Rob and Bryan Have an Overnighter Together

Rob and Bryan were able to get away together and spend a night up at the Gerritsen's cabin in Brighton..  It was such a sweet time for them to just visit.

It was a lovely day down in Salt Lake, but snow was forecast for the mountains.  

It is a good thing that Bryan's car had four-wheel drive.

Spent the evening and following morning interviewing each other 

and recording their histories.

 and playing pool!

The next morning, the snow had left everything so beautiful.

Rob takes a last look at a Utah snowfall for our mission.

Elizabeth and Catherine on an Outing with Us

We had a great time yesterday with Elizabeth and Catherine, visiting the Discovery Zone and then touring the Jordan River Temple.  They are both so busy that we know it was a sacrifice, but we are grateful for their time.  They are sweet girls, and it will be fun seeing what their futures will be. 

Rob has been so neat arranging these get-togethers with our grandchildren while we were on our mission.  

Lunch at Cubby's

Outside after the Jordan River Temple tour.

Will's Birthday

For over a year, Willi had been in hospice because of a blood disorder.  Every important event that came along, he (and Joy) were surprised that he was still alive.  We were happy to be able to attend his 82nd birthday on April 13th.

Mark was able to come up from St. George.

So glad to be there with my sister.

Sweet couple.

Puzzles, Puzzles, Puzzles

Doing jigsaw puzzles has been a big deal for our family as long as I can remember.  We would always receive a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas and work on it over the holiday.

So our first Christmas here, I bought a fun puzzle that was made up of photos of the Christmas stamps for all the States.

Since then, we have done several others.

Mount Rushmore - Dowdle

Telephones

Salt Lake City Temple - Dowdle

This past Christmas, Bry and Nat gave me a puzzle of a cabin in 

the mountains with a horseman and animals.

A Stuffed Pig  Plus I also did a Dowdle picture of Bear Lake and a garden one from one of Chris's friends.

They say that doing jigsaw puzzles keeps your brain young, and since I need to keep a young brain, I will continue to love puzzles.  Besides that, my brother Bert loves them, too, so that gives us fun times together.

General Conference and Easter

We were once again able to get tickets for Conference because we are missionaries, so we attended Saturday afternoon session.  So many great speakers.  I felt at that point that the theme of this Conference was in sustaining and honoring the prophet.

There was the change in the organization of the Melchizedek quorums into one during Priesthood session and eliminating Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching during this Sunday morning’s session.  And then finally the announcement of 11 new temples, including one in India, one in Russia, and one in Richmond, Virginia, which will be Brittany’s temple.  

This was a notable General Conference because there was a solemn assembly in the Saturday morning session when we were able to sustain President Nelson as the prophet of the Church.  We each had the opportunity to stand when our section was called for and to sustain him.  It was so moving.


Afterwards, we traveled down to Provo where Rob joined Bryan for dinner and then Priesthood meeting with Clay, and Heather and I went out to eat, ran on errands, and then looked at a number of homes that she likes.  She would so love to buy a home again, but she just feels impressed that she shouldn't do that yet.

We learned after Rob returned home that the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums were combined.  And now everyone attends the Elders Quorum.

After spending the night with Heather, we watched morning session (where they eliminated home teaching and visiting teaching and changed everything into a ministering program), and then ate some marvelous scones with honey butter that she makes every year.  Bryan and his family came to join us and watch afternoon session before going to Emily's family Easter dinner.  We had barbecue and cheesecake and it was such a nice ending to a wonderful weekend.









I need to add though that Rob fixed the sweetest breakfast.  He is absolutely the most amazing man!

More Good Times with Heather, Bryan, and Their Families

The mission reserved a whole theater for us to all see Coco, 

a great movie about remembering ancestors, which was

perfect for Family History missionaries and we were able to include Heather.

We had a fun night 

We were able to have Bryan and Heather and their families over for Sunday dinner one week.  It was a little birthday celebration for Grace and Heather.  Bert and Chris usually host their families every Sunday, but they were gone, so we played instead :-)

Good-by to our YSA Ward

One of the special experiences we have had the last nine months has been serving in the Madison Young Adult Ward.  The stake president came up with the idea of having senior couples from our mission serve in one of the twelve wards in the Pioneer Young Adult Stake.  When we first got there, we learned that the bishops had not been notified before all of this happened, and ours didn't know what to do with us!  We were introduced the first week, but the kids didn't know why we were there either... So we went through a couple of weeks being largely ignored.

Over time though, we became better friends with many of the kids, helped with employment needs (Rob did this more than I), and I gave out hymn books in Relief Society!  They are such great young people - I just wanted to get them all good jobs, happily married, and on their way!  Such a choice experience... 

Here are some of the sisters in Relief Society

The knitting group every Sunday in Relief Society - Kaitlyn Scheib, Sarah Campbell, and another on the right whose name I have forgotten. They are making the most amazing sweaters.  

Me with Lauren Call. She is such a sweetheart!

Ashley on the right and her friend. I have brought her gummy bears from time to time!

Rachel Moore has been a special friend!