March Madness


March Madness!  Yes, the Challis KU fans are sad that the Jayhawks lost in the second round, but the first round was great, especially because Elder Challis got to go to the game with some of the kids at the Vivint Arena, just three blocks from our apartment.  Henley (almost 4) and Hal (almost 2) were my buddies at the apartment.  Long hall ways for running and elevators for button pushing are pretty fun.

            My hopes that there would be some “spillover” from the tournament into the Library were realized when a couple of young statisticians showed up and wanted to “learn what it was all about.”  I helped one of them set up an account and start his tree.  Family Search then came up with some records of his family. He was amazed--and he was hooked, especially interested to learn more about his grandfather.  I am sad when someone tells me that they don’t know their grandparents because I grew up with all four of mine close—and I LOVE being with my grandchildren.

            The weather has been quite springtime-mad—sun, then rain, calm, then blowy.  Temple Square flower beds are springing to life, an early peek of the splendor to come.  The daffodils are cheerful even on a grey day.  Twice the weather enticed us to take longer walks than we had planned.  Tuesday morning (we work the late shift on Tuesdays), we ended up at the Salt Lake Cemetery (it’s huge!) and had fun exploring.  Without a map we still found headstones of six of the presidents of the Church.  We’ll be going back with a map to find the others—and some of Elder Challis’ ancestors.

            We frequently walk up the lower part of City Creek, but yesterday decided to go “a little way” up the upper part.  Nine miles round trip, according to the apple watch when we got back to the apartment.  The snowy mountains in the background, the pine trees, the green grass showing, the creek by the path—we just kept going and enjoying.

            Baby report:  Luke weighed in at 8.5 pounds last week; Elle, just over 7.  I am not sure how much Seeley weighs but she is charming her siblings even more now that she smiles.  Jaynie will be adding one more to this cousins’ club in just a couple of weeks.   

           
"The temple!"

Safely crossing the street

Signs of spring

Happy--for now

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 7, 2019 at 6:35 PM

    If you are exploring the Cemetery some time Conrad and Ruth Harrison are just north of the fence looking over the baseball diamond in the park next door. There is a bench there too so you can rest. I like to think of dad watching the softball games. Congratulations on all the grandchildren. I'm so glad you have been able to spend time with them.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greetings from Headquarters

Image
We have just completed our first week of training here in the Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We live in the West Temple apartments, which is directly west of the Conference Center.  From our second story balcony, we have a view of the Temple--beautiful, especially at night. We are getting used to living the "simple life" in the apartment.  Thank goodness departing missionaries left behind some of the "necessities."  Those items are made available the first Saturday of each month in front of some storage sheds in the parking lot:  The Swap Meet.  "Newbies" get to enter first so we were able to grab up a broom, laundry basket, trash cans, extra set of dishes, mixing bowls.  Sister missionaries also leave a lot of clothes behind--a few great finds for me.  The Elders, mostly leave white shirts.  We begged some other things from nearby family and went shopping at Deseret Industries....
Read more

Light the World

Image
Writing at times seems like “mission impossible,” especially when it comes to recording events that I know I won’t be able to find words to describe.   So a feeble attempt.             I took leave from the mission from December 7 to December 14 and flew to Kansas, using new baby Wesley as my reason for absence.   I did get cuddle time--and pacing time--with him and also time to enjoy my other Kansas kids.   Not enough time.   When it was time to leave, 3-year-old Benson spread himself wide across the door and told me, “Don’t you dare!”    A grandma divided is a mix of happy-sad—always.             The week before Kansas, some of Elder Challis’ siblings joined us for dinner and a walk through the lights.   Cold noses, but warm hearts.   The two of us have discovered that the best time to walk through the lights is at 6 am.   We ...
Read more

Let There Be Lights

Image
Let there be lights—thousands of them! Temple Square is ablaze with lights! We enjoyed “giving tours” to family who came to enjoy the delight. 😊    Monday, Dan, Janny, and Ella (Dan is Elder Challis’ brother) came and treated us to dinner; Tuesday, it was Jaynie’s family; and Thursday, Christopher’s family.   Amazingly, we had good weather all three nights, so we could take our time and enjoy.   And no, we are not tired of the tour.   Please come and be delighted!             Thursday, about noon as we were walking to the COB, we noticed a section of lights was turned on. A “light doctor” was in a cherry picker up in one of the high trees that had gone dark on the top.   When we saw the tree on Thursday night, sure enough, the tree was lit bottom to top.   How is that done?   Surely, those tasked with keeping all those lights on, have better tools than I have. Pushing each light in alon...
Read more