The Glad's

Mesquite Balloon Fest

2012-01-30T09:01:00.003-07:00

Saturday there was a Balloon Fest at Mesquite Nevada. Marlene thought it would be neat to see. So we drove down with Jon and Nichole Alexander to enjoy. The balloons were all spread

out on the golf course driving range ready to be inflated when we arrived. The wind aloft was too much and going in the wrong direction, so they could not fly but they inflated all of them so we could enjoy the color and excitement.

Inside of a inflated Balloon

We were able to walk around and watch the process and talk to the crews. The process of inflating a balloon started with a Large fan that was used to blow air into the bottom of the bag that was on the ground. When the bag was almost vertical a Propane blower was used to inject hot air into the balloon.

Propane burner

The burner was lit when the balloon needed to gain altitude and a vent in the top of bag was open to allow air to escape to descend.

The balloons were very colorful. It was a great experience to see them all blown up.

It was a great time for all.

Porter Rockwell and fun

2012-01-15T08:13:00.004-07:00

Marty had a seminar he had to attend at the Hospital here in St George. Melody spent the day with us as he was involved with that program. We went to see the Petrogriphs again and discovered some Real neat ones that we had not found before.

Some of them were really large. with lots of different figures. We were joking that one looked like a man in a space ship or possibly a bird in a cage.

There was a really cool monster or an creature from outer space

This week it has been one hundred and fifty years since St George was founded so there are lots of things going on. We went to the old opera house for a one man show about Porter Rockwell and then after that a choir singing songs from Gilbert and Sullivan shows. When the Opera house was first built in the 1870's their productions were very popular and were performed there

We are going to the Tabernacle for a one man show about Brigham Young and then the Southern Utah Heritage Choir, the local like Tabernacle Choir, will be performing. The events will continue until Tuesday when it will end with a big fire works show.

Christmas

2011-12-27T17:05:00.005-07:00

Our Christmas this year was spent in Marty and Melody's home in Sandy. The Thursday before Christmas we drove from St George to Sandy, that evening was spent with Bruce and Tara. Mattie is growing up so fast. We were able to visit Todd, Shelly and Shay and Clay and Allison's family.

Christmas eve was spent in our traditional way. Sherry Thomas had been ill and was in a rehab home so we all went there to sing Christmas songs for her. We have been going to the Thomas's home for more than thirty years caroling. It was really a quite pleasant night to go our and sing our hearts out and give plates of home made goodies for our friends.

We then went to the Greenlief home for hot waisel, soup and some turkey that Marty cooked.

Cody was home from school in Idaho for the Holidays. It was really good to see him, Stuart was away from the family for the first time as he is in the Mission Field. Melody knitted a cap for Cody with a beard attached, that was really cool.

We then all spent some time doing the Nativity and then talked about gifts and what our Savior birth means to us. There was lots of Shepherds and Wise Men, Amamda was Mary. Melody did her yearly part as the Chief Angel.

Gift giving and getting was really fun as lots of great gifts were exchanged. I got lots of Snicker candy bars and a gift certificate for twenty five dollars for kindle e-books , lots of e-books can be obtained for that amount of money.

We got up early on Christmas morning to see the Greenlief family open their gifts from Santa, they we drove home to be on time for Sacrament meeting. Marlene was in charge of the Choir Christmas Program. Brother Nureen who was to be the narrator was sick so I did that part on the program.

It was a very busy busy Christmas time for us and we were happy to have Monday to come around to rest.

Christmas is still the best time of the year.

Christmas in st george

2011-12-17T08:33:00.004-07:00

Christmas time is nearly here in St George. It is nice to be in a no snow allowed zone even though it is not as pretty, no it is always pretty here, We just don't have slick roads and frozen noses.

Out friend Nichole thought that it would me fun to do some caroling. She called a lot of friends, mostly old folks, obtained a trailer, bales of hay, and assigned cookies to be made and off we went. It was a little cool but our spirits were good as we went to sing for a lot of shut In's and widows. It was great fun.

The outside of our home is all lit up. Mom insisted that we put up all of our lights. She held the lights while I stood on the ladder and attached them to the rain gutter. I think all in all they look pretty good.

The tree is all decorated and the presents are in place. We are ready for the best season of the year.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T05:33:00.004-07:00

Thanksgiving this year for most of the family was in California with Roy and Angel. They had to suffer with eighteen of the our extended family. Clay & Allison's, Marty & Melody's families along with Grandpa and Grandma stayed in Roy and Angel's house, ten Grandchildren.

It amazed me how many of the kids could bounce in the tramp. at the same time. There were some bumps and tears but after a few minutes the damaged child was back bouncing.

The pies were the best part of dinner, pecan is my favorite one. I am not big on pumpkin pie even though it is the Thanksgiving traditional eat but I favor taste over yucky pumpkin. The only way that pumpkin is eatable is if there is enough whipped cream so that you cannot taste it.

The girls spent a lot of time in the kitchen making all of the goodies, while the men helped by staying away and playing video games. The family had a good time playing games, such as monopoly, flip and other board games. It was great to get away from the TV grind and spent some quality time with our family.

We all had our part of the house to sleep in and took turns using the bathroom, all of the men made the great sacrifice of delaying shaving until we returned home, but isn't that the style now to have a scruffy beard, the unshaven look.

The best part of Thanksgiving is being with and loving your family. We had a great time!!

Hawaii

2011-11-14T09:30:00.005-07:00

We went on fourteen day cruise from L. A. to Hawaii. The ship was on the Pacific Ocean for five days on the way to Hawaii, four days visiting various Islands and then Five days back to L. A.

The Islands we visited were, Hawaii (the big Island), Oahu, Maui, and Kauai.

There is a Banyon Tree in Maui that takes up four acres of park land. This tree has streamers that extend from the branches, and when they touch the ground they will take root and make another tree. The tree was really cool.

Since the trip was so long there was three formal dining nights. Marlene really likes to dress up

Halloween came while we were on the ocean. The crew all dressed up in costumes and the ship was decorated. There were some really interesting carved pumpkins.

The waves crashing onto the rocks on the shore was spectacular.

We went to a farm where they raised pineapple, mango and coconuts and other tropical fruits.

We went to the area on the island of Hawaii where there have been recent lava flows from the active volcano.

It was sad to see some homes that have been destroyed by the volcano.

We had a great time, Mom loved the day we spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Temple Cleaning

2011-10-14T11:17:00.003-06:00

We had the assignment of cleaning the Tempe Wednesday Night, starting at 9:45 PM and finishing at 11:45 PM. I was vacuuming the dressing rooms for the Officiators. Marlene was dusting the Celestial and other Ordnance rooms. It was really nice to be in the Temple late at night doing service.

I learned several interesting things about the St George Temple. I was working on the fourth floor where the Sealers change their clothes when the lady who supervised Me took some time to show me a few of the unusual things there. I was able to look in the attic, the heavy beams look just like the ones that were used in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, large wooden trusses. The red sand stone that the Temple is constructed of is also visible. Several small rooms are on the west side of the fourth floor that are no longer in use. They were used in early Pioneer times as places to stay for the couples who made the long journey to St George to be Married in the Temple. There is what is called the Honeymoon trail from the east side of the State of Utah where people travelled in their wagons to be married here. The old pine slab flooring is still in place up there and is worn and warped after many years of use. The Sister Ordnance Workers dressing room is in the basement next to the Baptistery. The oxen by the font are white. We love the Baptistery as we assisted there in the Nauvoo Temple.

Friday Night we went to the High School game in St George for the Region Championship between Hurricane and Desert Hills High Schools. Hurricane is ranked as number one and Desert Hills as number three in the state. It was really fun to be there watching all the kids having a great time at this important event for them. Hurricane won by a large margin. There are four High Schools in St George, Pine View, Dixie, Desert Hills and Snow Canyon with Hurricane not too far away. The folks here are really involved with their teams, as there was not any place to park our car except for an empty field, all of the parking spots on the school grounds and the Street were taken and the stands were full of fans.

Stuart at the Draper Temple

2011-10-09T06:02:00.002-06:00

It was a cool and wet day Saturday afternoon when We went to the Draper Temple to be with our eldest Grandson, Stuart, but it was warm and wonderful inside. He is going to be on a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints for two years. Clay and Allison, Bruce and Tara, and Marlene and I were there to share that special time with Melody, Marty and Stuart.

Stuart is the eldest of our thirteen grandchildren and is much loved by us. We remember that family New Years family game time where He announced his attention to enter this world, being there in the hospital while he entered this world, the times we shared as his family lived just down the street, sitting on the front row of church and loving and being loved by him. I am sure that He will be a great ambassador for the Church. It will be hard because We won't see Him for two years.

It was snowing all the way from Cedar City to Sandy as we made our way there on Thursday and was wet and cold all the time we were there. The roof on our home there is looking quite bad so we had several contractors come by the house go give us some bids to re shingle it. The interesting thing is the variation in the bid prices. There is eight hundred dollars difference between the high and low bid. I have found that it is very important to have several different contractors give bids and to let each know that they are competing for the work.

It was so good to get home, but we always seem to leave a little part of us wherever We go. Marlene left her cell phone this time. We love these trips but we are all worn out when we get back home. It is so nice to sleep in our own bed again.

Trip to Newport Beach

2011-09-30T12:27:00.003-06:00

We took a short vacation to Newport Beach with our St George friends. John and Nicholle Alexander, a great time was had by all. One day was spent at the treasure island section of Laugna Beach. The section of beach is exceptional, with huge waves that were curling over causing a pipe before crashing onto the beach.

The area is heavily eroded with arches and other cool features along the shore. The State has made the area very nice by placing seats on the top of the bluffs, and wonderful landscaping with many trails and lots of flowers.

The Newport Beach Temple is very unusual in that it looks like a old Spanish Mission with a Angel Moroni on the Top.

We spent a day at Knots Berry Farm Amusement Park. It has been a long time since we were there and the admission was really inexpensive $ 24.00 for kids and seniors. We have been to Micky Mouse land so many times that it was nice to go somewhere different.

There is a kind of Ghost Town Theme in the Park. Mom was bad so She was put in Jail. There is some kind of show to see every hour. We went to the Snoopy Show and then Western Shootout, that had lots and lots of gun battles and fist fights.

There are lots of roller coasters that are really cool. John and I went on Montezuma's Revenge, Accelerator, Silver Bullet and the Horse Rider. Marlene liked the log flume she went several times. Old women are not brave enough to go on any good rides. We all had a good time but is is sure nice to be home here in St George

Fifty Years

2011-09-14T15:25:00.002-06:00

My wife and I celebrated fifty years of marriage last week. It was wonderful to have all of our children, their spouses and almost all of our grandchildren here in St George. Cody is away to school in Northern Idaho. We did some very special things. We all went to the St George Temple to remember that day many years ago when Marlene and I made those covenants with The Lord that started our life together a husband and wife. That evening there was a Open House where we visited with many of our friends.

Our Children were wonderful, they did so much for us. Angel made a very special Wedding Cake. Todd took pictures of the family and at the open house. It has been many years since We were able to be all together to have a family picture. Melody and Tara did the decorations of the Club House for the Reception and everyone helped with a family dinner that we had prior the the Open House.

We are so blessed to have our special Family, and that we were all able to get together and enjoy each others company at this time. There is a lot of love in our homes.

This and That

2011-09-04T07:10:00.003-06:00

Saturday there was some big doings at Hurricane. They celebrate their annual Peach Days. When the Pioneers first settled the area they planted many peaches here. The Church Welfare Program now has a huge orchard there. Peach Days is the biggest event of the year for the folks there.

Mom normally doesn't like country music but the was enthralled by a band that was playing. They were called the Country Classic band. She sat for almost the whole program with a smile on Her face not saying anything, for Her that is amazing. The group was really good, mild classic music.

I think the reason that she is starting to enjoy this kind of music is because of the style of LOUD screaming music that is popular today. Two weeks ago we went to a concert at Dixie State College The band was outside but We had to leave right after we got there because the music was so loud and that I was starting to get dizzy.

We were walking around when we say a large group of people and what sounded like a whole lot of Crickets. It was very strange, as We went over we came across many Kids with hammers pounding nails. They were building wooden boats and periscope boxes. The folks from Home Depot was sponsoring a program for the kids. There must have been one hundred plus of little kids in Home Depot aprons having the time of their lives pounding nails.

Our garden is producing many many tomatoes much more than we can eat. I put on my apron to make "Salsa" I put in tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos peppers, onions, ect. We lovingly put it all in pint jars and canned it. We opened the first bottle the next morning for breakfast thinking how good it would be. It tasted like tomato sauce. I thought there must be some way to fix up so I put some cinnamon, cloves and sugar in the bottle of supposed salsa. It still didn't taste like salsa but it was good. I guess it is true that a spoon full of sugar does make the medicine go down.

Special gifts for our 50th

2011-08-30T12:28:00.004-06:00

Marlene and I have talked about what kind of Gift we should give so as to make our fifty years together special, something that would be a lasting memorial of the great times that We have spent together. We have looked around and found what we consider to the best thing.

In our old age, We have become collectors of beautiful things, so when we saw this Llydro of a Mother and Child at a consignment store, We had to have it.

It is really a wonderful piece of art work with much detail

Mom wanted to be sure that when I took the photos that I did not shoot at a angle that would show the boy parts. I told her that that was what baby boys have, but I still was careful about the photo.

While We were making the transaction of obtaining the Llydro. I was looking around and saw this Tureen and Platter combination for only $16.00. The Duck also now has a new home. It will have a place of honor in the center of our Kitchen Table.

So our Home in St George will become even more special because Mom and I are getting so old

2011-08-22T14:05:00.003-06:00

Mom and Melody on the beach at Sand Hollow State Park

Melody, Marty and Kids came to visit us on the way back to Sandy from California. It was good to have them come to our home in St George.

Stuart heard that his Mission Call had been delivered to Sandy while they were on vacation with Roy and Angel's Family. They went back to Sandy Saturday Morning and Stuart had a Family gathering Sunday afternoon, which we were able to attend with the miracle of Streaming on the Internet. He is going to go to the Washington, Everett Mission. He will enter the Mission Home on the 16th of November. Bruce was really excited. He served in the Washington, Seattle Mission, that is next to the Mission that Stuart had been called to. We are so proud as Grandparents to have our Grandsons go out in the World to teach the Gospel.

Breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's House

There is a new version of "Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration" movie now being shown at the Church Visitor Centers including the one here at the St George Temple. It was great to be able to watch while they were here. When the movie was over we went to the Town Square park where Jim had a couple of rides on the "Merry Go Round". The old historical Judd Store is just across the street from the park. They have a lot of old time and unusual bottled soft drinks, as well as really good Ice Cream. Most of the Group got a scoop of the Ice Cream but Andy wanted a bottle of "Lenionade" the Russian soft drink.

Melody wanted to go to the Beach at Sand Hollow. Marlene did some swimming while the boys made sand castles. It is really nice as the pink sand dunes flow in to the lake.

We had some fun playing games with every one before going to bed. It gets a little busy when we have family visit but we love it.

