Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Birthdays

It is taking me a while to finish up with September despite titling a post "Winding up September" about three posts ago.  I still have the past weekend of birthdays to mention as well as the upcoming report of the Hale Theater play tomorrow "9 to 5" and our trip to Logan on Saturday for the Special Olympic Swim Meet.  Oh well.

As noted before in this blog, our family celebrates three birthdays in a week with Ben, Gary and Jena.  This year, we have been wanting to take our motor home up into the mountains to spend a night or two to enjoy the fall colors but things have been too busy on the weekends.  So instead we headed up to spend a special Sunday with Gary's mom at his sister Vonette's house to celebrate birthdays (my niece Nikki's birthday is today as well) and to attend the Brigham City Temple dedication.  We met at their Church for the broadcast which was shown in all of the Stake Centers in Utah, I think.  Then we headed to Vonette's house for dinner, some family game playing and conversation, and a beautiful walk on the streets around their home in Ogden Valley.  (And once you see how awesome it looks you will all be welcome to visit next September and see it for yourselves).


Mom (Grandma) Hall, Gary, Jena, and I
after the temple dedication

Nikki, Brie and Eric with little Emily due in November, and Krystal
some of Vonette's children

We took a small detour between the Church and Vonette's house
and drove passed the house where Gary's grandparents lived much
of the time he was growing up.  It is located in Liberty, Utah.
It has changed since those days, but still brought some sweet memories
as we went by the area.

Nikki and Hayden (my niece Christie's son)

Jena's trying to hide her face by kicking her leg up.
It worked.

Cousins on the tramp



New background for my phone


I love this picture even though it is the backs of our group.
Its like:  "Enjoy our walk with us!"  view
Gary, his mom, Eric and Brie, Christie in the orange,
Gary (Kerr) and Vonette



Mom Hall, Christie and Vonette

Ogden Valley in the background

Through the window on the drive there

In the middle of our day, we found time to share a birthday cake to wish Ben, Gary, Jena, and Nikki happy birthday.  The cake said "Happy Birthday everybody".

It was a good thing Sunday was so perfect since I started feeling sick towards the end of the day and have spent the last two days with a cold.  We did open presents yesterday with Ben and hope to gather more of our family to celebrate next week when Scott and Chantel are back from their trip to Boston---where they are also enjoying fall colors.

And now I really am caught up with the blog.  Valerie and I decided that our children will be grateful in the future that we have recorded things on the computer so they won't have to worry about scanning and other such things.

Out of the fire

....into the beautiful fall weather of northern Utah.  After temps of 101 in Mesa when I was at Valerie's, it was nice to feel the cooler weather of home.  I got back on Wednesday night and then had the pleasure of meeting a dear friend, Eileen Bradford, for lunch on Thursday.  Eileen and I
have been friends since 1987 when we met in Hong Kong.  We met for brunch at the Lion House near Temple Square and then walked around outside and enjoyed the fall colors.  For those of you too far to visit Temple Square this month, here is some shots of what you are missing.

Joseph Smith Memorial Building (the former Hotel Utah)
I came out of a new exit from the underground parking and was
struck by how beautiful this old building is.  The picture doesn't capture the effect.


Flowers around the Main Street Plaza


View of the temple from the southeast
Eileen and I had a great visit and a nice lunch.  This was the second time this month I met a friend for lunch at the Lion House (and the third time that I had lunch with a friend.  And I realize that I would have had my fourth lunch on Monday except I was sick with a cold.  The ladies I served with in the Primary Presidency went to lunch).  Friends, conversation, and food are a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Here is a picture of Eileen and I at the Reflection Pond.  We had sat nearby and talked for awhile after lunch and then had a man take our picture after Eileen took a picture of their family in the same spot.

 
 
Wish I had taken pictures at my other lunches...or even at my sister's.  Oh well. Another time and place, as they say.

Journals, Family History and Sheri Dew

No, I am not related to Sheri Dew (author of two biographies of prophets of the Church and former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency.) or at least not as far as we know.  This is about our connections in another way.  Let me start at what we thought was the beginning.

My sister, Valerie, and I have been talking for the past while about getting together to scan my mother's journals, personal and family histories.  Her daughter-in-law Starla had offered the use of a Cannon scanner which can do different sizes of pages, double sided copies, and can be fed several pages at a time.  That sounded like the answer to our concerns about even starting this big project.  In August, we spoke on the phone to determine when in September would work for both of our schedules.  We chose one week and then Valerie said, "Ok, would this be a good time to tell you that Sheri Dew is coming to speak on the Sunday of that week to the young adults in our area?"  Now Sheri Dew is the only person I have on my "famous people I would like to eat lunch with".  I loved her books and loved listening to her speak.  She started BYU two years before me and I wondered if we ever sat in the same class there sometime.  I am not star-struck by many people since I pretty much think we are all about the same and we all would like each other fine if we had a chance to get to know each other.  However I would say I am a bit star-struck by Sheri Dew.  So, of course, my answer was yes.  I adjusted my plan to come in on Sunday afternoon to attend her fireside.  (And actually a bit later just before I booked my tickets, her date was changed so we changed our entire week to get together so I could attend the fireside.)

