Week Twenty-seven…My Engine’s Still Revvin’!

 What a great week! It had to be, since we both had our birthdays this week as well as our anniversary. Party!…well as much as a missionary can.

Monday morning we were running a little late, so we just went into the library and watched the Mission Devotional broadcast in the computer lab. We learned that they do that there in the lab so it is available for those who can’t or don’t want to go to the COB auditorium. We had a pretty normal rest of he day and then we headed off to get another document notarized to be able to sell our Sprinter van. When we got home I immediately put it in the mail and sent a scan to the credit union agent, who is helping the lady who wants to buy our van with her loan. Immediately she sent me an email saying, “I hope you didn’t mail that yet, the notary didn’t print his name.” I told her, sorry it’s already in the mail. She said, you’re going to have to do it again. I have learned that this individual is not looking out for the best interests of her client, she is just being overly picky. The document says that the notary can sign or stamp the form, and he had his stamp there, but she is insisting he has to print his name. I sent a note saying, “Sorry, we aren’t doing anymore documents. You have plenty to verify the legitimacy of this sale. Take it or leave it. Well here we are on Sunday and we haven’t heard anything from her yet. I guess she is leaving it. Sadness.

Tuesday I went for a ride. I have learned from past experience that if I don’t get enough rides in before a big ride I am going to be miserable on my big ride. My big ride was going to be my 63 for 63 ride for my birthday, which was coming up on Friday so I needed to get some time in the saddle. I went out and did 32 miles up the bike trail and it felt pretty good. Always an encouraging sign. Mom enjoyed a great walk up City Creek Canyon where she was able to take this nice picture. What a great place to be able to walk and bike. We have learned that many others think the same thing about this park and we have seen quite a few of our fellow missionaries as well as FamilySearch Library staff taking advantage of this beautiful place. We then headed into the library and were able to meet with some great people and help with their family searches. I especially had a great moment helping a young man that was part of a youth group that was touring the library. I learned that his family was from Ceres, CA. I told him that my Dad and Mom used to live in Modesto and I knew exactly where Ceres was. It was fun to make that connection. That night we walked home and as we were coming into

the apartment building I spied the little guy in the center of this picture hovering over the flowers in the flower bed. It hovered and flew just like a hummingbird, but it didn’t quite look like a hummingbird. I took this picture and when I got up to our room I went onto the internet and learned that it isn’t a hummingbird it’s a Hawk Moth. They are pretty cool. They can hover just like a hummingbird and they have a long proboscis or nose-like antenna which they use to get the nectar from the flowers, much like a bee, but they don’t use the nectar to make honey they just eat it. They do, on occasion, steal honey from bees if they can find it. It was fun to learn about them. 

The rest of the night was spent watching episodes of Bull  for Mom and Murdoch Mysteries for me.

Wednesday was Mom’s birthday. We went walking in the morning and as part of that walk went to Eva’s Bakery. Mom has learned that they have some of the best pastries around and she particularly loves their caramel pecan roll. I got the almond croissant. Mom then headed off to her class and I came home to work on some training lessons. 

When Mom was finished we took off to see the Salt Lake Parade of Homes. It’s one of those events where builders show off their new homes or remodeled homes. We thought it would be fun, as well as educational, to get some ideas for our new house in

Bellingham. We learned we were right! One thing we had previously decided was that we wanted to put our microwave under the counter in our island. Well we learned that that is he new norm for microwaves. Almost every house we saw had their microwave there, but we also learned something even cooler. Some of these new microwaves actually slide open like a drawer. I thought I got a picture of one, but it didn’t “stick” in my notes on the app. We are definitely going to get one of those.

We saw a bunch of houses, but couldn’t make it to all of them. We hope to go back out next Wednesday to see the rest. We were able to see some very nice homes and hope to see some more nice design ideas that we can add to our home. 

One fun idea was this in-the-house playhouse. We also liked this

fireplace with built-in cabinets on each side. But we both think the fireplace ought to be brick instead of stone. What think ye?

Since we were hurrying to try to see as many homes as possible we decided not to stop at a nice restaurant to eat. Instead we went to Wendy’s to use their restroom and we got a salad and fries and a strawberry frosty. Happy birthday dinner for Mom! 😜

We then made a quick pit stop at Costco and Walmart to get some supplies for the break-the-fast dinner coming up on Sunday and then headed home.

