An April Highlight: Aggie Night

Roger and I so look forward to Aggie Night with the Bradys and the Taylors. 

It was our turn to host, so I planned a dinner cooked on our grill:

Roasted pineapple and chipotle fresh salmon, grilled fresh rosemary and garlic new potatoes, grilled veggies in balsamic, fresh -herbed vinaigrette, Scandinavian dilled, sour cream cucumbers and garlic toast. 

Mary brought a yummy green salad with citrus dressing and Anne made a de-licious banana cream pie.

Roger took a pic with me in it, then I took one on his iPhone with him in it, going the other direction.

Somehow, I took a video, not a photo.

Oh, brother!

I wanted a pic with Roger in it, so Taylors sent theirs.

Jay had taken a pic with Roger kneeling, down on my end of the table.

At least, the candle is color co-ordinated with my blouse!

We played two big rounds of a dice game after dinner, and Jay won both!

He took my place as Grand Champ!

I said, "We have to have a pic of the Champ!" and this is what we got!

We just have one more scheduled Aggie Night at Taylors before the Bradys will head on another mission. 

We love these guys and treasure our friendships with them!

Adventures: About Africa and At Sand Hollow

Recently, our friends in the Branch, Patty and John Abraham, returned from a mission to Botswana and South Africa. Seven African converts traveled from their countries to General Conference, 

met up with the Abrahams in SLC, then came to St. George for a couple of days. 

We had the privilege of hearing them each speak and hear about the Abraham's mission in a special fireside.

Me, Patty and her granddaughter

Patty and John Abraham

This beautiful young woman, Tapiwa Nakale, bore her sweet testimony.

She is a sprinter and a track star and used to compete bare-footed. 

She was awarded five gold medals in Botswana. 

 She plans to go on a mission when she turns 19 and wants to be an engineer.

Tapiwa with her medals

This is Jeffrey Mosweswe, his wife, Duduestsang, and their son, Kaene. President Mosweswe is currently serving as a counselor to the mission president and he has previously served as Bishop in Botswana, as well as Branch President and group leader, when there were very few members of the LDS Church in Francistown.  They would walk miles to meetings and lived on very meager incomes. Their oldest son just recently returned from a mission in Ghana. This is their son, Kaene, who is preparing to go on a mission after one more year of school. He is studying to become an attorney, is self-taught on the piano and plays with his school orchestra.

There were three other equally-impressive Africans, including a Relief Society President from Mafikeng, South Africa, who bore their testimonies and enlightened our understanding.

The Abrahams' experiences were fascinating and they did much good on their mission. John was a rocket scientist and an engineer before he retired, and he brought about many techie changes for the people. Patty's big, warm and loving heart reached and touched countless Africans and both of their testimonies and their efforts left the mission areas where they served changed for the good.

Mike and Kathy Cranny, who bought a second home down the street from us, have been friends since our college days at USU.  Mike is a potato farmer from Oakley, Idaho, is retired, but two of their kids' families live in Oakley, so they just come to St. George occasionally. 
When they do, they are ready to play! 
Off-road adventures on their Razor All-Terrain Vehicles is their favorite sport, 
and they have invited us to go with them a few times in the past, which we haven't been able to do.
Yikes! 
My past experiences in jeeping and 4-wheeling over giant rocks and down cliffs have been a bit harrowing (for this whimp), but I knew Roger loved it, so I psyched myself up for it, 
and last Saturday morning, away we went!
Sand Hollow Reservoir and the sand dunes were our destination, and it was a glorious day, 
with blue skies and perfect temperatures in the 70s.

Mike and Roger unloaded the Razor All Terrain Vehicles in a spot the Crannys had come to before.

Kathy and I are ready for an adventure!

Off we go!

We stopped to have our picnic near some pretty rock formations.

The condition of the sand was very dry, more like it is in July and August, and it was very deep. We weaved and whirled, dipped and dived along, up and down and around and through the hills, and it was glorious! Roger got stuck a couple of times, but Mike had a rope and knew how to pull him out.

We loaded up and thought our adventure was over, but,

not so much! 

On the way out of where we had parked,

Mike took the wrong road, which turned into a deep sand road, and, you guessed it, we got stuck! 

So the boys unloaded the ATVs, detached the truck from the trailer, drove the ATVs back to the paved road, drove the truck out, then backed up (forever) until they could attach it back to the manually turned-around trailer and pull it out to the paved road, then load the ATVs back on. 

PHEW!
I loved watching two farm boys figure out how to get many pounds of metal unstuck 
out of that deep, red sand. 
It was no easy feat and I was proud of them.

It took an extra hour, but no one was hurt, nothing was damaged (except maybe a little pride) and all's well that ends well, right?

We stopped at Outback for a nice dinner when we got back to town, and, I'd say, 

we shared a day of great adventure together.  

Who says when you turn 70, you have to just sit and watch the fun?

An Easter Feast

We look forward to LDS semi-annual General Conferences with a bit more excitement every year. 

