I'm Goin' Home

I'm goin' home . . . to a place where I belong.

Chris took me to the airport early this morning and put me on a plane for

 home so that I could attend Courtney's high school graduation.  I received
permission to go home and take part in this once in a lifetime celebration
by writing an email to the general authority over us.  It meant a great
 deal to me to be a part of this very special event in Courtney's life.
And let's face it, she needs her Mother by her side, especially if
Dad can't be there.

I hate to fly, it is probably one of my least favorite things to do,

and this would be my very first time flying alone.  The flights

were not bad, pretty uneventful.  So to make up for that, I

was delayed in Minneapolis for several hours.   They boarded

our plane right on time, then before we could taxi out,

they came on the PA system and told us there was a technical

problem with the plane and we would not be able to take off.

They made us all get off the plane, half the people that had 

connections were sent down the hallway to see if they could

get on another flight.  As for the rest of us, they moved us across

the hall to another gate and told us they were working on getting

another plane.  I thought to myself, yeah right, they just have

planes sitting around.  I thought there is no way I am going to

make it home in time to go to dinner with my family.  I had Bart

set up a dinner with Mom and my siblings, because I felt so bad

that I had missed out on Mom's 80th birthday.  So Bart arranged

everything and made reservations at Maddox.  So I sat stranded 

in Minnesota, don't ya know, missing my Maddox dinner.

But I guess they actually do have extra planes sitting around in the hangers.  

And sure enough within an hour, they pulled up another plane to our gate, 

got the flight crew on and started boarding the passengers again.

Believe it or not, we were on our way to Salt Lake City.

I had some really nice conversations with people going home to 

Utah, it is so nice to be amongst people that know what I'm all about.

Brad and Heather were to pick me up at the airport, I landed, rushed to

get my luggage and called them to pull up and get me.  Reservations

were at 7:00, it was almost 6:00, there was no way I was going to make

Perry in under 60 minutes.  But with Brad's safe but speedy driving,

they delivered me just in time, they hadn't even been called to their table 

yet.  I had a very nice reunion and dinner with Mom, she was almost

surprised, she said she had a feeling, Bart and Penny and Robert and Teresa.

It's nice to be home and amongst family again.

*Some thoughts about how I was feeling when I flew over the mountains

of Utah.  When I first saw the mountains and realized where we were,

I was thrilled, when I started spotting the meeting houses, one in every 

neighborhood, I cried.  After dinner was over and we were driving back to

North Ogden, I had a really strong feeling and impression of,

"I want to go back, I can do this, I can go back to Canada and finish".

Courtney Letters!

Today was the final awards assembly at Weber High School,

Courtney was surprised to be invited to attend, and then she

was thrilled to be called up to receive an award, 

not once,

not twice,

but three times.

It was all in the name of choir, but how exciting is that.

So when all was said and done she received many wonderful

awards, and . . . . 

lettered in choir, that's right, she earned her letter,

too bad it's too late to get her letterman's jacket,

but that would have been fun.

We are so proud of her and excited that she

did so well this year with choir.

Congratulations Boo Bear!

Mission Tour

Welcome, The Walker's. 

 We are thrilled to have them here for our 

mission tour.  We picked up Elder and Sister 

Walker at the airport and took them to see

 the mission office.  After a couple of pictures,

I have to blog about this you know.

Elder and Sister Walker in front of our office.

Elder Walker pulled President over for a picture with him.

And then Sister Walker and I took a picture together.

After we did a little tour of the office, we took them to dinner

at a nice little Italian restaurant that we like, called "The Sicilian".

They traveled all day and we have a big day tomorrow so we took

them back to the mission home and set them up in the 

"general authority" room and then we all bedded down for the night.

The next morning I set out a continental breakfast feast.

Bananas, bagels and cream cheese, orange juice, milk and yogurt parfaits.

Just from our brief visit at dinner the night before, I could tell that

they are wonderful people.  Elder Walker has so many amazing stories to tell.

Stories about temples, all over the world.  I could have listened to them

forever.  I felt a little cheated, we only had them for one night, they

spent the other two nights with the Cards, because they are doing

a temple review on the Edmonton Temple while they're here.

I had to have them stand by my "Welcome" sign.

The tour went really well.  They spoke to half our mission on

Wednesday at the Riverbend building.  Karin Jaffray served us

a very nice lunch of super nachos, just like I serve to our incoming

missionaries.







