All Caught Up

It is October 27th...and I am finally caught up on this blog. Whew......

In-between these things--

Gary is working like crazy on the yard and in the garage as he tried to get things ready for winter and reorganized for the upcoming remodel.  His ability to keep working on these projects day after day is amazing.  I am so grateful for all of it and for all of his runs to the dump and the DI. The shed is on his list for this week.  He also taught Elder Quorum today and gave a talk at Jensen Park Ward last week (his mom and dad's old ward--which meant that he knew more people than he expected. Some of his parents old friends loved having him talk there.  Sweet moments!).

Ben is keeping busy with Journey House where he helps often in the kitchen to prepare meals and bake different types of bread.

Jena is getting back into some activities--Friend to Friend--her theatre group and Institute down in Bountiful.  She also started a dance class.  She is starting attending her YSA Ward again.

Liam is now a bit taller than Jena, although
different pictures show her still a bit taller.

Me:  Busy trying to figure out the whole remodel thing for our main floor.  Still waiting to get our bids and make a decision.  Probably won't start until January.  I am also planning our Family Reunion which will take place a few days before Thanksgiving.  And planning a trip to New Zealand with Gary next March.  That sums up my life---planning for something in the future.  I have also helped with the yard and read books while waiting for Jena at her activities.  In some ways, I feel like I am in a limbo state, but I am sure I will figure out what the next part of my life should involve at some point.  I got to "babysit" Jessica's and Elessia's kids last night and Ezri told Jessica that she wanted me to come back and babysit again so I guess it was a success.  She liked that grandma read her TWO books before bedtime.
 

Happy Belated Birthday, Jena!!!

In the craziness of the move and all of the stuff we had to do when we first got back, Jena's birthday didn't really get celebrated except for cake and ice cream with all of the other family birthdays in September on the first Tuesday we were back.  We decided to fix that by having a surprise Welcome home/birthday party for her at the RUSH last Friday (October 25).

It was a big hit.  She was surprised and she LOVED it...big smiles all through it and all the rest of the day. She was happy when I told her that we were going bowling, but she was thrilled to see her friends come in one by one.

Amanda, Brooke, and Jena

Pizza and drinks,,,,,

Emily and Brooke

Amanda bowling with her hat on

Meggan from our neighborhood joined us after work as well.

Jena and Emily

Jena is so nice and sweet.  Sometimes it is fun to do something unexpected for her.  Happy birthday...even if we were a month late.  We are happy to have you as part of our family.

Dinner With The Blasneks at Sister Newbold's

Sister Newbold (who lives in Syracuse just down the road about 3 miles or so) and Sandi and Steve Blasnek were all missionaries in the Collections Zone at the Church History Library.  We love them and were so excited when Blasneks (who live in Shiloh, AZ) texted and said they were coming up for some training at the Church History Library and wanted to get together. The Blasneks are serving as Area Church History Specialists..

We planned for Thursday night and the day before the plan changed from a restaurant to Sister Newbold's home.  I was so glad that we did.  It was so great to be together and to talk without the darken lights and the other people meeting in a restaurant would bring.  We had pizza, Spaghetti, bread sticks, salad and this amazing dessert that Sister Newbold had learned about on her mission to Australia right before Covid. It starts with a "P" but I have no idea how to spell it.

We talked about their service as Church History Specialists, about our mission to Arkansas, and things at the Church History Library.

We also learned more about Sister Newbold as she shared stories about her life, her family, and her late husband as we discussed the fun things she had in her house.  It reminded me again of the power of visiting people in their own spaces (a good lesson for me as I should soon have ministering assignments again.) It is good to be in other's home and to learn more about them.

It was a GREAT evening.  One of the great blessings of serving senior missions is the people that you become connected with by serving together.  These are three people we would have never known yet we are so lucky to be blessed by knowing them.

And Sister Newbold is going on a trip to New Zealand (and her mission area in Australia and Fiji) in just three weeks with her son and his family. We can't wait to hear all about it.

Mountain Clouds

In Arkansas, you would often see the clouds/fog filling the little valleys as you drove on the freeway from Ft. Smith and Bentonville.  The tops of the hills would be clear.

In Utah, often the mountains "catch" the clouds and provide a pretty display along the mountain tops.  These are pictures from the day we went to the Ogden Temple a few weeks ago.

As you know, I love cloud pictures.

