Cliff Notes for February and March

Time flies when you're having fun... or... time just flies! Where did Feb., March, and half of April go?

• Feb. 16--Trip to Houston for M's baptism. What fun it was to celebrate M's decision to be baptized! Scalding hot water in the font only added to our fond memories of the day. It was fun to have Texas and Georgia cousins together, if only for a few days.

• Feb. 20--AG trip to Cancun. Hot, humid, hot, windy, humid, and hot describes our trip. The hotel was beautiful, the ocean was beautiful, the lunar eclipse was beautiful, and the people were interesting. We sat at the pool overlooking the ocean wondering about parasailing behind a boat. We watched several people and decided it looked fun and safe when we watched someone get dumped head-first into the ocean. We were once again content with our 'spectator' status. Despite the positives, it is still Mexico which we were reminded on our return trip. The Delta Airlines employees were running a little scam at the airport. One agent would put his foot on the scale (making suitcases weight 50+ lbs.) as the other agent offered to sell you a "cheap" extra bag to check. You could pay him $20 for the bag or Delta $50 for the overage. Several AG couples got caught in the scam. We watched our suitcase as it went on the scale (42 lbs) and then a few minutes later the agent said it was overweight as the scale was bouncing between 50 and 55 lbs with the help of his accomplice's foot. Dad asked what was going on and we were quickly checked in without a penalty.

• Feb. 28--Golf trip to St. George. Just leave the suitcases in the bedroom so they can be repacked after the laundry is done!

• Mar. 17--Mailed last Capstone assignment. School is officially finished, awaiting the grade on this last class. Dad kept saying I wasn't going to finish. Sometimes I thought he was prophetic because there was so much 'busy work' that at times even I thought it wasn't worth it. However, I kept telling myself that I hadn't taken statistics, college algebra, physical science, and 30 other classes to 'almost finish.' It was a huge relief to submit the 40 pages I had written for this class. (I ended up with a 97% in the class. I think it was a test of tenacity and I still wonder who read all the stuff I wrote!)
  

• Mar. 24--Ann P. died. What a great lady. Once I experienced serving with her I remember thinking I couldn't ever serve in a leadership position without her. She was by my side for many years in Young Women's and Relief Society. Nothing was too much work for her. She was a great example of courage, faith, testimony, and dignity in life and in death. I was touched as I visited her a week before she died. Her body was weakened and emaciated but her Spirit was larger and stronger than it had ever been. It reconfirmed my testimony of the separateness of the body and the spirit and how the spirit can continue to live on without the body.

• Mar. 29--Ann's funeral. An emotional day to honor a friend. I remember her phone call in January asking me to speak at her funeral. She said she had planned everything but the date. After I finished crying I told her I couldn't think of her funeral because I was still praying for a miracle but I would do for her what she had always done for me, whatever was asked. I also suggested a date--the 12th of Never.

• Mar. 30--Hawaii. The perfect day to leave for Paradise--snow in Utah. Off to soak up the sun, surf and sand for 10 days. Motsomoto's shaved ice, Turtle Bay Brunch, Temple, movies, pineapple, papaya, Swap Meet, North Shore sunset, Ted's Bakery macadamia nut pie, etc. Two airlines went bankrupt and the volcano on the big island erupted but that didn't hinder our good time. The only bad thing about Hawaii is coming home to face reality!

• Apr. 12--Aunt Helen's 90th party. If my aunt is 90 and some of my cousins are 80, then as 'crazy Janet' told me, "S___, that means we must be getting old too!" What fun to see relatives and remember a great heritage. I really felt my mom and aunts' presence as we watched the video on Aunt Helen.