Everything is Just Duckie!

After almost two weeks in Utah, I returned on November 13th, after having a wonderful visit with the Wood family. Jenny is doing much better and gaining strength each day. Lyla is beautiful and still a wonderful little baby. Dick and I took our walk through Garth Woods, which still had some leaves. We love this picture by the waterfall. It was good to be back together.

You all know my fetish with the word "Duckie." I just had to take a picture of this license plate. That is the epitomy of "duckie." I loved it.

On November 16th, my birthday, we had a training conference in Ossining, which is about 16 miles north of Scarsdale. We and the Schoutens took care of the luncheon. The highlight of the day was when about 60 missionaries sang "Happy Birthday" to me. That was fun. Of course, Dick told them it was my birthday.

Here is one of our couples who work up north. They are the Seamons. They're really fun people and we love them.

Here is another couple, the Claytons. They also work up north. Sister Clayton knows Marilyn Laursen in our home ward. Sister Clayton plays the cello in a little orchestra in Provo, along with Marilyn Laursen. They will be concluding their mission February 1st. They are a great couple and have done much for the mission--proselyting and member activation.

These two elders are not brothers, but I get them mixed up all the time. Elder Spencer is on the left and Elder Rimmasch is on the right. They are both great elders.

Sister Lythgoe looks a little pained as she is given a shot at the conference.

We made Elder Fox laugh while he was having his shot, so that he wouldn't faint. He asked me if he really had to have a shot, and I told him "Yes." Elder Fox is one of our AP's. He's a great guy, who reminds me of Billy.

This picture was taken a couple of days before Elder Dennis went home. Yes, he's is related to our own Ron Dennis. I think Elder Dennis even plans a stop in Provo on his way to Rexburg just so he can visit with Ron. Elder Dennis was a terrific missionary. Originally, he went to Brazil for nine months and then got very sick. He had to go home for about six months and get better. Then, he was reassigned to New York. We will truly miss him.

Elder Brogdon also went home. He is a fine young man, whom we have grown to love.

We had sixteen missionaries leave on November 18th. The day before they go home, they all attend the temple in Manhattan. Dick and I were able to go with them. The Schoutens had to stay in the office to make all the arrangements for the missionaries going home. Elder Dennis is missing from this picture. He stayed in the temple a little longer.

Here are Elder Simmons, Elder Brogdon, Elder Dennis (all going home) and Elder Fox.

It was a different kind of Thanksgiving this year. There were only six of us who got together: the Schoutens, President and Sister Smith, and us. So, it was very quiet, but very pleasant. We had them come to our apartment. We didn't see much of the Macy's Day Parade on television. But, we did see a few entries at the end. Here's Santa, who is the last entry and who welcomes in the Christmas holidays.

Our turkey this year was a crock pot turkey with cranberry sauce and BBQ sauce. It turned out really well. Sister Smith brought her famous rolls, and Sister Schouten brother several dishes. We had a semi-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. After eating, we sat and talked four about three hours. It was nice to be relaxed and not have to worry about the demands of the office.

President Smith told us to close the office on Friday, because the church offices in Salt Lake were closed. So, we went to the Natural History Museum. This is the museum where the movie "Night at the Museum" was filmed. It is gigantic and takes up two full blocks in New York City. Here we have a couple of the dinosaur skeletons.

Across the street from the museum is an eating establishment called "Shake Shack. They are famous for their shakes and their hamburgers and hot dogs. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to order our food. The hamburgers and fries were very good. Shake Shack is quite a popular place for New Yorkers. We told the man standing next to us that we had come clear from Utah to have a hamburger and fries. We also had a great shake--banana bread. It was really good.

The man who took this picture was standing in the street. We were glad he didn't get hit by a car.

After lunch, we went back to the museum.

At the end of our visit to the museum, there was a tree that was decorated with dinosaur origami. I had to take a picture of it. I didn't take many other pictures inside the museum, but we saw a most interesting exhibit on the human brain. It was quite fascinating. Also, there was a gigantic room containing ocean life and movies of fowls in the ocean. It's one of those museums you need to go back to see again and again because there is so much to see. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end of the day.

We hopped on the train and immediately went to sleep until we reached Scarsdale. All in all, it was a nice Thanksgiving break. We truly have many blessings to be grateful for, especially the blessing of having Jenny and Lyla with us.