Easter in Monroe

We have had a wonderful Conference weekend and also Easter Weekend here in Monroe. Andrew and Sarah with their children Jand and Reynolds arrived mid week and we had a wonderful 4 days with them. Additionally Erin and Weston and Kate came down Saturday evening to spend Easter Sunday with us. The weather didn't cooperate too much, but Andrew and I got in one round of golf on Friday morning,. We didn't burn up the course, but had fun.
Here is a shot of us with Jane in Monrovian Park.

Pam and Jane walking across the main bridge in the park. You can see from the coats that it wasn't very warm.

All of you kids loved to get right down by the water and Jane was no exception. Find something to throw in the water and made a big splash.

Andrew hauling Reynolds on his back. That didn't last very long as Reynolds wanted to be on the ground finding things.

Easter Morning was a beautiful day with mild temperatures and some of the bunny eggs every went outside and Jane and Reynolds had fun trying to find them.

Meanwhile inside Andrew was having breakfast....

Inside the house the living room was loaded with eggs and the little kids, including Kate by this time had a good time finding all the colored eggs.

Some quiet moments -- few and far between I must add on that Easter Morning!

We hope all of you readers are well and safe. With the advent of "Facebook" it looks like this blog might be threatened, but I like the stories and pictures and the feelings you express herein.

It's been awhile since I last sent a post, but a lot has taken place within the family and here at home in Monroe. We have recently enjoyed the visit of Travis and his children, Drew, Kali, and Megan. They spent almost a week with us and hurried home to miss a huge snowstorm in the Colorado Rockies. Erin and Kate also joined us for a few days while they were here as Weston was vacationing in New York City??

While Travis was here I was in the midst of my first stake conference. What an awesome responsibility and worry. What if you scheduled a conference and no one came? Well that didn't happen and we had wonderful participation in our temple, priesthood leadership, adult, and general session on sunday. Our theme was "We Should Be a Temple Loving People" and the talks and music so wonderfully supported this theme.

Also last tuesday Travis and his children and Pam and I went to the Lehman Caves on the edge of the Great Basin National Park in Nevada. Pam and I have been to the caves before and we thought Travis and his children would really enjoy it and they did. Lehman Caves is a beautiful marble cave ornately decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, flowstone, popcorn, and over 300 rare shield formations. Once the guide mentioned the shield formations the kids search diligently for all of the over 300 shield formations from location to locations. There was only 7 in our group and we got a lot of personal attention and it was very enjoyable and the time just flew by.


Now on a more somber tone we were very saddened to hear that Benjamin was taken back to the hospital again yesterday and we hope and pray that the tender care by the hospital will quickly solve the problems he was facing. As we fast today our prayers are centered on him and also for Alex and Tom that they might find new employment soon.

These are trying times and we hope and pray that provident living will be implemented each day as we face these lousy economic times. The one thing the Lord has promised us is that if we will trust in him and pay our tithes and offerings he will open the windows of heaven. The evidence is many and varied, but always the same end result--the Lord blesses us with what we need.

Well enough preaching. We love you all and look forward to seeing you all soon.

It's been awhile since I posted, so thought I would add a thought or two. January and February just seemed to fly by and we have been busy here in Monroe. Winter is slowly ebbing away with cold nights but fairly warm day temperatures. Almost golf weather again!!

Pam is looking outside and thinking she needs to get in the flower beds, but then we have a day of rain or a cold day and hurrah we don't have to go out quite yet. She has been busy sewing however, either for humanitarian projects or quilt tops for Aunt Win. It has almost been a full-time job for her. This last week she did a first on ebay--sold her first item. She sold a serger and it went well and she was happy with the price and the process. Maybe she will sell some of my things!!

Last tuesday we had a very interesting event happen with the stake presidency. I received a letter from the temple presidency inviting the three of us and our wives to dinner at the temple. We met with President Harless (temple president) at 5:00 pm and enjoyed a few minutes in his office and then went to his private dining room and had a lovely dinner, but most importantly got to listen to the president talk about the temple, temple work, and programs that could boost our stakes attendance.

