Doug worked so hard the day before polishing his
shoes. We had a couple of hours of "Spring Thaw" and
look at them!
Our car was so dirty we decided to go to the car wash.
I was sitting in the car while Doug was outside freezing
his behind off... I was taking pictures because of the
story that was unfolding...
As Doug is taking great care to get every little spot
of road salt off of the car, I am looking out the front
window and seeing...
...that it is starting to SNOW! Where the heck did
that come from. There was no hint of snow when
we pulled into the car wash!
The pretty little flakes just keep getting worse. The
NY wind starts to blow, too! Doug still hasn't seen the
snow...
It is snowing heavier and heavier and faster and
faster! Big flakes! Doug said if the dollar sized
snowflakes were really dollar bills we would have
been set for life!
The snowflakes started to blow in on the Jeep as we
were washing it!
The Snowflakes just kept getting bigger and bigger
and coming faster and faster!
This is just the beginning of the blizzard! So far, it
is nothing. On the way home it was a killer!
Because this is a slow news week, here is some mission
trivia (if you will) about the Smith Frame home.
This is what the "Smith" home looked like before they
started the restoration.
This is the finished restoration taking it back to what
it looked like when the Smith Family lived there in 1825.
Hello Family! This has been a kind of slow "news week" but it has still been very busy. You can tell that it was slow because of the pictures posted this week on the blog. Oh well, they can’t all be great.
I don't have pictures but (you can check them out on Andrea's blog) we are so proud of Brent this week. He had a rank advancement in the Air Force and is now a Captain! We really wished that we could have been there to see his "bars" pinned on. He has been very fortunate and has advanced quite quickly. He was ranked #1 in the group of people that do the same thing he does (whatever that is). He was ranked ahead of two of the general's assistants. That is pretty cool. He is doing a great job! We are glad that we have such good men in the military. Our members really stand out and shine!
Maybe you had to be here for the car wash pictures to be funny. No kidding’, when we drove in the car wash there wasn’t a hint of snow… when we got out it was such a terrible blizzard that Doug couldn’t drive. The snow was making him dizzy and he almost drove off the road. I changed seats and drove home for him. Believe me, it was hard. The last time we washed our car it rained buckets the next day. We are trying to decide if we should just leave our car really dirty so that Spring gets here sooner, or try to keep it clean so that NY can get some more water. I think we both voted on the early Spring!
With our warped sense of humor, the mud on the shoes was funny too. That is because, on Saturday Doug took all of our shoes out of the closet and polished them. They were "spit shined" and looking beautiful. Today (Sunday) less than 24 hours later, we had a "Spring Thaw" for a couple of hours and Doug’s shoes looked really awful. It took him 45 minutes to clean them up again. The really funny thing is that he is lucky that his coat, suit, hat and head weren’t all covered in mud. He was trying to step lightly and hit the "dryer" places when he stepped on a very dry looking area… His feet went out from under him and he was lucky that he didn’t land on his backside or on his head. I must have a little of my mother in me because I thought it was very funny… Doug still doesn’t understand why I thought it was so hilarious! I tried to tell him that it was genetic, but I’m not sure that he understands.
Yesterday we had a very busy day at the hill. 267 visitors!!! After of month of 0 to 15 a day, it was really a shock. (We can hardly wait for pageant and the 3000 visitors a day!) One group that came was a Bible Class from the University of Rochester. Each semester the teacher brings her class out here to learn about our church. They were here from 9:30 - 12:30 asking questions and seeing our videos, etc. We were really glad that we were not in charge of the morning shift. Elder and Sister Tenny worked with them. (When they left, E & S Tenny said that they were exhausted.) We were scheduled to work the afternoon shift, but they got so busy that Doug had to go over early to help. Two of the people in the Bible class asked for the missionaries to come and teach them more about the church! (Way to go Tenny's!) The day stayed busy and it flew by but when we got home we realized how tired we were. This doesn’t seem like hard work, but sometimes you sure come home ready for bed!
We got to "touch base" with another of our inactive members today. That was nice. He is looking for a way back and I am sure that he will be able to make it. It is so hard to see how hard life is for them when they leave the church. All of those blessings just stop and sometimes it takes a long time for them to figure it out. I guess that just makes it all the sweeter when they do come back to full activity.
