Stake Relief Society Women's Conference

This Stake Women's Conference has been in the planning for quite some time. It was a pleasure to be a part of it. One year I was on the decorating committee for this meeting, now one of the sisters on that committee with me is the Stake Relief Society President! Susan Hoyt. How I have loved serving with her, Karen Cox, and Patti Gillie. Karen was the counselor over me when I was in the Relief Society Presidency in the ward. I knew going in to this evening was my last official duty as I would be released this evening. Anyway, it was a beautiful event, the decorating committee did fabulous, the food was wonderful and our guest speaker was amazing. Her name is Christel Foreman, a WWII survivor. She told her story of how her family was saved by obeying the prophet. They stored food (in jars, buried in the yard) and all they went through to get safely to America. Her father was killed in the war, they were German and he HAD to be in the army. I can't remember what happened to her brother, but their story is incredible. I got to sit by her as we ate dinner and I told her she needed to get her story in a book and I would be first in line to buy it!  She said her husband was helping her get it going, but then he passed away. She was so spunky and we all just loved her! She wouldn't sit in the chair on the stage, she liked to walk back and forth. We were so nervous she would fall off the stage! It was truly an inspiring evening and I am so glad I got to be a part of it. Next to the two weeks I served on the Relief Society Committee before being put in the Relief Society presidency (I was in that calling for about 4 or 5 months), this is my shortest calling. About 3 and a half months. I told Susan I just couldn't understand why I was put in this calling for such a short time and she said it was because I got them all organized for the new year! I don't know about that, but I truly did love the time that I served. It has been about my favorite calling to date! I will miss it. If you ever see a book by Christel Foreman, buy it! I do hope she will get her story down in print. This article about her came out in a community magazine. It was so fun to see it and know that I met her! You probably can't read from the picture but at least you can see what she looks like. She had a great handout of seed packets and a thought about faith. What an amazing woman and an amazing story!

A Special Experience...

Today we (stake relief society presidency) visited the Spring Gardens (care center) for their Sacrament meeting and branch conference. It is our last conference, making 11 in all. It was a sweet experience to be among these seniors. From the sweet little lady in the wheelchair who stood up to conduct the hymns, to the sweet old men who blessed and passed the Sacrament. How beautiful to hear them bless the Sacrament from their hearts, with such great reverence and emphasis. And the tall, white haired, slightly bent over man who passed it so tenderly. The man behind the Sacrament table was in a wheelchair and couldn't reach the tray to hand to the man who was passing, (the tall, white haired, slightly bent over man) so he handed the tray to the man in the wheelchair to hand back to him to pass. I don't know if I am explaining it right but it was so sweet to witness. President Jones gave his wonderful talk on how the Savior loves each of us individually. He told the story of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment as he walked by in the throng of people. How HE knew THE ONE. It really brought tears to my eyes at his touching, emotional, rendering of the story. He also told a story of when he was a bishop and a husband of a dying woman asked him to come and help give his wife the Sacrament. She knew she would soon be gone and she wanted to take the Sacrament one more time. He told of how he saw the ONE piece of bread and the ONE cup of water, how he knew that the Lord knew this one woman, and how important this was to her. It really made me think about when we take the Sacrament....it is PERSONAL. And the Lord knows us individually. 

