Elder Rice's Final Email from Korea Sunday, February 23, 2014

Well, it is here...our final email from Elder Rice. He is currently getting a bunch of goodies baked to share with some of the wonderful people he has been blessed to work with. He arrives in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon. If you would like to know more details, please let me know. He speaks in Sacrament Meeting and reports on his mission on Sunday, March 16at 9:00 A.M. at the LDS Church on Pinnacle Peak Road and 51st Ave. That afternoon, beginning at 4:30 P.M. we will have a pizza and rootbeer celebration at our house: 24841 N. 49th Ave. Glendale, 85310. Please come whenever you can. There will be plenty to eat for quite a while. 

Thank you all for your love and support. As you see, serving a mission is not an easy thing: for the missionary or for the family, but oh what tremendous blessings are received. 

Much love to all of you.

Hey family,

I had an excellent last (final) Sunday . I gave a talk on the Savior and the Atonement and I had to work hard to keep it to 10 minutes haha. It was awesome. The meeting began and three less active members that we have been working with came in, plus an investigator. It was amazing. They all liked it. It was a good Sunday and after church, the whole ward ate together. It was a good last Sunday here.

We were not able to hit most of our goals, but all of our stats were higher, which means we worked harder. It was a good time.

I love my mission. I had so many hard times here, but I grew so close to the Lord. I learned so much. I learned to love my Savior and I learned of His love for me. It’s a great start to the rest of my life. I look forward to the last push this week. Today, I am baking a ton of stuff for my district and also for the Jeougeup Ward youth. We have so me great appointments this week, andWednesday night, the stake president is taking us out to dinner, and then helping with a lesson. A great finish. Oh ya, i forgot to say our English class threw me a going away party. After class, they took us out for delicious Korean meat haha. It was awesome. i love it here. I realized, yesterday, I was going home soon, and randomly took pictures of the things I have gotten used to that I will miss,  like super dark alleys that are perfectly safe hahaha.

Well, see you in a couple days haha. Take care of Jessica. I love you all. 

Love,

Elder Rice

 

--

Suzzy Rice

Mother 엄마 of six Wonderful children

February 17-23, 2014

Monday:
Madly Clean! Mop, Vacuum...while not being able to sleep much last night. Not fun.
Make Dee breakfast.
Kaylee comes. We stroll. We play outside. We eat my healthy mini muffins
(Well, she takes a bite, and feeds the rest to Beau - He is gonna be very healthy!)
Kayty was off work...Kaylee likes Kayty! Kayty attends Larry Turley's funeral.
We watched the dvd of her skydive.
Kayty and Kaylee liked it. Dad did too. Mom still not sure.
Kaylee naps. I cook dinner. She wakes and we head out to feed the "chick-chicks"
So cute to hear her in her one year old verbage yell, "Here, chick chick chick"!
I feed Papa. He heads out to work on Nate's truck
Mommy comes.
We watch Olympics...and head to bed.

Tuesday:
Madly clean, though I don't mop. Make Dee breakfast
Dee had to leave for Honeywell Engines Site early.
Kaylee comes. We stroll. We feed the goat a granola bar. We eat an egg and some fruit.
(Again, she takes a few bites...dipped in ketchup as Rice's do...and feeds the rest to Beau)
We play outside.
Papa locates a Craigslist 1960 Ford Truck Seat for Nathan and drives miles to Chandler.
He gets there and the seat doesn't look right. Turns out it is for a 1967 Chevy.
The seller said he had leukemia, so Dee just left...and had to work extra hours to make up the time.

Make a Caprise Salad for Dee.
Kaylee Naps. I cook dinner. Turkey Gravy on Mashed Potatoes. Asparagus.
She wakes and we head out to feed the "chick-chicks"
I feed Papa. He heads out to work on Nate's truck.
Mommy comes.
We watch olympics.
Dee calls Kent Mecham, the stake executive secretary, and makes the appointment to release Elder Rice and return him to Nathan. We now have President Martin's cell phone number and are to call when Elder Rice gets his luggage. Jessica's first hug is almost scheduled.
We head to bed.

Wednesday:
Madly clean. Make Dee breakfast
Dad works from home today.
Kaylee comes. We eat healthy mini muffin. Beau gets less of the healthy mini muffin.
We stroll to see the mini ponies. They are in their pen.
We play outside. We swing. We walk by the citrus trees. Kaylee is fascinated by our ball trees.
We grow orange and yellow balls...and yet we don't play with them.