 And then on Friday, after the temple review, we picked

them up at the Card's home and we participated with the other half of the

mission at the Millwoods building.  Elder and Sister Walker had an early

flight back home so we had to make the meeting a little shorter, so we

took an early break and Karin served muffins and fruit, with milk and

orange juice.  After the meeting concluded, we whisked them off to the airport,

said our goodbyes and put them on a plane.

I told Elder Walker, I would really like to attend a temple dedication

extravaganza, how would I go about doing that.  He told me, any new temple,

anytime, he happens to know the person that can get me a ticket. Wink, wink.  Yeah!!

Final Concert

Chris and I missed everyone of Courtney's concerts, but thanks to a loving

and caring older sister, we received lots of pictures and video from each one.

This was her final concert, the grand daddy of them all.  Oh but I

would have given anything to have been there for her.  To watch her sing,

 shed a tear or two and see her interact with the other choir members.

Dressed in red for the Chamber Quire numbers,

isn't she beautiful?

I've been really proud of her.  For the things she's accomplished this year.

We were sending her home, her senior year, with full intentions of 

her playing soccer with her friends that she's played with forever. 

But when she tore her ACL in a soccer game in Canada last year,

well, that dream crumbled.  But, as the saying goes,

"when the Lord closes a door. . . . 

he opens a window".
 And that's exactly what he did for Boo.

She has a gorgeous voice, but didn't really have the experience

or confidence to do anything about it.  This was the nudge she 

needed.  It was a terrible thing, with soccer and all, but she

had many memorable and true life experiences singing with the

choir and working with Mr. Wood.  He has always been there

for our older children and he certainly was there for Courtney

as well.

The night of the final concert, the Chamber Quire sang, then

they had an all girls number, then as tradition goes,

chamber comes back on again, in costume (they each choose what best

represents them and who they are) and sings the best heart wrenching,

tear jerking song of the year.  The one that says, goodbye, farewell

dear friend, it's been a blast, but it's all over.

Courtney is the cute boarder girl.

I would love to have been there to see her and to hear her.

This is a picture of the entire gang.

The outfits are getting crazier and crazier.

And then we bring on A'cappella, what an amazing looking group,

very impressive, both in sight and sound.

I think they sang at least three songs this year,  learning three

 different languages.  Wow, that's impressive.

Grandma came to support Courtney for her last concert,

as well as Brad and Heather.  Heather's been there for every last

concert and assembly where Courtney was involved.  Now that's

true sisterhood and devotion.  And I know she did it all for me.

Some other supporters, Bryce and Courtney Owen.

Now that shows a lot of devotion also.  It's what true friendship

is all about, it doesn't hurt if you're dating one of them.

Can you guess which one?

Senior Cotillion 2012

Rudi and Courtney, friends since jr. high and next door neighbors,

 went to Senior Cotillion together with a couple of fine young men

as their dates.  These are some of the pictures John and Ann, Rudi's

parents, took of them the night of the dance.  

(Our house in the background, ahh)

The girls looked incredible, and you couldn't have matched up Jake

and Bryce's look any better.

A picture in front of our house, ahh again!

Wow, what a dress.

She looks gorgeous, 

and she knows it.  She's such a poser.

Her and Bryce make a very sharp couple,

don't you think?

I am so grateful that Courtney has had all the opportunities

she's had this year.  She has been to every dance, girls

choice as well as Homecoming, Prom and now Senior

Cotillion.  And she was more beautiful each time.

Our baby girl is no longer a baby, ahhhhh!

Running Man!

I made Chris actually pull over today so we could get a good look

and a better picture of the running man.  I love the running man.

Let me explain.

The running man, what I call him, is this "dummy", no pun

intended, walking on a treadmill,

outside,

on the side of a building.  Unfortunately today, he wasn't

walking or running, he was just standing there.  Frozen

in time, if you will.  He is the greatest thing ever, I always

have to check and see what he's wearing.  Oh yes, he

changes outfits.  For instance, during hockey season he's usually

wearing an Oilers uniform, I've heard the missionaires say

they've seen him in bunny ears for Easter, and last winter

he donned a Santa suit in December.  It's summer, so of course

he's wearing his construction attire, right down to the hard hat.

He's not walking or running today,

someone unplugged him, how rude!

And he lost a hand and a foot.  Poor guy, could be worse,

could be raining.  That's right, he's walking, come rain or come

shine.   He's such a trooper.  There are several of them around.

There is one on the north side and another out by the airport.  I like

to point him out to the missionaries and tell them about him, so they

can be on the look out for him and his different outfits.

I thought at first he was advertising treadmill's but the closer I 

looked and the more I saw him,  it's not an exercise company at all.

Go figure.  Anyway, that's running man.  If you come to town,

look him up.