April 5th through April 9th

April 5^th through April 9^th:  First of all, mom stayed up very late making conference bags for all the grandkids except Xela and Willa.  Sorry Gin.  You would have thought it was Christmas Eve.  They turned out really cute.  A packet of pages for coloring and games and then there were treats, 15 different treats, with a picture of one of the first presidency or apostles stapled to it.  The picture had a place for them to write or draw a picture of what the person talked about.  When that person was on TV they could eat the treat. 

Conference Bags

Saturday, we delivered all the conference bags and drove to my brother’s, Tad and Tove’s, house.  We had invited ourselves to stay with them for the weekend.  I had gotten up at 5:30am and started cooking Chinese.  I got the sauces made and the chicken marinating.  I then cooked lunch between sessions.  Liz, Tad’s daughter, and her family come over for lunch.  It was fun to see them.  Conference was amazing again and a real energizer for me.  I love to hear the brethren and sisters talk.  Many times I was wiping the tears out of my eyes.  Tad takes all of his boys and their sons to eat before the priesthood session.  I got to go and it was fun to see Matt, Mark and Danny with their boys.  Danny’s oldest, Keyan, is back from his mission and playing football at SUU and just got engaged.  It doesn’t really seem possible that Tad could be a great-grandfather soon.  Sunday, Tove cooked a great pot roast dinner and Liz’s family came over again. 

Sunday Dinner L to R Liz, Tove, Tad, Mom, Scott, Chase.

Conference was great.  In the evening Tad and Liz and their bluegrass band practiced and it was fun to listen to them. 

Sunday's Jam Session

Monday, it was back to the grind.  I worked 10 hours painting and installing the doors for the linen closet that I had made on Friday.  I also got one ceiling in the basement painted. 

The cabinet I added a face frame to.

Tuesday, we met President Crayk, his wife, Connie, Elder Cabrera and his wife, and Lynn and Diana Crayk at Village Inn in Sandy for breakfast.  It was great to see them all again.  Elder Cabrera was here for conference.  He is an area seventy and works as the recorder in the Cochabamba Temple.  It made us very homesick for Bolivia.  We have wonderful memories of the temple and the people we served with. 

Breakfast, L to R, Sister Cabrera, Elder Cabrera, Pres. Crayk, Connie, Me, Mom, Lynn and Diana Crayk.

Oaxaca will provide us with another adventure.  We leave in about 30 days now.  Chris came to work with me after breakfast and helped paint.  She cut in all the ceilings in the basement and put the second coat on the bookcases.  I rolled the ceilings and finished up a couple of things on the cabinets and doors.  I called like I was told to, about my arrest warrant.  I could never get through.

More tummy time for Tilda.

Wednesday, Mom and I both had dental appointments today; mine to see how my implant is healing and mom to have a cavity fixed.  So far so good with my implant, he will check it again in 3 weeks.  We both worked all the rest of the day painting.  I also added 4 can lights to the bedroom upstairs.  I called again and have to go see the judge in Nephi next Monday.  Wish me luck.

March 27th through April 4th

March 27^th through April 4^th:  Thursday, Mom taught at Horizonte and I worked at HD.  Friday, Mom was back at Horizonte and I had my last 5:00am shift at HD.  After Chris got home from work, we went to a movie and then met John’s family at Green Leaf for yogurt. On the way home mom said, “Slow down that policeman just flipped a U turn and is following you.”  I wasn’t paying attention and realized I was at our street, so I turned really quick.  Right in front of Charlotte’s house I get pulled over.  The policeman says, “Do you know why I pulled you over?”  I said, “NO”.  He said, “Well you have a headlight out and one of you brake lights does not work and you made a really quick turn back there.  Were you trying to ditch me?”  I said, “No I wasn’t paying attention and this is the street we live on.  In fact we live right here.”  He took my license and went back to his car.  He came back and said, “What can you tell me about a statewide warrant for your arrest for failure to appear in Nephi?”  I was a little shocked and it took me a minute to think.  I remembered.  I said, “Back in 2011 I got a ticket for a registration problem.  I appeared in front of the judge and gave her a letter from the county clerk explaining the problem and she dismissed the ticket.”  He said, “If you would have told me any other story I would be taking you to jail tonight.  I’m going to let you go, but you have to promise me you will take care of this Monday morning.”  I said, “Of course I will.”  So instead of spending the night in jail I got a free pass.  No ticket for the headlight, nothing.  Nice guy, that Bountiful officer.  On the way into the house Chris said, “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”  Yes I do.  Of course Evan and Miles both saw the flashing lights and wanted to know what was going on.  It was just papa almost getting arrested. 

