Amoung prophets and apostles

One of the things that is hard for me to get used to here in Bountiful is seeing important church officials just walking around. People here are used to that but I'm always so amazed and feel like I should bow to them or something to show in what high regard I hold them.
Elder Enzio Bushe lives about 2 blocks from our house. He is just such a sweet and delightful man. When he talks...we all listen. You can actually see the light of Christ in this man.
Elder Earl Tingey has his home in our ward and often went to church here. He was the President of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy until about 6 months ago when he turned 70. At that time he was released and called as the Temple President in the Washington DC Temple. It was always hard to make a comment when he was in the classroom. Everyone would say..."How do you see this Brother Tingey?" And then we'd listen REAL hard and get out our notepads. Of course they are in DC now.
Just recently President David Beck was made President of the General Young Men's program. He lives around the corner from me. He is an amazing man and has come from an amazing family. I introduced Clint's family to him when they were here for Homecoming.
Last spring Suzanne and I went to see the tulip gardens at Thanksgiving Point. As we were walking along, we passed Elder L. Tom Perry with his wife and family. I greeted him with a smile...but I really wanted to bow.
Last week I was at our Costco and President Ukdorf's wife was just ahead of me in the line. Did you ever think that apostles's wifes had to buy groceries and cook?
We went out for clam chouder at a restaurant with Leon and Suzanne on Friday night. In walked Elder Hollon and his wife with some friends. Leon and Suzanne knew them quite well while they were in Chile so they smiled and said hello.
Yesterday morning we went to the Tabernacle Choir broadcast and concert with Natalie Cole and David McColough(?) It was fabulous. There were the Choir, the Orchestra and the Bells of Temple Square plus dancers and childrens' choir. But at the end, our Prophet went on stage to personally thank all the participants, expecially the guests Natalie and David. The spirit there was like being one of the shepherds at Christ's birth and hearing the choir of angels. At the end, the Tabernacle Choir sang what they always sing at the end of their performances...God Be With You Til We Meet Again. Even Natalie Cole had tears in her eyes.
Anyway, two things I want to say about this. 1. I know that they are who they say they are...leaders of the latter day church of Jesus Christ. You can feel it as you get in the range of their spirits. They are good, kind, humble people. 2. They are still real people who have to do their wash and shop for groceries and clean their sidewalks. I see that they have grown into great people by their simple actions and search for the truth.
This has made me want to work and do better. I want to search deeper and repent more and spend my time better.
Just thought you'd like to know.

Halloween 2009

I don't exactly know why I love Halloween, but I do. Always the fun stuff, never the bloody or gorey stuff. I love the fresh fall nights with leaves scattered your feet and the whoosh in the trees that makes you wonder if there really are ghosts. I love dressing up, pretending I am someone else. I think it's the way I pretend that I am someone else.
After going to the Wee Witch Weekend with Melinda and Deanna and kids, I just couldn't stand it that I didn't have a cool witches hat. So when I found a cool one at Walmart, I snatched it up. The friend that I was with made me get the stockings and wig and so I was set to be a witch. Blake had invited us to come to a dinner party at his house and Gordon and I decided to go in costume. He was the Phantom. We were just silly about it but it made us smile. The party was great fun and we got to see Blake and Estee hand out the Halloween treats at his house. They were so cute. Blake had decorated so nicely. He had beautiful glasses filled with different kinds of candy corn. (kind of like you Rachael). He had a really cool vase that was large on the outside with an inner vase. He filled the outer vase with orange and yellow candy corns and the inner vase was beautiful yellow roses with orange tips. The food was good and so was the company. We had a great time.

fun with Old Friends

Last night we wound our scarves around our necks and headed of into the cool night to meet some old friends of ours from West Point. Dianna(Page)Farr has been a friend since we started 1st grade. It has been fun over the years to touch base with she and her husband,Wynn. SOoo we had tickets to the Hale Theater for the musical "Curtains". We went to dinner first and just talked about what was going on in our lives etc. But laughed over stuff in the past.I've never heard of the play but it was so funny that we all were laughing out loud. The music was really fun and we had a delightful time. I came home with a huge smile on my face. Dad loved it too but he thought I talked way to much. Got to watch that.

BYU Homecoming pictures

BYU Homecoming 2009

Our annual Homecoming tradition is to have whatever family that is available, go to the parade in the morning, eat free pancakes, go to the BYU bookstore and then have the boys go to the game and the girls go shopping. So this year we jumped out of bed and zoomed to Provo in time to see the fun parade with all the bands and dancers and floats. We stood in line FOREVER to get the free blue pancakes. We went to the bookstore and picked up BYU sirts and footballs etc. We hadn't purchased the tickets and this year because they were ranked TCU they were all VERY expensive. But, it was rainy and dark clouds hovered overhead so...Clint was able to buy from those whose family were fair-weather fans...for $10 each. Clint, Andy, Coby and Grandpa took their blankets and umbrellas and went to the game. The girls headed to Gardner Village where the witches were everywhere. It was so fun! THe girls had their faces painted and we snooped in each store. Great time was had by all.

First Grandchild LDS Missionary

We had a special privilege of taking our 1st Grandchild LDS missionary to the MTC this week. His parents had said their "good-byes" in Portland, Ore. When we first saw him at the airport, he just looked so handsome. We had to be at the Mission Training Center at 1:15 pm exactly, so we had to watch our time. It was such a loving feeling as we pulled into the MTC and saw about 50 clean-cut, smiling missionaries to greet us. They started talking to Elder Wight right away. As we were unloading his luggage they continued to ask him questions and tell him how wonderful it was to be there. We all hugged and snatched this picture. He turned around with the missionaries with a huge smile on his face. I was weeping but with joy. His adventure to Moscow, Russia begins.

African Experience

There is no way to express in words the experience we had in Senegal, Africa. But I would just like to say that the people were wonderful. They are poor and most live in a manner that hasn't changed in 200 years. I saw that life could be VERY simple and still have meaning and happiness. They work hard. The hardest part was to realize that health care was a major lack there. Almost half of mothers die in child birth. That was why there were so many babies at the orphanage...almost 60 out of 180 children. And although I don't have figures, many of the babies also die. Most of the children have congestion or runny noses. Many have skin sores. At the orphanage they had almost no playground equipment with only dirt to play in. They have very caring volunteers. Every effort is made to give loving care and provide a clean environment. There are lots of areas in which we can assist. It would be a blessing to get wheelchairs to the disabled. The orphanage needs help every month for the milk and formula they provide. We are trying to get a medical/dental expedition to go there next June. It was an amazing experience.