OMA'S VALENTINE PARTY

Dear Family,

Mom had her yearly Valentines party. I was reminded that we did not do much on Valentines with the older boy s but when the girls came, we always had a little valentine party. Now it is a big party and I think there were about 50 present. Everyone in Utah came. Mom prepared for this for a long time making valentines, decorating the house, arranging gifts for the little kids and turning our house into one great heart. Here is a picture of the gang after dinner and after our FHE.

We had a dinner for everyone. All brought wonderful side dishes and desserts. Opa did the roast which was a 12 pounder perfectly cooked. Here is Opa at a speciall carving station. That roast was almost completely eaten. That large carving fork I bought at a street sale in Vienna near our apartment.

It was special that everyone came on schedule. We had such a good time, We settled everyone down and had a family night. Mike gave a lesson on "Love One Another" and I spoke on doing that in the home which is the laboratory where we develop our personal skills. I commented on The Savior's admonition to "love one another even as I have loved you" and tired to point out how that added to all previous commandments to love one another.

We also had a special birthday celebration for Madeleine B. birthday which falls on the day before Valentines. Here is

Madeleinee with her cousins. There is Natalie H. , Madeleine B., Madeline H., Rachel W., Catherine W., and Victoria W. .(Victoria is my brother Ralph's granddaughter and is staying with us this semester as she attends the UofU). Victoria played the flute.

I am not so good at Valentines presents; roses wilt, chocolates get eaten, so I bought Mom a Tortilla press so she can make tortillas . Also got her a large fruit steamer - juicer for grape juice.

OTHER NEWS: Rick and Gemina were in New York for business and after went out to Flushing and visited the house where I grew up on 33-01 159th Street, I was tickled to see pictures of this house again. The neighborhood was like Birmingham but Flushing has become very Asian. Rick said they had an outstanding Chinese dinner there.

And the deer are back. It has not snowed that much this year but the does do come back to snooze under our great Spruce tree in the backyard. We got to Michigan in May for two baptisms and to California for Scott's graduation. There will be a trip to Spokane in between for another baptism. Hard to keep u p with all the events but it is wonderful.

We love you all and are grateful for what you are doing in your families. Oma u. Opa

MORE XMAS CARD FOLLOW UP

Dear Family,

I am sitting here in my study looking at the wall full of pictures from the past with memories of past events, mementos of adventure and accomplishment. There are pictures of my Dad, my great teacher and mentor, Dr. Robert Linton with whom I was associated with for several years. You see the two of us together during surgery. There is a picture of my Dad in his first Model T Ford making house calls. There is a small picture of me as a missionary in Austria standing in front of the old Linz Gemeinde in 1957. There is a picture of Dr. Nathan Smith, founder of Dartmouth and Yale Medical schools and the surgeon who operated on Joseph Smith's leg as a seven year old boy.

Well with memories swirling lately, I get a call from Dr. Hardy Hendren who was a great and famous surgeon at the MGH and Professor of Surgery and the Boston Children's Hospital. When I was a Resident in General Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital on the Pediatric surgical service, Hardy Hendren (his knick name among the house staff was "Hardly Human", mine was "Big Daddy") invited me to accompany him and his scrub n nurse, to operate in Malawi, Africa and we were done there for a month and those adventures were unbelievable. He was a great surgeon and I learned a lot from him.

Well he called and mentioned that he was invited to give a talk at the prestigious Brookline Country Club in Boston and he decided to present a power point slide show of our surgical safari to Africa in 1966. He flashed a picture of the three of us, pointed to my pictured and said, "This was my Chief Resident, Roy Wirthlin. He is a devout Mormon and has led a productive life." He then flashed the next slide which was a picture of our 2010 family Christmas card that I wrote about previously. There was a gasp and stunned silence. He said the group was impressed. He told me about a MGH surgical reunion in Boston in September that I believe we will try to attend. They still remember us there.

The next big Family event is a Family Home Evening with the entire Utah gang on Sunday. There will be dinner, a lesson and just a good old time.

Mit Liebe, Dad and Opa

AUDIO CLIP OF MY INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH SMITH PAPERS TV SERIES

Dear Family,

One of the workers in the Temple was telling me that he was skiing one day and listened to me on a Ipod as he was skiing down a hill. It was about 3 below 0 and he was at altitude with all his weather protection on as as he was skiing downhill, he said he listened to my interview with the Joseph Smith Papers TV documentary. I was glad he did not hit a tree.

As you know I did an interview with the TV documentary about four years ago. They play that interview rather frequently on BYU TV. You can buy the first year series on a DVD and see the episode.

I did not know it was available on an MP3 file. Here is the link to the audio files. It is Episode #2 and when you click on it, you can move the audio cursor to about 16:35 minutes to hear my part.

Thought you might be interested. I have been giving that fireside less as they broadcast this episode several times a year.

Love, Dad

FLORIDA VACATION, JOHN, KALEY, THE KIDS AND BUSCH GARDEN

Dear Family,

Mom and I had our break in temple service at the end of January. The Salt Lake Temple shuts down for two weeks for maintenance and everyone takes off to warmer places.

