Homeward Bound, Heat, and Family

 Monday August 17 we bid farewell to our apartment at 185 North West Temple #209 with mixed emotions for sure.  We were very grateful for Heidi and Aleas help.  I think we would still be trying to figure out how to get everything home to Mesa.  As it was Alea ended up with a few boxes and the TV to bring to Mesa with her when she comes next time.  We really haven't missed whatever she has so it makes you wonder why we have so much stuff?  

On the stairs coming out of Memory Grove on our last walk.

Front of the McCune Mansion taken on our last walk around our area.

Alea, Heidi and Bob heading to the elevator with another load.

Packed and moving out.

We stopped in Provo to see Shaylen's BYU apartment and thankfully they were all moved in.  I don't think we would have been much help.......we were exhausted!  We hugged them all and headed to St George for the night with Sherry and Richard.  The farther south we traveled the hotter it got.  By the time we got to Mesa it was 115 degrees and stayed there for the next few days.  It has been a very hot and dry summer.

Lake Mead on a hot day heading home.

Our internet was installed on Wednesday night so I did the mission classes and emails from Heidi's home.  We got home just in time for our first of the season Monsoon and it was a good one.  We didn't get much rain but we had lots of wind and lightening.  We lost a big limb (about 30 feet) out of our front tree. Luckily Bob was able to get it cut up and put in a few green cans for Friday pick up.

Bob cutting away.  Monsoons can cause havoc!

Valerie and Dave came on Friday for Doctors appointments and we had a great visit with them.  Our amazing son in law, Wynn, fired up the smoker and made us salmon and ribs.  So yummy!  

Debra, Heather, Evelyn (Gramoose) Heidi, and Valerie enjoying smoked ribs.  YUMM!

Heather and Heidi sang "Abide With Me" in their sacrament meeting by way of zoom.  We were able to watch and listen to them and attend our own mission Sunday School at the same time.  Oh what you can now do with the internet.  They sounded so beautiful and it was a great "Anniversary" gift for us.  August 23 marked 47 years of happy and great years of marriage for Bob and I.  We did our zoom family time and they all sang Happy Anniversary to us.  We truly have been blessed with the best family!

Heidi and Heather singing while Bishopric and speaker look and listen.  I wish you all could have heard it, it was so beautiful.

Monday the 24 Sandy and Dave Briggs dropped by.  They were visiting their daughters in Texas and Chandler.  It was a short but fun visit.  We drove by the Mesa Temple for the first time and it is really moving along.  They are working on the landscaping and it looks close.  I hope and pray that all the temples can open soon, we miss them. The 25th was Heather and Heidi's 44th birthday?  How could this be?  Our week with the enrichment classes went as usual as we prepare for the next two VERY busy weeks with full time and church service missionaries. That means 4 days of 7 hours each day of classes plus enrichment.  It will be interesting to see how I can be in two places at the same time.  This will be the first time of doing both since the Botts also finished their mission and went home to Denver.

Bob, Debra, Dave, and Sandy Briggs our dear mission friends.

Monday night we went swimming at Heather and Jacobs and got to see Brenan's new GREEN Mustang that he will be taking back to BYU for his senior year.  He took us for a quick ride.  It is very loud for a Grandma.

Brenan (does he look happy) with his new GREEN Mustang, "The Hulk"

Friday we drove up to Heber, Arizona to check out property.  We are thinking we might want to get something there where it is at least 10-15 degrees cooler than the valley.  We found some very nice places, now we will see what we do.  We also stopped at our favorite lake on the Rim, Willow Springs, and just enjoyed the cool weather before coming back to 105 degrees at 8:00 PM.  It is good to be home but getting settled has been incredibly busy.  We love being by family and getting our home put in order.

Heber property we looked at.  So cool.

Willow Springs lake on top of the Rim.  So cool and beautiful.

And So Salt Lake We Say Farwell To You....College Bound Grandkids

 Well, our time in Salt Lake is coming to an end and I have very mixed feelings.  We will leave in the morning to travel back to Mesa, Arizona and finish our last  three months from home.  Everything is online and there is nothing we are doing here that we can't do at home.  It still seems strange to leave our "Celestial Bubble" but with COVID it has not been the same.  We have missed interacting with other missionaries, and even the wonderful activities and resources that Salt Lake had to offer before the shutdown and closure of all the buildings around Temple Square.  We have mostly been Packing and getting rid of the things that we are not taking home.  Since there is no longer a monthly missionary swap meet we have been taking stuff to the foyer and surprisingly, things disappear.  It is hard to believe how much "stuff" you can accumulate in nine months.

Celestial Bubble

We had a mission devotional on Wednesday where they changed the mission presidency as the McKnight's are also going home.  Our new 2nd councilor is Elder Sherril.  He had been home for 22 days and was called back.  We did not know him as he was in the other branch and worked at the Family History Zone.  People who know him say he will be amazing.  Elder Unger will now be the first councilor.  

