A Good Week

This week has been fairly busy and Mother was able to get out quite a bit. It was fun to have Joe and Andrea come and visit on Sunday--Mother was so happy to have them come. She looks forward to visits from family. Best wishes to Andrea as she begins her service as ward Relief Society president. Mother told her how proud she is of her. Later she said she thought Andrea was quite young to be a RS president, but when I reminded her that Andrea is the same age as David (I think that's right??)and has a 14-year old daughter, she said, "Oh, that's old enough!" We're all still kids to her I think. Andrea will do an awesome job!

Monday was our ward empty-nesters Family Home Evening group. We haven't attended for a while--partly because we've had other things to do and partly because so many of the homes where they are held, have steps which are so difficult for mother. A man from our stake who served in the Navy on a destroyer during WW II spoke to us about some of his experiences. It was very interesting--plus yummy refreshments--I took fresh peach pie!

Tuesday evening we visited Art's parents for his Dad's 91st birthday. We enjoyed a nice visit--his birthday was actually on Wednesday, but we had another activity for Wednesday, which I'll tell you about next. We had a nice visit with the Coxes. When we arrived, the Priest Quorum from the ward was there. We went into another room so as not to disturb them, but it sounded like they had a short lesson, then the Priests sang to them and they had refreshments. As they were leaving we expressed our appreciation to them for coming. One young man said, "Oh, I love coming here!" Mom and Dad told us the Priests come about once a month. Very nice for mom and dad and I'm sure it is a blessing in the lives of those young men.

If you went to the broadcast of Priesthood meeting, you may have recognized Art in the choir. He was one of just 5 men from our ward that were able to be in the choir. It was a great experience. Of course, we couldn't attend the meeting, but on Wednesday they had a dress rehearsal at the Conference Center and families were invited to attend. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day. We left in time to pick Art up at work and went out to dinner at the Garden Cafe in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building--it's one of my favorite places to eat. We were happy that Sarabeth's family was able to join us. We had some time after dinner to stroll through part of Temple Square--enjoyed the beautiful flowers--we were looking for President Uchtdorf's forget-me-nots, but didn't find them. The kids loved all the water features!  The Conference Center is always impressive, but when it's nearly empty, it seems so very large. We loved hearing them practice the beautiful hymns. Brent and Sandi Griffiths' son-in-law was also in the choir. After the rehearsal, we went up to the "Hall of the Presidents" where they have busts of all the presidents of the church. We were fortunate--they had just received President Monson's bust this week. I don't know why, but it was my favorite--very well done and was such a good likeness.

Love this picture of Mother and Daxton with the temple background.

The Priesthood Choir--Can you find Art??

Art is in the second row--see the two

men with white hair? Art is the one on the right.

Mother had a permanent on Thursday--now her hair stays pretty a little longer.

This week was also a week of birthdays--Dad Cox's on Wednesday, Morgan's on Friday and Sarabeth's on Sunday (Also Andrea's--Happy Birthday!). Friday evening Art and I visited Morgan to wish him and happy bday and take a gift--we gave each of them a tree to plant in their yard. Mother was planning to go with us, but just before we left someone called and said they were coming to visit. She couldn't remember who it was that called, but thought she should stay home since she said she would be there. When we got back, she said Brent and Sandi had visited and stayed for about an hour. It's so nice that they pop in once in a while--actually quite frequently.

Mother loved going to lunch with Carrie Lyn on Thursday. She couldn't remember where they went, but said it was new and really good. It was great for me because I had a presidency meeting that day at 11:30. I had asked Amy if she would fix lunch for Mother--she does a good job, but she was happy not to have to worry about it!

Mother had a bad day on Saturday--really didn't feel well and spent most of the day sleeping. The home health nurse came that day and discharged her from home health as her "certification" has run out. The nurse highly recommended that she go on hospice. It was a hard decision to make and I hope this is the right thing to do. I had some concerns that I discussed at length with the nurse and the physical therapist. One of those concerns is that if you are on hospice, you can't go to the hospital. That really disturbed me, but they have a physician who makes visits, a nurse who makes visits (more regularly than home health), plus some of her medications and medical equipment will be paid for. Mother was so unhappy the last time she went to the hospital--I know she doesn't want to do that again and neither do I--so I guess we will go this route and see how it is. We can always "revoke" it if we're not happy with it.

Today mother seemed to be feeling a little better, though not great. She came over and enjoyed both of the conference sessions and dinner with our kids and grandkids. We celebrated Morgan and Sarabeth's birthdays together--that required cheesecake (Aunt Nyla's recipe!) for Sarabeth and Black Forest Cake (also Aunt Nyla's recipe!) for Morgan. I thought conference was so wonderful--love the conference weekend "holiday".

Which do you want--Cheese cake or Chocolate?

Mother chose chocolate--always her favorite!

Have a great week and know of Mother's love for each of you!