Birthday and Anniversary Week (Updated)

It was an outstanding week. It started with wonderful Sabbath services and then dinner with our neighbors and a trip to see the movie on the Prophet Joseph Smith. We left on Monday for St. Louis. We served three days in the temple, including my birthday. I married a couple for time and all eternity on Tuesday. It is truly a glorious thing.

On Thursday afternoon we drove to Branson for a few days. We stayed at the Clarion Inn at the Palace. We had a King suite with a jacuzzi. The accommodations were wonderful. We saw three shows and attended a travel club pitch. The travel club pitch was interesting, but it was not for us. It's benefits were resort condominium focused.

The shows were really great, and I enjoyed them all. We went to the Shoji Tabuchi show. He is a violinist, who came to America from Japan, when he was in his late teens. He is very much a showman and played a very wide variety of music. His wife is the producer and is very detailed oriented. We were told to make sure that we see the bathrooms. They were incredible, roomy, extremely clean, and very ornate.

We also saw Lost in the 50s with the Platters. It was super. There were lots of songs and lots of wonderful memories. Sally and I even danced a slow dance in the aisle of the theater (along with many other couples).

We also saw Broadway A Star Spangled Celebration. It was very good. It was a Broadway review with songs from many of the Broadway musicals.

I liked Shoji Tabuchi the best. There was a little bit of everything in his show and it was extremely well done.

We returned to Independence on Saturday evening. We drove up the west side of the state. It was very peaceful with almost no traffic until we got close to Kansas City.

Sally gave me a paper weight for my desk for my birthday present. It is a replica of a door knob from the Salt Lake Temple. It is awesome.

Musings from MN

DYEING EASTER EGGS

A week before Easter, Mackie came over and dyed Easter eggs with Sally. They had lots of fun. Grandma Wilson enjoyed it as well.

BROOKLYN CENTER HOMES



We went for a ride to Brooklyn Center to see the first two homes where Sally's family lived, when they first moved to MN in 1954. The first house they rented for about a year. Its address was 5706 Knox Ave. North. The second house was 5533 Logan Ave, North. They lived there about 9 years.

DECORATING EASTER COOKIES

Brianna, Tristan and Annie decorated some Easter cookies that Sally had made. They had a great time. The girls did partake of some of the cookies as they were decorating and afterwards.


Sally also decorated some cookies on her own for her parents. She does great work. They were delicious.

WASHING DISHES WITH AN NBA PLAYER

Mark Madsen attends the Ward where PII is the bishop. Mark was invited for Easter Dinner. Mark and I had a great conversation about basketball, but mostly about his time with the Lakers. He is a super guy. He makes his own bread, and we had a great time washing the dishes together.

GRUNKEL

Brianna, Tristan and Annie love their Grunkel (short for grand uncle). I really enjoy reading to them. We have lots of fun together.

MN WEATHER

During our visit the weather was cold and cloudy. We even got about 2-3 inches of snow in April. How inhospitable!

HOTT MAMA

One of the highlights of our trip was a conversation between Paul and June. Paul asked to hold June's hand. She gave him his hand; and after she touched him, she immediately withdrew her hand, saying that his hand was very cold. His reply was classic. "You are my hott mama." We died laughting.


We truly had a great time with Paul, June and the family.

Spring and Gold

The daffodils are coming up. Spring has sprung.



I have started to golf again with my neighbors. The course is getting greener. We played 7 holes yesterday. I played poorly, until the last hole. I got a par. That is the way that golf is. You never know when and if a good hole is coming.

Driving/Walking on Water

Last week while we were in Minnesota, I asked your mom to drive out on Medicine Lake, since I had never driven on or walked on a frozen lake. So we went for a ride on frozen water. I met a Russian Ice Fisherman and others. The ice was more than 30 inches thick. It was exciting to drive and walk on water!