Spring Is Here!!

Hello to All,

Spring has arrived in St. George with all the beautiful trees starting to bloom and the weather turning to the perfect temperature - - -78 degrees, along with all the tourists, French, German, Danish, Korean and Chinese.  And then there are all the families escaping for Spring Break.  I told you in an earlier post that St. George is the center of the Universe.  We are seeing more guests each day at the Historical Sites and Visitor Center.  Today at the VC we had 3 buses - 2 French and 1 German. One French group took 12 Books of Mormon and the German bus took 3. 

We are very busy at the sites and need to eat our Wheaties each day to climb those "Steep Historical Steps" over and over again. On Saturday at Brigham Young's in a four hour period we gave 20 tours, so I climbed those steps 20 times.  You would think I would have buns of steel, but no that hasn't happened, but I can climb them without feeling like I'm sucking air from a plugged straw. This is one memory of our mission I won't forget soon.

Along with all the visitors and beautiful blossoms that have arrived, our allergies are in full bloom as well. Usually, Bruce is the one suffering, but something in St. George isn't agreeing with me. We are sneezing, wheezing and wiping runny noses all day long.  We are not the only ones, about every Sr. Couple is carrying around a box of Kleenex and complaining about the pollen.  I guess beautiful green trees, bushes, grass and flowers come with a price.----ALLERGIES  (yuck)

The past two weeks have had there ups and downs.  Our wonderful friends, The Watts, lost their daughter to a battle of melanoma on Wednesday, March 11th.  We were able to attend the funeral on Friday.  The service was beautiful and the flowers were unbelievable.  Andi had her own flower and event business and just had the artist touch for beautiful arrangements and her employees did not disappoint her with their works of art for the service.  Andi and Kati were the same age and born 1 month apart in Logan. When Kati was 8 weeks old and Andi 4 weeks old they both contracted pneumonia.  They were in the same hospital room under oxygen tents.  For 10 days, Marilyn and I watched these little girls struggle to take a breath.  I cannot imagine how hard it was for Marilyn and Dave to again, watch their baby girl struggle for life.  We love the Watts family and pray they will find peace and comfort knowing their girl is in the arms of Heavenly Father. How grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation, God's plan of happiness for each of us.

Well---Bruce couldn't wait any longer for a toy he has wanted since we arrived in St. George. This past p-day he finally went and bought an ATV or 4-wheeler or UTV or whatever they call them.  His friend Roger had just bought a new Kawasaki thingy and told Bruce about it so Bruce got busy and went and picked one out and brought it home.  He's very excited to start riding the trails and spends hours on the computer looking at Google Earth for his new playground.  We are taking it for its maiden voyage tomorrow morning and then taking the Clark's on our p-day this Wednesday for our first day trip.  We are probably crazy, but he's as happy as a kid in a candy store.  Now I really do need to go out and buy camouflage and then we can go to Duck Days and fit right in. (Duck Creek here we come)

I had the best surprise on Friday.  I received a text from two wonderful friends from Mesa.  Leila Scurr and Bonny Drain stopped by for a quick hike in Snow Canyon.  I love it when friends stop by and I get to hear all about what is happening back home while hiking in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.  Oh What a Beautiful Morning!!

On that note, we miss you all.  We think of you each day and pray all is well.  Remember - be safe.

Love,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS Happy Birthday to our spunky, adorable Lilly who turned 8.