Promised Pics of Bryce Canyon

As promised, I have put a few pictures up of what we saw on our trip in July to Bryce Canyon. I'm not very good at posting them, like Evan. Maybe I'll get with it and learn how. Until then...don't you think Malek is a great photographer!

Today we went to Shane's priesthood session at 8:00 a.m. It was combined with the Relief Society because they had a special guest. It was an actual descendant of Joseph Smith, I believe through Hyrum Smith. He showed us some great artifacts. Some of them included the bloodstained shirt that Hyrum wore the day he was shot. He also had the pants and vest that Hyrum wore. There was a family dinner bell, a pair of great spectacles, a sword from when they were in the military, and the watch that Hyrum had inside his vest pocket when he was shot in the back. The face of it of course, had been destroyed. And my favorite item was the actual box that the gold plates were in for a time. It had Alvin's name carved on it. The speaker told the story of how Joseph used the box and how the Angel Moroni had told him years earlier that it needed to be a locked box. He didn't have a locked box when he brought the plates home, but later he was able to get a lock for it. It was a neat experience, especially to share it with Malek. I was so greatful that Shane and Deb invited us to come. Malek enjoyed it too, although at this time he does not show great emotion toward spiritual things. My prayers are continually with him that one day he will gain a strong testimony of the gospel. I sincerely know that it is true and I have felt the Spirit witness it to me many times. I love the gospel and I am amazed that I was blessed enough to be born in the covenant. I think about dad's father, my grandfather, and how he was converted to the Church. That was only two generations ago!

Today, the missionaries are coming for dinner at 5:00 pm, and then the hometeachers are coming at 6:00 p.m, and we still have to go to sacrament meeting at 1:00 p.m. Malek is all churched out today, but it has been a good day for me. Until next time, Mel

Malek enjoying lunch - Rocky posing

Me and my baby

Looks a lot like a tooth

Bryce Canyon - Photo by Malek 7-09

Hospital Visit

Once again, yours truly had to make a run to the ER. Saturday morning I awoke with tremendous pain in my right side. I just dealt with it until Monday when I decided to visit the nurse at work to see what it was. It hadn't subsided at all and it was quite painful. They told me I needed to go to the ER to get it checked out. Malek came and got me and we went to St. Marks. At first they thought it could be the gall bladder, then they thought it could be kidney stones, but it was neither, it was a muscle spasm. I never in my wildest dreams thought that was what it was. I had had a muscle spasm in my jaw before and it didn't feel anything like this one. It felt like knives were stabbing me from the inside out. The morphine they gave me helped as long as I layed still, but my breathing was so shallow, they had to give me oxygen too. I couldn't take a deep breath at all. Anyway, I returned to work the next day. It is now Wednesday, day 5 of the spasm and it still has not gone away, but it has settled down to the point that I can work. I am hoping it won't take too long before I can take a deep breath again. It was good timing because Malek actually thought school started that day, but it turned out that it started on Wednesday. He was able to stay with me the whole time. He was such a trooper. He took great care of me. I am so blessed to have him in my life.

Malek and I went to Roger Christensen's daughter's wedding reception last Friday. It was in the stakehouse gymnasium, but it was the most elegantly decorated that I have ever seen. Roger hugged Malek. They both have talked to each other before and had established a good relationship. I was so happy to see them hug. He has been getting thoughts of what is nice for a wedding for his future and he keeps asking me "The woman pays for most of it, right?" What can I say? There is etiquette and then there is practicality. Actually, I am hopeful that he will make a good choice for a wife one day. We can worry about the rest later. It was nice to see how the Christensen's decorated though. The whole occassion was quite nice.