April Attractions

 I started off the month by ushering The Johnson Files at the Eccles. It's a comedy improv group that is pretty popular here in Utah. We had the biggest crowd yet since COVID hit, 

We had all but Nate here for our Easter Picnic and Hunt. To kick it off we all met at The American Heritage Center for Baby Animal Days. They also had an area with snakes and spiders, and turtles. The kids (and I think the adults) loved it and the weather was perfect too.

We had our picnic and then we broke into teams and went on a "Sign of Easter Scavenger Hunt". Each team had to find different things that tied in with Easter and take a picture of someone in their group with it. They got more points if it had the whole group in it or it was a real deal.. Sometimes it was an object, a color, or they had to look up the meaning of a word or read a scripture. I think it was a hit, all the groups had fun and it reminded them what Easter is truly about.

Then we did the famous Easter Egg hunt out in the yard. We broke up into two groups. Those 3-8 and those 11-adult. Everyone got Easter symbols, treats, and small gifts. 

Everyone also got a white t-shirt and after the hunt we tye-dyed the t-shirts. We'll use them for our reunion in the summer. They turned out pretty good!

Zandra and the kids made up a Bunny Pinata, and filled it with candy. So to add to the fun we let all the kids, starting at the youngest put on a blindfold and have three swings at it. It didn't fully break until we got up to Jason!! Wow, that was one tough bunny. We all had fun watching Garrett man the swinging pole and avoiding getting hit. The kids loved scrambling for more candy. Thanks Garrett, Zandra, Jorie and Luke for adding this to our fun!

We let the kids play for a bit and the adults got to visit while the guys listened to the Priesthood session of General Conference. Then we all headed over to Firehouse for a pizza or pasta dinner to top off the day. Thanks all for a fun, full day! 

Dale and I had a quieter Easter, with it being General Conference, but we did have dinner with the Mallory's and visited and played games with them.

President Nelson announced that twenty new temple would be built. One that really hit home was when he announced one to be built in Smithfield, UT!!! That's right by us!! Pretty exciting!

Here's a list of all the temples that were announced.:

• Oslo, Norway 
• Brussels, Belgium 
• Vienna, Austria 
• Kumasi, Ghana 
• Beira, Mozambique 
• Cape Town, South Africa 
• Singapore, Republic of Singapore 
• Belo Horizonte, Brazil 
• Cali, Colombia 
• Querétaro, Mexico 
• Torreón, Mexico 
• Helena, Montana 
• Casper, Wyoming 
• Grand Junction, Colorado 
• Farmington, New Mexico 
• Burley, Idaho 
• Eugene, Oregon 
• Elko, Nevada 
• Yorba Linda, California 
• Smithfield, Utah 

This is the second-highest number of temples announced at one time in the history of the Church. At the April 1998 general conference, former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) announced plans to construct as many as 32 new temples, though he did not list specific locations.

President Nelson’s announcement today of 20 new temples and their locations is not unique simply because of the historic number with specific locations. The prophet has now announced 69 new temples in the three years he has served as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The Church of Jesus Christ now has 251 temples announced, under construction or operating.

 The Smithfield Utah Temple will be the second temple in Cache County and the 26th in Utah. The Logan Utah Temple was the second pioneer-era temple to be dedicated (1884) in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. As the Church’s world headquarters, Utah has 2.1 million Church members, which is roughly two-thirds of the state’s population of 3.3 million residents. There are 17 operating temples in the state, including the Bountiful Utah Temple, Brigham City Utah Temple, Cedar City Utah Temple, Draper Utah Temple, Logan Utah Temple, Jordan River Utah Temple, Manti Utah Temple, Monticello Utah Temple, Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, Ogden Utah Temple, Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, Payson Utah Temple, Provo City Center Utah Temple, Provo Utah Temple, St. George Utah Temple, Salt Lake Temple and Vernal Utah Temple. The Salt Lake Temple and St. George Temple are currently under renovation. Temples announced or under construction in Utah include the Layton Utah Temple, Lindon Utah Temple, Orem Utah Temple, Red Cliffs Utah Temple, Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, Syracuse Utah Temple, Taylorsville Utah Temple and Deseret Peak Utah Temple.

