I hadn’t planned to use this blog for seminary since I’m the last person to be advising other teachers, but I put some time into making an overview of the first 101 lessons and thought some others might find it useful. I’m really techno- challenged so it’s rough and probably full of errors and omissions, but it I might make life easier. Also, some of the media listed are personal notes and not out of the manual.

Here’s 1-82OT First half outline and 83- 101Old Test 83-101.

Good luck- God bless you in his service.

I was very fortunate as a kid to have experienced the luxury of the Helms Man. Helms Bakery trucks serviced the whole LA area. They came down the street every workday morning bearing drawers of the most delicious donuts known to man. Her’s a picture truck or you can  see a YouTube video here (You get the gist in the first minute or two), The truck made a sort of a cross between a honk and a whistle (you can hear it on the video) and if we were home and had some money, we’d run out to buy a chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting or maybe a jelly filled that melted in your mouth like nothing I’ve tasted since. Of course selling treats to kids wasn’t their main enterprise. Helms catered to stay at home moms who liked having their breads, cakes, cookies and chips delivered to their door. A sign like the one below placed in the window let the driver know to go to stop for an order. We never used the card because my dad loved the Helms Thrift Store where he could pick up day old bread, glazed donuts and twists for a fraction of the cost of fresh, He much preferred his pastries to have a little more texture, acquired after a day or two on the shelf. Marilyn, my neighbor, also never used the card because her mother didn’t approve of a lot of sugar. (Still, Marilyn’s dad would, occasionally, sneak home sweets from the Jewish bakery where he purchased the approved challah and sour dough bread). Parental reservations  aside, growing up with access to a magical coach of mobile deliciousness was one of the privileges of growing up in North East Los Angles and my neighbors, siblings and I took advantage whenever we possibly could, Unfortunately, the bakery shut down just before I graduated from high school and left LA, but I’d sure love to know who bought the recipes..

First of all, let me apologize to anyone who got notified of a new post, I started this site as a way to keep friends and family posted on what we were doing on our mission. I haven’t used it since we came home, more than two years ago, but since we probably won’t be going on another mission for more than a year or so I decided to use the blog for another purpose for now. I thought it would be a good place to record memories of people and things that my offspring will probably never see. Sometimes grandkids will ask for family stories and memories, but other times I can feel an invisible eye roll when I start to reminisce. I figure that this way, they have a choice to take that stroll down memory lane or skip it.

So again, sorry, if I got you here under false pretenses, For the next several months this will just be the idle ramblings of an aging baby boomer.

We’ve been home for two months – catching up and thoroughly enjoying our home and family. We got to be a part of the blessing of our two newest grand-daughters and attend programs and pre-school graduations. It’s all wonderful. Still, our hearts are never very far from Northern California and Western Nebraska where we left so many beautiful people and memories.

The Shaws left a few weeks before we did (they’re serving again in Montana) and Brenda had warned me that it would feel strange, because you have a home, friends, work and people you love that are left behind. She was so right. I’ve procrastinated wrapping this up because the feelings are still tender. The worst part is that as I tried to take those parting shots of the people who had touched our lives, they were eating, working or not available. So since I don’t want to miss anyone, I won’t be posting their pictures.

The basketball/tennis court was finished and fenced (and hopefully striped by now).

The volleyball court had yet to be leveled, but it was a great hit as a giant sand box.

We’ll miss the wildflowers…..

and the ride to work

and our little house with the train passing by

Above all we’ll miss the incredible people we got to work and worship beside.

This is the picnic for all the employees. Glad the pavilion is holding up.

This is Zach, who became family. He worked with us almost every day for 6 months — he put up with a lot of tired jokes and old stories. Zach reports to the Missionary Training Center on July 3rd to serve in the Pocatello Idaho Mission. Go with God, Elder Kaye!

Welcome Little “Ellie”. We love you! See you soon.

With the last of the four houses scheduled for demolition, we were blessed to be able to let the fire department practice on it and burn it rather than the usual asbetos fiasco and paying for several dumpsters to be hauled away. The Butte County Fire Department was very excited and extremely helpful. Sister Shaw got it all set up. The pictures don’t need captions – except that Beth and Marshall were here. Firefighters from all over the area including Yuba and Hamilton were picnicing on the lawn. The first shot was one of at least 6 practice fires.

Fire is very efficient. The remaining brick and concrete were used to reinforce flood levees and the rest fit into one container. The intense heat, as we watched, gave us greater appreciation for K.C., Steve and the other firefighters in the family.

With less than a month left in Chico, we are soaking up every bit of Northern California spring. The almond blossoms have given way to green leaves and a snowy blanket of petals, but the plums are coming into full flower.

Beehives are set up all over the farm to pollinate those precious blooms.

Everybody is anxious for the completion of the basketball/tennis court to coincide with the warmer weather.

It was a huge pour.

Three of my very favorite supervisors

A close-up of the plum blossoms with our little house in the background.

These aren’t apricot trees, but I understand almonds are in the same family. Last week we embarked on a “blossom tour” after going to a lot of trouble to obtain a map and carefully abiding by its directions. We followed twists and turns through orchard communities and ironically discovered that the “tour” ended up in our own neighborhood, where ,really, the prettiest trees were. I think there’s a lesson there.  Right, Toto?

Had to include the llama.

“Our” farm is all about walnuts and plums. Walnuts don’t actually flower, but the plums are beginning to bud.

The 23rd was a beautiful day, so in spite of the fact that I hadn’t been walking much lately, we thought we could take on the eight mile Feather Falls Hike that was a must on our list. Luckily for us, the Shaws had done it the week before and warned us not to take the shorter, but steeper “lower trail” out. We figured it would be good going in since it’s mostly downhill and we were also assured that even though that trail said closed, it was passable.

The holes are food preparation “bowls” from the Maidu Indians who lived in this area.

This is why the trail was closed, but we slid down OK. Ralph/Dad did it twice.

I think this is called Bald Rock.

This is Feather Falls. The 6th highest falls in the US. I wish I could connect the pictures to one piece.

This was a beautiful stream we passed on the way out, but by this time I’d handed off the camera to Ralph/Dad because my knees were so shot that if I stopped I couldn’t get going again. Lesson learned: Most of us  (except Ralph) of a “certain age” need to condition ourselves a bit before taking on athletic pursuits. The ironic thing was that we watched “Legacy” the night before, so I kept thinking what an awful pioneer I would have been.

Nothing to do with the falls….We never know what kind of machinery we’ll find in our yard when we come home and Ralph/Dad would so love to try some of it out.

Valentine’s week was eventful and fun.

Tuesday we had a zone conference and visit with our mission director, Elder Dibble and his wife (they are the center couple with Elder and Sister Shaw on the left).They are incredible people who taught us a lot and were fun to spend the day with. (Pretend I’m not in this picture- I was sick and my eyes were closed). This is taken in front of a house we worked on.

Wednesday, Ralph and Zach completed the pavilion.Yay! We’re still finishing cosmetic stuff, but the structure is finished and beautiful. Thank you Kaihaku for the plan.

Saturday we drove north to check some sites off our list. It was pretty cold in the mountains.The next three shots are Burney Falls. It was gorgeous and made such beautiful lacy patterns.

The plan was to hike to the base of the falls, but we were a couple of weeks too early and the trail looked like this.

On clear days we can see Mount Shasta from Chico, but it’s way more impressive 150 miles closer.

On the way home we stopped to see the Sundial Bridge in Redding. In the summer it actually tells the time.