Sacramento Temple

When Curtis and I got married we had a goal of visiting all the temples. Back then there were only like 16! We did a pretty good job getting to them as they were slowly added, but when Pres. Hinckley said he wanted 100 by 2000, I thought "Oh no, how can we get to them all?" We have made a good dent on our list. So Saturday morning we were able to attend the Sacramento Temple. It is beautiful. The front arch way reminded me of Bountiful. But as you walk around to the back and sides, it reminded me a bit of Palmyra. The sky was overcast (it did not snow or rain, yeah!) but it gave the temple a perfect backdrop. You could contrast the Tempest against the Peaceful!

Curtis & I in front of the Sacramento Temple.

This is taken from the back area. The lower window you see on the right is the Celestial Room.

Nick and Serina on one side the Temple. See Serina's tummy? She is now at 22 weeks pregnant.

This was a beautiful wing off of each side of the entrance.

My Friend Julie

Recently after we arrived in Sparks, NV to visit our kids, my old friend Julie came to visit for a couple of hours. We were both basically newlyweds when we met in San Manuel. We both had kids together, did 4-H Club together (I taught sewing) and we did the women's club associated with our hubby's work as Engineers. In 1987 she and her family moved to Indonesia with the mining industry. We moved to Tucson. We have not seen each other since other than emailing back and forth. Our visit was wonderful...like we never misssed a beat of living close and doing things together. Now I might be able to see her more...since she only lives 1 hour away from Serina!

Sandi, Julie from Dayton, NV, Curtis

Lonelist Road in America

We decided to travel a road we had not been fully on before. It is Highway 50 which is called the Lonelist Road in America! Basically between Delta, Utah and across to Carson City, NV. Since it had that name, I decided to count how many vehicles traveled toward us and how many passed us to see how lonely it really was! It was interesting. Going West we only had 9 vehicles pass us or that we saw in the rear view mirror! There were only 25 vehicles traveling East which consisted of a couple of motorhomes, cars, two bicyclists, and a motorcycle. If anyone got stranded on this road...it could be days before you got help!!! The following are a few shots along the way. We would travel around mountains and then on flats. The little towns were basically small old mining towns that looked almost Ghostly! Was a totally enjoyable trip.

Sign posted as you entered Eureka, NV. It got its name because someone discovered (I think) lead and silver and when they saw the precious ore shouted "Eureka"!!!

Here is the Opera House on main street of Eureka.

This was an old building in Austin, NV.

When we lived in Tucson we knew about the Butterfield Stage and even named an Elementary School "Butterfield" because of the location of the stage. Well, wouldn't you know, there was another Butterfield Stage on Highway 50. Apparently Mr. Butterfield became quite wealthy setting up all kinds of Stage Stops between Kansas and California. Once the railroad was in, didn't too well.

Ruins of the Butterfield Stage.

At Cold Springs Station was where the Pony Express Stop was. The horses were corraled and watered at Cold Springs so they could have fresh horses. Three days after the railroad was in, the pony express quit operating.

Great Basin Museum in Delta, Utah

We traveled to Delta on our way to visit our kids. We stopped at this really cool museum in Delta called the "Great Basin Museum". The docent was a really fun gentleman who gave us a privaate tour. I was amazed, most the stuff in this museum I knew exactly what it was for. My grandparents had most of this stuff on their ranch and I worked a couple summers at their ranch and learned about them! See if the following don't bring back memories, some good, some not.

Curtis recognized this right off...because he had one. An old chemistry set. A lot of the chemicals are considered "hazmat" now! So fun to see.

The dentists' I went to as a kid had this type of equipment. I call it the torture chair! Just the sound of the drill whirrring away would frighten me!

This is a switchboard for telephone operators. I remember in Cle Elum, Washington where my grandparents lived, the operators had several of these panels in a row. I remember when I was in 8th grade...I wanted to grow up and be a telephone switchboard operator. They were able to talk to anyone and it looked so fun!

