March came in like a lion, snowing and blowing. We are closing this week. The temple is filled. Our Friday 8:15 pm session has been full each week. We didn't get home till 11:30 and then on Saturday we didn't get home till 10:30. Long days for us. We slept in till 9am. It's a good thing church doesn't start till noon. 😛 Lon had a training meeting at the temple for the security people so he headed to the temple a little after 5 for the 6pm meeting. Just the presidency for this meeting, we women got to stay home.
Monday morning, Lon and I headed to the temple to give a spiritual thought to the weekly cleaning crew. It was so good to meet with them. These are some of our service missionaries who keep the temple clean and functioning. The presidency and matrons will meet with the rest of the service missionaries this evening; the Recommend Desk, the Office staff, and the Landscaping crews. We gave a spiritual thought, expressed our love and gratitude and answered questions. The meetings started at 3, 4, and 5 but each went longer than expected so we were always behind and didn't get home till after 8pm. It was a great evening though. We have such amazing people to serve with.
This is our week off, the 7th, so after presidency meeting on Tuesday, we attended the 3pm session and then went to Janitzio's for dinner. We did sealings and a session on Wednesday in Spanish. Lon went golfing at Progressive again. We are getting ready to leave town as the temple will be closing for the 2-week maintenance and cleaning scheduled break.
We drove to Mindi's on Friday the 10th. Lon had an appointment with her physical therapist where she works. They are going to see if they can help his foot that is either hot or cold. Everyone thinks it is a nerve that is acting up, but no one seems to know how to fix it. March Madness is in full swing, so we are watching a lot of college basketball. BSU played tonight and lost their final game in the district tournament.
Saturday morning, we went to Unita Golf and Lon bought a new driver. We grabbed a hamburger for lunch then went to visit AnnaVee. She is in the care center again. She fell and broke her hip and had surgery on it. She is doing therapy and hoping to get stronger so she can go home. Mindi went with us (so nice to have a chauffeur) and Farrell, Lance and Julie were there, so we had a great visit. More basketball for Lon, and Mindi and I binged watched "Where Comes the Heart". We almost got the whole season watched! Justin is out of town till Sunday afternoon. We went to church with Mindi Sunday morning, then headed to Hurricane. We had rain and hail most of the way.
Lon and Gene went golfing Monday, getting in 18 holes at Sun Brook, the elite golf course in St. George, then 18 holes at South Gate. Norma has not been feeling well, having some heart problems, so we pretty much just visited and cooked while the men played. Tuesday the men golfed at Sun Brook again, this time 24 holes. It started raining while they were on the last hole. The weather has been overcast and rainy and only in the 50's and 60's. We spent the evening with Jon and Karen Hughes.
We served with them in Santiago, Chile. They live very close to the new Washington Temple.
The Washington Temple looks like it will open sometime this year.
We woke up to rain on Wednesday so we made some lunch and took it with us to visit with Aunt Charlotte Whatcott.
Lon and Nancy, Norma and Gene at Charlotte's house
These two are now 89 years old and we can see some aging challenges
Aunt Charlotte is 95 and really doing well. She has some trouble with her eyes but is very upbeat and enjoying life. She is trying to find someone to move in with her so she isn't alone.
We had a good meal and then played a hand of "golf". Each year we leave wondering if this will be the last time we get to visit with these three amazing people.
We got up to sunshine on Thursday so the men played another 27 holes at the St. George Muni. They played 87 holes in 3 days. I think they are getting tired! We had lunch and headed back to South Jordan to spend the weekend with Mindi and Justin.
Friday evening, Mindi and I went to watch "Newsies JR." Kenya Thompson, Brett and Vebecca's daughter is the drama teacher at Eisenhower Jr. High School.
The play was very good. Kenya didn't look like the teacher, more like a student. This is her third year teaching at this school. Lon and Justin watched more March Madness.
Saturday Mindi again chauffeured us around town as we shopped for food for our Moab trip and new temple shoes. (I don't think Hope enjoys Mindi being our chauffer cause she is gone too long)
such sad eyes!
Finding white, comfortable shoes is not easy. I found a pair but Lon was not so lucky. Jacob and Hannah came over for dinner.
On Sunday the 19th, we went to church with Mindi and Justin then headed to Moab. We have never been to Moab before. Tracy and Sarah and Eisley were about 15 minutes ahead of us on the freeway. We never did catch up with them. With all the rain that we had during the week, we weren't surprised to find snow on the mountain pass.
rest area on the mountain pass
The roads were bare though
Tracy and Sarah rented a very nice condo for 4 nights.