We went down to Tampa Florida to vis John and Kaley and their two boys. John has started in a prestigious law firm in Tampa so was working the long hours required of an associate in the law firm. We saw him in the evening and on weekends.

Here is a shot of John, Kaley, Grant and Garret on their couch in their nice home in Land O Lakes. We went out to dinner in the evenings and just had a good time. They live on a string of small lakes. There are gators thee and one morning, John and Kaley spotted two huge Bobcats on the opposite side of the pond. They put in a fence in the backyard which keeps the gators out.

They live about ten minutes away from Busch Gardens.
We used to visit this place when we lived in Michigan but the park has been expanded with rides and roller coasters. The Southern Belles that sat in the beautiful garden (I had Bryan sit next to them for a photo then) were not to be found.

Mom and I bought a pass and went with Kaley and the kids three times and once with John. The weather was 65 - 72 degrees and was most pleasant.
We took the kids on the train and rode around the Park. Here is a shot of the train and John and Grant having a good time. You could tell the people from Florida.. they were wearing sweat shirts with hoods and the tourists were there in shorts.

The kids loved the little monkey statue. They were like monkeys anyway. Here is Kal;ey, Grant and Garret with the monkeys. There were animals everywhere and it was such fun. The shot at the top shows me getting close and friendly with the Giraffes.

When we went there on Saturday with John, Kaley took a little break by crawling in the stroller and John pushed her around. A kid yelled out, "Look there is a Mom isn a Stroller!" It was a good break for Kaley after pushing the kids around. We feel we got our moneys worth by frequent visits there and the kids had a ball and we wore them out.

On Friday, John took off a day and we travelled to Kissamee to meet Kaley's uncle, Randy L. I wrote about him before when we visited John and hunted on the Church ranch in the middle of Florida. Randy took us to his hunting concession of the K6 section of the ranch. There were cows with new calves is some fields but we hunted in a very primitive portion of the ranch which was native uncleared Florida. We were after wild hogs. Randy took us there in a swamp jeep. We built a ground blind for myself (like in Africa) on a game trail. John went up a palm tree with a climbing deer stand over a game trail. He heard a lot of action but the brush was so thick, he did not get a shot. I heard a lot of rustlng in the brush, leaves crunching, rooting around and it was getting closer, pulse rate went up, got the safety off and there was a huge armadillo rooting around. Randy was not even hunting but stumbled on a large wild hog and shot it so we did bring home some bacon for John. So fun.

We off course looked around for some good sea food. We went to a place that served fresh stone crab which is almost as good as fresh Maine Lobster. It was so good. We then found a sea food shot that sold them and had them at home. Kaley cooked some great meals and it was so much fun!

On Sunday, we gave our Joseph Smith fireside in their ward and it went over well. Monday we left 72 degrees and arrive in Utah to 0 degrees and I managed to come down with the flu but we had such a great time each and every day in Florida. Could be habit forming.

Next family event include several baptisms away from home, we are entertaining a group of Chinese surgeons tomorrow night and there is the family Valentine Family Home Evening soon

Love to all, Mom and Dad

AT THE OPERA ..HAENSEL UND GRETEL

Dear Family,

Mom and I had two dates this weekend and it was fun. Friday night we went to the Hale Theater and saw "Born Yesterday" which was about New Yorkers trying to pull off a deal in Washington DC. The actress played a ditsi Blond who spoke in a great New York twang that I recognized. I told our friends that this was New York in the 1940's because that is how people talked to each other.

After the play we met the actors and the actress and I told her she reminded me of my childhood. "Did I get it right?" "You nailed it" I replied. It was a fun evening.

Saturday night we went to the Opera and saw Haemsel and Gretel. The Capital Theater is right next to Sigfrieds which is a pretty good imitation German Bistro and had Schnitzel and Sauerkraut.

I love this opera which is a very popular children's opera in Europe. It is about two little German kids who get lost in the woods and run into a Witch who likes to turn little children into gingerbread kids. She lives in a great ginger bread frosted house. It is really one of those German fables put to beautiful music.

A tender scene occurs when the two children get lost in the woods and have to sleep in the dark forest. The Sandman comes, sprinkles dust in their eyes and they settle to go to sleep but before they do that, they face the audience, kneel in prayer and sing the Abendgebet or Evening prayer and it is a beautiful duet. Here is the Abendgebet sung so well in German. Here is the song sung in English

The first verse goes like this:

When at night I go to sleep
Fourteen angels watch do keep;
Two my head are guarding,
Two my feet are guiding;
Two are on my right hand,
Two are on my left hand,
Two who warmly cover
Two who o'er me hover,
Two to whom 'tis given
To guide my steps to heaven

Then as they go to sleep, fourteen Angels come on stage. This is the Angel Ballet and they gracefully surround the two little kids and watch over them as they sleep.

