February 23 and before

Today was the Sabbath.  Larry and I slept in today again. We got up about 8:00 a.m.  We joke that we will die when we get to the mission.  We are still coughing and have a lot of congestion.  We went through our morning things and got ready for church.

Sacrament was several youth and two youth leaders talking about the Youth Theme this year which is "Come Unto Christ"  There were several good talks.  One talked about the ways we can come unto Christ.  He listed several things like prayer, go to the temple, seminary, church, and scriptures.  One girl told how she was influenced by the spirit by talking to her friends about the story of Joseph Smith and why it was so important to the church. She didn't have and answer but then and answer came to her. The leaders focused more on why we should come unto Christ.  The answer being that we can have the peace and serenity that we need in life if we include Christ in our life.

Sunday School we are in Marriage and Family Relations.  The lesson today was lesson 10 on the Role of Fathers.  It talked about the fact that Fathers and Mothers need to work together and help each other in their separate roles.  It also emphasized the importance of father's in a person's life.  They had an article from the Deseret News that told about several types of problems that are prevalent in persons who do not have a father or a good father image.

Relief Society talked about the importance of women.  I think it was hard for me to feel the spirit today because of my chest and cough.  Maybe I should have stayed home.

We came home and ate.  We had thawed some shrimp and had a salad made that we ate with yogurt and shrimp sauce it was a great meal.

Larry turned BYU TV on and I just lay on the couch for about two hours and watched a couple of BYU Devotionals.  Finally I felt like getting up and we went for a short walk.  It felt so good to be walking outside.  I prefer it over the gym.  It was a beautiful day today here.  Sunny and in the 50's

Friday we went to the gym and then I came home and started working.  I got some of the work done before 1:00 p.m. but we ended up tending Taylor in the afternoon while Kirsten and Jon went to counseling.  We had a good time with Taylor.  She is such a cute girl.  She drew us several pictures and we watched Disney Junior.  I finally brought my computer in and wrote some while we watched Disney Junior.  Kirsten got back about 4:30 p.m.

After eating we went to the gym again so I was able to get more points that day.  On the way home we were coughing so much we called and tried to get a substitute for the Family History Center.  But we could not find anyone home.

Saturday the supervisor at the Family History Center called about 7:45 and said they would go to the center for us.  We had set out alarm for 7:00 a.m. thinking that we would have to go.  We read for a while and took a shower and then got ready to go to mom's to help her.

Mom had us vacuum and dust and get gas in the car and we took her shopping.  Then we went and got something to eat.  She seems to like to do that when we go down.  We went to Arby's because she didn't think that she looked good enough to go to a restaurant.  Funny!  I was surprised that Mom ate a whole French Dip Sandwich.  She usually orders a kids meal.  She told us how much she and Dad loved to go to Arby's and get a plain sandwich.  No barbeque.  I didn't know they had liked it so much.  She said that once they had tried to take Annette's kids there when they were little and they stuck their nose up and would not eat anything there.

Tonight we are watching the Olympics and I am working on the computer.  Larry has been reading his email I think.

We just called our grandson Owen and wished him a happy birthday.  Misty said that they might come and visit us in Texas or just before we leave.  She said they had made marshmallow shooters and Owen and his friends and Matthew were shooting Marshmallows at each other.

February 20th

Today we slept in until 8:00 a.m.  Both Larry and I had spent the night coughing a lot.  Larry has had the stuff for three weeks.  I quit taking my antibiotic on Sunday and have gradually got the disease back.  Monday morning I had a slight tickle in my throat and now I have gunk and cough.  We got a doctors appointment for the afternoon and he gave us some antibiotic so hopefully we will get over it.

We made to the gym at about 10:00 a.m.  We worked out well and then we went to get gas and went home.  We found the check for the Malibu on the table where Dave said he had left it and Larry went to get that deposited with another check we got from Wells Fargo.

After eating lunch I started to work on the curriculum for a while.  I got quite a bit written and then Kirsten called to say she wanted to have a family party with just the kids that are in Utah on February 28th a week from today.  I talked to her for a while about some other things and then she had to go.  She is looking for a job.

I worked for awhile and then we went to the doctor.  We came home and took our medicine and just hung out before the TV.  I got the information on the Mission insurance in the mail so I read that.

Then I started recording my Weight Watcher's points on the computer as my phone is not being cooperative.  About that time BJ called and told us about what it would take to switch our phones to AT&T and we talked for about a half hour.  We need to go in and look at the phones on the website.

While I was talking to BJ Larry fixed dinner.  It was yummy.  Pork Steak,Green Salad, Pineapple.

I decided that I needed to pace for an hour and so I paced back and forth while we watched the Olympics.  Then I decide that I needed to start cleaning out the vanity in my bathroom.  So Larry   found me a box and I would clean a few things out and then keep walking.  Maybe that is why I only got 1 point today.  We have so many things in the drawers that we never use so I guess it will be a good thing to have to clean out some of the drawers.

February 19th

Today had several eventful happenings.  It started off well.  We got up and did the rituals and then went to the gym.  I worked hard today and it paid off as I got 3 points on my active link. It was fairly warm when we went into the gym but when we came out it was really cold with a wind.  The 43 degrees that it was this morning was the highest it got all day.

On the way home we went to the grocery store to get some bananas and a prescription I ran out of this morning.  As we were paying for the food Larry suddenly remembered that he had left eggs boiling on the stove when we went to the gym.  We were kind of worried about what we would find.  Luckily he had put a lid on them like you are supposed to do and when the eggs exploded it did not go very far.  The pan was pretty black but I think it will clean up but it will probably have hot spots after this.  We were certainly blessed that it didn't do more damage.

Larry went to work cleaning up the mess and I went to work writing curriculum supposedly but we received a letter from the Mission President in San Antonio today telling us about the housing situation.  It wasn't clear to me whether we had to find our own housing from the letter so I called the number and asked them.  The Sister that answered the phone said that we would be taking over for a Brother and Sister Kasper and we would be living in their apartment, so she asked me if I wanted to talk to her.  I decided to talk to her and she told us about the apartment and the address.  Then she told me that she knew our Bishop Marshall McKinnon because her first husband had been a doctor at Tanner Clinic where he is the CEO.  I was surprised and asked her what her first husbands name was and it was a Dr. Hicken.  He died of cancer in 2004 and she has only been married to the Kasper for about 4 years.  It turns out that she was a person that helped us a lot with our sewing projects when I taught at North Layton Jr. High.  I haven't seen her for a long time but I know who she is.  Like everyone says it is a small world especially in the Mormon Church!!

The people at the mission said that I would be the media secretary and that Elder Presser would be the vehicle coordinator so we know more about what we will be doing.  Our apartment is at 13000 Vista del Norte, San Antonio, Texas 78216.  We went online and found out that is is about 7 miles from Nathan's rehabilitation center and about 4 miles from the Mission Home.  It is about 14 miles from Sara and the kids.  So I am excited about that.

After that call I started working on learning more about the selling process.  I think I can start writing tomorrow.