Make another Caprise Salad for Dee.
Kaylee naps. I cook dinner. Tostados.
She wakes and we head out to feed the chick chicks.
I feed Papa. He heads to Webelos.
Mommy comes.
We go to the store.
We watch olympics.
We head to bed.

Thursday:
Make Dee breakfast.
Dee leaves very early for many meetings.
Madly clean and dust.
Kaylee comes. She has a yogurt/fruit squeezy thing from home.
We stroll. The goat is in another yard, but he sees us and comes running to the fence.
He knows who brings him a granola bar. Gotta find some cheap granola bars.
It is windy, so we hold off playing outside.
Kaylee and I gather up food for Papa's Javelina hunt: pecans, pumpkin seeds, almonds, apples, fruit snacks, prunes, papaya, coconut water.
Make yet another Caprise Salad for Dee.
Kaylee naps. I cook dinner. Homemade pesto and pasta. Asparagus.
She wakes. We head out to feed the chick chicks.
Papa heads out to site in his rifle. Comes back with a perfect rifle...and eight buckets of purple minerals.

Mommy goes home to ready for the trip and Kaylee plays with me on the swing.
Jessica comes with cookies for Papa. Truck work requires occasional bribery.
Papa eats. Kaylee snacks. I urge Papa to get ready for the trip.
Kayty comes home from work.
Mommy and Daddy come. Papa gets his stuff together. Cameo gets Kaylee's stuff together.
Ethan's truck is loaded up. They all leave.
I turn on the olympics and finally I eat my salad.
I stay up way too late, but it's fun to just talk to Kayty.
I head to bed.

Friday:
The first day in absolutely longer than I can remember that I don't have to do anything for anyone!
I redo my bed...sheets shift over time.
I dust.
I make new bathroom cleaning spray.
I go to Thunderbird Park and hike.
I go to Safeway. Five Dollar Friday. Three packages of paper towels. Teddy Grahams.
I start to move Dee's stuff to the garage office from Nathan's room.
I clean up Kayty's room.
I move more stuff.
I rearrange the prom/formal dresses moved into Nathan's closet over the last two years.
I sweep his floor. I clear the shelf unit.
I dust. I vacuum. I scrub the bathrooms.
I haul stuff to the trash pile. I clean off the front porch.
I water bulb flower beds. I pull weeds. I pick peas and some tomatoes.
I nap.
I turn on the olympics.
I load photos from my camera to the hard drive.
Kayty comes home from work..then heads out to see "Pompeii".
I head to bed.

Saturday:
I straighten up the house.
I go to Thunderbird Park and hike.
I hit a few yard sales. I did get a huge picture collage frames. It might come in handy for, let's say, a wedding reception???
I came home, cleaned and laundered.
I write my very last email to Elder Rice. I have written every single week, at least one and sometimes two or more letters. 104 weeks today. At least 104 letters.
I went to the Dollar Tree to snoop out things for the playroom.
I got cheap poster board for Welcome Home Elder Rice signs.
I went to WalMart and started to shop, but Dee called and said they were on their way home, so I returned home to complete my chores. I underestimated how long the trip was, so I just sat around waiting for awhile. I could have shopped and cleaned.
Dee, Ethan, Cameo and Kaylee arrived, full of wonderful stories. Hunting is not always a guaranteed kill, but the opportunity to be with those you love, to hike in beautiful weather in the most lovely time of year in the desert makes every trip a success.

I made a Caprise Salad for Dee.
I picked peas and tomatoes.
We took peas and tomatoes to Julie B, a neighbor and friend in our ward.
We arrived home to Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper waiting for us.
We spoiled grandkids for the evening.

  Kelsie had the computer to herself, with Grammy right by, and listened to that song from "Frozen" more times than I care to even recall counting. I am now not a fan of that song. I fed Kooper. I burped Kooper. I walked Kooper. I fed Kooper. I walked...and he just all of a sudden fell asleep. (He surprised me...I had to check his breathing!) He slept on his tummy on my lap, while Kelsie looked at music videos and ate an ice cream cone creation from Papa...vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie in a sugar cone.
Doran and Amber came and whisked their sweet babes home to bed.
I clean the kitchen counters, do the dishes, and sweep.
We turn on the T.V. and watch some crazy musical "The Fantastics".
I liked it at first.
I got bored.
We head to bed.

