We invited the missionaries over on May 3, for a big roast beef dinner. They were great young men - one was from Las Vegas and the other, from Idaho Falls. Both had interesting stories, each having come a long way from difficult backgrounds and in developing their testimonies. Cute boys! We enjoyed them.
Josh has completed his first year at Cornell in his Masters program and they're back in Utah for now. Their precious little ones have grown!
Anderson and his partner won a district JV mixed doubles tennis tournament. He has shot up to over 6 feet tall this year - taller than his 2 brothers!
Our granddaughter, Sarah, who lives in Mesa, is a high school freshman, and she has amazed everyone, especially herself. She has been playing soccer well - she's very fast - as she's grown up, so she was encouraged to try out for the track team. She is the fastest sprinter in Mountain View High School, which has a student body of over 3500! She has taken 1st and 2nd in district and state competitions and helped their team place well at district and at state. We are so proud of her!
My sister, Kay, sent me pics of her and Ken planting geraniums at Mom and Dad's graves in Logan with their daughter, Shonna's family, who live not far from there. They visit often, which I'm sure pleases Mom and Dad.
Roger and I attended a wonderful musical program before Memorial Day in the Tabernacle. The director, Nancy Wright, is a member of our ward and contributes weekly to our music, and I have raved on before about her outstanding talent. This program blew your hair back!
It was her birthday on this day of performance, and her husband, Steven, called her up and presented her with flowers. They are such a talented, kind and lovely couple! Everyone who knows them loves them!
These two guest soloists - amazing!
Nancy with her assistant director
Crystal Lakes, the housing area near us, always has fun parties and they invite many of us to come. When we do, we always have fun!
Below, we are with some of our friends - Dixie Stoker, Steve and Lorraine Swift and Nancy and Loran VanNoy, in the foreground.
A very scary and sobering thing happened about 2 weeks after this pic was taken, the Saturday of the Memorial Day Weekend. Loran collapsed, unconscious, on the pickle ball court while he was playing doubles with Roger. His playing partner, Sheila, tried to soften his fall, Roger came running, and Sheila, trained in CPR, having saved other lives, gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation and Roger held his head and called out encouragement. Loran had no pulse, but as they worked on him, it returned and he gained foggy consciousness as the ambulance arrived. He stopped breathing in the ambulance and they shocked his heart, and his breathing returned. I will mention now that Loran had a massive heart attack that almost killed him almost 3 years ago in Washington, where they lived for many years before moving here. He has recovered very well, playing golf and pickle ball regularly.
Miracles took place as this evolved. Sheila rarely plays pickle ball with this group, but had been invited to play with them the night before, and she delayed her drive out of town to play. After all tests that followed this incident, Loran was told by the doctors that he would not be here, had they not responded so quickly and expertly to him after he collapsed. Loran and Nancy are members of our Come Follow Me group and we meet every Monday evening on Zoom and have wonderful discussions as we study about Christ. We knew Loran and Nancy in college, in fact, I even dated Loran. We all have become very good friends and Loran's path to faith since they have moved here is touching. He has studied and worked hard. He is extremely humbled and extremely grateful. He is supposed to still be here.
Back to the party, we all enjoyed a clever magician after we ate.
And here's one more thing off of my bucket list - well, I don't think it was really on it - but I now have made a balloon flower!
Ed and Jolene Smith are also in our Come Follow Me group.
Mother's Day
Our son, Rick, sent me these gorgeous pink peonies.
Roger is a Master Chef at making surf and turf. He cooked our steak to perfection and patiently cracked the crab before we ate. He drove up to Veyo on Saturday to get me a piece of rhubarb pie and he got me some Bluebird chocolates at El Sabor.
This fun party took place at Loran and Nancy's house before Loran's incident, and we all had fun together.
I made some hummus and then made a vegetable garden, inspired by something I saw on Facebook.
Just a quick mention that Rick took his family to Japan for 10 days. Daughter, Katie, had been assigned to serve her mission there just before Covid hit, and she was reassigned to NYC, which she absolutely loved. Rick told her he would take them all to Japan down the road, and he never renigs on a promise!
Our darling granddaughter, Claire, attends an arts school, and here is a pic of their last program before school was out, singing and playing the guitar.
She also played an alligator in a play, and she was thrilled!
We attended a surprise 80th birthday party for this cute man, Tom. He used to be a cop in Chicago, my birthplace.
Granddaughter, Anna and husband, Jack, with Jack's sister and husband, stayed with us overnight on their way to a vacation in California with Jack's family. His parents are going to be mission leaders in Vancouver, BC, soon. Jack will begin Medical School at te U of U in the fall - Yay! We'll have them closer now - they've been living in NYC.
Our Memorial Day was quiet. Missy's family visited the Logan Cemetery and decorated Mom and Dad's, as well as other relatives, graves. I love that!
We finally cashed in the Texas Roadhouse coupon Roger received on Veteran's Day on Memorial Day. See his pic on the wall?
Another big month, filled with highs and lows, as life goes. We are so grateful we feel our Savior's love in it all.
