Bad Dad, the Good Dad

Carole has a TV in her bedroom.  Unfortunately it is only hooked up to play DVD's, it doesn't get cable.  She had told Dad how neat she thought it would be if she could get cable on this TV.  The next thing I knew, early two Saturday's ago, I went into to Carole's room to see disembodied legs flailing about.  When we remodeled they put a furnace in the ceiling area with the access from Carole's room.  Dad thought he could bring a cable wire in through there.  He worked on it all day long, legs flailing everywhere.  It couldn't be done.  After a days worth of extreme effort, we were left with a no cable imperative and a beleaguered Dad who had made a valiant effort to spoil his darling daughter.  I certainly wouldn't call this a failure.  Maybe a flailure.  What do you think?

Lawry's Beverly Hills

It was sunny and warm in Los Angeles.  Dad made a reservation for us at the original first location of Lawry's Prime Rib.  Scott stayed in classes all day.  Dad and I played hookey long enough to go to afternoon sacrament meeting in a Ward just behind the LA Temple.  It was a homecoming for a missionary returning from Russia.  The first speaker talked about visiting the J Paul Getty Center and looking at Monet's artwork.  I was just there yesterday!  The missionary was older.  He had stayed home for a few years to care for his dying mother.  After her passing he had gone in as one of the oldest elders there.  The Ward was giving him a homecoming celebration right after the meeting.  We zoomed back to pick up Scott and drove out to Beverly Hills.  We were early for our dinner reservation so we literally "headed for the Hills".  We drove around some pretty glamorous homes but all of them are close together on the hillside.  Lawry's was lots of dark wood and a "clubby" atmosphere.  It was very busy but we didn't have m uch of a wait and we were well taken care of.  The food was very good, but I'm afraid I've ruined myself for Lawry's.  We had their salad which I made last Sunday.  We had their creamed corn but I like mine better.  Their prime rib is wonderful - they can cook several roasts to get it rare, medium and well-done.  I can't do that.  We finished with a hot fudge sundae.  Not bad for a Sunday dinner.  Dad drove us into downtown LA to see the Walt Disney Concert Hall - and its incredible architecture.  It looked like it did in "Get Smart"!

California Here We Come!

At Scott's invitation, Dad and I have come to Los Angeles for a "Wealth Structuring Institute".  If you have to structure wealth to have it, then I'm all in favor.  It was just a hop, skip and jump from the airport to the airport Hilton, which is huge!  We found Scott awaiting our arrival in our room and the three of us headed downstairs to dinner.  There are three restaurants here and you can order anything off the menu of any the restaurants no matter where you are dining.  Why would this be?  Because all the food here is insanely expensive.  Our breakfast for three cost $70!  We spent the day listening to an attorney educate use about trusts.  I felt like Brian Reagan when they gave him a list of the things that cause heartburn - "I know this stuff! I know how to get heartburn . . ."  Dad let me sign up for hotel internet at only $13 a day so I could play online during the hours of lecture.  After all day Friday at the stateboard meeting I feel like Gary Larsen's cartoon where the little guy with the tiny head tells his teacher, "May I be excused, my brain is full."  At 5pm we took off and surprise, surprise, Dad headed us straigth to the Los Angeles temple grounds.  It was surprisingly lovely.  The landscaping was spectacular I thought.  As we began to walk around the temple, there was a large flock of crows screaming and flapping around.  Our initial reaction was that we may have been in a remake of "The Birds", but then Dad spotted a raptor in one of the trees.  It had a crow in its claws and the other crows were harassing it.  It flew from place to place hounded by the flock all the way.  I felt sorry for the raptor just trying to get some dinner (I too, was very hungry at the time) until I heard wails of the captured crow in its talons.  Then I just felt conflicted.  