Sunday:
I wake up and get ready for church.
Dee wakes up and gets ready for church.
We head to church.
I kiss Elder Rice's Missionary Picture in the hall cabinet. It was my last kiss on a piece of glass. I get the real thing soon!
I visit with Wanda Calhoun.
We attend Sacrament Meeting.
We attend Sunday School. We talk about Abraham and Lot, and what it means to pitch your tent toward Sodom. (Genesis 13)
I attend Relief Society. We had an excellent lesson on God's love.
I leave Relief Society early and go to the nursery to sing with the little kids. They loved "The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock".
I get the keys from Dee and he goes to his Cub Scout Committee Meeting.
I drive home.
I make him a Caprise Salad and a Ham sandwich.
I make my salad.
I do some Family History Indexing.
Dee gets a ride home.
Dee eats.
I blog.
I putter.
I help Dee package some of his seeds, tomato, lettuce, okra, to send to Aunt Bobby in Kirtland, Az (where they hunted.)
I wait for email.
I talk with my mom on the phone.
I check Elder Rice's bank account to make sure he has plenty of money available. He will awaken to his final preparation day in Korea.
Dee goes Home Teaching.
I wait for email. (What ever will I do with myself when I am not constantly checking for email?)
The missionaries come by and encourage us to link our Mormon.org profile to our Facebook account. Dee spends the next 20 minutes getting mad at the computer.
The email comes!!! He is happy and wonderful. We talk back and forth about his truck and about what treats he is baking for his District.
I translate and forward our last email.
I shower and get ready for bed.
I text with Jessica. Elder Rice wants to cook for us on Saturday, and then to watch Lord of the Rings.
Kayty screams with joy.
We head to bed.

Elder Rice Mail for Sunday, February 16, 2014

So hey family,

Awesome Sunday we had. I was sitting in church, when a member walked in right before it started and said that there were two people outside that she didn’t know. I walked out as they were singing “We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet” and I saw the less active gentleman and his son that we visited last week and they brought their cousin, a person that I taught once, and their friend that had come once before. They had Books of Mormon in their hands. The friend that had come once before apologized for not coming more often. He is busy with work. I was super happy. I walked into church and all the members saw every one and were super excited too.  I was so full of joy. I sat on the pew and thanked Heavenly Father for that huge miracle and I started to cry a little bit. I was soooo happy. I am gonna work hard this week. There is still a chance for a baptism this weekend. We are going to work super hard and hope for something. I set goals like crazy high this week: 8 Book of Mormons a day given out and like that. haha. We’re gonna sprint to the end.

I have been reading the Book of Mormon a lot. I finished 4th Nephi. It’s sad, but it helped me look into the lives of human beings today, and at myself. How often do we feel this immense joy from doing something righteous, and then 5 minutes later seek for some temporal happiness and sin, and that joy leaves. Like after the experience yesterday, I just prayed to always remember the joy I felt at that moment, because humans are so forgetful. If we always remember the joy of doing what’s right, the fake happiness of sinning will have no luster to it. We will see the “great and spacious building” for what it really is. I did a district training on Lehi’s dream (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 8https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng) and I loved how in “Preach My Gospel,  the large and spacious building is almost transparent. It’s really not what is seems. It’s interesting to think about. The fruit looks so simple, but it provides true joy. We need to always remember. It’s the hardest thing to do when we are tempted, but we need to always remember the joy of keeping the commandments. That is the only joy. I highlight the word “remember” in the Book of Mormon, and it’s so important. If people only remember, they will be righteous. That’s the biggest thing I learned this week.

I love you all so much. Have a great week. Take care of Jessica.

Love, Elder Rice

Week of February 10-16

On Monday, the 10th, I was able to do something I have wanted to for a long time. There is a sweet wonderful lady at church named Tisa. Right after her 40th birthday, she was diagnosed with stage 3 metastatic breast cancer. She has a wonderful husband and three children, ages 8-14. She has been blessed to make it through each and every one of the radiation treatments, as well as the 19 rounds of chemotherapy. To help her, ladies from church go to her house every other week and clean on Monday. It was my "Kaylee" week before, but since I helped out Allison, the weeks ended up changing, so I was able to sign up and go help. Four ladies from the two different wards came, and we cleaned the three bathrooms, mopped and vacuumed a three level house. Tisa was soooo thankful, and many hands made light work, so we were done in a little over an hour. Dee used the van (which has been working on and off) and took a load of donations to Deseret Industries that had been building up. We worked on Nate's truck that night.