The Narrows

2011-08-10T05:58:00.005-06:00

The Narrows in Zion National Park

It has been more than twenty five years since Marlene I had been on the hike to the Narrows.

It is a easy, mostly level, hike of a little more than a mile. The canyon walls in many places were wet from moisture flowing through the sand stone walls. The walk is shaded by the cliffs as the canyon narrows. There is all kinds of ivy and moss on the vertical walls. The temperature is cool as one walks in the shadows of the narrow canyon.

The Virgin river flows closely by the trail with cascades and blue pools of cold mountain water. The Park service has made many access places to go down on the riverside where you can enjoy the water.

Riverside Walk ends at Narrows. The walls come very close together and to progress any further you have to wade in the river. The water was pretty cold and the stream bed was all rocky with lots of cobbles making is hard to walk. We hiked several crossings of the river until the canyon was so narrow that the only way to continue was to stay in the river.

The walls close in and the river becomes deeper. I went to the point where I could see some of the hikers up to their waist in water at that point I went back. It was cool to stand in the water where Zion Canyon is so narrow and look up at the walls.

The Trip is one that everyone should make at least once in their life. We loved being there in such a peaceful and beautiful place.

Clay and more fun times in St George

2011-07-24T05:42:00.003-06:00

Clay, Allison and their family came to visit us here in St George for several days last week. We had a busy time with lots of fun things to do.

The City of St George's Parks and Recreation Department is very busy in finding innovative things for the folks here to do. The "Sunset on the Square" takes place every other Friday night.

Every one brings blankets or lawn chairs and enjoys a movie in Town Square Park. They have just acquired a old rebuilt Carousal for the kids to ride on. Their are group games to play before the movie starts. The "Blue Bunny Ice Cream Company", their factory is here in St George, supplies cheap Ice Cream.

We watched the Movie "Fly Boys" a new soon to be distributed movie made here in St George. It was pretty good, lots of action. Aaron really liked it because it was about a couple of kids being forced to fly and land a airplane after everyone else bailed out.

The Clay Glad's like to go to Sand Hollow lake while they are here. It is very unusual in that a large sand dune ends up in the lake. The contrast between the red sand and the blue water is very nice. The lake is quite shallow by the dune and it takes a long walk in the water to have the water come up to your shoulders, which is very good for little kids. The water is also quite warm, The lake water was almost 90 degrees when we were there.

One of the best places to visit in Zion National Park is Weeping Rock. The water from rain and snow melt, on the top of the Canyon Percolates through the sandstone until it reaches a different layer of rock that is harder and then it comes out through the interface between the two types of rock causing a area where the water drips out over a shallow cavity. The water is very pure after being filtered though the sand stone for such a long distance. They have done a study where they used the permeability of the stone and the height of the rock to come up with the time for the water to move from the top of the cliff through the stone and come out at at the bottom of the canyon, some where around 1,000 years.

We left the kids in the care of Cody and went to Tuachan to see the musical "Grease" it was very good. They several used old cars from the sixty's as props for many of the scenes. They used a picture of "South High School" , where I went, for a backdrop. The music was great but I have always been uncomfortable with the theme of the show, since I was a child of that age and did not like ending where Sandy let Her standards down.

Angel's family comes to visit

2011-07-16T16:08:00.007-06:00

Angel, Nathan, Megan and Tyler came to St George so spend time with us as Roy had to go for a week back east for his work. We had a great time spending time with the grand kids.

We went to Town Square Park several times to cool off. The park has a fountain which changes the squirts with time. It is fun for the kids to run through. There is also a "lazy River" That the kids like to run through.

We went to a is a special place, that we know of, to collect Petrified Wood. Everyone was able to find lots of pieces, then as we went home, we drove by Gunlock Reservoir. This had been a very wet year so the lake is overflowing the spillway. This is a special treat that only comes after a very wet cycle. The spillway water is a natural flow with many waterfalls and pools in the red rock. many people come to play in the water.

We took this picture of the grand kids at the Snow Canyon over look just prior to returning from our petrified wood trip.

One of the best places to go in Zion Park is the Emerald Pools. It takes a short hike to see the waterfalls that cascade down from the middle pools to the lower pool. The trail goes behind the falls so it is a special treat. The middle pools are at the top of the cliff where the water from the pools causes the waterfalls. The pools are at the edge of the cliff so the water flows directly off causing the waterfalls.

Megan and Nathan at the Middle Pools. Tyler with his stick in the background

Marlene on the Trail.

We parked by the Visitors Center took the bus to the trail head and then returned for a nice picnic supper.

Snow Canyon overlook

Snow Canyon Over look.

We went to Razor Ridge park to fish. The kids liked to spend time with Grandpa seeing how many fish we could catch. The first trip all we caught was Bluegill. There are lots of them in the pond but are too small to eat. Nathan caught three trout on the next trip they were taken home to eat later. He cleaned one of the fish with some help from Grandpa. The last fishing trip Megan and Grandpa caught two trout each, their limit, while Nathan got lots of Bluegill. It is fun to fish at the pond because there is always lots of fish to catch even if most of them are small Bluegill.

We had a special treat in that we went out for a buffet dinner at the "Golden Corral".

There was lots of food to choose from and every one could choose his favorite. The kids had Blue cotton candy to finish off the meal. Grandpa liked the steak and the sauteed Shrimp with Alfredo sause over rice.

It was a great week for everyone.

July 4

2011-07-05T07:47:00.003-06:00

The Fourth of July for us this year in St George was great. It was a little cooler than normal with just very light rain for a short time. We went to the St George City Parade, not a really big deal, with some commercial floats with lots of candy for the kids along the route. The Alexander family, some of our friends, went with us. Their three year old had a really great time chasing the candy. The Parade went around the city park just a block north of the Temple parking lot. There was a lot of events in the Park, Hot Dog and Water Mellon eating contest ect. Many Booths has been set up in the Park selling food and other goodies. We had a great time sitting in our lawn chairs just visiting with our friends.

We had lunch at home as it was staring to warm up outside. Mesquite, a half hour drive away, was hosting a special event. The Nevada Pops Orchestra put on a concert staring at 9:00 PM for one hour. We took our lawn chairs and were able to get in the front row. They played patriotic songs. Many John Philips Sousa numbers and some Glen Miller numbers. It was great. The Fire Works started at ten. The Orchestra continued to play as the sky was bright with the display. There was some, new to me, fire works. It was kind of cool to have unexpected stuff in the sky.

When we left we found that there were folks all over the hills and parking lots in the area. The traffic was so heavy that it took us twenty minuted to get back on the street. Having our lawn chair on the center front row was great. It pays to arrive early, put your chairs up and then enjoy the Barbecue Buffet before the show.

When I review the events of the day, I think the best part may have been sitting around in the shade visiting and our afternoon nap. I think that I am getting Old !!!!.

guns and bombs

2011-06-26T07:08:00.004-06:00

Marlene and I had the assignment to clean up the Chapel. Saturday morning at 8:00 AM we were busy engaged preparing the building for Sunday, sweeping, vacuuming, taking out the garbage ect. When We left the building we found that there was a Fire engine and Ambulance parked in the Church parking lot. I thought that is a odd place to stop to eat some donuts. We got in to the car to drive home and discovered that the street between us and home was barricaded of by two Police Cars. We drove around the block to and found that all of the streets in to the area were Blocked off and there was an another Ambulance parked on the other end of the street. It got really scary as we were driving by and saw officer get out of his car with a assault gun on his shoulder.

We found out that a there was a man in the area who had a "Bomb" and there was a stand off going on. The local Swat Team was there to handle the situation. The Man was arrested and then the bomb squad moved in to take care of the situation. All was calm in by the afternoon but it was really spooky to have eight plus Police cars, a Fire Engine and two ambulances in the neighborhood.

We still don't know the full story. The local newspaper reported that a war veteran was despondent and was trying to kill himself. The rumor in the neighborhood is that he was building a bomb to kill a former wife. There is a woman in the ward that was somewhat involved in that she was in the process of moving from the house in question and the people involved had moved into her home and were using it without her knowledge.

June trip to Salt lake area

2011-06-09T15:56:00.005-06:00

Cody graduated from High School, Marlene had a Doctors appointment and there was a Merritt Brothers and Sisters at Logan last week end. It was a very long trip.

Extended Merritt Family

Marlene's Brothers and Sisters

The picture of the extended family and the picture of just the Brothers and Sisters are not very much different. Marie and Mary are Widows, Beth is divorced. Don, Bonnie's husband is now fighting Colon Cancer. Wayne's wife Karen did not make the trip to Logan and LaVere and Diane are on a Mission. Marlene had a very nice extended visit with her Family.

We drove up on Friday for Cody's graduation that night. The Merritt Family gathering was on Saturday. Monday there was a Big Birthday Party at Clay's house as it was Calab's Birthday. Sunday evening We went to Cody's Seminary Graduation. He was one of the Speakers and was very impressive. He was very well prepared, spoke without looking at his notes and was very confident. Marlene visited the doctor on Tuesday after which we drove back home to St George.

There was some problems with the water at our home at Sandy. We could hear water leaking some where but could not find the leak. I worked most of the day Monday and half of the day Tuesday trying to solve the problems. I also could not get the sprinklers in the back yard to work. Then one of the valves would not shut off. We got the valve to shut down but it needs to be replaced. Bruce called me today to tell me that some men from the Water Department came by and told him that the pipe going from the water meter to the house is broken and needs to be replaced. They shut the water to the house down until it can be fixed. I just hope that it can be repaired soon so the lawn will not die.

It was not a good weekend. I am so glad to be back home where is can recover and rest up, I hope.

Cody and five of his Friends are now here staying at our home while they spend some time visiting some of the sights for a graduation trip. They have been really nice. They got up this morning at 4:30 AM. To hike to Angels Landing for Sunrise. We did not even hear them go, Tomorrow, Friday, they are going to attend the Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. It is a joy to have be around such nice young people. We all spent some time last night playing Mexican Train Dominoes. We had family Prayer. Cody had me tell them the story of Harry the Grasshopper for a bed time story. It is nice that he would humor hid old Grandpa that way.

2011-05-31T15:37:00.002-06:00

Petrified Wood

We have been collecting cool rocks in our spare time. My cousin Dave and his wife Terry were here in St George and took us to a good site to collect Petrified Wood. There was pieces of good quality rock scattered all around the area.

We were able to collect some very good pieces for our collection as shown by the Photos.

The photo above is of the complete slection of rocks that we collected.

We have placed some of the larger pieces in front of and around our Fireplace. They look really cool.

new kitchen flooring

2011-05-27T11:09:00.003-06:00

We drove up the road to Kolob reservoir. The road is a little traveled drive through parts of Zions Park that is only known to the locals. There are many summer homes around the area of the lake. The road is paved to the lake and then continues as a up paved road until it intersect with the highway by Cedar Breaks.

There is a steep drop off to to the Canyons of Zion. The Virgin River has a series of water falls as it continues down the almost vertical drop into the Zions Narrows.

There is new kitchen flooring (tile) in the Glad house. It is very important to keep your wife happy. The tile has a rough texture to reduce slippage in the kitchen and is a marbled tan in color to match the cabinets. The old flooring was had a vinyl surface and was really cheap. When it was removed we found that it was almost a surface treatment over paper. We are going to forgo our cruse this summer to help pay for the tile.

Picture of the New Tile

Old Vinyl surface

reflections on red heads and floor tile.

2011-05-23T08:27:00.003-06:00

There are many things that are different about the culture here in St George and other parts of Utah. Every where I look I see people with red hair. The River Bend Ward, our home ward, has more than six families with auburn hair. The Silver Mesa Ward had one, the Glad's. Red hair in the Salt lake city area is really quite unusual. I have found that more than ten percent of the folks here in St George have red hair. Retirement provides a person with more time than needed to evaluate useless things.

Marlene is finally having her way. The installer of Ceramic floor is suppose to arrive this morning and disrupt our lives while installing new tile. We are planning in being away from the house as much as possible for the next two days. I hope that my good wife will be happy with our new flooring. I will post some before and after pictures next week. The house is already a mess with moving every thing off of the floor. Pulling the toilet was really easy but not that much fun. The tile company would charge us seventy five dollars for them to do the job.

Anazasi Ridge

2011-05-10T14:50:00.003-06:00

There is a special place to see when you are in the St George area, called Anasazi Ridge. It is a short thirty minute hike to a location high above the Santa Clara River. The ancient Indians of approximately 2000 years ago left many petrographs in the area. they are unusual in that they are on the tops of the stones on a high cliff over looking the river, rather than on the vertical faces of rock walls.

It was a great hike. It must of been easier for the ancient people as they had seven toes.

I thought this one was cool as I think that it depicts two people in combat.

This hunter is surrounded by the game he hunts. It looks like a Big Horn Sheep, Deer, Lizard or squirrel and his faithful dog chasing the deer.

The wild flowers are still wonderful these are Desert Daises.

The Prickly Pear flowers are some of the best with coral petals with yellow centers.

This would be a great place to visit on your next trip to St George.

Mothers Day

2011-05-08T08:46:00.003-06:00

Today is Mothers Day, a time for our wives to enjoy one day a year with out all the trials of Motherhood, or is it a time for us men keep the kids quiet and not mess up the house too much in our attempts at burnt offerings to Motherhood.

I found the perfect gift for my wife this time. Instead of giving her the traditional gift of flowers that were on sale at Kmart. I gave her something that she has wanted all year "Cash Money" and my driving her around all Saturday morning to Yard and Garage Sales. She did pretty well, a Levi Skirt, nice sweater, a small food processor, more picture frames and so on.

This last week was also a very musical time. We went to a local Mexican Restaurant Thursday Night on Ancestor Square to celebrate "Cinco De Mao". Then went to the free concert that is held there every Thursday. Ancestor Square is in the center of Town where many old pioneer buildings have been restored, it is on the same block as the Brigham Young summer home. The center of the block has been converted in to a small park like area with a rocky stream and grass to sit on.

Friday we enjoyed a concert at Tuachan with Don McClain. He is a song writer and performer. The performance was one of the best. Every one, even the old folks were standing, singing dancing and enjoying some of the older classics that he wrote.

This Monday night we will be attending the "Concert in the Park" that St George City does. We will take our lawn chairs and sit in the shade with some of our friends and enjoy some Blue Grass and Country Music.

We are looking at having new Ceramic Tile installed downstairs in the kitchen/dining room area. Marlene has been unhappy with the vinyl flooring that is in place even though it look great to me. I have had several different contractors come by and give us bids. We are learning a lot about tile. There are Quarry, Ceramic , Porcelain, and Full body type type of tiles. I told Mom that if we get some new tile that she will have to sacrifice a Cruse vacation this year. She seems to be OK with that as long as I take her to lots of concerts here in St George.

Our garden is growing well. We went by Tuesday and planted some more Water and Honeydew Melon. We will have produce coming out of our ears if only part of our efforts are successful.

Life is good here in our little home in St George.

