Emmalyn Rose makes Five!

Jayna and Matt presented us with a beautiful granddaughter on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 7:46 am. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and of course is adorable! Big sister Shaylin is a big help, getting diapers and wipes and wanting to see the baby first thing when she gets up. I had fun staying for a few days - playing with Shaylin and holding Emmalyn!We got the call at 3:30 am and decided to head to the Salt Lake City airport and see if Southwest airlines could work their magic again. (This is the 3rd grandbaby that we have made it to the hospital to see with hours after a middle of the night call!) We had a flight booked for Monday morning, we were able to change it over the phone as we drove to the airport to the 8:45 am flight - they said the 6:40 am flight was full. But we had faith that we might be able to get on the earlier flight. We were at the airport by 5:30 am and they had room for us on the 6:40 am flight!! Since Utah has already changed to Daylight Savings Time, there is an hour time difference and we arrived in Phoenix around 7:10 am. We rented a car and went straight to the hospital - we were just a few minutes away from the hospital when Matt called and told us that she had arrived - so by the time we got there, they were ready for us to see and hold her. I grabbed my camer one day and got this picture of Shaylin after Jayna had fixed her hair so cute! We went on several walks and wagon rides - see Matt and Jayna's blog for pictures of the fun wagon.

Of course I also got to spend time with the Baker family while I was there. On Saturday, March 29th, Christian participated in a Fishing Derby held by the city of Maricopa at Pacana Park. They have quite a man-made lake there. It was catch-and-release - but everyone had a lot of fun. The afternoon sun was warm - Christian is sporting Andy's sun hat. He was thrilled to catch a fish after an hour!! But we overheard what some of the people used for bait and he'll be ready with the secret weapon next year.
Andy had to work Saturday morning and made it home in time to take Christian fishing. All I can say is there may be a new serious fisherman at the Olsen reunion this year!!
Christian and Declan and Jessica on Sunday, March 30th. She is growing up and the boys love to play with her!

Thai Visitors

In February we were privileged to share a few days with several visitors from Thailand. I met most of these wonderful people last year and it was fun to see them again and to show them around Disneyland and Utah. This is a picture of the group as we entered Disneyland - Mom Olsen also went with us that day and helped us get fast passes and ride all the best rides. It was a rather cool day but we still had a good time. It was the day after President's Day and the park was pretty busy, too. Next is the picture of us on Tower of Terror - my first time! Everyone was so impressed at how Mom likes all the scary rides and doesn't even look scared!

In Utah, another highlight was a snowmobile trip for the visitors. It was cold, but not too cold and you can see that everyone is well dressed for the weather. They had a fun day riding the machines and of course, a few times had to dig out if they got stuck in the snow.

After touring the corporate offices in Orem, a meeting was held with the visitors and exectutives. Sallee (who works in the office in Bangkok) also came to Utah and helped with translation when needed.
This was Sallee's first time to see snow (as it was for some of the others), we took some pictures in the deep snow before she left.One evening we all had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Hughes home and afterwards were favored by a violin duet by Stewart's and Christopher's daughters. It was a delightful evening. The next evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner featuring Korean and Japanese food at Chistopher's home - we enjoyed our time together very much!

Hi from Hong Kong

Curt and I spent a fun four days in Hong Kong recently - the best part was that Mom and Jill were able to go with us. It was quite chilly there, but we still had fun seeing the highlights, riding the fantastic subway system, eating new foods, meeting wonderful people and just being together! This picture shows part of the view from our hotel room.

Many fun things were going on in the Unicity Hong Kong Office to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This group were the winners of the office talent show. The next picture shows Curt getting ready to pass out new years gifts to the employees.

There is also a tradition to have a roast pig and to cut it from end to end in one long cut symbolizing that the new year will be prosperous from beginning to end. Mom and Jill and I let Curt enjoy this tradition without us!

We had fun attending a lunch before everyone headed back to work after the New Year Holiday. The good was delicious and fun to try - they just kept ordering new things for us! Curt is an expert in using chopsticks - I need to practice more!

For the "dim sum" meal, all the food is placed in the center of the table (it spins) and then you take the food from there. You have 2 sets of chopsticks, one to serve with and one to eat with.

Sylvia invited us to her apartment (a very nice one) for traditional Chinese New Year food. Then we went to a nearby Thai restaruant for dinner. We enjoyed our evening with Sylvia and Steven, her husband.

One night we went to the harbor for the Laser Show. The lights on the buildings were choreographed to music. We appreciate Stephen Ko, the General Manager, for taking us there.