Just a bit of mist as we approached the temple.

 

Halloween Decor In Utah

I have posted about Arkansas and how people love to decorate for Halloween.  It happens in Utah, too.  Our own neighborhood has a few houses with major set ups.

Dino the Sinclair dinosaur is ready for the holiday at a local gas station...

And for Harry Potter fans, a deadly battle on the court---

Gary had found this following house when he was taking the missionaries to an appointment and took us back later to share it with us.

My favorite....

The other side of the pole....

Where do people keep all of this stuff when it is not Halloween time????

Jensen Pond

Despite my earlier frustrations with the blocked trails and the noise from the nearby Western Davis Corridor, I have figured out some routes to travel for my morning walks at Jensen Pond.

The tunnel under the Western Corridor---

And there are some fields still not covered by houses (yet.)

And the Jenson Pond is still beautiful in the morning light with the reflections of the trees and the distant mountains in the water.....

Our Stake Center on the Bluff Road just down from the pond.

The weather has been beautiful for walks (and working in the yard) with mild temps and clear skies.  And the noticeable drop in the humidity is awesome.  And morning walks are just a great way to start the day, especially when I don't have to do them before the kids are off to school.

Another Family Visit--To Vonette's House

We left the last session of Conference and headed north up to Ogden Valley for a dinner and visit with Vonette and Gary.  Fall was definitely in the air up there and we enjoyed the drive up over Trappers Loop and down past Pineview.  The weather continued to be hot at the end of September and through October so it has been a spread out season of fall colors.

Pineview was fuller than we have seen it in many years--thanks to two good years of snow and rain.

At Vonette's house

Fall is a beautiful time of year (too bad it seems that winter is coming soon.)

It was great to spend time with Vonette and Gary and we hope to do it again soon.


 

Visit with Karla

With Valerie and Austin in town for Conference weekend, we gathered at Karla's on Friday night before Conference for dinner and game playing.  It was good to see her and catch up a bit on life and it was great to play games together--just a Giberson thing to do!

No group picture but one of Karla with Valerie and Austen that week.

Thanks for hosting us, Karla.  We will do it again soon.

October General Conference Weekend

While we were still in Arkansas, Valerie and Austin reached out to see if we wanted to attend a session of General Conference with them since they will be in Utah (they came up for our Homecoming talk and then will spend the week until Conference visiting family and having fun).  We said yes and just a couple of days later, the stake president in Ft. Smith asked us if we would like some Stake Conference tickets from their allotment.  We asked for five for the Saturday evening session and invited Valerie and Austin to join us.  It made for a bit more hectic Conference weekend as we had to get dressed up and manage parking etc., but it made for a very great weekend.  We were able to attend the Saturday evening and the Sunday afternoon (which is where President Nelson was present and spoke.)  It was a great weekend.

We opted to take the Front Runner down on Saturday which is usually a fun ride.  The weather was perfect all weekend long.

Gary said that this one looks like Jena is sitting by a painting on the wall.  I had thought the same thing when I looked at it in my phone gallery.

Our first visit back to Temple Square since our mission there.  The Temple is still under reconstruction, but the spires are back as well as the figure of Moroni on the eastern spire.

The Conference Center....this was the first conference since Covid that the Conference Center was filled.  They allowed for all seats to be ticketed and then had a standby line to fill in the seats...just like the old days.

Waiting to meet up with Valerie and Austin.....

On the way to our seats in the balcony, we ran into the Rodebacks who are from Minnesota and served in the AR Bentonville Mission with us.

Our Conference selfie form the heights of the Conference Center.  They had a missionary choir that night and some of our friends were singing. It was pretty hard to pick them out except from the TV screeens.

Sunday morning, I was even organized enough to bake some cinnamon rolls (not from scratch yet...no baking supplies in the house yet.)

Then off to the Sunday afternoon session.  This time our seats were on the main floor area along the side.  They were amazing.....

Got a quick picture with Valerie to share with our siblings (and the blog).

And amazingly, we ran into President and Sister Collins who actually sat next to us during the Conference.  That was fun as well.  Our mission friends continue to be a blessing in our lives at unexpected times.

Conference was amazing as usually.  To get a feel for it, listen to President Nelson's remarks at the end of Conference!  

“Every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple, You will feel His mercy. You will find answers to your most vexing questions. You will better comprehend the joy of His gospel.”

It was a wonderful weekend.