Treats from Company, Musical Treats and Treats at Church

23 August 2015

When Josh and Blanca arrived on the 11th, we somehow thought they were going to be here a week.  Maybe it was just wishful thinking on our part, but they were only here for three days!  Blanca's sister was graduating from BYU on the 13th and they left after graduation!  We loved having them and playing with Aaron, but the time sure flew by quickly.


Wednesday the 12th was kind of a crazy day.  We were scheduled for a temple/research day, but we were taking a class that was on Mondays and Wednesdays, so we had to go in for class.  Then we used some time to put the family pictures Reba had brought us onto a flash drive, then went to Mission conference in the afternoon and decided we could go to the temple and do some sealings after that.  Josh and Blanca had spent most of the day with her sister, so they came back to the house for enchiladas and we had a good visit.  It turned out to be a pretty productive day after all.

Lester and Cindy Stutts came in Friday night, the 14th.  They were here to attend BYU Education Week and we were so glad to get to spend some time with them.  We became friends over 30 years ago when we all first married and did things together several times a week.  Of course, Robert and Lester had grown up together in Silsbee, and Cindy and I were the newcomers from out west--most of the time no one could keep track of which of us was from Nevada and which from Arizona.  They moved to Arkansas in the mid 80's I guess, but we've kept in touch over the years--we just pick up wherever we left off.  They moved back to Texas and lived in Conroe for many years and Reba and I would meet Cindy at the outlet mall to do our school shopping--with all the kids in tow!  Then Lester went overseas and when he came back they moved to Arizona, California and now Washington state. It sure was good to catch up on some long overdue visiting.  Cindy brought us wonderful things she had made--aprons for each of us, a cute reversible bag for me, a picture about missionary service and yummy homemade grape jelly--she grew the grapes, juiced them, and made the jelly.  I'm impressed! She put missionary name tags on our aprons and my bags--they'll be wonderful keepsakes of a wonderful time in our lives.

I had a surprise at the library on Saturday morning.  One of my cousins came in to see us.  I had no idea that he has written an 1800 page book on our family history!  It is on-line and I have been printing off the parts that pertain to my mother's family.  He also covered his dad's family and his wife's family and I'm not related to them, so I don't have to print off all 1800 pages!  As Robert says, "Just 1/3 of the book three times"--once for me, once for my brother and once for my sister! Look at all that I'm saving him...One amazing story I recently read tells about my grandmother's mother, who was the third wife in a polygamous marriage, which I knew.  But the first two wives were sisters who died a year apart and there were 20 children among the three of them!  Caring for twenty children is way beyond me.  I did not know that story previously and I have a whole new respect for that great-grandmother.  This is her, Sarah Jane Burningham:


Cindy and I went to the Tabernacle Choir broadcast on Sunday the 16th.  I normally watch it on TV, but there's nothing like seeing it in person, and when you can do that by walking across the street, it's pretty memorable.  We came back for brunch, then walked to the Joseph Smith building for church. The flowers are still gorgeous, and it's not as hot as it was for awhile.

On Monday we had another Aloha Social.  They have them in our branch every two months to say good by to those leaving and hello to those coming.  The entertainment this time was The Smith Brothers--three brothers who were all in the Tabernacle Choir for a combined total of 51 years. They
did some great "oldies" that the group totally enjoyed.  The tenor had a truly beautiful voice and they told some funny experiences of growing up and then when they were in the choir.

Lester and Cindy didn't go to Education Week on Tuesday because that is our day off and we spent the day together.  We toured the Conference Center, including the roof.  There is some beautiful art in the CC including the originals of many of the BofM Friberg paintings, a room with pictures of all of the prophets, and a wall of the different general presidencies now.  Then we went on the roof to see the gardens up there and the waterfall.  I loved the wall with etchings of people from all over the world and you can see your reflection in the wall with them.

We went up to City Cemetery to see where so many of the prophets are buried, then headed down to Orem for lunch at a different Brazilian BBQ place.  Wow, that's good eating!  They have a BIG, very fresh salad bar, then the meat that is so good and the grilled fresh pineapple.  You just finally have to say "STOP!"  Unfortunately, next door was Chocolate World, and we had to top it all off with a truffle.  What can I say?  They're my favorite...

