What an interesting day!

And what an interesting week, actually. Today may have been the highlight of the week, however, because after lunch we were invited to share an elevator car with none other than Russell M. Nelson, who is a perfectly lovely man. There was another familiar-looking gentleman with him, who was probably a GA, but whose name escapes me, along with their two wives. Of course, we are counselled to leave the GA's alone and not pester them, and I was hesitant to crowd in with my scooter anyway, but they insisted we come in, and he made very nice conversation with us until we got off, and thanked us for bringing our Texas smiles to the mission. We floated up to the 3rd floor.

It's been a week of reunions, of sorts. Two days ago we had lunch with Dick Bybee, an old friend from So Cal, who sang with us in both the Cambridge Singers and the So. Calif. Mormon Choir. He's living in Utah now and works at the COB 2 days a week. That was great! And today the Whites, the couple who trained us and whom we replaced, came up for a little visit and we all had lunch together and that was fun too.

As far as my job goes, I seem to spend as much time on music as on my regular duties, which duties tend to be "clumpy," meaning that I'll have a couple of extremely busy weeks and then a couple of weeks where I have nothing to do, so I spend a lot of time on my laptop. I'm doing so much in the way of transcription, transposing, and arranging that I almost feel as though they should give me the title Asst. Scribe of Music or something similar. It's nice to be useful, and I love doing it. I think it's really neat that after all my qualms about serving a mission, we should be sent to one where we both can use the talents we've been given to build the kingdom. It couldn't have worked out better. I love watching Bob at work -- today he took photos of 37 incoming missionaries as well as a group photo and it's pure enjoyment to watch him work with the people and get them to respond. He gets lovely shots and then makes them look even better afterwards. He'll be missed when he leaves.

We had a really good snowfall about 3 days ago but it's mostly gone now. The cold has stayed on, though, but so far we're handling it well. Bob is going to go to the DMV and pick up a Handicap placard for me so that on days when it is rainy or snowy we can use the garage at work. Doc Hansen gave us the form and it's all filled out and ready to turn in. Wish I could take it to Texas with me!

Life is good, and we're happy!!

I've been negligent

I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of the destruction of the ZCMI complex. It's a subject of rapt interest in all the zones that have east-facing windows with a view of South Temple. I have a video, which I don't even know if I can embed here. The first part, of Dexter the T. Rex at work is pretty good, but then I began waving the camera around and talking to a friend, because I thought I had turned the camera off. So once the picture turns into the scooter handlebars you can quit watching. The other two are the way the place looked about the middle of last week, and the the way it looked after we came back from a day off. Dexter is really chewing up that building!

We had a lovely encounter earlier this week and it was a huge surprise and about as delightful as anything could possibly be. We bumped into Bob and Linda Little from Simi Valley, who had stopped off in SLC for some supplies before making a whirlwind visit to California and then returning to serve the remainder of their mission at the Nauvoo temple. They looked great and we were thrilled to see them. And then a couple days later I finally made contact with an old singing friend from California, Dick Bybee, who is working in the Church Office Building. He sang with me and my sons in both the Cambridge Singers and various church choirs. We're going to go to lunch next week and he can meet my dear husband. I'm looking forward to that!

As for the rest of the week -- we had 2 soup socials on Monday, when it was still quite warm outside, and we went to a concert at the tabernacle last night, when it was finally beginning to turn nippy. Today it rained, so perhaps winter is here to stay. I haven't had much to do at work and so have been getting a lot of music projects done. Most of it is for other people, but some of it is for me, me, me.

Here goes with the pictures. Wish me luck!

Sorry, but I can't get the video to load. Too bad. I keep hoping that Dexter doesn't find Wall-E.

Fall colors

I promised you fall color photos, but there wasn't room in the last post, so I'm doing them separately. Wish they were more spectacular.

Like a woman with pms needs chocolate . . .

. . . I need the Tabernacle choir broadcasts, preferably in the Tabernacle itself. The pics are from this morning's broadcast, and we had the added treat of being quite close to Pres. Monson, who snuck in at the end to present an award. In addition to the fantastic music, we enjoy watching the technical things happen, particularly the camera work. We love watching the big boom camera, because of the choreography the cameraman has to go through. The other pictures are just of the gorgeous autumn colors we are seeing right now. Most of the bright red is gone, and I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of it, but it's still pretty breathtaking to come out on our sidewalk and look across the street to the Conference Center. All the gardens have been uprooted and replanted with bulbs, pansies, poppies, and crocuses. I can't wait for tulip season!!

There must be news but I can't think of any right now. I've been having a battle with severe fatigue but I believe it's getting better. I feel like a terrible wimp sometimes. With Christmas coming up there's lots of music on the horizon and it makes me happy -- frustrated, because all of my flute and choir music is in the garage back in Texas -- but happy nevertheless.

Remember how when I was really involved in the Young Women's program all those activities (I'm soo not an activity person) made my ulcer bleed? Someone must have gotten wind of that and wants to bump me off, because Bob and I are on 2 planning committees for branch and mission activities. If I didn't know for a fact that the Lord loves me, I'd wonder if the Lord loved me. Well, yes, I know He loves me because he uncovered a photo of one of my ancestors (I sent it out to my family members) for me, and I've been in touch with the fellow who posted it. We'll be exchanging information; always an exciting prospect.

I never know where the photos are going to turn up on the blog. I don't seem to have any control over them. But wherever they wind up -- here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

Sorry! I forgot to post the pictures!

Life is just one party after another

We had another party yesterday morning. They added a lot of the Wasatch Front temples to the New.FamilySearch program -- a long awaited happening, hence the party. We were all invited out to the lobby of our floor for cinnamon rolls (second time this week!) and hot chocolate. The one picture is Elder Brinkerhof, of the World Wide Support Group, and Elder Redd, one of our favorite YMs. The other one is "Mean" Don Green, our favorite mail man.

They wanted to get as many bugs out of the new program as possible before bringing the Utah temples on board, because they knew what a big load they would be putting on the resources. It's amazing to hear the technological background of these fantastic programs they are developing, and the amount and kind of information that is and shortly will be available for everyone in the world to take advantage of. We feel very privileged to be a small part of this.

The weather is quite a bit warmer today and will continue balmy through the end of the week. I'm taking my sweetie out for "supper" tonight in honor of his birthday, but we've pretty much decided to skip the food and go straight for the ice cream. Leatherby's, here we come!

This is what the fuss was all about

Beautiful, isn't it? We took a bunch of pictures, but I'll just show you three -- the Young Missionaries getting the cart down the hall to our cubicle (16 cartons!); Bob and The Book; and our Mission President's wife, Sister Halverson, whom I dearly love. The labor pains were intense but the result was worth it.