Ogden Visit

After the Hamilton's visit we decided to take a trip to Ogden and visit the Temple and Bill's Aunt Ruth. We thought that with the cold, snowy weather the Temple might not be very busy - but not so. We drove around all the parking lots for about 20 minutes with dozens of other cars looking for a space and ended up parking on the street on the west side of the building.
       After the session and on our way out of the Temple we asked if we couldn't take a peek at the baptistry and ended up getting a guided tour from the Temple President and his wife. They were so nice and willing to show us around. Our goal is to visit all the Utah Temples, from Logan to Provo, as time permits within our two year mission.
       We had lunch with Aunt Ruth (Otto's wife) and had a very nice visit getting caught up on her family. We haven't spent time together like that for a very long time so it was good to have some quality time together. She looks very good and is getting along quite well. All of her children but one live close by so she sees them regularly. After our visit we put the pickup in 4-wheel drive and headed back to Salt Lake.

Hamilton Visit

Doug, Miquel & Family came over from Colorado for a visit right after Christmas and we got to take them on a tour around Temple Square - Joseph Smith Memorial Building, walked the tunnels to our interpretation floor in the Conference Center and the Church Office Building. At the C.O.B. we went to the 26th floor to see the city from the observation decks and then to the 21st floor to visit our office.
         By then everyone was hungry so they took us to Chuck-O-Rama for lunch. We're not big fans of all-you-can-eat buffets but we really enjoyed the food at this restaurant. We ate and visited for better than an hour and then came back to our apartment for more visiting and then they headed back down the highway to Provo. The kids are growing up way too fast. Thank goodness for these visits or we wouldn't recognize them after two years.

Darrin Foote's visit

Eileen's nephew, Darrin Foote (Bob & Helen's second son from Southern Calif), dropped in for a visit and we took him and the kids through the tunnels to the interpretation floor. It was so cold outside that the tunnels made it so much easier on the kiddos to walk around. We had dinner at the Lion House Pantry and walked around the Jospeh Smith Memorial Building so Darrin could see the beautiful interior and the kids could see the huge Christmas tree.
L. to R. Jacob, Darrin, Adam and Sarah

Christmas Day Drive

On Christmas Day, before we sat down to a big turkey dinner and all the trimmings, we took a nice drive up Immigration Canyon to see where our Lake, Foote, Porter and Moosman pioneer families entered the Salt Lake Valley. While the air wasn't the best we did get a good view of the canyon as it wound its way down the mountain side. On our way back we stopped at the "This Is The Place" monument and walked around the grounds for a minute or two.....it was too cold to walk any longer. This spring we will have to go back and take a better shot of the entire monument - just too much snow on the groud to walk where I needed to stand to get the entire monument in one shot.

Christmas Eve 2009

We braved the cold on Christmas Eve and walked Temple Square with hundreds of other families enjoying the beautiful lights and Christmas music. I'm really surprised that our little digital camera didn't freeze up and shut down it was so cold. I was shaking so badly that I couldn't hold my finger still while focusing and clicking the shutter - oh, well, here are some shots of all the lights. Fortunately, Eileen had prepared some nice hot tomato soup and wassail for when we got home. It sure hit the spot.

Christmas 2009

While our little apt. didn't have much Christmas decor we did have a mini-tree, a mini-nativity and family Christmas cards. It is a different Christmas season without family all around us but we are making the best of it - we're in the service of our Savior and what better way to spend Christmas than serving Him. We received emails from the two families we got closest to at the MTC in Provo and they are doing well - the Merrills in southern Africa and the Abnees in Turkey. They feel as fulfilled in their assignments as we do in ours. We did do some shopping and bought each other new workout suits, a pullover sweater for me and a new blouse for Eileen plus a couple of books from Deseret Book. Eileen wrapped them all up in Church News paper, put ribbons on them and they're sitting by the chair ready to be opened. Maybe if we wait until evening we'll forget what we got each other.

 

Christmas at the C.O.B.

During November crews spend every day putting lights on trees, arranging nativity scenes in different venues and arranging for high school choirs from around the state to perform at different locations - Church Office Building (C.O.B.), Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Visitior Center, Church History Library, and the Assembly Hall.

Every day at noon and at 1:00 a choir performs on the main floor of our office building and we try to attend one or two performances each lunch hour.

This choir was from Taylorville - actually there were three separate choirs and each one performed.

Out side our building are several Nativity scenes representing different countries - we are standing by ones from Mexico, Japan and Korea. As you can see, we have had some snow and very cold temps!

Mom Foote Heads Home

Our four-day Thanksgiving weekend went all to fast and then Mom had to head back home. We met her brother, Oren, and his daughter along the Interstate and he dropped her off on his way back to California.