On the way back we stopped at a place called Wood Products.  I was able to just look and not buy, but Cindy is getting ready for a Super Saturday I think, so she indulged in a couple of things. We even went to a movie before we returned home--The Cokeville Miracle.  Why don't I remember that from when it happened in the 80's in Wyoming?  It's a true story, and truly a miracle.

It was back to work on Wednesday and Richard and Angel and Jill's two youngest girls stopped by the library.  It was so fun to see them.  Robert helped Angel print off a big fan chart pedigree for Cullen to take on his mission and I helped the girls do a picture of them in old-fashioned clothes at the Discovery Center.  That's a fun place; the kids love it.  There's a big one at the JSMB and they're adding a much bigger area for it at the Family History Library this fall.  We're going to be under construction here shortly.

We hated to see Lester and Cindy leave Saturday morning.  We enjoyed hearing each evening about the classes they had attended that day and also enjoyed the goodies they brought with them.  I'd never had chocolate covered cinnamon gummy bears before and all I can say is, if you see them, try them--you won't regret it!

Saturday evening Marvin Goldstein was putting on a concert at the Assembly Hall and I wanted to go, but Robert was ready to sit one out, so I decided to go with Sister Isaacson.  Robert went downstairs with me to wait for her and who came walking up our sidewalk but Jill and Marshall Hayes!

We knew they were coming up for Education Week, but were still so surprised to see them. They were headed to the concert, too, which doesn't surprise me at all.  I loved the patriotic numbers and his Fiddler on the Roof medley.  There was a soprano with a beautiful voice who sang several numbers with him.  The music available in this area is so amazing.

We fed the missionaries this afternoon and had had wonderful meetings at church.  Our Relief Society lesson was on "grace" and Sister Waller used a talk by Brad Wilcox.  It was excellent.  The Sunday School teacher did an excellent job and then in Sacrament Meeting the Klopfer's spoke. They are so involved in music and I really enjoyed both of them. The picture on the left is President Klopfer.  She talked about the impact hymns have on our lives and urged us to write down an experience we've had.  I thought of Robert and Matthew and I singing to Katie just before she passed away.  We sang the songs we used to sing in home evening and on the way to church on Sunday.  It was a very sweet, peaceful experience, one I will always treasure.

Matthew had called us this morning about the news from home--Mark Ratcliff is the new stake president with Carlin Wagley and Matt Peterson from Buna as counselors.  They will be wonderful. We are very proud of Mark and know he will excellent.

Words of Wisdom, a New Project, and Company Arrives Bearing Gifts

Tuesday, 11  August 2015

A week ago Saturday, on the first, I was assigned to give the Spiritual Thought in our prayer meeting at the Library.  I had had the assignment for a couple of weeks, so I had thought about it a lot. Finally I decided to share the story of the trip Becky Cryer and I made to Nauvoo in 2003.  We had Katie and Meghan with us and it was a great trip.  We laughed and told stories and probably even shed a few tears, but had a great time.  Becky has a great-great grandfather who is well known in Mormon history, Hosea Stout.

Hosea Stout

 Everywhere we went in Nauvoo there would be a plaque or a statue or some kind of story about Hosea.  I'd be driving down the road and Becky would call out, "STOP!!"  I'd slam on the brakes, sure I was about to run over someone and there would be another plaque about Hosea, and Becky would have to have a picture of it.  That summer when we came out to Salt Lake, I was telling my cousin about our trip and he said, "You know we have ancestors who were in Nauvoo, don't you?"

Whaaat? No, I didn't know that because I don't know the stories about my mother's side of my family.  I was raised by my dad and his family.  So I bought a book about my great great grandfather, Judson Tolman.  On the way home I started reading it and on page 4 I read that Hosea Stout and Judson Tolman were called to be scouts to find a road through the wilderness for the pioneers to travel.  There really are no coincidences; there's a plan and it's amazing.

