cc: file, Grandma Hafen via Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana Warner. Diane Cluff, and Andrea Shirts
"I hope you each had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did, considering I was not allowed to be with my children. There was so much happened last week, it is already 10:20 PM on Monday night, I wrote a lot of words the last two weeks, and so this Thoughtlet is going to be relatively short.
I mentioned last week I bought a new Digital Camera. I took 299 photos during my week vacation in Southern Utah and have spent this evening trying to transfer them to the Sun so they will be on the web for your review, when and if you are interested. I have not figured out how to do it yet, and so it might take a few days. Once the photos are moved over they will be at http://www.walden3d.com/photos and eventually I will add an indexing schema so as new photos are added they can be easily sorted and retrieved by specific subject areas. I have in mind this becoming a family reference area, with photos of how everyone is doing being updated regularly, along with capture and organization of all of our family photos.
There are only two photos on-line now, which I ended transferring over from the personal PC by diskette. I figure if a picture is worth a thousand words (and there are very few of these photos I couldn't write a thousand words about, if anyone of you wants to ask questions about any of them), then these 299,000 words justify the new Digital Camera [which Continuum Resources paid for]. The two I moved over show my friend Andrea in Zion, and a snapshot her son Matt took of her and me on Thanksgiving Day. When I first saw the picture of the two of us, I was struck by how happy I looked. I have not felt happy for some time, and it quite set me back when I looked at this photo.
I tried to take a picture of Grandma Hafen and she didn't want me to. So I said, `Arn't you going to let me capture a memory?' She got right to the point and replied, `You have too many memories already!' Since I have not got much feedback from you kids lately, I wonder if she didn't hit the nail right on the head? Because I am so visual, I do expect my new `toy' will become a modified means of communication and of getting across the points I am attempting to make with these Thoughtlets. I am very interested in suggestions as to how to best use the digital camera.
In the spirit of these Thoughtlets also serving as a diary, I will summarize what we did last week. I say we because I spent most of the week with Andrea and her family. I mentioned we started a week ago Saturday morning off going to a session at the St. George Temple. We each did one of her family names. As I mentioned last week we took Mom to lunch Saturday afternoon to the Gable House, then went to Aunt Sara's Suzuki Concert and the BYU Singers. Sunday I worked on the Partnership Thoughtlet (.../9847.html), and went to Church, ate dinner, played the guitar some, and went to the Priesthood Prieview with Andrea and her family.
Monday Andrea gave me a tour of where she works, we went to lunch, I talked to her boss about some of the Knowledge Backbone stuff we have been working on, and I started taking photos of Cedar. I stopped and saw Ray and Tom Gardner and finally got the Thoughtlet finished about 7:30 PM Houston time. We went to see Cedar High's performance of `Fiddler on the Roof.' I quite enjoyed it, and when Yenta performed I kept thinking of your Mom's performance of that part. I saw Scott Atkin, who recognized me by my smile, and who told me about when he collected the sulfer ring from the top of a volcano in Guatamela after I mentioned his Mom taught me there was a world outside of Cedar City when she gave me that rock and described their trip.
Tuesday morning I went back to St. George and did another session at the temple. Grandma Hafen fixed a wonderful `picnic' Thanksgiving Dinner and we took it over to Porter's and ate it on a card table in Mom's room. I went to the book store, gave a copy of Prime Words to Lyman Hafen and talked to him about Ken Turner and my latest project, and took a lot of pictures of St. George. The trees were bright yellow and it was absolutely fabulous. I got back to Cedar just in time to go to Institute Class with Andrea. The teacher, Brother Graff (a relative from St. George), started teaching Institute in Cedar when I was in High School and is about to retire. Ben called and I called him back and learned he has a job offer and has put money down on a place to live in Dallas.
Wednesday Andrea took the day off and went with me to Filmore. Roice Krueger and one of his co-workers drove down from Provo and we spent from 10:00 to 1:30 in the Filmore City Library talking about their plans, about Knowledge Backbones, and about some of my more off the wall ideas (like building mile diameter cities that float in the sky at Bingham Copper Mine). It was a lot of fun for all of us. It was nice to have a couple of hours to talk to Andrea on the way to Filmore and on the way back to Cedar. Wednesday evening was the only night I spent with Sara, Des, and Brian. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner, and played games. I beat everyone at Backgammon. Brian invented a wonderful new game, which I am not going to tell you about because I am giving a set to each of you as a Christmas present. It was a wonderful evening. I called Roice and wished him a happy birthday, and he sounded like he was doing well. He said he went to see `A Bug's Life' and really liked it.
