This year our youngest son Clark turned 12 years old. I feel like we have officially "run out" of children since Clark has been in middle school this year and is now going to Mutual every week with his sibs. He's a great kid and a great "last child" because he is fairly independent and self-motivated. We celebrated his birthday with the family here at home and then again a few days later with the BYU kids and the grandparents. The Sunday following his birthday he was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood and now gets to pass the sacrament each Sunday. We have also been able to plan his first trip to the Draper Temple to do baptisms for the dead — isn't turning 12 great?!
The major excitement of the month is our son Loren's engagement to Anne Bogue! She is a great girl from Provo that he met while attending BYU four years ago. They have been friends all this time and finally decided they want to be best friends forever. So they have a wedding date set for July 1st, and now we have the fun that comes along with planning a wedding. This is all new to us, but I'm sure we will get everything figured out — one step at a time.
So Shirley achieved yet another birthday and is now 79 years old. We all met at the care center for a pizza birthday party. I think she enjoyed it, but she takes so much morphine to stay on top of the pain that she is always fairly dozy and probably doesn't feel very involved with what is happening around her. She does seem to be going down hill gradually and has hospice now, so hopefully it won't be too much longer until she can "go home." We appreciate all prayers on her behalf.
Kids Concerts
Madeleine and Elliot were in a wonderful strings concert. Elliot is their designated percussionist now and played snare drum and drum set. The concert featured a march from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Going to California, Irish Legend, Paint It Black, Addams Family and the Incredibles. Madeleine's quartet performed the 3rd movement of Dvorak's American.
Clark and Elliot performed piano and drum set in the band concert. Their concert featured pieces such as Mercy Mercy Mercy, Clouds, Freedom's March, Bird Land and Court Festival. Clark's jazz band performed Pink Panther and Cantaloupe Island — he was their pianist. It's especially fun to see the middle schoolers playing instruments they barely started learning this school year.
Over the Valentines Day and President's Day holiday, Alan and I decided to go on a little get-a-way to Pismo Beach California. We had a heck of time getting there because of snow and needing to de-ice the plane in Salt Lake, so we missed our connection in Las Vegas. Then the only option was to fly to Arizona on our way to California. So 15 hours later, having had breakfast in Utah, lunch in Las Vegas, and dinner in Arizona, we were able to go to bed in California — wow 4 states in one day! We could have driven there faster!
But, once we got there, we really had a great time. We had a cute cottage right on the coast and even though we had some rain (mostly at night) we did get some sunshine and enjoyed walking the beach and the pier. We also drove north and took a tour of the famous Hearst Castle — previous home of William Randolph Hearst. We saw a ton of barking elephant seals on a beach, a lighthouse, and eucalyptus trees full of monarch butterflies.
We ended our trip in Solvang California — a miniature Danish village. We enjoyed shopping on Copenhagen Drive, eating Danish food, and seeing windmills and beautiful spring poppies. I remember when I was little, that my Mom would make us aebelskivers — a fun little round Danish pancake. So, we decided it would be a fun souvenir to buy an aebelskiver pan and come home and enjoy a Danish breakfast with the kids. It was a huge hit with the family — especially good with the Lingonberry jam we brought home to spoon over the top along with some powdered sugar. Yummm...
As I do every February, I had another birthday along with Clark and Shirley. The one good thing was that I thought for a few minutes that I was turning 47 and then Alan reminded me I was only turning 46 — ah what a relief! Actually, I'm fine with getting older — it means that I'm still here with my family and friends — enjoying missions, weddings, graduations etc. How grateful I am to be able to be here with everyone that I love.
College Kids
Tess and Loren are doing well at BYU. After several semesters in a row, Tess is needing a little break and has decided to serve a mission. She will put in her papers this April and will probably leave in July or August. She obviously wants to be here for the wedding!
Loren has decided to go spring term and will then have one year left — at least until he goes on to graduate school to get a PhD. Anne is finishing up her Masters in Psychology during spring term as well. So, they are busy going to school and planning a wedding — never a dull moment!
Elder Phillip Brown
Phillip is doing great. His mission had the wonderful opportunity to be visited and taught by Elder David A. Bednar. He learned a lot from Elder Bednar continues to be very motivated to share the Gospel in Spain. A couple he and Elder Jones have been teaching is going to be baptized at the end of March, so they are very excited about that.
We took some fun pictures of Clark's artwork, some silly pictures of Madeleine, and a cute picture of Tess and Madeleine.