Things to be Grateful for on Valentine's

February 13 marks Jenny's 37th birthday, and on February 15th, it will be Milly's 6th birthday. I am truly grateful for these two people in my life. Most of all, I am grateful that Jenny is still with us and is the mother of five beautiful children. Dad and I truly love you and hope you have a wonderful year. This picture was taken last year as Jenny and Milly celebrated their birthdays at Larry and Geri Wood's home.
I am grateful for two other wonderful people who celebrated their birthdays the first part of February. Shelley's birthday was February 2nd, and Jordan's 16th birthday was February 7th. Look out Texas, here comes Jordan driving the Expedition. Of course, I'm grateful for the other two in the picture too, Dick and Scott.

I'm grateful for wonderful missionaries who try to do what is right. I watched these two elders push a car out of the snow. When the man got out to thank them, the missionaries told them that he was parked in front of the church and they gave him a pass-along card and invited him to church. Missionaries are amazing!

Here are the two elders who pushed the car out of the snow, Elder Martin from Springville, and Elder Torres from Virginia. I'm grateful for those wonderful smiles.

I'm grateful to the Schoutens who invited us and eight of the missionaries over for dinner. We truly love getting together with all of them. And, Schoutens always provide a nice meal.

I'm grateful for being able to teach the Marriage and Family Relations class. We have loved working with these fine people in our class. They have taught us more than we have taught them. They are a fun group.

I am grateful for these cute little children who wait for the school bus outside our apartment every weekday. We always say "hi" to them, and they smile and say "hi" back. It makes me happy. I love kids.

I'm grateful for a good building superintendant and helper who scraped through 1 inch of ice so that we didn't have to go ice skating down the street.

I'm grateful for sister missionaries because I can hug them. I love that. Here are Sister Anderson and Sister Passantino. They are Spanish-speaking missionaries and visit us occasionally in the Family History Center. They really bring sunshine into the building when they come. We love them.

I'm grateful for the great missionaries we have in our mission. Here are the Zone leaders from our mission. They are superior young men and full of enthusiasm

I am grateful for President and Sister Darger, who host our senior couples parties and decorate so beautifully for all the holidays. They always provide a tasty meat dish, and the other senior couples bring salads, desserts, rolls, etc. Here is one of the tables decorated for Valentine's Day.

Here is another one of the tables they decorated. Fun, huh?

I'm grateful for humor. Here Elder Seamons presents Elder Dalebout ("your excellency") with a crown. Elder Seamons helps with the car inspections, and Elder Seamons asked Elder Dalebout what he should call him. Elder Dalebout said, "Just call me, 'Your Excellency.'" So, Elder Seamons brought him a crown.

I'm grateful for the senior couple missionaries and our association with them. President and Sister Smith are on the left front.

Here Elder Dalebout presented the crown to Elder Seamons and called him "the crown prince."

More senior couples I'm grateful for. President Darger is on the right.

Group picture, although some of the couples couldn't be seen. They're a great group of people and we love them.

And, I'm very grateful that the weather is beginning to moderate. I don't think the snow will melt until May, but at least the temperatures are climbing.