Tilly getting some tummy time with papa.

Saturday, I worked my last shift at HD.  It is so nice to be done there.  I just hope I now can get everything done for the Rigby’s.  We went and spent the night at John and Jill’s house.  After church on Sunday we cooked mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy with mashed squash.  We both still can’t eat anything that has to be chewed.  Monday, I called on the warrant for my arrest.  They weren’t open.  Mom went to another dentist to see if she needed a root canal.  They decided it needed one but after the crown was taken off and the cavity and root canal done, there would not be enough tooth for another crown. So she is going to have it extracted.  The dentist said it was not a tooth that you use very much.  She left that dentist and went to the one that did her gum grafts.  He had a cancelation for Tuesday, so she took the time slot.  I worked at the molding / painting job.  I taped off the hardwood floors and started the moldings on the main floor.  We went out to Katie’s for Family Home Evening.  Mom taught a cute lesson about having an anchor in your life.

The anchor and chain. Don't look at moms bruises from her gum grafts.

Family Home Evening, Abby is drawing with papa.

Tuesday, I called again on my problem and the clerk said they it says I never appeared.  I explained that I had and they even had taken a copy of the letter from the county clerk.  She said she would talk to the judge and see if she remembers.  I asked that the audio be reviewed and she said that they didn’t have audio from that long ago.  It is my word against the court’s word.  Mom had her tooth extracted and I worked all day painting the molding on the main floor.  Wednesday, Mom taught at Glendale Middle School, when she picked me up, she said, “I will never go back to that school.”  You get the idea; she did not have a great day.  I painted moldings.  Thursday, Mom taught at Emerson Elementary and had an easy day.  I worked on the entertainment center downstairs.  I added a face frame to the existing cabinets.  Friday, I called again to see what the judge had said and the clerk said, “Oh I haven’t talked to the judge yet, call me next Tuesday and I should know something by then.”  I just hope I don’t get pulled over in the mean time.  I did get the headlight and brake light fixed.  I finished the cabinets and got a coat of primer on the face frame that I had added. I changed out all the hinges to concealed hinges and patched where the old hinges had been.  Mom went to lunch with an old high school friend, Chris Andrus Springman.

Mom and Chris Andrus Springman

March 20th through March 26th

March 20^th through March 26^th:  Thursday, I got up early and went and worked on the moldings.  I said last week that they were ready for paint.  I lied, only the downstairs was ready for paint.  I caulked and sanded some more on the upstairs.  Chris got on a plane today to go to Seattle to visit her 3 brothers.  They used to get together every year, but we have been out of the country for so many of the last 4 years, it has been a long time since they were together.  I could only work till 11:00am because I had to go to work at HD.  On my way to work I stopped by Costco in Bountiful to get a hot dog for lunch and as I was walking out I ran into Bill and Linda Johnson.  They were on their way to Vernal to tend grandkids, one of their daughters had just given birth.  It was fun to see them and they wanted me to say hi to everyone.  Friday, I worked all day caulking and getting the upstairs really ready for paint.  At 4:00pm I went to the dentist.  Everything went well, he was able to extract the tooth, do a bone graft, implant the post, and he was able to use my old crown as a temporary crown.   I went home and put ice on my face.  I am sleeping at John and Jill’s for a few days because Alex’s mom came to visit the new baby.  Since Chris was already in Seattle, I thought it was easy to give her our room and I would just sleep at John’s house.  The dentist gave me a prescription for amoxicillin and pain killer.  The pain pills worked real well and I got a good night’s rest.  Saturday, I had to work at HD.  I can only eat soft things so I am now on a diet of yogurt and mac and cheese.  Sunday, I taught our Sunday School lesson alone, boy does she owe me, and then had to go to work at HD.  Chris got home about 4:00pm and I was done at 5:00pm.  She had a good time with her brothers.