We left the temple grounds and drove up through Santa Monica to the J Paul Getty Center.  We saw what one of the richest men in the world could do with his trust.  He has taken basically an entire mountain and utilized it to house his art treasures and research center.  You park at the base of the mountain.  The only charge associated with the center is a $10 parking fee.  There is a fancy enclosed tram you take through the hillside up to the top where the fabulous travertine marble complex is located.  I don't think I've ever seen so much marble.  The place is breathtaking.  We hurried to the restaurant because we were starving by this time - we had a very light lunch since we'd blown our budget for breakfast.  The restaurant was fabulous both in terms of atmosphere and food.  See Dad and Scott standing in front of it with bare but artistic trees.  It was dark, but still the views were wonderful.  It left was with just a little time to visit the museums.  I headed right to the West building to see Van Gogh's Iris.  Pictures of pictures just don't do them justice.  I also photographed one of Monet's paintings of his water lily pond at Giverney.  It is a testament to Monet's brilliance that in my photographs his painting seems like a photograph.  And I looked at Renoir's portrait of a gentleman and thought how I'd kill to have a complexion that looks that good.  Renoir's fleshtones are only equaled by those of his contemporary Mary Cassat - to get to see this is truly spectacular!

Birthday Bashes

Little Carole turned 26 lovely years old on February 18th.  She took the opportunity to get Dad on the slopes with his new skiis.  She even got Nicole to come, and they all went night skiing at Solitude.  I, of course, was holding down the fort at home with Barkley and was told that they would finish up around 7:30pm and then we'd go to dinner.  Fie! Fie!  Those crazy folks stayed and skied till 9:00pm, having so much fun they couldn't tear themselves off the hill.  So it was a late, late dinner when we rolled in the Cheesecake Factory.  So late that nobody ordered dessert.  Instead we went home and set an ice cream cake afire with 26 brightly burning candles which Care extinguished with one mighty blow.

Fast forward exactly one week and it was time to celebrate Rick's 48th birthday!  What an old baby brother!  But Rick is ever-ready for a celebration.  The day before, we went down to Mapleton and took Norma to lunch at Magleby's.  She looks great, is doing well, and sends her love to all with an ardent invitation to visit her.  When the actual day arrived, Rick had already been booked for dinner with his fishing buddies, so it was out with the lunch bunch.  We went to the DoDo re-monikered the Jo-Do, since Joe serving there inspired Rick's restaurant choice.

Rustin (sporting his medical boot), Nicole, Amanda (who came late), Clark, Janet; all came to join Rick at birthday lunch.  Joe was our waiter and made sure that Rick finished up with their ultra-fabulous dessert, chocolate almond mousse cake.  Have you ever seen a happier Rick face?  That stuff makes you happy!  Afterwards Mandy, Rick and I went to see a great animated movie, "Bolt".  But the partying wasn't over yet.  On Friday night we all turned out at Olympus lanes for bowling with Rick.  It was the girls against the guys.  The girls beat the guys convincingly in the first game, only to fall to defeat in the second.  I figured we ended up about even, as my score wasn't helping anyone win anything.  I fixed Rick his favorite entree, pepper steak, for Sunday dinner and he was showered with gifts.  Among his favorite was the giant red model truck that Mandy found for him.  

The Queen of Halloween

It's that time of year again, and Janet was in rare form.  It was all Harry Potter all the time this year.  We had Bertie Botts, fortune-telling, pin the beak on Buckbeak and eyeball spoon races.  Does Halloween get any better than this?  And not only did she throw this Harry Potter party once, but TWICE!!!  Amazing,  isn't she?  You can bet she's at home resting in her comfort trap trying to recover and falling asleep through another episode of Pushing Daisies.  

 When they arrived at the party, everyone was sorted into houses and given a schedule of classes to attend.  And Dumbledad  made sure everyone, even the Slytherins, were excited about their houses.

Mandy dressed up as Madam Hooch, Quidditch and flying instructor.

There is Hagrid with the most brillowy beard of all.  He helped the kids give Fang (Barkley) dog treats in his Care of Magical Creatures class.

Nicole was Professor Trelawney and fortold very dark and dangerous fortunes for her students.  They will be lucky to survive the year.

Carole was Professor McGonagal and oversaw the eyeball spoon races in her Transfiguration class.  Here they all are, pictured with Headmaster Dumbledad.  

What a great Halloween.  Thanks Your Majesty!