Sammy with his first lost tooth

While I was working Sara texted me a picture of Sammy with his first lost tooth.  She said that it had been lose for a few weeks and she had tried to help him pull it last night but he finally pulled it himself during school today.

Nathan texted me to say Hi but didn't respond when I replied.  Kirsten also texted me today.
 
Most of the afternoon it snowed and it even started hailing very hard about 3:00 p.m.  The snow did not amount to anything much on the ground but it was really coming down.

I quit reading about 4:00 p.m. because my body could not work anymore on the curriculum.  I found the taco soup recipe I had been wanting to make for dinner to use up some of the liquid from my fresh salsa and started to make that.  I needed two things so Larry volunteered to go to the store for me.

While he was gone I watched the evening news and set up an automatic payment for our new 15 year mortgage.

I made the taco soup and we ate and then we settled down to watch American Idol and I worked on several things on the computer and paced back and forth for an hour to make sure I had some points today.

Larry went to bed but I am finishing this and then I will joint him.  He is getting pretty congested and I am congested again after finishing my antibiotic on Sunday.  So life is rough.

February 18

Today was a busy day but my active link didn't think so.  We arose early and went to the Salt Lake Temple by 10:00 a.m.  The session was a good one.  We were on our way home by 12:45 p.m.  At that time it was 52 degrees and very sunny.  It seemed that spring was on its way.

Ellie, Max, Gauge, Brinlie walking on the beach

Maren called when we were on our way down and I got to talk to her.  Her day was going much better because the kids were feeling better today.   When we got to the temple I told her I would call her back later.

I ate lunch and I started working on the Curriculum.  I am writing a chapter on selling this time.  I spent most of the afternoon learning what selling is.  Larry spent time working on laundry and putting stuff away in the house so the renters can come.

Maren and her kids on the beach

When I got bored and started falling asleep I called Maren again and she was at the beach with her kids looking for sharks teeth.  Apparently it was a pretty good day there finally.  She was busy so she said that she would call me back.

I read some more on selling and then Larry and I began to prepare a lesson for a Family Home Evening with Kirsten, even though it is Tuesday night.  We have to give a lesson to someone on the different lessons in Chapter 3 of preach my gospel to prepare for our mission.  Kirsten called and ask if we wanted to do FHE with them for the next three weeks since she didn't have to work on Monday nights now.  But because yesterday was a holiday we decided to meet on Tuesday this week.  She said that she would fix dinner if we would give the lesson.

On our way to Kirsten's house Maren called me back and we talked for a little more.

Sharks teeth that they found

The lesson went very well.  Kyle seemed to be really listening and Kirsten was good to make comments that added to the lesson.  The dinner was really good.  She had tried some new recipes where she cooked chicken in Balsamic Vinegar and she also had Sweet Potatoes that she had covered with olive oil and then added the Chicken and some balsamic vinegar.  It all looked burnt but it was the most moist chicken I have had and the chicken and potatoes tasted good.  The balsamic vinegar just made it look burnt.  But it also gave it a good flavor.

After the lesson we watched Taylor play on some of her games that she likes on Kirsten's Kindle.  She has several dress up games and a magic school bus game that she showed us tonight.

We came home and ate fruit and watched NCIS on demand and now we are preparing for bed.

Lexie ready for the school play

Lexie with friends in the school play

Myles playing with a truck.

Posting some pictures of other grandchildren that were on Facebook.

February 17th

We decided that now we are feeling better that we better start getting up earlier so we got up at 7:00 a.m.  We read, prayed, ate, and exercised all before we had to go to Weight Watchers at 9:30 a.m.  It felt good to have so many things done earlier.  Even though I did not lose or gain today it felt good to be up and going.

After Weight Watcher's we took the truck down to Autobahn Motors like the Malibu and we are planning to sell it at auction also.  Hopefully it will sell because it is a 1988.  When we got home we went to see our car insurance agent and canceled the policies on the Malibu and the Truck.  It really cut down our insurance payment.

Then we went to get some more fruit and yogurt and soda at Bowman's and ended up buying a little more because we were hungry.

We went home and ate and then Larry started carrying things up and down the stairs to put things away and I started working on the bills and making phone calls.  It took me most of the afternoon to balance the checkbook and get the bills organized into a new budget because we changed a few things.  Mostly new health, dental, vision and car insurance.  We have been able to drop our insurance from $825 to $384 so that helped a lot tonight.  Larry getting on at the VA really has helped a lot in that area.

Larry fixed a yummy dinner while I continued to do bills.

Maren posted on Facebook that her girls were throwing up and I commented on it and I got different messages all afternoon on my phone from people sympathizing with her.  I hope the girls get feeling better.

Tonight I worked on Weight Watcher's tracking and we watched a couple of Castle reruns which was not the best thing to do but I was feeling tired and I guess Larry was too. 

Larry got 4 activity points tonight and I received 0 so I guess I need to move more when I do bills.  It is frustrating to me that I can go workout for an hour in the morning and my active link still says that I have not been active enough!!!

February 16th and before

Well, February 16th is our grandson Isaac's birthday.  He turns 9 today.  They grow up so fast.  We are excited because soon we will be close to him and his brothers and sisters in San Antonio so we will see them more often.

Isaac eating his birthday dinner, ramen noodles and hot dogs

Today is Sunday so, of course, we went to church.  It was a great Sacrament meeting.  It was on the 2nd Article of Faith:"We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression."  It was interesting to see the different ways that the topic was treated by the 4 speakers.  The youth speakers tended to talk about why we believe that and how that is different from most of the Christian world.  We had a missionary reporting his mission and he stressed how important it is for youth and adults to chose to be a follower of Christ and make good choices like Adam did.  He talked about the importance of choosing to do the things that we know are right even though the world may give us a bad time.   The High Council speaker talked about the concept of punishment.  He stressed that God will only punish us by the consequences of our sins and transgressions and that he loves us and is a kind an loving father who is trying to help us find happiness in this life and the next.

Sunday School is the Marriage and Family Relations Class.  Today we started the first lesson in the 8 about how to raise our children.  It was called Children are and heritage from the Lord.   I found that there was a lot that I could relate to in the first lesson as my children are all adults. Everytime I go through a lesson like this I hope to find that there was something that I did right as a Mother.  It is such a tremendous job to be a Mother.  One thing I tried to do that the lesson talked about was to listen to my children.  Although they would say that maybe not enough.  I remember many times turning off something that I was interested in on the Radio or TV so that I could listen to what a child was saying.  Sometimes not very happily too.

Relief Society talked about the Plan of Salvation.  It focused on what we need to do to be happy.  The 5 things are:

1. Have Faith in Jesus Christ
2. Repent of any wrongdoings
3. Be Baptized by someone with the proper authority
4. Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
5. Endure to the End

Larry and I have been reading the Book of Mormon for our Mission and I have been reading the Old Testament because that is the course of study for this year and it seems that those 5 things are the basics of the Gospel everywhere.  That is the importance of what we need to do.  In Relief Society they emphasized that Jesus died for each of us individually and that he is just waiting for us to return to him so that he can relieve us of our pain and suffering.  I know that in my life when I have turned to the Savior and asked him for his help that I have found the peace and joy I was looking for.