Updated my Hallway Wall

Dee designed and machined this awesome holder for Nate's truck battery.

On Tuesday, I was able to actually use the jeep and got paper coin rolls to roll up our loose change for deposit. I ended up with about $39.00 in pennies, nickels and dimes. I wanted to find out exactly the procedure for deposit at my particular bank, so after trying to phone, I used the internet personal banking question option. I asked what the procedure was, and the personal banker gave me lots of info regarding 25 pound and 50 pound bags of coins. I informed the individual I had but a few coins, and the individual responded regarding me using an armored carrier and asking them how to transport.

An armored car? For 39 bucks worth of change?

I was a victim of an outside-the-US-call center!!! Boy did my bank get a negative review.

Wednesday I got my cleaning done, and since the van had worked for Dee, I was confident it would work, so I set out to run errands. I was sitting at a stoplight....and the van just died. Dead. I started crying. The wonderful and calm Hispanic yard worker and his friends pushed my van off the main street. I called Dee, who was at the airport location of Honeywell, and he started toward me...30 minutes or more away. I then called my roadside assistance company to get a tow. I kept answering questions...and spelling street names...and describing my big huge 15 passenger van, who the person on the other end with the sing-songy voice didn't seem to comprehend...I finally asked, "Are you located outside the United States?"

She replied, "Yes, but I will give you good service."

I continued waiting and answering question after question for over 30 minutes. Dee arrived. He got the van working. I gave my phone to him to cancel when the lady finally would come back from hold, and he could cancel the tow. I drove his car home...in tears (saying that the van hates me!). Got home...then the tow truck driver called me asking where I was. He was so kind after I burst into tears again with apologies and he kept asking if I was ok. Nice the local tow truck driver was more helpful than the roadside assist call center!

Gonna find a new roadside assist service ASAP!

Wednesday was another cleaning day...I do that a lot here. We did have sad news. A friend of ours...I went to high school with him...who had been our sons' scout leader, and his kids and my kids had been friends, lost his short battle with leukemia. He died early in the morning, with all his kids and grandkids and sweet wife at his side. He said his goodbye's and lived an extraordinary life. He was a good man.

Webelos was uneventful…He is a co-leader who decides what they do, and he does what he wants to, so Dee feels kind of like just a chaperone...

Thursday, Dee wanted some beef jerky, so I gave him his Valentine's Day gift early: Costco treats: jerky and dark chocolate coconut covered almonds. Truck work continued…boy, these things sure can be costly! Tires and some new, non-1960 rims cost almost a thousand bucks! Not sure Nate wants to spend that much of his remaining money for this.

Happy Valentines Day was pretty routine. I gave Kayty a hot pink heart full of chocolate. Since Grandma Liz had jury duty, I cared for Kaylee. We enjoyed our walk and fed our goat friend a granola bar. Made Quick Chicken Creole for dinner and watched the olympics after truck work.

Kaylee LOVED the sweet Valentine Treat my wonderful visiting teacher, Missy DelGado brought over. She even had the special little one just for Kaylee.

Yep...Valentine's Day...Crazy Man In Pool

Saturday, we hit some yard sales…I got some large bells for the playroom. We prepped for our long planned and many times cancelled Pizza Oven dinner with our dentist, Phillip Johnson and his family. Doran and Amber called later and wanted me to watch Kooper so they could go out to dinner and a movie, but they ended up coming here for a pizza and enjoyed talking with the Johnsons, so that ended up being their date. It was a nice night.

Michelle and Phillip Johnson, with two of their four awesome kids, creating pizza. 

Grammy enjoying Kooper

Michelle brought flowers...so nice!

Sunday, Dee ended up not being able to attend his co-worker's funeral (he suddenly passed away last Wednesday night in his sleep…good health…only 38 years old…still not sure what the cause was) due to our sharing one vehicle and his ride-another coworker-became ill in the night. I was called to a church calling I already had for two years and wasn't released from…I guess someone eliminated all my callings via computer…it's all good though. I like singing with the nursery. I substituted for the primary chorister and didn't cause any mayhem! We attended the missionary farewell for Maddy Baird during the ward after ours, and then headed to Dorrie's for Valentine's Day Dinner. We shared the celebration with Ethan, Cameo and Kaylee, and Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper, plus Grandma and Curtis, and Jessica came when church was over. We shared meatballs, potatoes and cheese, cauliflower with cheese sauce, a great salad, some layered bean dip and cheese dip that Cameo had left over from a party at their house, and then lots of candy and cookies. Curtis also started up the fire pit for some smores, which Kelsie enjoyed. We came home and waited for our next to the last letter from Korea.

