HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHEN

(Even if you never look at my blogs Steve:(!

Thought to Ponder:  Quoting from Stand A Little Taller:  
       "I will give unto the children of men line upon line. . . for unto him that receiveth I will give more."  (2 Nephi 28:30)
     President Hinckley's words:  "Make room for the church in your life.  Let your knowledge of its doctrine grow.  Let your understanding of its organization increase. Let your love for its eternal truths become ever and ever stronger."

Birthdays, etc.:  Happy Birthday to Steve today and
                            Happy Birthday to Patrick on the 24th and 
                            Eli on the 25th
I cannot believe how quickly the years fly by! (May we use these years wisely!)

Mission Notes:     We made it through transfers, departures and arrivals - it went pretty well altho it has still been a challenge to get all of the addresses and phone numbers correct!  Our routine of meeting with the new arrivals at the Stake Center is getting a little more in place so that was nice; Elder Terry continues to hunt for new apartments and then go and put the furnishings in - it is a hard job and I am grateful that Dad was moved to the Finance part of the mission work.  I would not be physically able to help him get those apartments furnished, while Sister Terry can...she is considerably younger:)!

The work continues and the elders and sisters are amazing; we love them and grateful for their example.  Makes me so much want to be actively sharing the gospel, but that is hard to do much of right now.  I was sad that Stephanie and Julia were not able to come to church today, but the elders teaching them knew about it and expected that.  They say they are doing well with their reading and the lessons, so that is great.  We have a Seniors conference in September, so will get to see the Gausnells again...that will be fun.

Family Stuff:     We so very much enjoyed talking with some of our children on our Anniversary and/or close to it!  We do miss you and wish there were some miraculous way to live close to every one of you.  (If you discover it, please let us know right away!)  Since Dad was one of the drivers on Monday because of the transfers, we really didn't see each other all day... but he did make it back from Medford early enough that we felt we could go out to dinner.  So we did, and decided to try the Red Lobster here; we had a great dinner and then ate our leftovers for our lunch on Tuesday:).  Finally got Dad to bring his iPad and take pictures of the flowers sent to us by Em...and had another person snap a picture of us at the same time.  I am posting it here so you can save it for your family history book if you want: Jim and Sandy Oliphant 46 years after their wedding day:).

So beautiful!

Hmmmm....46 years???

Guess it is OK after all!

I have a tired brain, so will not be able to remember what others are doing as well as I would like to.  Christi was in Utah early this week with Ammon for the final medical stuff to have his hearing aid work properly, then traveled off to eastern Wyoming for some kind of a gathering.  I don't even remember which kids got to go with her and which ones Chris got to hang out with.  Sara called and I cannot for the life of me remember those details. They sound like they are doing well.  Emily, I discovered, has not been well - she is struggling with a cough that probably came from Eli.  We are praying for everyone's health - life is not so fun without it.  Visited with Steve - again he sounds good; no details on how Holly is doing with school right now, but sure that she is doing a great job.  Charlotte sounded busy.  Charlotte and Seth are busy as usual; she made it through Girls Camp:)!  (I think she probably did great!)  Seth is working long hours as always...but somehow survives it as do the other great men in this family:)!  Mary seems quite happy and busy in Provo; sounds like Sub Zero is doing pretty well and we wish them continued improvements & success. She told me she is planning to visit in September - mostly Michael but will see us too.  It is hard work when you have these long distance relationships:)!

Dad and I are trying very hard to get better at this genealogy stuff.  Spent time with a couple here last night learning our way around Family Search/Family Tree a little bit and are sending names to the Bullingers for their kids to do the baptisms.  Chris and Christine will do the initiatory work and whatever else they would like to accomplish but have to save two endowments for Dad and I to do at the Stake Temple session September 6th.  We are so happy to have grandchildren doing the baptisms; when we get further along it really won't make a difference I suppose...but feels good now.  We are going to try getting better at this so that maybe we can give names to those who are doing temple trips in the future:)!  Technology is amazing - hope it all works.  We scanned and e-mailed the ordinance requests this afternoon...will wait to see:).

Not sure much of this was worth reading... but that's all for now.  Except I am adding a few pictures from our outing last weekend with the other senior couples:

Dinner at the Diner:)

PK Park

Up to Bat!  (Other Team)

First Row of Couples

2nd row of Couples - Dad and I are focused on the game:)!