Happy Easter

I can’t believe that it’s been that long since I have written. It has been a good month with much goings on. Since I found out that my A1C is 7.2 (the highest it’s ever been!) with no real changes except not as much exercise, actually hardly any, I have tried to go back to exercising. I’ve done better last month but I still need to improve. I’ve only exercised once or twice a week and I need to get up to at least three or four. I can tell exercise makes a difference tho’ even tho’ I haven’t done as much as I should. (My blood sugars are already lower than they have been.)

Last Thursday we left for Utah. We left a little later since I was planning on going to the Israel Barlow Family Association meeting of which I am the family representative of the Pamela Elizabeth Barlow tribe. It was held in Bountiful, Utah. I wanted to meet H B, the man I have corresponded with via e-mail and talked to many times on the phone. I did meet him and his lovely wife and a few others. I was told the meeting would start at 5:00 pm but found out that it didn’t start until 6:00 pm. I had time to chat and get to know a few people which I wouldn’t have been able to if it had started at 5:00. The meeting was very informative. I met S C who is the paid genealogist/researcher for the organization. Her husband’s grandmother was a Barlow. I found out that Israel’s 5th great grandfather, the one who came over from England, was a puritan and he come over and joined John Winthrope’s Puritan colony in Massachusetts. His name was Edmund Barlow. He would be my 8th great grandfather. (And I just discovered I had them on my PAF file already. However, I hadn’t realized that they were Puritans.) I really enjoyed being to that meeting and meeting those people. As we were leaving it, I had the tho’t: I’m so thankful that I am not as shy as I used to be. If I were there was no way I could have gone to a meeting where I knew not a soul and intermingled with them and thoroughly enjoy myself. I wouldn’t have dare go. I can thank my nursing for that besides just being more mature and thank the Lord the most that He has guided my path in the directions He has. There is nothing to catch the Spirit of Elijah like meeting people who have the same ancestors as you have. I also met D. She lives in Sandy and also is a service missionary at the Family History Center in SLC. We compared things and talked about the new FamilySearch. I found it very interesting to speak with her.

We got to Michael’s a little after 9:00. The meeting lasted until 8:20 or so. The little girls were in bed. but I was surprised that N was too. C was still up. M got home about 10:15 pm. He works at LDSFS in American Fork. He and Tand I stayed up until almost 1:30 talking and catching up. We woke up about 7:15 and I went up and read scriptures with the family and had family prayer with them. It was kind of a miscellaneous day. We enjoyed each other’s company and had fun with K and A. They are such cute little girls. And they seem to think we are special too. That evening T and I went to a bridal shower for my niece, D. She will be getting married in June but since she and her fiancé were here from Texas and her sister was here from California, (the other three sisters live in the area) they had the bridal shower for her then. They are my sister’s daughters. She died seven years ago of pulmonary emboli. It was good to see all of them and the shower was a lot of fun. My mother and two sisters, B and J were there also. After we got home Tanya and I were telling K and M about the shower. After K went to bed we started talking about other times we had been together and remembered the time we were at Joy’s place the night before my father-in-law’s funeral. We were playing games and telling jokes and how hard we laughed. I retold the joke that really made us all laugh and I was laughing so hard I couldn’t even tell the punch line. M had to guess it. I haven’t laughed that hard in years! Then T told of an experience M's co worker told him of and we really laughed then too. It felt so good to laugh. I can see why they say it is healthy to laugh.

Saturday morning we had time for a game of Pinochle. We really do enjoy playing that together. They even have some cards that aren’t regular face cards that we often use. After the Pinochle game we got ready to go to Mama’s 9oth birthday party. It was held at the Senior Citizen’s Center in American Fork. She looked very nice and really not 90 years old. I hope I look as good if I live that long. There were sooo many people there. It was good to see all of them. All of her living children were there and all of her grandchildren except five. My B and R and their families, D Y, and my youngest brother’s two children, J and J. They sent out 300 invitations and there were more than that there I would dare say. I saw cousins who had to introduce themselves because it had been so long since I had seen them. I didn’t get to see one cousin I would have really enjoyed talking to.My sister, B said she was there, but I was visiting with other cousins and didn’t notice her and she didn’t seek me out sooo. A few people did seek me out tho’ and that was very nice. All of my uncles and aunts told me I was looking so good. I decided I must have looked pretty bad the last time they saw me. Mama said that is right. I did look pretty bad there for a while. I know it’s thro’ the blessings of the Lord that I am doing so well. Uncle G told me I looked very good in my seniorness. I guess he was referring to my being a senior citizen now. We got some lovely pictures while there. I will send some of them to my children. We went back to M’s and watched them dye Easter Eggs. After the little girls were in bed we watched The Testaments. It really se tthe mood for my day the next day, it being Easter Sunday and all.

Sunday was a lovely day too. Went to church with M & T and children. They have a new chapel less than a block away from them. We had a lovely dinner there then went over to Orem, taking C with us, to see the Kims as we call them. Our son K and his wife K and their children. We had a nice visit with them. We played Pictionery Jr. and the junior Apples to Apples games. I also played the key board while K and K sang, Let There be Peace on Earth and Oh, That I Were an Angel. I think we all thoroughly enjoyed that. Karl and I were both amazed to find out that K's voice sounds almost identical to his dad's. All four of our sons have good voices but only K sounds like his Dad. I didn’t think it had been that long since I heard him sing. Altho’ it has been quite a while and he was much younger. I guess his voice has matured. We got back to M & T’s just as it was getting dark. (we don’t like to drive in the dark any more.) We had strawberry short cake and watched Meet the Robinsons which we had never seen. It was a cute movie. We were in bed before 11:00---the first night since we got there. We got up a little after 7:00 for reading the scriptures and prayer. K went back to bed. We left about 11:00 to go visit my mother for a couple of hours. We had lunch with her and enjoyed visiting with her until almost 2:00. We got gas there in American Fork before we got on the freeway and got in IF about 6:20. We got gas and ate at Chinese Garden and got home about 7:30. I was surely tired. But it was a good trip and wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was jam packed with things to do and people to see.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day and warm—very spring like. But today there is a winter storm warning until Thursday! And it is snowing!! The high is supposed to be 50 degrees but it won’t get near that I don’t think.