Snowshoe hike

Bonnie gave me a "gift certificate" for Christmas, inviting me to go for an afternoon showshoe hike. Today turned out to be the perfect day for it — with time available and gorgeous weather (clear skies, high about 35). I rented the shoes from BYU's outdoor shop, and we drove up to the Timpanogos trailhead above Aspen Grove. The shoes are pretty high-tech things that strap onto your boots. They aren't as big as some I remember from my childhood, but provide enough distribution of weight to stay on top of the snow. And they have little cleats to improve traction.

We went up after lunch, and wished we had been there a little earlier (part of the hike was already shaded by the sun). We were cool in the shadows, but quite warm in the sun (thanks to the exertion).

I love the setting and scenery there above Aspen Grove. It's a pretty spectacular place, any time of the year:

It was a delightful afternoon, and one of my very best Christmas presents! We are eager to return and try this again. It was refreshing and inspiring!

Chilean Dinner

So far, Bonnie and I are more into learning about Chilean culture than Matt is, but I'm sure he'll catch up. Tonight, we had dinner at Pantrucas, a small restaurant in Edgemont operated by a very friendly Chilean couple. Bonnie had a "churrasco palta" (kind of a flatbread sandwich with steak, avocados, tomatoes, etc.) and I had "ave palta" (same thing, but with chicken). We also had a tasty ham and cheese empanadas, and tried a kind of poblano soup made with beans, squash, and chiles. Delicious stuff! We look forward to trying some of the local delicacies in Chile in a couple of years!

Oh, and the Mountains!!

Along with the beautiful white trees in the valleys, the snow-covered mountains are absolutely breathtaking. When the blue sky returns after a new snowfall, I can stare at my Timpanogos for hours.

Winter Wonderland

Winter in Utah can be spectacular! Last weekend's warmer rainy weather, followed by colder snow, made for some very heavy shoveling. But it also coats the trees with whiteness and makes the whole world look like a fairyland. I snapped most of these photos from the car while driving around town.

Tasty dinner

My sweet daughter felt sorry for her daddy, who was trying to get by with his son but without his dear wife (who is visiting her family in Virginia). Today, she brought her beau over and they made pizza dough for us, and we topped our own little mini pizzas for dinner. Delicious! It was a welcome gift after a long and busy day of Church meetings. Thanks, Sarah and Brian!

Temple Day

We had the blessing today to accompany Matthew to the Mount Timpanogos temple to receive his endowment. It was quite an experience for me to be there as escort for my son! He and I drove out around 2:30 for the initiatory portion, and had a brief meeting with a member of the temple presidency. Then Bonnie joined us for the 4:00 endowment session.

I really enjoyed the session today. I think part of the "freshness" for me was to see it through Matt's eyes, to imagine that I was experiencing everything for the first time. It was hard to think that far back; I received my endowment in the Provo temple in May 1976. I remember Mom and Oma being with me, but don't recall who else was. Maybe Bishop Dennis Dixon and his wife?

Matthew seemed to respond well and comprehend quite a bit, but admitted his head was spinning when we chatted later! He was looking forward to returning so he could learn more.

We enjoyed a dinner in the temple cafeteria and some more quiet conversation, before hurrying home so I could show up late for my stake interviews and meetings. The other presidency members had expressed gladness to "cover" for me so I could enjoy this afternoon and evening.

Three Survivors

When I arrived at Mom's apartment today at lunchtime, she was enjoying a visit with her two sisters-in-law. It was fun to see these three great ladies together! Anna is still living on her own and is as perky and on-the-ball as ever. Alene is also doing very well, living with her son Ted in Mona. The two of them apparently do quite a bit together, including weekly visits to the Provo temple.

These three women seem so different in many ways. They come from quite different backgrounds and have lived very different lives. But they are bound together by having married three of the brothers in the Kenison family. It would have been nice to have Vida, the only remaining sister, here as well!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

It's hard to believe our little baby boy turned 19 years old today! "Time flies on wings of lightning" and the years have gone quickly by. This photo was taken by Matt's "foster family" (who hosted him until the adoption was arranged) when he was 2 days old. They were the first to care for him and love him, and wrote a glowing report of what a wonderful baby he was. He was about 2 1/2 weeks old when we received the wonderful surprise phone call (surprise because it was months earlier than we anticipated) from LDS Family Services in Denver inviting us to come down and meet our new son. What a wondrous time that was for us all! We named him Matthew, which means "gift from God" — we truly considered him to be a special gift. And his middle name, Walter, honors my father.


Sarah, who was a few months short of 2 at the time, quickly bonded with her new little brother - this photo was taken on February 25, 1990, when Matt was about 6 weeks old. She loved to help care for him, feed him, comfort him when he cried, and play with him. As the years have passed, they have continued to have a most wonderful relationship; we've loved watching them grow up and learn together, and share their strengths with each other in ways that have blessed them both.


Now Matthew is a fine young man, soon to be a servant of the Lord in Chile. He and Sarah still love and support each other. We're proud of him and continue to appreciate his warm and friendly personality, his kindness to others, and his love of life. He has so much good to offer, and we can only hope and pray he continues on the course he has begun. We believe the future holds wonderful things for this fine son of ours!

