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.