Our little Christmas tree adds a little sparkle to our humble apartment.
One Sunday, a couple of weeks ago, we had a beautiful, heavy and fast accumulating snowfall. I took these pictures from our Sunday School class window in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. So cold and snowy and oh so beautiful.
Part of the joy of being on Temple Square is being able to attend special events at the conference center. We got to attend the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. It was a very special evening.
We got to see our sweet Sister Bertha who was also there for the devotional. She lived with us as a missionary in Longmont and is now attending BYU. We love her so much! She is so full of life and her enthusiasm for it is contagious.
Every Monday, we have choir practice at 6:15! I feel like it is a pretty big sacrifice for someone like me who has a very hard time with early mornings. Imagine my delight on this Monday morning, arriving on Temple Square to this! It was truly a breathtaking winter wonderland and I was grateful to be able to walk along and be a part of this early morning scene.
Another blessing of serving here, is getting to do special things with special friends. Cindi had an extra ticket to the Nutcracker Ballet in Provo and asked me to go with her. It was a beautiful production and the first time I have been to it without falling asleep! Her friend's daughter was the Sugarplum Fairy and her niece was another ballerina.
I didn't get a picture of us, but after the Nutcracker, Cindi dropped me off at Eric's and we met Jaimee for dinner at Cubby's at Thanksgiving Point. Jaimee was in town for the birth of her sister's new baby boy.
On Sunday, Eric had us over for dinner at his apartment. He and his friend, Nathan, made Chicken and Dumplings from scratch and it was delicious! Hannah brought gingerbread boys that we had fun decorating and eating.
This would be a good place to insert that we are still working hard as full-time missionaries! It seems like we play a lot and we do, but we also put in full-time hours at the library. We are winding down but trying to keep the momentum going until the very last day. It's been a challenging and rewarding mission in many ways. An experience we wouldn't have traded for anything.
Tuesday was our full-day Temple and Research day off. We packed in as much as we could starting with a temple session at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, then lunch at Chick-Fil-A in Provo with Sister Bertha, and then a special treat of seeing Cindi perform with her musical group Friends in Harmony. They sang at a senior day care center in Provo.
Afterwards, we met our granddaughter, Livi, to give her some things to take to her family in Chile, then dashed back to Salt Lake to meet Hannah and Violet to pick out some Christmas Jammies at Target. We finally made it back home and crashed. Long days really wear us out but I feel like we need to take advantage of every minute we have!
On Friday, we drove to Logan to spend part of the weekend with Todd, Kimiko and their darling little boys. We were treated to delicious food and lots of fun! Kimiko made us a homemade chicken pot pie and this delicious apple pie for dinner.
These little boys are such a reminder of when my boys were little. They are bundles of joy and energy and we love them to pieces!
Todd and Kimiko have a beautiful new home with spectacular views! This is the morning view from our guest room.
Getting ready for the ward Christmas party.
We took a super fun outing to Hardware Ranch in the mountains east of Hyrum to visit an elk preserve and we took a sleigh ride out to see them. It's not actually a preserve because the elk are free to come and go but they like to hang out here because there's plenty of free food for them to eat!
The kids wanted to sled so this was what they came up with! Such a great outing! It was sunny and beautiful and the snow was delightful!
Kimiko and I made holiday treats for them to give to their friends and Todd's colleagues. So much fun to cook in their beautiful new kitchen.
We drove back to Salt Lake on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we attended the special Tabernacle choir Christmas broadcast. We were able to attend their concert with special guest star, Kristen Chenowith on Thursday night. That's a funny and sad story. Mike and I were in the City Creek Deseret Book Store on Monday and there was a sign up for something (I didn't even know what it was) and Mike put his name in the drawing. The next day he got a call that he had won two tickets for the Thursday night concert! Well, we were thrilled because they sold out in October in about 30 minutes and we didn't get any tickets.
So, knowing that Hannah loves Kristen Chenowith who is an opera singer and is 4' 11" just like her (makes for an instant connection), I offered her my ticket so she could go with her dad. She was so happy! Eric was going to come down as well and we were going to try to get in stand by. Traffic was horrific and Hannah couldn't find a place to park and ended up going home in tears. Eric came late and he and I were able to watch it on a big screen in the Conference Center Little Theater. It was so sad that Hannah wasn't able to come. It was an incredible concert and Kristen Chenowith was stunning.
Miss Chenowith came to the Sunday performance and was supposed to sing "O Holy Night" but they ended up doing a recording from one of the previous nights. There was no explanation but we figured her voice was probably worn out from belting out all those high notes! She was touched by the expressions of love shown to her and said that singing with the choir had been on her bucket list for years.
After the broadcast, which we watched with some of our MTC social group, our group came to our apartment and we had a lovely brunch together. I had made an egg breakfast casserole and others brought fruit and sweet breads. It was our last chance to meet as a group before our departure. We have loved these wonderful people so much and will miss them dearly. I forgot to take a picture of the group but they include: Elder and Sister Converse, Bob and Sherri Rudy, Clara Nelson, Marilyn Ostensen, Lynn Rains, Nerita Flake, Sandra MacDonald, Sister Cotton, Sue Brown, Penny Sessions, and Sister Burbank.
Sunday after church, we had dinner at Hannah and Chase's apartment and had a practice for our songs that we will be performing in our branch's Christmas program, Eric, Chase, Hannah and I are singing "In The Bleak Midwinter" and Hannah is singing "O Holy Night" both accompanied by Mike.
Violet is ready to head for the snow!
Hannah having fun with Nathan and his phone.
This week, we were honored with a large group of outgoing senior missionaries at a luncheon in the Jade Room of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a delicious steak dinner and received much appreciation from our mission president, Jerry Fenn. This has been a great place to serve and we have been surrounded by much love and by amazing people. (The mission presidency have on the leis), President and Sister Fenn in the red in the center and President and Sister Unger on the left and President and Sister McKnight on the right.
Last night, Eric and us went to see the new Mary Poppins movie (mostly a thumbs up) and then we went to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. It is an incredible (freezing cold) outside light display that you walk through in their famous Ashton Gardens. Part of it is a sculpture garden depicting statues of the Savior from scenes in the New Testament ending with one of the First Vision with Joseph Smith. It was such a fun evening. We had hot chocolate and they had several fire pits along the way to warm us.
We hope that everyone will feel the spirit of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. Let's all give a little more of ourselves to others and commit ourselves to bringing more light to the world!
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