Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Halloween 2015


HALLOWEEN 2015 FAVORITES

THE MITCHELL'S



THE SMITHS
    Abby as Wonder Woman                      Caden as Flash!      


Scott as Captain Jack Sparrow                    Taylor as Captain Hook

Ammon as Jake the Pirate                     Andrew as Mr. Smee

THE MELLORS
Tyler as a Werewolf!                   Dallin and Hayden

Kaleb as a Dinosaur                             Haylie
THE SHIRLEYS
 Josh and Andy as Batman!
 The kids with Bradley is his Friend Josh.  They went trick 
or treating together.  It was Bradley's first time to go without 
Dad or Mom. They had fun.  (Josh's mom went with them.)
 
 "D" stand for: Daniel as Dracula!    I think Eliza is Rapunzel. 

 Nathan chose to be the Grinch!              This is Nathan's mean Grinch face.

THE ANDERSONS
 Wil, Tory and Sarah-Jane    Bethany and Sarah-Jane

THE WILKINS
Tyler, (Entomologist) Leia, (Lady Bug)  Luke, (Dragon Fly) 
Gabe (Little Caterpillar)  and Katie (Lady Bug)

Gabe
 
Katie and Leia 

LEVAN HOMESTEAD NEWS: October 2015
Dad: I found myself at Payson Temple three times this month.  Once was with Mom between bus runs, the next was the annual family birthday trip with Grandma Anna, and last I was there to help with some cleaning.  I got to clean chandeliers in the sealing rooms and halls ways of the third floor. That was a first for me.
                I’ve had some lasts this month, too.  I worked my last scheduled Saturday at Ash Grove and my last set of swing shifts.  They turned out to be memorable!  Only two of the shifts were normal.  They rest included over-time on one end or the other.  One morning I didn’t home until 3:30 a.m.  Mom and I went and got the last load of fire wood for this year.  We got it at the Satterwhite plant in Gunnison. It was a bigger load this time and there was less to pick from so we had to work a little harder. I shopped and filled my vending machines at work for the last time.  Then I sold the business to Jared Allen.
                I got some fishing in with Tyler W. and Kaleb over Mom’s fall break.  We went to Huntington Reservoir and caught seven very nice tiger trout.  The biggest was 17 inches and the smallest was about 14 inches long. I helped my brothers chop corn for three days this month, too.  For Grandma Anna’s birthday, we had a brother and sister dinner at her house.  Everyone was there but Uncle Blaine, who threw his back out the day before.  After dinner we sat around and shared things we remembered about Grandpa, each other and Grandma, too.  It was entertaining and fun.
                For Halloween, Mom and I went out to dinner with four couples from Levan at Mimi’s CafĂ© in Orem and then went to the Hale Theater to see “The Addams Family.” It was weird enough for Halloween, but we didn’t have nightmares that night.

Mom: We’ve had one of the mildest Octobers I remember, but we finally had two deep frosts that took all my flowers.  That didn’t happen until this last week.  Highlights of the month for me started with General Conference. The Wilkins came down that weekend and I enjoyed every session from the recliner. (Even Saturday!)  It was wonderful to be a part of seeing three new Apostles sustained. Elder Rasband was at the Payson Dedication, so I felt an immediate connection to him.  I loved what Elder Stevenson said, “I cannot fill any of the shoes of those who’ve gone on, but I can stand tall on their shoulders.” Neither the name or face of Elder Renlund was familiar to me, but the Spirit he invited was!  I found it interesting that we have bookend Apostles who are heart doctors.  We are living in a day “when men’s hearts will fail them,” so I wondered if that was symbolic or significant in any way. I’ve been working on my 40 day challenge since!
               
I got to the temple four times this month, but equally significant is I got to tend so Tory and Bethany could be with Clorinda when she was endowed and then for Tyler and Katie so they could go back to the temple TOGETHER.  It’s fun to be close enough to do that. (Bethany and I also sponsored a bridal shower for Clorinda here in Levan. The attendance was phenomenal. It was supposed to go from 6:00 to 8:00, but it went until 10:00 p.m.)  I did two sessions in Payson without Dad. I took Ruth Crook one day between bus runs and then went through with Sarah and Jon Hunt another day.  Being there with Sarah was especially sweet for me.  I’ve campaigned for that day for years!  Sarah was the last to come into the Celestial Room.  The look on each face of her family told the story of their pleasure and the fulfillment of years of hoping and imagining.  It made me imagine a similar future scene for our family.  Even though all of our children are endowed, we have never all been in the Celestial Room together.   So far--- our record stands at eight of the ten.

