Between Christmas and New Years

Kirsti and Ryan and Alice returned to Utah on Thursday, the 27th.   By the time they left, Alice was pretty comfortable with Grandpa and me.  In the morning, we took her on a walk in the borrowed stroller over to the library for about an hour while Kirsti and Ryan packed up.  Here she is with her Aunt Sarah....

 I drove the Merrill family to the Mesa airport in the late morning and then I drove to the mission office where Steve and I worked the afternoon "shift".  Sarah drove Steve to the office and then they left early to get Steve to a P.T. appointment at 4:30.  Such was that day....

I might explain that the mission office was closed on Monday, the 24th and Tuesday, the 25th.  Because the Poulsons and we have family in town, the Harris's offered to cover the office on Wednesday, the 26th.  The Poulsons filled in Thursday morning and we took the afternoon.  Then, Elder Wall covered all of Friday. 

Friday, we explored South Mountain.  We drove to the summit for a panoramic view of Phoenix.  A chilly view, I might say...

We then headed back up to northern Phoenix to visit the Deer Valley petroglyphs - ancient rock art located right smack in the middle of housing subdivisions! 

There is a small fee to visit this site but a nice little museum is included.

Saturday continued to be chilly - and we had a "chill" kind of day.  Steve and I went to the temple in the morning.  Sarah and I baked an apple pie that afternoon.  And, in the evening, we collected a patio table and four chairs from the missionary apartment in Anthem.  The history of this table and chairs is buried way back to some set of earlier missionaries however many years back.  With the Harris's apartment purging (they are the senior missionary couple assigned to housing inspections), it was decided that this outdoor furniture was no longer necessary for the elders.  I suggested it might be appropriate for a senior missionary house and so that is how we now have patio furniture.  Now, if it would just warm up a bit so we can enjoy it!  Notice that there are now just three bikes in back.  Torey Crook, former missionary, down from Idaho for a visit during the holidays, also came by on Saturday to collect his bike.  Now there is just Sam Webb's bike and ours (which are actually mission bikes on loan to us)   

On Sunday, we had our Anthem missionaries over for dinner.  Elders Faber and Eldridge.  And, they fell in love with Lily and Bones, much to Sarah's delight.

Jewel of the Creek

The day after Christmas, we drove to Cave Creek so we could share the Jewel of the Creek trail with Sarah, Kirsti, Ryan, and Alice.  

This trail has a small cave - so, of course, Sarah had to explore....

It is an easy, short trail and we had a nice morning.



We brought both cars so Kirsti and Ryan could take Alice home after the hike for her nap.  Steve, Sarah, and I went into the town of Cave Creek to visit the Rare Earth Gallery (of course), the City Creamery (although temperatures had dropped that day and eating ice cream was kind of chilly), and Frontier Town with all the little shops.  I took advantage of the after-Christmas sales and bought for myself a Navajo necklace.  It is a "reduced" version of the kind I had been admiring every since coming here.

what I have admired.....

what I bought.....at a fraction of the price!

Christmas in Anthem

Weather was delightful in the days leading up to Christmas. We took walks to the Anthem city park on the 23rd and 24th.

this is Steve holding his grabber (what we use to pick up trash)

Christmas eve night, we drove to the Anthem outlet mall featuring the tallest cut Christmas tree in Arizona.  

Christmas day was slow and relaxed with plenty of time for phone calls / FaceTime with family.

All our stockings are packed away in Columbia but Kirsti brought their stockings down

Our "fancy" Christmas dinner table....

We had a wonderful Christmas day here in Anthem, Arizona

Twas the week before Christmas....

Ever since mid-November, the mission office has been overwhelmed with packages from the families of our 170 missionaries.  USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon delivery people are practically on a first name basis with us!  We at the office have had to find creative ways to get all these packages off of the shelves and to the elders and sisters.  Deliveries were particularly heavy this past week.  Below is just a sampling of  one day of USPS. (Sisters Bosley, Grahl Delvaux, and Jensen)

We asked our Zone Leaders to come to the office on Friday, December 21st between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. to collect all the remaining packages since the office would then be closed until the 26th.

Below are those elders who finished the day with us that Friday.

Elders Karl, Dopp, Hirschi, Eilers, Fawson, Sanders, Jensen, and Packard

Also going on during the week was "Remembering Christmas".  Tuesday through Friday, two zones came to the mission home to have dinner, collect packages brought from the office, watch the Polar Express, exchange white elephant gifts, open a gift from their family, decorate sugar cookies, and sing carols around the neighborhood. For the sugar cookie decorating, three of us senior sister missionaries had each baked 20 dozen cookies.  I bought colored sprinkles, mini M&Ms, and a huge bucket of icing from Sams Club.  Each afternoon of Remembering Christmas, Steve and I drove to the mission home so I could help get the cookie decorating all set up and so Steve could hand out new fuel credit cards in exchange for expiring ones.  Then we returned to the office - except for Tuesday when Steve and I actually stayed for the whole event.  It was really nice.  Food was so good.  I love the Polar Express more and more with every viewing.  And, it was not as cold as last year when the sun went down.  Oh, it definitely got chilly but there were more propane tower warmers this year, too.   Here are some photos of the events.  

ugly sweater photo

Friday, December 21st, Kirsti, Ryan, and Alice flew down to be with us for Christmas!