A street in Hong Kong - usually there are more people on the streets! We had fun exploring different parts of Hong Kong.

A view of the harbor, unfortunately, there is a lot of haze there from the factories in China. We did a harbor tour on a boat similar to the one on the right in the picture.

We went to the south side of Hong Kong Island (about a 20 minute drive) to go to the Stanley Market. It is much less crowded on that side of the Island, and we saw this house boat.

The next few pictures are of Victoria's Peak - a mountain that you can ride a tram up to the top and have a great view of the Harbor. This interesting looking structure is the new observation deck and shopping/dining area.

Mom, Jill, Mitzi and Curt on Victoria's Peak.

Picture of the tram, but it doesn't show how steep it really is - it's a fun ride!

Chinese New Year Decorations in one of the malls we went into - most of the malls are connected to office buildings and have subway stations on a lower level.

China is hosting the Olympics this year and some of the events will be held in Hong Kong. We saw several posters and decorations about the Olympics.

Well, thanks for hanging in there to the end of this long post! As I'm sure you can guess, this is only a few of the pictures we took - we had a great time and a great visit together!!

New First Presidency

We were excited to hear the annoucement of the new First
Presidency that was made today. President Thomas S. Monson,
along with his counselors, Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uctdorf,
held a news conference to make the annoucement and answer
questions. While we will miss President Hinckley, it is good
to know that the Lord's work will go forward in very capable
hands.

The Big Snow

Here is another picture taken Monday afternoon - a bright, sunny day before one remaining storm predicted for this week. We know there is a sidewalk out there - somewhere.

Well, it kept snowing and snowing. . . we think all told it snowed 18 inches at our house. We were all ready to walk to church because our street hadn't been plowed and we didn't think we could get out of our cul-de-sac, when the snowplow came and plowed us out. So we drove over to church and decided we couldn't get INTO the parking lot on the first 2 driveways we came to (too much snow), so we drove around to the 3rd driveway and it looked a little better - we were able to make it into that driveway - after helping a neighbor who got stuck trying to get into that driveway. There were a few people who got stuck trying to get out of their driveways who didn't make it to church, but most everyone made it. This is a picture taken on Monday afternoon looking out from the porch.

We woke up Sunday morning, Feb 3rd, to more snow! We got outside and shoveled about 8 inches off our driveway. Then our neighbor let us use his snowblower to help some of the other neighbors - this is a picture of Curt trying out this super-strength snowblower - it can throw a lot of snow! The picture doesn't do it justice, by the time I got back with the camera, he was doing a driveway that didn't have much on it! But the good thing is, he is now seriously thinking about getting a snowblower - of course, they are all sold out now because of all the snow. Maybe by next snow season. . . . . .

President Hinckley's Viewing

I decided to go to President Hinckley's viewing today. We had about 6 inches of new snow here this morning and Salt Lake had new snow too. I got to the Conference Center about 1 p.m. and had to wait outside for an hour. After going into the Conference Center, they had everyone sit in the auditorium. After 20 minutes or so, they directed us to leave the auditorium and continue the line through the lobby to the escalators that go up to the President's Room. There was a floral arrangement from the GreatGranchildren as you entered the President's room. There were several men standing around the casket - one at each end, and several on each side. It was very touching to walk past the casket and say goodby to this wonderful leader, teacher and friend to all. Music from the Tabernacle Choir was playing in the background. The line then went back into the top balcony of the auditorium, where there were 2 more floral arrangements - one from his children, and one from his grandchildren. (The only other flowers were a few small vases of tulips placed in front of various paintings in the lobby.) Oil paintings of Pres. and Sis. Hinckley were on display on easels - about 14X16 inches. So, it took about 1 hour 45 minutes, and as I'm typing this the news is on and they are reporting that some people waited more than 4 hours and they estimate over 60,000 people came today to pay their last respects. Funeral services will be tomorrow and we are supposed to have a break in the storms, with the next snow coming tomorrow night and Sunday.

We will miss you President Hinckley

We were sad to hear of President Hinckleys passing on Sunday evening, January 27, 2008. We received a text message from John, he had just received a text from his friend Will with the news. He has served the Lord for all of his 97 1/2 years and reached out in love and kindness to all. He will be long remembered for his efforts in building many temples and for his wisdom, work ethic, humor and optimism. His has been a life that has touched many lives for good. We loved what Christian said when Rebecca told him the news : "I will miss him. I was his number one fan." Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 2nd, in the Conference Center.