After dinner we were escorted to sealing room #6, which is the lower room in the west tower frequently called the "Wells Room" where President Wells and his wife lived while he was the temple president. We got to the room by climbing the north circular stairwell and it was beautiful as usual. In the sealing room we did sealings for an hour and a half and that was very enjoyable. We did couples, daughters and sons, so enjoyed that variety and renewing our vows that Pam and I had taken over 40 years ago.

Finally we stopped doing sealings and president Harless visited with us in that room for awhile and then we climbed up the north stairwell again and entered the priesthood room. Strangely enough the priesthood room has no lights, so we were bathed in the exterior lights of the temple and it was so beautiful to sit on the north side seats and look up and down that beautiful room. President Harless told us of the history of that room and in specific the last Solemn Assembly that had been held there in 1979 and also the re-dedication in early 1980. Both my counselors LeRon Ware and Craig Mathie had attended one of the dedication sessions. We returned down the south circular stairwell from almost the top to the bottom.

It was a wonderful evening and one that will probably never be repeated in our lifetime. There is nothing quite like the Manti temple and while many people theroize about turning it into a film temple, I just don't think that would every happen. Many years ago Presient Packer was given a top to bottom tour of the temple and as he reached the foyer at the bottom of the circular stairwell he was reported to have said "Don't you ever let them do anything to this temple."

I guess that is how we feel also. Well Pam and I are fine and are in for a busy March with Stake Conference coming up, but we are happy and well.

Winter at Last !

Well here we are on the 26th of January and the morning light presents a visage we thought would not come this winter. It snowed most of the night and our present is this beautiful view of crystal white throughout our town. It's one of those mornings when you just want to crawl back into bed.

New Technology

When Pam and I received our last cable bill and it had gone up again, we decided to investigate satellite television more seriously. Well we made the big decision and signed up for Direct TV last week and today, the 19th of January 2009 was the day for the installation. Those of you who have seen us play with your Dish, Comcast, and Direct TV remotes know this is going to be a challenge for us. But the installer arrived early, which was a surprise, and we set out to make the installation with four receivers in the family room, sewing room, office, and master bedroom. The installation went all right until the installer, named Kade, was coming back from the attic area over Erin's bedroom (where the distribution box is located). I was in the bedroom when all of a sudden a huge noise and then Kade was laying on the bed. He had miss stepped and came through the ceiling with a flourish. The worst of it was all the rock wool insulation and dust and it was quite a sight. It took Kade awhile to get over what he had done, but I assured him it was not the end of the world and we continued with the installation. I cleaned up the bedroom the best I could and put a patch over the hole and we will address that issue at a later date.




So as you can see we have a little work to do. Direct TV will pay for the repair, but I sure felt bad for the installer.

Do we like what we have? I think so! There is so much junk being offered, but we think when we get some custom lists put together it will be nice. The receiver in the master bedroom is an HD receiver and the picture is awesome. I can actually see the dots on the golf ball!

Well that is our update. We are all fine and enjoyed the first of 10 ward conferences this past weekend. Erin and Kate spent 3 days with us as Weston was in Steamboat Springs working??? How did that happen.....

New Year's Activities

Well Pam and I are finally home again. We just had a wonderful week in Colorado with all of our children with the exception of Travis and his family who were roughing it in Hawaii! We went to Denver to attend the baptism of Haley Wood and the blessing of Benjamin Cottle - both wonderful events. We appreciate the hospitality of Tom and Johanna for using their home almost everyday for some sort of family gathering.













Haley, we are so proud of you for preparing yourself to be baptized a member of the church. It has been amazing to watch you progress in your understanding of the church and your faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. We look forward to the continual change in your life.


Little Benjamin's blessing was much anticipated, especially with the fight he has waged to be where he's at. As Cynthia said so beautiful sunday, we are grateful for the excellence of the medical staff in taking good care of him in the hospital. We hope and pray that there will be no repeat performances!


We hope you all have a happy new year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to our family and friends. It's now Christmas afternoon and Pam and I are enjoying our day with each other. Last night we had a nice dinner and then a short devotional before calling it a night.

This morning I was awake early (as usual) and we finally decided to get up and see if Santa found our home! Well he did and we spent an hour or so enjoying the things we got for each other and from Santa. The pictures show a little of what we did this morning.






We are expecting some moisture today, but so far all we have received is wind. So we are looking for snow and hope it comes. What we've received thus far this season is beginning to melt. So we hope you all have a wonderful day.