When a new temple is announced, media, Church members and others often have questions about why an area was selected and about specific location, timeline and other details. Temple sites are chosen by the First Presidency based on several factors, including the number of members in an area, travel time to the nearest temple and the need for additional temple capacity in a region. Other details about the location for the new temple, a rendering of what the building will look like, a date for a groundbreaking ceremony, timeline for construction and details about a public open house and the temple's dedication are all provided at a later time.

The Logan Temple moved to Phase 2B, which allows Baptisms for the dead to be done, as well as live own endowments, and sealings can be done. We're hoping that the temple will be open for all work to be done soon.  

Dale and I hooked up with the Hassell's and Mallory's and for Spring Break we headed south and went to Bryce Canyon, Escalante, and the Capital Reef area for four days. Our state sure has some pretty areas. 

Day 1: We stayed at the Up Top Lodge, and after getting checked in and settled in our rooms we went and checked out the Sunset by going on a little hike along the Sunset trail and then drove to Inspiration Point.   Amie had packed some walkie talkies for the kids and they REALLY really liked using them. It was kind of cute hearing them use them. The area was So pretty!

Day 2: After breakfast we headed out to go hike down into the Canyon. We took the Navajo Loop Trail, that hooked onto the Peek-a-boo trail, then we hooked onto the Queen's Garden Trail. It was a total of 7.8 -8 miles of hiking up and down and on on switchbacks. It wasn't too hot, and stopped and ate lunch off the trail. It took us around 6 hours to complete the hike, but we all hiked the whole way and took in a lot of beautiful scenery.

We were all pretty tired and hungry so after we got a bite to eat, we relaxed some and hit the sack a bit earlier than normal, but the bed felt good.

Day 3: We headed towards the Escalante, Capital Reef area today. Our first stop was at Mossy Cave. It was a short hike into a a cave area that has snow almost year round and then to a waterfall. It was pretty and after hiking most the day yesterday no one complained about this easy short hike.

From there we drove to the Lower Calf Creek hike which was a 6.7 mile hike, but it didn't have any switchbacks and wasn't too steep. It was pretty hot though. Danica was kind enough to let me wear her shirt because she had a top on under it that she could wear. I was wearing a sweatshirt because it was cold when we left. The falls were pretty and very refreshing. We ate out lunch there, which helped the hike back not seem so long. Again, a very pretty area.

We went to Capital Reef National Park and saw some of that area, but realized that we wouldn't have time to do any hiking because it was getting late, so we drove to some areas and got out and looked around. We'll have to plan a trip just to visit Capital Reef another time.

This red rock doesn't get old, it's SO pretty!

We headed home with the sunset, going around a different way (through Boulder) to see more sights. Amie found us a place for dinner called Curry Pizza in Bicknell, UT. It' was a small town, but man did it have tasty food. Not only pizza (which the Mallory's had), but yummy Indian curry as well. We found out that there's three of these places in Utah. One in South Jordan, and one in West Valley. We all gave it 5 stars.

Our ride home was a bit quieter after our tummies were full. It was dark, and we really couldn't see much, but Dale got us back to the lodge and we all hit the sack. Another fun, full day in the beautiful outdoors completed.

Day 4: Jason and Danica had packed their grill and a flat of eggs, bacon, and pancake mix and made us all breakfast in their room. I'm sure the smell of bacon woke up those in the rooms around them. They made good use of the limited space they had to start our day off in a good way. Thanks guys!!

We headed out and took another scenic way home heading through Scipio. We stopped at a park there and ate our lunch. The kids played soccer tennis and we played on the swings. Then homeward bound! It was a fun trip! We will go see Capital Reef again. There was just too much to see. Thanks Mallory's and Hassell's for adding to the fun. You wore me out (my knees anyway), I think we all felt it from all the hiking we had done, but it was worth it. Great memories were made.

Dale and I both celebrated our birthdays this month. We pulled the kids together for dinner, seeing how his was on a Sunday, to celebrate his 62 years of living life!! Happy Birthday Dale, Dad, & Grandpa!! The years are treating you well, keep it up.

I started Acadience testing for District. This will be my last year!! With Dale retiring the end of Sept. I told them I'll just do subbing as needed. I'll miss working with these great ladies.

