Quote

                            "How much of life do we miss                                      by waiting to see the rainbow                                  before thanking God for the rain.                                                                   Dieter Uchtdorf

Hurricane

 As you may remember Erik Palmquist and family moved to Louisiana in early summer.  Although they escaped major damage during the recent hurricane others around them weren't so lucky.  Erik and his son Isaac became a part of the Mormon Helping Hands today and were assigned to remove an oak tree that had fallen on a house and tore through the roof and two of the bedroom walls.  Erik said it was very humbling to see what had happened and to be a part of helping others get back to some sort of normal.  

Road Trip

 Today I had a wonderful time hanging with my friend!  We talked, we laughed, we cried, and it was wonderful.  We took a trip to Prescott and went the back way from Wickenburg and saw some beautiful country.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize my camera wasn't working for a while and didn't get many pictures.  From Prescott we drove over the Mingus Mountain range through Jerome (an old mining town) and then into Cottonwood where Grandpa had his first job out of college.  We had a late lunch in Sedona because we had dessert first in Prescott and it took a while to get hungry!  I had wanted to go to Montezuma's Castle but it started to rain after lunch so we headed home.  I loved the time I had with Barb and especially appreciated having someone to talk to who gets me!

Ruth--August 2020

 

Happy Birthday Ruth

 16 Years Old!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

 9 Years Old!

Grandma's New Digs!

 I bet I had you a little worried!  We saw this preserved dugout when Uncle Bill took me to see the Manti Temple.  It is sobering to realize the living condition of many of the early settlers and yet they made it work.  I am so grateful that I was able to find a beautiful apartment.  I spent my first night in it yesterday and spent much of today getting things organized and ready to make it feel like home.  I'm posting my before pictures and as I decorate each space I will show you how I have decorated it!  I think I am going to like it here!

Back to School--Kinda!

 I had the opportunity to see what computer teaching looks like when Covid 19 rears it's ugly head.  I was so proud watching the kids rolling with the punches and to the teachers that I saw and heard as they did the best they could doing on-line teaching.  Just as impressive is that each morning Ruth, Jane, Duncan and Eden got up and got dressed for school and had their hair done.  It looks like the Whitney kids will be starting back to regular school in September but in the meantime they have all given it their best and I am proud of them!  Welcome back to school all of you wonderful grandkids--you got this!

Lincoln's Return

 

The uncertainty of Lincoln's immune system right now caused the doctors working with Lincoln on his colitis felt that until they had more time to figure out how to help Lincoln.  The decision was made to have him get additional care at home after several missionaries in his mission had gotten Covid 19 and they wanted to be super cautious.  Lincoln is now under the care of a Gastroenterologist.  Blood work, ultra-sounds and others procedures are being planned to get to the bottom of it.  The type of colitis he has seems to be related to something he is allergic to and when they discover what that is that could solve the problem.  In all the original testing they found that his liver is not working at full capacity and the doctor feels that that may be causing some of the problems as well.  

Updates will follow.  Lincoln wants to get back to Colorado so in your upcoming fast in September I was wondering if all of you would join us in asking that the medical issues will be discovered and dealt with and that Lincoln will be able to complete his mission as has always been his goal.  I've included a couple of pictures that were taken at the airport. 

Thank You Whitney's For Always Welcoming Me Back Home

 Maya Angelo wrote, "I sustain myself with the love of family.'  I know exactly what she meant and I agree.  All of you have welcomed me into your homes and treated me so well.  I am so grateful that I am your mother and grandmother.  I especially wanted to acknowledge the generosity and love extended to me since I moved into the Whitney's home and set up shop!  During this time I have never once been  made to feel unwanted or that I was in anyone's way.  I know that I did impose and I was in their way on a number of occasions but they truly extended love and patience at every turn.  Tomorrow I will leave behind the warmth and security I have felt and become a grown up again.  I am scared.  I am sad.  I am excited.  I am hopeful.  I am 70 years old and hopefully I have many years ahead of me.  I hope that I will learn how to do "alone time" well!  Christian told me that I would always be welcome to come back and I knew that he meant it.  Thank you my Arizona family for allowing me to be part of all of you!  Thank you Amy for being you!

California Cousin Time

 When I went to California the first time, Duncan and Jane asked me if they could come.  I told them I would take them later in the summer and so that completed my summer travels.  The trip over was a piece of cake because they had brought some movies they wanted to watch on their CD players and I had a book on tape to listen to.  Fortunately, they had ear phones or it wouldn't have worked very well with all of us listening to something different!   We were treated royally by our California Duncan's and there was a great deal of laughing, Lego building, swimming and sightseeing while we were there. I wanted to have Ava teach her "ham bone" to Jane but they were to busy to do that.,  While there we visited the fish hatchery which was closed but had a great wilderness park right next to it which was open.  We also got to visit the Fresno Zoo which was really interesting.  We had the famous snow cones and a lot of fabulous food while there.  All in all I would say that everyone had a great time together.  When we were driving home Duncan asked me when we could go again so I know he had a great time!

Lego Extravaganza

 Peter told me earlier in the summer that he and Jeremy decided to rebuild all their Lego sets before school starts back up.  When Duncan, Jane, and I visited California Caleb and Duncan spent much of their time doing some serious Lego building as well! 

Lego sets have been a part of our family as long as I can remember so I decided to look into the history of this little brick.  Legos come to us from Billund. Denmark and were invented by Ole Kirk Christiansen.  He originally made wood toys but had an idea and made the first plastic interlocking pieces in 1949. According to Wikipedia in 2015 over 600 billion Legos had been produced.  I'm sure that number has more than doubled since them.  Another interesting fact is that Lego means "play well" and from my experience with our family that has definitely been a true interpretation!  I remember when Owen told his parents that when he grew up he wanted to be a Lego designer.  On a side note when I was a little girl stepping on a jack when you were barefooted was pure torture.  I think many a person can now say that an errant Lego on the ground can have that same effect!

And in all of this Legomania we can't forget Legoland!