After that meeting, we went down the hall to the memory care wing and had Sacrament with them.  What an experience! It was sweet also. One sister was very vocal and didn't like it when they turned the TV off!  ha ha.  But when he said it was time for Sacrament she was okay with it. Then they passed out some hymn books and she was excited to know what page to turn to. She spoke very loudly and was happy about the singing. I sat by a sister in a wheelchair and she helped hold the book but just hummed.  She said she couldn't sing the words but she could hum. A gentleman stretched out in a recliner had his eyes closed but as someone was talking to him before we started they asked him if he wanted to sing today and he shook his head softly but firmly, no. Then they asked him if he wanted to take the Sacrament today and he nodded, softly and firmly, yes. One sister took the bread but she declined the water and the sister next to her said, "You don't want to take the water?" and she responded, "No, I did that last year." So cute. One cute lady wiped her hand on her pants carefully before taking the bread and again when taking the water. It was a sweet gesture that she wanted to be clean. President Jensen gave a few remarks and then a gentleman gave a special thought after the and then I got to say the closing prayer. It was such a special experience to be there today and feel the sweet spirit of these people who are in "God's waiting room" and don't really know much about what is going on around them, but their spirits totally understand the Sacrament and the hymns and "church."  The bishop says when he gives them temple recommend interviews, they come out of "their world" and are totally coherent for their interview. Their spirit knows...and when it is over, they go back to "their world." What beautiful people are serving there and helping with these people. In the hall they had a "Wall of Fame" and there were framed pictures of all of them who had served in the military, their THEN and NOW pictures. It was beautiful. They truly were the best generation of people! 

Then we went to lunch with the branch. I sat at a table with three cute sisters.  Ivie, Dee, and Jo Ella. We enjoyed our food and our visiting. We met the grandpa of Napoleon Dynamite, a gentleman who was on Normandy (WOW!) and many other sweet and wonderful people. Ivie had 4 pregnancies but only 1 daughter.  She had a son, then a stillborn, then a daughter and son. One son was killed in a car accident at 23. The daughter had 4 blood transfusions in the womb! But all was well. I can't remember what happened to the other son, but she just has one daughter now. And a daughter-in-law that she still claims as family who remarried after the son was killed in the accident. Jo Ella has one daughter that doesn't talk to her (so sad!) but a niece and a cousin that visit her. She reminded me a little bit of Dave's Aunt Ramona. Both in looks and the way she speaks. Dee is from Oklahoma and still has that cute accent!  I didn't realize she was 96! I thought she was early 80's. She has a son that lives here and 10 grandchildren!  She had two sons but one was killed in Vietnam. The other son had enough kids for both of them. ha ha.  10 kids! She used to live in Page where her dad worked on the dam. "He had a dam job!" I enjoyed my visit with these 3 sisters so much!

We have our Stake Relief Society Women's Conference this week and then stake conference next Sunday. I knew I would be getting released since we are moving on March 1st. But the president (Susan Hoyt) told me today that she turned in a name for a secretary (knowing that it takes a bit of time to get approved and called) and the very next day the sister called her and told her how excited she was to be working with her! It happened so fast!  Susan couldn't believe it and didn't think it would happen that quick, but they want to set her apart on Wednesday, the day before our conference!  That must made me so sad. Susan said she will never forget how my name jumped off the page when she was picking her secretary and how much she has loved working with me. She knew it would only be a short while, but she says I got them organized! Susan Hoyt, president, Karen Cox 1st Counselor and Patti Gille 2nd Counselor.  I have loved working with these ladies and am sad to be leaving. (But very excited to get my own house!). I worked with Susan 2 years ago when she was on MY committee to decorate for the Stake Women's Conference. I have been a little sad today knowing that my time is up.  Shortest calling I have ever had! Except for that one time they put me on the RS committee and I went to one planning meeting and the next week the bishop came and called me to be in the RS presidency. I guess THAT was the shortest calling! I was in the RS presidency for 3 months and the presidency was reorganized. Then I was put in primary with Dave and we were there for 3 months until this calling. This one has just been a little over 2 months. I wonder what will happen in our new ward! 

One last thought on this special experience...we went last week to the other branch at the Osmond Care Center and it was sweet too. A much smaller crowd, but sweet to visit with. Yvette Anderson (from our old 16th ward) is the RS president and it was fun to see her in action and visit with her at lunch. She does a great job! We also visited with a sweet lady named Catina. Each of the wards in the stake take turns coming there to pass the Sacrament and it was sweet to see the young men being so sweet and gentle with the older people as they took the Sacrament. We stayed for Relief Society that day and really enjoyed their comments and participation. These care centers were both wonderful, special, and sacred experiences that I will hold in my heart for a long time. 

It's a...