Chris' brothers L to R Craig, Scott, Mark and of course Chris.

Monday, Chris had a substitute teaching job so I stayed home in the morning and helped get Charlotte’s kids to school.  Then Charlotte dropped me off at HD.  Only 3 more days of work at HD.  Tuesday, I went and painted the moldings.  Ten hours of painting is a lot for an old man and I was really tired when I got home.  I am still eating only soft foods, so I had yogurt for breakfast and lunch and mom made me mashed potatoes for dinner.  Wednesday, I again painted for 10 hours and finished the second coat on the downstairs moldings.  Chris had a half day teaching job and then went and had gum grafts.  So she is also now eating only soft foods.  You would think we are old people or something.  We are glad that we are able to get this dental stuff done now so we won’t have problems in Oaxaca.  We only have a little more than 6 weeks before we leave. 

March 15th through March 20th:

March 15^th through March 20^th:  Saturday, I went to work at Home Depot and in the afternoon Chris and I took 10 of our grandkids to see “Mr. Peabody and Sherman”.  We had help from Katie and Charlotte and Alex so it was only two children to one adult.  It was fun to be out and about with all of them.  Sunday, we went to church with James and Kirstin to listen to Kirstin speak in church.  She gave a great talk and it was fun to play with Rigby on the bench while Chris walked the halls with Emme.  Every time Emme heard her mother’s voice she would say, “Mommy, mommy, mommy.”  Chris did not get to hear much of Kirstin’s talk, but she had it written out so she got to read it afterwards.  Then we went to another sacrament meeting to listen to the homecoming talks of Chris’s cousin and his wife, Paul and Marty Westover.  They had just returned from their mission to Cambodia, where they had spent the last 23 months as the office couple.  They gave great talks and it made us want to be in the mission field--only 7 and 1/2 weeks left.

L to R Me, Chris, Marty and Paul Westover, the returning missionaries, Kari and Mark Larabee, Kari is another of Chris' cousins.

We had dinner at John and Jill’s home.  It was the monthly sibling get-together for dinner, so the house was full of cousins and Katie brought a turkey.  So we had a Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious.  Thanks everyone that brought food. I really enjoyed it. 

Sunday dinner.

Sunday dinner.

Monday was crazy, I got up and went to work at 500am.  I was supposed to work till 1:30pm, but they want me to come back at 6:00pm and set tile in the break room, so they let me go at 9:30am.  I went home and changed clothes and went and grouted the bathroom floor for Brother Pascoe. 

The grouted bathroom floor.

Then Chris and I went to lunch and afterwards we went to the dentist’s office and got my stitches out.  I then went back to Home Depot and Bob, another employee of Home Depot, and I laid out the floor and we both started in the middle. We each had about 400 square feet of tile to lay.  I finished up with my side at 12:30am. 

That is Bob on his half of the room.

Bob is just finishing up, but my end is done.

I don’t think I have been that tired in a long time.  My body hurt in so many places.  I didn’t fall asleep until about 1:30am.  Tuesday, I got up and went to work at the molding job.  I sanded and fixed joints for 10 hours.  It is finally ready for painting.  Wednesday, I slept 10 hours last night.  My body is trying to recuperate from the abuse I am inflicting on it.  I went to the molding job early and started caulking.   I met Chris at a new periodontist’s office.  Chris had her receding gums looked at and she needs to have gum grafts and I had my cracked tooth checked out and am going to have it extracted and maybe a post implanted on Friday.  We will have to see how much we can get done here.  Maybe I will have to have the crown done in Mexico, but the plan is to try and at least have the post done before we leave.  Chris will have her surgery next week and a couple of cavities fixed.  We have at least one tender mercy, the Rigby’s want me to do the painting and think they have enough work to keep me busy till we leave and so I gave notice at Home Depot and my last day will be the 29^th.  With my social security starting and the work from the Rigby’s we should be able to pay for all this dental work.  We feel so blessed and know that we are being looked after and we are so grateful for all of our blessings.