And I said to myself ... What a wonderful week.

To start our week I thought I'd share a couple of wonderful winter photos, to remind us at the end of January, after waking up to new snow on the average of every other day all month, that winter scenery can be beautiful.  This picture was posted by a gal that Dad grew up with (Sue Watts Harper).  It is 'our' mountain. Mt Olympus.  Dad drove to the base of this mountain during the intermission of the dance at the Institute at the U, the night we met.  He made our first date to climb it two days later. 

This stunning picture was taken in Finland, and was posted on a Finnish scenery account I follow on Instagram.  The Swan reminds us of the boat ride we took with the Kemppainens on the ocean where we joyfully watched a family of swans swimming in and out and around the dock. Of course that was in the summer, but what a magical winter scene this is.

and speaking of magical, here I am with my friend Aubrey.  Dad and I have ministered to her family for over a year and a half, and how we have come to love them.  Aubrey loves sushi, but no one else in her family likes it ... so here we are, in the magical afterglow of a sushi lunch.

After lunch Dad and I worked on projects to go to Treasures.

Then, through the generosity of our son, out of law, Dallas, we got to attend a wonderful movie at the Sundance Film Festival. Its the story of a school teacher who, against all odds, in a disadvantaged drug cultured town's elementary school, finds a measure of success. Its based on a true story, and is in Spanish with subtitles.

Dad swiped these pictures of Cam and Van off social media, shown at their great grandmother's funeral.  Cam is sitting on her cousin's lap, and Van is sitting on his Uncle Spencer's lap.  Just too cute not to save for posterity.

On Tuesday we worked on organizing the basement storage rooms for several hours, before heading to Mosida.  Here we are show making cushions for the tops of five gallon buckets to be used in a display for trek training.

They work well as hats too.

Here are a few of us at our devotional as well.

On Wednesday I went to work, while Dad headed up to work at Darby's.  I saw this fun picture of Marilyn Monroe dressed in an Idaho potato sack, and thought I'd save it for Brittany.

I did not work on Thursday, due to a trade I'd agreed to for another dealer.  Of course I headed to DI as the first of several errands I did that day, and ran into Janey, one of Ann's friends with whom I went kayaking a few times last fall.

I also saw these fun shoes, which reminded me of Robin.  Too bad they were too small for me.

I did buy a few items that I then went to the car and priced, and later dropped off at the Grove in PG on my way to Salt Lake. Where I picked up Van from school and watch him until his Mom got home.  His Dad was in DC for a few days, which necessitated this fun date.

I am TV challenged which necessitated other activities, like playing with their new puppy Moose, playing with Duplo and Dinosaurs, and art projects.  He's pretty fun to hang out with.

Dad headed to Darby's on Friday, but got home in time to ...

Take me to Becca's Preferred Client activity at their office in Orem.  It included dinner and entertainment with a man who proclaims himself a mind reader.  He came close to convincing me that he could read minds.

 Of course we always love this annual activity, because so many of our friends and family are good clients of hers, so its a bit of a reunion for us. This is Bryan a guy Dad worked with for years at Macey's, as did Becca, and is Becca's handyman for her rentals,  as well as Browns.  Robin and I became friends when we were assigned as Visiting Teachers back in the Butler 8th ward, when we lived in Cottonwood Heights.

My niece Sarah Rodney and her husband, Aaron.

And here are the Summers.

Becca did a great job.

and we had fun getting to know the grown up Krista Moe, and her husband, Josh, better.

This final activity included my niece Sarah, Krista, Hannah's boy friend Scott and Barb, so we felt pretty well represented.

At the end they did drawings for the fresh roses that had been the centerpieces, Scott and Robin Heuer both had their names drawn.  Yeah us again.

and here is the picture we snapped of ourselves with Hannah and Scott at the end.  Remember these balloons, you will see them again.

And we were not the only ones in the family having fun this week.  Darby flew to Texas to spend a few days with Emily's family.

Times with nieces and nephews in always priceless.

On Saturday Tina (another ministering sister and friend of ours) and I went to lunch and did some junking.  We had a great time of it, but left the afternoon so Dad and I could go to the Costco to get his birthday present. 

 While we were there we ran into 5 different people we know.  One was a sister in our ward, Ann Czappa, and while we were talking to her , the gray coat guy came by and he (Cordell Nielson) and Scott started chatting, a few minutes passed then the plaid coat guy (Travis) came by.  Dad knows both of them, and they know each other, as they all worked for Macey's, which kind of makes me laugh as they have all moved on from working for Macey's and they were all shopping at Costco (actually Travis works for Frantz Bread and was doing a pull up for work). We also saw Perry Ewell's parents who Dad works with at the temple. Of course the air fryer we bought for Dad's birthday, is not carried at Macey's, but we're not sure what excuse the other two had.  hahahaha

Today we had great church services and after Dad's nap,  we headed to Becca's for Dad's surprise birthday party.  We got to see the wonderful portraits that they had done in Hawaii last year.  How beautiful are these?

Darling Ashley made the perfect cake for Dad.

He loves his alter ego.

When asked how old she is, Cam shows you all five fingers and says 5 too.  I guess she is so smart she skipped a couple of years. (She's 2)

We all enjoyed Hawaiian Haystacks.

There are our hosts.

Brittany drove down from Idaho and Randy and Barb came too.

Here's our Bri.

Ashley and Andy double up to make room for more people to sit.

Fun to see Hannah and Scott for the second time in one weekend.

Dad called the penned in dogs, a petting zoo.  They were super well behaved, and our Eleanor is happy to pet them.

So fun to have Ashley and Andy, as always.

Nenny and Penny ... hahahaha, its really Nenna and Penny, or it could be Nenna and Penna. 

Visiting at the table, while others behind gather at the petting zoo.

Some casual joking around .... Thanks guys.

Besides the beautiful cake there was also S'mores brownies made by Eleanor, they even have a gram cracker crust.

Penny sewed a beautiful heart for her Papa.

Time to say goodbye to Ashley as she heads out.  These two who are next to each other in birth order rarely see each other.  So fun reunion. 

Van loved playing with the balloons. 

Brittany, J Scott and Eva. 

Reagan.

Elias put a happy face on  in this portrait of him with his Claw Hand Dad.   

Davin helped me build kid pyramids, which they all enjoyed, and were all rolling around and laughing.  Charley and Titan both had to fight their hair so I could see their faces.  Oh how we love these kiddles.  Thanks for making it fun Davin. 

Adi and Nenna saying goodbye to their cousins. (In case you forgot, Randy and Briahnna are first cousins, once removed, making these guys his first cousins, twice removed)

and I said to myself .... What a wonderful week.