Conrad graduates law school! And a trip to the Grand Canyon!

 

 

 

May 18th W. Conrad Mickelsen received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from

The Phoenix School of Law!

W. Conrad Mickelsen JD

 

We are so proud of all of his hard work and long hours of study and research papers and more study and more papers...

 

Hailey deserves congratulations and credit also for supporting him in this quest!

She spent many long, lonely evenings while Conrad studied at the library.

 

Here he is receiving his hood.

 



Happy to receive his diploma - but - the study isn't over yet.  He now begins his long preparations to take the BAR exam in July.

 

Hal and I traveled to Phoenix to celebrate this event (we wouldn't have missed it for anything!).  We enjoyed going to dinner and spending time with Hailey and Conrad.  To celebrate the event we took them to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a most delicious meal.  Conrad enjoyed a well deserved filet mignon and lobster tail.  We all ate way too much but the food was delicious!  Of course I forgot to take a picture - I think I was too busy eating to think about it!

 

We went to church with them on Sunday (a very welcoming and friendly ward) and then Monday morning we went together to the Grand Canyon.  Hal and Hailey and Conrad had never been there and I visited it as a child - so it was time to go and enjoy the beauty and splendor.  We were blessed with an absolutely perfect day - not too hot and not too cold.  The crowds of visitors were not too great and we loved seeing this natural wonder.

I'm afraid that pictures don't do justice to the beauty and colors we saw in the canyon.

We finished our tour of the canyon and viewed an IMAX presentation.

We then drove to Flagstaff and had a delicious dinner together at a local restaurant and then spent the night in Flagstaff.

The next morning Hal and I left for home and Hailey and Conrad returned to Phoenix.  We loved this opportunity to spend time with them!

Special MTC Relief Society

Every Sunday (except Fast Sunday) Relief Society is held in the large auditorium/gym for all of the sister missionaries at the MTC.  Relief Society format is a little different there -  after Music and the Spoken Word is finished, the sister all stand and sing together As Sisters in Zion.  Then Relief Society begins with an opening exercise and announcements followed by a young sister sharing her conversion story - then we enjoy a musical number presented by sister missionaries and finally we have a guest speaker.  These speakers are often Relief Society, Young Women and Primary general presidency and board members from SLC.  When have also had the opportunity to hear Sheri Dew and other great speakers.  This past Sunday our speaker was Janice Kapp Perry. 

We stood and sang her song: As Sisters in Zion. Two thousand plus sister missionaries singing together is powerful!  The Relief Society meeting began and we sang A Child's Prayer - dividing into two groups to sing both parts. Two sisters were invited to share their conversion stories that morning and then sister Perry spoke to us.  She is humble, unassuming and a very down to earth lady that has been blessed with a talent to write beautiful melodies that we all enjoy.  Her songs teach the gospel simply and clearly and their messages teach us truth.  As she spoke, she shared experiences and what she had learned as she and her husband served a mission together in Chile.  She told us how some of her songs came to be written.  We then sang together a medley of  some of those songs.  Finally as she finished her remarks she told us that she was preparing a new CD of music for sister missionaries and that she had written some new verses to As Sisters in Zion.  Her new version  is called: The Sisters of Zion and speaks about the sister missionaries invited by the prophet to serve and their response to the invitation and the great work that they will do to build the kingdom in these latter days.  Then, the congregation of sisters 2000 strong stood and sang these new verses - this was the first time they had been presented and sung.  There were not many dry eyes as we joined together in singing this special missionary song.  It was truly a very spiritual experience!  I count this time serving at the MTC as a wonderful privilege and blessing in my life.  It is inspiring to rub shoulders with the young missionaries and feel their excitement and commitment to serve the Lord.

Big changes ahead!

We are almost ready to turn our papers in for another mission.  On Sunday we have our interview with the Stake President and then they will be submitted!  It has taken longer than we thought to get everything together and interviews lined up. We hope to go next month but we will see what happens when we actually receive our call.  In the meantime...

The MTC is ramping up as more and more missionaries come.

 

 Last night we attended a special meeting with the MTC presidency and the branch presidents and wives of 8 of the MTC branches - (there are currently 68 branches at the MTC with new branches being created weekly as the number of missionaries grows). We were asked to be a part of the pilot branches that will go to the 2nd MTC campus at Raintree Commons with housing at nearby Wyview Park.  Each of the 8 branches will have 35- 45 missionaries and will be a part of this pilot group as they work out the kinks and get ready for many more branches of missionaries to come this summer and fall. They believe the peak will be in October. Our branch along with 3 other branches will make the move May 28th and the other 5 branches of this pilot group will move over to what they are calling the West Campus during the following 5 weeks. The Raintree apartments have been cleared of all furniture and are being painted and fixed to house classrooms and teaching stations in the three bedrooms and living room.

