Thanksgiving and This and That

We had a wonderful, yet unusual Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving on the beach.  We took our bikes to Hollywood Beach and rode along the boardwalk.  It was a beautiful day; windy, but still pleasant.  The wind kicked up the waves.  Normally, they are calm like Ft. Lauderdale beach.

We were lucky--we got parking right near the beach and near bathrooms.  There were quite a few people there, riding bikes like us, roller blading, walking, some were sun bathing and some were playing in the ocean.  I think many were spending their time there until it was time for their turkey dinner.  At least that was the case with a friendly couple who stopped to talk with us while we were sitting on a bench looking out over the beach.

We rode our bikes for quite a ways and ended up at Dania Beach and the pier.  We paid to go up onto the pier where we could really see a lot more.  It was interesting to notice how green the water was.  The water is quite shallow until quite a ways out.  Naturally, the water gets a darker green as it gets deeper. There was a wind surfer out on the water.  His board reminded me of a snowboard, with places for his feet.  He looked like he was having a lot of fun with his parachute.

The wind was whipping pretty good up there on the pier.  There were a lot of fishermen--and birds--probably hoping to get lucky with someone's fish, or fish innards.  I was delighted to see a pelican!  I'd never seen a real one.  It seemed pretty calm, it was probably pretty used to people.  I took several pictures, but when it hopped up on the bench, Mark sat down and they just looked at each other.   That was perfect!

 

Miami in the distance

Fort Lauderdale in the distance.

By the time we left, there were two wind surfers.

Our Thanksgiving dinner when we finally went for one was at Ruby Tuesdays.  It wasn't a traditional dinner, but good nonetheless.  It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful day. ( I always think of that Beatles' song when I think of Ruby Tuesdays.)

It was nice having the weekend off.  We went through stuff to get rid of, or give away.   The job trailers are being taken off the job site at the temple and we needed to make some space for stuff he needs to bring home.

Right now we are working inside the temple in the administration area.  The earthwork guys graded the employee parking lot and will move the original top soil back so everything can regrow.  The trailers will be gone soon.

The furniture and paintings arrived last week, along with the church's designer.  Everything moved along pretty well and by the end of the week, everything was in and the paintings hung.  Things went so well, everyone from Salt Lake was able to go home.

There are just odds and ends things that need to be done now.

It's interesting how some people think it's okay to come onto a job site and come in, because they happen to be members of the church.  The sign outside the gate warns people that it is a felony to trespass, (in Spanish and English) but that doesn't seem to faze some people.  The best story was a man who brought his son in and wanted to do baptisms for the dead!  I don't think the font was even completely done at the time, but there certainly wasn't any water in it!  I just shake my head.

We got our Christmas stuff up, what little we have.  Actually, we put it up the day after Thanksgiving.  I did something to one section of lights as I was fluffing the tree, so there's only lights on one section of the tree because the top part is out too.  Oh well.  It's fine.  I had a hard time with all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving.  Now, that Thanksgiving is over, I listen to Christmas music all the time.

Mark flew to Atlanta on Friday.  He's taking care of a remodel project there.  He flies home to Salt Lake on Wednesday.

Donny and Marie Osmond had a concert last night in Plantation.  Members of the Church were offered free tickets, so Mark and I went!  It was fabulous!  They did a great job.  Donny likes to go into the audience.  So many women give him hugs.  It's amazing how many people still have memorabilia of him.  When he came down our aisle, the lady sitting next to us thrust her Donny doll into his hand so he could see it.  He looked at it and then took my hand (I was sitting near the aisle).  So I can say I got to hold Donny Osmond's hand for a second. 

He was laughing when he got onto the stage the first time he went out because some lady had goosed him!

It was such a fun concert!  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was after midnight before I got to bed.  (football game for Mark=2:00am)

We had a lovely dinner at some friends this afternoon.  They are originally from Brazil, but have lived here quite a while.  We got to know them shortly after we first came.  Bernadeth and Victor Silva.