This afternoon we have been doing family history stuff.  Larry found the sign that was on his baby bed in the hospital that said that is name was Laurence David Presser so apparently between then and the birth certificate they changed their minds to Laurence Edward Presser.

We had a chance to talk to Isaac and to Maggie and Sara this evening for a few minutes.  Isaac was excited about what he got for his birthday.

I have not written since Wednesday because I was too tired most nights so I will try to give you the highlights.

Wednesday we got some papers from a support couple that has been assigned to us telling us about the different jobs in the mission office that we could do.  They all seemed a bit overwhelming but "whom the Lord calls he qualifies".  We talked to them and found out that we will be in the MTC for about 2 weeks.  We will be finished on the 21st so we could start out that day or after the weekend but as we will have no where to stay we thought that we would start that day and go to Centerfield, Utah for a niece's son's wedding luncheon and then go on from there.

I worked most of the day on Wednesday on the Curriculum except for when we went to the gym.  Larry started getting the house in order for when we rent it.

On Monday we had taken the Malibu down to have a member of our ward sell it at the auto auction. We thought we would hear on whether it had sold or not but we did not hear.  They said it could sell anywhere from 1800 to 3000 so we were hopeful it would sell in the higher end.  Thursday Dave called and said that it had sold but it was in arbitration.  He said that was good because it sold for 3100 so when it is over 3000. they have to go into arbitration for some reason.  We were excited because we need about 3000 to take with us for the first month.

Thursday was about the same as Wednesday.  I worked until about 6:30 p.m. but I was excited because I finished the chapter I was working on so I only have one more chapter.  When I finished I was going to start making something for dinner because Larry had not made anything but then he said that he wanted to go to Golden Corral because he had been watching an ad all day on television about their Lobster deal.  So we went to Golden Corral and had lobster and steak and tried to be good Weight Watchers people.

Friday we went to the gym and I was finally able to do all the things that I was doing before I got sick at Maren's.  Then we went to get our second hepatitis A and B immunization.  We got home about 12:30 p.m.  Just in time to tend Taylor for Kirsten and Jon while they went to counseling.

Taylor is easy to tend.  She likes to watch Disney Junior and we worked on making some valentines for my grandchildren together.  I gave her extra envelopes to write on so she could help me.  We had a good afternoon but I could not get any other work done.  Kirsten and Jon came back about 4:00 P.M.

We had planned to go to Rootstech with Kyle and then we got sick last week so we told him that we would do something that he wanted to do this weekend.   When I realized that it was Valentine's Day I told him we could wait but he said that he would like to go out on Valentine's.  After much thought he decided that he wanted to go to a show.  So we picked him up about 4:30 p.m. to go to dinner at Applebee's.  The theory being that if we went early it would not be crowded.  We were wrong!!! Everyone must have had the same idea so we had to wait for about 20 minutes for dinner. 
I was so proud of myself because it was the first time I went to dinner and stayed within my Weight Watcher's points!!! Applebee's have some Weight Watchers entrees that are about 12 points so that was good.

After dinner we went to AMC to see the Lego movie in 3-D.  It was a cute movie.  It was awesome in 3-D.  All in all we had a good time and had a chance to spend some one on one time with Kyle our oldest grandchild.

Saturday we got up and went to the Family Search Center as we had promised we would work for two more weeks.  There were a lot of people working there so it didn't seem they needed us but I did get to help a lady figure out where she needed to look for some help with a German ancestor.  I showed her the wiki and then we looked at the German records on FamilySearch.org.

While we were there Erick called and said that they were planning to come down and get some of his stuff out of the house so we can rent it.  They got there about 12:30 p.m.  We had fun talking to them while they ate and then they decided to pack the fish tank and his drums.  Apparently his in-laws agreed to take it in there basement.  I told him he should take the drums home and put them in Ryker's room! Lol

About 2:00 p.m. we left to go to Mom's to help her.  She had me vacuum the kitchen and bathroom and the back stairs then we went to Provo Town Center to trade in some nylons she had got from JC Penney's.  Then we went to University Mall to take back some pajamas that she had bought that did not fit.  Then we went to Lehi and ate at Culver's and went to Lowe's to get furnace filters and light bulbs.  By the time we got back to Mom's it was 7:30 p.m. just in time for her to watch Lawrence Welk.

Keith called and I talked to him a few minutes.  He was just checking on Mom also.  Annette was there too but she was off doing something with her children and grandchildren.  We then drove home and went promptly to bed after prayer and scripture.

February 12th

We slept in again today but we also stayed up too late last night.  It was almost 10:00 a.m. when I got up this morning but I think it helped because I am starting to feel normal tonight and not like I am fighting a disease.

We got ready to go to the gym but then we got a phone call that our taxes were done so Larry stopped there to sign some things so it could be electronically filed.  We didn't have our checkbook so rather than go home he went to the bank and got the number they needed.  While we were there he told them that we wanted to get an account for our renter to pay the rent into and they said well why don't you do it today.  So we did.

We finally got to the gym and worked for a little over a half hour.  I am really having to work up to where I was again.  But I am getting a lot read in David Ridges book "The Old Testament made Easy' vol. 1 while I walk.  It is really interesting.

While I was there Kirsten called and said that the doctor had given her another antibiotic to take and that if she doesn't get better by Monday she is supposed to get a chest x-ray.  She was kind of discouraged, with reason.

We went to Bowman's to get some things and then Larry took me home and he went to get copies of our will made in Layton so we could give them to the people that we have chosen for Executor and such.  I ate lunch and then started to work on the curriculum.

I was not happy with the things I wrote yesterday so I spent the afternoon revising and trying to make it more understandable. I worked until about 5:30 p.m., then we at dinner.

Just as I finished writing the Bishop called and said that they wanted us to talk on the 9th of March if we could but we had other options if that would not work.  I told him I needed to talk to Larry and to the renters that were coming to look at the house tonight because I didn't know when they wanted to move in.

Nancy and Myron Barlow came to see the house with their daughter Jenna Avery and her daughter Kennedy.  We showed them the house and talked about the details for about an hour.  Jenna is not moving in until after we leave on the 10th so it worked out that we could talk on the 9th.

We have watched the Olympics tonight and worked on the computer.  I sent out a invite on Facebook for the Farewell and I have worked on Weight Watcher's and this blog.  Life is good.

February 10th and 11th

Monday started out great!  I lost 7.2lbs. at Weight Watchers so this disease has been good for something.  When you have no appetite for anything except oranges and water I guess the weight will fall off.  Also I decided that I had to start counting points again because the Simple Start makes me feel out of control.

After going to Weight Watchers we went to the gym.  I am so out of shape that I could only walk about 20 minutes but at least I tried.