Last Sunday in Relief Society the teacher asked different ones to share insights they had gained as they raised their families.  One lady was asked to give a talk on "Forgiveness" and she decided she was having a hard time preparing it because she hadn't forgiven her son.  She got on her knees about 3:00 in the morning and prayed about forgiving her son, who had been so very difficult while he was a teen-ager and had given them major problems.  She said as she was praying, she distinctly heard a voice in her mind say. "You are not called to judge him, only to love him."  I thought about the tremendous wisdom in that.

On Tuesday we had our normal errands to accomplish and I also had a project to work on.  We went to my sister's in Sandy and took some boards and borrowed my brother-in-law's tools.  I can't go into any detail because some grown children reading this may be getting one for Christmas, but it was fun to work on a wood project again.  It's been awhile.

Our company arrived Wednesday evening, bearing gifts!  Reba had  Zummo links to bring to Robert and Matthew had asked her to bring his dad some links and some boudain, so Robert was glad to see Lena and Reba and Judson, and THRILLED to get his gifts!

On Thursday Reba came to the library and then Peggy Wilson (who lives in Orem) came to the library and we all went to the Church Office Building for lunch.  Reba had decided after our pictures from a month ago, that she would be here on a Thursday for prime rib at the COB!  Once again, it was sooo good!  It was so fun to visit with Peggy and Reba both and remember fun times from all of those years ago.  Peggy said of all the places they've lived, they really have fond memories of Silsbee, even though they were only there a year.

Lena and Judson stayed here with us on Wednesday night and then again on Monday night before they left, but the rest of the time they were with the wedding party at a beautiful cabin up at Sundance.  Reba stayed here with us and we had good visits in the evenings.

Last Saturday was our zone party because our zone leader and his wife are going home the end of this month.  They're wonderful people and his wife recently had to have knee replacement surgery, so this last little bit has been a little tough for them, but they're sure nice folks.  At the party one of the senior elders had asked each of us to try to come up with a short little family story we could share and I have to tell my favorite from that night.  One of the women told us about her Catholic grandmother. She would fix a big meal for her grandfather when he came in from working outside, then she would clean up and go outside, climb a tree and sit on a limb until he fell asleep.  Then she would come in and go to bed.  She explained that this was her method of birth control.  She said she didn't know if it worked for her grandmother or not because she didn't know whether she started doing this before or after they had 11 kids!

Reba went to church with us on Sunday in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which is just so beautiful.  I think our meetings are always great and our speaker for Sacrament Meeting was Ted Callister who was a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, but is now General Sunday School president.  He and his wife were both great.

After church we went to South Jordan and had dinner with John and Janie Lauritzen, who lived in Silsbee about 20 years ago.  Their oldest son, Adam, is about Paul's age and is very good friends with Brian Ratcliff. They're wonderful people and we had such a good visit (and a really good dinner!). It's just crazy that we've been able to see so many friends from Silsbee--all people we've dearly loved through the years who have touched our lives in so many positive ways.

In the back: John and Adam; Middle: Reba, Janie, Jake, Kara, Front: Robert and Patty

Yesterday it was back to the library for us.  I talked to a couple of guys from Paris, France who were thrilled that there's a Family History Library there where they can go and get help on their genealogy when they get home!  When we got home, Reba was fixing dinner for us, and Gary Hall, who had served his mission in Silsbee nearly 30 years ago, came by to visit and brought chocolate pie from the Lion House.  People bearing gifts are such welcome guests!  We had a good visit, enjoyed Gary's memories and stories from his days in Silsbee and then got him signed up for a FamilySearch account on the computer so he can start working on his genealogy!  That's what we do now...

This morning we took Jud and Lena and Dainen and Reba to the airport.  We hadn't had nearly enough time with them.  I told Reba, "It's like when you go to Nauvoo the first time and plan to stay for 2 days.  You realize that's not enough, so the next time you stay for 5.  That's not enough, you need at least 10!"  It's that way here.  We've been here 2 months and haven't seen a fraction of the things we want to see.  I keep hoping a year of P-Days will be enough, but I'm not sure it will.

 

When we got home, Josh and Blanca arrived, so we don't have to go through withdrawal yet.  At the moment they've gone to check out the Down East Warehouse clothing place that I've been told is pretty nifty, but they only have clothes to fit smaller ladies than I am, so I decided to stay here and catch up--I'd gotten pretty far behind on my story telling.