Week 19

16 December

Jennifer, Lora, and their children met me at the Bean Museum so we could see the nativity they had on display—not only did they have Baby Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, but also an elephant, a couple of lions, a stork, a kangaroo, a penguin, wolverines, etc. All the world rejoices at the birth of His Son!

17 December

I learned early this morning that one of my favorite local buildings was engulfed in flames—the Provo Tabernacle. I have so many fond memories of attending events in the tabernacle through the years, and I must admit that I shed some tears at this great loss. See my tribute to the tabernacle here.

18 December

Jennifer and I had been impressed with some of the mall performances of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from the Messiah that we saw on YouTube. When we got word that someone was organizing a flash mob at the Provo Towne Center mall, we decided to be a part of it. When we got the score out about an hour in advance, we realized just how difficult this song is! So we decided we were in it just for the adventure. We arrived at the mall in plenty of time and then situated ourselves at a table in the food court. At 6:00 pm a recording of the Tabernacle Choir singing this glorious song began to play—we rose from our chairs and joined in to the best of our ability—Jennifer and I tried to follow better singers who were more familiar with the song.

19 December

On 28 November, Becky and Elizabeth were released as the counselors in my Relief Society presidency, and Mona and Becky were sustained. Maren remains my faithful secretary.

20 December

The mystery—who is the lovely Callister family who sent us this Christmas card from Arizona? They have eight children, and the envelope was addressed to Steve and Lora—two of our family names. Lora doesn’t know them either.

21 December

The pile of snow on top of the garbage can represents a typical snowstorm of this season—I usually get out 2-3 times a day to shovel when we get this much snow. I absolutely detest having the snow driven over and turned to ice on the driveway.

22 December

Here is a sweet new member of our ward family—Turk, son of Leanna and Eser.

Week 18

9 December

Everyone delights to hear Stephen read Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins at each Hanukkah presentation we do—he varies his voice for the different characters.

10 December

I’m finally managing to get my Christmas decorations put up for the season.

11 December

On my way to and from the BYU Women Christmas luncheon, I passed Santa and his elf in front of the MTC. They were jolly and friendly but had specifically chosen this location from which to advertise an anti-Mormon website.

12 December

In the background you can see the remains of our delicious pancake dinner served by John and Lora. And then Maya treated us with belly laughs when she pulled the lever down on her toy—I love how children can be thrilled with something simple time and time again.

13 December

I made these Christmas stockings for the children years ago—I got a tip from Linda that there were some available at the store. They had just the right number left—three girls and three boys. I stitched the names in white baby rickrack and finished them off. Now they are more decorative than anything, although they saw their share of bananas, apples, oranges, nuts, and candy.

14 December

Merlyn has been my hairdresser for years—she first started cutting my hair when Jonathan was a baby and she worked at J C Penney. For years now she has done it in her home in southwest Provo. I go every three months for a perm and halfway in between for a haircut—hooray, I love looking good!

15 December

I was looking for a background so the snow pattern on the fence would show up, and what did I find in my viewer but a lovely tree in the shape of a Y!

Week 17

2 December

Big blue-eyed Cassius came to visit while Cayelle went to see Tangled with her parents.

3 December

Ralene, Becky, Joyce, and I enjoyed singing “Mele Kalikimaka” at the annual Christmas luncheon, this year with a Hawaiian theme. Each year features a different theme—gingerbread, candy canes, Sweden, etc.

4 December

Cayelle and Cassius, in their bright Christmas outfits, joined us for the ward Christmas breakfast and then the BYU family Christmas party.

5 December

My dad and siblings came over for a family planning meeting, and I was able to share my visiting teaching gift cake with them.

6 December

After we visited Stephen’s dad, we got fish and chips on the way home (a quick and easy meal).

7 December

Jennifer and I were the first ones to arrive at the humanitarian room above Deseret Industries to assist in assembling 8 pallets of hygiene kits. We were assigned to fold towels and put them in Ziploc bags—the most difficult part was to open the inexpensive bags without tearing them. Jennifer became pretty skilled at that.

8 December

This piece of Magleby’s chocolate cake—famous for its rich, delicious flavor—was served at the end of our department Christmas dinner.

