Scorching the World

Today I got to take the sister missionaries from Madera to their new assignment: Porterville - 1 1/2 hours from here. Tom had said last night we could do it together, but this morning he decided he need to go to work, so I picked them up. It was a little tricky finding them because 1. they gave the wrong address where to pick them up, and 2. they gave the wrong name of the apartment complex where they were. They had gone to Fresno and were at another sisters' apartment, so they got the info from the sisters who lived there. Apparently, they don't know where they live. Anyway, Tom and I had traded cars for me to take them and it turned out a really good thing that he couldn't come after all. They had so many suitcases and boxes that the 3 of us barely fit! I've never seen missionaries with so much stuff! We got on the road and after a while, Tom told me that we needed to stop at a couple of places on the way. In Lindsay, there are 3 dimensional murals on some walls...

Every year the McGill family goes to Yosemite for the weekend of Nina’s birthday and they invite Tom and I to join them, so we asked to have Saturday off from serving at the temple in order to go. It is so beautiful there in the fall. The air is cool/cold, the trees are turning brilliant yellows, and there are plenty of deer wandering around. It is beautiful and very relaxing. The McGills are good hikers. They have hiked many of the trails there and I’ve done a few of them with them. I don’t know why I can get so tired sitting or standing around in normal every-day life, but after hiking 5 miles+, uphill and downhill, I feel invigorated and rejuvenated. I think it is the magic of Yosemite, because I don’t feel that good after walking a couple of miles around the neighborhood in Fresno!  I wish I could hike there every day! We left early enough to meet the McGills up there about 10am. We met in a parking lot and took right off to catch a shuttle bus to a hiking trail. ...

I had such fun this past week. My sisters and I decided to get together for a 'sister's reunion'. I flew to Utah on Monday and we were busy almost every minute from not-so-early each morning till pretty-darn-late each night. On Monday night I went with Anne and Acell to their friend's house where they do FHE and have a good gospel discussion. I had planned to keep my big mouth shut, since all of them really know the scriptures and are way beyond me, but I couldn't do it. It was quite inspiring and I wish I could do that with someone here. Hmmm. I wonder why I don't. Sometimes we did little bits of shopping and ran errands. On Tuesday we got pedicures (mine are the blue sparkly toes), Tuesday night I got to with Anne to her Payson Chorale rehearsal. I thought I would go and just sit in the back where I could just relax and listen, but it turned out there wasn't a back... they practice in a choir room at the high school. So I sat next to Anne and...

I've always enjoyed General Conference. I love the opportunity to listen to the words of the Prophet life and straight from his mouth. I remember when I was quite little and was able to attend a Stake Conference where the Prophet, David O McKay came and spoke. I was too little to understand anything he said, or to keep my attention focused, but I remember sitting next to my sisters, and having Anne try to explain to me the wonder of having a living Prophet right in front of us. We were in a bench very near the front and she explained that we should be very reverent and pay particular attention. I remember trying so hard to sit still and just watch him. It was hard, but trying to understand the importance of the situation has impressed me and stuck with me. I remember when General Conference used to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We were quite sad when they discontinued the Friday sessions, as they were usually more specifically for the members of the Church instead of being ...

Because my husband works throughout the central California area, he frequently has to travel to cities more than 2 hours away. When I was working, he would either leave me overnight every now and then, or he would drive 2+ hours each way, and work 4+ hours and come home at the end of the day, completely exhausted. That was what he chose to do most of the time so that we could sleep together. But since I retired, and especially during the last couple of months while he is working near the coast, I've been coming with him. During the day while he is working, I either stay in the motel or go shopping/sight-seeing. Then at night we take in a movie or a play. Last night we watched a movie in the room and then went swimming and into the hot tub. It was wonderful! It has been lots of fun and we've done it about 5 times now. One of the things that is fun about this is to see and experience the differences in motels that his company books us in. The first 2 times, we were put in pre...