Thursday morning I visited Mark and Rita Nelson, Keith and Evelyn Nelson, Aunt Mary Mae Nelson and her son Leon and daughter Annette, Uncle Ted, and all of their families. It was fun, and I took photos of photo albums, including Great-Great Grandpa Bengt Nelson, Sr.'s mountian cabin. I got to St. George just before Sara and Des and Brian, and we took Mom to Tony Roma's, where they have a Thanksgiving Buffet. Grandma Hafen joined us, and it was a wonderful meal. Brian ate 30 ribs (he ate 32 last year). Mom seemed to enjoy the day. Grandma said `Well it was better than I expected it would be.' She enjoyed it also. After we finished I met Andrea at the movie theater, and the tickets to `A Bug's Life' were sold out. So we went back to her brother Russell's house, and talked for a while. We stopped and saw Aunt Luana and Uncle Lloyd. All of their kids were there for Thanksgiving (Luana said she fed a total of 41 people). Then we went to New Harmony and I met Andrea's oldest daughter Heather and her son-in-law Nate. The four of us went to the 9:10 showing of `A Bug's Life' and all loved it. Heather and Andrea really got into the movie, especially in the credits.
Friday Russell and his family came to Cedar from St. George and we spent the day at Brian Head. It was a fun day. Andrea and I didn't ski or snowboard. We talked, took photos, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Friday evening I took Andrea, Nate (20), Heather (19), Audrey (18 on the 5th of December), Rachael (14), and Matt (11) to Milts. It was a fun evening, and I wished each of you kids could have been there with us.
Saturday Andrea and I went back down to the temple and each did another name from the Shirts' family files. Bishop Tousa, the first person your Mom and I went to for counseling, was there again. I wish I had the words to tell each of you how wonderful the temple is. We visited Grandma, walked around the Brigham Young home and happened to see Ray and Beth West who were on their way back to Alpine (by Provo) from California, took Mom to lunch at the Hunan restaurant, visited Russell and Marilyn Shirts, and visited Aunt Luana and Forrest and some of the other Warners. Then we drove over to Zion and hiked up the Narrows a little ways, took photos with the Digital Camera, and went to the IMAX film `Everest.' That night we rented and watched a rather gross movie with Rachel and Matt.
Sunday Andrea and I went to Uncle Ted's Granddaughter's missionary farewell, Jessica Christopher. She is going to Germany. Paul Nelson conducted, and Paul he wants you to come and report on your mission in their ward so he can have `Paul Nelson' on the program and not have to talk. Ted's family sang the Primary Song about the Sons of Helaman. It was really touching to me. Aunt Shirley and Uncle Willis had driven up from Torrance Saturday afternoon to be back home from their Grandson's baptism. There were a lot of Nelson's there, and it was nice. While Andrea went to her Primary Presidency Meeting, I drove up Cedar Canyon and took photos. There was ice on all of the trees and it was absolutely beautiful. I am really impressed with the quality of the photos. I cried as I thought about you kids, and didn't have you with me to share the moment. Oh well! Andrea's ward meets in the afternoon. Russell and Marilyn and kids came back up to go to church and to have dinner at Andrea's. It was really a good time. At 7:00 we went to the old Junior High Auditorium for the Messiah practice. Sara and Des were there. I sat by Brent Hunter, who is a wonderful base, and sang along, since I was missing practice for the Epiphany/LDS Annual Concert (which is on the 13th of December at the Stake Center for those who can join us). Jerry Carpenter was at the Cedar Messiah practice, and that name alone is worth several thousand words. After practice Andrea and I went out and saw Mark and Rita Nelson, and came back and spent an hour or so with Sara and Des, and then ended up talking too late for me to write the Thoughtlet last night. By the time I finished packing it was after midnight and I left Cedar at 6:45 this morning.
As I drove to St. George and said good-bye to Mom and Grandma early this morning, and then drove to Vegas, taking the time to drive through The Valley of Fire and take a bunch more photos with the digital camera, I was really struck by what a wonderful week it was. I wished you could have each been with me, or that I could have been with you. Oh well! Things turn out with us and without us. For instance, my neighbor on the plane was a nice looking young lady originally from Viet Nam and now living in New Orleans. She had a kink in her neck, and I ended up giving her a neck rub and then she slept most of the way to Houston on my shoulder. I chuckled about the amount of affection I've enjoyed this last week, even though I wasn't with the six of you. The plane was a couple of hours late, and so I didn't get back to Houston until 5:00 this evening. And between Family Home Evening and attempting to get the photos transferred to the Sun computer, the evening has turned into Tuesday morning. So I guess I will quit typing, and wish you all a wonderful first week of December."