The Palmyra Temple was closed for two weeks for some minor repairs and cleaning… It turned out to be a lot of "minor repairs" and they really got behind with the work. They were afraid that they wouldn’t be able to open on time, so they asked the senior missionaries to come on their time off and help clean the temple once it was all put back together. Doug and I were assigned to the 2nd sealing room. They had had to repair some leaking windows so they had torn out sheet rock and replaced it, painted, wallpapered and made it look as beautiful as it was before. You couldn’t tell anything had been done, EXCEPT that there was sheet rock dust on everything. Doug started on all the vents, ceiling and chair rails, windows, mirrors and chairs… Everything except my job. I did each crystal in the four wall sconces and the chandelier. We figured it was about 5000 little crystals… each one separately because of the dust. It took us all morning. I worked up on a ladder for about 2 ½ to 3 hours on the chandelier. My legs and back were killing me. But this week when we went back to the temple to work, that room sure looked beautiful. I will never take the beauty of the chandeliers and wall sconces for granted again… someone has to clean or dust each one! This time, it was me!!!
I told you that not a lot happened this week… I guess a few things occurred. No wonder we were tired at the end of the week!! We love you all. Talk to you again next week. Leave us comments! Love ya, dnd
5 comments:
Hello. I thought the pictures from the car wash were hilarious. I can just picture you giggling about it all, inside the car, watching Doug.
No one will ever really "get" our laughing when people fall down or hurt themselves, because it is genetic. I fell down at Emily's (one of those slow-motion things to avoid hitting the baby) and then we talked about how Mom would have died laughing if she saw that. Later on, we got the giggles picturing it in our heads. I know Doug doesn't understand, but he's been married to you long enough to know you can't help it.
I'm glad you were busy this week, but we are at the age when we do get tired, even when it seems like the things we do shouldn't tire us. I'm telling you, some days, I'm so tired I wish I could sleep, hahahaha.
Be good. Tell Doug to avoid the mud puddles if at all possible. I'm about 1/3 of the way through your pictures. It's going to take some time before I can even get them printed. But it will be fun. Have a good week. Be careful, don't fall off any ladders. Love and kisses xoxoxoxox
I haven't washed my car for over 9 months at least, and we've gone through four or five "spring thaws!" And let me tell you, the spring thaws in Alaska are FILTHY. If you even look at my van you get dirty. Every few days I have to pull over and use the window scrubby at the gas station to clean off my headlights. Otherwise they don't shine on the road at all. I hope you had fun cleaning the chandalier. What a neat thing to do, even if it is tedious and exhausting. The chandaliers are my favorite part of the temple. Tomorrow we are back to work, school, and teaching. Olivia will meet the dentist at 1:30. I'll have her call to tell you what happened. Love you and miss you!! Andrea xoxo
Wow- you are your mother!! Lauging at poor Doug! Sorry Doug, we all have the same disease. I got a few laughs myself (at myself) when I sat on not one but two of Julies chairs and broke them...fell flat on the floor and about died laughing. Then the next time I went up, I said no kitchen chairs for me and Julie said "Oh they aren't that bad", promptly sat down and broke the chair to smithereens. We laughed till we were sick. (I must be careful to not reveal my weak bladder at this time)....anyway - Julie and Nick have birthdays on Wednesday - Julie will be 40!!! and Nick 18...Shees!!! I am old...and clumsy. Em's baby is a doll - I am sure you saw the pictures! No, I know how hard it is to clean construction dirt and those chandileers (spell) are killers. Be careful you two - sounds dangerous work for a mission!!! Have a wonderful week..we are praying for you! Keep up the good work, love and kisses - Kay and LaRay...
Hi guys.
You are so high tech...the link in the email worked. If you didn't report on so much work and good things happening, I'd start to wonder about what you were doing with your time.
I'm glad you are all well and doing good. Life here continues the same as ever.
I'm short on words, but send lots of love for you. Take care. steve p.
Dear D&D--The link worked--and I am happy because I am techno challenged. I loved the fotos, the snow, the news. Keep up the good work--we are proud of you!! We are well here in MS. Dad and Kevin left for Chile yesterday. They went on a guy-trip and for the Temple dedication. Mom is going to the beach in Florida with my family for Spring Break. We are excited that Hannah was accepted to BYU for the fall semester. Happy and sad at the same time. Time flies by too fast. Parker is 13yrs and Cade, the baby, is almost 2!We think of you often. We love you--stay warm and work hard!!
Much love, Jenny
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