November 7th

We went for a walk today and noticed that there is snow on the mountains.  It has been a really nice month so far.

BJ with Cieli

Holly with Cieli

Ceili

          BJ and Holly sent pictures of them visiting the aquarium here in Utah.


Michelle sent pictures of Jaron and Kallise with
their pumpkins

Jaron

Kallise

November 5th

Kirsten and Taylor opening presents

This morning I went to a doctor named Patrick Kendall.  I have had problems with my sciatica.  I am trying to find a new doctor since Dr. Lee died recently.  He was not very happy about my taking Tramadol and only agreed to fill my prescription for one month.  I think he thought I was an addict of some kind the way he acted.  He also gave me a prescription for physical therapy.  Then I am supposed to go back in a month.  I don't think I will ever go back and see him.  He is not my kind of doctor. 

Showing the presents

Showing more presents

It was Kirsten's birthday today.  She is 37.  It is hard to believe that I have children that old.  We had a dinner together at home and then she unwrapped some presents from Taylor and us.  We are planning to go and see the Peanuts movie tomorrow night to celebrate.

Nov 4th

We applied for a new mission at the Family and Church History Headquarters mission.  Today was the orientation for the new mission.  They took our pictures and we had a packet of information to submit.  Then they took us into an orientation room and made sure we submitted the packet and told us that we would see them on the 30th of November to start training.

I was excited to meet a lady that I knew in Vernal there.  Dorothy LeBeau was there.  We finally figured out that we knew each other after looking at each other while waiting for our picture to be taken.  The last time I saw her was when she worked at LaPoint Elementary when I worked as an aid there.  I remember that she told the teacher that I was working with, "Do you know what quality of person you are getting here?"  She was also married to Wallace Anderson's partner in the Furniture business when it was called A&L Home Furnishings.  The A being for Anderson and the L being for LeBeau.

June's Missionary picture

Larry's missionary picture

Halloween-October 31st

Matthew, Leah, Owen

Leah

Owen I think

Matthew I think

Halloween was on a Saturday this year and so it was easier to get things done for Trick or Treating.  Taylor dressed up like a character from Monster High called Mal.  Kirsten decided to go out early when the sun was still shining.  We actually got there before some people were ready.  I wore my Grim Reaper costume but it got to be too hot and I had to go to the bathroom so I had to come back early.  Kirsten and Taylor stayed out for about a half hour longer.  We took some pictures and then they went to their old neighborhood in Layton for a while.  The pictures of the other Grand kids were posted on Facebook or sent by text to us.

Max, Brinlie, Ellie, Gauge and Ryker

Cieli

Holly, Cieli and BJ

Taylor

Mal with the Grim Reaper

Taylor with Grandma June

Kallise as Hermonie

Haille passing out candy

Jaron taking a break from his Darth Vader costume

Sammy, Isaac, David, Maggie

Taylor with Kirsten

Taylor

October 29th

Today was a rainy day.  I spent most of the day indoors working on the bills and trying to balance the checkbook and the budget.  I had some problems with the computerized budget sheet that I am using that developed when I worked too long on it when the computer was not plugged in and it died before I had closed it so I needed to clean that up before I started with the work for today.  It is so good to have the money that we need today and be able to pay our bills.

Larry went to the grocery store and bought us a few things.  He also went to Home Depot and bought a ring for the toilet that he thinks will solve the problem of it running all the time.  He was a little disappointed that it did not immediately solve the problems completely but we are hoping that it will settle in.

Larry also spent some time looking at Fox News and it’s analysis of the Republican Candidate debate.  He really likes to listen to that but I can only listen to it for a while or I get frustrated with their constant questioning of what they think something meant.

Kirsten found out today that Taylor has strep also. So they spent their afternoon down in their room resting.  I went to the store to get Taylors medicine for her.  Yesterday the doctor did not think that she had it so she went to school today and participated in the Halloween party and the school activities so her school mates may all be exposed to strep.

Tonight I went to a baby shower for a girl in our ward, Gwen McNeil.  It was fun to get out and see some of the sisters in the ward and talk to them.  They all had questions about how we are adjusting to being home.  Sometimes I don’t know what to say when they ask me that.  I am happy and frustrated at the same time.  At first I felt like I did not have anything to do and now I am feeling overwhelmed with the paperwork that I am not getting done.

Elaina Duke said that she really enjoyed Kirsten in Relief Society.  She said that she is just so “real”.  She is not afraid to say anything.  I think that sounds like someone else I know.

October 28th

Today after getting through all our rituals that we do in the morning  I went to the podiatrist about my foot.  It hurts a lot of the time but not in the same place as before.  I thought it might be a new thing but he said that it is still the tendon that I damaged in San Antonio.  He taped it and told me to ice it and make sure it is supported.  The tape hurt so bad I took it off when I got home.

Larry and I went to see Mom today and help her with whatever she wants.

Kirsten texted me when we were driving down and said that she had strep.  She had gone to the doctor to see why she was getting a sore throat after feeling better earlier in the week.  So I was glad that she had gone in.

Mom had just put in some laundry and she wanted to wait until it was dry before we went to get something to eat.  So, we talked for a while after I put the clothes she had washed in the dryer.  We were just getting ready to go to Denny’s and she suggested that I call and see if Aunt Myrna was okay with us coming up today.  So I called and she said that she would be there.