I used to think about this song and played it at home especially when Julie was in the ICU during her treatments. I used to visit her early in the morning before my hospital rounds and I often wondered whether these Intensive Care Units might also be sacred places where unseen angels might be providing protection as some of the miracles I have seen over the years could not be explained simply by good care. As Doctors or surgeons, we are not always in total control of outcomes.

Well we do not talk about Guardian Angels much but I think our family has employed legions of them along the way.

We had a great weekend... Love, Dad

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AT CHURCH

Dear Family,

I took this picture today at church with my Droid X of Eldred G. Smith and his wife, Hortense.

Today was his 104th Birthday!!!

We went to our class this morning and his birthday was announced. We all sang him happy birthday. To top that off, the group leader wheeled in a cake with 104 burning candles. When they wheeled it in he grumped,"Not supposed to eat in our meeting" but then broke into a big smile. It took four men to blow out the candles. They cut it up and we had a piece of his church birthday cake and it was yummy.

The class lesson was on "Fasting"!

He is the oldest General Authority (now Emeritus) living and the oldest General Authority ever. He was Patriarch to the church until that office was retired by President Kimble.

As you know that was a hereditary office starting with Joseph Smith senior and Br. Smith is a direct descendant of Hyrum Smith through Hyrum's oldest son John.

As the church grew and there were Patriarchs in all the stakes, it was considered that there was not a need for one to the whole church. In the past, the Patriarch to the church would give blessings to those in the mission field who came to Utah. My mother had hers from the Patriarch to the Church in the 1920's. Eldred G. Smith has given over 20,00 blessings in his lifetime. I see him each Sunday and ride up with him in a small elevator they have in our Church building. He says he retired himself and does not give blessings now but does have an office in church Headquarters

After I took this snapshot, he got into his little red Cadillac and drove his wife home from Church.

He is still very sharp and a great example to all of us.

Alles Gute, Dad

A GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON

Dear Family, Now that the holiday is over and everything is put away, I believe I can report on a truly great celebration and time of reflection and Thanksgiving.

It has been a cold season and we have had snow. Becca and Paul who live on Grandpa's farm in Heber had a lot of snow, couple feet, and had to warm up the chicken coop for their chickens. We had snow and then a melt to start off the Holiday.

The day before Xmas Eve, a refrigerated box arrived as Jeff sent down a half dozen lobsters flown in from New England. (lobsterguy.com) and they looked alive. I had to drop everything and boil them so they would not spoil and that great treat lasted through the holidays. Way to go Jeff and Tammy!

We gathered on Christmas Eve which is called "Heiliger Abend" in Germany or Holy Night. Mom and I usually get into our Bavarian outfits for the Nativity play. Rick, Gemina and Madeline were there; Doug and Christina and their family, Emily and John and their kids, Mike and Rayanne and all their kids and Becca and Paul with their gang too. All were so well behaved and we had such a good time sitting around and chatting.

We had a big Christmas Eve dinner and served a standing rib roast and all brought their favorite side dishes and desserts. There was less confusion with such a smaller group and it helps to have the adults go through the line first. But here are some of the grand kids sitting at a long table in the living room. Don't they look great? Pete Olsen gave me a license plate holder that says, "My grand kids look better than yours! He put that on the FJ Cruiser. But is is kinda true.

Becca dressed her kids in the

Lederhosen and Dirndl she picked up when they visited us in Munich so here we all are getting ready for the Nativity Play.

We have always done this as a little tradition. I read from Luke 2 in the Bible and the kids dress up and play the parts. We usually have a parent act as the director signaling which group would arrive on the scene. We read about the birth of he Savior and think on this great event

.

Here are three Shepards, "sore afraid". In the backgrounder is Opa .. usually reading out of the old Family Bible but this year I read out of my new Xmas Ipad with the Churches Scripture AP. (We have to work on the Shepards not slugging each other with their staffs).

And here they all are including the star that guided the Wise Men. We always have a baby and plenty of players. We did this earlier this year so that all could return home and get ready for Christmas Morning.

On Christmas Morning, Rick, Gemina and Madeline joined us. There is a picture of Rick getting a couple of knives for his farm near the Sierras. Mom got a new wedding band for Xmas and for the 50th anniversary. The stones are embedded in the mount so she will not lose them. It was a fun morning and then we jumped in the car and traveled to Heber, and then over the mountain to Mapleton for our Christmas morning rounds. We got back late and then Rick and Gemina went back to Los Angeles the next day.

New Years Eve we went over to Cheryl and Paul and had Fondue and I cooked crepes for all the kids. We stayed up to watch the ball drop and it was 2011 already. On New Years day which was Sunday, we went over to Doug and Christina's for FHE and dinner. For the FHE, Doug read the churches Proclamation to the Family and I wondered where he was going with that. Then he made an announcement; Christinia is expecting a baby by the end of summer!

The kids went nuts; Tom-Tom and Spencer ran around the house hooting in delight, Catherine smiled from ear to ear. What a great way to start the New Year I thought, we celebrate a future birth and growth of the family.

We wish you all the blessings of Heaven in this new year.

Mom and Dad