Cancun

It seems difficult to put together a newsletter after taking a couple of weeks off.  There are reasons.  1) a lot has happened and I have to remember what there is to write about,
2) I have gotten lazy after not having to do this for 3 weeks,
3) As is somewhat usual after vacation, I came home and found myself sick with a bad cold this weekend.
So here is my attempt to put something together to mark the last 3 weeks of life in our family.

Roy and I flew to Cancun on Friday, February 8.  This was a couple of days before Yuna's birthday.  I made sure to give her a little attention before we left and took her to choose a gift from Target.  Dan and Jieun, you should thank me--I buy your kids toy pets for their birthday so you don't have to get them the real thing! 

 I found this picture in my messages on the day we flew out:Yuna watching TV.  I responded to this picture that this reminded me of myself when I was young (believe me, I don't do this anymore).  I could never just sit there--I had to be upside down or at least have my legs in the air.

We spent 10 days in 80 + degree weather, which was incredibly wonderful--even though it poured rain on one of the days.  There were only about 3 days where the wind was calm enough for me to paddle board (Roy kayaked--it's easier), and for both of us to sail.  We snorkeled by paying a small amount of money to be boated out to a reef, which is apparently a national  park in Mexico.  We saw many more fish than we saw when we paid a lot more (last year) to go out on a catamaran that we signed up with through the resort.  We also saw turtles and eagle rays.  

This was one of the most relaxing vacations ever--we had 5 massages in 10 days because we found a couple of inexpensive places on the beach.  We swam in the pool nearly every day and of course, we ate--too much.  We've never really participated in resort activities in the past, but this time we found ourselves playing volleyball, taking dance lessons, and doing water aerobics.  We also spent a day away from the resort in XCaret.  

Our favorite restaurant there was The Barcelona--it was
a buffet with plenty of fresh vegetable salads, papaya, pineapple
and other delicious fruits.  They also
had plenty of meat to keep Roy happy
Unfortunately, their breads and desserts were also delicious.

When asked if we were celebrating anything, Roy said, "Well, it was
my wife's birthday Saturday.  I guess they just heard "Saturday" because
my room was decorated and we received champagne, fruit and a slice of cake.
Don't worry, we didn't drink the champagne.

Our next favorite restaurant was their French restaurant (Weird to
go to Mexico to eat French food).

Roy at the Lobster House 

At XCaret with Caitlyn's turtle "family"

Paddleboarding 

Practicing Balance moves on the Paddleboard.  I did fine until I
tried to raise the opposite arm, too.  Then I went in.

Roy sailing

Catharine Sailing

 The night we ate at The Grill it was pouring rain.  We were outside with only a partition between us and the rain.  It was great.  This is the video:

The family carried on while we were gone.  There's a lot going on.  Adrienne and AJ are finishing up their home and hoping to move in a few weeks.  Sara had surgery and is recovering.  I was able to have Ori and Effie over for a few hours to help out.  They were darling.  Dan is still working on his schooling at Berkey on line.  I think he has a study trip planned in April.  Caitlyn and Jennie are having fun with dating, and Crista and Matt are waiting to find out the gender of their new baby (due in July). Andy and Elise are also preparing for their move in June.

Yuna's birthday party: Yuna (5) Hyeji and Ori

Ori, Yuna and Dojin and Doyeon on the right

Ori lost her first tooth

Avie was very sick

Elise and Andy took their kids to the rodeo

Plus they've been working on home projects to get ready to
sell their home in Houston and move to Augusta in June

We also thought about Thomas on his birthday this week, he'd be 28.  (Grandma Cook's is Tuesday, she'd be 98). Dan and Jieun went to visit the grave today.

Dojin, Doyeon, Dan, Yuna and Hyeji

Greta, Valentine's Day

Ruby--Look at that pose

Beverly--sick this day but you wouldn't know it

Dojin, falling asleep in random places

My friend sent me these two high school pictures.  Time has flown!

Catharine and AnnJanine 

San Antonio

Roy  had a NATSAP (National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs) Convention.  He doesn't love to be without me for a whole week, so he arranged for me to accompany him.  We flew into San Antonio on Monday.  Tuesday, Roy drove up to see a client (facility) that was about an hour away from the hotel.  I would have gone with him, but he was going to be in meetings from 9 to 2, so I stayed behind and exercised and read.  His convention started Wednesday and he was on his feet talking about Bluestep from early in the morning until dinnertime, then there were receptions, etc. that he had to be to for networking purposes.  I was able to join him for all the meals (those in charge let me have a badge) and parties in the evening.  In the daytime I just played, read, exercised, etc.  It was nice and relaxing--for me.  For Roy the event was incredibly busy and stressful, but he was able to set up a lot of demos for potential clients.