This was one of the barracks used during World War II when the United States

took their japanese looking american citizens and put them in the

War Relocation Act. Many from the western states were brought here. I went to high school with a boy whose father was here as a kid.

Seder Dinner at BYU Provo

We attended a Seder "Passover" Dinner at BYU-Provo on Wed night. Oh was worth the trip to Utah. Bro. Victor Ludlow and his wife presented the evening. He started doing this about 33 years ago as a teacher of Old Testament so his students could appreciate the event more. It was fabulous!!! It started at 6:30 pm and ended at 10:15 pm. The following are photos from the evening:

Bro. & Sister Victor Ludlow
This table was set as a display of the various parts of the seder. Seder means "order".

I am sitting at our table before it starts. That is NOT wine in the carafs...it is called fruit of the wine OR grape juice!

Curtis & Sandi

Visiting Friends in Utah

We had a blast on Wednesday. After we left Kaysville, we visited a number of friends on our way southward. These photos are in reverse of who we saw first etc... But what fun it was to see old friends.

Curtis, Sandi, Korrine Lappalienen, and Sally Payne

Korrine just got home from her mission to Antafagasta, Chile in February. Sally is thinking of another mission. She has already gone on two! They were friends from our Tucson days.
Eric, Jenni and baby. They were in our ward in Avondale. They are doing very well.

Gil (sounds like Jill) ... she was born in Sweden and has been doing genealogy stories with Curtis. She went back to Sweden a few weeks ago and brought us a gate nail from the old homestead. Was a fun quick visit to exchange stories!

Heidi Walsh and her three kiddos. It was so great to see her. Elizabeth was excited to see us.

Snow SNOW SNOW

We went out to dinner and it was raining. By the time we got home to hubby's parents house...it started snowing. This is what it looked like when we went to bed. A touch of Christmas!!!

This is the front walk up to the front door.

Sandi's car about 11:00 p.m.

Sandi's car the next morning. There was 18" that fell over night. Curtis had lots of fun (NOT!) removing it and shoveling walks. That is why we live in Arizona to avoid these kind of moments.

This is a photo of where he found the headlights! BRRRRR!

Easter Afternoon

Easter afternoon was spent with lots of Nielson family and food. The following are just samples of the day. What a wonderful Easter! Especially hearing words from our dear Prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson.

Our niece, Christi in her new home. It was a lovely visit. She has a huge yard!
Nephew Jeffrey...his brother is serving a mission in St Louis, MO. Jeffrey grew!!!!

Another nephew & niece, Wes & Alli

After mid-day meal, everyone watching afternoon conference on tv.

Statue on Temple Square of Brigham Young. I love this statue. He is striding with a purpose!

Curtis after the morning session of conference. It was cold out!

Salt Lake Temple. This is where we were married almost 35 years ago!

General Conference Weekend 2010

Every April and October The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds a General Conference of all the members of the Church. We were able to be in Utah for the April Conference. Hubby's sister was able to get us tickets (they are free to all) for Sunday morning Session along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Spoken Word on Easter Sunday. It was wonderful. When we parked under the Church Headquarters we had a pass to park with the General Authorities. We parked next to Sister Allred and Sister Thompson of the Relief Society General Presidency. I was so excited to see people I recognized!!! We then walked over to the Conference Center. We had seats on the floor. If you face the pulpit area, we were on the left with the General Authorities! As we were being seated the usher looked at our tickets and said "Oh, you are seated with the important people." It was so fun. The couple who sat behind us was Bro. & Sister Peterson who were the Mesa Temple Visitor Center a few years back. I recognized him. We didn't see anyone else around us we recognized except for hubby's parents neighbors..who sat in front of us! The following are some photos taken (in reverse order actually taken) at conference:

Taken at the end of the morning session where President Monson is leaving towards the right.
Us at Conference in our seats.

This was during the spoken word with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Taken before we left the center. Choir was practicing behind us for the afternoon session.