Birthdays and Sunsets

Happy Birthday Dan and Doyeon

October is a busy month for birthdays.  This past week it we celebrated 2 birthdays--Dan and Doyeon!  Doyeon is our beautiful, now12 year-old.  She and I enjoyed a fun date to Station Park for treats and a trip to the book store.  She loves reading--just like  her grandmother, who incidentally, she's named after (Catharine Doyeon).  Jennie's currently tending all of Dan's children while Dan, Jieun, Nick and Sara are touring Italy and Switzerland.  Jennie made the chocolate mousse cake.  She said it didn't turn out how she wanted, but it obviously tasted fine.

Doyeon, Hyeji and Yuna enjoying the chocolate mousse cake

I'll be tending Nick's children from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon next week because Sara's sister has some sort of business trip she has to take.  It'll be good since I haven't seen them for a while.

I don't see the Jackson's very much either, though we plan on spending Thanksgiving with them this year.  We don't get to go to Mav or Max's ball games very often, but occasionally we get pictures.  We understand that Mav has come a long way in his baseball skills this year.

                                                                                 Mav

Roy spent half a week in Manila this week getting necessary chores done before the weather turns.  I thought about going with him, but I had a few reasons to stay home. 1) Crista's on the verge of having a baby; 2) There was a reception for Jacob Nielson (Tristan and Matt's son) and his beautiful bride; and 3) There was a funeral in Logan that I thought maybe I should attend. So, I decided to stay home to handle these events.  

I went with Nan and Bruce to Jacob's reception.  It was a lot of fun to visit with family, say our  goodbyes to Phil and Charlotte (they leave in a couple of weeks), and meet Jacob's beautiful bride.  

The funeral was for a first cousin of mine; Bob Cook, who was 68 years old.  I vacillated about going to the funeral because I only recall meeting Bob 2 or 3 times.  I knew, however, that family was very important to Bob and that he had felt a little on the outskirts of the Cook family since his father had divorced his mother when he was 2 years old. However, I knew that if I went to the funeral, I'd not only see some of my Smith cousins who live in the Logan area, but I'd also be able to spend some time with Crista and Matt and the kids.  Christine and Steve also came to the funeral. It turned out to be a great decision to make the drive to Logan. 

Bob's funeral was excellent, and everything was kept within an hour.  He had three children and they all spoke.  It seemed that Bob was a wonderful man, husband and father.  He had a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as did his children.  They said that Bob loved astronomy and timed his departure from this earth to the day after the eclipse.  He wanted to experience this phenomenon from this side of the veil before he died. One of Bob's friends played a beautiful piano rendition of Oh My Father. The final speaker was another first cousin, Geoff Smith (who I know much better than I knew Bob).  He happened to be in the stake presidency of Bob's stake.  He quoted my grandfather Cook, who said that what he wanted at his funeral was "preaching."  And he quoted a poem written by my grandmother Cook.  When I went looking for the book of her poems to see if I could find the poem he read, I couldn't find it.  I remember looking for it once before and being unable to find it.  I definitely need to procure a copy.  Bob had told his children last week what he wanted them to say at his funeral.  He said to tell everyone that the gospel is true and most importantly that "this is not the end!"  

One of Bob's grandchildren, after learning about "pallbearers" had told his mother, "I can lift 50 lbs.  I can be a "Bob-bearer."  She told her mom, who said, "That makes more sense--his name is Bob, not Paul.  So, in the program it listed the "Bob-bearers and the honorary Bob-bearers."  I thought that was really sweet.

Following the funeral and catching up with my Smith cousins, also from Logan; we decided to have lunch together.  We all went to Roger's home where he ordered from Tandoor Oven.  It was so nice to be in his home where we could visit without a lot of noise.  He  has a beautiful view of the Logan temple and lives about 1/2 mile from Crista.  My cousin Randy Smith, who is close to my age, had to leave before eating because they are taking care of a three-year-old granddaughter.  Their son in-law who is around Crista's age is fighting a serious blood cancer.  His prognosis is good, but the treatment has been horrendous.  They nearly lost him last week due to a bowel perforation that occured because of a tumor being removed.  Everyone has difficult trials.  Meredith Smith Ashton was also there--she's the oldest daughter of my dad's youngest sister (and youngest sibling).

At the table from left: Geoff and Peggy Smith, Meredith Ashton, Catharine, Roger Smith, Christine, Steve, Amelis and Gabe.  Roger's wife Andrea is taking the picture.  Amelia and Gabe didn't attend the funeral, but joined us for lunch.