Roy and Keller 

 Keller is one of Roy's employees.  He's 22, and he was a great asset on the trip.  He had a lot of youthful enthusiasm.  He started scheduling lots of demos for Roy and Roy had to call him and tell him to slow down on the scheduling.  Roy is doing a lot of the demos and other work by himself right now, so he told Keller he didn't want to die from overwork.
During one of the evening entertainments, they had a mechanical bull.  There is no way I would ride one of those.  It turns out they took it very easy on the participants--they knew their audience, I guess.  One of Roy's potential clients said to him, "I'll go if you will," so Roy rode the bull. (see link below)
Roy riding the bull


On one of the afternoons, I drove up to a little po-dunk town called Helotes.  The hotelier told me about it.  It's not really my type of thing--just a lot of boutiques, bakeries, antique stores, etc.  

The Floore country store (below) is apparently their claim to fame, but it is only opened on weekends, so that was a bust.  It was quaint and fun to look around, though.

Note the tin rooster.  Pretty red-neck.  I bought
some comfy slippers here.

Charlotte asked me if I looked for her grandson, Grant, while we were in San Antonio.  I didn't look for him because I didn't remember he was there.  I was trying to think if I knew anyone who would be there.  I didn't see any missionaries, but it wouldn't be that weird to run into him--Caitlyn ran into a boy from our previous ward in Ireland last summer.  She only saw him from the bus, but it was enough to call out to him and get his attention.

 Friday afternoon Roy was done with his work, and we were able to play.  We went to downtown San Antonio.  First we watched an IMAX movie about the Alamo.  I didn't know my history well enough to know that pretty much everybody died.  After the movie we went through the building where the Alamo took place.  When it actually occurred, there was no roof.  Later the army bought it and put a roof on it.  The next day, at the Briscoe Art Museum (Museum of Western Art), we saw a model of the Alamo.  There were so many Spanish soldiers under Santa Anna and only about 130 Texans.  It was obvious they would have had no chance.  It's kind of amazing to me that they didn't surrender.  Our history may have been drastically different had they not delayed Santa Anna for 9 days--as well as killing many of his men.

Saturday--on the river.  It was graduation for many air force cadets
They were everywhere with their families.

Also on the river

We ate at a restaurant--the food was good, but the atmosphere was
shocking.  Next time I'll pay a little more attention to the waiter's T-shirts.

At the Briscoe.  

After we went to the museum, we ate lunch at a small
shopping area a couple of miles from downtown.  They had a Farmer's
Market going and we got in on the last 1/2 hour before they closed
(at 1:00--early, I thought) 

We haven't had the family over since Christmas week, so we invited everyone for dinner (at least those close enough to come).  Dan's family was sick, but Hyeji came, and all the other Utah families.  We celebrated February birthdays.  Mine, Greta's, and Yuna's (but Yuna didn't come).  Roy cooked Salmon and french fries, and everyone else brought sides. Adrienne made a beautiful coconut key lime cake, and Crista brought funfetti cupcakes for the kids (and some adults).

Greta--not in the best mood for a birthday celebration

Coconut Key Lime Cake by Adrienne
There were 4 candles--1 for every decade.

All the grand children that were present except for Ila
and Avie.
From left: Rubie, Effie, Oli, Ori, Hyeji, Gunnar, Greta and Finn

 All in all, a very good week.  There will be no newsletter next Sunday--I'll be out of town, so look for one in a couple of weeks.  Love you all!

Just another week

Andy signing as a Doctor for the first time

Avie

Not a lot of happenings a couple of weeks ago, so I chose not to write a letter last week.  Andy did sign his acceptance letter to fulfill his residency in Augusta, Ga. and I had my first Ward Conference as YW President.  I spoke along with the 1st and 2nd counselor's to the Stake President and the YM president.  Afterwards, my presidency had a training session with the YW leaders of that ward.  It's humbling to try and train YW leaders who have undoubtedly had a lot more experience than I have, but it went well.
The highlight of last week was attending "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" at the Hale Center Theater.  We usually buy 4 tickets so we can take friends.  This time we took a couple that we knew when we bought our first home in Kearns.  We have seen them maybe 5 times in 30 years, but we always enjoy each other's company.  They live in West Valley, so we figured they were close to the theater.  We had a great time catching up.  The play was fabulous (I've wanted to see it since I first started hearing the music from the  play and I LOVED it!).

Last week we started having FHE with our kids and their families--one family at a time.  We started off with Adrienne and AJ because they will probably be moving next month so we wanted to catch them at a good time.  We showed a bible video and discussed it.  It seems our grandchildren were listening in church and at home because they said they learned this stuff already.  Roy and I will have to get more creative with our lessons.  This week we had Nick's family.

Effie doing a puzzle

 Nick, Ori, Avie and Effie having Mochi Ice Cream treats.  Sara had a chocolate ice cream instead.  

