Released From Primary

Shortly after Alan and I were called last June to be Church Service Missionaries with the BYU-I Pathway Program, I was released as 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. A couple of weeks later, I was called as a Primary teacher to the 4-5 year olds. I have to admit, it has been a struggle to keep up with those little ones. I averaged about 8 children in my class each Sunday, which is a lot. They really kept me going. Although the class was difficult, I really did enjoy the children. They are so precious. They have divinity within their little souls. 

Because of my calling as a missionary, it was difficult to hold this additional calling so I was released last Sunday (on my Dad's birthday - Dec. 29th). This release comes with mixed feelings. I am going to miss meeting with the children each Sunday, but I am also glad that I can attend Sunday School and Relief Society again. I have missed doing that for the past 6 months.

Tonight is New Years Eve. We don't have any major plans. All of our family who were here for the Christmas holiday have left.  I think Alan and I are going to go to a movie.  We will see if we make it to midnight tonight or not. I hope that 2014 will be a good year for our family and for anyone reading this. 

38th Anniversary

Alan and I got married 2 days after Christmas (Dec. 27, 1975), so our anniversary is usually eclipsed by the festivities of Christmas. Not the best time of year to get married, but it was the only time we could do it while Alan was on his Christmas break from dental school. Since we generally overeat during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we don't always have a huge desire to celebrate our anniversary by eating out, but we do manage to celebrate it somehow. One good thing about having it around Christmas, however, is that we generally have family visiting and they can help us celebrate. This year, I invited Eric's family, Ryan, Jared, and Cheryl (Alan was at work) to go with me to Mulligan's in Palmdale to play some miniature golf. This is something I had been wanting to do for quite a while so I captured the opportunity to do it with family and had a blast.

Because of the large size of our group, we had to
divide up into two teams. Team #1 consisted of
 Cheryl, Ethan, Ella, and Livi, and me.

Team 2: Ryan, Eric, Nicole, & Jared

After playing golf, the kids wanted to drive the go-carts again (they did it in October). Since Olivia is too young to drive by herself, she picked Cheryl to enjoy the experience with her.

I mentioned already that Alan and I have been married for 38 years. For the past few years, I have had a desire to "upgrade" my wedding ring. I like my original ring, but wanted a different style so I "sweet talked" Alan into letting me shop for a new setting. I shopped at the Mall and found a couple rings that I liked, but thought were too expensive. I decided to look online and I found one I absolutely loved at beverlydiamonds.com. I was a little nervous ordering online, but found it fun to pick the color, cut, clarity, etc. according to how much we wanted to spend. I figure I got twice the ring for the same price as the mall...and I like the style better.  A win-win situation. It even came with a certificate of authenticity and a guarantee. 

On my finger

 (I know, I have very old looking hands)

 This stock picture from the catalog gives 

a better view of the ring.

Waiting for three weeks to wear the ring after it arrived was hard, but I opened it on Christmas day and I love wearing it. Happy Anniversary, Alan. I love you!

A Mesa Thanksgiving

About 6 months ago Jared moved to Mesa, Arizona pretty much on a whim. However, he said he felt impressed that he was supposed to move there even though he didn't have a job nor have any friends there.  As it turns out, he really likes living in Mesa and he was anxious for us to come for a visit. Therefore, we decided to use the Thanksgiving weekend to make that trek. It is about a 7 hr. drive for us, which isn't too bad. Cheryl joined us for the drive, which made the trip even that much more fun.

Although we didn't know it before we checked in, the hotel we booked was less than a block from the Mesa Temple. I couldn't have been more pleased. Fortunately, the Christmas lights we shining brightly as we drove past the temple on the way to the hotel. After checking in, we walked over to the temple. The lights were beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around just soaking in the spirit of that holy ground.

We had some time to kill on Thanksgiving morning, so we went hiking at a place called the Riparian Preserve.  Jared rides his bike there about every day. It was a very nice walk, which allowed us to burn a few calories before gorging ourselves later. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures during the hike, but I did take a picture of these ducks swimming happily in the lake. I couldn't help be think that they were probably happy that they were ducks instead of turkeys.

Since I didn't have access to a kitchen to prepare a Thanksgiving meal, Jared got us a reservation at Black Angus. Surprisingly, they were extremely busy. I guess I wasn't the only one who wasn't cooking that day.  We were glad that Jared's girlfriend, Alisa Ashcroft, was able to join us for our meal after she and Jared had attended her family's Thanksgiving get-together. Alisa is a lot of fun to be around and it is easy to see that she is very good for Jared. I have never seen him happier.  It is apparent to me that the reason Jared felt inspired to go to Arizona was to meet Alisa.

Waiting outside the restaurant for our turn to eat.

Inside waiting for our meal!

After our meal, we had some time to kill before going to go see a Disney movie called "Frozen" so we went on another stroll at a place called Tempe Town Lake, which is another beautiful spot to walk around.

The sun was setting, so these pics are a little dark but they do give you an indication of what the area looks like.

Friday morning, Alan, Jared, Cheryl, and I were able to visit the almost completed Gilbert Temple. The Open House will start in Mid January.  This temple is beautiful and big.  My brother-in-law, Scott Bleak, was the architect who designed this temple.  I must say, he did a wonderful job. I hope to be able to go inside some day.  We kind of had to sneak onto the grounds...a gate was left open and we slipped in. 

[On a side note, our niece Katelyn Bleak has been called to serve mission in the Gilbert Arizona mission in January and she will most likely be involved with the Open House.]

After this, we met up with Alisa and drove to Superstition Mountain where everyone but me went on a hike.  Considering the state of my back and hips lately, it was the right decision for me to stay behind and read my book. I really enjoyed the beautiful scenery (sorry, no pics). The weather was perfect - sunny and about 73 degrees. Not bad for late November!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a ghost town. It reminded me of Calico Ghost Town, which is about 1.5 hours from our home.  We didn't stay long, but we enjoyed our visit there.  Best thing about it?...it was free!

The "girls" under a Saguaro Cactus

Later that evening, we were able to eat dinner with Alisa and her mother and brother at Texas Roadhouse. It was very fun to be able to meet Alisa's family and spend some time with them. After the dinner, they invited us over to their home for dessert...yummy apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We reluctantly left Arizona on Saturday morning, hoping to avoid the holiday traffic problems that Sunday would most likely have.  And besides, I had to get back to teach my little 5 year olds in Primary.