This Part of the Vineyard!

The week went fast again – busy with work and church stuff. Stacey took off Wednesday morning to go stay with Amanda and help with the Trey and Carter because Cody was off to San Diego on business. It gave her the opportunity to play with the grandbabies again and to see all the kids. She also spent time with Haven doing wedding stuff, announcements, flowers, reception, etc…, and helping Amanda decorate the new house.

I spent Wednesday night with the 8^th Ward YM – no offense to the YM Adult Leaders, but it much more fun to work with the young men then the adults.

Thursday our Ward had initiatory assignments so I helped at the Temple. It wasn’t till Friday night that it got really lonely – I do not like being a bachelor even though I am a pretty good cook. I always buy a good steak and grill it when Stacey goes away – she is not much of a steak person so it is a good opportunity to eat what I want.

I get off at noon on Fridays so I spent Friday afternoon doing the weekly yard and house work and preparing for a four-wheeler trip to Arch Canyon on Saturday. We have our Stake Youth Standards night that I am partly in charge of and we are doing our 2010 “Ho to the San Juan” trek kick off. We invited Elder Gerald Lund down to speak and offered to take him on the Arch Canyon trip. He graciously accepted and decided to bring some of his family. We had 28 of us in all with 17 of the Lund family and leaders from both Stakes. We had 18 four-wheelers and were quite the caravan. It was a beautiful day and really enjoyable. I am looking forward to the fireside tonight. We are excited about our 3 day Trek June 3-5.

By the time we got everything cleaned up and returned it was late in the day and I went and caught the last half of the BYU game at Mom and Dad Webbs. It was great to watch the Cougars win it, but too close of a game – should have been a blow out. Mom’s B-Day is tomorrow and Dad’s Thursday – they continue to be such a support and example – I love them both a ton! It is fun being close to them.

Still, I missed being up North with Stacey and would enjoy living closer to the kids. I don’t doubt that we will move closer as they all settle down and we find out where everyone will be. For now they are all in Utah Valley and that suits us just fine. I like Utah Valley and could easily live somewhere near by. I doubt we will ever sale our home here in Blanding – still you never know – with every election I get new bosses and it just may be that the day will come that I will not survive the politics. Till then we will plug along doing our best to fill our responsibilities in the Lord’s Kingdom in this part of his Vineyard.

More Happenings

I can not believe it has been seven weeks since we last blogged. Time flies so quickly and so much has happened. Most of you who follow our happenings know much of what I talk about here.

Lant & Amy tie the Knot.
Of course Lant & Amy’s wedding went well and was so rewarding. We loved seeing so many of the family and enjoyed being together in the temple. Amy’s family is so wonderful and we have enjoyed getting to know them better and their commitment to each other and the gospel. I have determined that it is the gospel, our common goals, values and principles that make it so easy to love and join families. Amy’s family was no exception. Going through this now for the third time was another good experience for us.

We enjoyed our trip to Texas and were treated with so much hospitality and love by Steve and Sue. It was fun to see the love their friends and ward members had for them. Of course we were saddened at the news that came to us the Sunday we left Texas and the wedding reception down there that Amy’s brother Matt had been killed in Kuwait. That was followed by a tough week for Lant & Amy and her family as they buried their son and brother.

Thanks to everyone who participated and helped with the many aspects of the wedding. It is good to have so many loving family members and friends.

Three Weddings in Five Months.

Significant events did not stop with that – Haven and Joe formally announced their wedding that will be held the Saturday after Thanksgiving – November 28 at the Draper Temple. A reception will be held that same night in Alpine. I did not have a hard time saying yes when Joe asked my permission to propose to Haven. We have learned of his love for Haven, for his Heavenly Father, and know that they together will build a righteous home and family. We are excited for them.

During the past weeks we also spent a week in Salt Lake at training conference I had for work, and enjoyed a great weekend with Shad and Brooke on the mountain - it has been such a beautiful fall.

We love our children – they continue to bring joy into our lives as we see them make righteous decisions and progress in their lives.