It's Christmas time again on Temple Square. We are so fortunate to be here for two holiday seasons. The snow and the lights on the cedar of lebanon were so beautiful. The cedar is lit only every other year.


It is so wonderful to see the temple surrounded by the lights of Christmas.

Thank goodness for pansies. Even in the winter they grow and bloom until Spring.

We loved the Coburn's halloween costumes. James and Samuel octopuses and Alenda and Maryanna were jellyfish. Cute, cute. My costume was an orange blouse and a black suit. Such is life.

My sister Marla had health problems and was air lifted to the University of Utah Medical Center. It was great to see her family even under dire circumstances.
Mindy, Kris, Shaundell, Jason, Trevor, Clay, Ty, Jennifer and Cody.

Bill and Dee Lugo from Chico visited and stayed with us for a week. They had a great time exploring Salt Lake City. When Elder Millet and I went to California before we were married Elder Millet stayed with them - since we both could not stay at his big, two-story house. Every night Dee would call and say, "Brother Millet it's time to come home."

We were working and the phone rang. Sister Estes said, "The Parkers are here to see you." It was delightful to visit with Myrna and Bob from Bellingham.

Aleisha made a short trip to California with her friend and stopped in for a kiss and a hug.

Kelly and Curtis came and visited for a few days. It was great to see them. Curtis just returned from his mission in the Philippines. He was able to play the Tabernacle Organ. What a thrill. Kelly recorded it on his phone but I cannot upload the performance to the blog. Sorry.

We spent the day doing sealing in the Logan Temple with James, Alenda, Marie and Jolley. We did a record of 127 names and "wore out" 5 sealers. We will now start over as Samuel turned 12 and needed names for baptisms. This is great work and noone fainted.

We met Marla and Tom Jones again at Music and the Spoken Word. They are service missionaries at the Bishop's Storehouse in Mt. Vernon, Washington and have just signed up for another 2 years.

Our annual Cousins Reunion was held at Maddox in Brigham City. It is wonderful to get together even for a short time and a great meal. Maxine, Kathy, Aunt Gae, Uncle Lenness, Holly, Jean, Joyce, Anna. Marie, Louise, Michelle, Ann.

Wow! Time flies when you are having fun. This is a favorite spot for brides. In older times statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith stood here. We walked around the temple - close up. What a massive building. We enjoy telling visitors about the symbols on the temple. The pioneers were very wise they carved everything we learn in the temple on the outside.

It was great to see Mikel and Marci and their children. Marci's parents are President and Sister Victor in our Mission. Their offices are just down the way a little from ours. We have enjoyed getting to know them and think they have cute, cute grandchildren. Nessie, Mikel, Ebbi and Marci. Of course, Bart and Dodi share the cute grandchildren.

Happy Anniversary - July 4. Elder Millet chose the day so we would always have fireworks on our anniversary. We have been married for three glorious years. How fortunate I am.

We had an outing on our anniversary. Our adventure started as we picked raspberries from the garden at Brigham Young park for breakfast.


This was our first trip to City Creek Park. The hiking trail winds along Canyon Road with steps that eventually go up to State Street.


It was hot and Elder Millet enjoyed a rest. What a beautiful park.


A unique view of Angel Moroni through the trees.


City Creek ran under Temple Square and was once used to power the tabernacle organ. It has been diverted many times over the years. All the current construction along South Temple has been done to capture the water and make it go where the developers want it to go.


All along the trail were plaques with footprints of animals native to the area. We had a lovely morning and enjoyed our hike.

The next part of our anniversary adventure took us to Liberty Park. We took all the old bread out of the fridge and freezer to feed the ducks and seagulls. It was quite interesting to see that the ducks would not eat with the seagulls and some seagulls stood on the bank and took their turn. They would not eat unless we threw bread directly to them.




We ran out of bread by the time we saw this mother Mallard and her seven little ones.


The Sun Conure which is a native of South America inside the Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park. The colors were beautiful.


We saw 2 Hairy Woodpeckers. They are a little drab next to the Sun Conure but it was fascinating to watch them and amazing that they could defy gravity and hang on the underside of the branch.

After a stop at the grocery store we came home down the avenues.


