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

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

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

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

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

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

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.