Stake Conference Surprise!

Well, today the choir sounded superb! John did an excellent job preparing our stake choir for Stake Conference in only 4 weeks. Elder Ballard and one of the 70 were there. It was a fabulous conference. I got to lead the congregational singing, and John led the choir. We were a little surprised when the Stake President spoke about our experience in getting sealed last June in the Priesthood Leadership meeting yesterday. John came home and said -- "Pres. Young spoke about us today. Not by name, but. . . " Well, today, Pres. Young even went that far: "He said, Brother Jorgensen and his wife were sealed on June 6th in the Draper Temple."

However, that was not the only surprise. We got this surprise last Sunday when the Stake Executive Secretary called us in for an interview with the Stake President. One week before Conference? Sound suspicious? Yep! John has been called, and today was set apart, as a member of the Stake High Council! Is John nervous? Oh, yeah! And he has been so happy being the clerk for the last 6 years. I guess it's time to move on to more experiences, and see just what the Lord has in store for us now.

Well, keep us posted on everyone's Christmas fun. We'll try to keep up, too.

Just Catchin' Up!

I always seem to get so far behind! I had this post all ready to go, and then realized I had posted it on the Jorgensen Biggest Loser blog! I had to delete it and start all over again!

OK, so here is a lot of randomness! This is Gabe with his friend Yosef (his dad is from Pakistan). These two would meet at the park every evening during the summer right up until school started. Yosef is a couple of years older than Gabe, but he loves it when Gabe shows up.

This was another of our trips to Moss Ledge. Madi looks great in this picture!

These are the friends from the ward that are from Taiwan. They had treated us to a true Taiwanese dinner one night, and we took them to Moss Ledge for a good old fashioned cook out. Shortly after this trip, Joy and Mac moved back to Taiwan.
Tired Gabe!

The tomatoes were quite prolific! Unfortunately, they all came on during a 3 week period of time -- AFTER school started. We spent more than one evening blanching and peeling tomatoes to put in bottles.

This is what happens when a cold bottle hits hot water -- oops! Luckily the bottom didn't come off until I got it to the sink. I was actually able to put the tomatoes into another jar and save them! Then the bottom dropped off.

This was 21 quarts in just a couple of days. We totalled 41 quarts of tomatoes. We could have had more, but at least another 10 quarts froze on the vines. We missed one night of covering them and lost everything else.

During UEA break, I took Gabe, Jonas and Gabe's friend Henri bowling. The boys had a great time. Jonas had the high score for the boys, but I beat his score -- by 1 point! How sad is that?!

And then there was Halloween. All year Gabe has wanted to be Darth Vader. But, John and I did not want to do another purchased costume. So, then Gabe wanted to be a Ninja Turtle. I think I could have pulled that one off, but time was not on my side. So, we borrowed the chaps and boots from Stacy (Jonas' costume last year) and helped Gabe become an extremely handsome cowboy! He was so excited! He spent all week between our Trunk-or-treat and Halloween wearing the boots and hat, and even the chaps when I would let him. He loved being that cowboy! And he was so cute! (But I might be a bit biased. . .)

The party food was great!

Here are the kitties. . .

the donuts. . .

and the apple-bobbing.

Success!!!

By the way -- Gabe won't be eating many apples for awhile. He got his first loose tooth today. We're all excited!

Well, how's that for random? The next big occasion is Thanksgiving. We're looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Here's to Zack and Leslie!

We just wanted to tell Zack "Good luck" and Leslie "Congratulations." We wish we could have been in Idaho with everyone, and we missed all the fun. Ironically, we had a speaker in our ward today who has recently returned from Uruguay!

Zack -- Gabe says to tell you that he loves you and he will miss you. He hopes you do well on your mission and be careful.

Leslie -- We are all excited that you have decided to go on a mission, too. Costa Rica! Another Spanish speaker in the clan!

You will both be in our prayers as you serve your missions. Bon voyage! (Yeah, yeah. I know -- that's not Spanish, but it will have to do for the time!)

We love you both!

Dinosaurs!!! Run for your Lives!!!

Or is it "GABE and JONAS -- Run for your Lives!!" ???Today I took Gabriel and Jonas up to Ogden to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. We had a great time! The boys were absolutely crazy, and they ran all over the place. The fossils were fascinating, and the life-sized specimens outside were awesome!
The boys enjoyed digging in the sand looking for the "fossils" hidden there. "Mom! I found something!"
Jr. Paleontologists (did I spell that right?)
This huge "tree trunk" was actually a double-sided slide. They had a lot of fun going up and sliding down over and over.



In case you can't read the sign: "World's Most Dangerous Creature." I think we can all concur. When these 2 get together, you never know what will happen!
These are the crazy boys in their photo ops:




Look out, Gabe! Behind you!
Ahh, he's just a pussy cat.

We had a great day. I've been meaning to do this all summer, and today it finally happened. This is the last week of my vacation. I have to go back to work next week. I am NOT looking forward to that!

24th of July Activities

We were able to get our new spot for the parade. We didn't get there until 7:30, but we were still able to just set up without any problem. Most of the people around us were older couples, and all the families were in front of us. What was ironic was that one couple and one large family in our vacinity were all from our stake! These flags were from the pre-parade show.
Sara, Whitney and Banner got there just as the parade was about to start. We enjoyed having them with us.


This was one of our favorites -- the mule would pull back while the figure would pull forward. It was quite humorous. Gabe took these next few pictures. He didn't do too bad.
Banner was really tired. It shows.




This was a float of Utah originals. This girl is supposed to be the "Original Fry Sauce."
After the parade was over (which Gabe felt was a little too long), we made plans to go up to our favorite picnic spot. Madi got off work earlier in the afternoon, so she was able to join us. We were lucky to get a table! The place was full, and when we left, there was a very large group that wanted our spot.

John, Banner and Gabe went climbing up the mountain for a ways. This is there descent.

One of the rocks coming down is the perfect slippery slide. This is Gabe and Banner sliding on the rock.




The picnic--It was a great day. After the picnic, we went home to rest for a bit, put John to bed and then the rest of us went to the fireworks. It was a great end to a great day.

Just to end on today -- I finally got all the curtains for the house done. The blue ones are in Gabe's room, and the blue in the fabric just matches the blue on the walls. I got that fabric at Ikea.

These are the sheers for the living room. The hardest part of these was getting them evenly cut!
Well, until next time. . . .