Still Reuning After All These Years

Dad came home from his mission to Austria in 1967, so it's been 41 years since he served as an assistant to President Arthur Watkins.  Obviously President Watkins was quite a guy.  After serving as a Mission President in Austria, he went on to serve as a Mission President in Italy.  He was a professor of languages at BYU and as I recall is fluent in German, Italian, French, etc, etc, etc.  

We got a phone call last week telling us that as President Watkins is now 92 years old, they were having a reunion with him for one last time.  We wanted to be there.  We headed to Lindon for the event.  There were eight of Pres. Watkins missionaries and their spouses that came, including Larry Wright from Arizona.  Jon Dibble (to Dad's right) and Larry (back row center) both returned from their missions and went to law school at Stanford.  There were some VERY outstanding missionaries in Austria at that time. 

President Watkins had trouble hearing but his eyes are twinkling and his mind is very, very sharp.  He lost his beloved wife eight years ago.  Of course all the guys wanted a picture with the President.  I thought the girls should have the same opportunity.  It was so sweet to be a part of this coming together to reminisce.  The last time I visited with President Watkins, I was at his home and he showed me his anti-gravity machine.  It was a flat board that he would strap himself to, then it would rotate and he would spend some time inverted with his head down on the board and his feet in the air.  It kept the blood flowing to his brain, he said.  It must work!  I should get one of those.

What a Swell Party This Is

The title of this post comes from a song in the movie, High Society, which starred Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly.  It was a remake of The Philedelphia Story which starred Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart and Clark Gable.  So much for movie history. -- The party we went to last night was to celebrate history - Utah First Bank is 30 years old.  Dad brought home an invitation from the bank (who just recently re-financed his office  building complex, likely because the head of the bank was an Austrian missionary with Dad).  When opened there is a picture of a young retro-couple and the card played, "You're the One that I Want" from Grease.  The couple was holding a big red #1.  It was inviting us to a light buffet dinner at the Salt Lake Country Club.  

It was the most gorgeous evening of perfect weather.  As we entered, we were walking on a giant red carpet shaped like a big red #1.  We signed the guest book and were given a favor - a leather case holding a 1978 US Dollar coin and a 2008 US Dollar coin.  30 years ago - Clark was a baby. The buffet had small portions of Beef Wellington, chicken on a stick, and a huge bowl of giant shrimp.  A cocktail waitress walked around serving cranberry juice or lemonade cocktails - this is Utah right?!

We ate outside adjacent to the golf course with a fabulous view of Mount Olympus.  And no folding chairs here, but lovely dining room-type chairs on the lawn.  Surprisingly, you cannot hear the freeway from this venue.

My favorite thing, however, was the entertainment - the Saliva Sisters.  They are a female trio that does great parody songs - ala Weird Al.  They turned Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" to "I've Got Skin Under My Chin"(I can relate).  They sang about fiber and Depends and shopping.  I loved it.  Their CD's are called "Delusions of Granger - a Utah Parody"  and "Spit Happens" (they're the Saliva Sisters, get it?)

As we were leaving, the valet attendant took our picture amongst the colorful, fragrant pink, red, and purple petunias.

Zipperneck

So, it was supposed to be a good thing - taking Barkley in to the vet for teeth cleaning and to have a cyst on his neck removed while he was under anesthesia.  But things seemed to go wrong from the first.  They put him out and a few minutes later he had a grand mal seizure.  They think that he must be allergic to one of the drugs used in the anesthetic, but also mentioned a remote possibility that he could develop epilepsy.  This was scary news but it continues.  The cyst we could feel on top of his skin, turned out to be just one of several that were growing behind it.  Two were fairly large and the other were small.  Hence the unexpectedly huge incision all down his neck.  When the vet looked at the cyst under the microscope, some of the cells looked suspicious.  So we are waiting to hear back from the lab to see if they are malignant.  It could be he is just prone to develop benign cysts. 