We went to Denny’s and had a good lunch.  Mom always wants to get the Chicken Noodle Soup when we go there.  She says that she loves it.  Then Mom said that she had to go home and change her shirt before we went to Myrna’s.  Then she also said that we needed to stop on the way to get Myrna some dark chocolate.  So we stopped at the See’s candy shop off of 12300 South in Draper.  Mom got a small box of dark chocolate covered chocolates.  Larry bought two sugar free candy bars.  They gave us all a sample and that was not good for me.  I ended up eating my half of the candy bars before we got to Myrna’s and Mother said she could not believe how much I ate.

We went to Myrna’s and Mom was really tender when we got there.  She had a quiver in her voice when she told Myrna how much she had missed her and that she really loved her.  It was a side of Mom I don’t see very often.  She stood by the bed and told Myrna how much she loved her several times before Myrna asked her to sit down.

Merrilee and Bryan came into the room and talked with us.  Merrilee brought us each a cookie that she had made.  Myrna said that she was cooking a lot of the meals that now which surprised Mom.  She said that Merrilee would not cook before.  She is really shy about doing new things.

We talked for about an hour.  I just stayed in the background mostly for some reason.  Larry spent a lot of time talking to them.  He seemed to be visably touched by the fact that Myrna looked a little better.  He also was very helpful to Mom.  He often offered her is arm to walk with him.  Larry is like Mom and I think sometimes that he understands her more than me because they are both very private people.

We started back about 4:30 p.m.  The traffic was bad for a while because of a wreck on the other side of the road but we finally made it back to Mom’s about 5:00 p.m.  We made sure she was okay and then we left because we wanted to get home in time for the Republican debate.  We worried all the way to Lehi about having to go another way home but by the time we turned around to head home the Freeway was clear and cleaned up.

It seemed like we stayed up late to watch the debate but it was only 9:00 p.m. when we finished watching that and some of the commentary.  There were a lot of good moments and most of them had good things to say but I still like Ben Carsen even if he doesn’t do very well at debate.

October 26th

Tonight for Family Home Evening activity Taylor painted a pumpkin and Kirsten carved one for her for Halloween coming up.

October 25th

We went to Logan today to see Ryker in his ward's Children's Sacrament meeting presentation.  We had dinner at Erick and Heather's and then visited with them.  After we went to visit with Maren and Landon and their kids. Maren's kids also had a presentation today but they had it the same time as Ryker's so we went to the one we were invited to first.  It is so fun to be a Grandma!!!

Maren, Ellie, Landon, Larry and Brinlie

Max, Maren, Ellie, Landon

Larry and Brinlie

Maren and Ellie working on puzzle

June

Ryker decorating the Halloween decorations

Ryker playing a game

October 23rd

Holly and BJ posted a collage of pictures of Cieli today.  They also posted a collage of pictures on their anniversary on October 20th of their wedding pictures.

October 22nd

It seems to take us all morning to do what we did by 9:00 a.m. on the mission.  Of course we are studying the scriptures for about an hour instead of a half hour and we talk more at breakfast and spend more time showering and dressing than we did there but it is ridiculous that it takes us until 12:00 noon to get that all done.  Of course today we didn’t get up until 8:30 a.m.

I worked on the blog in the afternoon.  I am so far behind it is ridiculous.  I was proud of the way I was able to stick to it and I found some material I recorded on my phone that will help.

Larry went to find a battery for his glucose meter but came back unsuccessful then he watched Fox news about the Benghazi hearings for Hilary Clinton today.  He said that he thought that she came through them clean.

We tended Taylor this afternoon for an hour while Kirsten went for a job interview.  We went to cook the last of her cookie dough but when the oven heated up it was smoking so bad I knew I could not use it.  I think that we spilled something the other day and didn’t clean it out.  So I put the cookies in the toaster oven and I started my oven cleaning.  It really was a bad smell and it still is lingering.  I will have to light a candle or spray some Febreze tomorrow.

We went to the temple tonight for ward temple night.  We were the first ones there which has to be some kind of miracle.  It was the old movie because we had someone who speaks Mongolian in the session and the new films to not have a track in Mongolian but I liked it more than I thought.  I really struggled with not feeling good though and being tired.  I kept praying that I would be able to understand it but I felt a certain amount of confusion.

Tonight in scriptures we read 1 Nephi 15.  I was a little frustrated last night when we read Chapter 14 because Nephi just has to ask and he is shown a vision.  I asked Heavenly Father what I had to do to receive help like that.  Tonight we read this quote from the commentary in the institute manual:

“Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles discussed how a hard heart limits our spirituality:

“Nephi attempted to teach his brothers that they could know the meaning of their father’s prophetic utterances, ‘which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord’ (1 Ne. 15:3). Nephi told them if they did not harden their hearts and would keep the commandments and inquire of the Lord in faith, ‘surely these things shall be made known unto you’ (1 Ne. 15:11).

“If we harden our hearts, reject continuing revelation, and limit our learning to what we can obtain by study and reason on the precise language of the present canon of scriptures, our understanding will be limited to what Alma called ‘the lesser portion of the word’ (Alma 12:11). If we seek and accept revelation and inspiration to enlarge our understanding of the inspiration to enlarge our understanding of the scriptures, we will realize a fulfillment of Nephi’s inspired promise that those who diligently seek will have ‘the mysteries of God … unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost’”

Sara posted this collage on Facebook of the kids going to school.  Wish we were closer.