Thursday was very normal in the library and we didn’t really learn anything new, but after our shift was finished we went to the temple and were able to take two of the sister missionaries that work in the library with us to the Bountiful Temple. They don’t have a car here with them, so Mom arranged for them to come with us. It was nice going with them and afterwards we went out to Zupas for dinner. We forgot to take pictures at the temple and at Zupas, so sorry no pics to go along with this part of the post. 

Friday was my birthday and I got up early to do my 63 for 63 ride. I planned to be out and riding by 6:30am, but I didn’t get on the road until about 6:45am. It was a great day weather-wise to ride. Nice and cool outside and no wind. I was able to hold a 17 to 18 mph pace most of the first 20 miles of the ride. But then I got to the part of the trail where I cross roads and I have learned you have to slow down and be more careful there. Not only do they have these baffle gates that you have to maneuver through, they also have quite a few cars using the roads you have to cross. So it slowed me down quite a bit. But I made it to my turn—around spot, a park in North Layton, and stopped to eat my Costco nut bar and fig bar and drank a bunch of water. After about a 15 minute break I was heading back the other direction. I learned that this section of the trail up there in the Layton area is used more by walkers than bikers, so I had to be a little more cautious and careful and of course slower there. But I made it around all of the pedestrians without any problems and completed my ride in time to jump in the shower real quick and head off to the library to help out in the Escape Room, where Mom had been since 10am. I actually passed Mom on he sidewalk on the way there as she was headed home for lunch. When I got there I learned that the scheduled group ended up being smaller than they thought it was going to be and they were already finished. So I headed back home to eat lunch with Mom since we weren’t scheduled to be in until 2pm.

At 2pm I went to an orientation for a project I signed up to help with. It’s called The Concordia Collection. I learned that in mid 1700’s Catherine the Great from Russia invited Europeans to immigrate to Russia and farm lands there, but keep their culture and language. They were promised they wouldn’t have to pay taxes or provide soldiers for the army. So there were many Germans living near the border who took them up on the offer. Well, about 100 years later things changed and they ended up fleeing to the United States. There was a university in Portland Oregon, Concordia University, which had collected many maps and genealogies and pedigrees and books pertaining to these immigrants. Unfortunately the school closed its doors in 2020, but the FamilySearch Library was able to obtain this great collection of materials. But now they need to scan and index and make the materials available to the public. That’s where us volunteers come in. I’ll be tagging and adding sources and memories to the collection’s main page. One other cool little thing that I learned was that when Chris and Julie called to wish me happy birthday later that night I told them about this project and Julie said, “That’s where my family came from. They were Germans from Russia!” Pretty cool. I hope some things in this collection will help her learn more about her family.

When we finished our shift we just went home. The Henkels had invited us out to dinner, but I was tired from my ride and I just wanted to relax at home. They did show up later though with cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday to me. Super nice!

Saturday we went in at 10 and learned that we were already pretty busy in the library. I was able to help a couple different families from the Netherlands and Mom helped with a couple from Italy. She was actually there with another specialist and they worked together and found some ancestors for the family. After our shift we went to see this movie, Sound of Freedom, with the Henkels. I learned that it is a very intense movie, which shouldn’t have been a surprise because it deals with a very disturbing topic, child trafficking. I had learned about the story that was told in this movie from my nephew Mark, who began posting stories and links about this group, Operation Underground Railroad, many years ago on his Facebook page. They have done some incredible things to help rescue children who have been stolen away from their parents and homes. Good movie. 

Today is our anniversary. Wow, 40 years! Pretty amazing. We went to church and enjoyed a good fast and testimony meeting and Sunday School class. Then we came home and Mom got busy making her food for the break-the-fast dinner. I watched this tv show called Claim to Fame. I learned about it from an ad on Facebook, but it sounded interesting so I decided to see what it was like. It’s actually pretty fun. The premise is that there are 12 people who are related to someone famous and they are put in a house together where there are clues about all of them on the walls and around the house. Then they do a bunch of Survivor type challenges to see who gets immunity and someone is put in the position to have to guess the famous person one of the others is related to, if they guess correctly that person is off the show. If they are wrong, then they have to leave. Kind of fun to watch.

We then had a great Break-the-Fast dinner, which I again forgot to get any pictures of. Afterwards Mom and I played some games with the Barneys and now I’m finishing this blog post. Done! It’s only almost 1am. Yikes!

I hope you have a mahhhhhhvelous week. 

BE GOOD!

Love you,

The Ruby Couple