Last week's trip to Nauvoo

HOLY COW!!!The first time we drove past, we thought these were statues. The second time, they moved! It was a quiet day, midweek and after the height of the tourist season last week in Nauvoo. When we parked to take a closer look, two "senior" missionaries got out of the car they had been waiting in (we woke one of them from his nap) and told us about the yoke of oxen and the companies of Mormons who left Nauvoo in the 1840s in covered wagons. One of them told us how to approach Gabriel and Gary and took our picture with them. Cows/bulls have such beautiful eyes, and we enjoyed seeing them close up and petting them. (You might notice Bob was placed by Gabriel, the more aggressive ox!) We were given a private ride in the covered wagon, pulled by Gabriel and Gary. The pioneers leaving Nauvoo walked alongside the wagons because the wagons carried their household goods and their food.

We visited some of the other historic restorations in Old Nauvoo, but the true highlight of the trip was attending an endowment session at the rebuilt temple.

A couple visiting from Michigan were kind enough to take our picture in front of the temple. It was a cool, crisp autumn day with loads of sunshine. Years ago we came to Nauvoo when our kids were little and felt the Spirit as we visited the temple grounds. At that time, all there was to see of the temple were some of the original brick footings and baptismal font area that had been uncovered by archeologists. About 10 year ago a member of the church made a multi-million dollar donation to start a fund to rebuild the Nauvoo temple, so we today have this beautiful and holy place reclaiming its original intent. We feel blessed that we were able to go there so easily.
This picture is only a hint of how gorgeous the temple looks at night.

Bob and I spent two days in Nauvoo, Fort Madison, and Keokuk. We love to find old buildings and I insisted we stop to take pictures along the way.

This is the front of a Catholic church in Keokuk, Iowa. It was built in 1884. I got some pictures of the stain glass windows on the side of the church and on a small rectory in the back. Oh, the craftsmanship of this old church!!

This bank in Fort Madison, Iowa, was also built in the 1880s. It has decorative beveled glass windows on the side, and I did get a few shots of those. However, I still haven't learned how to post more than five pictures to a blog entry, so I'm putting only a few pictures here today.

It was good to get away and take things at our own pace. It was good for Bob, especially, to have a week when he didn't have to use all of his energy working as the mailman to his patrons in Brooklyn Park. We slept until we woke naturally. We took time to read and relax together. It was a great getaway.

Sunbeams Shining

Here are the two Sunbeams I had in class earlier today. I don't usually let them be so silly, but today was an unusual day.

After sacrment service (over and hour of sitting and behaving with their families), we had practice (another hour and 20 minutes) for the upcoming, November 9 Primary children's sacrament presentation. They had been so good to sit in their seats on the stage, say their parts when it was their turn, listen to others as they said their parts, and sing the songs they had learned over the last 10 months in Primary. That left us with 20 minutes of class time. Obviously, the lesson was very short. It was about 2 sentences, as I wanted to explain what the coloring project was about and still leave time for a snack. Above, Marissa and Emma are standing on the vent, letting their skirts poof out; it is a weekly tradition.
Here Marissa is obviously happy to be able to wiggle and talk and laugh after all that time being cooperative and quiet during sacrament service and practice for the presentation.
Emma has the same attitude. They were full of energy and were dancing and doing jumping jacks because if felt so good. Have you ever seen such absolutely joyful little faces? I tried to upload some video of them bouncing around, but I got a failure message about that, and had to settle for these still shots.

Attendance at Primary was way down today. It was MEA weekend, so many families took some time away. My Sunbeam Karsyn was out of town with her sister and parents. And since we have such a small Primary anyway, we were down to about 12 kids! Three of them were our grandchildren. So today, Anderson kids were 25% of the Anoka Ward Primary. Good thing Ryan and Andrea stayed in town, or Primary would fallen into the single-digit category! What a gift it is to work with the children Sundays. I think our Primary presentation will be a big success.

Off to sleep! Bob and I plan to leave for Nauvoo early in the morning. Look for pictures of our trip next weekend.

Family and KFC

The lovely Johnson sisters pictured here are Delores Rybak and Marian Anderson. Marian is Bob's mother. Delores is his aunt; when our kids were little, Delores and Chuck, her deceased husband, would invite us to visit at their house on Pelican Lake. What pleasant memories they gave our young family of days fishing and swimming and watching boat parades and fireworks over the water! Today we had a family gathering in the party room at River Oaks in Anoka, where Marian lives. Delores and her son Les flew from the Tallahasse area to visit her son and daughter-in-law Dave and Heidi in Wisconsin. Today the four of them and Les and Dave's cousin Judy Rybak and her husband Alan Yarwood drove from Wisconsin to visit family in Minnesota. We were fortunate to spend a few hours with them and Bob's sister Gaynelle and her husband Mike Erickson for a late lunch and a fun visit.I made the cousins pose together for posterity. From left to right are Bob, Les, Gaynelle, and Dave. (Sorry I don't know how to crop pictures on the blog. Somebody able to give me a lesson?)
Pictured left to right below are Heidi, Judy, and Alan. You might notice Bob in the background for a second or third trip to reload his plate. In addition to the KFC chicken and coleslaw, we had three salads, two desserts, and soda pop. Thanks to all who brought food. BURP!! (Excuse me. Sorry.)
After the get-together, I made a trip to St Paul to bring some of the leftovers to Ginger's family, and so say so long for a few days. I just had to see how Janice has changed in the past few days and to see if I could get some pictures of her with her eyes open. SUCCESS! Being an evening, Gerald was home, so I snapped some pictures of him with the girls. Kayla is always happy to be in pictures, and loves to be with her new little sister.
I LOVE the smile on Gerald's face in this last picture. Every baby should have a father who feels this way about him or her. Perhaps Janice looks a little punchy, but hey, I was glad to finally get pictures of her with her eyes open.
All in all, it was a successful picture day, as I was able to avoid being in any of the pictures myself. I DID have my hair in order and some (not a full complement of) makeup, so it's okay with me if Les and Judy got pictures of me. I only hope they were simply head shots, since makeup can't do anything for any other part of me.