A fireside with a 1000 other people, mostly young adults (and leaders and guests) is not a lunch but it was a sweet experience as she spoke about our heritage and then about the connection between the priesthood and women--amazing discussion actually.  You had to be there to feel and hear the things that she shared to understand the great power of them.  However, I have started reading the new book called " The Beginning of Better Days:Divine Instruction to Women from the Prophet Joseph Smith" complied by Sheri Dew and Virgina Pearce and some of the concepts are written there.  As my sister, Valerie, is currently serving as the Stake Relief Socity President of the stake who sponsored the fireside, we got to meet her and shake her hand afterwards.  It was great (and Valerie says that I should put it on my bucket list--"To meet Sheri Dew" and then mark it off with her name in parenthesis since she made it happen.).

This post is not just about that, but what we learned as a result of doing our family history.  Sheri Dew's remarks had actually touched upon learning and understanding our heritage so it was a nice lead in to spend three days with my mom's writings about herself and us as a family.  As we scanned pages we read bits and pieces and shared more as we tried to decide how best to share these things with our children, grandchildren and all those who would come afterwards.  We are still working all those details out but it brought us close to our mom and to the family history that we share.  As I left on Wednesday, I took half of the journals and the "Richland Years" (the first 16 years of my life) and left Valerie with the other half of the journals and the "Amarillo Years through 1981".

On Friday, I received a text from Valerie indicating an amazing connection between our family and Sheri Dew's family.  That was followed by other texts messages and a phone call as Valerie continued to learn more.  The following was written by Valerie for our extended family blog and is reprinted here with her permission (so if you have already read this you can skip to the last paragraph):

"On Friday I chose a journal to read of the ones Judy left behind...

Mom recorded in January 1989 that Dad was in the hospital and his roommate was Charles Dew from Ulysses, Kansas. Mom and Dad became acquainted with him and his wife Joann and learned of their family--the oldest daughter was Sheri who had recently authored President Benson's biography. Dad was released from the hospital, but the next day or so they returned to visit Brother Dew. Sister Dew gave them a copy of President Benson's biography--signed by Sheri Dew and the Prophet. I went to my bookshelf and took out our copy of the biography and opened it to find that it was the very book given from the Dews to our parents. It has their book stamp in it. After mom's death and dad's remarriage, he gave away many things that were duplicates or wouldn't fit into Karla's house, so that is how I received the book. It was a tender moment to find that tangible connection between Mom and Dad and the Dews.


 
 
 
 
In reading further into 1990 I found that Sheri Dew was the guest speaker at their women's conference and spoke at Lubbock's women's conference as well. She attended church in their ward in Amarillo that Sunday. Mom was in the Stake Relief Society presidency at the time and was behind the request for Sheri to come. It was so sweet to have just met Sister Dew after the Mesa fireside the Sunday prior and then find this connection with our parents, and particularly Mom."
 
 
I am not sure how finely tuned the eternities are on simple little matters like this but how else could my sister Valerie (serving as a Stake RS President) be involved in inviting the same person to speak as my mom (also serving in a Stake RS Presidency at the time) had invited to speak 22 years ago to the sisters in Amarillo and Lubbock, TX, AND it happen at the same time we were planning to do family history AND Valerie would happen to choose (out of eight or nine journals) to read the one journal which touched upon that connection.  In the words of a commercial tagline:  "Priceless!"
 
And there is the story of "Journals, Family History, and Sheri Dew".  I would imagine more stories will follow as Valerie and I work with these special things our mother has left behind for us and our children.  (I doubt more will deal with Sheri Dew but we will see...............)

Winding up September

I am not feeling well these past couple of days so I have been laying around the house not doing much of anything (although I did watch the Monday Night Football game last night between the Packers and the Seahawks while Gary, Ben and Jena were out celebrating Jena's birthday with dinner at Panda Express.  That was an interesting game and a more interesting discussions after the game.  Replacement refs are an interesting problem.)  This afternoon I decided to update my blog and was surprised to find that I hadn't written since August.  Not that "that" is uncommon.  It is just that I was thinking I was keeping it more up to date.  Then I found the previous post still in draft mode since I hadn't added the pictures, so I felt better and got it updated and Now I will catch up.

This is the month for Special Olympics competitions.  Golf was on September 7th, Basketball Area games were on Sept. 15th and on this Saturday we head to Logan for the Area Swim Meet at Utah State.  Ties up a lot of Saturdays but it is good for Jena and allows a variety in her life that is awesome.  This year our team fielded a "C" team which included Jena.  These were all girls and Curtis who usually just do basketball skills or who have chosen to do just swimming in the State Games (you can play on a basketball team and swim as these events are held at the same time in the State Games).  They were about a foot shorter than both of the teams they played, but they seemed to have fun even though they lost both of their games in their three team division.

