Michigan Missionary

Who ever coined the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" was right. We got the first pictures from Thomas and it opened my eyes as to what really goes on in the MTC and to where he is in Michigan. For those of you who have already lived the mission experience, this will not be new, but you might enjoy the JOY on the faces.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

It's easy to see that the mission hasn't taken the fun out of Thomas. He is spreading the good news of the gospel as well.

If you want to read his letters and you haven't been getting them,

let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Adding Photos

I wanted to add photos of the knee immobilizer to my comment about it so you can see that Grandpa had it as a constant companion, except we don't have a photo of it with his PJ's. It was worn consistently for three different 6-week periods --each time he dislocated his hip-- a total of 18 weeks in 2009. I'm glad I didn't have to wear it! I thought it bad enough that I had to strap it on and take it off! Hope better days are on the way for 2010!

TRY SOMETHING NEW

After the year we've experienced at our house we are looking to have a better one in 2010. We did learn some new things, like calling ambulances and ER routines, but they kept repeating themselves so we need something else to think about.

Because we should never stop learning, I am trying out this Blog. It appears that the other people on here tried it at least once. It looks to be rather neglected so it will be a good place to practise.

I hope we have seen the last of the knee immobilizer, but need to keep it as a reminder of how thankful we are that it is no longer needed.

Memorial Day in South Jordan

On Memorial Day this year Thomas got the grand treatment.  It was an absoultely beautiful day, I had my camera and took pictures so maybe your memories can be jogged of Memorial Days of yester year.  

We started off the morning with the traditional ceremony at the South Jordan Cemetary where we ran into many extended family members and had what every kid waits for, the firing of the guns.  In case you were wondering, kids still scramble to pick up the shells.  Visiting with the Burgons and Miners was had and then we left Grandpa and Grandma to decorate the graves and we began a tour of the Mabey properties.

John reminised about the Albert and Celestine Mabey home and told Thomas where the original cabin had been.  We drove down Mabey Lane and checked in on the new development that is starting to take shape.  If you haven't seen the Hindu Temple or Annt Mame's house, I recommend that drive.  Then we finished our rounds with admiring the beautiful old farm equipment in the farm yard.  There are some dandies.  

Hope your Memorial Day was as lovely as ours was.

Endless Song

On Monday night we went to hear Marianne's choir, the University of Utah Singer's where we heard several beautiful pieces of music, but there was one in particular that was outstanding.  It was a newly commissioned piece especially for this choir.   The text was written by a former member of the choir and the music by a famous composer.  When the Singers sang the piece it was spellbinding.  If you would like to listen to it click here.  It's called Endless Song and I think they will be performing it in Eastern Europe in a few weeks on their tour as one of their contest pieces.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did  in person!

My Surprise Student

Tonight I had a fabulous surprise at my cooking class.  Deanna came!  It was wonderful to have a familiar face in the class - it really put me at ease and the whole night just went better because she was there.  Don't we always think things go better when Deanna's around?  She also took a few pictures of me "instructing" and who knows if that will ever happen again.  So for those of you who will never have the chance of being one of my students . . . this is for you.

OK - So I told myself last year that come January, I'd try my hand at posting to this blog. So, here it goes. After spending Christmas at home here in California, we headed up North for the week of New Year's. We found tons of snow all around, and had a great time visiting family we don't get to see too often. We started in St. George with a visit to my mom (a.k.a. "Donna Yuck" HA HA) and then headed further north to drop in on the Hales. Connor and company loved being pulled around in the snow by the ATV (thanks Cody!) Then we stopped at BYU, ate pizza at Heap's, and made it to Grandma & Grandpa's later that evening. We rounded the week out with a little shopping, a few movies, too many episodes of "Spongebob Squarepants," (Connor & Andrew just LOVE Grandpa's DirectTV connection...), a great New Year's Eve feast/party at Jim & Deanna's, a visit to Body Worlds, the Sugar Bowl party (go Utes!), a visit w/ Lee & Marlene & family, a new blanket of snow, and a long drive home. At least Tyler was a happy camper -- we managed to find his "New Super Mario" DS game at Game Stop in Las Vegas. Of course, it only took stops along the way at 2 Best Buys, 1 Costco, 1 Target, and 1 Walmart to find it. No wonder I'm tired.