Of course my birthday was this month.  I had to renew my driver’s license and set up my new S5-I phone that day while Dad helped his brothers harvest corn. The best part of the day was hearing from family.  Just for the record, my driver’s license is good for another five years, but my medical certificate is only good for three months!  It seems I have high blood pressure every time I go to the doctor, but never at home.(HUH?)  I took our cuff in to prove it was accurate and found I was right, but the doctor didn’t budge. L  So…I got a thing to count my steps each day (like he suggested) and have a goal of 10,000 per day.  Here’s some trivia.  I discovered that it takes about 4500 steps to walk to the grain tanks and back, 3500 to mow the back and side lawns, and 3000 to mow the front lawn.  I also discovered that when I shop at Cosco, Walmart and Sam’s the same day, I get in lots of steps.  I also learned that a temple session in Payson involves 450 steps.  We really celebrated my birthday that weekend during an overnight bus run to the U of U.  The district provided us with a nice hotel room. J  We did a session at SL Temple, toured the newly remodeled Church History museum (Amazing!), visited with the Wilkins at “This is the Place” Monument, checked out the Mount Olivet cemetery and went out to lunch.
During the Fall Break I took Kaleb, Luke and Katie to “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” at the Hale Theater.  It was so much fun to watch Luke.  He loved it and rhythm oozes out of that boy! I brought Kaleb home with me so we could have him to ourselves for a couple of days.  He went with Grandpa and Tyler fishing up to Huntington Reservoir and they all really enjoyed that. Katie and I followed with lunch and her kids.  It was a nearly perfect autumn day.  

Dad and I went to two missionary reports on the 11th.  The first was Tyler Marvin’s and the second was Sister Brown, Andrea’s missionary trainer.  That was a sweet day! 

I had two bus runs to Cedar City.  The first was with the football team.  It was a terrific game,and Juab won!  That put them in good shape going into the play-offs.  The 2nd was with the drama classes to see “Two Gentlemen of Verona” by Shakespeare.  It was so well done that one should NOT get in free and get paid to watch it, but such is the job of a bus driver.  Later that week Bethany took me to an awesome concert at BYU for my birthday.  It featured the 90 piece BYU orchestra with Frank Wildhorn at the piano, performing numbers from musicals written by Frank ( Scarlet Pimpernel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Bonnie and Clyde,  and Jekyll and Hyde to name a few. ) as performed by three Broadway artists. (Jackie Burns, Norm Lewis, and Adrienne Warren)  It was also “run into your old boyfriend night as we saw Matt Evans (aka: Bullet bike boy) and Kyle Rowley. It was a night we will long remember. As you can tell it was a great month for us except for Andrea’s birthday trauma.  I carefully planned what to send for weeks. I commissioned Brenda to do some shopping and I thought everything was going to be as perfect as possible.  But….Sister K didn’t get either package on her birthday---- although it was not to any lack of effort or planning on this end. One was delivered to the apartment complex office and they neglected to let her know. The other is still in transit after traveling to Indianapolis, back to Levan, on to Provo and back to Levan for no apparent reason. That saga continues! Love you all! 

Sister Andrea Kenison: See andreaapril.blogspot.com

Monday, November 2, 2015

FALL BREAK Oct. 15-19

I had tickets to take Kaleb, Katie and Luke to the 
Hale Theater's production of Beauty and the Beast Jr.
These are the silly girls who thought Gaston was a hunk!
That was before Luke showed them his muscles!
This shot captured several of the characters.
This is Luke with the Fork!

This is Sadie,(Linda Suazo's granddaughter)  Grandpa, Kaleb and Crazy Old Maurice!

This is Sadie, Grandpa and Kaleb with Gaston. (Where's the muscles and hair?)

This is Belle and the Beast with Kaleb, Sadie, Luke and Katie.
Katie and Luke with Lemiere.  He kind of stole the show!
Katie, Luke, Kaleb, Grandpa and Sadie with Cogsworth. 
It was a fabulous production and super well done!

Every one but Sadie came to our house for a sleep over.  
The next day we went to Huntington Reservoir to do some fishing.
The real fishermen (Grandpa, Tyler and Kaleb went up early in the morning.
The rest of us showed up just before noon.
Grandpa shows off the morning's catch!

Yep!  The longest one was 17 inches long. Tyler caught that one!

We enjoyed some time on the shore.
We looked at the tiny fish in the water.             We played in the sand.

Then we had a tail gate lunch. 

Gabe ate from the back their van.

Kaleb looks pretty tough with his life jacket under his coat!
Then we launched the fishermen off  for another fishing trip.

The ladies and Gabe just vegged on the shore.

Then Leia went for a little boat ride.



Tyler and Gabe
I went for a little walk  and took pictures of the area.


Dad was waiting for me at the gate.
Katie, Gabe, Kaleb, Luke, Leia, and Tyler

Me and Grandpa!
The final bootie displayed.
Back at  home!

Two Mission Homecoming reports 10/11/15

Dad and I attended two missionary homecoming reports on Oct. 11, 2015
The First was Tyler Marvin's. 

Tyler had a tough mission in Missouri, so he spoke from experience about the power and purpose of adversity.  His conclusion was: “To know joy, we must come to know the Savior, and adversity is one of the short roads leading to the Savior.”   We had to leave as soon as he concluded and head for Sister Brown’s farewell.  

These are all the Ohio Cincinnati missionaries 
who were at Sister Brown's missionary report.
Sister Brown is very animated and gave as much of her talk with her hands and body as she did her voice.   
As she spoke of “grace” her emotions were close to the surface, and her insights far deeper than her age. She
 said our doctrine answers our “Why” questions.  Principles answer our “What” questions and applications 
 answer our “How” questions.  However, while the doctrine and principles are universal, the applications are very
 personal and can only been found through the grace of the Savior’s Atonement through the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
 She defined “grace” as “divine assistance and an endowment of strength.”   She shared her discovery of the 
redeeming and enabling power of the Atonement in the personal journey of her mission.

On our way home we stopped to check on Rusty, Maggie 
Baum's husband who is now in a rest home in Provo.