We also got an invitation to Christmas Eve dinner today from a friend who's the Stake Young Women's President.  We've worked with her and her family through the youth programs and Savior of the World.  I'm looking forward to it.

I saw that St. George got snow and someone was saying they were talking about cancelling church.  (I'm rolling my eyes, but there must be a lot of people who really don't know or remember how to drive in the snow.)  As we hear about your snow and cold, I can't help but feel grateful for the warm weather here.  It was 83 degrees on Friday!  I'm looking forward to going home, and yet, every day we're here is a gift.  When the time comes (sometime in March, we think), it will be hard.  We will miss the wonderful people we've grown to know and love here.  We are so blessed!

I love this quote from President Monson:

"...to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."("The Divine Gift of Gratitude," Ensign, Nov. 2010)


May we all live in gratitude, no matter what.

Temple Walk

Our stake had a temple walk Saturday.  For those who know this area, they walked from Bergeron Park to Vista View Park, which overlooks the temple.  It is around eight miles.  Mark was asked to speak, so he met them on top of the hill and spoke to them for about 15-20 minutes.  He said there were about 160 kids and leaders there.  It went very well.  One of the stake presidency President Rincon, was at our Sacrament Meeting today and complimented him on his talk.

View from Vista View Park

 We've had a wonderful experience at the temple putting crystals on the chandeliers.  The celestial room chandelier is finally ready for us to hang the crystals.  It's about 2-3 times larger than the others.  It should be a wonderful experience for everyone who participates.  I'm looking forward to it!

Weekend Update

Our Primary Sacrament Meeting presentation was today.  We had a rehearsal Saturday morning for all the kids and the presidency had a pizza party for them as a reward.  The presentation went well and the kids did great.  I made some mistakes, but most of it went all right. (Actually, I want to say I was moderately awful, but maybe it wasn't that bad.)

I'm glad it's over.  Now I am preparing for the stake Christmas program.  Each ward is preparing a musical number.  And we are also preparing to sing at the end of the month and then our own ward Christmas program. 

Along with all of this, I still continue to write the history of the temple.  It's getting down to crunch time, because our missionaries, Elder and Sister DeGraffenried will be leaving to go home for Christmas.  I have been going to the temple every day to write.  I'm so grateful for Mark's daily journal of the job.  It is the only way I could do this. 

Christmas movies are in full swing already!!  I am just not ready for this yet, but Mark is loving them!  I just cannot get into the spirit yet.  I don't want anything Christmassy to start until after Thanksgiving!  I usually make him put his headphones on.  : (

It's going to be a very busy rest of the year until we get everything finished.  Furnishings start coming in December.  That will really be exciting!

Temple Chandeliers

Last week we hung crystals on five chandeliers in the sealing rooms and pass through.  It was a wonderful experience for everyone who was involved.  Our mission president's wife, Sister Anderson, helped me find people to come help.  She enlisted the help of some of her sister missionaries so we could have people from all through the temple district to help us.

Monday our crew leaders came to help us set up the rooms.  The men moved heavy boxes of crystals from the job trailers into the temple.  We set up tables and wrapped ladder feet with socks for the carpet.  Shannon Shepherd and Regan Hall had come from Utah representing Swarovski to help us with the installation.  They are sisters.  Their mom started their business and they all work in it together. 

It only took us two or three hours to get everything set up, so we all went to lunch afterwards. 

Tuesday started the actual work on the chandeliers.  We had two shifts everyday-8:00-noon and 1:00-5:00.  We had a variety of people helping us:  some of the sister missionaries who had helped me get the names, some who were newly baptized or who had been inactive and were wanting to come back, plus I found that most of the stake president's wives in our temple district came and some of the men as well.  I had a lot of names and it seemed the list just kept getting longer.  I just decided that it would all work out no matter what and there were some people who didn't show up, so we worked with those who came.

