Our Special Olympians from Russia

We were very blessed to have three beautiful kids stay at our home this last week.
The Winter Special Olympics are in Boise, ID this year. 12 busses full of olympians from all over the world left for the events yesterday. We were priviledged to have three of them stay with us from the Alpine Ski Team. Eric, Simeon, and Ksusha.
We took them to a Jazz game (hosted by Andre from Russia on the team), skiing twice (compted by friends), the Clark Planetarium (also hosted by some friends) and to the Temple open house for the Draper Temple. They also went to the Temple Square where they saw "Legacy" in Russian. This brought several tears.

My favorite part was in the evenings when we played with the dance pad, or just had dinner together. One night, we had the entire team over for pizza. Alexander, a sweet downs-syndrome boy just loved looking through my photo albums and having me tell him all about it. Others played on the computers, some played chess, but we mostly just tried to communicate and enjoy each other's company.

The house seems a little empty without them. We will be looking on the internet for information about how they are doing in the events.

It's funny how a few short days can make such a difference in your lives.
We love and miss them.
Вы для оставаться на нашем доме. Имейте безопасный полет. Удача на Олимпиадах. Пожалуйста электронная почта мы. Вы наши новые дети от Россия. Влюбленность, Дэйв и Lurlynn.

Surgeries, Surgeries, Everywhere I See! Surgery, Surgery, Please Not for Me!

Dave had surgery on Wednesday and is recovering nicely. He had some fluid building up somewhere so that they had to drain it. 6 weeks of recovery.

Steven had surgery on his hand. He was boarding with a razor-board and broke a bone in his hand. They had to take some bone from his wrist and screw it onto the broken bone. 6 weeks in a full arm cast, 6 weeks with a wrist cast and 6 weeks of physical therapy. Sounds like fun to me!

Christine is due for surgery on Friday 13th. She's got a tooth which refuses to grow next to any of her other teeth. Her surgery will be to open up the roof of her mouth and decide whether to place a chain on it or yank it out right then. Fun. Fun! Fun!!

I'm go grateful for modern medicine! What a blessing it is!
I'm also grateful for the Priesthood.
Blessings given with power to draw down the blessings of heaven are truly amazing.

I left my heart in San Francisco!

Fisherman's Warf was a lot of fun!




Under the hull of the U.S.S. Hornet Aircraft Carrier.




Mia likes to eat ice cream all by herself!




We left our son John, his darling wife Lisa and their gorgious daughter, Mia there.

We visited the Zoo, Fisherman's Warf, the Redwoods, the ocean, the Temple, and enjoyed each other's company.

We left 60 degree weather in CA and returned to a foot of snow and below freezing temperatures.


We also visited Dave's sister, Toni, her husband Doug, their lovely daughter Shelly, along with her beautiful daughters, Shasta and Robin.
We saw Shasta play basketball on her community team. That was a lot of fun!

We will get into SLC at midnight tonight, and hit the pavement running tomorrow. Such is life! Asi es la vida!

A Wedding Is a Great Way to Start Off the New Year!

Of all the things a person can do to start off a new year in a positive way, our nephew Nick Hansen found a way to top them all. He married a beautiful girl named Shay on Dec 30, 2008. They were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple.
What a fun couple they are! .....Nick is the one in the tux.