On the 18th after I wrote, we saw the Harveys and Sister Lynn Hansen, all of whom went home this month. We've been asked to serve on the team that visits the missionaries before they leave to give them the checkout list of things that need to be done. Usually we just have those in West Temple Apartments, but we had the Roberts on the other side of the Conference Center and Siste Hansen at the Garden Apartments, so there was a little more to getting with everyone this time.
Thursday the 19th was mission conference and Elder and Sister Renlund spoke. She spoke about baptism for the dead and he spoke about God's goals that have not changed--gather scattered Israel, families are to be sealed in holy temples and help prepare the world for the second coming. Family history work involves all three of them. He talked about the parables in chapter 25 of Matthew--the 10 virgins, the talents and the sheep and goats. We don't know when the second coming will be, so we have to become and remain worthy. Readiness is earned drop by drop over time. In the parable of the talents we learn we are expected to magnify our talents--become the person God gave you the power to become. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, they are separated according how they helped and served each other. We need to help those who are struggling. I thought he made excellent points.
We had our last Fireflies get together on the 23rd at Peterson's in Farmington. Their home and yard are really lovely. They had set up two big tents and we ate under those and played games out on the yard afterwards. It was really fun, just so hard to have the Petersons and Roberts leaving.
When we pulled up, Robert lifted the hood and took the brisket off of the manifold--of course everyone got a kick out of that.
People could bring their own meat or the Peterson's had hamburger and we had brisket. We also had potato salad, 7-layer salad, baked beans, corn on the cob and my chocolate cake--all sooo good!
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| Sister Isaacson and Sister Bileen--we added Sister Bileen to our group when the rest of her group went home |
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| Elders Lane, Wilson, Ruggles, Birch, Roberts and Peterson--such great guys
The next day we went to Richard's for our last reunion planning meeting. I think we were all feeling a little pressure about having everything ready for June 4th. We could possibly have over 100, though I don't actually expect that many.
Thursday I had a perm and I got to thinking about Aunt Gladys. We had seen a picture on FaceBook and she really needed a haircut and a perm. So I called Carolyn Atmar and made her an appointment. Robert called Arthur Ray to be sure she didn't have anything else scheduled that day and then called Jo to be sure she could take her. Her mind has slipped a lot since we've been here and it really breaks our hearts. She'll often call Robert 3-4 times within an hour--not realizing she's already called.
Friday the 27th was such a fun day. Will and Louise Jeter came by the library in the morning. Their son is getting married and all of the kids were here for the wedding. If I could have my pick of anyone from home to bring up here, it would certainly be Louise. She would be so great, like Owen, any place they put her and she'd love it.
Later, Charles and LouEllen Cryer came. We didn't have nearly enough time together, but it was so fun to see them. We walked through Temple Square and over to the Blue Lemon for lunch. Everything on Temple Square was blooming and there was a lovely, cool breeze.
At the restaurant we ran into one of the Jeter kids and then on the way back to the library we ran into Amanda and Haley. I'd had Haley in sixth grade! So it was like transporting our Texas friends to Salt Lake--couldn't be more perfect.
We had a special treat at church Sunday. Elder Dallen H. Oaks and his wife attended our branch and spoke in Sacrament Meeting. She used the glove with the little pictures on each finger to explain how those are the parts that make up a testimony and he spoke on Acts.
After church we left on the long-awaited trip to Chesterfield. We went to Malad, which I'd heard John Williams talk about since jr. high. He went up there every summer to farm with his dad and I think maybe still does. It was so much prettier than I had imagined--almost reminded me of The Sound of Music with green, rolling hills and snow-peaked mountains in the distance. We had reservations at a Comfort Inn in Pocatello. Richard and Carolyn stayed there and so did Judy and Lucky with her daughter Sarah and three grandkids. We drove about an hour back to go to Chesterfield, so guess we wouldn't have had to stay up there, but it was a nice get-away. Everything was much prettier than I expected. They've had so much rain this year that everything was green. When we got there we saw the Conlins and they introduced us to some Tolman cousins--there are LOTS of those!
They're doing a great job of restoring the homes and other buildings. Many of the homes had descendants of the original owners to explain about the family and who originally lived there. We went in the Chester Call home, which is an ancestor of our Elder Stoddard at the library and we took pictures for him. We went in the Tolman home, of course, the post office and the Mercantile.
The Mercantile was owned by a Barlow and Tolman and they were some of the last to leave the area because the store was pretty successful. They were situated right on the Oregon Trail, so did a lot of trading with the travelers coming through. They made friends with Chief Washaki and he seems to have convinced the other chiefs not to attack these settlers. That was a good arrangement. We stayed several hours. We bought a CD of pictures of the different homes and families and bought a book on Chesterfield that looks really interesting. I loaned it to Elder Stoddard--bought him a CD, but not a book.
On the way home we went through Preston, Idaho, so we called the Moser's. They were in Ogden, but said they were on their way home and that Ashlee was at the house, so go on in! We had a good visit with Ashlee. She has signed her contract to return to her school next year. She enjoyed showing us the Moser's home, which is lovely. She likes hearts and birds and she has fun sayings scattered throughout. When they got home we loved visiting with them. They're just such good people. They wanted us to spend the night and we could have because Tuesday is our Pday, but we felt we had to get back because we needed to get ready for Matt and Meghan to arrive.
This is the view from Moser's driveway
 
Robert got up Tuesday morning to download his pictures to Picasa and somehow erased them all, so he called a photo shop to see if they could be restored. We took it in and are hoping they were able to save the pictures.
Matthew and Meghan and Mason came in about 6:00. Mason has grown! He looks so big! It was so good to see them and visit a bit. It will be a busy few days.
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