My Valentine!

Every Valentine's Day my Honey just does a splendid job of asking me to be his valentine. I buy him chocolate and give him hugs but this year I thought I'd better give him a big blog hug because I am so lucky to be his valentine. This week I read that you should never post anything on the Internet that you wouldn't like to see on the front page of a newspaper so I'm posting headlines that I would LOVE to see on the front page of any newspaper! Here are just a few news-worthy events from the life of My Valentine. Keep in mind, this is a summary of just ten days:

Grandfather Loves Making Valentines for His Grandkids...Especially with Lace

Thoughtful Homemade Valentine Expands from Grandchildren to Wife of Forty Years

Richard Eyre Fights for the Family and through an Internet Campaign Organizes "The Scaffolding Coalition"

RME Changes Flight and Drives Nine Hours Through Snow for Funeral of Beloved Extended Family Member

A Great Thinker Humbly Presents Fabulous Plan for Capitalizing on the Importance of the Family to a Church Authority

World Renowned Speaker and His Funny Wife Will Present Ways to Lift the Family at The Family First Conference in Mesa, Arizona.

Best Way to Make a Neighbor a Fast Friend...Invite them for Dessert

Richard Eyre Finds Help for Restoring and Painting Dilapidated House in Salt Lake City

The Importance of Emergency Preparedness is "Brought Home" to Eyres in SLC

Worldwide Speaker Sets Up Network for Speeches for the Coming Year

Love for Movies Shows as Author Attends Two in One Night

Grandfather Stops at Nothing to Research Ways to Fill a Grandchild's Needs

Aid Comes to YPO Families at a Ski Retreat in Utah with Help of Local Author

Author Learns More About Peace and Loving More from New Book by Buddhist Priest

Good Friends from Past YPO Events Dine with Eyres in Their Balinese House

Local Man Loves Singing to Beloved Granddaughter on her Sixth Birthday

Handsome Cross Country Skier, Tennis Player and "Lifter" Confident He will Win the "Resolutionary Challenge".

How lucky am I to be this guy's Valentine? What a life we live...all because of one amazing Valentine. I Love You Honey!

Fun in Baton Rouge Louisianna!

Wow, we are so lucky to be able to see things we would never have a chance to see on our own!  Last night we spoke to the Baton Rouge EO group.  We arrived the day before so we could explore a little.  We loved driving over the Mississippi River Bridge to Louisiana State University where the Sorority and Fraternity houses were just incredible...credits to the Old South!  Yesterday we went to see a couple of the old Plantations which are now museums.  The one below was our favorite and was called "The Oak Alley Plantation".  These trees called Live Oaks were planted at least three hundred years ago (and can live as many as a thousand years) by the plantation owner and were simply spectacular! The roots spread out just like the branches do.  The house was cool but the grounds covered with these incredible trees and it was awe-inspiring!

Here are the slave quarters.  At least they had great trees to look at!

It was so sad to see a mother with 5 children sold for "$1200 altogether", which wasn't as bad as selling them separately.  A good 35 year old slave went for up to $1000 but the really old ones (55) only brought $50 and the really really old ones (60) could be bought for $25.  What a totally tragic idea! 

We bought some great books though to read to the grandkids next summer with the original tales from Brer Rabbit as well as Little Black Sambo (politically correct or not), all stories that Dad and I grew up with which were Folk Tales from the slaves.  Fun Days!

Poor old JB Mopeltel!

We're finally getting around to fixing up poor old JB who has been sadly neglected for many years.  The leak in the kitchen finally got bad enough that we called in our expert, Eric and his friend Gustavo who actually had to tear out about a fourth of the ceiling to figure out where it was coming from. It was a pretty cold night in Salt Lake this night and a lot of heat ascended to heaven but just as they were about to cover it back up until spring the next day, the snow on the roof started melting again and wallah...they found the leak!  It's covered with plastic now and we hope that the sheetrock is back in and that some of the walls are painted.  We're in Phoenix, waiting for a flight home and wondering what it'll look like when we get there!

 

 

Fun Week!

We had a great week!  I love staying in one place (well two places) for a while and getting a thousand things on my million item list that I've been procrastinating done!  After our flood last week, I decided to clear out the storage rooms downstairs that have been bulging with "stuff" for thirty years. It was so fun to get a ton of stuff to the DI, The Assistance League and the garbage!  Saydi, I fulfilled my "give something away" and "clear an area" goals about three hundred fold this week!  Saydi I can't tell you how happy I am to be moving along on this "Resolutionary Challenge"!  I'm tracking my points on a separate sheet because the one you sent has disappeared. I cleared out my files and I guess it got lost in the shuffle.  Anyway, it's just a great way to get things done and keep focused on the things I really should do before I do the things I really want to do (not eat for example...I have lost 7 pounds...only four to go!) 

This weekend was wild and wonderful!   Friday and Saturday was an Ascend Conference at the Swiss Conference Center across from the Homestead and then on Saturday we swished out to Centerville to speak at a Stake Women's Conference for two of our former missionaries who are now grandparents. That always makes me feel weird!  How old are we anyway?  On the way back to Midway we stopped by for most of Jeff's Grandpa's funeral.  Leo Nelson (Nedra's father) was quite a guy!  It was so great to get to know him a little better...and Jeff in the process.  As you can imagine, the music was spectacular and the talks fascinating and uplifting.  Jeff and Karen came over for a few minutes on Saturday night before they shot off to Provo and it was fascinating to catch up with them.  In the process, we discovered that Saydi has a new calling...to sit alone with all three kids while Jeff sits on the stand as a new member of the bishopric.  His wonderful knowledge of the good people there and how to care for them will be an enormous blessing to  all!   I've committed Saydi to find a young woman to help.  It would be good for them! 

Sunday morning I got to give the lesson on Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament.  We all tried to feel the reverence of the chapel and start worshipping the minute we step through the doors, but it is SO hard not to meet and greet friends and take care of announcements etc.  The sacrament is such a huge blessing and really worshipping during the actual sacrament gives us a "be still and know that I am" moment.  The promise of having His spirit with us as we remember him throughout the week is incredible! 

Last night Margaret Archibald came by for dinner and a long chat about our history together and where we were going next. It is so fun to pick her brain because she is brilliant and has so many interesting things to say!  They are expecting four babies this year and Ashley is getting married in May.  After waiting forty years for this fun event (to marry a daughter), they are pretty excited! 

We are finally fixing up poor JB Mopeltel.  That ruckety-ruck house is falling apart but Mighty Eric, our great guy who is living in Pig 1 with his equally efficient and darling wife Leo are going to help us. Gustavo, their friend is painting.  It's going to be so fun to give that place a little face-lift, although we're not doing anything major, mostly fixing unseen problems and painting the living room, kitchen and halls! 

Hope you all had a great week too!  Carry on with that Resolutionary Challenge you Eyrealmers!