It was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo with everything that we needed. Eisley's friend, Lilie joined us on Tuesday morning.
Monday morning after breakfast, Tracy and Lon went golfing. The weather was cold and rainy but it only drizzled until the 18th hole so they enjoyed themselves.
Hat and gloves, kind of chilly!
While they golfed, Sarah, Eisley and I headed to the "Hole N" The Rock"
We took the tour of the 5,000 square foot cave, "home". We weren't allowed to take photos inside so these pictures are from a pamphlet that I bought.
Albert and Gladys Christensen worked on this cave for a period of 12 years, excavating 50,000 cubic feet of sandstone from the rock. He was also a painter and taxidermist. When he died in 1957, Gladys and the children continued to work on the home and gift shop. The family still operate it today. They were quite an interesting family, with some on both sides of the law.
The Fireplace with a 65 foot chimney drilled through solid sandstone
Mr. Christensen's paintings
All around the cave were antiques
old buggy
stacked outhouse
some of the landscaping was quite hillarious
miner overhead
truck made out of license plates and nuts and bolts
Eisley and Sarah Chilly day for Moab
the graves of the Christensen's
The entrance of the home (cave)
We bought some feed and entered the petting zoo. It was not well kept but the animals were friendly. It was drizzling rain and cold.
feeding the ostriches
the camel
This is Henry, an African Watusi
dwarf horses
The Iron Gate Ha Ha
We were all frozen when we got finished and headed to the condo for hot chocolate!
Tracy and Sarah took a bike ride while Eisley, Grandpa and I went to town to do some grocery shopping for a few needed items like ice cream!
Tuesday morning the 6 of us (Lilie joined us) headed to the Arches National Park.
We did the shorter hikes. The rain didn't start again until we were at the last hike
As you can see, the weather was chilly. We had the same temperatures as Jerome, so much for enjoying a week of sunshine😕
Lilie, Eisley, Sarah and Tracy
The rock formations were spectacular.
Nancy, Sarah, Tracy, Lon
Looking down from the arch that we climbed up to
Eisley and Sarah
If we hadn't been with the kids, I think they would have climbed up to this arch, but we had already climbed and walked over 4 miles and I didn't think I could make it up to this one.
We are so thankful that the kids invited us to come along this week. We really enjoyed seeing this park and the Moab area. It's even funner when you can share it with those you love.
On our way back to the condo, we stopped at the Dinasaur Park.
It was overpriced but the exhibits and movies were interesting.
Hats, gloves and coats, Moab - really😖
Tracy and Sarah
You can't dampen these two's spirits with a little cold and rain. They were enjoying every second.
Fun day of exploring and came home for hot chocolate again.
On Wednesday we woke up to sunshine😃. Tracy, Eisley, Sarah and Lilie took off to do some biking. This is what Moab is all about, dirt biking, four wheeling and hiking.
Tracy and Sarah
As you can see, the sunshine didn't last too long, but they enjoyed themselves. They even met up with some friends from Jerome to bike with.
It was too windy and rainy for Lon to go golfing so I took him out to the Hole N 'the Rock. He really enjoyed it. We toured and bought some souvenirs.
When the kids got home from biking, we fed everyone some hamburgers then went to town to walk around and shop. We found some sweatshirts and a new golf hat. It was another fun day.
Thursday morning, the 23rd, we cleaned up and headed for home. We went through snow, rain and wind but made it home about 5:00pm. We're glad that we have a couple of days to recoup before the temple openes again. It was a very busy 2 weeks for us but wow, what fun to spend it with family and friends.
Sunday March the 26th we were invited to attend the Carey Stake Conference. We were amazed at the amount of snow still on the ground.
Jeffery Kerr was the visiting 70. He had asked for lots of music from the Youth Choir. We didn't have to speak cause Elder Kerr had to leave 15 minutes early to catch his plane in Boise. We really enjoyed the conference. Afterward, we went to the Stake President's home for dinner along with his presidency and families. President Parke and his wife are so special. Sister Parke is an ordinance worker in the temple. President Parke's parents had been ordinance workers before their health wouldn't let them anymore. We enjoyed visiting with them. We had served on the same shifts in Boise and in Twin Falls with them.
The temple reopened on the 28th and we had the AM Shift. After two weeks off, we were ready to get back to the temple. We really love serving there, even on our early morning weeks. The weather continued to be cold and rainy, even a few snow showers for the rest of the month. We have needed the moisture, but now the farmers are getting a bit antcy to get into the fields. We need some warm weather. March not only came in like a lion this year, but it also went out like a lion.
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