up a little later, so I went and got her out of bed. She seemed suprised to see me, but happy. I changed her pants, then we read a few stories. She let me know when she'd had enough, and we went downstairs. She could hear the kids being busy down there. So we went down and said hi to the kids, then put her jacket on and went out to the car. She acted like, "What's going on?" She seemed quite surprised that she was leaving all by herself with Gramma. When I buckled her in to the car seat, she seemed quite amazed. Like, "What's happening? Where are we going?" As we drove along she still seemed as if she couldn't believe what was happening. I needed to get a few groceries, so we stopped by Albies (Albertson's). The whole time she seemed so surprised to be with me on an outing. In the store she started chatting and commenting on everything while we picked out the things we needed. Then we went by the house to drop the groceries off and see Uncle Rich for a minute. She played with him while I brought the groceries in. Then she got to sit up and have some cheerios and apples. She thought that was quite fun. Then it was time to head home. When we got to her neighborhood, she got quite excited because she knew she was going home. I think she thought she was quite the big girl to go on an outing all by herself with Gramma, but she was still very happy to get home and see her mom and sisters.

Last night the speakers at the MTC devotional were Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy and his wife, Kathy. Sis. Jensen spoke about obedience and how the motto of their mission in Rochester, New York, when Elder Jensen was president, was: "Obedience brings success." She told about how one of their daughters had accepted a date with a young man. Someone who knew him said, "I was in the mission field with him, and he wasn't an obedient missionary." Her brother then told her, without knowing the young man, "He's not for you." Sis. Jensen then encouraged the missionaries to "be the kind of missionary you'd like your brother or sister to date."

Elder Jensen spoke about the conversion process which begins with a seeker. That seeking will eventually bring a person to the truth. A seeker is motivated by the light of Christ. The Holy Ghost can register truth with the seeker through a messenger who has a testimony. That leads the seeker to ask, "What shall I do?" The answer is to invite the seeker to repent and obey, which brings about forgiveness of sin. The seeker is born again, their spirit is healed.

I, of course, haven't summarized Elder Jensen remarks very well, but I've given the general idea of what he said about conversion. We met with the new district, District A, after the devotional and they all seemed prompted and encouraged by the Jensens' remarks to be more obedient and to strive to be powerful messengers of the truth, to find those who are seeking, and to be able to invite them to repent and obey.

Putting the Republican Party on Notice

I found this great Ronald Reagan quote online today that I am going to use every time I get a plea for money from any Republican organization. Yesterday I got one from the Republican National Committee and today I got one from the Utah Office for the Republican National Senatorial Committee. Now instead of throwing the letters away, I send a card back in the postage paid envelope with this quote from Ronald Reagan (1964): "We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals of our opposition and seek our support. Turning the party over to the so-called moderates wouldn't [doesn't] make any sense at all." My sentiments exactly.

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.

Sitting with the Barretts

I just got back from sacrament meeting with the Barretts. Now that was quite the active experience! Sidney was perpetual motion for the whole meeting. Lindy had asked me earlier in the week to come and sit on the bench with the girls while she gave her talk this Sunday. Since Nate is in the bishopric and already on the stand, that would have left the girls fending for themselves while Lindy was speaking if I hadn't been there. I don't know if I was much help or not. Camden and Riley are able to keep themselves busy and quiet. Not so much for Sidney. She is missing her morning nap. But she was good as long as she was eating Princess snacks and playing with Gramma's phone. Lindy gave a great talk about the Book of Mormon. It's quite remarkable to me how she can go from wrestling Sidney one minute and then standing up there and giving a talk the next minute. At the beginning of her talk she mentioned that I was there to help with the girls. She said that as they were leaving the house this morning Riley said, "That's good that Gramma will be there because if you get nervous giving your talk, she can come up and help you." The congregation laughed at that. Next thing I knew, Riley was wailing (silently). I asked, "What's wrong?" She said, "Everyone was laughing at me." (Who knew she was listening?) I said, "Oh they're not laughing at you. They're just laughing because the things you say are so cute." We opened another bag of Princess snacks and then everything was okay.

Last night, Steven, Rich and I went through a session at the Mt. Timpanogo temple. We met Rich there at 5:15 after he finished his Saturday work shift. We ate dinner in the cafeteria and then made it on the 6:00 session (just barely). There were a few technical glitches during the session, but all in all, we had a very nice time. We're glad we were able to work out a plan to do a session together since we spend a lot of time over that way every day.

