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!

Christmas Open House: Nativities I

Here are a few of our favorite nativities from Zimbabwe, Paraguay, Kenya, Brazil,
Spain, Ukraine, Mexico, Native American, Florida (Rhea Egg), China, Egypt, Philippines, and Laos.

Kissmas Moose

The Kissmas Moose is now in its place as you go down the stairs to the lower level.

Christmas Open House: Overview

On Sunday, December 10th, we had an open house for the residents of Drumm Farm at our home. We had about 50 people attend and we had a wonderful time meeting our new friends and neighbors in the Villas at Drumm Farm. Our home was beautifully decorated and most our nativities were out for display. It took an amazing amount of work. Sally did most of it, but I did help some.
There are icicle lights on the eves. A friend helped me put up the hooks and the lights. The second picture shows how the house looks at night.














The Christmas Tree in the Living Room is 9 1/2 feet high. We love it, but it takes a large number of ornaments.



This is the Christmas Tree in the Hearth Room. It has the Williamsburg and White House ornaments on it and other fun ones from our earlier years.


This is the Christmas Tree in the basement. The people who came to the Open House were asked to Hang an ornament and then eat a cookie. The results are good.

Below, The tree on the screened in porch.























Bears on Stairs

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

This afternoon Sally and I took an afternoon drive to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There were some beautiful leaves, but it is clearly past the peak.

It was very peaceful, and there was a wonderful feeling there. I have included some pictures of the valley from the East Overlook.

First Bit of Christmas

The first Christmas tree is up in the Hearth Room. We re-arragned the furniture and the tree is up.

We are starting to get excited for the arrival of our grandchildren and their parents.

New Curio Cabinet Arrives

Yesterday, we finally received our last piece of major furniture, the new curio cabinet. It is gorgeous. We love it.

It will be filled with nativities for the Christmas season.

The Living Room

On Saturday, our living room chairs were finally delivered. We love them. The curio cabinet, however, was not assembled correctly again, and it was returned. We went back to Nebraska Furniture Mart to discuss the curio cabinet and to see if the one on display was available. It was available, and we looked it over to see if there were any damage. There was not. The curio cabinet will be delivered this week.

We have been looking for a living room rug for 4 months. We finally found one yesterday and brought it home with us to see how it looked. We moved the furniture and put down the pad and rug last night. It looks great.

With the chairs and the rug, the living room looks terrific. See the picture to the left. With the delivery of the curio cabinet, we should be done with our major furniture shopping.

I am sure that my spousal will continue to accessorize.

Wednesday In Downtown DC

Oliver, Kristin, Sally and I headed downtown this afternoon. We had lunch in the Natural History Museum and visited the new Mammal Exhibit. It was awesome.

On the way to the Sacher Gallery we took the picture below. We had a great day together.

Tuesday at Work

Retirement has brought lots of change and many new friends. One of the things about not working that I miss is my association with many of my DON CIO friends and co-workers. Yesterday I took the bus from the Herndon-Monroe Park and Ride to West Falls Church, took the Metro to Crystal City, and then took a bus to 23rd Street to visit the office of the DON CIO. The commute was similar to the one that I used to make every day. I normally walked from the Metro Station, but it was raining today. It was great to see many of my friends. One of my co-workers arranged for a luncheon at a restaurant in Crystal City. 11 people came, including the DON CIO. We had a marvelous time. Afterwards, I spent another couple of hours chatting with many of my friends and co-workers. It felt good to see my friends, but I did not miss the stress and politics of my former job/office.

I met Oliver, Kristin, and Sally at the Galleria Mall. We did some light shopping and had dinner at Coastal Flats. It is one of the Great American Restaurant chain, as is Sweetwater Tavern. We had a good meal and then vegged at home.

Mystery Picture

During our trip this afternoon, we took this picture. What is its significance to our family?

Monday in the VA Countryside

Oliver and Kristin took us for a ride into the VA Countryside this afternoon. Some of the leaves were turning. See the above picture. We went out Route 50 through Aldie, Middleburg and then up to Bluemont. We were on gravel roads a good deal of the time.

We stopped at the old Stake Farm. It is now owned by a private company. It is a U Pick Farm. There was also a store and a hayride. We then went to the Old Snickerville General Store. It is now the Bluemont General Store. It is in the same place. We stopped and bought some cookies. Of course, we stopped at Hill High Orchard for some pie. Then we came home via Wegmans and Sweetwater Tavern. Good day with Oliver and Kristin.

Sunday Night At Oliver and Kristin's

Sunday Night we had a family gathering at Oliver and Kristin's. The above picture shows the men playing with their toys and the women chatting. Amy is holding Sophie, Bryce and Lisa's 4 month old daughter.

We had apple pie, pumpkin pie, rice krispy treats, apple crisp, and a chocolate, and peanut butter toffee pie. None went hungry. A great time was had by all.