I've gotta begin this March post with the Softball Roger Bobblehead our son, Ryan, created. Roger plays slow-pitch a couple of times a week with local teams and loves it, though he fell on his shoulder a few weeks ago and has had physical therapy and has been nursing it since. Despite the sore shoulder, he continues to keep moving, as usual - softball, pickle ball, golf and running.
The day before the Mountain West Basketball Tournament every year, held in Las Vegas, Roger gets invited to an Aggie golf tournament sponsored by USU in St. George. This year, they golfed at The Ledges. Fellow Friends and Aggies, Loran Van Noy, and Steve Whitmer, got to make up their foursome with Roger and the Alumni Relations director, Sian Smith.
Our Aggie basketball team was top-seeded and won the Mountain West Tournament and came out on top of the Mountain West Conference in regular season play, insuring a berth in the NCAA March Madness! This pic was taken by grandson, Sam, at the floor celebration after the game.
We were so excited this year for the March Madness. BYU had a great team, too, with A J Dybontsa, and they got a 6th seed in the tournament, though they lost in the first round to the Texas Longhorns, who went on to win two more rounds. Our Aggies were seeded 9th, which was a disappointment - my gosh, what do they have to do to get a good seed??? Their win-loss record was 29-7 and they won the Mountain West tournament at the end of the season.
Anyway, in the NCAA Tournament, they won the first round, beating 8th-seeded Villanova, 86-76, and then had to play #1-seeded Arizona in the 2nd round. They lost, but played them a lot better than most of the teams later in the tournament.
As you have probably surmised, I LOVE March Madness, though it is changing and will continue to change with the portal and who has the most money to buy players. Sure hope Cinderella teams aren't a thing of the past! We have a bracket contest with our kids and spouses every year, and I led until the final. Roger picked Michigan and won! Our boys, especially, really get into it and know lots more than we do about the teams, so this was a fun victory! Who says Grandma and Grandpa can't keep up!
We lost 3 wonderful people within a week in our ward - Lorin Nielsen, Connie Richter and Chuck Dubois.
Darling Connie was Carl Richter's sweet wife. Everyone loved Connie! Carl golfs in a foursome with Roger every Monday morning and is a very dear friend.
Chuck was our bishop's brother. He and his wife, Elsa, live in our ward. He has taught Gospel Doctrine and his wife is a little dynamo!
We were tickled when our grandson, Ben, texted to ask if he and his sister, Becca, could come stay a couple of nights on the weekend on March 20 and 21st. They had fun hiking with their cousin, Ellie, who goes to college here and she knew a good hike to take them on. I fixed a chicken enchilada dinner and they were starving! We loved watching how these cute cousins interacted and it was so fun to step into their college world for a few hours! We adore these great grandkids, noticing how they're maturing each time we see them and we appreciate how they'e such good kids, pursuing good and great things.
Alas, another March funeral! Roger's cousin, Annette, unexpectedly passed away with complications of shingles, of all things! She was a very upbeat, lovable, charitable gal, doing so much good for others. She and her husband served two missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they headed up a project of sending life-saving equipment for newborns to Mexico, among many other charitable acts. Her husband, Shaun, called Roger to pass on the news of her illness, then of her death to family members. We drove from St. George to Sandy for her beautiful funeral and Roger was able to catch up with all of his Stratford cousins who were there.
After we drove to the grave site at the SLC Cemetery, instead of driving all of the way back south to Sandy in traffic for the luncheon at the church, we met back up with Roger's sister, Susie and Chyrrl and 3 other cousins from up north, Dolly, Cindy and Butch, at Little America Cafe, a long-time favorite in SLC. We all lingered a while, laughing, reminiscing and catching up - the best part of funerals!
We forgot to get pics this time, but we had such fun at our monthly Game Night. The best game was, we all wrote down our most embarrassing moment, and other topical personal stories, then 3 of us told the story of 1 of the 3 to convince all the others it was our story, and then they voted on which one of us was telling the truth. We heard lots of funny stories! So fun!
I made a crunchy veggie dip, enough to feed an army! I sent some home with friends and to other friends the next day!
Finally, we celebrated Palm Sunday with a 1-hour Sacrament meeting at church and our usual Easter meal when we returned home - lamb chops and mint jelly a week early! General Conference will fall on Easter Sunday next week. This year I have especially thought about the "awesome arithmetic of the Atonement," as Elder Neil Maxwell calls it, and the incomprehensible sacrifice God and Jesus Christ made for me so my spirit will live on after mortal death. Our Come Follow Me group has had wonderful discussions about our Savior and my love grows deeper every year for Him!
We often enjoy relaxed Sunday dinner in our chairs!
Both sobering and gloriously happy things have come to us this March. We are grateful for it all.
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