  They will bring in some kind of module or modules to the parking lot to be used as a cafeteria. We don't know exactly where these will be placed or if there will be more than one. Lots of planning and work is going on at a furious pace to have everything prepared in time. MTC Devotionals will be held at the Marriot Center. It is wonderful to see so many missionaries at the MTC with 47% sisters  currently- this number changes weekly as the missionaries arrive and depart. 

 

 You can feel the excitement in the air!

 

 

 

Three new languages will be added to our branch in the weeks to come - Malagasy, Indonesian and Malay. We now have missionaries learning - Latvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Georgian and Greek.

We love working with these young men and women and watching their remarkable growth and progress as they learn difficult languages and how to be an effective missionary.

It is truly awesome to see the prophet Daniel's prophecy fulfilled as "...a stone was cut without hands...became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Daniel 2:34-35  This surge of righteous young missionaries is certainly a part of that fulfillment!

 

For us, we will continue to serve at the MTC and await our call to see what changes the coming weeks will bring for us - we will keep you posted!

Baby Liam arrives!

These past several weeks have been busy and filled with wonderful family events and special times with friends.  Of course I first must brag about our new grandson - Marshall William Craw (Liam) born April 11, 2013!

 

 



I flew to Minneapolis on April 10th and all went as planned with baby Liam arriving the next morning.  He is (of course) a beautiful baby and weighed just over 8 pounds.  Jessica looked so small before his birth that I had no idea he would be so big!  Mother and baby are both doing well.  As I grow older, my appreciation and awe of the miracle of birth seems to grow stronger and stronger.  Heavenly Father must certainly smile and rejoice at every birth!

 

 Gigi and grandma hung out together at home during the days Jessica was recovering in the hospital.  We had a great time playing hide and seek, painting nails, having tea parties, dancing together, playing IPad games (she turned me into a gamer!), reading books and singing songs.    Each day, Adam would take us to the hospital to visit Jessica and Liam.  Gigi loves her new brother and kept saying: "He is so tiny!  He is so cute!"  She too was in awe of this miracle of birth.  I am sure that the full impact of having a sibling has not had time to sink in!
 

Baby arrived home from the hospital on April 14th.

 

  Liam barely survived his first bath and photo shoot and was so glad when it was over and he could enjoy lunch!

 

Liam's gift to big sister Gigi was a bouncy cow which she loved!

 

 

 Hal drove to Minneapolis and arrived on Tuesday April 16th.  It was a long 2 days of driving but he was happy to see his new grandson!

We loved being with Adam and Jessica and their cute family - this also gave us an opportunity to see their new home.  They have painted and decorated and things are looking great!  Jessica has a real flare for decorating! 

We also enjoyed visiting a Russian Art Museum near their home.  It had a unique and unusual collection of artwork.  We had the museum to ourselves that day because of the snowy conditions.

The weather was not our friend!  It snowed every day I spent in Minneapolis and the night before we left, a BIG snowstorm dumped several inches of new snow.  Our plan was to drive home through Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada and see some places and things we had not seen before.  Of course we had to go through North Dakota in our quest to visit all 50 states.  Well, we did drive out of the Minnesota snow but then we drove into the Canada wind.  We enjoyed? no endured a record breaking cold April as we traveled across Canada with stops in Winnipeg and Regina.  We then drove south into Montana with a 1 night stop in Billings.

Driving through scenic but snowy Wind River Pass in Montana (well named!)

Thermopolis, Wyoming - you can see the steam rising from the hot springs!

 

  The wind, cold and snow seemed to follow us through Montana and into Wyoming. We decided to cut our trip short and come on home where we found beautiful, sunny weather with spring blossoms and green trees and grass! Home Sweet Home!

 

 

 



 

Ella turns 3!

We celebrated Ella's birthday on March 3rd with a delicious dinner of homemade clam chowder, bread and salad at Jon and Allison's home.  Then the family and cousins arrived for cake and homemade ice cream (3 flavors to choose from - thanks Allison and Jon!)  Ella was so excited!  She is our little character and has the most delightful personality, expressions and actions.

Ella loves this old dance costume that belongs to Lillian and will put it on and wear it everyday - so of course she had to change into it for her birthday party.  Here she is doing one of her happy dances.

Our birthday girl waiting for her cake



                                                                     She loved her "Princess Merida" cake - good job Allison!