Mark had two scaffolding set up in the pass through area because there are two chandeliers in that room.  That really helped, but oh boy it was really high!  I did actually climb up there and work for a while.  I sat next to a woman who had been recently baptized and was just learning about the gospel.  It was fun explaining some things to her as we all talked.  I was grateful I could sit, it made it a lot more comfortable working. 

The chandeliers were designed especially for our temple and Florida.  They are unique and the design will not be found anywhere else.  There are thousands and thousands of crystals hung on each chandelier.  The final results are magnificent!  It took us both Tuesday and Wednesday to finish the five chandeliers. 

The crystals come from Austria.  They are machine cut precisely to the correct dimensions.  When the light shines on them, you can see the colors of the rainbow throughout the chandelier!  What a glorious sight!  Only the best for our temple!

We always met with everyone first in the trailer, where Mark or I would talk to them about the rules.  We sometimes read a scripture and always had a prayer with the group before we started.  Everyone had to wear white socks working on the white carpet, or foot covers.  It was nice for them because we took them through the front door and then to the back where we were working, so they got to see a bit more than just the area where we worked.  It is so beautiful!  Everyone loved it

The carpet cutters were there as well.  It's amazing to watch them work.  First they draw out the design with a permanent magic marker, using a stencil.  Then they take what looks like electric shears and cut the design.  They worked most of the time we were there in the Celestial Room.  The design runs through most of the room, so it was a big job!

Part of this experience was just getting to know the people who came.  It was a pleasure to work with each and every one.  One of the men who came is from Tasmania.  He served his mission here.  There were people who were a bit rough around the edges, but who love the gospel.  The former mission president's wife flew out from Salt Lake to help us. They were still serving when the groundbreaking happened but were released about a week afterwards. What a reunion that was!  She knew everyone!

We finished Wednesday by wrapping all of the chandeliers and sconces with plastic to protect them from dust.  The carpet shavers are still working.  We got all our trash out and just cleaned everything up.  It was deeply satisfying to close each door to the finished chandeliers, seeing the results of everyone's hard work.

This experience has been a joy for me.

Hosting

We've had a busy week.   The contractor and subcontractor for the Fort Collins temple came to tour our temple.  Then on Thursday, Mark's bosses from Salt Lake came:  Cory Karl,(now is handling international project)s Brent Roberts,(managing director of Special Projects) Jared Doxie, (who's taking over for Cory for the United States), Bill Williams (director for the temple architectural and design), David Child (he deals with architects and contracts). plus our architects and contractors. 

Anyway, there was a huge tour.  They were very pleased with how everything looks.  Mark had ordered in Jimmy Johns for lunch because there were some early flights. 

We're getting ready for our chandelier project next week.  We set up tomorrow and then the actual project starts on Tuesday morning.  I think it will be a wonderful experience for all who participate.  I'm looking forward to it.

From Left to Right:  Dave Griffiths, me, Mark, Jared Doxie, Brent Roberts, Cory Karl, Elder and Sister DeGraffinried, David Child, Darrell Zwick, Ben Schrieder, Bill Williams and David Fletcher

Elder Zwick

Elder Zwick from the Seventy and his wife were here on Friday as well as our former area authority, Tony Burns and his wife.  Elder Zwick's son is one of the contractors building the temple.  It was a pleasure to meet them and go with them as they toured the temple.  They received special permission to come, as it is not normally allowed.  But Elder Zwick and his wife are here to do some stake conferences and he was also sent to speak at the funeral of one of the missionaries who was recently killed.

 They are gracious and lovely, all of them.  They stayed for a couple of hours before they had to leave.  We enjoyed them very much.

From left to right:  Me, Mark, Elder Zwick, Sister Zwick, Dave Griffiths, Sister Burns, Brother Burns

Stake Conference

Saturday and Sunday was our stake conference with Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve.  The theme continues from General Conference "Hasten the Work of Salvation."  Missionary work has been a challenge for me.  But I have determined to do better.  I  understand we can go out with the missionaries to help them talk to people (not proselyting, but in their homes) to bear our testimonies and tell them how the gospel has blessed our lives.  That's what I intend to do.

