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!