Good News from Karalie!

Karalie called this afternoon and said she could taste her lunch! She was very happy. We hope the trend continues and that she'll be able to taste again. Maybe it's a temporary thing that will happen for a week after her treatment. We'll have to see.

Karalie's Chemo

I realized today when I read Tiff's blog from yesterday that I hadn't told her about Karalie's chemo treatments which she started last week on Valentine's Day, of all days. I checked with Karalie the day after and she said she was getting along all right, that is hadn't been too bad. Then when I talked to her on Wednesday evening, she said she was still doing pretty well but that she had lost her sense of taste. She said, "I can lose my hair, I can be in pain, but I CAN'T lose my sense of taste!" She loves to eat delicious food. So having food taste like cardboard is no fun! Sorry Karalie. We are praying for you and hoping that everything will go all right as you continue your treatments. She is supposed to have a treatment every three weeks, finishing on April 16. We hope this will take care of the cancer once and for all!

Lunchtime at the Barretts

Today I went over the the Barretts and had lunch with Sidney and Camden while Lindy went to lunch at Thai Village with friends and Riley played at Gracie's. We had fun. Camden ate her hotdog on a piece of bread with mustard and ketchup while Sidney liked having her hotdog cut up in pieces on her highchair tray. She loves to chow down on those hotdogs. After lunch we went down to the playroom for our favorite activity: fixing food. Once again Camden made lots of delicious food for me. Sidney liked pulling all the food out of the basket, "eating" it, and then throwing it onto the big pile in front of her. She was also all over the room. It was hard for me to keep an eye on her. I took my eyes off her for a second, and the next thing I knew she was inside the jumpoline. I didn't see her get in, so I don't know how she did it. The next time I took my eyes off her, I turned around and she was standing up on one of the little chairs that are in the playroom. She's still pretty unsteady on her feet, so I don't know where she was going to go or what she was going to do once she got up there. Anyway, after all that fun, I gave her a bottle and she went down for her nap. Camden and I read stories and made a fort (full of comfy pillows) until Lindy and Riley came home. We read one more story and then it was time for Gramma to go.

Last night Steven was at the MTC welcoming 10 new elders. We have a full house in the branch again, and there isn't a district leaving for a few weeks, so we shouldn't be getting any new missionaries again for awhile. One of the elders who just arrived is a former "lost boy" from Colorado City. Fortunately, there was a good family in St. George who took him in and provided a good life for him along with the Gospel, so now he can serve a mission. Eight of the missionaries who just arrived are going to the Mexico City North Mission where Steven's cousin Janice Taylor's husband, Rick Castillo, is the mission president. We've only had two missionaries come through the branch who have gone to that mission. Now we have eight who are going. It's fun to tell them that they are going to the mission where Pres. Taylor's cousin's husband is the president. The other two elders are going to Bolivia Santa Cruz, where Steven served part of his mission.

On Tuesday night, Steven and I had dinner at the MTC in the cafeteria before going to the devotional where Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander, of the Seventy, was the speaker. He's one of our favorite speakers because he served his mission in Finland, where Richard served. We feel like we have a connection with him. When Elder Neuenschwander served in Finland he became interested in languages, so after coming home he studied Finnish and Russian, receiving his doctorate in Russian literature. He has done so much work for the Church in that area of the world. His wife died last July, so he was accompanied by his grandson (who kept nodding off to sleep during Elder Neuenschwander's talk). Elder Neuenschwander spoke about four principles that will help you teach by the spirit: (1) diligent scripture study, (2) deliver the message, (3) bear testimony of Jesus Christ, and (4) remain worthy. He said, "If you work on these principles while you're on your mission, you will teach by the spirit." I think it can work for any of us who are wanting to teach by the spirit.

After Elder Neuenschwander's talk we met with District D, which is six elders and two sisters who will be leaving on March 12. They're the oldest district right now. I had to smile when Elder Calcara was speaking because he reminded me of what Tanner Faragher (a neighbor boy) might be like in ten years. It's always fun to meet with the missionaries. I told them about reading a letter Tiffany wrote (dictacted) 19 years ago to Grandpa and Grandma T. while they were in New Zealand. She said, "I like to go to the MTC. I like to be with the missionaries. My new friend in Elder Harper." It reminded me of the good times we had there at the MTC when the kids were younger. We're now with our second generation of missionaries at the MTC.