Week 24

Entered MTC six months ago today!

Because schools were closed for Mardi Gras Monday and Tuesday (and a few had all week off), we decided it was a good time to go to the temple in Dallas.  No seminary or institute classes to visit.

On the way we stopped in Shreveport with the Blackburns to meet the Gibbons--they are the new  couple working with seminaries and institutes in Northern LA, part of Arkansas, and part of Northeast Texas.  His father is a cousin to Brother Gibbons in our Orem ward.  Anyway, we had a nice lunch and nice get-acquainted visit with them.

We then proceeded to Dallas (in total, a 4 1/2 hour drive from Alexandria).  Our first stop was in downtown Dallas to see the cattle drive sculpture.  It is located in Pioneer Park next to a very old cemetery, which we wandered through.  In the cemetery is a very large Confederate memorial that was erected in 1896.  It is scheduled for demolition as part of the plan to remove Confederate structures all over the south. 

Cemetery top, the last longhorn below

The cattle drive sculpture is AMAZING--49 6-foot high bronze longhorn steers and three trail riders.  The steers are coming down a hill and crossing a stream.

You almost feel like you're part of the action

Monday was Kerby's birthday, so we celebrated with a very nice dinner at Salt Grass Steak House in Dallas.  He also got to talk with his sisters and his kids.  Having a loving family is one of life's great blessings.

We had a very pleasant day in the temple on Tuesday, after which we went to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza.  This is in the Texas School Book Depository, the place where Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy.  The museum was very interesting and very well done.  Also quite sobering.  Across the street is the Kennedy Memorial.

JFK Memorial and the famous photo

On Wednesday we returned to the temple.

Dallas Temple

On the way home we stopped at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.  It's too early in the year for it to be blooming in all its glory, but it was very beautiful and lots of bulbs were open.  It was a beautiful, if a bit cool, day for walking around the gardens.  It had gotten down to 24 degrees in the night and a few of the flowers didn't appreciate that, but most seemed to weather the cold OK.

Even the Bard likes the Dallas garden!

Thursday we visited folks in Marksville, and most of Friday was spent at the dentist and having the 55,000 mile service on the car (it was at just 40,000 miles when we left home in September!).