Avie is SO happy.

Of course, I forgot to take pictures from our previous FHE with the Green's--Next time!

Nick also had these cute pictures from making a snow fort earlier in the day on Monday (He had Martin Luther King Day off).

Inside the Fort.  I asked if it was cold and Ori said, "Yes...Not really."

Even Avie got in on the fun.

 Effie said the family night prayer with my help.  When I said, "and bless my cousins," she stopped praying, looked at me and asked, "Where are my cousins?"  It's fun that all my grand children love being with their cousins.

We took some friends from our Bountiful ward to "Lend me a Tenor" at the Centerpoint Legacy Theater. Another play I hadn't seen before.  It was funny and we had fun with our guests.

Friday and Saturday Roy ditched me and went to the Klondike.  He has been on the council for the last 2 years.  I guess he may be off the hook next year as scouts will no longer be connected with the Young Men's program.  I guess it depends on whether or not he wants to stay involved with BSA.

Roy at the Klondike

Roy is far left

Caitlyn came down from Logan again to keep me company while Roy was gone (not really, she had a date).  Adrienne and AJ dropped by on Sunday to say hi to Cait, and Gunnar and Oli finagled a dinner invitation, so they stayed to hang out for a few hours.

The 2nd week of ward conferences also went well.  It's interesting because everyone does basically the same talk for 6 weeks, but we get to hear different things from each bishop.

More than dinner, Gunnar really wanted to sew.

Finn and Roy

Crista sent me this adorable picture of Ruby and Greta

Learning lessons and a beautiful day on the slopes

This week was a learning experience as we had our first major activity for the Stake YM/YW.  I learned that I can't depend on anyone else to make sure things go as planned; I learned that I need to be on top of what's happening for the whole year, and I learned that the Lord does help.  I was resting a week ago Saturday, just about to drift off and I started thinking about the Fireside that was coming up on Wednesday.  I realized that although everyone knew the date and time from planning calendars, no one knew anything else.  I called my secretary and she volunteered to do posters for the foyers so that the fireside would be advertised on Sunday.  She asked me who was speaking and I looked through all my emails from the YM president and realized he'd only given me first names (and I couldn't get him to call me back).  I made a quick decision that we'd meet in the chapel and wear Sunday best.

Diana made the posters and my presidency got them in the meeting houses, and then...church was cancelled!  Luckily only the wards that met at noon were cancelled (and maybe only 2 of them), but I felt bad that not everyone got to see Diana's hard work.  I had at least been on the ball on refreshments and we had ordered 200 cinnamon rolls.  

Wednesday night rolled around and I was so worried no one would show up.  At 6:50 there were very few people in the chapel, but by 7:05, we were putting up chairs in the overflow.  We began the meeting about 10 minutes late to a full congregation.  Then I was slightly worried we didn't have enough treats.  

The fireside went well, but it was too long.  The YM President took it on himself to speak and introduce the theme.  He did fine but I think that knowing we had two more speakers plus an introduction to Trek, he should have streamlined his part.  The main speaker was great.  A young man (a senior in High School) who was paralyzed this past summer told his story which was one of miracles.  He had been told he would never walk again, and he walked into this meeting and up to the podium--he wasn't walking normally, but he was walking.  Then his mother told her part of the story.  I'm sure she'll have more opportunities to share her story, and hopefully between now and then she will streamline her presentation.  She went way over.  Our high councilman told Roy that he could see in the faces of the youth that she was losing them.  Apparently, she wasn't as observant.  

As soon as she was finished, the trek committee took 10 minutes to talk about the theme for Trek.  My counselors and I hurried out to get the refreshments ready.  We had 7 large trays of sweet rolls and we took two trays and cut the rolls in half.  We ended up with a few leftovers, but if the lady who made the sweet rolls hadn't generously given us about 20 extra, we would have maybe ended up with 6 leftover.  Not very many kids took a half portion unless they were looking for seconds.  

One of the YM leaders had helped set up 2 tables.  They all left without checking to see if we needed help cleaning up.

I didn't mention in last week's newsletter that Roy and I chaperoned the multi-stake dance on Saturday night (the 5th).  I assigned myself to the duty because I wanted to see what would be expected of me when we host the dance in August.  I found out tons of good information and in fact have already scheduled the decorator and the DJ.  It will be a lot of work because we are the manpower behind the set-up and clean-up, but I am already planning on having a couple of committees so we don't get stuck with everything.  At least this will probably only be my responsibility one time throughout the duration of my calling.  

Next up--ward conferences, which begin next Sunday and go through March.  This won't be too bad because we only have 6 wards in the stake.  In our previous stake there were 12 wards!