Dale and I went to the Cache Valley Ice Skating show "Emotion" at the Eccles Ice Center. We know one of the main skaters in the show because she's in the Married Student Ward that Dale's the Bishop in. It was very nice. There were little 3-4 yr. olds out there on the ice skating too. So fun! Way to go Kathryn Larsen, you rocked it on your solo routine! (However, we never got any good pictures of it) It made for a nice night out.

For my Birthday, Dale took me to an outdoor piano concert that was on the USU Quad lawn. It was put on by the graduating students of the Musical Arts. They were real good. They had a cool piano that had two keyboards on each end so that duets could be played with one piano. It was a nice evening to be out on the lawn. After he took me to dinner at Callaway's Bistro for a nice meal. Then when I got home I found out that I had flowers waiting for me because I was gone when they tried to deliver them. I picked them up the next day and found out that Nate had sent me flowers. The note said "Happy Birthday and Happy early Mother's Day!" Love, Nate. That was a nice surprise. It was a good day. I have been blessed with a great husband, family, and friends. Happy Birthday Me!

Dale got released as the Bishop of the Logan Married Student 17th Ward this month. He's worked with some pretty awesome couples, who have taught us a lot as we've been serving. We've been away from our home ward for about 5 years due his calling as a High Councilman in the Stake before they called him as a Bishop. It's been rewarding. We held a little social at the church so the kids could meet the new Bishop, and we could say good-bye to the kids. Our Sundays will be bit slower for awhile, and that's ok. Going to our home ward was like leaving a branch and attending Stake Conference though. We had a BIG ward!! There's a lot of people in it that we don't know. I guess we'll now have the opportunity to do that.

Carson Vance, Tanner Daines served as counselors and Mason Ozmun served as the Exec. Secretary for first 1 1/2 years

Josh Wandry and Cooper Jones served as counselors for almost 1 1/2 years  

 

Jake Vause served as Exec. Sec. a little over a year, and Josh Larsen served until Dale was released.

Great memories were made while Dale served as a High Council member for the LMS 12th ward and as a Bishop for the LMS 17th ward. 

I ushered at the Eccles Theater for the show "Matilda" which was put on by the Cache Theater Group. The principle, Agatha Trunchbull and Matilda were a hit. It was fun to be back and have a full house, as much as it could be, anyway with social distancing still in place. 

Nate hit the slopes in style by donning a pink one-piece fleece pajamas that had donuts on them to celebrate his buddy Jude's Birthday at the Baker Mountain ski resort. He even tried his skills at snowboarding with his girlfriend Diana.. Looks like they had a crazy fun time. Oh, the things you do for friends, right?

The Mallory's gained another driver in the family. With Jaxson turning 15, he got his learners permit to drive with an adult. I'm hoping that this won't bring on any new gray hairs for his folks!! I remember those days and I'd just call it very trying at times, enough said. The kids know what I mean. Stay safe Jaxson!!

They celebrated his birthday with the family and some of Jaxson's friends at Flowrider in Ogden a week after his birthday due to soccer. Everyone in the family did some indoor boogie boarding or surfing (or at least tried). Looks like they had a splashing good time!

Speaking of soccer.... Jaxson started every game and played a lot. I was able to go watch him play in some of the games. The one I missed, he ended up getting a goal as a midfielder.

They won some and lost some, but I think he had a good time and the team was glad that he ended up on it!! 

Matt put up a "Kindness Tree" and the school to kick off spring and it ended up getting recognized on the school district's site. Way to go Matt!! Effort pays off!!

Along with the beautiful spring weather, Heritage Elementary recently celebrated its annual Kindness Week, which encouraged students to be kind to their families, their environment, communities, friends, peers, teachers and staff, and themselves. Activities during the week included short daily videos sharing ideas about how to be more kind, posting acts of kindness on the school's "Kindness Tree," and painting rocks to serve as reminders of the importance of being kind.

Heritage Elementary counselor Matt Mallory shared, “Kindness is the antithesis of all of the bad things going on in the world. We don’t focus on those things at Heritage. We focus on kindness and I think that makes all the difference.”

#HeritageHuskies #growkindness #WEareCache #CacheDistrict

Amie's also stayed busy coaching Langston and Kennlyn's soccer teams, and Matt's been coaching Langston in baseball. I'd say a family that plays together, stays together is the family theme for the Mallory's!