Desert Flowers

2011-04-28T18:25:00.007-06:00

We thought that it would be fun to take a trip to enjoy all the desert wild flowers that are so abundant in the St George area this time of year. The Red Cliff National Recreation Area is near Leeds, on the Freeway before you go up the hill to Cedar City. It was a very good choice There are several fun trails to hike. The small meandering stream makes small pools and waterfalls as it descends to the valley below.

The wild flowers were in their best as the weather has warmed and we have had several rain storms the last few days

There was a large Tree Cholla on the trail. It is rather rare in this part of Utah.

The Scarlet Hedgenette grows near the stream where it is shady and moist.

The color of the Globe Mallow is exceptional, the plant has many many flowers and loves the Heat and Sun. They grow in large groups.

If a person looks in and around the sage type of brush you will find some Desert Primrose peeking out

The Desert Marigold is very abundant and in some locations make the whole hillside turn yellow.

It is truly amazing what the desert can look like when nature's best is all dressed up at this time of year.

Lets go fly a kite, hopefully

2011-04-16T17:16:00.004-06:00

There is a annual Kite Festival in St George, it is a great event with thousands of people involved. They stage it in a large grassy area that is normally used as a driving range and park. Many school buses are used to carry folks from the parking lots to the Kite Flying Park. It is very much like a County Fair with entertainment, rides, lots of booths selling food ect.

Marlene and I went with some of our friends, set up our camp chairs and waited and waited and waited, no wind. It was so calm that the flags at the end of the field did not stir.

There was games for the little kids, home made ice cream, Navajo Tacos. Every one waited and waited, No wind.

The kids ran around with their kites dragging behind. Mom and dads cheered them on, no wind.

Marlene and I walked over to the pavilion where the entertainment was going on and listened to groups sing and dance. There was some groups with pre-teen age girls and boys singing their hearts out while all of the mom and dads cheered them on, no wind.

There was some helium filled balloons, that some forward thinking dads tied to kites, good idea but no go!

We went and had some Pizza, had a great time talking and sitting in the shade. We had a very successful day. When we got home the kids in on our street were running up and down still trying to get kites to fly. We found that no matter how much you run around kites will still not fly unless there is some wind.

I think this is somehow how life is? We some times try to fly a kite with no wind and are frustrated and disappointed, but we can still enjoy the sun shine and then sit in the shade and eat pizza and have a wonderful time even at a Kite Festival with out any wind.

Soccer, Birthday, and donkeys

2011-04-10T06:08:00.004-06:00

General Conference is a time to be spent with family so Marlene and I drove to California to be with Roy and Angel's. Tyler celebrated his birthday while we were there. Angel had made a special birthday cake with a monster truck on the top of it. Tyler's main gift to to go to a Monster Truck Rally in the near future. We played Conference Bingo, Mom made notes of everything that was said. Roy, I and Nathan went to the Priesthood Session. It was Nathan's first time.

The Truck was removed before the cake was consumed.

Saturday was Soccer day for the Tyler and Megan. It was great to be there and watch them play ball. Megan's team it called the Crushers and they are really good they won the game by a score of 7-2. Tyler's game was not so competitive, at that young age they don't keep the score so it was fun to fun

On the way back to St George we spent a few days at Laughlyn, Nevada which is in the Southeast corner of the state where Nevada, California and Arizona join. We visited Oatman Arizona a old ghost type of town that is about twenty miles away from Laughlyn. They stage a gun fight in the street several times a day and there are lots of small shops that Marlene likes.

Some the Mules were left when the Gold Mining was stopped and are now wild. The Mules come in to town looking for food, many of the stores sell carrots. Marlene had fun with them even though she thought that they had too many flies.

We went on a Paddle Wheel Boat up and down the Colorado River, had lots of Buffet Meals then It was back home to St George.

garden time, and exploring

2011-03-30T10:28:00.003-06:00

We went for an exploring trip into the area know as the Arizona Strip, that area of Arizona that is north of the Grand Canyon and south of the South West Corner of Utah. It is very isolated and can only be reached by dirt roads from the St George area. Most of the Arizona Strip is now in a National Monument created by President Clinton about the same time that he made the Grand Staircase, Escalate National Monument. There is a Gipson mine on the road. The view back towards St George is wonderful. We found and picked up some very pretty and unusual rocks.

We are going to plant our garden this week. We have some friends in the Ward who have a garden spot, 100 feet long and 40 feet wide. It is huge, so we are going to share the plot. I am planting Cherry, Early Girl, and Heat Wave Tomatoes. The Heat Wave Tomatoes are very popular here in St George as they thrive in very hot weather. I also am planting Red Bell Peppers. Our Friends are going to plant Green Bell Peppers so we can share. The rest of our planting will be Cucumbers, Butter Nut Squash, Zucini and Watermelon. The Watermelon do good here as long as they are well watered. The farm has a flood irrigation system with our water turn every Tuesday so we should we alright. Most crops have two seasons with a spring planting and a early fall planting.

The weather her is turning quite warm this week. They say that we have two weeks of Spring here in St George then Summer, Hot, Summer and Cool. It is suppose to be around eighty five degrees Friday.

PIcking, Rocks and Fish

2011-03-16T15:19:00.004-06:00

Saturday, We were driving around and and came across a sign that said that there was a "Horse Lovers Estate Sale". Mom is never one to pass a Garage, Yard, or Estate Sale so we stopped to see what was going on. Yup, it was at some Horse Barns and they were selling all kinds of gear for those large animals. I was ready go to home when Mom went out to the office in front of the barn where She found a old dirty wood carving laying on the floor. We asked what they wanted for It and they said the $ 2.00 was fair.

The piece is a hand carving of the Last Supper done in relief, every detail has been carved out by hand. It must have taken months to carve it. The wood appears to be Mahogany as the wood is reddish colored on the back where it has not been finished. We cleaned it up and it is now hanging on the wall in the Front Room.

There is a community fish pond about 3/4 miles from our home. Monday was a wonderful day Clear and warm, about 75 degrees. Mom packed a lunch and we went to find a park where could enjoy the sunshine and food. We went to several parks but they were all full, so we thought that we would go up to the pond as there are a couple to tables there. Bingo, success, a table with a cover. We sat and enjoyed the weather and watched all the families fishing. It is spring break this week. It looked like so much fun that we decided to give it a try the next day. The limit is two fish so after we got our fish and went home and had very fresh trout for dinner. They were super good. We are going to go there again soon.

Today, Wednesday, we went rock hounding. There are lots of places to go here for that kind of fun. I went on the Internet and found some promising locations. Hurricane Mesa was our choice. The Mesa is the home of a test site which was used in the 50's for acceleration test for the ejection seats in jet airplanes. The Base is still there and is restricted but there are still some locations to find Petrified Wood and Agate.

There was quite a lot of P Wood around if you looked hard enough. Mom was much better than me at finding it.

On the road back down from the Mesa We stopped to have some lunch, While Mom was still eating I thought that I would pull some of the shale apart that was on the side of the road. I found this Fossil. It is very fragile so I took some pictures of it. The flowers must have been very pretty, but you can't tell their color. I wonder if they had bees back in prehistoric times.

The Picture above is of the Agate that we found most of it is translucent and very pretty

Roads and Rocks

2011-03-05T07:30:00.002-07:00

I found that it is possible to find Petrified Rock on the top of the Hurricane Mesa, so Mom and I decided to take a day trip to find some. The government established a test site there where research was performed in the "50s" on jet airplane ejector seats. The road to the mesa is just before the town to Virgin on State Road ""9" on the way to Zion National Park.

We got on the wrong road, the road to Kolob Lake just after the town of Virgin. The road is paved and goes up into the mountains above and through Zions Park. It was one of those Magical times when one discovers a new and wonderful world. It is a part the park that only the locals know about. The road continues on to the top of the Mountains by Cedar Breaks so there was quite a bit of snow. We turned back from where the road was closed due to snow. I took some pictures with my "I phone" but they did not turn out due to the brightness of the snow. We will have to go back with my good camera for better photos.

After backtracking we got on the correct road and spent some time looking for rocks. The area was really muddy so we could not look around as much as we would like to but we did find several small specimens. The BLM rules are that twenty five pounds plus one rock can be taken. There is suppose to be a lot there so this looks like a return trip when it is drier,

Sunday and Jazz

2011-02-27T08:09:00.002-07:00

Today is Sunday, the end of February already and so I need to get the Home Teaching Reports completed. I think is is a conspiracy for this month to be so short, there is just not enough time to get everything done, or is it that I don't have enough time to put things off as as long as I normally do.

Marlene is excited and depressed. The Jazz traded their best, and her favorite player Daren Williams. She really feels bad about that, but they received two new and really good players. So She is excited to see how they new guys do on the team. The Jazz have been constantly loosing lately and it is hard for her to see "Her guys go down" . She really is into this Jazz thing which is OK with me because I don't have to worry about being able to watch the games. When We went to Las Vegas for a couple of days. Her biggest worry was that we would miss "two whole games". I have to set up the DVR to record all of the games when We are away from home. She is happy as long as the TV works on game day.

Books of Mormon

2011-02-19T14:31:00.003-07:00

I was working at D I on assignment for our D. I. drive Week, pricing and sorting books when one of the employees brought me two books to ask me if I could understand the language they were written in. I recognized the Script as the same as a book on display in the Beehive House the "Deseret Alphabet" I explained to them that they were most likely very rare books.

Front of Book #1

They put them the the Collectible section and priced them at $ 200 each. The person in charge of that area said to me that that was a terrible price and no one in their right mind would pay that much for old books.

Title page of Book #1

Book #2

Upon going home I did some Research on the books and found that the Deseret University had published several different books in the Deseret Alphabet in 1869. The Two books at D. I. were "Selections from the Book of Mormon" one of the more rare of the publications.

The price of these Books on some rare book sites on the Internet was about $2000.00.

I called Benchmark Books, Kurt Bench's rare book store. They said that the books would most likely would not be less than $ 350.00 each. The books are in excellent condition, tomake the story short our Family is now the proud owners of two rare books. I think that I will keep them.

2011-02-09T07:05:00.007-07:00

I had a really good Christmas, Birthday and soon to come Valentine day. I love to read and now I am now set up for the next couple of months with new books from some of my favorite Authors. The book by Tom Clancy is his first for more that seven years. The two books by Orson Scott Card look to be really good. He is really good with stories about boys learning to handle new situations, both new books of his are on that theme. I have read almost all of John Grishams books so a new one is going to be fun. I have found Brandon Sanderson to be a good read. He is teaching at BYU. I have always wanted to know more about Henry Clay and I like the Mitt Ronmey guy.

I forgot to put in the picture some of the other books that I received. Thanks Roy for "Eilfheim" I loved it. I am currently reading "Escape from the land of Snows" the story of the Dalai Lama's flight to freedom from the communist Chinese in Tibet and a book about the history of the Roman Emperors. I also have a book on the conflict about the nature of Christ in the early Church that lead to the Nicean Creed and a book written by some of the Church historians about the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

I have finished reading the books on the right. I enjoyed all of them.

Mom and I have a really neat system. I pick the books and She gives them to me for the next gifting event. It works really good.

pictures, pictures

2011-01-30T16:37:00.004-07:00

We have Many, Many pictures that we brought to St George, which we love, but had not found places to display all of them. Marlene and I, after discussion, decided to put them "all" up on walls. They may be a little crowded but we love them all. Saturday was spent in finding places for all of them and then installing them.

The East wall of Dad's office.

The picture of the "Bowl Cut kids" blowing bubbles is one of our favorites. Sorry but the flash came back from the photo of Caleb and Amanda kissing. The photo of Clay's children welcoming Amanda to their family is so cool. Todd, Shelly and Shay is so wonderful

South Wall of Dad's Office

The group picture in the center taken many years ago of the grand kids is one of our fondest remembrances.

Mom's Pictures centered over the North wall of the TV room.

Centered in the Gilt frame is a Document where Melody expresses her feelings for Mom. It has always very special for Marlene. The Picture on the upper right side was taken for her Wedding Announcement in the Deseret News. I love the Picture of my wonderful wife with our first three kids. Cloth diapers were the only choice at that time. Every time Mom sees this picture she talks about how loose Clay's diaper was.

South Wall of the TV Room

Nauvoo Temple one of the Highlights of our Life. The Picture of the Sail Boat Melody painted while in High School.

North Wall of Dad's Office

Left column, Bishop's Certificate, Citation Of Commendation from the Structures Division of the Utah Department of Transportation. Wood Badge completion Certificate.

Center Column, Release for Mom and Dad from the Temple Square Mission. Releases for Mom and Dad from the Nauvoo Temple Mission.

Right side, Silver Beaver Award, Scouting District Award of Merit, Silver Moccasin staff.

Marlene has been called to be the Music Chairman in the Ward. She will still serve as the Ward Organist. She will do a great job. We have not had a Choir in the Ward for years so that will be a challenge for her.

dads birthday

2011-01-22T08:00:00.003-07:00

For My seventy second Birthday, Marlene and I took a short trip to Las Vegas. Vegas is a short two hour drive from our home in St George and the last time We went there was a day trip and we were completely worn out from walking around the strip way too much. This time We booked a room at the Excalibur Hotel, relaxed and took our time, which not so much walking. Tuesday was really warm and Mom wanted to do some swimming so I sat in one of the Hot Tubs while She splashed around in the pool.

There is a Tram that goes between the Excalibur, Luxor and the Mandalay Bay Hotels, so most of our time was spent in that area so we would not have to walk around too much. I think that when a person gets in the seventies that we slow down quite a bit.

Mom found a Timeshare presentation to go to on Wednesday, Free stuff. I have stopped resisting her impulses to go to that kind of thing. We earned, sat through more that three hours of high pressure selling, two tickets to the Lion King show that evening. The show was wonderful, Musicals are our favorite thing.

Wednesday we went to the dinner show at the Excalibur, King Arther's Court. It was really fun eating Cornish Hen, Veggies, and Potatoes with our fingers while we watched Jousting and such. The Good guys won, the Prince became King and all was right with the world. Much better than most of the shows in Vegas. It was a great trip and birthday.

Christmas

2011-01-05T06:00:00.002-07:00

Christmas in Utah was great. The drive from our home in St George to Salt Lake was just as one of the many snow storms was starting. It was very spooky driving from Beaver to Nephi in the storm. We stayed at the old house where Bruce and Tara were great for accepting us as guests.

Monday most all of the family came by and we had a great time making candy. We have a tradition of Caroling and giving home made candy to our friends.

We went to spend time with our son Clay and his wife Allision. We had dinner with them and enjoyed their company. Cody, Clay's son has a athletic scholarship to attend Lewis and Clark a small College in northern Idaho. He will be on the cross country team. Amanda was her vibrant self and Calab and Aaron was excited to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Marlene wanted to go to Temple Square. Melody and her children went with us. A new display has been added in the "Temple view area" of the South Visitor Center, a mock up of the Temple with a cut away so all of the interior can be seen. Several tough screen displays showing videos of the rooms inside of the building have also been added. One of the most often questions that we were asked while We were on our Mission was "what is inside of the Temple". What a great way to help others understand that there is nothing secret about the inside, but it is a place of God.