Week 16

25 November

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Marc, Sarah, and boys; Robert and Nancy; and a neighbor family. We adults went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, and Marc hit the jackpot with being able to bring home the popcorn they were cleaning out at the close of the day.

26 November

Gabe and Elijah are wearing their “birthday boy” shirts on their third birthday—this looks like a sweet moment of getting along with each other!

27 November

Elijah and Gabe had such simple joy from popping balloons the “morning after.”

28 November

Back at home again, I get to enjoy a beautiful snow pattern on our wall.

29 November

Linda and I got to each lunch together at the MOA Café.

30 November

These are the handouts we received at the university retirement seminar—how many more years before retirement for both of us?

1 December

The church handbooks on the left are now obsolete, and we are going ahead full steam with the one on the right, which is much more principles based.

Week 15

18 November

Tine and Jonx took us for a visit to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Association), where we regained respect for the many individuals who made it possible to land men on the moon and explore space and extend our frontiers.

19 November

One side of the San Jacinto monument just east of Houston (arrived at by crossing with a free ferry) states: “Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty.”

20 November

This is one of those days when one picture doesn’t do justice to the day; besides visiting the capitol at Montgomery, Alabama, we got to the highest point of Alabama (Cheaha Mountain) as well as the highest point of Georgia (Brasstown Bald). And then in the evening Elaine took us to see the nearby Hindu temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Lilburn.

21 November

Our friends Devn, Reid, and Elaine have given us a glimpse of their corner of the world in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

22 November

Stephen felt much better after we moved from our room on the 21st floor (of 23 floors) to the sixth floor of the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta—he is attending the annual SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) meetings here.

23 November

After going to the capitol in Atlanta, we drove most of the afternoon to arrive at Woodall Mountain, the highest point in Mississippi at 806 feet. We were able to drive up, and we were glad the waning sun stayed around long enough for us to see the road.

24 November

David John is such a sweet, cherubic little boy.

Week 14

11 November

Here is a view of Y Mountain, with the snow creeping down as autumn entrenches itself even further.

12 November

I do love the mountains around us. May we stand as firm, stalwart, and brave as they do.

13 November

Rebecca and Meagan celebrate with Marcus’s sister Kayt on her wedding day.

14 November

One of those charming family poses with Lora, John, and Maya.

15 November

A few minutes before the last piece of my 7½-minute microwave peanut brittle disappeared at our empty-nesters home evening group. I am always amazed at how good this tastes with so little effort. My microwave works best at 3+3+1½ minutes rather than the 4+4+2 minutes called for in the original recipe.

16 November

One of the extra coats in our front closet with the price tag still on. Did I purchase this for Stephen last Christmas?

17 November

Stephen and I flew into Jackson, Mississippi, via Memphis, Tennessee. We caught this gorgeous view of the capitol as the setting sun bathed the dome in a soft, golden light.

Week 13

4 November

Here is a close-up of the same tree featured on 26 October. More leaves have turned red, and the green leaves at the center are turning yellow on their way to red, and eventually falling to the ground.

5 November

Today my dear mother turned 89, and my parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. We always thought my dad was pretty smart to combine those two occasions. All of the local children and spouses, where possible, joined in a celebratory dinner at Leslie Family Tree Restaurant in Santaquin.

6 November

As part of my Relief Society calling, I was asked to attend some training at the Provo Employment Resource Center in the same building as Deseret Industries. It was actually a morning well spent, and I highly recommend anyone searching for a job to register with ldsjobs.org.

7 November

Check that off my list! Marian gave me some fabric to make some pillowcases for humanitarian purposes. Dave’s Bernina and associated stores are trying to collect one million pillowcases this year. I finally got around to making them last night.

8 November

Although the sign is practically illegible in this picture, it does make one wonder why the golden plates are among the “books to be reshelved.”

9 November

BYU has been landscaping what I presume will eventually be a pond—this is just northeast of the botany (duck) pond, on one’s way up the hill.

10 November

This is the area where I had our forsythia bush (tree?) removed earlier this summer. I’ve been trying to kill the shoots with Round-Up, but they still look pretty healthy to me. We’ll worry about grass in the spring.