Moore March Madness

Soon after we came home from our mission, we were asked to serve as the Longmont Stake Missionary Housing Specialists, which means we get to work directly with the mission in helping missionaries and their host families in anyway that is needed.  Part of our assignment includes doing housing inspections which was something we enjoyed doing on our mission in Boston.  We get to wear our missionary badges when we are doing our calling so that's a fun part of the calling as well!

The newly formed Estes Park Branch is part of our stake so we get to work with the Elders and the senior couple who are serving up there at this time.  We set up some appointments with them and decided to combine it with an overnight trip to the famous (haunted) Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.  We found a great Groupon deal for the night and it was a fun little getaway combined with a very successful missionary effort as well.

Included in our Groupon was a credit to the hotel restaurant.  We had a delicious meal of Buffalo, Elk, and Wild Boar meatloaf which was beautifully presented on very creamy mashed potatoes with veggies and a yummy sauce.  It really was one of the "best things we ever ate."

  Our glorious Rocky Mountains!

We had a very nice visit with the missionaries up there and had a nice lunch with the four of them at The Other Side restaurant.  We look forward to going up there as often as possible!

I was walking on our bike path and captured this pretty picture of our home from the other side of the Lefthand Creek.  It truly is our little piece of paradise.  Hard to believe the magnitude of the flood that was here in this very spot just over a year and a half ago.  Time heals all wounds!

These are my darling new visiting teachers, Sammy and Dani!  Actually their mom, Katie and Becky Wheelwright are my VT's, but these cute girls get to come with them. 

We took another trip to Utah--this time to visit and help out Paul and Joni, to see the BYU Men's Chorus Concert and to spend time with lots of our family members who live in Utah or who were visiting!  Our first night we spent with Paul and Joni.  We had so much fun with Ellie and Reese!

We had the privilege of taking Paul to one of his radiation treatments at the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City.  It is an incredible facility and we know he is in good hands there!  We ate lunch in their cafeteria and then met Joni and the girls at the Hogle Zoo for a wonderful afternoon with the animals!  It was a perfect Spring day and the animals were delightful and so were Ellie and Reese!  We had a blast!

After the zoo, Mike and I headed to Provo where we met Hannah and had dinner with her at Guru's on Center Street.  We enjoyed hearing all about her first few weeks in Provo.  She is a busy girl!  Then we headed to campus where Eric was singing with the BYU Men's Chorus.  Their concert was based on songs about Deliverance.  Deliverance from slavery, war, injustice, etc.  It was so good!  We were so happy that we got to be there and that we had really good seats.  Joel and Erin were there as well and they enjoyed it very much also.  

Jordyn, Eric, Hannah, Adam

 

 

 

Love this picture!

Same as above except that's Chase in the middle!

After the concert, we went to Rita's Italian Ice because they were giving away free Italian Ice for the 1st Day of Spring!!!  We had such a fun time with these cute college kids, singing to the music, eating yummy treats and laughing at silly stuff.  Oh to be young again!

Saturday was spent helping out at Paul and Joni's.  Mike was so sad that he got a very bad cold and could join in the work.  He spent the day laying low and watching a little March Madness at Joel and Erin's.  He was also on pet duty--watching out for Kaya and Scamp while Joel and Erin took a little R&R in Zion National Park for a couple of days.

Eric and Hannah joined us a little later in the day and then Kendi, Carter, and Maggie came a little after that.  It was a fun day and we got a lot done. 

 Three cute little bugs in a rug! 

On Sunday morning, Mike and I drove to Provo to hear Hannah speak in her  ward.  She gave an excellent talk on Regrets and Resolutions from a talk by that name by President Uchtdorf from our First Presidency of our church.  You can read the whole talk here:   https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng

We found out kind of last minute that Eric was also speaking in his ward--at the same time in the same building.  We listened to Hannah's talk and then literally ran downstairs to try to catch Eric's, but we were just minutes too late!!  Bummer.  We were told that it was also excellent.  He spoke on enduring to the end!  Hannah was called to be in her ward's RS Presidency so that was a fun surprise.  

Mike was still under the weather so he headed back to Joel's for some rest and Eric, Hannah and I went to Tyler and Jaimee's for lunch and a little family time at the Herriman Cove pond.

Tyler caught this fish with his kid's tiny Walmart fishing pole.  We were all very excited!

 

We headed home on Monday.  It was all in all a very good trip but so unfortunate that Mike got sick.  We are heading back over there soon, so hopefully this next trip will be a better experience for him.  

We daily pray for Paul and for those that are caring for him.  He is a brave young husband and father and he has a wonderful family.  We admire his faith and his patience as he finds his way through this cancer ordeal.  We have seen miracles already and hope and pray that they will continue to be manifest in his behalf!