Friday, Christmas eve every one gathered at our old home to go out Caroling and to give gifts of candy. Tara, Bruce's wife had organized and prepared a special dinner for everyone. The evening ended by having the Nativity presented. Melody was the Angel as She has always been. Mathew, Bruce and Tara's Son was the Christ Child, but we needed to substitute a doll as he would not stay in the manger. He is almost one year old and is very active. We then exchanged gifts.

We opened all of our gifts on Christmas eve but we still had our stockings for Christmas morning. Spending time with Marty and Melody's family on Christmas morning was wonderful but as I was totally exhausted, feeling sick, having commitments for Sunday in St George. We drove home in the afternoon.

Roy and Angel came by our home on Monday on the way to Salt Lake City. They spent several days with us. Tuesday, while Mom and Angel went post Christmas shopping. I went with Roy and the kids to visit the "Jacob Hamlin Home" The Guide was great. The site is by the river so we were able to see the damage and effects of the flood that took place during the time We were in Salt Lake for Christmas.

It was great to be with all of the family but being home with no snow in our quiet home is wonderful.

Thanksgiving Trip to Family in California

2010-12-04T06:30:00.002-07:00

The Drive from Monterrey along the coast of California is spectacular, part of our trip was to see the Aquarium in Monterrey, stay one night and then drive the coast highway back to Roy and Angles home in LA.
When we first arrived in The LA area we took a short five day Cruse to Mexico. We have taken this trip many times, but the food and shows are still great. Mom bought a silver Opal Ring and a new purse.
The Cruse Line that we used for the Trip was Carnival. It was surprisingly good. Entertainment was the best that we have had on this kind of trip.
The Jelly Fish at the Aquarium were really some thing to see. They were wonderful.
The best part of our trip was spending time with Roy and Angel's family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner, even Pecan Pie my favorite. We went to a Temple Session in the LA with Roy and Angel, spent some time with the Grand kids at Chickie Cheese, relaxed and read a good book.

The trip was wonderful. We are excited to see more of our family in the Salt lake area around Christmas.

October trip to Sandy

2010-10-31T20:15:00.008-06:00

We drove to Sandy for several events last week. Our Mission President, Mike Stewart died from a sudden heart attack and his funeral was Friday. He attended Jr. High School together and he was the Student Body of South High School while I was there. We were the same age. It was a very sad event. Many of the Sister Missionaries attended and they sang the Mission Song as the family left for the Cemetery.

We had every one over to the house for out Big Birthday for October and November. It was very loud but great to see our family. There was a Ward Party, a progressive dinner on Saturday so we were able to see many of our old friends from Sandy.

Tuesday We went for a consultation with the

Neurologist about the tumor on Marlene's spine. They have discovered that is not a problem.

The recommendation is to leave it as it is and take a MIR every six months to see if there is any change.

We bought a electric fire place for our home in Saint George. It looks like the real thing but you just turn it off and on with a switch. It was at our home ready to be assembled when we got home. It was a test of my Engineering knowledge to find our where "peg A" was and how to put screw "Z" in to hole 6.

It was finally done and it looks great.

October Confrence

2010-10-04T12:46:00.003-06:00

October Conference was a busy time for the Old Glads. Clay and Allison came to St George to to see Cody in a track meet in Cedar City and then spend Conference time with us in St George.

It was a fun time We watched all of the Sessions in our home then the Men went to the Priesthood Session The Priesthood session is always the best. I liked the talk about wearing flip flops in in the desert best.

The girls and kids went to the park by old Tabernacle to enjoy the water features. St George City has made a really nice water park with intermittent fountains and wading streams and ect.

Mom is not feeling real good about having her 70th Birthday next month and I have not? been teasing her about it.

I am planing on going to Las Vegas to see the Lion King to cheer her up. We are hoping that all of the Family will come to St George for our 50th Wedding Anversity in November

Fall in Fairview

2010-09-30T13:01:00.005-06:00

We drove up to Fairview to Winterize our Motor Home that we have Parked on the property there. It was quite warm for this time of the year but in past years we have had cold and snow so we thought is best to get it done.

We played two rounds of golf. I did

really poorly It has been quite a while since I have played. Marlene and I play together. She drives the Cart and keeps scour while I strike the balls and try to get them to go in the holes.

We thought we would take a ride up on the top of the Mountain. The leaves were as P

reety as I can remember. I took some Pictures.

Cody has a cross county track meet Friday at Cedar High School. We are going to go up to see how he does. Then Clay and Family are going to spend Confrence week end with Us

Todd and Shelly are coming to visit on Monday after Clay's family have left. St George is a great place to visit when it starts to get a little cold up in the North.

There is a wild fire between Beaver and Filmore. It has been burning for several months now. The Forest Service is doing nothing to control it. "It is part of the Natural World" Stupid !! It has burned a large part of the central section of Utah. There is heavy smoke from Nephi to Cedar City an area of more than 200 Miles. The same conservation people who are worried about Global warning and want to decrease our "Carbon foot print" will allow a fire to burn producing CO2 for an area that large. The people who have to breath the smoke should have some say in the matter. It just does not make any sence

New England Cruise and ID theft

2010-09-13T13:08:00.006-06:00

We had a great time on our 49th Anniversary Cruise. It was super fun. We did not spend a lot of time in New York as our plane arrived at 10:00 AM and the ship left the harbor at 3:30. The ship was at the Brooklyn dock by so we were close to Manhattan the Brooklyn Bridge and we sailed past the Statue of Liberty.

We then went to New Port, RI where the rich and famous played. Remember the movie "High Society". Boston was very nice. It is strange to see how they have built large new modern style buildings right next to old historical ones. The John Hancock Building is right next to the Old Trinity Church. Bar Harbor, Main is another of the special places for the wealthy to stay. They would spend the hot times there as it was cooler than Newport. The summer Cottages of J P Morgan ect are there. A summer cottages has only 12 bedrooms ect. St Johns, New Brunswick was settled by immigrants from Ireland. We went on a tour with a horse drawn buggy. Halifax, Nova Sochia is a Scottish settlement. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Bag Pipe Band came on the Ship to perform for us. We have lots of photos so we are posting them on Facebook.

When we got home, there was a E-Mail in and a Voice Mail on my Cell Phone from the American Express Credit Card Company. It seems that there was a unusual amount of charges being made on my card from various companies in England, Two Charges from one company for $596 Charges for $780, $ 890, $ 234 and $ 286 and additional charges still being made. They thought that this was very unusual so they wanted to know if I knew what was going on. American Express Security Division canceled the card and deleted all of the phony charges. This Identify theft is really scary but it is great that the Credit Card Companies are monitoring our accounts for this kind of stuff. It will take a little more than a week before we get new cards.

Movie, Stars, Sand dunes and Family Search.

2010-08-30T07:45:00.003-06:00

We took a ride through Zions National Park and the loop that passes by Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park. We had not been all of the way through the park to as we normally turn around after the tunnel. It was great to see that part of the park. The traffic was really bad as large parts of the roadway was being replaced by President Obamba's Stimulation program. We had to stop at several locations and wait for traffic coming the other way. It was really nice, as we were in no hurry and the view was really great. The desert flowers were just great as we have had some rain it the last few days.

Pink Coral Sand dunes were fun but there are there are still some bad memories about leaving Angel there. We continued on the road past the State Park. The road was dirt for about three miles, until we came to Colorado City and the highway back to Huricane and on to home. The Trip was nice but not too long from 10:am to

St George City has Movies in the Park every first and 4th Saturday night they were showing
Shark Tails. It was nice, so we took the lawn chairs and watched the movie. There were lots of Families with young children. The local TV station had games and ect for the children.

Thursday night was the first performance of "Crazy for You"at Tuchan. It was a fun musical with lots of famular songs, they lways do a great job. They made said that Disney had contacted them and asked them to do the premier of their new musical, "The Littelest Mermaid" next season. If it turns out as good as "Tarzan" it will be as

travel day and ect

2010-08-20T16:39:00.002-06:00

We try to visit some where in the area near to St George each week, one hundred fifty miles or less is near. We drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument today. Last week we drove the road that goes to the Gunlock area, a pretty lake and small town. The week before that Kolob Canyon section of Zions National Park, ect. and so on.

The thing that is amazing is that we can still find cool places around here that we have not visited. Some of the unexpected cool places were Pipe Springs National Monument where the Mormon Pioneers had a large Cattle Ranch. At Sand Hollow State Park There is a really cool beach formed from a sand dune that comes down in to the lake. There is a really neat water fountain park for the kids to play in a right next to the historical Tabernacle. They have Movies in the Park by the water fountain every second and forth Friday. A really nice afternoon and evening would to be to take the tour of the Tabernacle, play in the water until dusk and then sit on lawn chairs and watch the Movie, all of them are G type.

I have been asked to make a presentation for the combined Relief Society and Priesthood Meeting on the 5th Sunday of this month about finding a person using the new.familysearch.org Computer Program. We have scheduled a take a Ancestor to the Temple Night, on Saturday the eighth of October. I have prepared all of the materials; a really good hand out and a Power Point Presentation on how to use the Computer Program. It should be really good.

2010-08-06T14:28:00.002-06:00

Tuachan has a Saturday Market and Entertainment each week. We went there on the 24th of July. The Blue Grass band was passing out various musical instruments to the people in attendance to play on. Mom got the Washboard. It was really fun. We have been attending the events at either Tuachan or The Square by Brigham Young's home on Saturdays

The first of August was the time for the blessing of Todd and Shelly's new daughter Shaylynn. She is a very special baby. We are so grateful for out third Grand daughter and 13th Grand Child. Todd was so excited to be a Dad after all of these many years. It was great to be there for the event, but we missed our home in St George.
We ended out trip with a visit to our property at Fairview. We had not been there for more than two years. The Motor home started after much effort. Dad got to play two rounds of Golf, and did really well even though he had not played since before our mission.

Kolob and Cats

2010-07-23T14:06:00.003-06:00

Thursday we went to Tuachan for the Musical "Cats". If you like Music and Dance, it was the best. The Dancers were unbelievable and Andrew Loyd Weber's music was terrific. It may have been the best production that we have had the opportunity to see.

The story line is a little hard to understand but the production numbers make up for that. The Performers were outside after the Play for picture taking. Mom wanted some pictures and more pictures these are some of them

Mom with Old Deuteronomy. I still have the music going through my head.

If you can come to St George the Musical is worth the Trip.

We drove up to the Kolob Canyon Part of Zions National Park. It is between St George and Cedar City just off of I-15. The Canyon is quite a bit different from the Zions park that most people visit. The drive into Kolob Canyon is about five miles. The elevation is much higher, starting at about 4500 feet, the elevation of Cedar City, then driving up the canyon to around 5000-6000 feet.

The road ends at a point where you can look down to the normal Zion's park. The Canyon is high enough that there is a lot of Ponderosa Pines. Not many people visit this area of Zions so you don't have to fight the crowd.

4th of July Holiday

2010-07-12T19:17:00.006-06:00

The 4th of July was really great. Clay and Allisons family came to visit here on the weekend. We had a great time, went to the park where lots of games were played. Aaron entered the water melon eating contest and Cody participated in the hot dog eating contest.The photo to the right is Cody looking over a large plate of dogs just before the event started. He was able to eat nine and one quarter dogs. The winner consumed ten.

We went to the beach on Sand Wash Lake and enjoyed the water. Clay got a sunburn on his back from bending over trying to see how far He could make his feet sink into the sand.

Roy and Angel came on Tuesday just after Clay and family left. We visited St George Pioneer Park, a very unusual park it is a red rock area just above the city with lots of fun places to climb around on. Nathan was able to make it through a slot canyon, Roy or I could not fit. We were all tired so we came home watched some movies and then Melody, Megan Nathan and Grand parents went to Tuachan to enjoy the Disney Musical production of Tarzan. It was really good.

Marlene went to the Hospital today, Monday the 12th of July to have a a special test on her spine to find out more about the mass that was found there. She is feeling pretty good. They did a spinal tap then injected some die into her spine and then scanned her back. She has already had an x ray and two MRI done. We should have the results this coming week then we can make some plans for the twenty forth of July week.

driving and driving

2010-06-15T07:43:00.002-06:00

We just returned from driving back to Sandy again. We were there last week end for Stuart's graduation, doctor appointments and Marlene's siblings get together. This time Bruce was scheduled to have his new son, Matthew blessed. When we were just on the outskirts of Sandy, our cell phone rang and we were informed that Tara was too sick to have it done. Tara is now feeling better She was taken to the hospital due to hemorrhaging from some minor surgery that was done earlier in the week. We stayed in our old home and attended the Sunday meeting schedule there. I am getting better at driving that three hundred miles. It was good to be back to our home in St George.

Our tomatoes plants are staring to produce, fresh home grown tomatoes are so nice. Sandy was cool and raining, for us really cold. I love the sunshine and heat.

Marlene has been suffering from really bad pain in her back and hip after hiking around Grand Canyon and standing and thinning Peaches at the church farm. The doctor here took some X rays and told us that she was staring so have some problems with arthritis in her lower back. She is taking some anti inflammatory medication and is feeling better. The heat here will help her. She will be doing some Physical Therapy to help with the situation.

We have moved almost everything we wanted from our Sandy home. I put up a book case and the curio case yesterday, so all of our assorted nick knacks now have a place to go. The home now looks like the "Glad home".

Memorial Day, Ect

2010-06-06T06:36:00.006-06:00

We went back to Northern Utah last week for Doctor appointments, Stuarts High School graduation and a Sibling reunion in Cache Valley for Marlene's Family. It was great fun but Saturday was a very busy day with our driving to Logan from Sandy for the get together and then after back to St George. It was great to visit with Marlene's family and talk about family history and ect. We had to get back for Sunday so that I would be there for Setting apart as the new High Priest Group Leader in our new ward.

We were the speakers in Sacrament Meeting the week before. It feels good to feel like we are needed in our new Ward can still contribute. To the Lord's work. We have been going to the Temple here in St George once a week to get some of the family's work done that we have found on the New Family Search Program.

Memorial Day week end was really neat with lots of our family coming to our home in St George to spend the Holiday with us. Roy and Angel and family came on Thursday night then Marty and Melody came on Friday night and Todd and Shelly came to St George on Saturday night. It was very nice to have so many of the family here to spend the holiday with us. Todd and Shelly found another place to stay while they were here as our home was full to the brim with the rest of the family.

Roy, Angel, Megan, and Tyler were sleeping in one of the extra bed rooms with Nathan sleeping in our walk in clothes closet. Melody and Marty slept in the other extra bed room, With the rest of their family in the front room.

We went to "Pioneer Park" a city park that is in the Red Rock country just above St George on Friday with Roy and Angel's family before the rest of arrived. This is a really special place with lots of places to hike around on like small Slot Canyons, Rocks and even a small arch to see. We then went to Snow Canyon with its Sand Dunes Lava tubes and Cinder Cones.