Conference always falls on the first weekend in April, and this year, it fell on Easter weekend -

such an appropriate way to celebrate Christ's Resurrection.

As is our aging, our sorting of our priorities is happening at a seemingly ever-increasing rate. 

After listening to each conference, we come away lifted and wanting to be better.

So, we listened to each speaker with great anticipation.

The music was inspired!

I got teary almost every time the Tabernacle Choir sang, and the invited choirs sang some gorgeous stuff, too.

Nothing invites the Spirit like His music.

I pulled this photo of our First Presidency from the internet, and it is a bit blurry, 

but I love seeing these wonderful men and prophets, 

Presidents Eyring, Monson and Uchtdorf 

 being joyful, and it depicts the happiness they bring to me. 

Five new members of the First Quorum of the Seventy were announced:

Kim B. Clark (outgoing President of BYU Idaho - Clark Gilbert, Ryan's wife, Emily's, brother is the new President);

Allen D. Haymie; Von G. Keetch; Hugo Montoya; and Vern P Stanfill.

Three new temples to be built were announced:

Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 

Bangkok, Thailand and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The following are some of the quotes from some of the talks that I loved:

On Saturday, Wilford W. Andersen likened symbolically musical terms 

to truly incorporating Gospel principles into the lives of our families.

I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music.

If you are not hearing the music of the Gospel in the home - keep practicing!

Some other great quotes:

Saint:

A sinner who keeps on trying. (Dale G. Renlund)

The decision to believe shapes all of our other decisions.  (Whitney Clayton)

How we live our religion is far more important than what we say about our religion. (Robert G. Hales)

Charity is not a duty, but a joy! (Joseph Sitati)

On Easter morning, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland delivered a powerful message. One quote from it:

Today we celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, 

every sorrow we have ever known. 

President Uchtdorf spoke after Elder Holland and talked in depth about how:

God loves us deeply, completely and everlastingly.

I am eager to get my Ensign to read and study each talk over again.

There is so much profound thought, you can scarcely take it in. 

We missed not being with any of our kids and grandkids on Easter,

but  in the quiet solitude, 

Roger and I enjoyed discussing the Conference talks with each other 

and the sweet contemplation 

of our love for the Savior and our gratitude for His Atonement.

Besides our Spiritual feast, I tried to make us a yummy Easter dinner.

Spring means lamb to me, so I marinated lamb chops in a garlic/herb paste, 
then Roger barbecued them, and you can't eat lamb chops without mint jelly! 
I also made twice-baked potatoes and steamed asparagus.

I baked an angel food cake, then, to use a Food Network term, I made a deconstructed berry trifle.

LDS General Conference April, 2015 talks can be viewed or listened to at www.lds.org/general-conference 
and their printed form is also available at that website.
  

Enjoy The Feast!

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has sprung, The grass has riz;

I wonder where the flowers iz!

I remember my dad quoting this to us when I was a kid. 
Does anyone else remember this?

Two Picnics, A Special Fireside, My Sister, Kay, Over For Lunch

And A Mindy & Co. Stop-over

Spring brings picnics.

After winter, everyone is so ready to get outdoors, 

smell the fresh air and feel the warm sunshine.

In the dessert, you've got to hurry 

before the scorching sunshine shows up!

Our annual Spring Branch Picnic had a huge turnout.

Everyone brought side dishes and desserts, 

and there were all the grilled hamburgers and hot dogs that we could eat! 

Me with one of the cute gals on my Visiting Teaching beat, Di Thurgood

On Sunday night, Roger and I attended a wonderful Fireside.

Robert Cundick, composer, was a principle organist for the Tabernacle Choir for many years 

and played organ solos on the weekly broadcast, Music and The Spoken Word. 

He is now 88.

He played organ and piano music for us, 

and his charming wife shared stories 

of their very interesting life together.

Monday night was FHE at the Walters Ranch in Santa Clara 

for NAI's Family Spring Picnic.

The kids rode horses and had an Easter egg hunt 

and the adults chatted under the trees.

 We ate grilled buffalo burgers and hot dogs with the side dishes and desserts we all brought.

Roger volunteered to help grill - 

he is a Master at that, you know!

On Wednesday, I invited Kay to stay for lunch when she came to pick up my blog books to show

in her Relief Society, "Using the Media" workshop. 
She taught about blogging, and she has a wonderful blog,
"Hinton Happenings."

I fixed a shrimp, corn and avocado salad and a chocolate bread pudding for dessert.

As always, we enjoyed chatting and catching up with each other.

Late that night, Mindy, Jeff and their four kids and Kristin, Mindy's friend and roommate at BYU, and her husband, Craig, and their two arrived and stayed over on their way to California for Spring Break.

Roger and I fixed pancakes, candy bacon and strawberries for breakfast.

Why do babies grow up so fast?

And how can they just keep getting cuter and cuter?

Fiona Kathleen Lind

Three points!

million dollar smile!

Spring has sprung and everyone is out and about and on the move!