This last one was on the parade route. We were sneaky and watched the beginning of the parade and then hurried and parked at the end to see it again. Jeremy and Sarah came for the weekend, too, and we had a fun visit with them and their cute Mikelle and Isaak. They are growing up fast, too!
Last night for our YSA branch, we had a fun pumpkin carving Family Home Evening. Thanks to my friend, Cathy, for taking these pics for the branch history and for you all to see what a great group of young people we have! Pictured here are: Collette and Maria; me, Katherine, Matt, and Stan in the background; the whole group and their creations.
(l to r - Will, Paul, Joel, David, and Dale)
Sunday morning, we had to be in our seats before Music and the Spoken Word began its broadcast. 
We were pretty excited to hear this program live and it was touching to hear the commentator talk about a story of service to orphans that paralleled a similar experience Collette had on her trip to China with the BYU-H choir. It was just as powerful the second time we stood and reverenced President Monson and others as they entered the center and my heart and spirit was full again as we witnessed first hand the Lord’s counsel through His servants. Walking through Temple Square after the session, we stopped and listened to the sister missionaries sing hymns and we were so thrilled to see and talk to the sister missionary from Denmark (back row first one on the left in blue) that came and helped out with the Twin Falls Temple Open House. She was the missionary who welcomed, explained procedures, and showed the video in many of the tour sessions that Dale and I led. Small world!
We were "true tourists" and had someone snap our picture. We listened to the afternoon session on the car radio as we drove home and feeling ever so blessed for our opportunity to attend and listen to conference and to be with family.
Some friends talked me into taking a new gym class for the month of September on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. I was ready for something different so eagerly signed up. On Mondays we did kick boxing and that was a challenge. The instructor really got into it, shouting and grunting incentives and she thought I was really getting into it, too, when I would scream out...she didn't know that it was from kicking the steel pole below the bag! But I just named my bag "frustrations" and mastered the punches. Wednesdays, we did some taibo (sp?) aerobics and that really was a workout, but much better than sweating with the oldies and Richard Simmons! Fridays, we did spinning. I really liked that, it was the easiest for me, seeing how I had already been doing 45 minutes on the eliptical machines upstairs. I decided that it was good to change it up again and signed up for the pilates class for October. After my first class, I thought I was going to die! It was the hardest class so far for me. I wanted to quit, but will keep trying. My friends are very encouraging and I will try not to be afraid of the instructor when she yells at me to keep my stomach in!
Other books that we will be discussing this year are: the children's book, Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare; Winners Never Cheat by Jon Huntsman; The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. In December, we have a tasters lunch of favorite holiday recipes and donate money to our local library for a new book. 