We went to Amanda's for the gender reveal cake this evening. Jamie Gillman aka cakebakedblondie on instagram, made this beautiful cake that is either pink or blue on the inside. Amanda had given her the envelope with the results of the ultrasound in it. Lilly had a paper for us all to write our guess down, or what we wanted it to be. Joel and Kristen were there too. Nate did a live youtube video for his family. Amanda cut into the cake and even though she couldn't see the color yet, David started to whoop and cheer and Lilly took off down the stairs to cry on her bed. Amanda got the piece out and it was blue! After we finished filming and cutting pieces, Nate went down to cheer Lilly up. When she came back up I tried to tell her one of the perks of being the only girl (as I grew up with 3 brothers) and that is that you always get your own room! She had some ice cream but didn't want to eat BLUE cake. Walter was happy! He enjoyed every bit of it! We hope Lilly warms up as she did to Walter. I guessed boy. I didn't win anything though, except another grandchild to love! 

Valentines day

We got a little more snow last night. Always a happy thought for me. For Valentines this year I wrote on the menu "Surprise Dinner" and he has been worried about it! Mostly because I told him I wouldn't be eating it. I tried making salmon in the instant pot. It turned out okay, but wasn't cooked all the way, so we threw it back in to try and cook it some more, but it kind of ruined it. There is a reason I haven't cooked salmon for him in 36 years and I won't ever do it again! The smell. Ooooh, I just can't handle it! Hopefully he knows how much I love him that I even tried it! I also made his favorite bread pudding and then we celebrated by going to the temple. It was a lovely evening, but the apartment still smelled like fish when we got home! Amanda was supposed to find out the gender of her baby today, but had the technician write it and put it in an envelope.  We will all find out tomorrow! Stay tuned for the gender reveal!

Cute little stinker!

This little 19 month old is sure a cutie!  I love spending my days with him. We always have a little snack and watch a Mickey Mouse show before naptime. He gets pretty into it. He loves the hot dog dance (got gog) and will even get up and dance now and then. But today he was a fast little stinker! He somehow reached my brand new bottle of mod podge and when I jumped up to get it from him, he was already running towards the hall with it. He was holding it by the lid and somehow that lid came off! The bottle hit the tile and tipped over onto the hall carpet! It all happened soooo fast! The look on his face and the squealing as he was running to get away from me. Oh my goodness. Today it was a good thing he was cute! We will need a steam cleaner to get it all up. I used hot water and rags until I felt like I had gotten a lot of it up, but I know I really didn't. It has dried a little stiff tonight. Our landlords will be happy to see us go for sure now!  ha ha.  

North and South...Always.

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I LOVE this movie. When Donna came to visit I made her watch it and now she is hooked too! We watched it on Netflix even though I own the DVDs. I told her Netflix had cut out a scene, so I got my DVDs out and there were a TON of deleted scenes! Not whole scenes, but little snippets here and there that totally explained other things that were said and done. So on a snowy day when I didn't have Walter (maybe Martin Luther King Day?) I turned my DVDs on to watch it ALL again. I can seriously watch it over and over. But I will not watch the Netflix one anymore! Of course the best part is the train station scene and it will forever be in my opinion the MOST ROMANTIC SCENE EVER. But another favorite scene is the look on his face when he realizes "it was her brother." Oh. My. Goodness. Anyway, Donna ordered the movie but it was the same Netflix version. I showed her the "correct" version to buy. Not sure if she has traded it yet, but only watch the FULL VERSION! If anyone else wants to be introduced to Mr. Thornton and Margaret Hale, just say the word and I'll watch it with ya! 

Even better snow!

Wow what a storm!  Now THIS is great snow! Wet and deep! They did forecast this storm and they got it right! I am loving it! I had to go to the top of the steps again to take pics. We actually got snow outside our door and that never happens!  We are totally under an awning so you know the wind had to be blowing just the right direction for it to cover my little bike and plants (fake plants). The stroller is at the top of our stairs and totally under awning. I don't think we will be taking any walks with it! It is a good day to stay in and make fabric rosettes. Making a valentine heart for Kristen and Joel. I have made them now for all my daughters and daughters-in-law. It is the month of LOVE!