Heather, Shaylin, Heidi, and Alea came on Friday.  They had brought Shaylin up to BYU and it was good to see them.  We had dinner and played games and then they all left but Heidi who spent the night with us.  It will be good to be closer to family when we get home but there are definitely things I will miss from here.

August 14, 2020 lookin South East

Debra, Heidi, Alea, Heather, Shaylin West side of the temple looking East.

Friday they had a farwell zoom party for the Botts and us.  I had an appointment to digitize negatives at the Family History Library.  I was there all alone with two employees. The way I got the appointment was through Julee Roberts, my high school friend.  Her sister Joni Kelser works there and made arrangements to meet me there. I feel so blessed to able to get some done, but it will take me months to get all of them done.  I found pictures I had never seen.  So amazing.  I hope they have the equipment at the FHL in Mesa when it opens.

Bob learning a new game There's a Moose in the House

They started putting up the Christmas lights this week.  It seems they just get them down and they start putting them up again.

Putting up Christmas lights in August at 98 degrees.

Saturday the 15th we had a Mission Conference with Elder Christofferson (12) and Elder Teixeira and Elder Schmeil (70s).  They spoke to our mission for two hours. We even were favored by the Tabernacle Choir (prerecorded). Of course it was all on Zoom, but it was amazing.  One of the things that hit me was when Elder Christofferson said that things are going to get harder.  What?  I did not want to hear that!  There is hope that the temples will open again but no idea when.

Elder Christofferson talking to the Salt Lake Headquarters Mission August 15, 2020

We hope that we will be able to get everything in the car in the morning, if not?  Found out this morning that more of our missionaries have COVID, including the couple one floor above us.

Birthdays, Construction, 50 Year Reunion

 This has been a fast and slow two weeks.  COVID 19 continues to keep us cautious and somewhat in isolation.  The work continues to go forward with amazing speed.  The foundation of the temple is now dug down about 20 feet on all sides of the temple and every structure around the temple is now gone.  They are still hauling off truckloads of debris and there is still much more to go. 

Taken from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building July 28, 2020

July 28, 2020 from the 10th floor.

East side of the temple before they started digging down the foundation.

North side of the temple with just some of the rubble to be removed.

Truck down in the hole they are digging.  Ready to be filled with debris. 

East side of the temple down about 20 feet.

The last structure on the north side gone.  Removing the remnants of what has been removed.

This is a picture in the Lower Lobby of the Joseph Smith Building.  The times and methods have certainly changed.  No wonder it took them 40 years to build the temple.

Kyen broke her left fibula at gym doing a tkatchev, a very advanced move on the bars, and is not too happy about the boot she now has to wear for 6 weeks.

Alea came to dinner and we celebrated hers and Bobs birthday with dinner, games and our family Sunday time on Zoom.  Thank goodness for technology.  Our enrichment classes continue daily and we did our second training with newly called full time missionaries.  Those weeks of full time training are hard.  It is hard to sit in front of a computer 7 hours a day Monday through Friday.  We are now going to start training service missionaries the same way so that will be two weeks a month in addition to the enrichment classes that are going on at the same time.

August 1, 2020 from our balcony.

We did have a beautiful sunset for Aleas birthday.

August 2 Bobs 69th birthday and Aleas 20th birthday (August 1)  So fun to share such a close birthday.  

We had Sherry and Richard Jensen here one night.  They are finished with the house they have been working on with their son Troy.  The open house was Friday and Saturday.  I hope it sells quickly for them.  They have sure worked hard on that project and it shows.  Very beautiful inside and out.

Sherry, Troy, and Richard Jensen at their finished home project. 4058 South 3200 West.

Bob, Debra, Sherry and Richard at their house for sale.  We helped a little.

This last week has been filled with teeth issues in the family.  Jacob, has another implant started, and Nathan and Emily went to the valley to have their wisdom teeth pulled, so there are some sore mouths to go home to.  We continue to get ready for our move back to Mesa next week.  There are more COVID cases in the West Temple Apartments and so we are glad to be heading home.  Elder and Sister Bott are also leaving for Denver next week and that will leave a big hole in the training zone.  They have been our Tech go to missionaries.  I'm sure the Lord will provide.

Yesterday, August 8, we attended Debra's 50th High School Reunion in Pleasant Grove at the Snook Farm. It was so fun seeing friends from the "olden days".  It is hard to believe that it has been 50 years?  We all wore masks (most of the time) but the social distancing was really hard to do.  Some have faired the years better than others, but it was good to see all that were there.

When we go to Pleasant Grove we always visit Mom and Dads graves.  I miss them so.

Jolene Reese (aka Paul), Debbie Smith (aka Ringo), Debra Higginson (aka John),
Marilyn Judd (aka George)  We pantomimed the Beatles in our Junior High days.  It was good to be together again.

Pleasant Grove High School Vikings class of 1970.  50th year reunion.

Debra by Burr Oak tree our class donated and planted at the Pleasant Grove Park.  This is where the old Junior High used to be.

COVID-19 masked class of 1970.