Dinner Friends

We've been dining out together for eight months now. Each month one of us picks a new restaurant to meet at for dinner. All three of us came into the mission within a few weeks of each other and we've managed to build a very good friendship. All three couples - from California, Wyoming and Colorado - serve in the same mission but have completely different assignments (family history library, service missionary selection and language interpretation team management) and are officed in different buildings - and yet each couple feels that their calling is the best.

Trip to Logan

Would you believe two free Saturdays in a row?! Right after breakfast and a quick walk around the neighborhood we took off for Logan and Smithfield where Bill's family lived about seven years after his father was discharged from WWII service. We drove around Smithfield trying to find the old home but it had been torn down. As we drove around the west side of town looking for familiar land marks we stopped to talk to a lady working in her yard. Turns out she was the wife of one of Bill's old friends, Burke Smith, and she invited us in for a visit - and some homemade pie. We visited for about an hour and then headed for Logan and the temple. It is located on a beautiful hill with beautiful landscaping.

Free Saturday

We had a free Saturday for the first time is quite some time so, after we took Mom Foote to Sandy to catch her ride back to St. George, we drove out west of town to see Saltair. The last time I was here was when Matt qualified for his scubba diving certificate and I remembered the building and location being much more elegant. What we found was a building that has been turned into a concert venue - not well maintained, trash blowing all around and a parking lot that is one pot hole on top of another. The Great Salt Lake was very low so the mud flats in front of the building didn't help make for a good impression either. Too bad!

New Missionaries

Eileen's cousin, Penny, and her husband, Kay, were called to serve their mission in the mission home in Santiago, Chile. Mom Foote came up for their 'farewell' and stayed with us over the weekend. It's nice being able to see so much family when we're away from ours for two years.

Matt & Jeanette Visit with Grandkids

Matt and Jeanett came out for a long Mother's Day weekend so we got to catch up on hugs and kisses from our grandkids. We couldn't believe how much each of them had grown during the 8 short months we've been gone. From the moment Keegan got out of the car he wanted to see the Temple, so over to Temple Square we went. First he had to smell all the flowers and splash in all the fountains and then he got to see and touch the Temple. What a precious little man he is growing up to be. As is always the case, the visit ended much to quickly and back to Colorado they went on Monday morning so back to work we had to go. It took Eileen several days to get back to normal - she just couldn't stop thinking about her son, her dauthter-in-law, and those two wonderful grandbabies. It took a full two pounds of See's chocolates to finally right her ship : )

Missionary Social-Group Fireside

The speaker for our missionary social group's fireside in April was Elder Dickson of the First Quroum of Seventy. He had a few comments about missionary work and then opened the meeting to questions from the group - very interesting format. The one thing that we continually observe about our General Authorities is their love of the Gospel and willingness to serve. There is no feelings of self-importance, just very humble men and women who dedicate their lives and talents to this work.

Zone's Spring Social

It was our missionary zones turn to host the quarterly social - we had a spring theme and invited the Temple President and his wife to speak. Being so close to Church Headquarters enables us to be taught by a number
of the different Church leaders serving in the area. We served ham and custom-made salads. Notice that all the salad fixings are in different sized flower pots - an idea we got from Miquel