A different view of the Utah State Capitol across the City Creek Canyon gorge.

Our first tomato. It was delicious.

Two baby falcons hatched last month and left their nest this week. If you look closely you can see one of the babies (the black spot) on the ledge of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building opposite the windows.


The falcon nest is on the north east side of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. You can see the little video camera inside the box. The mother was in plain sight when we first saw her but after we ran for our camera she was gone. The falcons main diet is birds, especially the pigeons. That is why you never see a pigeon on Temple Square.

We are so excited! Curtis returned home after a 2 year mission to the Philippines. Pictured with Taylor, Britney, Aleisha, Jaleyna, and Haden.


Isn't he a good looking young man? He said it was the best 2 years of his life and the worst 2 years. We agree, but what a great experience. Thanks for pictures, Kelly.


It's great when the phone rings and the person says, "This is Elder Pugh." It was a grandma payday.

Instead of staff meeting today we all went on a tour of the new Church History Library. Glen Rowe, who grew up in Bellingham, was our guide. He took us to parts of the library visitors seldom see. We saw "first edition" copies of Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. It was thrilling to see the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon written by Oliver Cowdery as translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Spirit constrained me to even ask to take pictures inside the vaults. It was a powerful experience.


The building is state of the art with climate control throughout to preserve the books and historical documents. It was awesome.


The scriptural mandate for keeping records is found in D&C 21:1 and it portrayed in the foyer.


They showed a 15 minute movie at the beginning. The main story was about Joseph Millet who is Elder Millet's great-great uncle. Briefly, in his day a Brother Hall was without food for his family. He went to the cedars to pray and was told to go to Brother Joseph Millet. When he arrived flour was already in a sack for him as Brother Millet's children told him the Halls had no food. Brother Hall told him he had asked many people for help and after he prayer the Lord told him to go to Joseph Millet. It was a very moving movie. Joseph told Brother Hall he need not repay the flour, It did his heart good to know that the Lord knew Joseph Millet.

We finally made it to Ogden to see our dear friend Nancy Richardson Wight. She was so surprised and thrilled that we came. It was wonderful to talk about old times. She is living in a very nice assisted care facility and is doing very well.


Of course, we talked about the boys and their Scouting adventures. She sends her love to one and all.

Elder Millet with the first tray of zucchini brownies. Boy, were they good. As Ryan said, "I don't see any zuchnini in these brownies. We wish everyone were here to enjoy.


Our tomatoes plants are huge and one tomato is already yellow heading for red. We have already eaten peas, broccoli, zucchini, peppers. Miracle-Gro works.

Space is limited in our garden but Elder Millet has a way of tucking everything in.


Since we have so little room we have temporarily removed some flagstones from our patio for zucchini and tomatoes.


The bean patch is right by the fence - no need for poles.


Our peppers are doing great. We have already eaten two big ones.


Every garden needs at least one flower.

I took these picturs from Troy and Leslie's Blog.


Troy made a quilt with all his Boy Scout memorabilia and entered it in a local quilt show during the Sage and Sun Festival in Ephrata. He won the Most Original Quilt prize. Good job, Troy.


Pictured with Anna Joy, Emily and Christian. Love you guys.

We held Zone Conference at Heritage Park and This is the Place Monument. President Holmes loves to teach Mormon pioneer heritage and basic gospel beliefs together. We spent the morning bridging from pioneer stories, what and why to the things we hold dear today. Doctrine can easily be taught without overbearance.


The pioneers were persecuted and driven from their homes. They walked 1300 miles because they knew the true gospel of Jesus Christ had been lost through apostasy and had been restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith. We believe the same today. What a great way to teach the gospel. We are so happy to be here on a mission.


The gospel is true. The only way we can find happiness in this life is to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We attended Elder Millet's uncle Merrill's funeral. It was wonderful to see all the relatives and enjoy an afternoon together. Afterwards we stopped by the Provo cemetary. I am glad Elder Millet is above ground.

I can't believe a month has past. Wow! Our time is flying. The weather has been rainy and cool. We have had about 2 days of summer this month. The reflecting pond in front of the temple was so still the other day that I snapped this photo. The temple is beautful from every direction, even upside down.