Curtis was great helping Kelsie make her smore. She didn't care for the one with chocolate, so Papa got it. 

Elder Rice Mail for Sunday, February 9, 2014

Dear Family,

Hey thank-you so much, dad, for fixing my truck. We aligned it once with the big tires on it… but ya thank you so much. What are the odds for us getting drawn for elk this year?

This week was good. We had an awesome day Thursday. We went to go play basketball at the college with an investigator and usually we eat lunch together first, but he had eaten with his professor, but another man that plays with us showed up early, so we ate together and he started asking questions. We taught about prophets. Then we taught the other man that had eaten lunch with the professor. After we played, we taught the whole Restoration lesson, and then we asked him if he believed it was true. He said it was hard, so we talked about why it’s important to know and how to know. We then went and met Lee Heung Jay, the family that I have been working on for 2 years... and we taught a powerful lesson. He said it was hard to understand. We found out that he thinks we can’t teach him because we don’t understand his situation because he is Buddhist and Korean, and we are born in the Gospel and American. But the best part was that the day before that,  I talked to Sister Shin about him and she gave me the phone number of a man that lives in Daejeon that was a hardcore Buddhist who heard about Christ and tried to prove him wrong. In his search, he found the Book of Mormon and read it all in one day, then was baptized. He also works the same job as our investigator. We mentioned him and our investigator wanted to call him . I hope he did. We have no money to use the pay phone, and when we do call, he was busy, but it’s ok. I have faith that the Lord is guiding everything. We go and walk at night sometimes with a less active man in our ward. We talk a lot and we have met a lot of his friends. It’s super cold, though. Some nights, I feel like my hands will fall off , but it helps him a lot and we are also finding more people to teach through it. So it was a great day. We met a lot of good people. We had no one come to church yesterday,but the bishop pointed out that Lee Hueng Jay has already come once to church, so he still can get baptized before i leave if he is ready!!

We are just working super hard here. I recently have been reading the Book of Mormon more than normal and it’s amazing. My testimony grows more as I read it more. I feel the Spirit stronger when I testify of it, and it’s helping me with all my trials here. It is teaching me a lot and I am finding things for my investigators. It’s amazing. If I read one chapter a day, I’m happy, but if I read ten a day, I’m really happy. The Book of Mormon is so powerful and just reading front to back, I always find something in it that I need that day. It is inspired by God for us. It is so amazing. On Saturday, I ran into a man of another strong religion. We met once and talked a lot. Then he tried to call us, but our phone was broken, so he drove to the church and we happened to be walking to the church and met and talked. He ignores the Gospel of Christ and focuses on doctrines that aren’t necessary to understand for our salvation. He wants the correct gospel and he is being kept from it because of that. I tried as hard as I could to explain faith and the Gospel of Christ and how we can know through prayer, but he refused to even try because our church doesn’t focus on Nebuccanezer’s dream??? Even with the challenges,  ya, I’m just so happy I have a chance to share this Gospel and I wish everyone would just readily accept it. I’ll try my best to share with everyone though because it is true and its the most important thing we can ever know. I love it.

Have a great week. I love you all. Take care of Jessica.

Love, Elder Rice

Our Week: February 3-9, 2014

We started this week off with Kaylee returning to being cared for at our home. She seemed kind of confused, at first. After all, she had spent the last three weeks with Grandma Liz and Grandpa Wally, so this was quite new. Great Granny Dorrie came to visit, and by the afternoon, Kaylee was busy toddling over the whole house and yard, feeding the "chick-chicks" the snow peas that were too old for Chinese (our chickens love the peas inside when they get large), and even helping Aunt Kayty blow out the candles. Yes, we got Kayty a full-of-gluten 7 pound chocolate layer cake, and she celebrated with us before hauling the rest to her friends watching "The Bachelor".

Kaylee thought the cake was yummy! Truly a girl!

Tuesday was determined to be the day of the HUGE tomato harvest. That is, Dee picked his huge tomato!

Almost 2 pounds! This dude has produced not one but two Caprise salads, made by me, a regular garden salad garnish, two ham sandwiches, and some is still remaining. It is a Green Tiger heirloom tomato, so it is rather tart and more acidic, not my favorite. He is glad, though, cuz it's all his!

