Conference Center in Salt Lake City

 I enjoy going to the temple every Tuesday morning.  I usually go early so that I can make my spiritual care visits at the hospital on the same day.  On Tuesday, February 19th I went from the hospital to the Saga Book Club.  It is great to keep in contact with my Tempe friends.

They are planting new flowers on the Mesa Temple grounds as they prepare for Easter.  Whenever I see a pansy I can't help taking a picture.

 The snow on the ground is beautiful as seen from the air on my way to Salt Lake.  Actually it was colder in Arizona today.  The pilot as I returned home the same evening said that in Phoenix they had today rain, lightening, hail and snow.  This doesn't happen often in Phoenix.

                                     There is still a lot of snow to melt on Temple Square.

 I rode into Temple Square on the shuttle with a family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who were in Utah skiing.

                                                     "I love to see the Temple....."

            The temple square sister missionaries took my picture in front of the temple.

 I saw flowers starting to grow from bulbs at Temple Square.  It was nice to see this sign of spring coming. 

                                  Some of the flowers are still growing under the snow.

                              I look forward to seeing the beautiful Conference Center.

 The podium made from President Hinckley's walnut tree and chairs for the General Authorities are now in place.

 My brother Garry and his wife Janet and sister in law were the first ones I took on tour.

 We walked down to the front of the auditorium. They enjoyed all of the original art in the Conference Center.  They took about n hour seeing everything.  I am happy tht I was able to tell them about the auditorium, the paintings, sculpture and all the wonderful things in this dedicated building to the Lord.  I thought of the theme of the Conference Center, "Let the Lord do His own work i His own house".  I tried to set the stage for the spirit to take over and flourish.  We could feel the spirit as we took the tour together.

 Later in the afternoon this sister came by to see me.  We were missionaries together in Nasuvoo.  She is now a missionary at the Family History Library.  It was good to see her again. 

I saw this sign at the Salt Lake Airport when I was waiting for my flight back to Arizona.

Maland's 4th Birthday Party

Sunday evening February 17, 2013 I enjoyed having Ray and Amy come for dinner.  We had a good visit while we ate.

 It made me feel loved for Erin to invite me to be with them for Maland's 4th Birthday party.

I

                                   Erin made a cute Nemo birthday cake for him.

                                                                    We ate pizza.

                                  It was good to be with so many of my grandchildren.

                                                     Maland liked his birthday cake.

                                                   He got lots of nice gifts from his family.

                                                    I gave him a book about prayer.

 Maland's grandmother gave him a quiet book using pictures of family members for the letters.  It is a cute book.

                                             Maland loved opening all of his gifts.

                                        Maland is a cute little four year old and loves life.

                                             We all enjoyed watching his excitement.

                                      Erin put four candles on her son's birthday cake.

                        Maland loved blowing out the candles so that he could get his wish.

                                 Maland's little brother, Koen, is learning how to walk.

 I love this picture of my children and grandchildren.  Families are so special and can strengthen each other.

                                               Maland got a scooter for his birthday.

                                               He shows me how he can ride it.

                             The toy gives Koen something to hold on to while he walks.

                                                   Dantley and Erin are good parents.

                                                                   I love that smile.

                                               Koen is a cute great grandbaby.

                           Jamie enjoys being with Maland and his scooter.

          I like their valentine wreath on the door.  Adrianne is enjoying her student teaching.

Tempe 4th Ward/Alameda 50th Birthday Celebration

 Tempe 4th Ward  later known as the Alameda Ward celebrated its 50th Anniversary on Saturday and Sunday February 16th and 17th.  We moved into the ward when it had been organized only a year and were members of the ward for forty years. 

                      All of the past Bishops and their wives returned for the festivities. 

Over 290 calls for missionary service have been received by ward members during the past 50 years.  They were listed on the map.  I found the names of our five sons and one daughter who were called to serve in missions all over the world from the ward.

Throughout the evening they gave candy bar awards.  I received one for having the most Tempe High School Valedictorians from our family.

I was happy to see my name on this wall hanging we gave to a past Relief Society president.

 We sang "We Are Family" with special words fore our 50th Anniversary of being a ward family.

At the party they introduced the bishops. Bishop Gerber was the first Bishop.  We purchased his home in the ward.  He was the only one deceased.  All of the other Bishops were there. They had you stand if you were in the ward when the other Bishops served.  I stood each time because we were in the ward for the rest of the Bishops except for the last two. Bishop Doyle Randall served from 1964 -1970.  He was the Bishop when we moved into the ward.  Heber Olsen served from 1970-1977, Dale Shumway from 1977-1983, Byard Wood served from 1983 to 1990, Richard Heywood from 1990 to 1997 and Jay was serving in the Bishopric with Gerald Ford before we moved from the ward.  They recognized me and had me stand as his wife. 

They had a short program. 

A Barber Shop Quartet performed during the program. 

They had several other numbers in the program and told some of the history of Tempe 4th ward. 

 Different organizations in the ward did special projects to commemorate the 50th anniversary.

This is the list of some of the things done. 

Byard Wood was one of our favorite Bishops.  Sunday morning they had a special Sacrament Meeting.  I went early so I culd sit at the same place where we used to sit.  Rauna and Ray and Mark and Marlene and their family also came and sat by me.  We listened to the testimonies of the past bishops and heard the ward choir perform directed by Dorothy Denham.  The closinghymn was "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." 

It was an emotional weekend with so many memories.  Our lives rotated around our church callings and activities.  It was in this ward where we raised our children and their foundation for life was built.   

I took pictures of some of our friends from Tempe 4th Ward.  Some of them I haven't seen for more than  ten years.  I posted them here without putting names to protect their privacy.  Anyone reading this blog might recognize some of them.  They are all great people and have had an influence for good in the lives of Jay and me and our children. There were many other good people at the reunion that I didn't get a photo of.