After visiting with my cousins I finally made it over to the Vance home.  Ruby and Greta met me at the car.  They always love it when I visit and would have especially liked it if I'd stayed the night.  I would have if Crista had been more sure she'd go into labor right away 😀.  We walked to the USU campus for Aggie ice cream.  It was about a 1 mile walk each way, but it was all uphill on the way there.  It was fine for all of us except it may have been a little miserable for Crista.  On the left: Matt, Greta, Ruby, Crista, Catharine, Bridget and Todd.  On the right, in age order, Todd, Bridget, Greta and Ruby.

While I was having fun with family, Roy was working hard at the cabin.  I'll let him write about what he did up there.  Mom stayed close to home in order to make sure that she would be available for Crista should the baby come.  So, I went up by myself Thursday afternoon in order to have a couple of Cabin work days.  It was hard work, necessary and fun!

    Roy's Section

On Friday, I mainly focused on the solar stuff!  It would cost a grundle of money to run power over to the Pole Barn so I decided to have it run off solar, which I know how to do.  As you can see I built a support structure out of angle steel and anchored it into the ground a foot and a half.  We'll see how it does with the winds up there.  I may add some other supports to it.  It generated 225 watts the go through a charge controller in the barn which switches as necessary the charge power to (4) 75 amp hour gel cell batteries.  An inverter which converted the 12 volt to 120 volt AC with a max of 4000 watts.

Anyway, kind of fun.

On the way to the cabin I stopped at Urie, Wyoming which is right next to Mountain View to the Henderson meat processing place.  I picked up the antelope meat I had had processed.  I was kind of surprised at how much I got out of the animal; somewhere around 100 lbs.  It will be interesting to try it out soon.

On Saturday morning I hired a couple of Brothers: Thomas and Daniel Draper from the Manila Ward to help me plant (5) Aspen Trees.  It's kind of a gamble with how dry it is up there but I thought that it might be nice to have some shade on the South side of the property once they get big enough.  They are supposed to grow fairly quickly.  Thomas is going to water them for me once a week until it turns really cold.

I also did a bunch of other things like finishing winterizing the 5th wheel, washing the windows, spraying some areas for weeds (around the gravel, etc).  I used the Honda trailer to bring the trees up as they were about 12 feet tall and very heavy.

Just before I left, a 5 minute storm came through.  Right after the storm I took a picture of the double rainbow, beautiful! 

Then as I was headed home I took a picture of the sunset a few miles before getting to Mountain View.  Oh, by the way, you all know the bumpy roller coaster section of the road after Mountain View on the way to Manila, they repaved it, it's pretty smooth now.

(End of Roy's section)

We missed the primary program in our own ward last week, since we were at Phil and Char's ward for their farewell. Luckily we saw Adrienne's kids program a few weeks ago, and this morning we were given the link for the Jackson's primary program.  Elise and the primary president sang I Feel My Savior’s Love while the kids had speaking lines in the foreground.  We got to see the program, but the camera man didn't do the best job.  At one time we had a great view of his stomach with his purple shirt and tie.  At least we saw the most important parts--when Max, Mav and Bev gave their parts.  

On left: Elise's primary president (she's a counselor), and Elise.  

In the picture on the right, Max is front and center.

 I just wanted to close with a story I read in the October Liahona.  It was a touching story about the Prophet Joseph Smith forgiving someone who hurt him immensely.

In the early years of the Church, William W. Phelps was a strong supporter of Joseph Smith. He was one of the first Latter-day Saints sent to Jackson County, Missouri, where the Lord called him as a counselor in the presidency there.

But as Brother Phelps began to stray, his behavior became so serious that the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that if Brother Phelps did not repent, he would be “removed out of” his place.⁴ He did not repent and was excommunicated on March 10, 1838.

Although William was rebaptized, his difficulties with the Church and Church leaders continued. In October 1838, he testified against the Prophet and other leaders of the Church. This led to Joseph Smith’s incarceration in November 1838.

For the next five months, the Prophet was imprisoned in two Missouri jails, including Liberty Jail.

By 1840, William W. Phelps had experienced a profound change of heart and wrote to the Prophet pleading for forgiveness. The letter Joseph wrote in response concluded with the couplet:

“‘Come on, dear brother, since the war is past,

“‘For friends at first, are friends again at last.’”⁵

Joseph freely forgave Brother Phelps and welcomed him back into full fellowship.

Four years later, when Brother Phelps learned that Joseph and Hyrum had been killed by a mob, he was devastated. Joseph’s forgiveness of Brother Phelps may have inspired him as he penned the beautiful and moving words to the hymn “Praise to the Man.”⁶