Party guests - Treygan, Alex and Preston

The birthday girl changed back into her other clothes to open her gifts which were enjoyed by her cousins as well - especially the Dora tent and tea set.  Ruby loves watching all the action.

A very happy Ella sings a little song

More happy party guests

 

 

 

 

Veggie Feast

After the holidays and cruise indulgence, Hal and I decided that we were going to get very serious about losing weight.  We have been exercising regularly and eating SO healthy!  Lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, a little chicken and fish and not much meat.  We have given up going out to eat except for a Subway sandwich or a turkey burger at Carl's Jr.  We are losing weight - YEA!!  But of course Hal is losing twice as much as I am - (where is the justice?)  Anyway, I have been roasting, steaming, boiling, pan frying, and preparing fresh vegetables of every kind!  I had to take a picture of  the dinner we enjoyed last week.  We are still eating the leftovers from that meal!

Company and a Cruise

I have been an AWOL blogger of late and I just couldn't bring myself to blog about Christmas in February - so, I am moving forward.  Maybe I will sort through all the photos and make a post about the holiday's later... 

 

After a very busy holiday season filled with wonderful time with family - we then hosted one of our Russian returned missionaries. Mark Illarionov came from Kzan, Russia to visit family (living back east) and friends (in the west). Mark stayed with us for 4 days. We took him to the MTC for dinner and the devotional, made a day trip to Manti for a special temple session and we hosted an Open House for him which turned out to be a mini-missionary reunion. He was thrilled to see his former mission companions and many others that had served with him.  It was fun to be with our missionaries again and meet their wives, girlfriends and even some of their children. 

This photo shows some of those that attended.

 

Mark is standing next to me in this photo with Adam Larsen, Andrew Bressler and Hal.  How we love those young men and women that we were privileged to serve with!

 

 

Also during Mark's visit, Michael Nielsen and Alex Finlinson came for a lunch of Russian Borscht.

 

 

 

Family Cruise with Hal's Siblings and Spouses

During the last week of January and first part of February we enjoyed a family cruise. 

 

Roy, Dixie, Patty

Paul, Cynthia and Hal

 The night before we boarded the ship, part of our group went to a seafood restaurant for dinner.  This was a noisy, crazy place where everyone was given a mallet (for cracking crab) and every time a birthday, anniversary or any celebration was announced (and there were plenty of them) - everyone in the restaurant pounded the table together for 10 seconds (or more) to recognize the event!  At first all the noise was annoying but once we got into it, it was fun to wait for the next announcement and pound away!

 

Karma, Mike, Hal and Patty

Once on board the ship - we of course went directly to the dining room for lunch!

 

Thumbs up for the delicious lobster that was served for dinner the first night aboard!

 

After 2 days at sea, our first stop was St. Thomas followed by Dominica the next day. This lush, green island was an interesting port with hot springs, crafts made by the native people and beautiful mountain peaks.  I think this was my favorite stop!

 

 

Back in the 1980's Dominica was severely damaged by a hurricane.  This school bus was flattened when a huge tree blew over on it.  Fortunately, no one was in the bus at the time!

 

Hal's friend from teenage years (and friend of all the Mickelsen family) Jim Cook and his wife Louise joined us on the cruise.  Jim is full of fun and adds life to any party.  Here he is wearing the hat to dinner that he purchased on Dominica.

 

The next island we visited was Barbados.  Here we took a short tour of the island with Larry&Linda. 

 

The following day we stopped on beautiful St. Lucia.  This photo shows part of our group plus a dog that Paul befriended!

 

Looking down on the harbor where our ship was anchored in St. Lucia.

 

 

Back Row: Roy, Cynthia, Linda, Wayne, Patty and Karma

Middle Row: Dixie, Paul, Larry, Ann, Hal and Mike

Front Row: Matt, Ramie, Louise and Jim Cook.

Our whole group!

We held Sacrament Meeting in the Ship's Chapel on Sunday and took photos after church.

 

 

Our last stop was St. Maarten.  We sailed on the Norwegian Sun!

How glad we were that it was NOT the Carnival Triumph!!!

 

I love the beautiful blue color of the Caribbean ocean!!

These photos were taken on St. Maarten.

 

We enjoyed a great cruise with lots of time for family bonding!  It was smooth flying on our trip home until we flew into the Salt Lake Valley.  There, we circled the airport for 45 minutes waiting for an opportunity to land in the fog/inversion.  After a hard "bump down" landing, it was back to the reality of winter with snow, cold and smoggy air - but the trip was worth it!