February 2013 Highlights

We made it through January and are now in the February grind. In spite of the groundhog we still anticipate a long winter. Diane is especially busy trying to take care of the house and filling in on the needs of the grandchildren. This includes a lot of running around and holding down the fort while Andrea is running around. Added to this is the Portuguese class three afternoons a week as well as study time.

We had some visitors and a couple of get-aways this month which helped us keep our sanity. The first was a trip to Salt Lake for the blessing of Matthew (Steve & Melissa's baby). We decided to take off Saturday (Feb 2) and stay in Little America. We were able to visit the Church History Library, the City Creek Mall (a new mall in the city center that wasn't there when we left on our mission), and the church art museum. On Sunday morning (Feb 3) we got up early to attend the tabernacle choir broadcast live. It was interesting to watch the behind-the-scene production. We then went to Stansbury Park for the blessing. When we returned Sunday night, Diane found out she was sustained as the Relief Society Meeting Coordinator, which surprised her since the bishop had talked to her about a different calling. Now she will have to find out exactly what her responsibility will be.

Paul's brother, Richard, and his wife, Virginia,  were here for the baby blessing and decided to come to Logan for a visit (Feb 7). It meant we had an excuse for a nice meal at the Copper Mill. His other brother, David, and Faye visited later in the month (Feb 12). We enjoy visiting with family again after being away for so long.

Hanna celebrated her 15th birthday on February 10th. She is growing up too fast.

On our mission we didn't have a chance to celebrate a lot of occasions, so we decided to go to dinner at the American West Heritage Center for Valentines Day (Feb 14). We had a wagon ride to the location (horses driven by Chris, whom we met at AWHC, and is now an ECE student). The dinner was nice and it was followed by a magic show. We really enjoyed the night out.

Chris and his wife 

Diane, on the wagon

Magic by Richard Hatch

On Feb 16, we took Andrea to see the Jane Eyre, a new musical by Jay Richards (who lived in Andrea and Jason's ward some time ago). We really enjoyed the music and the acting.

Diane and Andrea have been practicing for a musical number, "The Lord's Prayer" for sacrament meeting which the performed on Feb 17. They were really worried about it because they have had many interruptions which made it difficult to practice together. It went very well and many people commented on the wonderful spirit it brought to the meeting.

Our second trip was to Provo to see Elder Woodruff, from our mission, and meet his family. We were able to go on sunday (Feb 17) and pick up Elder Lima (another of our special Portuguese missionaries) in Salt Lake and take him with us to Provo. After visiting with Elder Woodruff and Elder Lima briefly we visited Diane's sister Lisa. On Monday (Feb 18) we drove around towns south of Prove (Santequin, Payson, Spring Lake, etc.) to see what it might be like to move there. We really liked Spring Lake. In the evening we were able to meet Elder Woodruff's family and his fiancé, Kaitlyn. Elder Woodruff's father was a mission president in Brazil and now works for the missionary department in Salt Lake. He said if we wanted to serve a mission in Brazil, he could arrange it. Tempting! The next day (Feb 19) we went around BYU and met with Jeremy Grimshaw who heads the world music program at BYU. We were able to stay in a motel for two nights which provided a good break. 

Andrea interviewed for a teacher's aid position at Woodruff Elementary School. She will soon be teaching reading part time, which will change the family dynamics in the near future.