You know your tired when....

"Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow"...well, sort of!

(This is what my Seminary class used to call Sister Clark's self-portrait...go figure!)

Ok, you people who enjoyed lots of beautiful snow this past weekend. We were gearing up for the weather forecast advisory for Friday night for 2 to 5 inches of snow after midnight. Well, I was excited to see our dusting of snow Saturday morning and took these pictures of it covering our flowers and our tomatoes…covered with tarps because of the freeze warnings the past couple of nights. Dale and I bundled up and picked 30 lbs of roma tomatoes for his marinara sauce he made. I helped him cut up peppers and tomatoes and then ran errands and did some needed shopping as he finished up and simmered his sauce in the afternoon. Here is a pic of his beautiful results already put away on our storage shelves.

He is such an avid canner and I am amazed at his patience with the whole process. It snowed all afternoon, but the ground was too warm I guess for it to stick. The stores were packed and it was like shopping for Christmas. I was getting excited again because I figured when the temperature dropped, it would probably start sticking. Last check out my bedroom window at midnight Saturday night before I went to bed showed big, beautiful flakes falling and I knew we would wake up to some snow. WRONG! No snow on the ground in Jerome Sunday morning…well, southwest of town where we live. Dale texted a picture from the Seminary building in town where we meet for our YSA branch meetings that showed 2-3 inches. Neighboring towns received a foot of snow between Friday night and Sunday morning. As we drove into church, the closer we got to town, the more snow we saw. And of course it was all melted by noon.

Just wanted to share these delightful creations that Collette has carved and painted, don't want to steal her thunder, I am sure she will blog about it when she gets a chance...but they certainly brighten up our holiday decor.We're having beautiful sunny days this week in the 50’s and upper 60’s. So, no more whining for snow, I am sure we will get it soon enough and hopefully more in the mountains where it is really needed.

Mikelle's Blessing

We traveled to Pocatello to the blessing of our sweet little Mikelle, Jeremy and Sarah's baby, on Sunday, September 21st. I had my camera but didn't take any pictures, I just get so busy visiting and eating and catching up with all that is going on with Chad and with Jeremy's family in Pocatello and Jef's family in Idaho Falls. Jeremy gave a beautiful blessing and the day was very special. We all gathered at the park across from his church and enjoyed the afternoon together with our family and Sarah's. I asked Jeremy to take some pictures of Mikelle in her blessing dress so that I could post them for you all to see. She is a little angel.
Her older brother, Isaak, loves her very much. We are blessed to have such a great family and such sweet grandchildren.

Mission Reunion

Well gang, i recently attended my mission reunion (as of Thursday) in Heber City, UT at my mission president's house. It was just fantastic.

It was great to catch up with my old companions and friends from the mission:

THE Elder Fackrell (he's mulalu!!)

Utley and I...comps in the MTC

Millet, Baldwin, me, and Batt (none were my comps)

Elder Curran (my comp), Me, and Elder Ray (I guess they are "Brothers" now)

Brother Kapp and I

The highlight of the evening was definitely going to visit the grave of my late mission president, President Duke:

Elder Brown and I

One of the senior couples, Elder and Sister Moore, who served with us, gave a wonderful tribute to President Duke. It was appropriate and reflected President Duke's joking nature and his rock solid testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was so glad to see Sister Duke again:

I had not seen her since she left after President Duke died on my mission. What a wonderful opportunity. I thank the Lord and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve the Lord in the Uganda Kampala Mission. We were given a wonderful report on the current status of the work in that great land. Rwanda has been added to our mission, but no proselyting missionaries are currently there. President Christensen visited Sudan and found that land even closer to the gospel than ever. The work is rolling forth amongst those people that I love so dearly. The church is true!