We decided to sell the Malibu before we went on the mission so it will not just be sitting in the garage or outside.  We have a person in our ward who owns a car business so he said that if we took it down to him on Monday he could take it to the car auction and see if it would sell on Wednesday.  So we cleaned out the car and took it down to him in Bountiful to see if he could sell it.

When we got home I took a nap for about an hour and a half after eating lunch.  I stayed up too late the night before and so I was tired from that and the walking.

When I finally woke up it was about 3:30 p.m.  I worked on balancing the check book so we could see where we were.  We still had money but not as much as we hoped so we are hoping that the car will sell on Wednesday.

While I was working on that Maren called and I had a chance to talk to her while she waited for Brinlie to finish up with dance.  We had a good talk.  She is doing well despite Landon being gone but she said that she was tired.  I enjoy talking to Maren.

When I hung up from that call, Kirsten called and I was able to talk with her and we sympathized with each other because we are both still fighting this cold or flu or something.  We were able to talk about many things that helped me feel better, hopefully it helped her feel the same.  By this time it was after 5:00 p.m.

We had dinner and then Larry and I spent time working on the missionary list that we need to finish before we go into the MTC.  It was fun to work on some of the things like our profiles on Mormon.org.  Mine is at http://mormon.org/me/2WNY

I also talked to Erick for awhile about our mission and what we plan to do with the house while we were gone and the wills and power of attorney.  Erick is a great person to help.

Today we slept in until about 9:00 a.m.  After eating we started to go to the gym but ended up taking clothes to DI that do not fit and going to see Frank Sano our manager at LDS Employment to tell him about our mission.  We then went Deseret Book to get some of the books that we need for our mission.  I also bought some for Kyle for his birthday.  Then we went to the gym.  I was able to walk for a half hour today so I guess I am getting better.

Larry had put a pork roast with potatoes and carrots in last night in the crock pot last night and so we ate that for lunch.  It was wonderful.  It is so fun to eat something that is so perfectly cooked.  It was fun to have it taste good.

Then I went in and said a prayer that the answer to it helped me to avert a possible relationship complication so I was grateful for prayer.

Then I went to work on the curriculum.  I was able to get the beginning structure for the chapter done so I think I can get it finished this week.  That is a major miracle for me.

BJ called and wanted to know if we wanted to switch phone plans with them so I have to talk to Larry about that.  He is always trying to find a way for us to save money.

My visiting teachers came to visit and we had a good talk.  I was not a diligent person and did not go to Relief Society because I was feeling tired.

Erick and Heather and Ryker sent us some Valentines today and a bag of hershey's raspery kisses.  I called them tonight and tried to talk to Ryker but he was mostly concentrating on talking about how he broke his arm while riding a bike.

Tonight I have been working on various things on the computer.  I cleaned out my email and answered some, worked on some of the missionary things, counted my points for Weight Watchers and active link.  And now I am finishing my blog.  Well kinds of boring but that is my life lately.
Guess Larry and I will go and read our scriptures and go to bed as we have seen most of the 9:00 p.m. news while I was typing this.

February 9th and before

Well it has been a week since I wrote on our blog.  We have both been very ill.  It has not been a fun week.

Today we went to church because the Bishop had asked us to read our calls to the ward and bear our testimonies.  We went but came home after Sunday School.  I had asked Heavenly Father to help me feel better last night and I did but when we got home today all the aches and pains seemed to return.

We spent most of the day today doing things to get ready for our mission.  We had 3 more episodes of the District to watch and then we spent some time reading the missionary handbook together until we were both losing our voices.  We have been listening to three chapters of the Book of Mormon together at night and in the morning in an attempt to read the Book of Mormon again before we go to the mission.  I am always amazed at the many beautiful concepts that are in the Book of Mormon when I read it and the feeling of peace that I feel.  I realized that the whole point of the Book of Mormon is to bring people to Christ and to repent and be baptized and teach us the plan of Happiness.

Larry put on the TV for a few minutes before he went to bed and I was reminded that I did not get to see the Beatles on TV 50 years ago because I needed to go to church.  I was a teenager then so it was kind of important to me, but I made my own decision.  Back in the day we went back to Sacrament meeting in the evening.  I knew I would be blessed for not missing church and 20 years later and tonight I was able to see the performance several times.  I guess it all is in your perspective but I feel like I didn't miss a thing and I was strengthened in my faith by being obedient.

During the week here are a few of the highlights.

Monday we went to Weight Watchers and weighed in.  We both gained weight.  I was the worst at 3.2lbs.  I have decided that I cannot do Simple Start.  I get too out of control and think I can eat anything and that is just not the case.  We did not stay to class because of our colds and Larry took me home and then he went to the gym but that is the last time either one of us had gone all week.

Most of the first part of the week I spent working on our finances and the curriculum anything that made it so I did not have to talk.  I finally finished Chapter 13 and turned it inThursday.  I have two more chapters to write.

I was supposed to talk to a lawyer for Nathan but had to postpone it because I could not talk and Nathan had a dentist appointment at the time I had scheduled.

Monday night we went to a Empty Nester's family home evening it was fun.  But they played Bingo to get us ready for the Rest Home.  Not my idea of an uplifting FHE.  They did have great snacks.  Many of them fresh fruits that helped me stay on track but mostly my throat wanted water. Chocolate was not even tempting, not even eclairs, my favorite looked good to me.

Tuesday we met with a lawyer Mike Blackburn and finalized things on wills for both of us and power of attorney for both of us.  I also got a HIPPA release for my family and made a living will so people will know what to do with me if I am sick and can't talk myself.  I felt good about it and in talking to Erick tonight he was relieved that we had got that done since so much has happened this last year to emphasize the importance of that.  It is the only time I have done something without asking Larry Jenkins, my brother, about it so I felt guilty but I don't know why.  I guess I feel like I owe him the business but he doesn't do wills and such.

Wednesday I spent on curriculum.  Larry slept a lot and turned the heat up because he was chilling1

Thursday Larry and I watched a Roots Tech class that was streamed live from the Salt Palace on Family Search about 1:00 p.m. but other than eating and sleeping I spent the day on the curriculum.

Thursday was our grandson, Kyle Blunt's 17th birthday.  We were planning on taking him to rootstech and then doing something while we were there for his birthday and giving him his presents.  But as you will read later that was not to be.

Our grandson Ryker had his arm broken a week ago and he was able to get his cast on today.  He wanted a red cast.  Erick said that he had such a good time at the hospital when he went in that he has been asking if he can break his other arm.  They put him under anesthesia to set the break because it was compound and then they let him watch Shrek, gave him candy and a Popsicle and stickers.  I think that is not worth breaking your arm for! 

Friday we went to the Dr. and got our immunizations for the mission.  He also gave me an antibiotic for my disease that he said should not have lasted more than 10 days. Larry having had it for only 4 days did not get any medicine.  We went from there to the LDS Employment Center to tell everyone about our mission.  We were disappointed that our Manager Frank Sano was not there but it was fun to talk to the others.