I found all this to be debilitating. I felt like someone had just popped my balloon the rest of the day.  The only lightness came when Jeff looked at Barkley and called him "Old Zipperneck" ( a reference from Young Frankenstein)  and then Nicole came over and called him "Frankenbear".  At any rate, he is 

greatly loved and he will have tender care whatever the case.  I hope Aaron is nearby to comfort Carole when she reads this.

The Priesthood is Restored!

Last night our study group met at Boyers to hear from Michael & Darcy Kennedy.  What an amazing story they told.  Both are from Tonapah, Nevada located between "a clump of sagebrush and a Joshua tree."  The missionaries would sometimes hold zone conference there because it was mid-way between Las Vegas and Reno.  At one such time they determined to tract out the town.  They knocked on every door and were only let into two homes: Darcy's family and Michael's family.  Both were in high school at the time. 

 Michael had received an assignment to report on how his progenitor's lives were involved with American history.  He went home and asked his dad about this.  His Dad pulled out an old box of memorabilia that had been handed down and told him about his ancestor, Joseph Smith, who discovered Utah.  That was the first time Michael had ever heard of Joseph Smith. As they were looking through this box, the doorbell rang. It was the missionaries. They let them in . . . .  Things evolved and both Michael and Darcy joined the Church and left Tonapah for college; Darcy to Ricks and Michael to Cedar City.  In Cedar City Michael, who had been a member only 60 days, was visited by General Authority Bruce R. Mc Conkie.  Why?  Because Michael is the first male direct descendant of Joseph Smith to ever join the LDS Church.  

    Michael wanted to marry Darcy but she insisted that he serve a mission.  A blessing and conversation with the first presidency in Salt Lake revealed to Michael that his mission would be in another area.    He did however, receive the priesthood and he is the first in Joseph's direct line to hold the restored priesthood.  There is no evidence that Joseph's son, Joseph III, the founder of the RLDS faith, was ever set apart to hold either the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood.  And Michael now knew that Joseph Smith was not exactly the man who discovered Utah.

Michael took a bus from SLC to Ricks and Darcy met him.  As she saw him disembark, to her eyes he was surround by light and it came strongly to her that this man would take her to the temple.  She said yes, and they were sealed in the Provo temple.  I asked her what she thought about marrying the only LDS direct descendant of Joseph Smith.  She replied that she was a new convert and it didn't hold any significance for her at the time.  They are the proud parents of 6 children.

Now, what about that mission?  Michael and Darcy have been fulfilling a lifetime mission spoken of by Joseph Smith in D& C 109: 68-70.  At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple Joseph asks God to remember him, his wife and children, their connections -- that their prejudices may be broken up and swept away as with a flood, that they may be converted and redeemed with Israel, and know that thou art God.  Fulfilling this scripture is Michael's mission. 

Michael told us that he is creating a little leak in preparation for the coming flood - the return of Joseph's family to the church.  He said that since the RLDS gave up the use of the Book of Mormon, many descendants have felt bewildered.  They still have trouble believing that the Church is where their salvation is but there is a shift in positive feelings towards the Church and they are the contacts and good will ambassadors making this happen.  He shared some information that I'd never heard before: DNA studies have been done and none show that Joseph Smith had other heritage from his plural wives; Brigham Young is known to have sent Emma support money after he arrived in Utah, but it was stolen en route and she never received any.

Until Michael received the priesthood authority, there was no one in the Church to bring these blessings directly though Joseph's line.  Michael comes through Joseph & Emma's son, Alexander Hale Smith.  Michael and Darcy have spent their lives finding, documenting & reaching out in good will to all of Joseph's family.  As a result there are now 17 priesthood holders and 79 church members from Joseph's family.  

They executive produced the movie, "Emma Smith, My Story", in an effort to win over the RLDS & others and assure them that the LDS do love and revere Emma - they think we hate her.  They were leaving today to take the film with them to Australia where 1/3 of the direct descendants of Joseph now live.  God speed.

My Very Own Blog!

Hey Family and others! I started my very own blog! I'm kind of excited about it so check it out when you get a chance.

www.mandycannon.blogspot.com

Hope you are all doing wonderfully! I can't wait to hear your comments and questions that you might post on my blog that will make blogging that much more fun! Loves!

Amanda