A Turtle??

Dear Friends and Family,

First and foremost, thanks to all who sent Birthday wishes my way.  It is so wonderful to know you are thought of and remembered.  And thank you to my wonderful Kids and Grandchildren who surprised me by pulling up to the side of our car while we were driving down Bluff Street, honking their horn and leaning out the windows yelling Nema & Papa.  At first I thought Bruce had cut someone off, but when I saw those sweet faces, my heart leaped for joy.  My arms ache to hug all my grand kids, but having those three visit was pure joy.  They visited all the historical sites and wanted to know everything we are doing.  But best of all, they crawled in bed with us in the morning and snuggled.  (now that's a birthday present)  Thanks, Becky and Ryan.  And thanks to Kati for giving us the week off from blogging.  (Its really hard, this really isn't me but the kids insist)

Our other wonderful event this weekend was a visit from our friends, Karen and Steve Reeder. We had a fun filled 2 days.  We had tickets to Tuacahn and watched Wizard of Oz.  (So cute) They visited all the sites and heard all the stories about Brigham and Jacob and how the saints were able to build the Temple and Tabernacle.  We got up early Sunday morning and drove to Pine Valley to attend church at that beautiful and historical building.  It is the oldest working chapel in the church.  After church we drove up to Mountain Meadow to visit the monument.  It is a sobering experience, but the church has done a beautiful job of the memorial and the grounds.  Thanks to Karen and Steve for visiting, you made our weekend.

Two weeks ago on our P-day, we drove up scenic highway 12.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Southern UT, this is the road that goes east from Bryce Canyon over to Escalante, Cannonville, Tropic, then across a road called "The Hog Back" to Boulder.  (Hog Back road, 1000 ft cliffs on both sides of the road with no guard rails on either side.)  This drive is one of 5 in the US that is highly recommended to be one of the most spectacular in the country, and the last highway improved and paved in the Southwest. We can now testify that it is truly one awesome road..  We continued on through Boulder to Torrey, then drove back to Escanlante to spend the night at a bed and breakfast. It was wonderful to experience this part of the State, it is incredibly beautiful, we hope to go back and take a couple of the hikes and roads that go to some spectacular slot canyons and water falls.

The work in the historical sites continues to amaze me.  On the Saturday of Labor Day we had more than 475 visitors at BY's home, 259 at Jacob Hamblin's home and well over 1500 at the Visitor Center.  Some of these visitors are members but a good number are not.  It is our privilege to introduce these people to the church and its doctrine, give them a Book of Mormon and invite them to read it, We then give them a post card that they can fill out with their email address or home address and then drop it in the mail.  This generates the teaching online that the missionaries do all over the world.  Bruce, met his German buddy, who knew exactly where his Great Great Grandfather had come from and how to pronounce "Borchert".  We practiced and practiced, but our German friend just laughed at us.  He had been given a B of M before and was bringing his son on a tour of the US.  He loved the VC and wanted his son to experience it.  His son took a B of M and he did give Bruce his email address.  Success, we can establish contact with him and continue our fellowship and invitation to read the Book of Mormon and have the missionary discussions.  (Who Knows)

Well, I am sort of excited that my server has been down for the past two days.  I typed this message on Sunday but couldn't send it.  However, yesterday and today we had terrific rain.  I am attaching a picture I took tonight that is about 1 1/2 miles up the road from where we live.  The stream filled so quickly that it jumped the road (Dixie Rd, for those who are familiar with St. George) and took out a huge storm drain that ran under the road.  They have heavy equipment there now trying to shore up the banks so hopefully they can save the road.  Pretty exciting.  Also, there is a State Park up by Snow Canyon which preserves Deseret Tortoise's and Gila Monsters.  We have been there numerous times to see the tortoise's or a Gila Monster, with no success.  But we saw one tonight.  Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Well, its time to clean our Condo so we can play tomorrow.  "Its P-Day"!  We send love to all and pray all is good in your lives.  If you are close to St. George, let us know.  We love visitors.

Health and Happiness,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder & Sister