Maren posted pictures of Landon leaving on the ship and of the ship on Facebook that day.  She has also posted pictures and comments about many nice things that are being done for her since Landon left.  We are praying for her and Landon and the kids that things will go well.

I went home and attempted to work on curriculum for the afternoon but finally laid down for a nap about 2:30 p.m. When I got up I tried to work but finally gave up for a while.  We were supposed to take Kyle to Rootstech the next day.  We had got substitutes at the Family History Library but finally at about 9:00 p.m. I texted Kyle and Kirsten and told them that we did not feel like going and we would have to do something another day.  We are hoping to do something he wants to do with us for his Birthday next week.  We tried to watch the Olympic opening ceremony but gave up after the introduction of the athletes.  We called Mom and told her that we would not be down the next day because of the way we felt and went to bed.  I think that we had a reaction to the shots on top of the cold or flu that we have.

Saturday we slept till about 10:00 a.m. and felt somewhat better but we just stayed in most of the day.  Larry did go to pay a bill for home repairs and to get some groceries as we were running out of fresh fruits.

Talked to Kirsten a few minutes and she is still sick after antibiotics and she is starting the 4th week.  Hoping that she and we will be better soon!!!

February 2nd and before

Today was Groundhog day and they say that he saw his shadow so we will have 6 more weeks of winter.  We probably need it in Utah.  They are saying the snow level is really low.

I stayed home from church today to try and get feeling better.  I have lost my voice and cannot talk over a whisper.  I feel like I have problems in my sinuses and my teeth ache but when I went to the doctor yesterday they said that I did not have a bacterial infection.  I will be grateful when it goes away.  I slept a lot today.

It was Stake Conference today so Larry attended and took notes for me.  He also went to the adult meeting last night by himself but he took notes so I got a smidgen of what the meeting was about.  He said that last nights meeting theme was assigned by the First Presidency, which I guess from what he said is unusual, and it was on hastening the work-specifically missionary work.  I listened to one of the talks they quoted from today, Elder Ballard's October 2013 talk.

Larry fixed lunch and dinner.  He is so great.  We still have pork left that he cooked for me the night I got home so we had pork quesidilla's for lunch and for dinner he fixed a steak and salad with fresh pineapple.  I haven't been especially hungry the last few days but it all tasted really good.

While we were eating a friend in our ward, Nancy Barlow, called and asked if we would consider renting our house to her daughter while we were on our mission.  They said that they would help her keep up the yard and such so we prayed about it and felt good about it so we just have to work out the details. I felt like it was an answer to prayer because we didn't want to leave the house with someone we did not trust.

Larry watched the Super Bowl for the first half but got disgusted with it and turned it off for most of the second half.  I told him to turn it on that maybe Denver had a come back so he turned it on towards the end and was even more disgusted with the games final score of 43-8 for the Seahawks.

For a while tonight we worked on our wills and power of attorney so we can get that finished.

The last time I wrote it was Thursday.  As you know my flight was canceled that day as well in the evening so I spent another day with Maren.  I was surprized that they had taken the tent down that they had built the night before for Gauge before I even got up.   I helped Brinlie finish her Hello Kitty pillow that we had started on Monday.  It just needed some different glue.  I watched the kids play.  I took a shower and convinced Maren to do my hair for me.  Then Maren took some pictures of Me and her together and another of Me and her and the girls together.  I got to see why instagram is good to have for photos when she fixed the pictures right on her phone but when I tried to download it and login it said it did not recognized my Facebook password so I just gave up.

The snow in Richlands really melted that day and the ice on the streets melted so that it was about 45 degrees when I left.  I was pretty sure that I would go this time because Maren's Cul-de-sac was dry and the roads were dry by the evening.  So I was able to take off for home.

When I got to Atlanta I got off the plane and I felt like I was missing something but I went to Chick-fil-A and got a light lemonade and some fries.  I thought that would go good with my sandwich I had made for dinner.  Then I found my flight which was two terminals down and began eating in the waiting area.  When I went to get my sandwich I realized that the thing I was missing was my dinner sack that I had left on the plane from Jacksonville.  Luckily I was not very hungry.

I usually just read on the plane but I was falling asleep even before we took off so I purchased a set of headphones and I rented the move "The Butler" and watched that.  Larry had told me he didn't want to watch it because Jane Fonda was in it so that is one reason I chose it.  He would be even more upset if he knew that the main character was thrilled when Barack Obama was elected.  After that I was able to use the ear buds and play Stack the States a geography game I downloaded for Sammy but for some reason I really like to play it.

When Larry picked me up he said that he had fixed roast pork and dipping shrimp for me so when we got home he served me dinner at 1:30 a.m.  I was thrilled.  Even thought I could not talk.  We got to bed about 2:00 a.m.  Part of the reason was that when he came he had our Misson Call.  I was so excited to find out when we were going and that we really were going to San Antonio that I had to post it on Facebook that night even before we ate.

We are going to the Texas San Antonio mission and will be office assistants.  We go into the Provo MTC on March 10, 2014 so we only have about 35 days now to get ready.

The next morning we were supposed to work at the Family Search Center but I felt so rotten that I called and got a substitute to go in.  Larry went over but he said that they had plenty of people to work so he came home.  We took a nap together for awhile.

I decided about 2:30p.m. that I would go to the Saturday Urgent Care at the Doctor's office.  The doctor said that he didn't think that it was bacterial but to come back in about three days if it had not gone away.  He told me that even whispering was hard on the vocal chords and so to go home and rest and drink plenty of liquids and not talk.

Mostly on Saturday I just rested and slept.  I had a few people call to congratulate us on the mission call and then they were embarrassed, as was I, when I could not talk.  I told them I would call back when I could talk better.  Hopefully it will get better soon because we have a ton of things to do before March 10th.

January 30th and before

June, Maren, Max, Landon, Shirley, Evan Front Brinlie, Gauge and Ellie

Well I am sitting here at Maren's still enjoying their company.  My plane was canceled twice yesterday.  A winter storm with a half inch of ice and about three inches of snow hit the south on Tuesday and Wednesday so everything is stalled and most stores closed.  We were making fun of the South and their closing of schools because of a storm of 2-4 inches.  But a half inch of ice under the snow makes it a lot more dangerous.  Luckily Landon has his big truck.  Also they have no snow equipment because it so seldom snows like this.  They did have a few snow trucks out on the major road last night when we tried to go to the airport.

I have been sick for several days and could not get myself to do much so I will attempt to finish out the week while I sit here watching the kids.

Gauge, Brinlie, and Ellie goofing off

Saturday was Binlie's baptism.  We went to Jacksonville to meet Evan and Shirley at their hotel so the kids could go swimming in their hotel pool.  Before we got there we met them at Sam's Club where they were buying things for the evening.  We also went to a place called Shoe Carnival to get Brinlie some shoes to go with her white dress for the baptism.  They had to get sandals because it is the wrong season for white.  But they got 2 for 1 on clearance because of that!!