The choir sounded wonderful.  In fact at rehearsal this morning the Spirit was so strong and their voices so beautiful I started to cry as I was directing.  All our hard work paid off.  Elder Oaks said he has heard many choirs, some good and others ordinary.  Ours was a "good" choir.  We sang "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" for the prelude, then after the prayer, we sang "How Firm A Foundation."
That last verse is so powerful:

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, I'll never no never,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"

Eighty five voices joined in unison to bear that powerful witness!  The choir also sang the closing hymn:  "Because I Have Been Given Much."  It was an appropriate hymn for the theme.  We have been given much and as we share the gospel with others, hopefully it will bring them joy as well.

Elder Oaks came in as we were finishing our warm up rehearsal in order to shake the hands of the choir before the meeting.  It was my privilege to shake his hand.

It's been an emotional weekend.  I came home after stake conference and took a nap!

I'm grateful to whoever took these and posted them on Facebook.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, President Cesar Rincon, 1st Counselor, President Scott Richards, Stake President, President Fred Bethel, 2nd Counselor,  Fort Lauderdale Stake

 

 

The Sound of Music

Friday night we had a wonderful opportunity to go to the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton to see "The Sound of Music."  Chris and Charity gave us tickets for my birthday.  Mark took me to "Josephine's," a lovely Italian restaurant for dinner before the show.  The front parking lot was valet only, which gives you an idea of how expensive it was.  We parked in the back.  Only one other was parked there.  That was okay.  And yes, the food was delicious, but very expensive.  We had a special that included appetizer, main course and dessert.  I got chocolate mousse for my dessert and Mark got the strawberry shortcake.  I liked his better-it had a yummy cream filling.

The Wick Theater is new, or newly renovated and this is their first show.  It's a small theater, but so beautiful and intimate.  The musical was wonderful!  I have never seen "The Sound of Music" on the stage.  Naturally, it is not exactly the same as the movie, but the music was all there.  Because the theater is smaller, it is easy to see every nuance on stage.  I thought everyone did a beautiful job.  The woman who sang the part of the Mother Superior had an amazing voice!  And when she joined her voices with the women playing nuns the sound was absolutely glorious!  It was just so well done!  We loved it!

One of the fun things about this theater is the costume museum that will be opening in November.  The Wick family have collected over 1.2 million wardrobe pieces many from original Broadway shows.  That would be really fun to see.

"White Christmas" will be performed in December.  Mark and I really hope to go back and see that one. 

Palmetto Bluff Resort

Last weekend we had the privilege of staying at the fabulous Inn at Palmetto Bluff.  Our nephew, Dave Berry was getting married and had invited us for the festivities.
We left Thursday afternoon and drove as far as Daytona Beach and stopped at the Comfort Suites for the night.  It was near the freeway and the rates were very reasonable.

We were walking to find a place to eat when we saw a man pushing his car.  "I've run out of gas," he said, "do you have any spare change?"  At first Mark said no.  "Sorry to bother you."  He also asked a woman and she said no.

Then as we watched, he pushed his car out of the way and started to walk to the nearby gas station.  Was this man really in need?

Mark said to me that if the man could push his car to the gas station, he could use his credit card and buy him some gas.  He just couldn't not help and I encouraged him to do it.

Mark walked to the man's car and motioned to the man to come back.  Together they pushed his car to the gas pump and Mark went inside to pay for the gas.  I had watched this and then walked over as well.  The man thanked me for Mark.  "Thank you so much! he said.

Mark was very generous in giving the man gas so he would have plenty to get him where he needed to go.  It seems he had left his wallet when he stopped to eat and when he went back for it it was gone.  He said he was gone only five minutes, but no one there knew or would say what happened to his wallet, even after the man said he didn't care about the money, only his license and credit cards.  He had come from Ohio and was going to Cocoa Beach.  When Mark told him how much he had given him he said, "No way!"  Then he thanked us again and told us he would be sure to help someone else; that he helps people all the time.