Saturday when every one was here we visited Zion National Park. There is a short trail just the other side of the Tunnel that goes to look out point from where you can see the park from way upstairs.

There is a free Shuttle that will transport the visitors to the rest of the Park. It is nice because the driver dose a narration about the history and things to see as he drives. It was nice to have the kids take the short hike to Weeping Rock.

All of the family was here on Sunday to attend Sacrament Meeting with us and be there when we spoke.

We had one day of rest "Tuesday" before we started our trip to Northern Utah. We are really tired !!!!

2010-05-23T14:20:00.002-06:00

We drove over to the Grand Canyon Friday. It took three hours from our home in St George to arrive at the North rim. We found that May 21st may be just a little early. The elevation of the north rim is around 8000. there are some sections of the road through the forest that are more than 9000 feet. So even though is has been 80 to 90 degrees in St George it was really cool in the Park.

We hiked out to "Bright Angel Point" and drove to Imperial Point where we had a nice lunch. We took quite a few pictures. It was really breath taking on the hike. Two ways, very pretty and hard to breath because of the elevation.

We then drove back to St George after spending several hours at the Canyon. We had never been to "Pipe Springs National Monument" which in on the way as way to Grand Canyon. We discovered that the area was a large Church ranch in the 1850s where there were thousands of cattle and sheep were kept. They would provide Meat, Milk, Butter and Cheese for the workers on the St George Temple as it was being constructed.

Pipe Springs in now on the Southern Piute Indian Reservation and so there it several displays talking about the relationships between the Indians and the settlers. The are really favorable to the Church and talk about how the Mormons assisted the Indians. I was surprised that there would be such a great missionary tool in a National Monument. It was really neat.

Zions Park

2010-05-06T05:53:00.004-06:00

We have been in our new home for almost a month now and things are going well. Mom has been asked to serve at the ward organist.

She is relating well with all of the young people in the ward. We may be the oldest members in the Riverbend Ward

The weather has started to get warm so we have started to spend some more time visiting the area. We went to Zions Park f0r a picnic and took a hike to Emerald Ponds. The first of three ponds is only a easy hike of .6 miles. There is a water fall that goes over the trail from the middle pond to the lower pond. It is great to have such a great place so close.

We are going up to Sandy this week end for Bruce's Graduation and some other business that we need to take care of so we will be bringing a other load of stuff from Sandy. We are going to fill up the car each time we make a trip to St George.

We found a kind on neat place just down the road from our house called Johnson's farm.

Several years ago the owners of the farm found some unusual tracks in the ground. They are Dinosaur tracks. They have also found many fossils in the area so now there is a area where they are recovering the fossils that is open to the public to visit for a fee. There is a open market every Saturday at Tuachan with entertainment and Crafts, food and Produce for sale. We will be going there next week to see what is going on.

Emerald ponds, you can see how the water falls from the middle pond over the trail as you go the the middle pond. The upper pond is another .3 miles and is at the bottom of a water fall the comes off of the high wall. the water falls around 1000 feet.

our new home in St George

2010-04-19T11:29:00.006-06:00

This is our new home in St George

pictures left to right

master bedroom,

master bathroom,

view from great room to laundry room

Master bed room with mom cleaning the blinds

Great room, Great room from back door, Master bath

great room showing dining room table without leaf and two other chairs

Walk in closet,

two views of outside of home

TV room,

Garage,

upstairs bathroom

dinning room set in great room, TV room

St George

2010-04-17T05:56:00.013-06:00

We are here in St George. We arrived Monday for the closing and after signing all of the papers, we were told that We would have to wait for our cashiers check to clear the bank before we could move in. We checked in to a Motel and started to get all of the things done that we needed to do.

First of all We needed to apply to the county for assignment of the home here as a principle residence, a large property tax break. We had to get our drivers licence address changed to our St George address.

When we tried to get Dads licence changed we found out that his licence has been revoked. He is required to have a doctor sign a form showing that He has not had a seizure, which we did not get while we were on our Mission. We also did not get the notification of revocation, so when we return to Sandy for Bruces Graduation we will have to have our family doctor fill out the proper form.

We then signed up for all of the utilities. We got a key for our mail box and key and for the Club house. We met our new Bishop. He lives just across the street. He looks like he is 25 or 26 years of age. He and his wife have two small children. It looks like We will be the old folks in the area as our "Senior Community" is mostly made up of young families.

We went and bought new appliances and furniture for the home. The new glass top range, Dish washer and over the range Micro range oven were part of the house, but we needed to get new a new washer, dryer and refrigerator. We then bought new furniture as as shown below. The appliances are black, they looks real good. We also bought a new 40 inch LCD TV and two bar stools. We now have seating for eight if you include the table for six and the two bar stools.

We are now in the process of installing the blinds and drapes. The blinds came with the house but had been taken down when the painted the house.

The house looks real good, even better than we expected.

Moving to St George

2010-03-22T06:55:00.004-06:00

We have made one of the really big steps of our lives. We are moving away from our home in Sandy, Utah to a new home in St George, Utah. We have lived in our present home for forty three years and have most of our family in the Salt Lake area. We just can not stand the cold of winter. I have had Pneumonia for two of the last three years and as we get older the cold "hurts".

St George is a "Retirement community" because of the warmer weather. We were able to obtain a really nice home almost new home for a extremely low price because of the poor market for homes. The home was built in 2005 and has new paint throughout, new carpets, and new appliances.

We are had our Big Birthday Party list night for family members who birthdays come in the spring. Our family is now big enough that it makes sense to have these kind of events. The noise level was at it highest but it was warm enough that we could have some of younger grand kids play out side. Bruce and Tara came with our newest grand child Matthew. It is so wonderful to have our family continue to grow. Shelly, Todd's wife is going to have a little girl in about three and one half months. The Glads continue to grow.

Cody, one of our grand kids competed in a invitational track meet this last week. He is really good in the distance events. He won the 3000 meter and 1500 meter events, there were ten High Schools competing

Life is good, We continue to get older but also better.

Moving to

2010-03-22T06:55:00.001-06:00

new home in St George

2010-03-14T19:47:00.004-06:00

We bought a new home in St George, Utah and we will be moving there in April. The cold weather had really become a issue now that we are getting older. Some times it just seems like I never get warm, so it will be good to live some where it is much warmer. Bruce and Tara will be renting our home in Sandy with a option to buy it when he finishes his degree and gets a good job. It is sad to be moving away from our home where we have lived for the last 40+ years. We have many good friends here that we will miss but I am sure that we will make new friends.

It has been cold the last few days with lots and lots of snow, Yuck. I have so much to do here before we move and it is hard to do anything when it is yucky and cold.

We are doing lots of work for our family in the temple. We have been going once a week and we are still behind.

We had a opportunity to watch Mathew Saturday while Bruce and Tara went out on a date. He is such a special child and is now very alert and laughs and reaches for things he sees, being in a forever family is such a great privilege.

grand kids, kids, ect

2010-03-03T06:37:00.002-07:00

We are taking care of Melody and Marty's children as they are on vacation. We didn't realize that life was so busy when we were parents back in the 60s. Getting every one off to school, bed on time, Court of Honor, Cub Scouts, sick kids. ect. Life as Grandparents is much easier.

We have been having good success finding our family on the "New Family Search Program". We are going to the Temple every Tuesday to help them out. We are waiting for a call to work in the Draper Temple as the paper work has been submitted. Marlene is enjoying with the nursery in primary. I am teaching in the High Priests.

Matthew, Bruce and Tara's new son is now off of the mounter and is doing very well. He is so cute and does have a touch of red in his hair. Bruce is very busy going to school and working to make ends meet. I think he will be a good dad. He has to spend a lot of this summer in his "pracatourmin ?" where he will be working at some agency to practice Social Work to complete his degree. He will walk in the Spring for the diploma but it will not be official until He does the summer experience.

We are hoping that some warm weather will come soon so I can work in the yard as I have really bad Cabin Fever.

all is well

2010-02-05T07:11:00.002-07:00

Matthew, our new grandson, is home from the hospital. It would seem that his breathing problems were related to the urine infection that they found and treated. The doctors ran all kinds of tests on him and found that all is well. Tara's Mon is staying with them until they get acclimated to the new member of the family. Bruce has done well in keeping up with his classes and work. It feel that he will be a great dad. It has always amazed me how having your first child changes your life for the better, suddenly you are the position of having the responsibility of caring and teaching your own child.

We are going to take a short vacation next week to Mesquite, Nevada. They have a new program called "Branson fest". There are three nights, each with a different show that is normally preformed in Branson, Missouri. We will be there for three nights enjoying the entertainment and warm weather.

Welcome to the family, Matthew

2010-01-31T06:52:00.004-07:00

We have a new Grandson, Matthew Clark Glad. He is the first son of Bruce and Tara, weighed eight pounds and was 21 inches long. We now have a full dozen Grand kids, ten boys and two girls. We are so excited when June comes and we can make it a Bakers dozen. Todd and Shelly will have their first child.

Our post mission life is still good. We have rejoined the fitness center and are working out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. Marlene doing water aerobics and I am power walking and lifting weights. We have found that keeping in shape is very important for Seniors to feel good and keep healthy. I am now serving as the Weblos Scout leader and instructor in the High Priests Group. We have applied to serve in the new Draper Temple.

We went to the annual Travel Show at the exhibition center to wish about our next big trip. We are thinking about going on a Cruse off of and in the north east part of the country in the fall when the leavs are changing color. Most of the trips start in New York go to Boston and New England, then up in to Canada. There is also a Bus tour of Costa Rica that would be nice. We really enjoyed it when we went there a couple of years ago. Our life is so good.

vacation, vacation

2010-01-22T17:54:00.003-07:00

We spent the last week and one half on a vacation away from the cold and snow. We did our favorite thing "cruising" along the Mexican Riviera. Good food and warmth was wonderful. Marlene loves jewelry so we spent most of our time in the ports we visited buying pretty things for her. The best thing about this type of vacation is the pampering and entertainment and of course the food. Marlene likes to do some dancing before dinner. The musical productions were great, good clean fun.

It was good to spend time with our family in California as the cruse ship left from and returned to LA. The grand kids have grown up so much. Going to church with our family in LA was great. It is just too bad that it all had to end.

Busy, Busy

2009-12-29T07:45:00.004-07:00

Roy Angel and their family are here this week to visit us from California so it has been a busy time getting all of our family together to visit. It is amazing how much nose our eleven grandchildren can make when they are all together in the same house, by this time next year the tally will be thirteen but I don,t think the volume could possibly change.

Our Children went to see the movie "Avatar" last night and we had the opportunity to watch Nathan, Megan and Tyler. We had a good time. It is great to see how they have grown up.

We are taking the grandkids to see the movie "Chance of clouds with some Meatballs" today and then all of us will be going uptown to see the lights on Temple Square. It will be great to see all of our former Missionary friends there. We have not been back to the Square since we finished our mission in November. Ron, Angel and family will be leaving on Wednesday. We will miss them.

warm Las vegas

2009-12-20T14:24:00.003-07:00

We went to Las Vegas to get warm, what a great time to go there now, with the recession reducing the demand. We were able to get a suite at the Rio for only $ 40.00 a night. We had a bang up time staying up to at least 8:30 PM every night. It was pretty warm with the temperature in the 60 every day. Sandy was in the 5-10 degree range when we left.

The car was great. The gas mileage was some what reduced by going 80 mph most of the time so I was only able to get 45 miles per gallon for the trip.

The high light of the trip was going to see the Phantom of the Opera. It may have been the first time that I have sat next to Mon for two hours and have her not talk.
We went to all of our usual places. The Belligo living waters was playing the " Hallelujah Chorus" The atrium was decorated with a Christmas Theme as the photos show, all of the displays are made of flowers.

We got home Saturday, so we were here in Sandy for the Christmas Program. It was great. We are now getting ready for this special time of the year with all of the Family Traditions.

getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-06T15:51:00.002-07:00

December is here and so are we, at home getting ready for Christmas. The lights are now on the outside of the house. The tree up and looking good. We got a new white tree with the lights already on it, much less work. Our Christmas shopping is almost completed and we are now wrapping all of the presents.

We reported our mission this morning to the Stake High Council. It was really neat to sit in Sacrament Meeting with our family again. Mom went to Choir practice for the first time for almost two years. They are getting ready for the Christmas program. The Ward Christmas Party is this Saturday and today we participated in another Christmas time tradition,"Tithing Settlement".

The new Oquirh Hills Temple is really nice. We did a session Thursday with some of our friends from the Mission. In the last two weeks we have been in the Salt Lake Temple, the Draper Temple two times and the Oquirh Hills Temple. Friday Night we went to Provo to attend "Christmas around the world" a dance program put on by BYU with Lavere and Diane. Mom loved it.

Next week life will slow down maybe.

2009-11-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

Our Mission is over, we gave our talks on Sunday, Mom did a great job ( I can call her just Mom again). We ended the talk by singing the Mission Song, an addition to "Called to Serve." We then had some of our friends come over to the house to visit and have treats.

We took some photos of Mom in the Tabernacle doing the pin drop and at the organ. We took a lot of photos on our last day on Temple Square. Mom wanted to have some showing her doing the drop and playing the Organ.

We are going to take a vacation in to Las Vegas in December to get away from the cold. We will be there the week of the 14th and will be staying at the "Rio" which is just off the strip. It is a four star all suite hotel.

The prices for accommodations at Vegas have really dropped. We are paying the same price as if we were staying at the "Virgin River" in Mesquite. I guess the recession has hit the hotels there pretty bad.

We are still adjusting to life as a slower pace. We did a lot of on line shopping today. So much easier to do it that way. Got all of the lights up and are almost ready for the big Elf to come .

Last days

2009-11-22T16:08:00.003-07:00

Today was our last Sunday as Missionaries on Temple Square. We were introduced to the crowd, as departing Missionaries before the Tabernacle Choir broadcast. We had our closing interview with the Mission President. Monday will be our last work day on the Square. Tuesday we will turn in our parking passes and keys. We will then will go for a nice dinner at the Holmes house. The Stake President will than come to our house to extend our final release. President Holmes paid sister Glad a great compliment by telling her that he thought that She was the most effective missionary of all of the Senior Couples.

We will go to the transfer conference early Monday morning and will be singing a song that in the tune and format of "My Favorite Things" The last Chorus will be "When the wind blows and the snow flies and I am feeling Cold. I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so Old !!!" written by Elder Glad.

We will be getting ready for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, turkey day on Thursday and then reporting on our Mission in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. We will be busy then getting ready for Christmas and then a January cruse. So I don't think we will be feeling withdrawals unto the middle of January when We will have to decide what we want to do to keep busy.

We have loved our Mission and have lots of stories to share.

park city week

2009-11-12T16:35:00.003-07:00

We are serving at the Family Tree at Park City this week. The senior couple stay in an apartment above the Center. We are here to help the Sister Missionaries with the task of helping people who are in Park City, for vacation, get genealogy information. The Church started the visitors center here during the 2002 Olympics.