Although the fireside made the first half of the week stressful, the rest of the week was great.  We had our carpets cleaned Wednesday and our house feels so clean and fresh.  It's amazing how soft the carpet feels after a good cleaning.  Roy also had our carpet cleaner do the carpets at his office--He said they were a different color after Frank was done.  Frank does a really good job.  

Christine and I went to lunch on Thursday to celebrate her birthday--a little late.  I took her to Fat Fish--a new and very good sushi place.  We shared 3 rolls then walked over to a fabric store.  I always have fun visiting with my sister (and Nan when we have that opportunity).  

I have said I'm not going to say "Happy Birthday" in my letter because it's easy to miss someone, but we did have 2 birthdays in our family this week--Matt and Caitlyn.  With both of them being in Logan, we didn't celebrate with them, but we did think about them.  

Saturday Roy and I joined the Green family on the slopes at Snow Basin.  It was a gorgeous day.  

Me with Ollie and Gunnar

Ollie and Gunnar

Notice the "soup" covering the valley behind us

Finn with his Uncle Parker (Emmy's husband)

This doesn't surprise me at all.  Finn was on the slopes
even after his brothers gave it up for the day.  He
is amazing for a 3 year-old.  He's a good little skier.

   Adrienne hung out in the lodge with Ila a lot.  Lisa took a couple of turns holding her
 so Adrienne could ski.  Ila isn't very happy
when I hold her.

 While we were skiing I got a text from the Atkinson's in our ward asking if we wanted to go to a movie that night.  I said we'd love to if they'd get the tickets since we were skiing.  When we got home we had a short time in the hot tub, then went to the movie "The Upside."  I loved it.  It was really funny and touching and although most movies never mention God, I could see God's redemption throughout the movie, for both the ex-con and the paralyzed man.

As church was cancelled last week, this was our first week for the 2-hour block.  I loved it.  I loved the study time with Roy both last week and this week, and I love the shorter time to sit on hard chairs.  I can see why it is sad for Sara where the Young Women are involved, but for me it was great.

Isn't this romantic.  Teeth whitening in bed.  Roy gave us this
teeth whitening kit for Christmas

Bevy eating healthy (cous cous)

Max--Pajama day at school

Mav, Max, and Beverly on their way to church this morning.

Catharine, Finn, Roy

Quiet!

It is much quieter around our house this week.  We were invited to party with some friends in the ward for New Year's Eve.  They had invited several couples, but we were the only ones there for the first hour or so, and then one other couple showed up.  We were planning on games, but we ended up just visiting and getting to know each other.  We also got invited to Nick's but since we had prior plans we had to excuse ourselves.  Caitlyn and Jennie went and played games with Nick and Sara.  

The rest of the week was spent putting Christmas away, ice skating, and recovering from Christmas.  

We are excited for the new Come Follow Me program that was implemented today.  Our church (at noon) was cancelled due to the snow, but the wards in our stake that met earlier all had church.  Roy and I spent more than an hour studying and discussing the Come Follow Me program, the scriptures, and what is being asked of us by our prophet.  We are truly being asked to step it up.  For example, the Ministering article in the January Ensign: The-purpose-that-will-change-our-ministering?lang=eng encourages us to "minister as the Savior ministered"  He healed people physically, but he went beyond that and healed them spiritually.  The article enlarges on these ideas:

1) To connect our service with the Savior

2) To focus on the Covenant Path

3) To invite and encourage

It is a little overwhelming to see that not only are we to serve, but we are to try to insert ourselves in each other's lives to help each other come closer to the Savior.  As Nephi says, "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."  

Philip must be starting over in the Book of Mormon also because in his letter last week he said that one scripture hit him that he hadn't paid attention to before.  In his words:

" 'And my father dwelt in a tent' hit me like a ton of bricks.  Lehi was prosperous.  He could have lived a comfortable life, at least until the Babylonians disrupted it, but he chose obedience--left behind all that he had, and dwelt in a tent.  I'm not sure I could do that and I hope I'm never asked to (I guess you could say Nan and Bruce accepted that call.  They aren't living in a tent, but they're living in the Congo in circumstances starkly different than what they are used to.  They're a lot more faithful than I am.)"

I've thought about this a lot because I know that Roy and I will want to serve mission sometime after Roy retires.  I also think about where I would want to go.  I guess I need to think in terms of "what would I be willing to do for the Lord?"

Handsome Dojin

We tried to go to the Temple, but when we saw
all the cars parked along the street and in the parking
lot we decided to visit family instead.  The Green boys
are seeing us off.  We also attempted to visit Nick and Sara
but they were out to dinner for Ori's birthday.

Our creek is frozen and Caitlyn couldn't resist trying it out.  It's a little hard to ice skate without blades.  She was a little afraid that her blades would cut right through the ice.  Also, she just got them sharpened.  I am taking the picture from the comfort of my warm bedroom.