crusing with Terry and Doug

nothing like enjoying the time together and cruising with my sister Terry and Doug

Thanks to Doug for finding a two week cruise for us to share music, memories and fun and food

We  started our weekend off  by attending the Fort Lauderdale temple where we met the spirit shared through out the world --- love of our Savoir Jesus Christ and serving one another. We took an uber there and then got to share even more time as several humble members took us back to our hotel,,, which was totally out of their way. they taught us love

Starting off

Doug chooses to see the sea from the 12th observation floor which we later discovered was a gem of quiet and beauty, there he read over16 books while we hiked up the 12 floors each day to get our exercise and view and visiting

Loved getting off the ship at each stop to walk and view the different cultures

Here we are at Aruba 

The culture highlight was the Lincoln center string quartet each evening  ..then after 3 loud dance/music areas from jazz, blues and rock and roll

The half Moon cay is the private island that Holland America has for us the explore and we discovered the natural beauty of     aqua water and birds 

Yes, masks were suggested

Jamaica. pretty mountains but too aggressive, they even tried to pick up Terry!!  

Everyday starts with a work out

Key west was a great surprise which we got at the end of the two weeks.

What did we learn? Vacationing without worrying about anything is nice.

 Reconnecting with my sister is grand 

.And being able to share our love of the Savior to each other and others is needed.

 The end of our journey was an example of Expecting a Miracle as we had difficulty traveling out during spring break and weather issues,

Lucky for us it was conference weekend and we had ear buds to share and listen and Expect miracles...  we made our connections home to find all is well

Icy outside in Michigan but warm hearts filled with love

winter fun with snowboarding and sledding .Valerie and I hiked around the area to keep warm and active, Austin amazed us all as he took to the boarding being able to keep up over the moguls 

always love going to school when I visit and this time, again I did get to help and teach yoga and creative  movement,, oh how I love  these young ones

Kai and I got to share one of her favorite movies..the Silent Voice,, it is many layered with art, sign language and Japanese and a warm message of loving one another

Austin and fun

where is the Elephant > Toledo zoo!

after the zoo I think the kids had more fun scaling the walls at the park, they laughed and climbed and of course Valerie joined in and showed them how to climb without getting her new jeans dirty.

it is hard to contain my joy as I recall my feelings of seeing Victoria dance, She has shown such great progress in her talent, this time she danced in Singing in the Rain, one of my OLD TIME FAVs , She also danced in the ROSE which ended in a beautiful unfolding circle in lyrical moves. a trio, and a solo!!!all these dances got the highest scores and honored the choreographer George and the company Dancing feet, As throughout the year of covid, George struggled with cancer besides of the other challenges . Well Done!!!!

be still my heart ! carry on~ Victoria, I have faith in you~

 

 

fortifications in our lives

Salt Lake City temple under these scaffolds is hardly recognizable.

We also need to fortify our own lives these days. How are we holding up? This last week we took the train to the city and enjoyed the cold weather and sun. We have been visiting the various temples in our area. Our closest temple will have its ground breaking in April! the Lindon temple will only be 1 1/2 miles from our home using the Murdock trail!!!

Jim is like a kid in a CANDY  STORE

Inside the tabernacle we got to hear an organ concert. This is where I was baptized 66 years ago

we also got a surprise visit from Jims cousins. Frank Hatch has been our infrequent quest for 20 years and now we find out that he is building in Brazil. ( small side note...he was one of my dance  teachers my freshman year at BYU)

Another future building site for JIM?  this is Tims 20 acres out west and east of us about 2 hours away. You can see Timp in the background.

And here is the Saratoga springs temple, As we ponder all these beautiful temples in our area, we are happy to see the work going  forward,  Jim continues to invent and use his engineering for future construction. I ponder what we can do to build our temples and fortify ourselves as we travel down our life path. Making use of our foundations and our family history of love and hope, we continue forward in faith and love

really>>>>???? now what is Jim up to??

 

Grand grand daughters week

Emily graduated from Aesthetic school with her masters!! She stuck with her studies even when she had to drive through snow and deal with covid. We are so happy for her accomplishment

We got to go to the blessing of Noe Chatterley, our first great grand daughter from Tanner and Kenna, ( Jaron/s second son)

she has the cute little button features, What a love!!

And to make the week even more fun for me, I got to see Kallie dance with Copa at the Covey

the production was Little Mermaid

Being able to see all these girls in their growth and achievements this week is a great joy for me. As they use their skills and talents to be able to move through life, we cheer them on with hope and love

 

beginning

Our Oren temple is looking great. Jim loves to go to the building sites where ever we are and this one, of course feels even more special. We watched the Philadelphia temple being built when we served as missionaries in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Seeing the building of temples around the world has been a great way to travel and learn about different cultures and the growth of the church. Here in Orem, we will be further away from this temple than one would think!! we live in Orem!!! but this one is on the west side of the freeway, away from the canyon which we live right next to. It is a great site for travelers on the I15 and will greatly serve the UVU students/

 As you can see, we still havent mastered taking selfies!!

We have had some wonderful sunny days so far this winter. but that means less snow pack which I continue to learn more about. We need snow in the winter so we can have enough water for the long summers. 

this photo of the Orem temple is taken south of the temple. We had to hike a little ways and made a fun time of trying to get an interesting shot

As you can see, we moved around alot to try to get a better view ,,, and this is a construction site,,

one more for the last of adventure of trying to get closer to the Orem temple site. As we are all trying to find ways to continue to serve in the temple, we felt the spirit and joy of being near the temple and cant wait to go inside when it is completed. We have been lucky enough to make reservations for appointments in  all the temples near us. Last week we got to see my cousin Claudia and Nolan at the Oquirrah temple which they just happened to be serving in on that day. What a blessing to be able to catch up and share our love of serving together. We love knowing and serving in the temple