Brinlie in her beautiful baptim dress

Everyone swam for about an hour but me because I didn't pack a swimsuit and I really didn't have time to go buy one.  I finally figured out I could walk around the pool for activity.  They really seemed to be having a good time swimming.  Brinlie was having fun jumping off the side.  Gauge was frustrated because he did not have his floaties.  Evan spent some time in the pool helping Brinlie know what she had to do when he dunked her for baptim.  I thought that was thoughtful.

Brinlie with Grandma June

We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch on the way home and by the time we got home it was time to change clothes and get ready for the baptism.  I forgot to tell Landon to order me a grilled chicken sandwich so I got the full fat.  I felt like I was getting a sore throat when I drank the lemonade.

Ellie with Evelyn

We drove to the church which is about a half hour away and got there about 4:00 so that they could get things ready with the Primary President.  We took some pictures of Brinlie in her dress before they got ready for the baptism.  Then it was my job to follow Max to make sure he didn't get lost or get into something he shouldn't.

Gauge with his friend Silas

Then they went to get ready for the baptism.  I did not get any pictures of Evan and Brinlie in their baptism clothes.  The program went well.  Shirley gave the talk on baptism and I gave the Holy Ghost talk.  Fortunately the spirit was with me and I think it went well.  Shirley did a good job as well. Ellie gave the opening prayer with Maren's help and Gauge gave the closing prayer with Maren's help.  Then they had cookies and water for after as everyone mingled.  I tried to get pictures of a lot of people there.

Brinlie, Maren, Max, Landon, Front Gauge, and Ellie

After the baptism Brinlie wanted to go to Applebee's to eat so we all went there.  Then they all wanted to go swimming again at the hotel.  They swam for about an hour and they really had fun jumping and throwing each other.  Landon dunked Maren and they just had a good time.  I wish I had some pictures but my phone was dead then.  I spent the hour walking around the pool so I got some good points that day but some of the other people in the pool kept looking at me like I was nuts.

Sunday morning after Brinlie's baptism I awoke with a fever and if I had been home I would have stayed in bed all day but I felt like I needed to go to church to support Brinlie.  So everyone in Maren's ward will probably be sick next week or in two weeks.

Brinlie with her frozen birthday cake

After church Evan came and made his famous steak sandwiches for lunch.  We cleaned some strawberries also to eat.  It was a great sandwich but not weight watchers friendly. Then later they had another birthday cake for Brinlie to use the Frozen Characters that Maren had ordered for her birthday cake but they came late.  They got a yummy cookies and cream ice cream cake.  They really looked cute on the cake and Ellie has had a great time playing pretend with them. Evan and Shirley had to leave that afternoon to get back to Texas to work.

Maren with her friend Tara

Sunday night Nathan's Bishop called me to say that he thought we needed to get a lawyer to help Nathan through the process of the divorce. We had a good talk I really like Bishop Alonzo. I texted my brother to ask him if he knew of someone who could do the job for us.

Monday Maren and I decided to hang out at home.  In the morning Ellie used the Frozen characters to tell me how to play her game while Maren did some cleaning and Max was asleep.  The Christmas trees were the die and she would tell me what I had to do after I rolled just like we do with a game.  It made me realize that sometimes we think that they understand what we are doing but they may just be as in the dark as I was about her game.

Ellie and Brinlie at Golden Corral

Landon had to work but he finished his work about 1:00 p.m.  We just had Ellie and Max at home so it was relatively quiet.  In the afternoon while Max was napping we played Maren's game of Life that has the spinner and the game controls on the IPad.  It was really fun.  Even Ellie could do it with a little help. 

Max enjoying himself after the baptism

We were supposed to get the money from our refinance loan on Monday and of course I thought that meant Monday morning so I had a major frustration when it was not there.  I spent part of the day calling Larry and the Finance Company and finally found out that the money would be deposited after 3:00 p.m. or on Tuesday.  Finally it was there about 4:00 P.M.

Ellie in her boots

Monday evening Brinlie had dance so we all went to Jacksonville. My brother Larry had texted me a number for a lawyer that he thought would be good.  His name was Harold Zuflacht.  He wanted me to fill out a paper before a meeting on information about finances so I texted Nathan and Sara both to see if they would help me with the paper.  Nathan told me not to do anymore because he is still trying to find a way to win her back.  Sara was afraid that we were going to fight her.  I assured her that we were getting a lawyer to help Nathan through the process.  Then she told me that they were transferring Nathan to the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Facility that they have been wanting to get Nathan in.  She told me on Friday when we talked that they had approved that he be sent there but I was surprised it was so soon.  She told me she was helping Nathan pack as he was going tomorrow.  So I guess she is still wanting to help help but that also furthers Nathan's denial that she is leaving.  Here is a link to the Warm Springs website about the one that Nathan is in Warm Springs, Thousand Oaks http://www.warmsprings.org/our-facilities/hospitals/warm-springs-rehabilitation-hospital-thousand-oaks/

Gauge eating his ice cream

We had decided earlier that we would go to Golden Corral after Brinlie's dance so while she was in dance Maren and Landon went to a Thrift store to find some sea bags for him for the ship and then to a home decor store where they bought an omelet maker for Landon and a mechanical hot pad for Maren.  Then we went to Golden Corral.  That was basically family home evening.

Max at Golden Corral

While we were out Maren kept getting messages on her phone that school was closed and dance was canceled for Ellie. Ellie was devastaed as she thought she would never be able to go again.  Landon got a message that the base was closed for two days.  We stopped at the Grocery store so Maren could get her basics and it was basically being shopped out so Maren posted some of the empty shelves in a picture on Facebook.   When we got home no one worried about the kids going to bed so I think we watched the movie Frozen.

Brinlie starting to throw a snowball

Ellie and Brinlie with Lindsay their neighbor Maren with Gauge and Max

When we got up the next morning it was not snowing as predicted and it didn't start snowing until later in the afternoon.  Landon made us all omelets with his omelet maker.  We basically had a lazy day watching movies and playing games together.  The kids have a game called Xfinity from Disney that they like and We watched "Saving Mr. Banks" and "Wreckit Ralph".  Maren made a great Asian dish for dinner with edamome on the side.  When I talked to Larry at 7:00 p.m. he told me to go to bed because I had lost my voice and I fully intended to but then I went down stairs to finish my laundry and got interested in the movie and stayed up until 11:30 p.m.

Making Snow angels in the Cul-de-sac

Wednesday when we got up we had 2-3 inches of snow with a half inch of ice under it.  We all dressed up after breakfast and went out to play in the snow.  Gauge was really bummed because Maren and Landon had left the snow clothes in Utah that they had bought because they thought that they would never use them.  But they put on double pants and they did have coats and gloves.  I had to borrow some of Landon's coats and gloves.  It was really fun for them.  They still had the sleighs they had brought from Utah when they moved.  When they came out then the neighbors came out and their neighbors driveway was sloped so they could use that for the sleighs.  They laid down in the middle of the cul-de-sac and made snow angels because there were no snow plows.  It was about 20 degrees outside.

