Grandma Speth

Edna Bernice Merrill Speth, 99, passed away from TMB (Too Many Birthdays) on March 9, 2013, to join her sweetheart Ernest Speth on their 81st wedding anniversary. She was born in Logan, Utah, on Sept. 18, 1913, to Claude and Constance Eva Brown Merrill.
Mom grew up in Logan, Utah, and graduated from Logan High School. While in high school, she met and fell in love with Earnest Herman Speth and they were married March 9, 1932, in the Logan LDS Temple.
Mom and Dad began their life together in College Ward where they built a home, bought a dairy farm and raised their four sons. Mom worked side by side with Dad on the farm and one of her favorite chores was feeding and taking care of the baby calves.
Mom also worked outside the home at various jobs including Bluebird Candy Co. and Mode O'Day. At the Bluebird she learned the art of making chocolates and was well known throughout the community and her family for her delicious peanut clusters, toffee and other candy. She was a wonderful cook; her family can still taste her delicious roast beef and Yorkshire pudding Sunday dinners.
Mom was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She had a strong love and testimony of the Gospel and her Savior Jesus Christ. She was always willing and eager to share her testimony with others and she touched many many lives.
One of her choicest blessing was being able to do family history and to have been an ordinance worker at the Logan Temple for many years. She held positions in the Primary, Young Women's and Relief Society, and was a faithful visiting teacher. She was also a member of Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
Mom is survived by her youngest son Brent and his wife Coreen of Providence and two daughters-in-law, Jean Speth of Providence and LaDean Speth of Kanab. She has a loving legacy of 21 grandchildren, 64 great-grandchildren, 67 great-great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. She also leaves behind her "favorite moose" dog Bernice. Mom was preceded in death by her husband Ernest; three sons, LaMoyne, LaMont and Ronald; daughter-in-law Patty Speth; two sisters, Lorraine Kent and Laura Downs; brother Howard Merrill; three grandsons; one great-grandson; and one great-great-grandson.
Mom was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She will be greatly missed by all who were blessed to know her.
Funeral services be held at noon Thursday, March 14, 2013, at the Spring Creek Ward chapel, 2400 W. 2200 South in College Ward. A viewing will be held prior at 10 a.m. Burial will be at the Providence City Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Allen-Hall Mortuary.
The family would like to express sincere appreciation to IHC Hospice for the loving care they gave our mother and grandmother during the last few months, especially Jeanine, Anna, Pam and Shannon.

Temple Waterfowl

The temple is open again! While it is a study weekend, JD and I were able to go and also had some delicious soup from the cafeteria today.  I am super excited for Spring, you can see a ton of flowers that were either planted while the grounds were closed or that are getting ready to grow, it will be super pretty when they all pop out.  There were even a few daffodils out.  I noticed a pair of mallards when we were walking past the pond that were preening their feathers.  I thought it was a funny and rather large bird bath for the ducks to choose and also that they chose the spot were the water falls to a lower pool.

The Temple is Closed

We drove to the temple and to our great disappointment we discovered that it is closed for cleaning. It is a little different not having another 4 or so temples to go to instead while Portland is closed. Medford is 4 hours south, Seattle is 3 hours north and Boise is 6 hours east. Not quite as convenient as Logan Brigham Bountiful Salt Lake Draper Jordan or Oquirrh. I took the picture as we drove back home in sadness that we won't be able to come back until the very end of February.

I love the TEMPLE!

This is about as close as you can get to taking a full picture of the Portland Temple, any other angle consists of a lot of trees or not being able to get far enough away to fit it in.  It is beautiful and I love it. 

Portland Temple

We made it to the Portland Temple yesterday and it was wonderful!  Per the usual standard here, it is surrounded by trees and forest, so it was hard to get a full picture of it because of how big it is and the trees all around, but it is beautiful.  With Ogden closed we have had a minimum 40 minute commute to a temple this past year so it was really exciting to find that we were only 20 minutes away.  We are very grateful to have a temple so close and for the blessings that come from these sacred places.

Columbia River Temple & The Portland Rollercoaster

We made it to Portland!  The day started at the Columbia River Temple-which I loved-it is a beautiful building, the waiting area for weddings looks like you are inside a castle with marble from floor to ceiling and stained glass windows.  We drove to Portland after our session, stopping to see Multnomah Falls, another of my favorite spots in Oregon.  I don't like being places where I don't know where I am going especially when all the roads are twisty and windy and with so many trees visibility is not good at all for signs, it was starting to give me some anxiety so JD was kind enough to drive me through Forest Grove, Cornelius, Hillsboro, & Beaverton, it made me feel SO much better as I poured over the map and oriented myself.  It also gave us the opportunity to make a pretty good game plan for our house hunt-which starts tomorrow!

Whooosh

So we were driving home after a lovely Mabey-Miner family session of sealings at the Jordan River Temple last night when an unexpected event occurred.....I heard a thump sound followed by a PssssssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sound and then the car started bouncing a bit.  We found ourselves on the side of I-15 right before North Salt Lake, at 11:30 at night, with a shredded tire.  A couple of months ago the tire on our Civic was punctured pretty bad and we received valuable experience in changing that tire with JD's dad.  I am so grateful for parents who teach us important things.  We had that spare on pretty quickly and were on our way back home without any further incidents.  What an exciting (and soon to be expensive) temple night!