And, on Saturday, Sarah and her two dogs - Lily and Bones - drove down to be with us.  This is Alice saying "hello" to Lily.  For the most part, when Alice was up and around, Lily was outside or in her kennel because she is so rambunctious.  Bones, on the other hand, was allowed to hang around because he is so calm and gentle.  Alice just loved him!

Also on Saturday afternoon, Kirsti and I drove down to Mesa to play Christmas music for my sister Jerri's care facility.  We were joined by a very old friend, Diena Moore.  She grew up living in the house behind my sister Jerri and we got to be good friends when I lived with my sister for two summers during my high school years.   Jerri was working night shifts at Motorola and, in the summer when school was out, I came to supervise my nephews Rob and Jim, and my niece Amy.  So, last summer, when I learned that Diena was still in Mesa, I texted a proposal that she and I play Christmas string duos.  I had remembered her to be a good violinist (and pianist).  She agreed but, as the months progressed, it became clear that she was clearly more comfortable playing piano.  When  I knew Kirsti was going to be in town on the 22nd, I suggested she bring her violin for Kirsti and she bring a keyboard and play piano.  And, so, that is what we did.  And it turned out very well.  Diena is a fantastic pianist and sight reader and Kirsti did terrific on violin. 

my sister, Jerri

Here am I with Diena, seeing each other for the first time in probably 40 + years.  And then me picking oranges from the dozens of trees surrounding my sister Jerri's care facility.

The Arizona cello tour

Last week was full of cello playing.  I was able to play in the Glendale North Stake performances of the Messiah on Friday and Saturday, December 14th and 15th.  It was so fun.  The choir was huge - and they sounded really good.... as did the soloists.  The orchestra was small - 4 violins, 2 violas, me and a bass player.  Good thing we had an organ.  Steve attended Friday and my sister, Juli, drove down for Saturday night.  Here I am after the Saturday performance.  

Juli and I reprised our "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" on Sunday, the 16th in the Rose Lane Ward at 9:00 (one of the inner-city wards of Phoenix) and the Gavalon Peak Ward at 11:00 (Steve's and my ward).  We played our best-est ever in Gavalon Peak, I think.   

Steve and I were invited to dinner Tuesday night with Sisters Ziegler and Jones - senior sister missionaries assigned to our mission.  Sister Ziegler is a pianist and composer and she gave me a song that she hoped I could play in cello.  I transcribed it on Finale into bass clef and brought the music and my cello to their apartment that night and we played a cello / piano duet.  It is a very pretty piece.  Sister Ziegler also played some of her other compositions and she is pretty good.  At the next senior missionary gathering at the mission home, we will play this duet.  

To close - and not about a cello - below are two of our Zone Leaders:  Elders Hopkins and Manalansang.  (Elder M is from the Philippines, in case you couldn't tell.  Elder H is from Idaho, in case you couldn't tell).  They are some of our favorites.  Although, being here for 18 months, we have a LOT of favorites!

Christmas dresses

I am sewing for little girls again!  And I just love it.  The green one is for Alice and the red ones are for Lucy and Larkin.  Christmas dresses.  I finished them - as well as bow ties for Noah and Quinn - in time to mail them on the 3rd and 6th of December.  (I tried to mail on the 5th but the post office was closed in honor of the funeral of George H. W. Bush)

When I wasn't madly sewing and packaging, it was a fairly normal week.  Steve went to physical therapy twice.  We welcomed 14 new missionaries to the Arizona Phoenix Mission on Tuesday, the 4th.  That is always a crazy busy time.  And it brings a lot of bike work for Steve - taking bikes to Golden Spoke for disassembling and packing and then taking them to Fed Ex for shipment back home.  

I FINALLY got my cello bow back from repair.  I took it in over two months ago for a broken frog.  Thankfully, I have a cheap, back-up bow I was able to use.  I guess the time it took was worth it, though, because it looks perfectly new.  Just in time for upcoming performances.  Steve and I drove up to Payson on Sunday so my sister Juli and I could play our "O Come O Come Emmanuel" piano/cello duet for her ward and for another Payson ward.  I had a full Messiah rehearsal later that night.  This week are two Messiah performances and two more "O Come O Come" performances this Sunday.  

Our ward Christmas party was Saturday night - a nice affair - and then we went to a holiday open house held by Kathleen Hoopes, the secretary in the Family Services office across the hall from the mission office.  She collects nativities and she has a very impressive and beautiful collection from all over the world.  Steve went a little nuts :)

One BIG bit of news is a special all-mission conference we had Saturday morning with Elder Gerrit Gong.   I got to put together a missionary choir and it was so great.  So many elders and sisters wanted to sing and I had two elders on violin obligato.  I just loved it.

Just a couple of fun photos.  The first is our neighbor, Janet Wells, with Mochi, her Westie on our front driveway.  The second is Steve on one of our early morning walks around Anthem.