True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a secure ascent in the journey of life. That takes effort. While there is no guarantee of overnight results, there is the assurance that, in the Lord's time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and happiness will be yours."
Richard G. Scott, Ensign, Nov. 2006, 41
Zoey didn't go to Trunk or Treat and it looks like she was not happy being left home.
Roxie refused to wear the shoes that were part of her costume
Martin said he had a great time it was so much fun.
The Family
Doug's brother and Mom
With Halloween on Sunday, Saturday night has become a Trunk or Treat spectacular here in Arizona. (Doug's parents and brother came to see the kids after having dinner at their ward Trunk or Treat along with cook off contest.) Heidi's ward and one other in their building joined together this year and what a showing. Car or should I say mainly SUV's lined the parking lot all decked out with decorations, lights and even video shows. Costuming was amazing and they had refreshments, games and outdoor movies going on too. It doesn't hurt that the weather was fantastic with 80 degrees even at 6 PM. Sure beats the 37 degrees the weather channel says it is in Austin at the same time.
Grandma did it again - 2 dresses instead of one and so Heidi has to decided which one Zoey will wear to her blessing? The long one was the dress she made for Zoey but since she had time to make another she decided to try and make one of her own creation. Considering how many of them she has made - who needs a pattern?
Taking Martin to preschool today also included dressing him in his dinosaur costume before going into school as he couldn't wear it in his car seat. Since I didn't try before going it created a little challenge when we got to school. At first I was afraid I upset him as we had to take it off and put it on again as one strap was in the wrong place on the first try but it all worked out and you can see he was happy.
On the condo front I was surprised this afternoon by our Realtor calling and telling us our offer was accepted. The only change to our offer was a stipulation that if we sell the unit within the next three months the bank gets any amount over $11500 more than we paid. Since we are not buying to resell that is no problem. It was exciting news as I wasn't expecting to hear before Friday. We now have an appointment with an inspector on Monday. Hopefully there won't be any major problems and we can close before we head home.
Since we arrived Thursday we have tried to be of help with babysitting, shuttling to the hospital, fixing meals, shuttling to preschool and tonight making Halloween cookies. It has been fun and the time has just disappeared.
We have also looked at 17 condos as the one we put an offer on in May finally rejected our offer and foreclosed on the unit. Actually I am the only one to look at the 17 units. Eileen only had to endure 4 after I removed the others from consideration. On Friday I looked at one 1.6 miles from Heidi and Doug in Chandler which had been my first choice due to location but after looking at it I thought I would like one more like our choice in May and besides that afternoon it was no longer on the market. Yesterday I decided we had exhausted the options and decided to leave it to the Realtor to find one since by now he knows what we want. Then last night I discovered the Friday one back on the market so I took Eileen to see it today and we now have another wait to see if they will accept our offer. At least this time I opted to only look at foreclosures. Our Realtor said we should know by Friday rather than have to wait 6 months like the short sales can be and then be rejected.
We hear so often it is what you give a child to play with that makes them what they are rather than their in born nature. Today Roxie proved her in born nature. Martin has a cardboard car with paper plates for wheels. While Martin was away today, Roxie turned the car into a table to serve food and then served up a nice meal for her frog. Then this evening Martin showed his side of being nurtured as he sang a lullaby to Zoey. So fun to see there special spirits.
After missing Heidi's first child while on our mission in Romania and her second while on our mission in Iceland we made every effort not to miss this one. Heidi woke us at 4:45 AM this morning to tell us she was going to the hospital. At 7 AM she called to tell us about getting Martin and Roxie up. She also told us the doctor told her she would probably deliver about 10 AM. Not too bad a guess as she delivered at 12:10 PM. Zoey is 8lb 2oz and 21 inches long. As an added benefit to being here we will see Martin tomorrow in the Primary Presentation.
We left Randy and Heather's Thursday morning after getting my new crown. The dentist said they would have me out the door by 8:30 but it was almost 9 when they were done. So we had a little later start than we wanted but we made it to Cedar City just before 1 PM to have too short a visit with our good friends we made on our mission in Romania. Dan and Viv have been home three years and live in a beautiful new home overlooking Cedar City. It was so much fun to enjoy a couple of hours with them.
We arrive at Heidi and Doug's after Roxie and Martin were fast asleep but it was a good thing though as if we had waited until Friday to leave they would have woken up to just us as Heidi left for the hospital at 4:45 this morning. No baby yet but we expect her very soon.
Can you guess what is slowing down our trip? The good news according to the doctor - it was a clean break - no decay. Sunday I was eating a corn chip and I bit down on something very hard. I spit the corn chip out and there was nothing hard so I check again and it was still in my mouth. Yes the inside half of one my molars came off. This morning I went to Randy and Heather's dentist before the office opened and the receptionist told me the dentist wasn't in and she didn't know if he could see me. But she let me take a seat and fill out forms. Boy the legal stuff - you have to sign your life away now. The doctor did take me in right away and after an hour in the chair I have a temporary crown and go back Thursday for the permanent one. They used a special courier to get it to the lab to make the crown so we can get going as quickly as possible. Hopefully we will be on our way to Arizona on Friday. The bigger hope is Heidi won't have her baby before we get there.