Snow angels resurrecting

I had no boots so I came in when my feet were cold and got dressed and ready to go to the airport.  Delta kept calling me to tell me my flight had been delayed but I thought it was calling about the first flight in the morning so I ignored it and did not go in and check the Delta app.  The app was not working very good anyway.

We played another game of Life with all the kids and me.  Maren was helping Ellie.  Landon took a nap. Ellie won the game so she was thrilled because she thought that she was losing because someone sued her and she got really mad when Maren wanted her to turn in her 100 dollar bills for a 500 because she thought she had less money. We had a good time and then I got ready to go.

Brinlie, Ellie, Gauge, and Bethany a neighbor

Landon and Gauge pushing Maren and Ellie

Landon and Maren took me to the airport in the Truck.  They were finally plowing the other side of the main road but not the side we were on.  The road to the airport is just two lanes and it had not been plowed so it was snow packed.  It looked like a little country lane.  When we got there there was a sign on the door that said that the airport was closed until Thursday.  So I looked at my app and it said that my flight had been changed until the 30th and I had not noticed the date change.  I felt bad that I had not paid more attention and they had to drive me out to the airport before we realized what was going on.  So I am here for one more day.

We were expecting our mission call Wednesday but Larry texted that it did not come so I was really bummed.

Landon wanted to have a movie marathon when they got home.  Maren fixed some great potato soup and biscuits and I ate more than I should but at this time I had no voice and was really feeling run down so I excused myself and went upstairs to bed about 7:30 p.m.  I texted a few people and looked at Facebook for a while on my Nextel and talked to a neighbor who called on the phone and then I finally went to bed about 9:00 p.m.  Ellie came in during the night to sleep with me.  I don't mind because I like to snuggle but she really needs a full size bed to sleep in with Brinlie because she likes to snuggle and she will not stay in bed.  I was so tired that I did not wake up until 5:07A.M.  And then I promptly went back to sleep until 8:11 a.m.  I could have slept longer but I decided to get up with the kids so Maren could sleep in one more day.

I have worked most of the day on this blog and trying to upload pictures.  Delta just called about 1:00 p.m. and said that my flight is cancelled for the third time so unless it gets warmer this afternoon I may be here for a long time.  I spent the afternoon tending the kids while they played outside in the snow and Maren and Landon went to Jacksonville shopping.  Now they are grilling steaks so that is one reason that I am glad I am staying for another day!!

January 24th

My heart is broken tonight.  Sara called about 5:00 p.m. to let me know that she had just told Nathan that she was going forward with the divorce.  I had hoped that with serving Nathan all these months that she would learn to love him again but I guess that is not the case.  We have seen it coming.  Sara would not answer most of the family texts offering to talk or help her.  Nathan has been texting me for more than two months asking me how to get Sara to talk to him and love him

Max and Ellie on Koda

.  I probably gave him the wrong advice because I have been telling him how to talk to her so that she will feel loved.  I have been anguishing on how to help Sara see that Nathan needed a wife right now.  When we came down at Christmas it was evident that Sara was willing to work for Nathan's care but she did not want to be a wife.  She said that she still wanted to advocate for Nathan and that we were welcome to come stay at the house but I don't see how she can be Nathan's advocate when she is not his wife and though she has moved on in her emotions it will be hard for Nathan for a long time to be able to be with her without having a hard time. And though I know that I should be able to do that, I don't know how to say let's just be friends yet.  He has had a hard time with his emotions since the stoke anyway.  Jacob said that he cried and was upset for about 2 hours after she left yesterday.  Luckily Jacob had decided to go visit him this weekend because he had some time off and was there to try to comfort him after "she ripped his heart out" as Jacob said.  He said that the Bishop was there and that they were able to give him a blessing so hopefully that will bring Nathan some comfort but Jacob said Nathan pretty much felt like he had nothing left tonight.

It is hard for me when anyone gets a divorce.  I stayed with John when I could not find any love for him in my heart after he was unfaithful and rude and dishonest with me and I feel that if you have the Lord with you to help you and you turn to him for help when things get bad that he can help you do anything.  I learned a long time ago that commitment is more important to a marriage than love.  I know that some would disagree with me but I have also learned by observing others that a divorce does not help you to find the happiness that you are seeking.  It only complicates things for the couple and everyone around them.  But I have also learned that once someone decides that they want a divorce that you cannot talk them out of it.  If you want to work on the relationship and try to make things better that you can always work things out.  I know that if John had not been willing to work with me and stay with me that we would not have been able to hold things together.  I have prayed for so long that Sara would want to try to work things out and that she and Nathan would be able to work together but I know that she has her agency and so that prayer cannot be answered yes.  I am not so nieve to think that Nathan was perfect and that she doesn't have reason to want to leave but I thought maybe the stroke would humble them both enough to change things.,

June and Maren at Mike's Farm

For several months people have asked me how Nathan is and physically he is fine and progressing well but he has been stressing about Sara and he has not always been emotionally well.  He gets upset very easily and cries over lots of things.  He has improved with this over the months but often he would act like a spoiled child.  Lately I see the adult Nathan more and more but it is hard to see him have so many challenges despite how far he has come the last few months. I know that this will not help things but eventually if he turns to the Lord it will work out for his best.  I have a firm testimony of that.

Landon and Gauage at Mikes Farm

I am freezing on Maren house.  The keep their heat at 68 and when I am cold my fibromyalgia is worse.  I have a space heater in my bedroom but it is not enough.  My hands are cold and I am chattering as I write this.  There spare room it really cold anyway because it does not get much of the air and it come in from the ceiling and hot air rises so I think it never gets to the floor.

Landon, Gauge, Evan, Brinlie, Shirley, Ellie, June, Maren taking picture

Max with his knife at Mike's Farm

In the morning today I tended Maren and Landon's kids so they could go to a marriage workshop for the people in his unit that are deploying.  Brinlie and I worked on a pillow kit together that Maren had bought her.  She did a good job sewing but we need to get some different glue because it did not hold like it should even though we followed the instructions.  Guage wanted to teach me how to play the Infinty game they have but he ended up playing it by himself and with Ellie and Brinlie until they were fighting over it so mucy that I made them turn it off.  Ellie painted me a picture and made me a flower out of paper to have.  Max is a typical 18 month old that is into everything.  Throws his food on the floor when he gets done or doesn't want it and wants to be in the middle of everything.  I was trying to help Gauge with a flip track and he kept trying to pick it up or would jump on top of Gauge and grab him by the throat so that he could tackle him.  He thinks nothing of sitting on their dog Koda's head or back and Koda lets him do it with no complaint.  He just gets up if it is bothering him.

About three we tried to take a walk to the park when Maren and Landon got home and we made it but it was really cold so we just stayed a few minutes and then came home.  The park has a lot of the old time play equipment with a big tall slide and a merry go round type spinner.