Our "Basketball" Comet

Comets Team C minus Curtis
Hanging out with friend Kaitlyn--one of the highlights of the event for Jena
 Another highlight of that week was that I made the transition from wearing my boot when I was outside of our house to not wearing a boot at all.  I even managed a few walks in the morning, but since I couldn't fit in my tennis shoes yet, it was a bit painful.  My foot continues to improve and now I can fit my tennis shoes on.  Still some pain and swelling but is like my doctor said it is more of an annoyance than anything else.  Glad to be moving forward.

Here is a couple of pictures I took of dawn over the pond where I walk.  I was taking a shorter walk so I came at a different angle than normal and was struck by the beautiful site  (and yes, there is probably a life lesson in that--sometimes we just need to see things from a different view, etc....my thought for the day.)


 AMAZING!!!
It is so awesome that the starting of the day and the setting of the sun
are so breathtaking.  It gives a sure moment of beauty in everyday--
except for the rainy days.......for that we have our memories.
 
 
From basketball,  we headed home for a few hours and then to Red Lobster with Ben and Chantel for Ben's birthday dinner.  I was going to be out of town on his birthday so we celebrated a bit early.  Scott was working at the time and would visit us at our table as we enjoyed some excellent food.
 
After dinner, Jena went to Ben's to hang out while Gary and I attended the Adult Session of our Stake Conference.  It is always one of my most favorite meetings in the Church and this one was excellent as usual. 
 
Then came Stake Conference the next day.....and to our new week and my next adventure!!!  Stay tuned.

The day has arrived.....

ownership of Clearfield High School has officially transfered to Jena.  For years, whever we drove past Clearfield, Jena would say "  There is "fill in the blank....Jessica's, Scott's, Ben's, and Tosha's... school."  Whichever of her siblings were currently attending that school would be identified.  It has been Tosha's school for a long time.  However a couple of days ago, we drove past the high school and Jena said, "That's my school."  It is true.  Jena is now a sophmore and officially in HER high school.  She has been so excited to finally be there where her brothers and sisters went.  Her first week went great for her and we are all looking forward to a good year.

Packing for the first day of school

Out the door at 6:40 to catch the high school bus.


Then Friday was her first State Special Olympics Golf Tournment.  It was a beautiful day down in Salt Lake.  She complete in skills which meant that she hit 5 shots of a wood, an iron, long and short putts, and two different types of wedge shots.  She has a good time, but she insisted that she go to school at 7 so she wouldn't miss the "Welcome" Assembly and then she wanted to head right back so she wouldn't miss any more class time than she had to.  Now golf is over and she is involved with basketball and swimming for Special Olympics.  It is just a great program both for the skills and fitness and the social opportunities.

Jena is a part of the North Golf Team for golf
which is a combination of a number of different teams in our area.

She is official!

Blue bag and clubs, of course.

Friends from her Comets Team
Hyatt and Jena above
Curtis and Jena below


Putting skills

Driving  (and not with car)

Chipping

Enjoying the day and the event with Dad (and Mom)

Ben has been in his apartment for five weeks and is managing things well.  He enjoys his own space, but also enjoys coming to visit us as well.  Jena really misses him but is adjusting as well.

So I really had THE moment---on Thursday I was cleaning up from dinner, Gary was gone and Jena was working on a project so the house was quiet.  And I thought,  "It really seems like just a moment when I was cleaning up with five children filling my house.  How did it go by so fast?"  Now I have talked about these feelings with other people and I had thought from time to time that time really does see to go fast, but this time I thought and felt it deeply and in a very personal way.  I loved those little people and I love them now.  I am grateful that most of the time, I understood time was going fast and I enjoyed being a parent of a growing family of five....but when, where and how did the time go so fast.  Oddly, in my memory, it feels like the five years we waited and sought for children took longer than the past 29 years of having children.  Weird....life and changes.

Speaking of changes, the other news around here is that I was released from my calling in the Primary Presidency.  After serving together for almost 3 1/2 years it was a bittersweet day today.  Changes are a part of the gospel and of life.  I am so grateful for the chance I had to serve in the Primary and with these wonderful ladies and all of our teachers and Scout leaders.  As I was being released, the counselor thanked me for my service particular in Scouting.  That grabbed my heart as I had been focused on missing the kids and the Sunday meetings.  I had forgotten about Scouting.  That will also be a loss.  I am sure that my Scouting days are not over.  So I currently don't have a calling and as we have Stake Conference next week and the Brigham City Temple dedication the following week, it will be 3 weeks until I could be sustained in another calling so a break.  However as you know, for me the sooner I know what I will be asked to do the better---I am a planner afterall.

And time marches forward................

A rainy day in August

I know that you are tired of looking at my rain chain in action, but I really love it and enjoy these pictures of rain during a very dry Utah summer.

It is amazing the amount of water which pours down from the roof.

You can see the heavy rain but I was also trying to show
that the sun was actually shining as well.  It was a
beauiful sight.


The rainbow in the east.