Week Twelve…Is it Time to Delve?

So what did we learn this week? Well one thing is that there are only a few words that rhyme with twelve. Thus the title for this week, even if it doesn’t really fit this week. 

Let’s delve!

We started this week off with a pretty normal Monday. 8-4 in the FSL and then FHE that night with a lesson about temples. We learned a bunch of facts about temples, including the fact that President Nelson has only dedicated 3 temples…Concepción Chile, Rome Italy and Sapporo Japan…but announced 118. Kudos to you if you can identify this temple on your first try without looking up any pictures. I’ll tell you at the end of the post which one it is. 

Tuesday I went for a ride in the morning. Wahoo, finally some nice weather to ride in. But I learned that the old adage “Haste makes waste.” is true. I went to get my bike and found the front tire flat from my previous ride (now I REALLY HATE that south direction on the Jordan River Trail). So I was worried about having enough time to ride before we needed to be into the library at noon, so I quickly grabbed a new tube from my supplies box and went after the tire. It was hard to get off the rim, so I grabbed a tire iron from my bike bag under my seat and pulled the extra tube out of there in the process. I quickly got the new tube in and pumped up the tire and all looked well. So I got dressed and headed out.

About 2 miles into my ride the thought entered my head that I hadn’t checked the inside of the tire to see if there was still something poking through that had caused the original flat. I blew that off thinking that I didn’t have time to stop to do that if I was going to get in my planned ride and besides, it was holding up just fine. A little over 3 miles later the tire started going flat. Ugh! So I stopped and went after fixing the flat (btw I found two thorns 8n my tire). I pulled out the flat tube and then went to put in the new tube, the one I had hastily pulled out of my supplies box. Well, it was the wrong size. Too small! I must have gotten it from someone who had given me their extra supplies and I never took the time to check the size on the box. There was no way to get it to work. So I called Mom to have her come pick me up. 

Well she was enjoying the nice weather as well, walking up City Creek Canyon. She said she would head back to the apartment and pick me up as soon as she could. What a wife! I found my way out to the closest road, Redwood Road and headed south. Meanwhile Mom took some pictures of houses along her walk to and from City Creek Canyon. Here are a few, including the one with lions in front of it…which we learned Burley wants to put out by the driveway entrance to his house. 😁

 

Mom got home and then headed out to find me. I had walked about a mile and half by that time, so I did get a little more exercise, but walking in cycling shoes is really not fun (I learned that a long time ago). The rest of our day was pretty good. 

Mom learned that she can do pretty well with the Dutch training for Family Search. She passed off her beginning Dutch and is a little more than halfway finished with intermediate Dutch. I passed off my General Nordic training and would have passed off beginning Swedish as well, but the last assignment for that is kicking my behind! Mom also says the same about the paleography activities for the Dutch training. They’re pretty tough, but she’s learning to read that old Dutch handwriting pretty well.

Wednesday was Pday. Mom got us some appointments to do initiatories and an endowment session at the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We learned that we aren’t very good at remembering to take a picture at each of these different temples we are visiting. Luckily it was Be Real time while we were leaving so mom got this shot. Mom and I heard a talk many years ago from a sister that told about how she and her husband always asked each other in the Celestial Room after their session, “What did you learn today?”. We have tried to do that each time we attend the temple as well, and today we found that we both learned similar things. Nothing in particular about the teachings or symbolism or anything like that, but about the things that aren’t said or weren’t changed and wondering why they are included in the endowment or the initiatories. I love having questions about things, even if I don’t have answers yet. 

The rest of the day was spent getting the car washed and shopping at Costco and going to JoAnns to get fabric for Tyler’s blanket and stopping to get BBQ for dinner. Yum! 

Thursday we had what is called our Temple/Research day. We usually get 1/2 a day each week to devote to our own family history research and/or going to the temple or using it for whatever we want. We have learned that our iPads aren’t as convenient for doing research so we just go into the library and use their computers. We had a pretty good day. I was able to find two more generations back on my grandma Segerstedt’s line because I learned that that activity that is kicking my behind is really teaching me how to search Swedish records. It was very cool to look for and find so many great records with family names.

Mom also took some time to make another loaf of sourdough bread. It turned out great. She is getting better at it, although she keeps giving most of it away. I guess that is a good thing, otherwise my weight would be going up and that would make it harder to pedal my bike. 

Friday morning I woke up to learn that Mom’s flight got canceled a little after midnight. They rebooked it for Saturday morning instead. Ugh, that won’t work! So after spending almost an hour waiting on the phone and on my text messaging app with Delta, I was able to get the flight canceled and refunded. Luckily I was able to book a new flight with Southwest for almost the same time (but not the same money 😩) but it flew into San Diego instead of Ontario. Chris was able to pick up Mom at the airport and she got to be there to watch Felicity while Chris and Julie went to see Roxy perform as Annie in her school musical. Mom was only watching Felicity because Tori and Tori (Catton) took Lacey and Paisley to Universal Studios. Everyone finally got home and Chris and Julie headed off to the hospital to get induced. 

Meanwhile back here in Salt Lake City I was helping  tons of people at the library and not getting much at all done on that pesky beginning Swedish activity, but that’s ok. I am learning that I don’t have to get everything completed right away, there are other things I can and should be doing as well. 

Saturday I got up expecting to hear news about a new grandson, but I learned from Mom that things were moving along slowly. I just went into the library and worked while looking for updates from Mom. Finally around 4pm I got word that Tyler Kurt Phillips had entered this world. Our 15th grandchild and Julie and Chris’ only boy. Mom was able to drive his sisters to the hospital so they all could see him. They are all so excited and we are so thankful that all went well and Julie and Tyler are both doing great. Way to go Julie! 

That night, Roxy had one more performance as Annie, and Mom and the girls and Tori and Tori AND Brittany and her kids…who drove all the way there from Vegas…got to go see her. I learned that they videoed the play and will post it on YouTube so I am excited that I will get to see it as well. Everyone said that Roxy knocked it out of the park with her performance. Here is a short clip for you to decide if they were right.

Today I got up and finished my Leadership Journey studying and headed off for our class at 11:30. When I got to the back entrance of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, coming through the underground garage, I noticed an older gentleman up ahead of me heading the same way. He was hobbling a bit, but I thought he looked like President Oaks from behind. Well I caught up to him right where we enter the building and I learned I was right, it was President Oaks. I said good morning and he said the same back with a smile. My class is up on the 3rd floor and I can only access it by going up the elevator using my entrance card. Well, President Oaks went to the small service elevator there in the hallway and pushed the button. I peeked inside and found that that elevator only went up to the mezzanine where the chapel is where we hold sacrament meeting. So I stepped out and said, “oops this doesn’t go where I need to go.” President Oaks then started trying to stop the doors from closing and telling me I could ride up to the floor he was going to and catch the elevator I needed from there, but he couldn’t find the right button to stop the doors and they closed and away he went. I just turned and headed down the hall and up the stairs to the elevators I needed thinking how kind he was trying to hold that elevator for me, and also thinking I’m kind of glad I missed the elevator because I’m not sure what I would have said while we were riding up together. Missed opportunity I guess. 

Well that’s what we learned this week. BTW, it is the Rome Italy temple…one of only three President Nelson has actually dedicated himself. He keeps assigning members of the twelve to dedicate them instead. 

Love you all.

BE GOOD!

Sister and Elder Phillips