Bob and I are taking four days to go to Nauvoo, IL, to visit some LDS historical sights. In its time, Nauvoo was larger than Chicago, its citizens mostly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed and the body of the church was driven out by persecutors in the 1840s, one of the many valuable things they left behind was a newly completed temple. It was burned by enemies of the church and eventually, most of the stonework from the original temple was carried off. Today, the LDS Church owns many restored buildings from that era and the temple has been rebuilt, and functions again as a House of the Lord. We plan to attend a couple of endowment sessions.


After our return, we look forward to being at the Halloween parades in Anoka. Friday will be the parade of the elementary school children. Seems like such a short time ago our kids were marching with their schoolmates in their costumes! Now we get to see some of our grandchildren doing the same thing. Ah, the circle of life! Then Saturday afternoon will be the big parade, complete with floats, horses, clowns (the freakiest part, if you ask me), Tootsie Rolls flung to the crowd, visiting community royalty, police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, Shriners, Vulcans from the St Paul Winter Carnival, Minneapolis Aquatennial royalty, Scout groups, and BANDS. MARCHING BANDS!! The best part for me.

Red's Savoy Pizza

Since several friends have asked about the pizza place we loved, I must post specifics. The place is Red's Savoy Pizza at 421-7th St E, St Paul, MN 55101. Phone 651-227-1437. I looked them up in the mns yellow pages and found a couple of pictures, some explanations, and a map. They list their pizzas' average price as $25, and that is what we spent. It fed 3 of us adults, and one of them was BOB, who had saved his appetite by eating the tiniest of breakfasts. Ginger also had saved her appetite. And we had plenty to take home. That being taken into account, I would say one pizza would feed 4 well and still give you leftovers, which we all know makes a great breakfast the next morning. (Cold pizza is the breakfast of champions, right Andrea?)

The pizza is listed as being a California/Chicago type. All I know is that the wait staff there must develop strong biceps in the natural course of their work. The deliciousness cannot be described, but I'm salivating here at the computer just remembering it.

Being in an older part of town, you will not be impressed with the outside appearance. Parking is in the rear, so don't worry about street parking. Inside it is neat with many booths and tables. Their advertising states they are family and child friendly, and I know everyone there was welcoming. The owner (?-he did have graying red hair) charged out of the kitchen while we were there, shouting something about "getting those boxes moved." As we were near the kitchen door, at first I thought he was talking to us, and I jumped. I almost got up to look for some boxes to move! But our waitress was very warm and we talked about Za's Pizza in Forest Lake and how she had grown up there, and how very much better Red's Pizza is than Za's. Za's used to be a hole-in-the-wall take-out place on Main Street, but now that they moved into a nicer building and added a restaurant, somehow the pizza isn't as good. A former coworker recommended Za's years ago. It is alot like Red's in that it is a loaded Chicago style pizza.

If you bring children, don't choose a seat too close to the fish tank. It looks pretty neat from a distance, but it really needs a good cleaning. Perhaps by the time we go there again, it won't be an issue. Maybe I could send them an anonymous note about their poor fishies, just in case.

It is well worth the trip to St Paul from wherever you live. Bob and I would be happy to tag along! (Hint, hint!)

mom, who are you?

Thank you, mom, for your kind comment on my blog from September 12. But please tell me who you are. Thanks.

First days of retirement

Anyone who looked at our stove last week and returned yesterday would SWEAR we got a new one. This is only one of my first retirement projects. It is the same stove, but looks brand new because I finally got it totally clean. Friday night while scrubbing the top, I ran out of gas. (Pun. It is a gas stove.) I left the cleaning solution on the greasy stains around the four burners--minus the hardware. I didn't get back to finish until after noon Saturday, and to my amazement, all the burned on guck wiped up with paper towels!!! I accidentally discovered a way to get the burners 100% clean. The Lysol spray had mixed with Barkeeper's Friend and sat about 18 hours. I was so delighted that I sprayed the oven with EasyOff and now also have a clean oven, though I doubt it will ever be totally clean like the stovetop. This is only one of the projects I simply didn't have the time and energy to tackle while I was still working my hospital job.

