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.

Week 12

28 October

BYU sponsors a wellness program several times a year and offers incentives (including cash back from health insurance premiums at the end of the year). I came to pick up my prize, a 4 gb flash drive, for completing the current challenge.

29 October

Becky and I had a grand time going with Elizabeth to the Art Access gallery in Salt Lake to see her porcelain show, “The Value of Function.”

30 October

This bun-in-the-oven Halloween costume worn by Analyn and Andrew was my favorite at our three-ward trunk or treat, which was driven indoors because of rain.

31 October

For our monthly family birthday dinner, John made a delicious, light carrot cake.

1 November

It’s time to put the Halloween decorations away for another year.

2 November

I am so happy to have our retaining wall done! I had no idea it would be such an involved project.

3 November

Each Wednesday evening my nephew Ryan and my dad join us for dinner and conversation. I like to ask Dad about his ancestors (and therefore mine as well).

Week 11

21 October

This is one of my finds at Special Collections in the Harold B. Lee Library. Someone doodled a face on the inside cover of one of my great-grandfather’s journal notebooks.

22 October

My sister Lynette and I went to the Church History Library to do research on Margaret Cooper West. The only thing we found was a letter from Margaret to her daughter and son-in-law, which we were able to get a copy of (for 25¢ a page).

23 October

Marcus’s sister Kayt is enjoying her bridal shower a few weeks before she gets married. We’re so proud of the choices she has made to prepare for a temple marriage.

24 October

Our bishop sits in his office in front of a picture of Christ—all of us work together to try to bring souls to Christ.

25 October

Craig (with his daughter Alexandra) is trying to finish our retaining wall.

26 October

This is one of my favorite autumn trees (on 930 E). In the cool of the season, the leaves slowly turn from a summery green to a brilliant red.

27 October

With the first real snow of the season, we went to the fieldhouse to walk in the morning—we would much rather be outdoors, but we don’t want to risk a fall.

Week 10

14 October

Our staff went to the BYU Press open house to learn about their HP Indigo Digital Press. Unique features include the ability to print out variable data (personalized Christmas cards with labeled envelopes, etc.), the avoidance of press set-up time, and the option of printing on demand (to save warehouse space).

15 October

We made our semiannual dental trip to brother Bruce in Grand Junction, Colorado. Good reports!

16 October

Angie's family and several other ward families took our turn to clean the church today. Many hands make light work.

17 October

Stephen doing two of his favorite things—using his laptop and eating popcorn.

18 October

Our neighbor Tricia shared with our home evening group the fourteen fundamentals of following the prophet as outlined by Elder Ezra Taft Benson in 1980 (and repeated twice in general conference).

19 October

The blocks for the retaining wall were delivered—350 concrete bricks, each one weighing 64 pounds, each pallet of 54 blocks weighing almost 3500 pounds.

20 October

A colorful shopping experience at Sunflower Market—I didn’t much care for bell peppers as I was growing up, but I have grown much more fond of them, especially with their cheerful colors, crisp texture, and tangy taste.

Week 9

7 October

Pat is my wonderful visiting teaching leader. We get together at least twice a month to reorganize visiting teaching callings and to record the visiting teaching contacts for the previous month (here in the clerk's office). I rely on Pat to keep track of changes that need to be made and to contact sisters with changes.

8 October

My sister Jeanine is in town from Missouri, so we decided to eat lunch at Skippers on the spur of the moment. Here is my dad with four of his five daughters and a couple of grandsons.

9 October

My brother Larry was the featured speaker for BYU Women this month. He spoke on astronomy and the ways of knowing and showed us stunning pictures of galaxies, nebulas, clusters, etc., and opened our minds to the glories of the heavens among the Lord’s creations.

10 October

Stephen’s brother Paul with his wife Linda were able to visit for the weekend. They treated us to dinner at Tucano’s, a Brazilian restaurant, and attended our ward with us on Sunday. Linda and I love to share ideas for a good read.

11 October

While Jeanine was in town, my parents and siblings and spouses met for a quarterly dinner at the Brick Oven. This is some of the décor on the wall of our room at this popular local restaurant.

12 October

These are some of the lovely sisters in our ward who came to a weekday Relief Society meeting/flea market. We have a wonderful group of sisters in the Edgemont Fifth Ward!

13 October

This brown bean pot used to belong to Martha in our ward (until I picked it up at the flea market). She hasn’t used it for a long time and said she would put baked beans in and heat them at a low temperature in the oven for 2½ hours. Who wouldn’t want to be the new owner of something that belonged to our wonderful Martha?