Sunday we will be back on Temple Square for our last week. The Bishop from our home ward has scheduled Sunday the 29th of November to tell about our mission. Sacrament Meeting will be at 10:50 PM at approx. 8800 south 1700 east in Sandy Utah. We will be home just before Thanksgiving and will be having dinner on Friday to give us time to prepare for it.

I have am still working on the house. Last week I installed a new Sink in the Bathroom and re caulked around the drainboard and the tub and shower enclosure. The house is looking better and better.

We went to dinner at the Spring Chicken Inn at Wanship, Utah. It was a kind of nostalgia trip, when I was little my family use to go there for special times. The freeway has by passed the town now but the restaurant is still there. The food is just as good as I remember it, french fries made from real potatoes and great chicken.

We had a Big Birthday party last week end the house was in bedlam but is was nice to have every one at the house. Tera is now looking quite pregnant. Bruce just finished his application for graduate school. Ben is in the choir for the Hillcrest High School play. Life is still busy

last of october

2009-10-31T14:30:00.003-06:00

Today is Halloween. The Mission had a service project at the "This is the Place Heritage Park" for Zone Conference. We worked on building a path with stones from the quarry at Little Cottonwood Canyon, a lot of hard work. We will be passing out candy bars for the trick and treaters that come to our house and watching the U of U football game.

We are having a big Birthday Party on Monday for all of the family that has birthdays at this time of year. Mom has also decided to have a Halloween theme, all of the Kids may be wearing costumes. We will be having pizza and salad.

We had our first snow Tuesday and it has cooled down. Luckily We are serving in side for all of our assignments this transfer.

Mom's new car

2009-10-28T17:35:00.003-06:00

We bought a new car, a 2010 Toyota Pries, a real cool car. The 2010 is a major step up from the older models. It is larger, has more horse power, and gets better gas mileage. We have been driving it back and forth to Temple Square this week and have been getting 50+ miles to the gallon of gas. The Car has many bells and whistles that we are not use to: Key less entry and start, Blue Tooth connector for the cell phone, automatic climate control system, the radio and climate control systems controlled from the steering column. and a high teck heads up display. The display can display the average mpg for a trip, how the hybrid system is functioning, the amount of fuel in the tank and how many miles can be traveled before that fuel is all used and much more. The car has a function that will allow driving only on the electric motor if needed for up to 12 miles. We are excited to drive it to California this January to how it preforms on a longer drive.

We had our first real snow yesterday it was real neat to see how many of the Sister Missionaries from tropical locations reacted to their first snow. We will be going to Park City for the week of November the eighth. We hope that there will not be a lot of snow.

Life is good but our time is running our for our mission.

big changes on Temple Squar

2009-10-17T11:54:00.004-06:00

Tuesday, the Missionary Department had a meeting with all of the senior missionaries. They are going to reduce the number of the seniors from thirty four to fourteen including the Mission Presidency. We now have only four to five couples that will working on each shift, and we have to cover the West Gate, Tabernacle, North and South Visitor Centers, Beehive House, Assembly Hall, Legacy Theater, Welfare Square, Humanitarian Center and Park City. Yesterday was the worst example, there are twenty four new Sisters that arrived Wednesday so they were in a training session with their companions, very little or no sisters on the square. Elder and Sister Palmer did not come so we had only three couples to cover all of the locations, as a result most of the sites were empty?!!. The guests were wandering around entering the buildings with no one there. It was a real mess. This is the Lord's work and somehow it will will work out.

We are going to give our farewell address Sunday and will be going home on the twenty fifth of November. It is a very emotional time for us but we have not have much time to brood over it with all that now needs to be done. Sister Glad has a great reputation with all of the Missionaries for her ability to get people to refer. She has been one of the most successful missionaries here. She has not a great knowledge of the Scripture or a wonderful speaker but She is humble and has the lords spirit with her. She is not afraid of asking guests if they want to learn more about the Gospel. We are preparing our talks but it is impossible to say all that we feel about the last many months in the six minutes we have to talk.

last days

2009-10-13T06:27:00.002-06:00

Our last Transfer starts Wednesday. We have been asked to speak in the mission Sacrament Meeting this Sunday. The speakers are always departing missionaries so it is like our farewell talks. We will also be teaching the Relief Society and Priesthood meetings Sunday also a once a time event. We are doing our best to keep our mission foremost in our mind and are really sad to see it coming to a close in six weeks.

Cody ran in the region cross country meet Monday. We were able to go the meet. He won the event by blowing out the closest completer. He was fifteen seconds faster than second place, a lead of more than one hundred yards. Clay over hear the coach of Brighton telling his team that they could beat that kid from Kearns that he was only a junior and it could be done if they only tried hard enough. So it is on to State for Cody. He is really dedicated and gets up every morning at 4:30 to run 5-6 miles.

Tara is looking really pregnant and doing good. She is over the nausea and is eating good. Bruce is doing good in School. He had almost a 4.o GPA last Semester got a, A- in one class. He will be done this summer.

The weather is cold but our spirits are high. Life is good for our old folks.

Conference Week End

2009-10-05T18:46:00.003-06:00

Busy, busy, busy it must be General Conference week end. The anti Mormons were out in force. They had made camp across the street from the Conference Center. It was rainy and cold so they looked like wet kittens. A large group of young people were standing next to them singing Hymns drowning them out, neat.

The Mission was very busy getting potentials from members, (identify family or friends who can receive the missionary lessons) . The Sisters got more than 2,400 names for missionaries to visit. They were on the Square from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The Mission had a special meeting Sunday evening in the Tabernacle to wrap up the efforts that were made for conference. The Sisters were allowed to sleep until 9:00 AM on Monday morning and had a special pizza dinner Monday evening.

Saturday was our "P' day so we were able to stay home and watch the conference with our family. The Men then went to Priesthood, Todd, Bruce, Ben, and Stuart. Clay and family was out of town for a short vacation at Zion Park. Marty and Andy went downtown to see the meeting there. Then Ice cream

Great weekend

did you invite?

2009-09-28T19:11:00.003-06:00

We were on the Square Sunday afternoon when we noticed a elderly lady who was sitting by her self. We sat down with her and started a conversation. She was from Sacramento and was here to visit her sister who is on a Church History Mission. We had a nice conversation about how wonderful the mission has been for her sister and how her sister working on getting the temple work done for the family. She loves having the missionaries come to her house and visit the Camel Ranch that she takes care of. Then she said that she was not a member of the Church. We asked why she had not taken the missionary lessons? "Why no one has asked me." We had her fill out a card for the missionaries to come and give her the lessons. She was very happy and gave us both a big hug. She wrote on the Referral Card that elder and sister Glad invited me.

It is strange that some times it is hardest to ask our closest friends to learn about the church. We feel that the invitation may some how damage our relationship. When in reality we show love by sharing those things that mean the most to us.

The weather is to turn cold rainy with some snow this week, temperatures dropping some 35 degrees on Wednesday. Some of the Sisters have never been in a cold climate or have experienced snow. Should be very interesting.

Mom and Melody went to Woman's Conference Saturday night at temple square, all of the Missionary Sisters also attended so we senior elders had to take care of everything for the night. It was fun. The Square survived.

another week

2009-09-20T13:00:00.001-06:00

Sunday Schedule. Got up at 5:45 AM, needed to get to Church a little early as the Senior Missionaries were singing the closing song in Sacrament Meeting. It normally starts at 7:30 AM and we need to drive downtown to get there so our normal time to arise is 6:00 AM. Music and the Spoken Word at 10:30 AM Priesthood and Relief Society 11-12 AM. Home for lunch then back to the Square at 5:00 - 9:00 PM. Who said that Sunday is a day of rest? It is really a extra day in the week to do the Lord's work.

There was a special program put on by the Choir Friday night for the Commemoration of the signing of the Celebration of Independence. We were working in the North Visitors Center. It was really hard for Sister Glad to stay where she should be and not go over to peek in the window. She was very happy when we were eating our lunch in the lunch room under the Tabernacle and all of the stage hands and Choir Members were running around preparing for the program.

We ran in to Elder Packer Thursday as we were walking the tunnels to go to the South Visitors Center and He was going in the tunnel to go to the Temple for the Thursday meeting of all of the Apostles. We now park under the Conference Center and can get to every where we need to go on the Square through the tunnel system without having to ever go outside. This should be good when it gets cold if it dose before we go home for good.

0dds and Ends

2009-09-12T17:26:00.002-06:00

Tuesday was Moms 48 year of marriage to me. We celebrated by going to the Salt Lake Temple. We visited the Sealing Room where we were married. Then We went to the Garden Restaurant on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for Lunch. We spent the rest of the day serving on Temple Square.

Mom wanted some new window coverings for the bed room so I have spent most of my spare time getting them installed. We are now the North Visitors Coordinators so I spent an hour or more each day making sure that all of the literature is stocked. We are also in charge of the Socials and Firesides for the Senior Couples. We are having a Sunday Sociable tomorrow. They have been fun, We all get together play board games and socialize.

Mom is going to perform a musical number for Sacrament Meeting tomorrow. She is going to do a medially of songs about the Prophets: "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief", "Praise to the Man", "We thank they oh God for a Prophet", and The Primary song "Follow the Prophet". It is great She is so talented.

We went to a cross county track meet to see Cody win another medal. He has been first place in several region High School meets. He is very dedicated, gets up at 4:30 am most days to run 5- 6 miles. He is only a Junior in School and is Captain of the team. He also got asked for his first dance at School.

We worked today in canning some salsa from the last of our tomatoes from our garden. It tastes good but may be a little hot for Mom.

We only have about two months left on our Mission. Life goes by too fast.

Home, sweet? home

2009-09-06T15:31:00.002-06:00

Our lease on the apartment downtown was for fourteen months and is now ended, So we have moved back to our home in Sandy. The drive to Temple Square takes about 20-25 minutes and it use to take us 10-15 minutes to walk from our old digs, so it is not too bad. We have been working to make the place more conferable while we finish our mission, moving furniture around and such to take full advantage of our home. Saturday after spending most of the day getting the electronic stuff, Computers, Internet, Cable Tv, Surround Sound ect set up I was really bushed. I set up the laptop in the TV room so mom could have access to a computer while I was doing my stuff on the Internet. It is now all done, Yea,

I worked the other day taking care of all of the trees. I had to remove a lot of branches on most of them. One large branch on the remaining Peach Tree had broken off, and the Cherry Tree had a large branch that was getting totally our of control and there were several dead branches on the Italian Prune tree. So I was really tired before working on the electronic stuff.

We got ready to go the serve on the Square Friday at 2:00 pm when the car would not start. Melody gave us a jump and we were able to drive to downtown but the battery did not charge.

Marty works downtown so I gave him a call and he was able to give me another jump. I drove to an auto parts store where they put another battery in. It is all right now. It is amazing how we begin to take things fro granted then bang we are stuck. All is well now.

Sad and Insane people

2009-08-22T09:37:00.004-06:00

Very unusual week, President Monson has canceled all Sunday Meetings in the valley this Sunday so that members can go to there Stake Centers to Participate in the new Temple dedication. We will be attending at 9:oo PM.

We have a really strange man who has been standing on North Temple street by the Temple for the last couple of weeks. He is dressed in Temple Clothes with white makeup on his face and white gloves on his hands. He has a statue of the Christ on a small step ladder and a large white cross around his neck. When asked what he is doing he said that he is the "Holy Ghost". The lady who has been using that location for begging for the last couple of years has relocated across the street as no one pays any attention to her when she is by the Nut.

A young woman came in to the North Visitors center last week and talked to Sister Glad about her situation. She has been doing very bad things the last few years, as she said. She is not welcome at her parents home and has been living where ever she can. She is now devastated because She found out that She has terminal Colon Cancer. The Doctor told Her that She has only a couple of months to live. She only knows the name of her Bishop and it not confertable talking to him. Sister Glad and her shed quite a few tears and then sent to her to Welfare Square where they can arrange for her to interface with LDS Social Services.

A Man came in to the Square with who also has months to live because of Cancer. He is a nonmember whose member wife, who has passed away, has been working on him to become a member, now that he is facing death he is ready to accept the gospel. He wants to be sealed to his family but knows that that will not be possible in this life as death is so close. He will be baptised this Sunday. Several of the Sister Missionaries will be speaking and Elder Sontag will be baptising him. His Temple work will be done a soon a possible.

Death faces all of at some time. We need to be prepared to meet God now!

Great week

2009-08-16T18:05:00.004-06:00

We just got back from working at the Assembly Hall. We are there Sunday from 1:00-5:00 PM.

We had a very productive day with three groups of people who wanted to know more about the church, a couple from Italy, a Hispanic Couple from LA and a man who had been inactive in the Church for more than 10 years and wants his non-member wife and child taught.

We were at Welfare Square Friday and had a woman who had been receiving assistance come in and wanted to have the missionaries come and teach her so she could join the Church. We also had a person refer his friend that lived in Russia.

Saturday we moved some more of our stuff back to Sandy. We have to be there before the end of this month. So we are moving some things each "P" Day. We also went to visit the Cemetery where Brigham Young and family are buried, a very special place.

Bruce and Tara are now in their new apartment. She is doing much better in eating and looks really good. They are to get the ultrasound next week. live is good.

Christmas

2009-08-10T07:39:00.002-06:00

It is Christmas on Temple Square again, or maybe getting ready for Christmas. They are putting lights on the trees now. It seems strange to start so early but if you think about it, would you feel better about climbing very large trees to put lights on them in August or In December with all of the ice and Snow.

We are getting ready to move back to our home in Sandy as our lease for our downtown apartment is up the end of August. We don't have much to move, just clothing and minor stuff but we are staring to take some thing home each "P" day. We will have only three months left of mission living at home in Sandy.

Bruce and Tara have moved to a New apartment just above 20th east. She is still having problems with morning sickness. She spent a couple of days in the hospital as she could not keep any food down. She seem to be able to keep food down now but is still quite sick.

We had a zone conference last week. President Holmes is really creative about the location for us to have our meeting. We had the Meeting in the Church Office Building in the room where the General Authorities meet. We have a Zone Conference each transfer, every six weeks. They are good. We have a combined meeting with the Sister Missionaries.

life is good. It feels like fall as the temperature has dropped in to the 70s

first week of August.

2009-08-06T21:00:00.003-06:00

Some other things on our experiences last week. I was given the opportunity to teach Relief Society to the Sister Missionaries last week. It was a neat time teaching them. I feel the reason it felt successful was the Sisters have such sweet spirits and testimonies. The subject was Receiving the Ordinances and Blessings of the Temple. I was able to tell some of my experiences of serving the temples, Jordan River and Nauvoo. I was on a 6 months temple mission in 2005.

I feel bad that my youngest son's wife become so ill from her first pregnancy that she has to hospitalized for a few days. I hate to see her not enjoy this event in her life. I pray for her. They are moving to Sandy and he is going to school while looking for a new job. I know they will come out all right. Pray for them.

We had some neat times talking to people on the square last week. One tour we had was late at night .. The temperature was so cool, the night was so pretty on the square and we were answering questions to some people that were leaving the next morning. That is just one of the blessings of being here on this mission.

