Valentine's Day Cookies

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day.  I wanted to make sugar cookies and an old friend at PayLess Drug Stores made the best.  I contacted Jan Casteel to see if she had that recipe and she did.  We couldn’t find a heart shaped cookie cutter, so Dad picked out a red plastic heart that was filled with smarties.  He thought we could use that.  I made a batch and then I made another batch but I was so tired, that I just didn’t think I could use the plastic heart.  When Dad came into the kitchen he was so disappointed that I hadn’t made heart shapes, so I made another batch and dad rolled them out and cut out the shapes and put them on the cookie sheets.  

You would have loved to see that!  Altogether, we made 81 cookies. So Friday, we spent the day taking plates of cookies to all the Branch Members.  They were all so excited!    We had District meeting earlier in the day on valentines and then delivering the cookies, and being so well received, and taught a Temple Prep class and then when back to a less active who had invited us in with the cookies....it was a full missionary day!  It felt so good.  AND we were so tired! 

Saturday we had a change of pace from our Mission.  Doug and Emily McArthur were taking their family to Orlando on vacation. They would go right thru Mobile Alabama and wondered if we would be able to see them.  Mobile is about 2 hours south and it is out of our mission area.  We got permission to make the trip, so we drove to Mobile.  I really wanted to see the Gulf of Mexico, so we went to a beach called Gulf Shores.  We were to meet the McArthur’s about 4:00 up near Mobile. They arrived sooner than they expected and decided to drive down to the Gulf Shores and let the children play.  It was a sunny day, though a little cool for the beach, but the children ran and played in the sand and found shells and the grownups visited. 

 It turned out to be a great time for all of us.  One of those magic moments that you can’t quite believe we could put it together with just a few email messages.

I have to admit, I was a little homesick on our way back from Mobile.  We think of you every day and are so glad to hear about the things you are doing. It really helps us to know that everything is OKAY.  Dad and I are pretty good companions and are a good compliment to each other.  Dad is so good with the teaching moments.  We send our love to each of you! 
Love Grandma and Grandpa