Saturday morning we went back to the Utah State Firefighter's Museum and Memorial. We are glad Randy put this on our list of things to do with the kids as we did not know about it and it was very educational. It also has special meaning to us as the son of the second couple we served with in Iceland died fighting a fire and his name is on the wall. They are from Kanosh Utah thus the picture of the kids in front of the Kanosh fire truck.
Since our fun Friday did not include the intended museums and because we had good friends coming from Orem for dinner, we decided to take the kids to McDonalds for dinner and play time. The Happy Meals were Halloween buckets with stickers to make up you own characters. Sadly that was not the right item as Jake left very upset that he did not get a toy. That on top of an hour not being enough play time we didn't think that one through well enough but they did have fun and enjoyed their Happy Meals.
Oh how we enjoyed having Carol and Larry for dinner. We have not see them for several years so it was fun catching up. I first met them when I lived with them for two months before Eileen and the kids were able to move to Austin back in 1979. We became great friends and kept in close contact until recent years so we had lots of catching up to do. After 3 1/2 hours they needed to head home but Larry summed it up best for us when he said I wish we could stay as I would love another 3 hours of catching up.
Today started with a trip to the park before going to the Utah Firefirghters Museum and Memorial. The kids enjoyed the playground at the park but the museum wasn't open. We called the information number but no answer so we headed home for lunch and Lily's nap. I called the information number again and this time the man who answered apologized as he had gotten a late call to work. He said if we wanted to come this afternoon he would make arrangements. When I told him we were babysitting and just put the baby down for her nap he said "I like to call it Child Counseling not babysitting". We ended with assurance the museum would be open Saturday at 11 AM for us. After lunch we headed to the Tooele Valley Railroad Museum. Driving up to it, it look like it would be a fun time, but sadly the gate was locked and we discovered it is only open in the summer. OH well we had a fun time at the park.
The first time I ever met missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they were at my door looking for the man who sublet the apartment to me. When I told them I did not know where to find him, they asked if he had left the book Meet the Mormons. I remembered seeing it under the phone book. I gave it to them and to make a long story very short they gave it back to me and asked me to read it. That was the beginning of a great new life. Randy found this copy at DI and bought it for me. It actually is in much better condition than the one the missionaries loaned me.
We started babysitting Sunday. Luckily Church doesn't start until 1 PM so we had plenty of time to get Tyler, Jake and Lily ready for Church and we made it on time. In Primary, Jake learned about Honesty and proudly wore his headband home. He is so full of expressions - enjoy.
Elder Smith (still in Iceland) and Elder Soelberg (now home)
Saturday we enjoyed a great time with friends from our Icelandic Mission (actually submission of the Denmark Copenhagen Mission). Elder and Sister Wohlgemuth invited us and returned Icelandic Elders to their home. Only three of the Elders who served with us, live in Utah and 2 were unable to attend, so the 5 of us enjoyed a special time together. Eileen and I went early to have the entire day to renew our friendship with the Wohlgemuth's. The Wohlgemuth's had made all the arrangements for our visa, housing and car before our arrival in Iceland and we felt like royalty the way they treated us when we arrived. Even though they completed their mission 2 months after we arrived, we developed a great friendship so it was great to be able to spend the day with them. Elder Soelberg arrived in the evening and we enjoyed getting caught up on his activities since returning from his mission. Besides reminiscing and getting caught up we enjoyed great food including buffalo burgers and brats. What fun to get together again and we look forward to doing it again.
After General Conference Eileen flew to California to see her mother and I flew to Oregon to see mine. We had too short of time for us both to go to each one so we had to split up for a few days. We both had good visits with our mothers. First order of the visit was to take Mom for a physical at which the Doctor said she is doing great - I hope at 94 I don't have to be on any medications. The next item on the list was to take her to visit her twin sister. We had a nice visit and they seem to really enjoy getting together. I also took her to see her granddaughter and great grandchildren who live in Beaverton . Her great grandson vacuumed out her car and washed the windows for a nice surprize. We had fantastic weather without a single cloud for two days and then two days with clouds but not one drop of rain. Eileen and I flew back to Salt Lake City to babysit our grandchildren while Randy and Heather enjoy a cruise. Next post we will update that phase.
We have enjoyed the last two days watching General Conference either in the Conference Center or at Randy and Heathers. My favorite session was Saturday morning. Being in the Conference Center we especially enjoyed the music which did not require the sound system to enjoy it. The sound system is not so great for old ears so I am looking forward to listening to them again and reading them in the Ensign.
The begining of our happiness - front row: Paige, Heidi, Lisa, Amanda, Kristi; back row: Randy, Rick, Eileen, Steven. We started with 7 children and have now added 6 spouses and 25 grandchildren - the Joy and Happiness just multiplies!
Lisa and David
Our grandchildren - Gunnar, Qatar, Ezekiel, Cenneidigh, JT
Kristi and Karl
Our grandchildren - Kylie, Elle and Cordie and Adelaide
Steven and Micah
Our grandchildren - Connett, Benjamin, Gideon, Abigail, Peter and Eliza
Randy and Heather
Our grandchildren - Tyler, Jacob, Lily, Alyssa and Grace
Heidi and Doug
Our grandchildren - Martin, Roxie, Zoey and Hudson
We started babysitting Sunday. Luckily Church doesn't start until 1 PM so we had plenty of time to get Tyler, Jake and Lily ready for Church and we made it on time. In Primary, Jake learned about Honesty and proudly wore his headband home. He is so full of expressions - enjoy.