I suppose I should post of picture of my smiling face to show my happiness in being officially retired. October 11--last Saturday--was the first day I have not been on the schedule at Mercy Hospital. Instead, I'm posting pictures of two of our 15 grandchildren because part of retirement is family. This first picture was taken yesterday at our house. Kayla is holding her sister Janice, age 13 days. We had picked Kayla up from school at 2:30.
Since yesterday was a postal holiday, Bob and I took Ginger to lunch at Red's Savoy Pizza in St Paul. Baby Janice joined us, but was on her own special diet. She sat patiently, looked adorable, and fell asleep. Phil would have joined us if he had not been called to work. The pizza was marvelous!! It is now Bob's favorite pizza in Minnesota. (Only Pi Pizza in Salt Lake surpasses it.)
We didn't have the heart to tell Kayla what a great pizza she missed or how much we enjoyed it, but when she got out of the car at our house, the first thing she did was run to the piano and play it the same way I used to before I had lessons. (I started at age 9.) Random notes, both hands going up and down the keyboard. Kayla has a lot of music in her.
Janice has a lot of music in her also. So far, she only sings though. I still haven't managed to get a picture of Janice with her eyes open, but I will keep trying. Ginger has been spending a bit of time with us because her house in St Paul was flooded from the upstairs bathroom and is now all topsy turvy because of that and drywall and floor repairs being made. They have been confined to a part of their basement since shortly before Janice was born. She was delivered by C-section, so Ginger has not been able to drive until today. On top of that, their washer broke. Murphy's Law!!! They are getting a new washer delivered and installed Wednesday. The house repairs should be done by the middle of next week. All this is why I have been spending time helping her out when I can.

I have also enoyed being more available to take care of Nolan, Abby, Janie and Mason so Ryan and Andrea could have date nights. I love them all so. Such good kids in such a strong family. It warms my heart to see the way Ryan and Andrea are raising them. It has been a delight to spend time getting to know them better the two Friday evenings I sat with them so far. It was also fun shopping and having a hot dog lunch with Andrea and Mason at Costco one day last week. I look forward to future times together. I'll do more boasting about and put pictures of them on the blog in the future. Otherwise, you can see plenty of pictures of their family on their blog.

Something from my purse

Yes, I do periodically clean out my purse. It is black leather and has many compartments. My favorite is the one which holds my cell phone because is it on the outside and therefore easy to grab. Otherwise my cell phone might be in one of the main compartments where it would be lost and perhaps hard to hear when it rings.

Anyway. . . . Today after tossing out some receipts, putting recipes in the recipe box, and deciding to put back the Cheesecake Factory take-out menu (because you never know when it might come in handy), some quilting guides, information pages on identifying autism, "The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" booklet, and some blank yellow Post-Its, I ran across some notes I jotted last August while on vacation. (Whew! That was one L O N G sentence!)

Bob and I were sitting in a Murray, Utah, ward testimony meeting last August with Robin and her three oldest children. John had gone home with "the babies." Bobby leaned over to me and whispered that sometimes people just don't get up right away, but that they probably would after a while. So in the quiet time, I jotted down some thoughts, just in case it continued to be slow.

I had found a great plaque at Seagull Books the day before when I went there to get my copy of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn on its first day of release. It said, "It's never too late to live happily ever after." Having raised our family and knowing I could have been a better parent then and knowing I could be a better parent and grandparent NOW, it caught my attention immediately. I put the quote at the head of our blog also, as you might notice.

Among a flood of thoughts that came when I found that plaque were echos from my patriarchal blessing. I realized that too often I coast along and give up, thinking the time has passed and I have failed to be the kind of parent and homemaker I have the potential--as a child of God--to be. About this time also, I read--where, I can't remember--what someone said that also made me stop and think. "I didn't try harder because I thought I wasn't good enough." That stated in one short sentence the way I also had been thinking over the years. I mean, I know my strengths, and I thank the Lord for blessing me with with talents and interests and sources for learning and doing oh so many things.

But when it came to some things I judged myself "not good enough." Now the plaque sums up in a few simple words what the truth really is. When I pray and listen, Heavenly Father lets me know through the voice of the Spirit that I am good enough and that I should try harder.

It's amazing how we find guidance when we get out of our routine and look around. I always enjoy our time going out West to visit family and friends on our summer vacations. This past summer was extra special in that all three of us Reisewitz girls were together for more than two weeks! Driving across this beautiful country, taking time to relax and visit, and renewing our marriage vows by going to the Salt Lake Temple--all of these things take me to places I love and refresh my soul.

I'm so thankful for these recent experiences. I love the plaque and know it is true that it is never too late, not even for those of us in our "senior years." The testimony meeting warmed up, and I enjoyed the Spirit brought by ward members, including Robin, who spoke of her Grandpa Anderson's strong love of country and strong testimony of the gospel. I did not have to go to the rescue by bearing my testimony. But the time I spent putting my thoughts together--just in case--very much impacted the rest of my day, week, month, and hopefully year. It was an especially great vacation for me this year.

And any day now I plan to remove my new plaque from the back of the Trailblazer and put it up in our living room!!!