Dee had Webelos Scouts on Wednesday, where they began working on their fitness activity pin.

Thursday, I began watching news coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia. They officially begin on Friday, but I watched some skiing events and early team figure skating.

Friday was fun. Kaylee and I strolled and fed our neighborhood goat friend part of a granola bar. We played in the sandbox. We fed the chickens. Kaylee showed off her great walking skills when Jessica came over to drive with Kayty to 'get' her birthday gift: A tandem skydive. I joked with Kayty that Jessica would be there to scrape her up and bring her home in the trunk of her car...but I really wasn't joking. I carried that child for 9 months. I helped make that body. I didn't want it to be splatted on the ground! She lived...and had an absolute blast! She is so crazy!!! I get nauseous on the second floor of the mall!

Saturday was PACKED with things to do. We went to a few yard sales...our weekly date. This week ended up being for our yard...and Dad. We bought another outdoor slide for the playground. The one we currently have is a green tube slide, which is kind of scary for little guys. This one is yellow and just goes straight, with a few bumps. Dad has to design what to attach this one to. The possibilities are endless! He purchased tubs for his manure and minerals for the garden, a nice garden cover cloth (the shaded kind) and a few small miscellaneous items. I began to receive wonderful texts...from Las Vegas...and it was not Adam, but Grace! So grown up! Loved talking to her!!! We then went to Market On The Move, a private offering of surplus produce - 10 bucks for 60 pounds. We ended up with tons of tomatoes, some yellow, grey, and zucchini squash, tomatillos, and bell peppers. As soon as we arrived, I washed and began cooking the tomatoes, and ended up canning 17 quarts of tomatoes (number 18 jar broke in the canner...blech) I also made two kinds of tomatillo salsa: a raw one and a cooked one that I saw on a public television cooking show.

Raw Tomatillo Salsa
6 tomatillos, finely diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp. pink Himalayan salt (we only use this one, but any salt should work.

Combine all ingredients and let sit for an hour or so. It begins very dry, but the salt brings out the tomatillo liquid and makes it taste great. Serve with tortilla chips. 

Cooked Tomatillo Salsa
6-8 whole tomatillos
1 whole jalapeno, top removed.
Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes, till tomatillos become soft. 
2 cloves peeled garlic (we LOVE garlic, so I think I used 6)
1 bunch cilantro, stems and all
1 tsp. Pink Himalayan Salt
Place all ingredients (cooked tomatoes and jalapeno, but not the cooking liquid) in a blender and blend to desired consistency, about 30 seconds. Serve warm. (Amber and Doran, Kelsie and Kooper, stopped by and she made herself some nachos with this sauce and she said it was awesome! I liked it because I got to feed Kooper his bottle while she ate!) The television show had you pour this mixture into an enamel covered cast iron dutch oven with some hot oil and to cook it a bit, then add a pound of washed red potatoes and cook for a bit. Then add some pre-cooked shredded beef and add. It became a stew that looked great!

Dee was outside, laboring on Nate's truck. He changed the distrubutor, the spark plug wires, and seemed to ease up the missing. Now, we work on the alignment. It seems it hasn't been aligned since, perhaps...1960! Some gunk was sprayed on, and we will try on Monday to see if the rod thing I helped unscrew will move.

I cleaned up, Doran and family scurried home, and Dad and I proceeded to get in our Sunday best and head over to Ethan and Cam's. Amber kindly and wisely got tickets for us to attend the open house at new Gilbert Arizona Temple. Ethan drove over 53 miles to get us safely there, and we met up with Doran and Amber and family in the parking lot at a nearby park, where Dee had arranged to meet his friends from work, Klemens Raab and his wife, Gloria.

Loved this picture when these two little cousins started holding hands while Daddy and Papa had them on their shoulders!

 There were soooo many people at the tour...kind of felt like being herded...but the inside was breathtaking...especially that chandelier in the Celestial Room! It was LOTS of walking and we were exhausted...especially poor, sweet Amber, who just gave birth less than four weeks ago! So glad we went. Love being there with family. Sure missed Kayty, who was working, and our out of town family. However, I have an idea we will all be back there soon...Jessica LOVES this temple and thought maybe she would be there with her sweetheart in Korea in a few months!

A lot of walking and a lot of stair climbing made me feel not so bad to eat those sweet dark chocolate chips I enjoyed once we got home, even if it was at 10 pm.