Doug & Heather Get Sealed

 My nephew, Doug Pierce, got married over the Thanksgiving weekend. We got to host their family get together at our apartment's Social Room and had all the pizza anyone could eat. The sealing was Saturday afternoon in the Salt Lake Temple followed by a nice dinner and program in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. With Temple Square lit up with Christmas lights it made their special day that much more beautiful.  

I also got to see my cousin, Jeanene, and her husband at the dinner. I hadn't seen them since we all met for the Porter get together in Escalante several years ago. She looks just like her mother, Gail, my Dad's youngest sister.

Thanksgiving with Mom Foote

This year we had Thanksgiving dinner with Mom Foote, Richard, Tammy and Krista. We were treated to delicious dinner at Marie Calendar's. Their pies are so good I had to buy one just to take home so we could piece on it while Mom Foote was here. We took her to see our office and where our broadcast floor was in the Conference Center. Now she has a better idea about what we do and how we fill up our days, weeks and months and she feels that after the guided tour she can do it too.............just tell her what language needs to be interpreted and she's ready and willing.

Mornings at the C.O.B.

When we arrive at our Church Office Bldg. office the sun is just beginning to come up over the east mountains and hit the valley floor. Greatfully I had my camera this morning to capture this shot of the sun striking the top of the Temple.

There is an observation deck on the 26th floor so I went up and took some shots looking down and around this part of the city: Our Brigham apartment complex (large red brick building at center right), Temple Square and the State Capitol Building.

Quick Trip To Colorado

We took a quick trip back to Colorado over the weekend so we could attend our grandson, Jacob's, baptism. He is Doug & Miquel's youngest of four. Then we were treated to lunch at Rodizio's in Denver before attending McKenzie's high school play, "The Miracle Worker".

Sunday morning we attended Church with Matt, Jeanette and Keegan before visiting Mom Porter in Fort Collins. She is doing better and glad to be home from her rehap stint. She promises that she won't fall again. Holly prepared a delicious lasagna for dinner - Matt and Keegan joined us.

We turned in early so we could catch an early flight back to Salt Lake and get back to work before we were missed ;-}

Our Apartment

We thought you'd like to see a few pictures of our little apt, so here's our bedroom, computer room (not sure who that gray-haired old man is sitting at my computer) and check out that couch - right out of the early 60's. But for only $5/mon we got the apartment fully furnished - however it would have been nice to select what furniture we wanted. But, we figure we can live with anything for just a couple of years........

Temple Square At Night

We love to walk around Temple Square whenever we can so last night before the storm moved into the city we walked over after dark and took some time exposures - it's such a beautiful sight. I can't get over how a bunch of poor exiles found the energy to build one of the country's premier pieces of architecture in a wasteland. Only their deep faith in the Savior could have helped them through all their trials and tribulations during the 40 years that it took to build such a marvelous place of worship....and they did it by hand and without modern equipment of any kind. Oxen pulled sleds of raw cut granite for two days to get it from the quarry to the building site where it was cut to shape and hand finished to specification. We can't get over its beauty and never tire of looking at it - day or night. We can't wait for the Christmas lights to be turned on the day after Thanksgiving.

Stake Conference

We belong to the Salt Lake Stake, the original Stake that was organized when the pioneers began arriving in the valley. Our Stake Conference Sunday morning was held in the Assembly Hall - we arrived an hour early so we could get good seats, and we did.

Office Cubicle

Here we are in our cubicle for two - Sister Porter on the left and Elder Porter on the right. We're beginning to make it a bit more homey with a few family photos.

Language Interpreter Teams

On Oct. 1 7 and 18 we worked with teams from Korea and Vietnam for a stake conference broadcast to 109 South Salt Lake Stakes. When we arrived at the Conference Center about 1 1/2 hours before the event began people were already lining up at the entrances to get Plaza Level seats

5th Mission!!

The couple we got closest to at the MTC was Dr. Merrill and his wife who are beginning their 5th medical mission - this time to south and eastern Africa. Previously they served in Tahiti and twice in other African regions - they love serving young missionaries as well as the native populations. In one of the major hospitals in Nigeria there hadn't been running water for TWO YEARS! Makes you wonder where all our foreign aide goes doesn't it?!

New Friends Gained

The Abneys from Spanish Fork (seated) were assigned to Turkey and the Burkes from Payson are going to Chili - both couples will be serving Humitarian missions.

A Missionary's World

The mandatory photo for everyone is standing in front of the large world map and pointing to where you will be serving. Here we're pointing that we're traveling ALL THE WAY from Denver to Salt Lake City...........