Primary

In April I was called to be the Primary President in my ward.  It had been years since I had a calling to serve in the Primary organization.  In fact, the last time I served in Primary was probably about 1986-1987.  The reason I remember the year is because it was at that time I started teaching school.  Julie was five, and Natalie was three. I was the Laurelwood Primary President when I began my teaching career.  I found myself very busy juggling all my responsibilities.  I managed to serve as president for about a year after I started teaching school and then was released.

Now, close to 27 years later, I find myself back in Primary.  It has been busy as one would expect and somewhat complicated trying to manage my emotions when I think about my own grandchildren and the significant part I hoped Primary would play in all of their lives.

Today was the annual Sacrament Meeting presentation.  Although I did not think it was going to go well, I was wrong.  All of the teachers showed up as well as all the children that I expected.  We had a great turnout as far as the audience goes as well.  The theme of this year's sharing time and presentation was Choose The Right.  It turned out as well as I could have hoped inspite of my obvious lack of experience and my less-than-soaring spirit.  In preparation for the program, we had a Friday afternoon practice.  After the practice we had pizza, Capri Suns, and sugar cookies.  Many thanks to all who had anything to do with making this year a success. I know it was definitely a team effort.

Our Program

Nursery

Sister Daza
The Sunbeams

Sister Gressmen
CTR 4

Brother and Sister Simpson
CTR 5

Sister Clark
CTR 6

Sister Dymon
CTR 7

Sister Jenkins
Valiant 8/9

Brother and Sister Graven
Valiant 10/11

Remembering Sheldon

Friday after school Julie, Steve, and I drove to SLC for the purpose of celebrating Sheldon's life on what would have been his 32nd birthday.  We stayed at the Hilton Hotel near Temple Square.  We arrived at 3 am Saturday morning, so we spent most of Saturday in the hotel room sleeping and watching conference.  Eventually that afternoon it was time to pick up balloons, cupcakes, and flowers.  As soon as our errands were complete, we headed to the SLC Cemetery where we were joined with Sheldon's family.  We placed our flowers as well as a can of Mountain Dew and a package of red licorce on his grave which, of course, were things Sheldon loved.  Afterwards we all shared our favorite memories of Sheldon.  Some things made me cry; others made me laugh.  Steve said a beautiful prayer, and we ended our remembrance at the cemetery.  We then all drove to Famous Dave's where we enjoyed Sheldon's favorite meal.  For dessert we enjoyed strawberry cupcakes which was a favorite of Sheldon's. 

Sunday morning Julie, Steve, and I attended the morning session of General Conference.  It was an excellent meeting, and I thoroughly felt uplifted and edified as I left the conference center.  There were many messages shared in conference this past weekend that seemed especially for us as we try to come to terms with what happened in our family six months ago.

SLC Cemetery

Carol and Julie

Julie with her nieces and nephews
on Sheldon's side of the family

We all wrote message on our balloons before
letting them float away into the sky.

Here's Julie right after she finished
writing her message to Sheldon.

There's something very sweet in watching
balloons float away into the heavens.

Everything looked very pretty with all the
fall colors.  I'm sure Sheldon was smiling
down from above!

Famous Dave's was one of Sheldon's favorite
restaurants.  We've eaten here a few times before.
Being in SLC this weekend brought back
many memories of times we've shared
with Julie and Sheldon in Utah.

It was quite a large gathering.  I think there were
17 of us altogether.  Dinner was yummy.

We had tons of cupcakes.  I think most of us
enjoyed several different kinds.  Sheldon
had a sweet tooth, so I'm pretty sure he was happy
that we ended his remembrance celebration
with one of his favorites.

So sweet!

This was taken after the morning session of
General Conference.  It was a beautiful, fall
day in SLC.  The temperatures were
definitely not what we're accustomed
to coming from LV.

The temple is always breathtaking.