Sister Marlene Glad

hot summer day

2009-08-06T06:33:00.002-06:00

We have been involved in trying a new program in the mission this week. In the past the senior couples were to make sure that the venues were working properly and direct any interested guests to take a tour with the Sister Missionaries. We are trying a pilot program where we are to take short tours when the guests are unable to go with the Sisters or the Sisters are unavailable to take the guests on tours.

So we have had some great times being more free to discuss the gospel. Monday we came across a family that said they did not have time to go on a tour, so we told them that we would walk them around and answer some of their questions. The sort, non tour lasted longer and longer as they had many questions. They were excited to have the missionaries bring they a Book of Mormon and teach them. We found upon further discussion that he had been raised in Snowville, Utah, a small "Mormon town on the Utah Idaho border.

We had a woman met us on the Square asking if we could give her a Book of Mormon. She had been to the Distribution Center where they told her that it would be better to obtain one on the square from a Missionary so we her fill out a card to have the Missionaries bring one to her home and teach her.

We were able to obtain nine self referral's last week. It was great.

this and that

2009-07-27T08:54:00.004-06:00

The last week has passed, with some very good things going on in the Temple Square Mission. We were working in the Legacy Theater Tuesday, when I saw Sister Glad talking on the phone with tears in Her eyes. We call people who come to the Square and do not leave a referral but fill out a comment card. We call to thank them for coming to the square, a thank you call, normally very little comes from these calls. She got to talk to two families who wanted to have the missionaries come to visit them.

One man asked if he could get a better Book of Mormon as he found a very small print one as he was helping a friend move. It must have been from the set that are given to LDS men before they go in to the military service. He had been reading it and would like to know more about the Church.

Second was from a man who had his brother come come Temple Square and obtain a DVD about the Church. The two of them had been watching it and he would like to more about the Church.

A couple of days before that, She had been calling a family who had a daughter, 16 years old, who had come to the Square with some friends. The young ladies mother answered the phone. Mom had a good conversation with her that ended with the mother giving permission for missionaries to come and give her daughter the lessons.

Sister Glad has a great ability to talk to any one on the phone with great success. I think it is due to all of the practice she has has had on talking on the phone for most of her life.

summer heat

2009-07-18T16:39:00.006-06:00

Summer has hit here with a vengeance, it was 101 F today. The only hope is that there is a lot of shady spots on the square and/or all of the buildings are air conditioned. Everything is a mess due to construction work to replace most of the pavement. The work is to be completed before October Conference.

The enemies of the Church are still trying every thing they can to stir up unknowing and unthinking people to react against the Church. Security asked two inebriated gay men who where sitting on a bench on the plaza late at night passionately kissing and groping each other to leave. The result was a confrontation when the men reacted angrily refusing to leave and using abusive language. The Police were called and they were arrested for trespass. The false story was given out to the press that they were harassed by church security because of a simple kiss on the cheek and that the security men roughed them up. The arrest record indicated that they were drunk and they was no evidence of any physical abuse. We have had a demonstration last Sunday, called a kiss in. where people wearing pink hearts came here to protest the Church's right to control inappropriate behavior here. They attempted to come on the Plaza and were informed by the City authorities that they would be arrested for trespass if they came onto Church property. Some removed their pink hearts and came on to the plaza, the others left.

The same people have been trying to stir up more controversy. I was a Tabernacle last Thursday when a man wearing a pink heart walked by waving inappropriate magazines for all to see. Security asked him to leave Temple Square. Two more Protesters were escorted off the Square earlier the same day. There is another demonstration planned for this Sunday. The sad part is that some families and other unthinking liberal types are involved in this mess. They think that the right of the Church to control improper behavior on its own private property is some how in violation of civil rights. This is an other attempt by the Rocky Anderson and group to cause trouble for the Church.

I found out the other day that four of our Sister Missionaries are first cousins, kind of neat to have such a large group from one family to be here. We had two sisters that were here serving here last winter, they ended up as companions.

We are starting to reap some good stuff from our garden at home. I had to remove some of the green tomatoes because they were becoming too thick and heavy for the plants. We picked some cucumbers and zucchini today.

We have been assigned to be the North Visitors Center Coordinators. We are in charge of the building making sure that everything is proper from insuring that all of of the pamphlets are in place to insuring that the proper procedures are used in the tours and displays in that building, most of the work there has to be done after our assignment time so we are becoming even more busy.

pioneers and fun

2009-06-29T21:29:00.003-06:00

We had Roy and Angel and Grand kids came to visit us last week. We went to "This is the Place Historical Park". The State Park is at the mouth of Emigration Canyon behind the Monument.

Many of the old homes that the Pioneers lived in have been relocated to the park. Other sites have been recreated as the were in the pioneer period. People in period clothing are at many of the locations.

Nathan, Megan and Tyler were able to make many craft items and they participated in a kids rodeo. Tyler was in a "Stick Horse Race". He was ahead at he half way point but did not turn around to the finish line. He won if every one was to go the way he went. Megan was in the Lamb chase and Nathan was in the sheep chase. They all did well but not get the ribbon.

Megan loved the rag doll that She made at the home of Mary F. Smith. They all made leather key chains and branded a block of wood. We all helped to make a rope and the children loved riding the horses.

The whole Glad clan met at our home for a Barbecue of hot dogs and Hamburgers and shared birthday gifts. The best gift was from Bruce and Tara who told all that they are expecting a baby. The new grandchild will make twelve are they cheaper by the dozen?

Where is time gone?

2009-06-15T19:48:00.002-06:00

I cannot believe it has been a year since our first experience at the MTC to start our mission.!

This is such a wonderful experience! How fantastic the Lord called us here.

We meet people from all over the world. We tell them about the restored gospel. I get to testify to them somewhere everyday. This builds my testimony.

things I have done on our mission.

1. Meet and mingle with the beautiful Sisters on Temple Square. There are about 200 or them.

We just get to know them and 20 of them go to areas to teach and preach in other States. They have such strong testimonies. They are so spiritual and kind. I had the priviledge to mentor two sisters from Brazil. I will always treasure this experience. I learned to love them very much.

2. We have enjoyed sharing our talents. I have played the piano for alot of the meetings and conducted the music. I had the neat experience of playing for a Christmas program last Dec. There were 8 songs I played the paino with the organ and improvised for the congregational singing.!

Dwayne even conducted the singing in couples meeting last week. I was the organist. We did a pretty good job.! I take the opportunity of talking to and hearing recitals of the Tabernacle Choir organists .They are marvelous. One of them helped me sit at the organ and play a hymn.

When my schedule allows I attend Music and the Spoken Word. It is such a marvelous experience. I have also attended alot of concerts and Choir performances.

3. We work with fantastic giants everyday. The Senior Couples have been Stake Pres. school teachers, professors. They are all humble people. The mission Pres. Holmes is so spiritual and is doing alot of special changes to improve the mission.!

3. Serve in alot of venues. Call Center, Beehive House, Legacy Theater, Welfare Square, Humanitarian Center, West Gate, South Gate, South Visitors Center, North Visitors Center, Assembly Hall, Family Search and in Park City Family Tree. So I have learned alot.!

4. We have read all the scriptures , plus Preach My Gospel. I do the dishes sometimes while he reads to me. I would never have done this without our mission.

5. We attend the temple about 2 times a month. Until I dislocated my elbow. Last Tuesday, we finally got back after my elbow healed well enough. We were chosen to be the wittness couple in the Salt Lake Temple.! what a tender mercy.

6. Moved to a beautiful apartment downtown. We have an unbelievable view of the temple in our patio window. How blest we have been to find this place. It is like a vacation to be here sometimes. We can also see our children here.

7. I have learned so much of this Garden of Eden on our mission. There is still more to learn.! This is just some of the things I wanted to share of our experiences. of the Best Mission on Earth.

Thanks Sister and Elder Glad

Work Work

2009-06-15T06:34:00.002-06:00

While we are away from home, we have been spending time improving our house. We have been busy the last few days with painting the bedroom and the "T. V." room. It feels good to be able to get some thing accomplished as we prepare to resume our lives at the end of our mission. We have less than six months left and the lease for the apartment downtown ends the end of August. We will be living at home for the last three months of our mission.

Our garden at Sandy is doing well, with the tomatoes doing the best. The Zunccni show signs of snails eating the leaves so I put a lot of bait around the plants.

It is still raining every day, we now have had some rain each day for the last eight days and everything is getting very wet. We are suppose to have rain for the next four days. There has been some flooding in the state.

We took a ride on the "Front Runner", the Railroad that runs from Salt Lake to Ogden. The ride took one hour each way. There is a Railroad Museum in Ogden but it is still a long ride.

We are working in the Beehive House again it is very busy this time of year. Last time we had the assignment it was in February and was very slow. Our job is to greet the Guests and tell them about the house to hold them while they wait for the next tour by the Sister Missionaries. The tours have to have more than ten minutes between them. Sister Glad and I were talking continuously for our six hour shift as we had a never ending flow of people. It is fun to talk about the Church but very exhausting.

Park City in June

2009-06-07T15:18:00.006-06:00

We spent last week working in Park City, everything was great. A trip on the Mirror lake Road was really great. We went to the Bald Mountain over look and then turned around as the weather was starting to look touchy and being there in a snow storm would not be really fun. Moose Horn lake was frozen over and we were not in a mood to go Ice fishing. It was so peaceful up there.

The Doctor took off Moms Splint so she can now use her arm. She was told to work her arm each day so she can recover the full range of motion, and to not fall down again. While were up in the Mountains she was walking over to a overlook when She slipped and fell down. It scared me to death, but luckily she was skinned up but did not land on her elbow. So She is all right some abrasions and mostly fright and loss of pride. I asked her what she missed most while her arm was unusable. It was not cooking, dish washing or doting on her husband but playing the piano.

We met some really nice young people while we were at the "Family Tree" in Park City one of the ladies from Central America asked for the Missionaries to visit her and teach more about the Church. I was at the Tabernacle the other day when I was asked if our Church excepted converts and how to join.

I have started to us a photo sharing web site my URL is flickr.com/photos/wdglad I am going to post the best photos that we have taken on our mission there. Enjoy

park city

2009-06-01T15:24:00.002-06:00

We are at Park City for the Week. We are at the Family Tree a Site to have visitors at Park City to come to find about their families and become acquainted with the Church, our shift is from 3:00 pm until 9:00 Pm so we have the mornings free. Sister Glad and I walked down to the tram, chair lift, a walk of about one and half miles. The ride to the top of the mountain takes more than one hour and it was starting to look cloudy so we did not go. We found on our way back to the apartment that there is a free bus that took us right in front of the Family Tree. After we were back to our apartment it started to hail and rain, really bad hail about the size of small marbles. We made a great decision not to go.
Moms arm is doing much better she is going with out the sling for about half the time and seems to have very little loss of movement. She is going to see the doctor this Thursday.
Saturday we spent painting the bedroom in our house. It is a Blue grey color with blue trim it looks pretty good. We are going to Paint the TV room, Angels old bedroom, next Saturday. We are going to be moving from our apartment down town the end of August as the lease will be up. The last three months of our mission will be spent at home.

Ghana and Urdu

2009-05-25T20:07:00.003-06:00

We were at the West Gate Sunday, Mom went to "Music and the Spoken Word", while I greeted people at the Gate. The Choir program was special for Memorial Day, the Air Force Band was here to join the Choir. I was able to hear some of the songs from out side of the building, most of the program was Patriotic in nature. Mom said the program was really good.

I was talking with a black man from Ghana who had been on the square for the last two days. He told me that he was asking for the lessons and was going to be baptized into the Church. He had a friend in Ghana who was a member and had gone to his friends ward several times and that he also had been able to visit the Temple in Ghana. Visiting the Square and hearing the Testimonies of the Sisters had been enough to make him decide to be baptized.

I was at the North Visitors Center today when a lady wanted to know if her friend could take a tour of the Square in "Urdu." I had no idea what language that was so I enquired and found that it is the Language that is spoken in Pakistan. We have a Sister that had just arrived on the square from that country who could do it. I am always in awe of the Sister Missionaries we have here. We also found that we know have a Sister who speaks "Mong", the language of the Tribal peoples of the mountains of "Laos".

I have been Painting the house so it will be as nice as can be. Our lease on the apartment will be up the end of August so we will have to return home or buy another house?

sorry story

2009-05-18T07:17:00.002-06:00

We had a sad experience the other day when we were serving in the North Visitors Center at "God's plan for his family", which is on the upper level just past the Statue of Christ. He was just sitting there very depressed, no one else was around so we sat next to him and asked him if we could help him. He said that he had gone from the high point of his life to the lowest and did not know what to do or where to go.

His story is this. He came home from his mission early because he was convinced that he was Gay. He told his mother, She was devastated. He is still living at home and trying to go to school. He said that he was on top of the world when he was in the MTC. He since has tried to live what he thought he was by dating some "men", and found that he was repulsed by the experience. He is not what he thought he was. He told us that while at High School, that he and three friends though that it would be cool to be Gay, because of all of the stories about diversity and accepting the Gay life style. He had convinced himself that it would be a great way to express his Independence and get attention. He had convinced himself that it was true.

Now he is as low as he can be. He has found that he gave up the greatest thing, and now is lost.

We told him to talk to his Bishop and that he may be able to get counseling from LDS social services, that he can come back to be the person that he is really is.

We can be too excepting of what is not right. We should be able to accept people but not sinful behavior. I hope that our society will not continue go at is in in making "Good, bad and Bad good".

We had a group come on the Square from Assua Pacific College, their Choir, eighty one young men. They were on tour and wanted to come here to see Temple Square and sing in the Tabernacle. They were given permission and stood around the inside of the building and sang some songs. I talked to several of them and they said that it was the highlight of their trip. They had performed an the Cristal Chapel and Cathedrals in the West, but this impromptu singing was the best.

Mom's arm is getting better but it will take some time. Life in the mission field is good.

Mothers Day and Breaking Mission Rules

2009-05-10T17:55:00.003-06:00

Mothers Day

There are "Rules" that are to be kept on our Mission so I am sorry have to say that Mom broke one. We are not allowed to take trips while we are

on our mission. She has a really sore arm.

We were home in Sandy and were preparing the house for everyone to come over for a barbecue. I went to the store to get some water treatment for the ponds. and she was home alone pulling up some weeds when she stepped back and "TOOK a TRIP" over a sprinkler. She fell on some some logs that we had placed next to the old peach tree for decoration and dislocated her elbow.

She was unable to get up because she could not push with her lift arm. So she was laying on the ground. Kathy was in to her yard next door and was able to come and help Mom up. Marty called her on her cell phone and she answered by yelling "Help". Marty took her to the emergency room at the Alta View Hospital.

The doctors were able to reset the dislocation but the x-rays show a small bone chip. We are going to take her to see a bone doctor to make sure that everything will be all right. She is doing well with very little pain.

We had a very good Mothers Day in spite of the troubles.