Looking forward with hope

We made our periodic visit to the Moran Eye Center at the UofU in SLC this morning. We first visited them last May after the doctors in Provo were unable to give me convincing answers on my failing eyesight. We've been very grateful that we went there. The earlier doctors said it kind of looked like glaucoma but didn't fit all the symptoms; they were trying to find other explanations for the continued loss of vision in my left eye. But the specialists at Moran quickly diagnosed glaucoma; a very thin cornea in my left eye was making the pressure readings more difficult and creating confusion.

I lost as much as 40% of the vision in my left eye, but since starting the aggressive pressure control treatment with eye drops morning and night, there has not been any further loss. I won't ever get back what I've lost, but I'm grateful the decline was stopped.

I love John Milton's "Sonnet XIX" and can relate to it, though fortunately I'm only partially "spent":

When I consider how my light is spent,
  Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
  And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
  My true account, lest He returning chide;
  "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
  Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
  Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
  And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
  They also serve who only stand and wait."

Goodbye to a friend

We learned today that Mom's friend, Larry Cozzens, passed away on Sunday. The family called Seville to make sure that Mom knew — that was kind of them. I was able to track down one of his daughters this evening and confirm the details. He took a downturn about Christmas time (just after we saw him last) and had been put on morphine for the pain, and weakened pretty quickly. He died very peacefully on Sunday. He had talked to us several times about being eager to be reunited with his wife, so this must be a happy time.

Mom got to know Larry at the Seville, where they both lived and became acquainted. Larry lived in Wyoming most of his life and worked as a policeman. But as his health became more fragile, his two daughters (who live in this area) moved him down to be closer to them.

He used to encourage Mom to get out of bed more and walk for exercise. When the weather was good (and while she was more active), he would come in the morning and knock on her door to get her moving. She recalls that much of the time when they walked, he got impatient with her slow pace and walked on ahead. But he still did a lot to help get her moving more. And when he was tired or not feeling well, she would check on him and encourage him. They developed a supportive and positive friendship.

Larry used to walk with a cane, and was quite unsteady. He fell and injured himself a few times, breaking his arm and then his leg and hip. When he was in the hospital or rehab center, Mom would miss him, often going down to his apartment to check on him (forgetting he was not there). Eventually, after his last accident, the family had to move him to a care facility where he could get more rehabilitation and nursing care.

Mom loved to visit Larry and would ask me to take her every couple of weeks. It was sometimes an ordeal to get her into the truck and there, but she "lit up" when we arrived in his room and did a great job encouraging him. Her goal was always to make him laugh or smile, and she always succeeded, even when he was having a hard day. She is such a natural at caring and helping; some of that seems to be left over from her days as a first grade teacher. It's fun to watch her assume that role. Our visits usually didn't last very long, but they were definitely worth the effort.

Mom seems to be taking the loss pretty well. It helped that there had already been the separation of him moving away; if he had still been living at the Seville, I think it would have been much more difficult for her. But she does say regularly, "I'm going to miss him!" I know she will. She's lost a number of men in her life, and I don't think it gets easier.

Here are a couple of videos of some visits we made in December 2007:







ADDENDUM:
I found this obituary in the Cody Wyoming Enterprise newspaper.

Sweet Winter

Winter in Utah can be so delightful, so uplifting, so inspiring! Today was one of those days. The snow started at midday, and continued steadily and quietly on through the evening. Some of my snooty and spoiled relatives on the west coast have lost the appreciation for what a wonderful thing it is to live in snowy Utah in the winter. I love this stuff.

Traffic was slow and cautious; it took me over 30 minutes to get home from work, more than double the normal.


Once home, it was nice to just sit in our quiet and warm home and watch the beauty accumulate outside. Look how nicely the camera flash highlights the falling snowflakes on our back deck:


There's so much to learn, so much to appreciate in a wonderful Utah snowstorm:

1. "Slow down, you move too fast!" If you're not in a hurry, it's fun to drive (especially with 4-wheel drive traction).
   
2. Courtesy helps; drivers watch out for each other.
3. Wonderful invigorating physical exercise in shoveling snow from the driveway and sidewalk (forget the gym!).
4. Be grateful for warm, dry, safe shelter; it's so nice to watch the snow fall from indoors.
   
5. Recognize the blessing of moisture that fills reservoirs and nourishes our valley.
   
6. Skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling...
7. There's a pristine purity, a "winter wonderland" beauty in fresh snow.
8. It's wonderful to sleep breathing the cool, invigorating air but lying under the toasty warm covers.
   

Buffalo Bob and Los

Our most polite and friendly houseguest, Buffalo Bob Cannon, treated us to "Buffalo Bacon Burgers" for lunch today. We all enjoyed the meaty taste. We've all been eating too much this week... ugh. But this was worth it.

The cook working hard.

Nice looking meal!

A happy customer.

As if that weren't enough food, we all headed out to Los Hermanos for dinner. We had a really nice waiter who took very good care of us.

Happy New Year 2009!

Bonnie and I have had quite a few "New Year's Eve" celebrations in recent years where we were home alone — which usually means we just go to bed at the regular time. However, we were pleased to host a real party tonight, with the visiting Cannons and a few DeLongs (just missing our own children, since Sarah worked until midnight and Matt worked but made it home about 11). We enjoyed eating all evening (including some Chilean alfajores), playing games and puzzles, and watching TV.

"The Incident"
As "the clock struck twelve" and the new year arrived, there was a small spontaneous and totally unplanned incident that involved several cans of "spray string" and a certain very deserving victim.


After the cleanup, there was a "consolation snuggle" that made it all worthwhile — right, Judy??