I was so proud and grateful for Mark's generosity.  "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these...ye have done it unto me."

The room was very nice and the bed comfortable.  There was a nice breakfast we enjoyed the next morning before we left.  Daytona Beach is supposed to be pretty famous, so I asked Mark if we could drive to the beach to see why.  Guess what?  There are breakers!!  You could actually surf or boogie board on waves!  What a difference from Fort Lauderdale!

All right, moving along.  We stopped in Savannah for lunch then continued to South Carolina. It is beautiful and green.  We got to the Palmetto Bluff gates.  They had our reservation and let us through.  We had to drive for another 6 miles before we came to the inn where we would sign in. We arrived about 2:30.

Wow!  It's so beautiful here!  A valet came and loaded our things into a cart and drove our car away.  He took our stuff to our cottage and put everything in there for us.  We signed in and found out where we would be staying.  Mark's dad and sister, Mary Alice were also here, so we stopped first at their cottage.  Oh my goodness!  The cottages are so luxurious!

The Inn at Palmetto Bluff

    Their cottage was larger than ours because they are sharing it, but ours was no less beautiful.  We were in Cottage #22.

I love the style of wood board and batten on the walls and ceilings! 

Screened porch

That is a luxurious tub!  Loved that!

There wasn't just the cottages and inn.  It was like a little community with shops and a restaurant.  There were homes as well which people owned.

A couple of homes across the lake from our cottages and behind the inn.

Okay, we won't be swimming in the lake!

One of the nice things about this place is it's also a preserve.  They've worked very hard to preserve the natural habitat of this beautiful area.

Because cars aren't allowed to the cottages, bikes were provided for our enjoyment.

Friday we met in front of the inn at 5:30 along with all the other wedding guests.  We were shuttled to a secluded area where we would have a nice dinner.  We were met with drinks, hors d'oeuvres and a great little band playing music for our enjoyment.  Naturally I went for water.  Mark and I did actually try an oyster.  It was cooked, otherwise there is no way I would have tried it!  Slurping raw oysters off the shell is disgusting!  I had mine on a cracker.  It was okay.  There were other hors d'oeuvres I liked much better.

This place was beautifully decorated.  I learned later that Melissa and Dave had done the decorating.  She has an interior design business in Park City.  I understand it is very very nice.

You can see a tree house in the background.

Because we were near some of the natural habitat waterways, there were a lot of mosquitoes so bug spray was provided on the tables.

Allie Berry

Dad Berry and Rob, Mark's oldest brother and father to the groom.

Berry clan

When the food was finally served it was delicious!  It was like a big buffet.  Melissa's family showed a special video of Dave and Melissa.  It was very nicely done and everyone enjoyed it.

I didn't realize that Melissa's last name, which is Crotty, is an Irish name.  All of the family members that we met were gracious and friendly.  Because this is a resort, Melissa's family took much of the cost upon themselves so we could afford to come.  It was very much appreciated.

It was late when we got back to our cottage.  The TV was on (Harry Potter) and I looked at Mark and said, "Did you leave the TV on?"  We realized the bed had been turned down and bathrobes laid across our bed and slippers on the floor near the bed, plus a tray with a bag of some kind of chocolate treat.  We realized housekeeping had been in.  Boy you could get spoiled here in a hurry.

In the entry way of the cottage, there is a small refrigerator where they offer free water and other drinks.  Snacks are also offered as a complimentary service.  The only thing that wasn't complimentary was the bottle of wine. (Not much to worry about there.) There were two glass containers:  one had chocolate covered something in it and the other looked like nuts of some kind.  I took one of the nuts out and popped it into my mouth and almost immediately spit it out!  I had to run to the bathroom and rinse out my mouth.  When I read the bottom of the jar it was wasabi peanuts!  Okay.  Hopefully the chocolates would be better.  Unfortunately not!  When I ate one, it was nasty and so I took another thinking it might be different.  Nope.  Looking on the bottom of that jar we found out they are chocolate covered coffee beans!  "I just broke the Word of Wisdom!" I wailed.  Inadvertently.  Oh well, we wouldn't be enjoying the rest of those.

