Home Again in April...Plus Brinley's Pre-Mission Talk

We left the beautiful, tropical environment of Singapore on April 2, 2019 and headed for home in Utah hoping to find signs of spring.  We found them. Daffodils gave us hope.

We had a brief encounter with Heather, Elsie and Quinn, returning from a quick San Antonio trip to visit Tiffany.  Tanner too was in Murray.

I love the snow on the mountains, when the valley is turning green.   

Steve worked diligently to rearrange our CV office to make room for my sewing machines and cutting table.

In order to rearrange the office, we moved Steve's old oak desk back up from storage in the barn.

Success!  He achieved his goal of adding a cutting table to my quilting, sewing area.

It was nice to have dinner again with Hilary's family.  We LOVED listening to General Conference at home for a change.  We love General Conference.  After dinner, we packed up and headed back to SL for a missionary gathering of some of the missionaries we served with in Missouri.

Here Vickie Briggs, Katherine Peterson, Dave Briggs and Steve help set out the food for the group. 

It was so good to see Elder Stoddard who is battling cancer since his return from the mission.  He has already sacrificed his left hand to this horrible disease.

On Monday, we had another reunion.  This time we met our former boss, Mark Dinning, his wife Allison, and son Markie for lunch in Layton.  Several other missionaries who had served with Mark in recent times, were able to join us.  It was so good to see these special people in our lives.

Steve had a tooth pulled in SL and a skinhead anti-cancer treatment the next day before we drove to Rexburg to tend Heather's kids while she and Aaron squeezed in a get-away trip to Australia.  We arrived on Thursday night.  Before 5 o'clock the next morning, Steve drove Brinley to the shuttle to catch a ride to the SL airport.  She and Tanner are making a quick visit to their other grandparents who are serving a mission in Hawaii.  Tanner hasn't seen them since returning from his mission 8 months ago and Brinley wanted to see them prior to leaving for her mission on April 24th to Texas.

We had a fun time with Jantzen, Anna, Elsie and Quinn.

Quinn played at the piano Festival held twice a year at BYU-I. He is pictured below with his piano teacher.  He showed us the prizes is he working towards by participating in Festival.

He was especially happy to have a personal milkshake afterwards.

Saturday afternoon, I picked up my sister Jackie and we drove to Blackfoot to help celebrate our friend, Lucille Jones' 100th birthday.  Grandma Ann and Steve K. were there helping with the refreshments.  Many friends and family attended the open house in her honor.

I arrived back in Rexburg in time to make crepes for everyone.  Anna had several friends helping her make posters for her class election.

We enjoyed attending church with our grandkids and dying Easter eggs later that afternoon.

Elsie and Quinn each helped me sew baby quilts for an orphanage in Bulgaria.  They did a great job!

We enjoyed Quinn's Blue and Gold cub scout banquet, movie night, and just being with the kids and supporting them in their activities.  It was a fun week!

Driving back into Cache Valley and seeing the snow covered mountains with the green hope of spring peaking through the foothills and valley was a beautiful sight to us.  We love this valley and the spring season.

Steve was eager to mow his lawn and can't wait for it to fully green up!

After our week in Rexburg, we drove to CV, did some chores (mowing the lawn), loaded up a bed and drove to Murray.  We have been diligently working to prepare our upstairs apartment as a furnished executive rental or Airbnb.  Later that evening, we picked up Tanner and Brinley at the airport.  They stayed overnight in Murray and then packed up Tanner's stuff and drove to Rexburg the next morning.  Friday, I attended a real estate meeting and opened a home for inspection while Steve went to the dentist.  Then we met Heather and Aaron at the airport and delivered their vehicle for the drive home and we drove back to CV.

 Saturday we were fortunate enough to attend Jameson's soccer game and Missy Checkett's wedding reception.  We wanted to be supportive as her father had unexpectedly passed away two weeks before after a snowmobile accident.  We also prepared lots of food on Saturday for our Easter Sunday dinner with the Marcum family.

 We drove up to Rexburg again early Sunday morning.  Brinley talked in sacrament meeting before leaving on her mission this next week.  It was also Easter Sunday, so it was fun to spend the day with family members.

 Brinley is well prepared to serve the Lord as a missionary in the Texas Dallas Mission.  She gave an excellent talk.

 Everyone enjoyed eating and visiting after church.  The little kids had a great time hunting for Easter treats between rainstorms in Heather's yard.

 We also helped Quinn celebrate his birthday a day early.  He was excited for his present from Grandma and Grandpa P.

 After all the exciting festivities, we drove out to see an amazing lot on the River that Heather and Aaron are planning to purchase.  Then we picked up our mission friend, recently widowed Carolee Lovell and gave her a ride to her son's house near Salt lake.  That trip allowed Steve to fit in a chiropractic appointment and work on organizing the upstairs apartment before driving back to CV on Monday.