Christmas 2012

It has been a wonderful Christmas. We went up to Brenda's on Christmas Eve. They took us to a dinner party at their friends, the Brunos. They were wonderfully welcoming and the dinner was great. Such a talented group. Brenda sang, Heidi sang, Alyn sang, and all the women sang and let me accompany them. Heidi and Robin played a cool duet, and Brittain played an original arrangement of Christmas songs. It was such a pleasant evening.

Then we went home and they acted out the Christmas story.

Grandpa read from Luke.

Sam was all the animals, Brenda the angel, Mike the shepherd, Berekeley and Maia were Joseph and Mary, and Sydney was a flamboyant wiseman.

The kids got new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning was cool. The kids didn't get up until about 7. We checked out our stockings and then had breakfast. Then came the opening of the gifts.

Sam got a bullwhip!

Brenda's favorite gift was a dustpan!

Sydney loved a letter from Berkeley.

Sam got one as well. What a nice big brother!

Shasta was more interested in the wrapping paper.

The kids each got a 6-pack of pop.

Brenda modeling her Nauvoo apron.

Then we drove down to Adair and had Christmas dinner with Ken and Polly's family. We watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas, guaranteed to soften the hardest of hearts. We also played Bananagrams. That was fun. I love all my kids and grandkids!

Making gingerbread houses.

George Albert Smith's solution

The news from Newtown is distressing. We live in perilous times alright. Which is the title of the last lesson in the George Albert Smith Teachings book. We discussed it in RS  today. The solution is not tighter gun control or guns for teachers, or learning karate or locks on doors. It's nothing to do with politics or conspiracy theories.

Here is what President Smith said: "There is only one remedy for the universal distress--a panacea for the sickness of the world. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ." If we are living the gospel in our lives and listening to the spirit, we will be warned and guided and comforted. And if we are killed by someone else's bad choices, it is not the end of our existence. Going on to act three will be exciting.

That is what I believe.

The reason for the season

For those who couldn't make it to the Nativity Festival, here are some pictures.

A large nativity in the foyer contributed by a rich widow in town.

A geode?

Origami created by Ken

Traditional birthday cake by Emma Erickson

The Oriental section

Poignant

Thanksgiving in Central Point

It was great to be with family at Thanksgiving. Brenda and Mike's family came, as well as Emily and Jason. Pam cooked a marvelous Thanksgiving dinner.

Erik beat Gpa at chess

Maia cracking a geode

Grandpa and the kids decorated turkey cookies

The kitchen was the hub of the celebration

Brenda and Gma playing a duet on the beautiful piano

Neil carved the turkey

Playing Bananagrams

What a spread!

We are thankful for family, good health, being back in Oregon, our testimonies, this beautiful earth, and opportunities to learn and serve.

A Week in Utah

We've had a wonderful week in Utah. Carl and Velvet's girls are so cute and we played dozens of games of Uno and Sorry with them. Grace got her braces off this week and has a beautiful smile.

Sisters: Laura, Grace and Kate

Eldon split some geodes with the girls. Grace really got into it.

We visited a place called Scheels which is even bigger than Cabellas. They had an indoor ferris wheel which we rode on. And lots of stuffed animals.

Kate and her Dad

We stopped to visit with Lloyd and Nancy and also Uncle Cliff and his family.  We spent some time with Gail. She fixed a nice lunch for us and Lois and Don and it was good to visit with them. We went to church with Gail and I got to see some old friends and neighbors, Jessie and Bob Penrod. Jessie is failing and I know that's the last time I'll see her in this life.

Sisters: Gail, Lois and Janeil

We also took Esther to supper at the Brick Oven. She's all excited about planning for a mission in May and we talked about getting prepared for that. I think she'll be a good missionary!

Grandpa and Esther

The highlight of the week was a visit to the Salt Lake Temple. The witness couple was handsome (Carl and Velvet) and the live session was really interesting. The interior is overly ornate and the murals seemed pale in comparison with Nauvoo's.

Eldon, Janeil, Velvet and Carl

One night 6-year-old Kate said family prayer and said, "We're thankful Grandpa and Grandma could come and when they die we'll be sad." So I said, "Don't be sad for us when we die because we'll be happy to go back to live with Heavenly Father."

Nebraska and Wyoming

Yesterday we spent the entire day in Nebraska. It's a long state! We started out from Omaha and ended up sleeping in Sidney, Nebraska. The only place we stopped that was significant was a cool museum called The Great Platte River Road Archway. It crosses over the freeway and contains a multi media museum about what happened on the trail, from Mormons, 49ers, the pony express, the railway, and finally, automobiles! It was definitely worth the stop and the $10 entrance fee.

We also spent the day establishing a relationship of trust with Carmen. That was greatly enhanced when she automatically changed her time when we crossed into a new time zone!

Today we headed up into Wyoming on the Mormon trail. We stopped at Chimney Rock.

By the time we got to Guernsey, we got worried about the coming storm and decided to drop back down onto I-80 to be a little safer. We did run into snow, sleet, high winds, and freezing cold, but arrived in Rawlins unscathed. We are just 5 hours from Salt Lake so I think we can make it in time to go to church with Carl and Velvet's family! We're excited.

Council Bluffs, Iowa and Winter Quarters, Nebraska

 Heading westward!

We stopped in Council Bluffs which used to be called Kanesville. There is a nice visitors center there and a senior couple gave us a grand tour.  Evidently right after Brigham Young got to Utah he turned around and went back to Kanesville (where the bulk of the Saints were), and asked that a tabernacle be built, which was done in three weeks. Just a simple log one, but large enough for a good group to meet and sustain him as president of the church with his counselors, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards.

The current building is a replica, built by the city of Council Bluffs in order to attract visitors. After a few years they sold it to the church for $1 so they would do landscaping and upkeep on it.

Brigham Young and his counselors

I took this picture in honor of Robin who has this memorized!

Then we drove over a fanciful bridge into Omaha, which used to be called Winter Quarters. We went through the Mormon Trail Center with a very nice young sister. She drew us out about Nauvoo and learned from us too. As we were walking in we met the Hills, the other couple from the Portland Temple who served with us in Nauvoo. Small world! We walked up the hill to the cemetery.

We went to a session at the Winter Quarters Temple, which is beautiful. It's small but ornate. The front doors are gold. There are some beautiful stained glass windows and I loved the shade of green of the carpets!