***Also, super grateful for the nice guy who pulled over to see if we needed any help.***

Brigham

We stopped by the Brigham Temple to see how it was coming along today, I love it, and I am so sad that I won't even be around for when they open it.  I liked how the pictures turned out though-they look almost as if they were computer generated to me, only instead of people in church attire, there are little construction men.

Wednesdays

This summer JD and I get the same day off-Wednesday.  I am pretty excited about this because instead of stressing and rushing to the temple as soon as we get off work, we now can go in the middle of the day.  We can go to movies-like the Avengers.  We can use gift cards for dinner.  We can be out in the sunshine together.  If you can't tell, the first Wednesday this summer was pretty neat.

Twin Falls

JD and I had a wonderful Spring Break Adventure: Twin Falls Idaho. We loved attending the temple there-so pretty! We were inspired to go and see some of the waterfalls in the area. The single running fall of Twin Falls was ok, but Shoshone Falls was spectacular. We missed out on the petrified watermelon patch, another time I guess. I love road trips. I love being with my best friend, talking about whatever such as deciding whether or not hills are mountains, memories, or where we are going to school, and future decorating ideas. It was a fantastic day.

Date Nights

I got another moon, stars (planets), and temple picture! This time it is the Jordan River Temple. One of my favorite date nights is going to the temple in Salt Lake followed by Ganesh, the best Indian we have found in Utah. This evening was fun because we did sealings with JD's parents, aunt and uncle, and his great uncle was the sealer. His parents came with us to Ganesh so they were finally able to experience the deliciousness. It was a great evening!

Oquirrh Mountain

Our date night this week consisted of going to the temple. We tried Salt Lake first and were sad to find out it was closed. How wonderful to live in an area where there are three other options in the same valley when such misfortune comes! We decided to go to Oquirrh Mountain. It was a wonderful evening. I really like the picture I took when we were leaving because it has the moon and two stars around the temple (I know they are actually Venus and Saturn, but still, they look like stars) the second 'star' is getting cut off right above Moroni if you can't see it. Ganesh afterwards was delicious as always. While we were eating we were approached by one of the other diners. Turns out it was a fellow missionary from when JD was serving in India, it was fun watching JD and David catch up with life and reminisce a little.

The House of the Lord

JD and I finally made it to the Provo Temple today! We tried going there this time last year and for no apparent reason, it was closed: no sign, no notice on the website, nothing; it was very sad.
What makes this temple trip particularly exciting is the fact that we have now been to every temple in Utah that is open and operating: Logan, 'Old' Ogden, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Jordan River, Oquirrh Mountain, Draper, Mount Timpanogos, Provo, Manti, Vernal, St. George, and Monticello. We look forward to Brigham City, Payson, Provo II, and 'New' Ogden when they open, but today was a great day.

We are grateful for the blessings that come from the temple, the peace that is felt there, and the opportunity to focus on the Savior, Jesus Christ. The fact that we are sealed in marriage forever has been a great blessing and comfort to us. We feel so blessed to have so many temples near us. JD served his mission in India where members tend to hang pictures of the Hong Kong temple in their homes, this is the closest temple to them and it involves an expensive plane ride and several years of saving before being able to attend and do their work. Many members in India are unable to receive the blessings of the temple while alive.

To learn more about temples you can go to this link: http://lds.org/church/temples?lang=eng

Fresh Air

This weekend has been a much needed breath of fresh air. It was so nice getting up into the mountains to enjoy the yellow aspens amdist the snow covered pines, have the pressure of school disappear, get things cleaned up a bit at home, and to attend the temple. I feel so much lighter and much more peaceful. It is nice....and airy.

O Chem 1 Down....O Chem 2 to Go

JD has been taking Organic Chemistry this summer. It is very much like ripping off a bandaid doing the summer route because 1 year of a miserable class is crammed into 7 horrible weeks, twice. To celebrate the wonderous event of part one being done, we played in Salt Lake. JD took his final Saturday morning and when I got off work we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, followed by Ganesh, and Real Salt Lake vs DC United to finish off the evening. It was so fun and nice to play for a night. At this point there are 6 weeks to go then the real celebration will begin! :)

Las Vegas

Las Vegas was a lot of fun, some of the highlights included the temple, Hoover Dam, the Bellagio (didn't stay there but we did visit a few times to see the garden and water shows), warm weather, and sleeping in. It was fun walking out of church and having the temple right in front of you as well. :)

And so it ends.....

End of Spring Break......well it was a good week. A lot of working on my part, but we had some fun date nights and got a lot of neglected things taken care of. Some highlights include:

• Ganesh (best Indian food in Utah)



• Ogden Temple



• Real Salt Lake Game



• Glow in the Dark mini-golf



• All of our taxes taken care of



• Grandpa's birthday party



• March Madness



• Reading a book for fun