Mazin's still doing pre-school and is excited to start Kindergarten next year. His coloring skills are rocking it!!

For Spring Break Andrew's crew headed south to Las Vegas and St. George. They spent time with Lindsay's mom, sister, and her kids in Vegas and then had some family time together in St. George. They also spent some time in the Grand Canyon area. It was hot, but not the hot we'll get when we go to St. George in July for the Hansen Reunion. Looks like they found ways to cool off and have fun though.

Eloise had a special day. She turned in February, and was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by her dad this month. Grandpa led the singing, Garrett played the piano, Titan said the opening prayer, Lindsay gave a talk on Baptism, and Dale and Grandpa Olsen were witnesses for the baptism. She had to be put under the water twice because her hair came up out of the water. Then I gave a talk on Baptism, and the Bishop talked, then Grandma Leslie gave the closing prayer. It was a nice service and both Lindsay and Andrew had family there to support Eloise on her special day.

We had a tasty "Costa Vida" type meal at Andrew and Lindsay's after. It was a nice day. Congratulation Eloise. It's great to be 8!!

Andrew got the mountain bug I guess and went out and bought a 2019 Yamaha 6 person Side x Side. I'm sure they'll have some fun family rides in that!

Little Arwyn turned 4 this month! Wow, time flies doesn't it? We went and had dinner with Andrew, Lindsay and the kids to celebrate. She was all smiles, and loved everything about her birthday. We love everything about Arwyn. Happy Birthday Arwyn!!

With the way the housing market is booming, Garrett used his drawing skills to teach clients about the process of getting a loan in a clever way on his Facebook page..... 

Starting into the construction loan process can often seem like a daunting task as it is not very widely understood. Here is an easy breakdown of the process to show you how a construction loan with Academy mortgage Corp looks like. Building a home has its own unique set of challenges, but our Academy mortgage team look forward to the opportunity to help you achieve your goals. #IveGotYourBack #AcademyMortgage #ATeam #constructionloans

In the type of work Garrett's in he never knows who he'll run into...

Found a long lost cousin today while attending our Ninja Training at our headquarters! Blood runs true on the Academy Team Julie and I we found share the same great grandparents!

After a lot of hard work, Garrett also got this recognition from his Boss guy....Congrat's Garrett!!

Wanted to give a shout-out to Garrett Hansen for this tremendous accomplishment. This is the elite of loan officer production in the Nation. I wanted to highlight that in addition to the high production levels he was also able to complete and obtain his State of Utah Branch Lending Manager license and Mortgage Bankers Association Accredited Mortgage Professional Designation. My favorite part of all is that even with all that he kept the best smile ever on his face!!

The family got out on the slopes for some Spring skiing one last time before Snow Basin closed down. You gotta take advantage of a good day when you can!

Garrett and Zandra got in some alone time and went on a bike ride together. Zandra's making sure that new bike he got doesn't collect too much dust!

As always we seem to get a cold snap in April..... well, because Garrett and Zandra live close to the mountains when we got an inch of snow that melted the next day, They got six inches!! We need the water so we won't be complaining. Luckily the kids love to play in the snow even it it doesn't last very long.

A week later Garrett's got his motorcycle out to ride to work. Welcome to Utah, where we get all four seasons in one month! 

To make sure they could REALLY enjoy the sun and to get away to relax and have some down time, they packed their bags and headed to Hawaii! The stayed on Oahu and got to see some of the sights, but totally took advantage of the beach time and fun in the sun. I must say I was a bit jealous. 

Danica posted this on social media..... a reminder of the day they were sealed together in the St. George Temple.

2 years ago today • I really got him forever

They were pretty happy about having some events happening again and took advantage of going to a Motor cross event at the Rice Eccles Stadium for some fun.

They were also pretty excited when they could attend a Jazz game in person!! Go Jazz! Your number 1 fans are back!!

Our new Governor, Spencer Cox, lifted the mask mandate on April 10th, however, anyone in a school still need to wear one until June 15th or until school is out. Businesses and church congregations can still ask that masks be worn, it is up to them to decide. If you are vaccinated and outside, you don't need to wear a mask. Good news for us!! We'll be seeing faces a little more!!

