So we are back "home" in Canada. It is good to be back to work.

We left for Sandy, Utah right after inspecting some 20 mission cars at a zone conference south of Calgary. We continued on and drove as far as Shelby, Montana, the first night. The following day we continued on to Sandy.  This is the beautiful scene we saw the following morning.

The primary reason for returning home was so Kathy could help with the care of a new grand daughter . We were concerned that she might be born before we got there but Susan Grace arrived right on schedule on Monday, March 21st. She is beautiful!

While Kathy spent time helping daughter, Kristi, with her newborn and three other children, I kept busy with things that needed attention with our home and our rental home. Yard cleanup went quickly when several high priests showed up from our ward to help. Thanks, brethren.
                               
                                                                                 

Our rental home is in Lehi, Utah. Unfortunately we are losing the wonderful tenants we have had for over two years. I stayed quite busy taking care of a number of repair items in the day time and then showing the home each evening to a surprisingly large number of interested people. Choosing the right tenants is so important but we got it done and have a new rental contract that will last at least until we return from our mission.

We also had income taxes to deal with. Before we left for our mission we tried to get everything together we thought our CPA would need but, in the end, there were a number of additional items needed and it took time getting them assembled. We each had a couple of doctor and dentist visits to do also while we were home. It was a busy time, indeed. We commented to each other that it would be good to get back to Calgary and back to our regular lives!

We sort of celebrated my birthday while returning to Calgary on Tuesday, the 29th. That first day we traveled as far as Helena, MT, and had dinner at one of my favorite places to eat, McKenzie River Pizza, which can be found in a number of other Montana cities. Great pizza!

And now we are back in Calgary and happy to be back to work. We were able to again go to the Calgary Temple on Friday evening, and this weekend we were able to watch all of General Conference right from the comfort of our apartment. Conference was wonderful as always and we wee delighted to hear of the four new temples which were announced. At noon today we gathered with President and Sister Miles, Elder and Sister Peppinger, and the missionaries in the Bow River Zone for lunch at the mission home. We had a wonderful time and then returned home to catch the final session of Conference. We look forward to being able to review all the talks when the new issue of the ENSIGN comes out.

Have a wonderful week.

Elder and Sister Thorley