September 2024

Monday 9/9

Today, is not only Kevin and Lani's 18th wedding anniversary, but it is also President Russell M. Nelson's 100th Birthday !

The Church broadcast a special Birthday Celebration for him.

Nathan Pacheco & Jenny Oaks Baker performed a Mack Wilberg arrangement of 

 "We Ever Pray for Thee"

President Nelson's Daughter, Marsha Workman and Great Granddaughter, Ashlyn Owens both shared memories. There was a video presentation of "I Will Be What I Believe/Army of Helaman" medley staring many of his grand & great grandchildren. 

(he is reported to have 10 children, 57 grandchildren & 167 great grandchildren... 

and beyond ??)

There were a few segments where they showed video clips of admirers from around the world wishing him a Happy Birthday and sharing their gifts of "99 + 1" experiences.

President Nelson's counselors, Henry B Eyring and Dallin H. Oaks shared their perceptions of, and love for President Nelson as did the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Jeffrey R. Holland. And finally, a video message from President Nelson himself. The celebration concluded with everyone singing "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" 

After the benediction, there was a fun balloon drop and a chorus of Happy Birthday led by Nathan & Jenny. 

This morning we were surprised to see that . . . .

One lonely clematis flower had bloomed on this fall-colored plant. This has never happened before. There aren't any other buds - it is not supposed to bloom in the fall, but there it is, brightening our day.

Wednesday 9/11

Today, we commemorate an attack on our country. Planes hijacked, buildings torn apart and thousands of innocent people killed. On September 11, 2001, a plane crashed into one of the twin towers (World Trade Center, NYC). While watching the news coverage  another plane crashed into the other tower. We then knew it wasn’t an accident and our country was the victim of a terrorist attack. 2,996 people lost their lives including civilians, firefighters, law enforcement officers and the 19 murder-suicide hijackers (of 4 planes). That day has been dubbed, the deadliest terrorist attack in human history. 

It is that time of year when we begin to see signs that fall is in the air and winter is on the way

The overnight temperatures begin to drop

Thunder and Lightening storms begin to pop up in the evenings

Leaves begin turning beautiful colors and

The city begins their fall clean-up around town

Tonight we had, as was forecast, a wild storm. The lightening was a continuous "flash" of light and the rolling thunder was a constant sound. This storm had sheet lightening (vs bolt) and lit up the entire sky. The two middle pictures are before the lightening hit and when it flashed. 

After loading "dirty" dishes into a dishwasher full of "clean" dishes because one of us ran the dishwasher and didn't tell the other one, we purchased a "dirty - clean" magnet. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

Thursday 9/12

Every Thursday, all summer long, Steve mows the front and back lawns making our yards look clean, fresh, and nicely manicured. All the clippings are then picked up early each Friday morning.

Saturday 9/14

Tonight was our Ward's Annual Corn Feed. It is always well attended, lots of fun, and lots of food. The Ward provides the Corn from a local field and pulled pork & chicken  from Dickey's. The members provide all the salads, casseroles and desserts.

The kids (okay, and adults) had fun jumping rope, playing Volleyball, just hanging out and climbing trees

The adults just enjoyed the food and having fun visiting.  We recently had a realignment of ward boundaries in our Stake and our ward, being the smallest in the Stake, received lots of new members so it was fun getting know some of them a little bit better.

Tuesday 9/17

We had a busy day today. We started out in Boise having our car's routine service done. Next we took some tomatoes from our garden to Dave's and had a nice visit with him. While there, it rained like crazy. At 1:15 we left for an ENT doctor's appointment, also in Boise, for Steve. Then early this evening Linda had her violin lesson. It was a good day!

Steve has been having problems making his voice work right. Our PCP referred him to SW Idaho ENT for a consultation with Dr. Rock.

After explaining his problem and history, The doctor decided to do a Nasal Endoscopy. A small camera was fed through his nose and down to his vocal cords.

In the bottom picture you can see two little white lines...those are the vocal cords and when you speak they close together. You can see they are not closed tightly which is allowing air to escape when he tries to speak. That is the problem! It is caused by Steve's LPR (silent acid reflux) and a weakening of the muscles that open and close the vocal cords caused by the good 'ole aging process. The solution is "hopefully" simple. The first line of attack is some additional, over the counter, medication and vocal therapy to strengthen the weakened muscles. He'll have a couple of months to see if this plan of attack  works.

Friday 9/20

Matt's birthday is the 14th, but "stuff" happens so we celebrated tonight !

Tonight Matt, Jen, Steve, Linda all went out to eat at the Olive Garden. Jen, jokingly told our waitress Matt was celebrating his 26th birthday (46th). Not sure if she believed Jen or if she was just playing along, but she wrote Happy 26th Birthday, in chocolate syrup, on his dessert plate.

Matt & Jen are working on developing their Real Estate business

This is a magazine they are featured in every couple of months and it is mailed out to about fifty select people.

Saturday 9/21

Today we attended a marriage at the Meridian Temple and a reception for the happy couple at our Stake Center.

When we moved to Idaho, Linda's first calling was teaching the CTR 8 class in Primary. Kathryn was in that class so she has a special place in the memories of our journey here in Star Idaho. For seventeen years, even with a LOT of divisions and realignments, we have always been in the Star 1st Ward... so has Kathryn's family.

Monday 9/23

Today was Steve's first Speech Therapy appointment

He met with Dalene, a SLP (speech language pathologist). This was basically just an evaluation & goal setting session. The diagnosis is presbyphonia or "aging voice". Dalene estimates about eight weeks of therapy to meet goals but says we should know in just a few weeks if this is going to work.

Friday 9/27

Linda tries to go for a walk a few times a week. She walks down the main entrance street to our subdivision. It is lined with big shady trees, has wide sidewalks, and is a safe place to be. 

She listens to some of her favorite tunes on Pandora and because she listens through her hearing aids, no one else can hear the music playing. You can see her tapping out the rhythm and lip-syncing as she walks along... it may look funny, but she enjoys it!

Sunday 9/29

This weekend has been our Stake Conference

Elder Jeffrey J. Kerr presided at our conference. He is an Area Seventy back in Minnesota so we are not quite sure how he ended up coming to Boise but we are grateful he did. He is a very engaging speaker and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to him, last night and this morning. We heard messages about our covenants, staying on the covenant path, and "Remembering" faith promoting experiences to help us along that path. 

Monday 9/30

This is how we finished up the month . . . 

Steve had an endoscopy this morning to evaluate his Barrett's Esophagus (caused by acid reflux). It was good news! No narrowing of the esophagus, minimal damage to the esophagus lining and no need to have any further procedures. Steve can try discontinuing the medication he's been taking for several years and taper off the new medication prescribed by the ENT doctor. Since Steve couldn't eat anything since midnight, by the time he finished the procedure (at noon) he was getting hungry sooo.... we stopped off at IN-N-OUT for some lunch. This was the first time we've been there since its grand opening a few months ago.

So we say farewell to September and look forward to a fun-filled October

and the beautiful colors of Fall