Saturday, we rode our bikes to breakfast.  We ate at the Buffalo, which was a nice cafe.  We had the breakfast buffet, which included some incredibly delicious pastries!  At $20.00/plate, it was pretty expensive, but we enjoyed every bite.  You just don't get to experience this kind of thing very often, so I say savor the experience.

We rode our bikes all over.  Because there are 22,000 acres, obviously there are plenty of places to ride.
There are so many beautiful pine trees here.  The smell reminded me of camping.  As Mark and I were talking, something reminded me of the song "Those Were the Days."  Does anyone remember that?  So I started to sing (as I'm weaving around on my bike)
"Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day.
We'd live the life we'd choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days!
Then, of course I burst out with "La, La, La, La La La...  Mark thought I was funny and weird.

We hooked up with Mary Alice and rode bikes together.  I really wanted to go kayaking, but Mark reminded me that we didn't have hats and would probably fry.  He had a headache too, so we just stayed on the covered deck and watched some of the others.  There was a dolphin out in the water.  The day couldn't have been more perfect.  The sky was a perfect blue with no clouds.  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous!

I actually took these pictures first thing Saturday morning on our way to breakfast.  The clouds later went away and it was a perfect blue sky

 There is a cute grocery store just a little ways away.  Allie wanted to take something home for her girls.  It was fun to look, but it was pricey, like $7.00 or more for a can of vegetables.  : O

Mark spent the afternoon with his dad watching the football games and I went to the pool with Allie.  We enjoyed lunch and a short swim there until it was time to come back to get ready for the wedding.  There is a small chapel across from the Buffalo Cafe.

The wedding was supposed to be at 5:00, but didn't quite get started on time.  It was a different wedding, based on nature.  Melissa's family is Catholic, but Dave isn't religious.  A woman pastor married them.

You can see Mary Alice and Dad at the front.

Dave and his mom, Donnie.

The woman who married them is on the far left, then Dave, Luke, (Dave's son was best man) then Mick.  I don't know anyone else, although Melissa's brothers are probably the other groomsmen and a friend.

Bridesmaids.  Mick's wife, Sarah is 2nd from the left.

Bride and groom.  My flash didn't take a very good picture.

After the wedding, there were drinks and hors d'oeuvres before the reception dinner.

When I took this, we had finished with all the drinks and hors d'oeuvres we wanted and were sitting on the porch of the inn, looking out over the festivities.  It was starting to get dark, but you can see there were still a lot of people there enjoying themselves.

This isn't very clear, but we were told that there had once been a plantation home on this site, but it had been burned during the Civil War as most of the homes had been.  Can you make out the ruins?

 

 

 

The reception was very nice.  The food was delicious, the service amazing.  A DJ was there playing music and there were several dances:  The traditional bride and groom dance, the bride and father and the groom and mother.  Mark got a bit misty eyed at this point.  He was thinking of Mom.

Their cake.

Each of these balls had our table placement on it.

Mick, the groom's brother.

Rob and Sheila, the groom's dad and step-mom.

Mark and Dad

Allie, Dad, Sheila and Mark

Melissa wore a lovely Vera Wang wedding dress she bought in New York.

I wish them much joy and a long married, happy life together.

Some in our party were flying out very early the next morning for Utah and Mark and I were leaving at 7:00am to drive home, so we left the reception early.  At 11:00 we knew there was going to be some kind of surprise.  It ended up being fireworks.  I think I can safely say a good time was had by all!  I know we had a really good time.  Thanks, Dave and Melissa!