July 2024

 July arrived with a very busy first week.  Judy is gone to the cabin and Connie had hand surgery to repair damages from a fall, so I need to get to Mom's to do her hair and get her ready for the day.  We are closing these first 2 days, so I went to Mom's about 8:30 am then came home and got us ready for our afternoon-evening shifts. We went golfing on Thursday, did some shopping, and Linda and Mick came up to celebrate the 4th with Mom, so we visited with them at Serenity.  They stayed over to visit on the 5th, so I didn't go to Mom's again till the 6th.

On Friday the 5th, Kurt and Linda's family held a family reunion.  Lon was asked to do a sealing session with them at 9:30 this morning at the temple.  It was so wonderful.  Everyone of Kurt and Linda's children were in attendance.  I got to attend also.  What a sweet hour spent with them in the temple.  We met up with Justin and Shayla about noon to go golfing.  Had a great time then had dinner at Idaho Joe's.  It was steak and shrimp night.  Very good food and especially the company.  Wonderful day off.  

We attended the temple on Saturday morning, doing some initiatory and a session before heading to Mom's.  We had invited Tracy and Sarah to come with us, but they are busy getting Tracy packed to leave tomorrow for his Bomb Squad Training in Alabama.  They came over around 3:30 for a blessing from Lon and we went to eat at La Cieritta's, our new Mexican restaurant.  Tracy is worried about his blood pressure acting up at this training.  He will be gone for 6 weeks, unless he gets sent home because of the blood pressure.  Lon gave him a beautiful, powerful blessing.  All is going to be fine.

On Sunday, we attended our meetings and then I went to Twin to attend with Mom at Serenity.  Lon spent the afternoon talking to Farrell on the phone.  AnnaVee has fallen again and is in the hospital.  We are really worried about these two.  Gene VanWagoner came in for the semi-annual golf marathon this evening.

Lon and Gene golfed 18 holes on Monday morning then joined up with Kurt and Craig to golf another 18 in the afternoon.  Tuesday morning Lon and Gene golfed 28 holes then came home to eat and take a nap.  We went to the temple with Gene that evening, and Gene went to visit with his family that lives in Twin Falls.  Wednesday morning Lon golfed only 9 and Kurt and Gene continued to complete 18.  We had Presidency Meeting this morning as the Taylors will be out of town the rest of the week.  Lon then joined Gene for another 18 in the afternoon.  I think they are all crazy!  Thursday, we opened so Lon and Gene again played 18 in the afternoon.  Gene headed for home Friday morning while we were at the temple.  Lon decided he was tired and didn't golf today😂.  I wonder why!!!Saturday was again an early morning and a very long nap followed.  

While all the golfing was going on, I was with Mom as Judy is not home yet.  On Tuesday I met her at the dentist office for her yearly visit.  

Her birthday is tomorrow, the 10th, but she was celebrated today by the staff

She said she wasn't as nervous today, but notice how she is hanging on😅

Sure wish the beauty shop had a lift like this, so she didn't have to try to get into their chair.

Wednesday the 10th, Mom turned 92.  Judy got home so we had a nice visit with her and Mom today after our presidency meeting.

Sunday the 14th, was one of those "not a day of rest and relaxation".  We had choir practice at 8am, sang in Sacrament meeting, came home for breakfast and headed to the temple for a 3 1/2-hour meeting to view the changes in the endowment presentation.  Visited with Cottom's and Lon had a Stake Priesthood Meeting.  I joined him at 8 for stake choir practice.  Carson and Sue are again leading this choir as we will sing at our Stake Conference.  We will sing a couple of the songs from "The Lamb of God" and a couple of our new hymns.  It's going to be great.

Craig came to town again on the 15th to see Jennifer for a foot zone, so Lon, Kurt, Phil and Craig went golfing.  I spent the day with Mom.  The rest of the week was our long week with 3 mornings and 2 nights.  Our preparation meeting went for 3 hours, lots to do in preparation for the changes in August.

The rest of the month went pretty normal for us, golfing and temple, and Mom.  Lon and Laron did get to go fishing on the 30th at Magic, not a good catching day.  They met up with Ron Bloxham at Mackey

Reservoir and had a great catching day.  They caught 15 kokanee (salmon), and Lon caught 10 huge trout, 6-8 pounds each.

LaRon with his catch of the day

Great day of catching!

Lon and LaRon

LaRon and Ron

Lon received permission to seal these two in the Provo City Center Temple in September. 

Hopefully we will get a good photo of them at the wedding!

Chandler is still busy fighting fires.

Can't imagine the smoke he is having to deal with.  We have smoky skies daily here.

Ashton is getting close to his release date in October.

So proud of these two and the service they are giving.

One sad note to end on, Dirk Clarkson passed away on July 26th, 2024 from diabetes.  He is a dear friend and will be missed.