Nothing Scary about our Lawn Toupee -- 10-29-06

This week was a great one. Joseph has university classes on Monday and Tuesday. After class on Tuesday he and Dad went up to Providence City, Utah's City Council Meeting. Joseph is taking an upper level class in managing a small city. For his project he's taking Providence. He enjoyed attended a planning and zoning meeting last month. Tuesday's meeting was an active one and very interesting. Afterwards he interviewed Randy Simmons (see the blog entry "Celebrating Providential Friendship - 8/5/06"), the mayor. Joseph enjoys the high level of discussion in his classes, and holds his own with anyone.

This week the youth and leaders of the Westlake 9th Ward put a horticultural toupee on our bare dirt in the back yard. They brought in sod and did a great job of greening up the landscaping. Later in the week they put more mulch on the flowerbeds. It is so beautiful. How can anyone provide sufficient thanks for such thoughtful service and sacrifice? better goodies for Halloween? . . . The feeling around here is Thanksgiving even if it is October.

Action Continues -- 10/22/06

October time for football, deer hunt and first snow in the mountains. We'd love to attach photos of all the action this week, but the Blogger site won't cooperate :( sorry no photos. We haven't been able to add the ones from last week either. Progress is happening with the back garden (opps, British English again) 'yard'. The sprinklers all were installed and the trenches filled in. Grass is arriving on Tuesday. The youth and adults from the Westlake 9th Ward are awesome.
Dad has the bathroom downstairs all but finished, with painting and cabinet installation finished along with new electrical decor updates. Denny our son-in-law who works for the Logan City Police department has been busy this week working with the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew who were re-doing a home in Logan. We know the feeling of miracles in the form of others helping out. We'll look forward to the November 26th show.
Joseph has been adventurous, taking the bus and TRAX around the valley to university and appointments at the hospital. He has also enjoyed his physical therapy session at NEUROWORX (NWx). He is doing well in his classes at the U and has ongoing hobbies keeping him busy as well.

Trenching, Trees and Terrific Teens - 10/15/06

What a week of accomplishment. The back yard is looking just great, The youth and leaders from the Westlake 9th Ward were here several times this week. Digging the trenches for the sprinkler system and planting trees, shrubs and flowers. What a lot can be accomplished in a short time with many hands and willing hearts.

Our daughter Elizabeth came down this week and helped as we finished painting the downstairs bathroom and assembled cabinets for above the washer and dryer. We appreciated her help and bringing the grandkids for our enjoyment. Joseph is their favorite, chasing them around and giving them rides. (The blog isn't letting me enter more photos. . . maybe later).

Heroic Service 10/8/06

This is the 150th anniversary of the rescue of the Martin and Willey Handcart Companies. We heard of those whose service saved them in the 176th Semiannual General Conference. We live in a place and time where service is still the rule rather than the exception. In our family, we still marvel at our own continued "rescue". This week the neighboring Westlake 9th Ward continued their service project on our back yard, bringing trees, shrubs and flowers ready to be planted and delivering a load of mulch for the new flowerbeds. They finished their job with smiles on their faces even as the rain made most people in the valley grumble and mutter. Later they came back to mark outlines for the sprinkler system they will begin to install this week.
Our stake had the blessing of serving once again at the LDS Humanitarian Center doing Hurricane Cleanup Kits. Hard work is fun when you do it together and you are serving others. With hundreds of hours committed over the week, tens of thousands of kits were produced to bless the lives of many in far away places.

Here is a great story of exemplary service from Pres. Hinckley:

Teen-age Rescue

"I should like to tell you of three eighteen-year-old boys. In 1856 more than a thousand of our people, some of them perhaps your forebears, found themselves in serious trouble while crossing the plains to this valley. Because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, they were late in getting started. They ran into snow and bitter cold in the highlands of Wyoming. Their situation was desperate, with deaths occurring every day.

President Young learned of their condition as the October general conference was about to begin. He immediately called for teams, wagons, drivers, and supplies to leave to rescue the bereft Saints. When the first rescue team reached the Martin Company, there were too few wagons to carry the suffering people. The rescuers had to insist that the carts keep moving.

When they reached the Sweetwater River on November 3, chunks of ice were floating in the freezing water. After all these people had been through, and in their weakened condition, that river seemed impossible to cross. It looked like stepping into death itself to move into the freezing stream. Men who once had been strong sat on the frozen ground and wept, as did the women and children. Many simply could not face that ordeal.

And now I quote from the record: "Three eighteen-year-old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue, and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of the illfated handcart company across the snowbound stream. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, `that act alone will ensure C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, and David P. Kimball an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.'" (Solomon F. Kimball, Improvement Era, Feb. 1914, p. 288.)"

Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, November 1981, p. 42.

The spirit of those great young men is the same as we see in the youth of our day in our own back yard. The Church is in good hands for the future. . . hands that know how to serve.

Massive Service, Mission Memories, and Marvelous Conference -- 10/3/06

The LDS 176th Semiannual General Conference was just amazing. The highlight of an incredible week.
On Wednesday the youth of the neighboring Westlake 9th Ward began their project of making our back yard a nice place for Joseph. Several young men came and started the work in preparation for the invasi0n of dozens of beautiful and talented youth on Thursday. What an inspiration! This is the hope of the Church and America. These kids could do ANYTHING they set their minds to! In a couple of hours they had completely redone the backyard in preparation for landscaping, including moving the shed to make room for putting in a sprinkler system. This is truly HomeMakeOver Mormon Edition! They enjoyed visiting with Joseph and he really enjoyed and appreciated them.

Friday was our England Bristol Mission Reunion. This is the first time we've done it at our home. It was so great to see everyone. There were many who called who were unable to come. We had Mark Thistleton come over from England, Bro. and Sis. Epps from Wales, and a multitude of others from here in Utah as well as out of state. It was so much fun to have so many of the mission grandkids here as well. Joseph really enjoyed everyone and vice versa.
The final highlight for the week was the visit from Joseph's mission president and mission mom James and Barbara McCarrey. They are a wonderful couple and are much loved by their Taggart missionary! He was so pleased and honored that they would stop by. They live in Alaska and had a very short time in Utah before returning home. There is nothing that binds hearts together like service-- serving each other, serving others together, and being served by others.