Max on Koda

We came home and played with the kids for a while and then it was time to meet Landon's parents.  After Sara calling Maren and I didn't feel much like cooking and Maren is really stuffed up and not feeling well.  So we met Landon's parents at a place called Mike's Farm where they have a restaurant that serves a family type meal like they would have served to farm workers back in the early part of the 20th century they put it on the table and everyone pays one price.  There are no choices except for what you want to drink and what you want for dessert and what you decide to eat from the table.  They serve Fried Chicken, Mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, ham pieces and biscuits with ham inside.  They have different desserts to choose from and you can have two if you want for the price you pay.  I had cheesecake but it was a different type of cheesecake.  It was a fun time with the family even though Ellie and Max got tired.  Max only wanted to eat jam.

They sell Christmas trees on the farm so they also have a gift shop that sells candies and baked goods and a lot of Christmas ornaments and throws and such.  It was really pretty but it was very cold when we went back outside.

Well have to go to bed to get warm.

January 23 and before

Today I flew out to Maren and Landon's in Richlands, North Carolina.  The day started out good when I got up but after eating, almost finishing packing and getting dressed Larry came home from his sleep study and I started getting nauseated.  No Larry did not make me sick.  I tried to settle my stomach but nothing worked and finally I was throwing up my breakfast.  I mistakenly took double of my pills last night and I don't know if that is what caused it but I had a bad stomach until about 1:15 p.m.  Larry gave me a blessing and told me I would get better so he took me to the airport and I got to the gate before I threw up again.  I was able to throw up quiet without much notice in the garbage can before I boarded the plane.  When I got on the plane I was able to sit for a while and eat some apple juice and pretzels that got electrolytes back in me and I started feeling better. While flying I was able to finish the Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt and start the first part of The Old Testament made easy by David Bridges.  So it was a fairly productive trip despite my stomach problems. By the time I got to Maren's I was fine but I sure was hungry tonight.  It was hard to feel full and Maren had a great dinner, Brown sugar and Garlic Chicken, cheese Rice-a-Roni, fruit salad and green beans with Girl Scout cookies for dessert.

We ate dinner at Maren's and then they put on the Frozen soundtrack to listen to while they all helped with the dishes and then we got ready to play a game called "Beat the Parents"  it is a Disney trivia game that the kids really enjoy.  Then they had family prayer and we all started for bed.  Ellie came down to sit in my lap while I called Larry so I had a chance to hug her.  It is good to be here with them.  They really had a good spirit in their home tonight.

I got word today that my Aunt Dona died today about 1:30 p.m.  She has been really sick for several weeks so it is really a blessing but I am sure that it is hard for Mom.  Dona is my mom's sister.  I called her tonight and she said that she was sad yet relieved because Dona had been so sick.  I don't know when the funeral will be but probably before I get back.  Hopefully Larry will go to represent us.

Just some highlights of the week.

Sunday was my niece's mission farewell in Bountiful.  Maryn Jenkins is going to the Laie Hawaii Temple visitor's center for her mission.  She gave a beautiful talk about how the spirit had prompted her on several occasions that she needed to go on a mission and that she needed to go now.  It was good to see her with her own testimony and conviction that she needed to go.  After we went to the house and ate way to many sweets and Hawaiian haystacks.  It was fun to see some of my family that I don't see as often as I would like and talk with them.

Monday I was excited to lose 4 lbs again at weight watchers.  It made me feel better because I had several slips with sweets last week like at Maryn's farewell.

Despite the fact that I got up and started going I could not get feeling better and was aching so much that I finally decided that it was not my fibromyalgia but the cold that has been going around.  I went to the gym in the morning for a while but then I went home and took a nap for most of the afternoon trying to get feeling better.  When Larry wanted to go to the gym for Family Home Evening I said not me so he stayed home too and we did some studying on the church website for Family Home Evening.  I went in and learned how to transfer sources from Family Tree to my Roots Magic files and downloaded the sources that I had put on my dad.

Tuesday we slept in but then my fever broke during the night and I felt better so after morning things we went to the gym.  When we got back we called to see if we were still going to close on our refinance loan and they finally said yes at 4:00 p.m..  So I worked on curriculum until we had to go about 3:30 p.m. and we went to sign the papers for our loan.  This will make it so our interest rate is 3.78 and it is a 15 year loan instead of a 30 year loan.  Because Larry has an abatement on the property taxes for the house because of his disability status the payment was actually less than they had quoted us so it did not go up that much more for changing to a 15 year loan. 

Kirsten wanted Larry to give her a blessing after dinner and then we went to the gym in the evening and we ran into the Bishop and his wife after when we stopped at the grocery store.  The Bishop was on the phone so we talked to his wife and told her now it would be wonderful if we got our mission call on Wednesday and she got all excited too but then after we got home the Bishop called and said that when he checked it online it said waiting to be assigned like last week so we were a little disappointed but at least he called so we did not have to anticipate it for one more day.

Wednesday morning we finally got paid and we got up and went to the temple in the late morning.  I don't think that I have seen the temple so busy ever in all the time I have attended the Bountiful temple.  The parking lot was full and we had to use lockers in the back of the dressing room.  They have a new temple film so I suppose that is part of it.  They just came out with a new one in the summer but now they have another one and they said in the Deseret News that they had two so that there would be variety.  It will really give variety too.  This film is different than some of the interpretations of the temple ceremony.

When we got out of the temple I had a text that Taylor was really sick and that Kirsten needed to borrow a thermometer and wanted Larry to give her a blessing.  So we went and got a thermometer at Smith's and went there as soon as we could.  Taylor had been coming down with the cough and cold type stuff.  Kirsten said that the doctor said that he thought it was RSV and that she needed to watch her temperature.  When we took it it was 100.5 but Kirsten had given her some ibuprofen and cough syrup while she was waiting for us so it could have gone down.  She had fallen asleep but Larry gave her a blessing anyway.

Then we went home to buy our tickets to come to Maren's.  We have been planning to come for a long time but because of various things we never had the money to buy the tickets.  We went in and they wanted $707.00 for a night flight but I had promised Maren and Landen that I would get there to babysit on Friday before 8:00 a.m and it did not land until 8:33 a.m.  The next tickets that came during the day were $834 per person round trip.  We decided that we could not afford to pay that much for both of us and Larry said that he would stay home.  I did not want to leave him home but knew that he was right that we did not have enough for both of us so I just bought the one ticket.  We had gone in on Tuesday night and looked for a minute and it was $739.00 per ticket then but we did not have the money until Wednesday so I was shocked when it went up $100.00

Larry had to go to a sleep study that evening so we ate and then got him ready to go and then I tried to pack after he was gone.  I took my pills and then I was going to pack my pills for the evening for today in a bag in my purse in case I needed them before the suitcase got opened.  I got them all in a cup and picked them up and took them again without realizing what I was doing until I had taken another batch.  They are mostly pain pills so I thought I would be okay.  It seemed that I had a hard time sleeping, I woke up every hour and I never felt like I was asleep most of the night, then this morning I got sick so I don't know what to think.

Well it is late her and so I had been get to bed even if it is only 9:30 p.m. Utah time.