For news on COVID within the state.....

The number of new positive COVID-19 cases increased to 518 Wednesday, 191 more than than the number 24 hours earlier and 15 of those cases were detected in northern Utah, leaving 21,339 total cases in the district.

The four COVID-19 deaths included in the Utah Department of Health Wednesday report are the most in Utah since late March. It means Utah’s coronavirus death toll has reached 2,190.

The number of Utahns who are fully vaccinated is 905,863. That is about 39 percent of eligible Utahns who are 16 and older. Almost 25,000 new vaccine doses were administered since Tuesday and vaccinations in Utah now total almost 2.1 million.

Over the course of the pandemic there have been 396,522 positive cases in Utah and 21,339 of those in the three northern counties.

There have been 873 patients in northern Utah who have been hospitalized and 96 have died.

Since the start of the pandemic among the 21,339 total positive cases in Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties, 20,956 of those patients are described as “recovered.” Most of the cases were found in Cache County (15,926) followed by Box Elder County (5,253) and Rich County (150).

The Wednesday vaccinations update from the Bear River Health Department shows 30.4 percent of all adults in the district have been immunized and 112,297 total doses have been administered in Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties.

Those totally immunized in the district now number 39,565.

There have been 240,892 total tests administered in northern Utah including 178,871 in Cache County, 60,323 in Box Elder County and 1,698 in Rich County.

Since Tuesday 7,116 people were tested for the first time and a total of 16,703 tests were administered. 2.55 million Utahns have been tested as of Wednesday and there have been over 4.6 million total tests administered in the state.

Utah’s current COVID-19 hospitalizations are now at 141 people, four more than Tuesday. There are 59 people in intensive care units, which is one fewer than Tuesday. A total of 16,129 people have been hospitalized during the pandemic.

More local info. on how Utah's growing.... pretty crazy!!

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s population grew by 18.4% over the past decade, making it the fastest-growing state.

It’s now the 30th most populated state, with nearly 3.28 million people, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Monday. Utah’s population growth from 2010 to 2020 far outpaced the national figure of 7.4%.

It’s no surprise that Utah was the fastest-growing state in the nation over the last decade

“It’s no surprise that Utah was the fastest-growing state in the nation over the last decade,” House Speaker Brad Wilson tweeted. “Our beautiful landscapes, business and family-friendly policies, and endless opportunities are hard to beat.”

The census must happen every 10 years under the U.S. Constitution. The latest one was complicated by safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the need for social distancing, and by last-minute litigation over efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to include a question on citizenship.

The Census Bureau released only basic data Monday. The neighborhood-level numbers that will be used to draw new legislative and congressional district boundaries won’t be released until late summer or the fall.

The maps will be approved by the Independent Redistricting Commission, comprised of two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent voter.

Utah’s population growth in the previous census was enough to earn it another U.S. House seat. The state grew by 23.8% from 2000 to 2010 and was the third fastest growing at the time, behind Nevada and Arizona, according to census data.

Utah’s fourth congressional seat has switched parties several times in the past decade, making it one of the country’s more competitive districts.

Locally we had some pretty big news---LOGAN, Utah – Utah State University Vice President and Director of Athletics John Hartwell announced Monday that Ryan Odom has been named the Aggies' 20th head men's basketball coach. In all, Odom is 126-81 (.609) in seven years as a head coach and has 24 years of collegiate coaching experience.

 
"We are beyond excited to announce Ryan Odom as Utah State's new men's basketball head coach," said Hartwell. "We had great interest from many qualified candidates and Ryan quickly distinguished himself as the clear choice. Ryan has a proven track record of accomplishments with his student-athletes, both in the classroom and on the court, and we are confident he will continue to elevate the success of our Aggie basketball program."
 

Odom comes to Utah State after spending the past five years as the head coach at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), leading the Retrievers to a 97-60 (.573) record, including a 50-29 mark in the America East Conference. In the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC became the first-ever 16-seed to win a first round game as it posted a 74-54 win against top overall seed Virginia.

Coach Craig Smith left USU to coach for U of U next season. He'd only been with USU for 3 years and was doing awesome! I guess money talks, and it shows. I'd love to see USU play UofU and beat them! Call me a true Aggie!!