Welfare Square

We have the assignment of being on Welfare Square on Mondays. It is a great place to visit and take a tour. There is the Bishop's Store House, Bakery, Transient Services Office, Employment Center, Cannery, Dry Pack, Desert Industries, and Milk Processing and Cheese Creamery. It takes a hour for a Tour and to see everything.

There was a couple come in from Lehi. They said they were from Mississippi, that they had been at New Orleans when they were reallocated to Utah due to the Hurricane. They were staying here and have joined the Church. We were talking about the problems with the Hurricane when they said the Church was there with a big tent where they were passing our boxes of food that was good for one week. I thought that was cool as part of the tour is showing the place where the emergency food is boxed.

It is so great to be here where we can be proud of all of our church is doing for good in the world

Films and Plays

2009-05-03T16:05:00.004-06:00

Our assignment of working with the Sister Missionaries in the sports program is over. We feel sad, it was a great time to get to know them better. We had the above picture taken.

Ben was in the Jr High School play, "Annie". He had the part of "Sandy" the dog. Ben had a great time, he is a real ham. Most of the Family attended the event. Melody's family, Todd and Shelly, Bruce and Tara, and Elder and Sister Glad. It was really great to spent time with the family.

We were serving at the West Gate today when there a Bus pulled up to the gate. I was preparing to receive them as a bus tour group, when I noted that there were some camera people coming out of the Bus. The Church is producing a film to be used to advertise Temple Square on Buses and Airline flights. They were in the process of filming a Tour Group coming to Temple Square and the Sister Missionaries taking them on a Tour. There were some actor Sister Missionaries with them, the real thing is much better.

Mom was "VERY" interested in what was going on. She was very excited to find the actor who played the part of Brigham Young in the movie "Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration". She had been in Nauvoo and watched that being filmed. He was directing the film.

We went to our home in Sandy, Wednesday to get it ready for spring, planting flowers in the front flower bed and laying our our vegetable garden. I planted some Tomatoes, Zucchini and Cucumbers. We are planing on going home in the summer on our "P" day to get some fresh vegetables, also the home would look too empty if there no flowers in the front.

There must be some sick pigs up in Park City. They have closed all of the Schools and there was no Sacrament Meetings to day because of Swine Flu. There has been nine possible cases and one that has been diagnosed as such. I feel that all of this is overblown, or at least I hope so because we have so many people from all over the world come here to Temple Square.

We now have only seven months left on our mission, time is going too fast.

odds and ends

2009-04-27T17:13:00.002-06:00

Wednesday is the start of a New Transfer, new assignments for the Senior Missionaries, new companions and assignments for the sisters. There are twenty that have finished their missions, twenty two new ones will be here, eighteen going outbound, and eighteen returning from being assigned out. Transfers take place every six weeks and are really exciting, emotional, and tiring with every one getting new companions and moving to different apartments. It is very hard on the Senior Missionaries seeing twenty something of their friends going home to all over the world to never see again. Mom and I sit at the back of the room at the Transfer and Outbound Conferences and cry.

Thursday comes and we get to see the new Sisters come from the MTC, all excited to do the Lords work. We then welcome some of our prior friends come back from out bound, with stories to share about where they have been and the spiritual experiences they have had.

I don't think that there is any other mission is the Church where a person can make so many friends from all over the world and then have them go home. We then start all over again the next day.

Sister Glad and I have some new assignments. We are now in charge of the Senior Firesides and Socials. We are going to have a Fireside and a Sunday Sociable each month. We will have the curator from the Church History and Art Museum come and talk about the Tabernacle on the May 24th. The Sociable is where we all get together to visit and play games. We had the first one last Sunday it went very well.

We now get to sleep in as our old assignments required us to get up at 5:30 am five days a week to open the gym for the sisters sports program.

The Senior Call Center program is being discontinued as the Seniors Missionaries are needed at other areas and the Sisters can make all of the calls. We really enjoyed calling and had some special times so we will miss that calling.

We were looking at our future schedule and found out that our mission will be over on the day before Thanksgiving, all too soon.

some stuff and other stuff

2009-04-20T17:51:00.003-06:00

Spring is (hopefully) Here, the weather is clear and warm, Mom has a sunburn and the tulips are in full bloom. It snowed three days ago and now is in the 80s, this must be Utah.

We are working in the Call center three days a week for this transfer so we have some very interesting conversations. I called one young man about his ordering a Book of Mormon, when I asked him why he wanted it. He said that his other one was worn our. He said that he would be excited to have the missionaries come to his home and teach him about what he had been reading. I talked to another man who had ordered the DVD " The Restoration". He said that he loved the message and that his son took it to School to share it with his friends. We get a lot of people who hang up the phone on us but is is all worth while when we talk to some one who is interested.

We have a new Sister Missionary from Israel first time from that country. We have had a history of not ever being asked for tours in Hebrew. Since we have some who can handle Hebrew we have had four tours in that language. The Lord knows what he is doing.

Stuart won a prize in a school district wide competition involving building a programed robot to push the most paper cups down a hole in a specific period of time. He did the programing.

Melody and Marty very proud.

Easter and "OOPS" darn, it was my spell checker

2009-04-13T19:35:00.002-06:00

We were working at the Tabernacle when a media crew came to do a special for the "Friend Magazine". They are doing a series about young people visiting Temple Square. The picture above is of the young boy who is visiting, talking to the Organist. Mom was really excited to be involved with the whole thing. She was asked to sign a waver about her photo appearing in the magazine. We don't know, but her photo may be in the story.

The Cherry trees are in full bloom the flower beds are full of color, this is my favorite time of year.
Their was a special program on Easter Sunday for "Music and the Spoken Word". The Choir was joined by the Orchestra on Temple Square and the Bells on Temple Square. It was a very special program. I won't admit it to mom but the bells were really neat.

A minor Crises at BYU, a frantic search was under way to locate and destroy all 18,000 copies of the "Daily Universe" that was distributed around the campus. The head line read " Elder Neil Anderson has been selected as the new member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostates". I always knew that the spell checker was a tool of the devil"

April Confrence

2009-04-05T20:11:00.005-06:00

It is conference on Temple Square. You can see if you look carefully the people leaving the last Sunday session on the ramps in the front of the Conference Center.

We are just home from serving on Conference Sunday on Temple Square, naturally it has been a very busy day. Members from all over the world have been here to share in the spirit of the day. We were able to attend the Sunday morning session along with "Music and the Spoken Word". I went to Priesthood Meeting with Marty, Stuart and Ben. Clay and Cody attended but had tickets for a different location. We then all went to our apartment for Ice Cream. Conference is and should be a time for families.

Second Picture showing the same flowers that were covered with snow last week now looking great.

Lots of families come with blankets and sit on the lawn listing to the session. This is just a great time of year.

Snow and Rock Satrs

2009-03-29T20:40:00.009-06:00

Saturday was a really nice day, clear with the temperature in the 70s, this morning we woke up to a strong wind with some rain. The Snow started during Sacrament meeting, as we went to work on the Square it was really cold with a blizzard. The photo it to show the contrast between the spring flowers and the new snow.

Friday we were working at the North Visitors Center when we were told that a VIP group was coming to watch the movie "Legacy". They were the supporting group for David Archeleta. David was in town for a concert Saturday. He came in later to see the rest of the Movie. His family had been visiting with President Monson.

The influence for good that a person like David Archeleta can have is some times not understood. Saturday morning I struck up a conversation of a woman and her preteen daughter who was from Boston. She said that they were in town to be at the concert and she and her daughter wanted to see what "His" home town was like, so they were at temple square. Later that same day a couple of ladies from San Diego said that they here for the same reason.

Mom taught all 160 sister missionaries for Relief Society. She taught about sacrifice, told the story about her father leaving the farm to go on a mission and asked the sisters to share stories about the sacrifices they or their families have made for the church. It was a great experience for her to hear all of the stories from all around the world.

We were working in the call center and had some great conversations and referrals. I talked to a woman about having the elders bring her a Book of Mormon and share the message of the Gospel with her. She said yes please have them come, that she had some good friends who were members of the Church and that she lived just down the street from a LDS Chapel. I called a other person and asked her if she had received the copy of the Book of Mormon that she had ordered. She said yes she had and that her family was just baptised in to the Church. We have been getting something like eight good referrals for each day we work in the Call center. We are now in the center for two hours three days a week as part of our normal rotation. Mom loves it.

General Conference is this coming week end. It will be really busy we will be working on the Square for most of the sessions but will be able to attend one session on Sunday and I will be able to go to Priesthood Meeting on Saturday night. It is so nice to be here and meet all of the Saints from all around the World. It is great to be here doing the Lords' work.

Spring

2009-03-22T21:42:00.002-06:00

Spring is here!!! The Square is very beautiful. The gardeners have been out in force planting flowers all around. The flowers appear as if by magic. It was snowing last week and now this week the temperature is in the low 70s. Sister Glad and I have put away our winter coats with the hope that we will not have to use them until next winter.

The Draper Temple Dedication was this week-end but sadly we were not able to attend because we have to be Missionaries and assist teaching the Gospel on the Square. No! not sadly, one of our greatest joys is to be here assisting in the Lords work.

Due to the warming weather we took some of our "P" day time and visited the Salt Lake Zoo.

It was fun seeing the animals and "strollers", as unknown to us the Zoo was having a special Kids day where small children were allowed in for free. This is Utah and we thrive on small children. There were strollers every where full of kids. We were the only old guys in the Zoo that day as far as we could determine, so it was just as fun seeing all of the moms and their perfect creations getting out when dads and older school children had gone. It was a joyful romp to be away with the strollers in the Zoo. We ran into Julie and her kids as they were out for an outing with one of Christys Little one.

We are preparing for General Conference, one of the busiest times of the year. We are so excited to see all of the leaders of the Church from all over the world. The Sisters are able to see members from their home countries who come here.

Today was the busiest day of the year so far. there is a Conference for people involved in the Chemical industry here this week some 11,000 of them and it looked like most of them came to see the Square Today. It was Great! Life is good, Spring is here!

Park City and the Family Tree

2009-03-17T14:00:00.006-06:00

We went to work for a week at the Family Tree at Park City. The facility is a place for tourists to come and get acquainted with the church and find out about their family.

We worked with a set of Sister Missionaries who are there for their entire six week transfer. We stayed in a really nice apartment on the third floor of the building.

They not only have the family search data base there but also a subscription of ancestory.com. I was able to trace the Webster Line, my Maternal Grand Mothers family, and find that there was three members of the Mayflower party that are part of our family. A feature of the program is to find famous people who are related to you I was able to find that we have ties to Rutherford B Hayes, 6th cousin 4 times removed, Millard Fillmore, 4th cousin 6 times removed, Samuel Adams, 6th cousin 5 times removed, Gerald Ford, 8th cousin 2 times removed. Poet and Writers, Geoffery Chaucer, Hans Christian Anderson, T. S. Elliot, Louisa May Alcott, Agatha Christie, Shelley, Tennyson, and Virginia Woolf. Painters, Thomas Gainsborough, Euene Delacroix, and Norman Rockwell. That is just a start I have five pages of famous people and their relationship to us.

We went to Olympic park. and took some nice pictures. The first one is one the props that were used for the opening ceremony.

Family tree

2009-03-09T18:03:00.002-06:00

We are in Park City for a week at the Family Tree, which is a family search site. It is on old Main street where the visitors can walk by, come in and find out about their Ancestors. We got here on Sunday afternoon when it was quite busy. Today, Monday a large snow storm has come through so we have spent most of the day looking outside at the snow. Very few people have come in. I have been out to shovel the snow many times today. We have a great apartment that the church provides for that is on the third floor of the building. It has two jet bath tubs in two bathrooms, a large front room. There is also a smaller apartment for the Sister Missionaries, one set of Sister Missionaries stays here for six weeks.

We had a very bad experience Sunday Morning. I am in charge of getting everything ready for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday morning. We arrive to prepare the Chapel at 6:30 am, plenty of time to make sure that everything is in place. When we arrived at the Chapel we wondered why all of the cars were there. When we walked into the building Sacrament meeting had already started. Whoops!! we missed the time change for day-light-savings. The counselor in the Mission Presidency had to go home to get some bread so they could start the meeting. I had to go to the Beehive house early to open it Saturday morning so I was not able to attend preparation meeting where the change was announced. I felt so bad, I told all of the brethren in priesthood meeting that if they were hungry after the lesson, to see me because I had some extra bread.

Temple and Talk

2009-03-03T11:30:00.003-07:00

We took the Sister Missionaries to the Draper Temple Open House last week. We were given a VIP tour. The regular tours are a silent walk through with testimonies at the last of the tour in one of the Sealing Rooms. It was cool to go through and have some of the interesting things of this temple explained to us. President Monson said that one of the main reasons that they built this other Temple is due to the demand for marriages in the Salt Lake Temple. The Largest sealing room in any of the Temples is in the the new Draper Temple, it will seat more than 100 patrons.

The Sister Missionaries have gone to the open house by Zones with one Zone going each day of the week. We have six Zones of Sisters in the Mission. Stuart was helping and was showing a video in the Stake Center when our sisters came to view it. They all came back to the square telling us that they had run into our neat grandson.

We are working in the Call Center in the PM this transfer, our main responsibility to call and confirm that items that have been asked for have been received. We then ask them if they have any questions about the Church or would like missionaries to bring them some other items such as a Book of Mormon. We also get some incoming calls where people call to order free items that they see on the TV adds or on Pass-along-cards.

We get some very interesting calls. I had a lady call to ask if she could see her daughter that had died, in the next world. She had asked her Priest and he had told her that we would be spirits and so could not see or be with our family. She said that this was not acceptable to her and wanted some one to tell her what the truth was. She agreed to have the Missionaries come to her home to help her. Mom called a lady to see if she had received her material. She said she had and was just thinking about going to a church and would like to have missionaries come and bring her a Book of Morman. We get about 8 to 10 good referrals a night it is very productive.

Fireside

2009-02-23T14:40:00.003-07:00

We did a fireside about Nauvoo for the mission Sunday night, a really lot of work went into it. I did the part about the story of Nauvoo including excerpts from Clark Family histories. We invited Todd and Clay to come and sing the song "A poor wayfaring man of grief" using the original tune the John Taylor sang. Clay also was a life saver in that he came and took care of the Projector for the Power Point presentation. Mom then took over and talked about the things that you would see and experience if you would go there today. Mom did a really great job.

The weather is getting to be spring like now. There are some flowering trees just outside of the Beehive House. I really enjoyed the sight of the red buds that are starting to form. Their are new Plants in all of the Visitors Centers. It is joy to be around all of the wonderful plants and flowers that are on Temple Square. Spring is such a special time of year here.

Mom is quite frightened because she has been selected to teach the Sisters Relief Society lesson one Sunday next month. Sister Holms, the mission presidents wife, and her are going to teach it together. I know that she will do a great job, but teaching 160 bright and eager Sister Missionaries would scare anyone.

We are enjoying the experience of meeting so many people from all over the world and sharing the things of the Restoration. Mission life is so wonderful.