JUDY (aka BrizzySis)

Memories of Me - Part 3 (sorry I missed Part 2)

2009-08-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

Boy oh Boy, I almost forgot AGAIN about keeping up with my BFF! Last week I completely missed the mark, but hopefully I'll be able to go back and answer the question anyway, later this week.

For now, I remembered Part 3 just in the nick of time! Here we go:

"If you could visit any country overseas, where would you go, and why?"

Now THAT is a difficult question for me to answer, because truth told -- I have never longed to travel anywhere overseas. Isn't that funny? I've had many longings to travel various places within the U.S., but I can take or leave anywhere else. Hah! Not a great adventurer, I. Now that doesn't mean I'd turn down the opportunity to visit another country if the chance came up, mind you ... I just wouldn't pursue it on my own. And it's not because I'm snooty ... I'm just a bit shy (believe it or not).

EXCEPT I would alter that for anything connected with a Disney cruise or now one of the new Disney extreme adventures. I'd jump at a chance to visit any country connected with one of those adventures!!!!

So let's see ... if I really had to choose a country outside the United States ... it would be ... yes, Ireland and/or Scotland. Guess I'm going to choose two places instead of just one! :-)

And why?

Well, first of all, they speak English! (Mostly -- of course I wouldn't understand a beautiful but difficult language like Gaelic.) I'm very nervous about going someplace where I don't know the language.

Secondly, I love an Irish accent and a good Scottish brogue. Mmmmm. I could listen to those accents all day long. Put a charming man behind the accent and I'm seriously good to go. And hmmm ... put a charming man in a KILT behind the accent and I'll go running full tilt! Hah!

Third, I am attracted to the romance of green countryside, quaint villages, sheepherding ... probably all cliches, but I hope not!

Fourth, I really enjoy Maeve Binchy's books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeve_Binchy -- her lovely fictional accounts of Ireland and its peoples. I've read most of her books and for a while I fancied collecting hardbound editions of all of them. I stopped collecting along the way, though I do have quite a few. I find the peoples of her books charming and delightful, and I would enjoy meeting some real peoples face-to-face.

Fifth, add to that my total enjoyment of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. http://www.dianagabaldon.com/ That red-hot relationship between Claire and Jamie ... wow. I have to be careful recommending the books however, because you have to learn how to skip over the sex. The story is so phenomenal I learned how to do that in a hurry. Absolutely phenomenal.

Sixth, I have great admiration for Roma Downey, who played Monica on "Touched By An Angel." I have always wanted to see if the Irish peoples as a whole were as gracious and tempered and ... as good, as she seems to be.

Lastly, both Ireland and Scotland seem just a little mysterious and magical to me ... very old country, very ancient, and that pulls at the mystical strings in my soul. Honestly, if I didn't have the great gift of the Gospel in my life, I would probably have been a New Ager or maybe involved in some middle eastern religion, for I am very attracted to all things spiritual. Without the Gospel I would be searching for the truth in all kinds of places (which means you can bet I am deeply grateful for the gift of real truth I've been given).

So there you have it -- two places I would go if I had to visit a foreign country and my (hopefully not too shallow) reasons for choosing them. What's your choice?

'Memories of Me Monday' -- on Tuesday

2009-08-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

So my BFF has started an interesting Monday blog thread: "Memories of Me Monday." Check out her entry for yesterday here: http://debztalkin.blogspot.com/. I thought it was a cool idea and decided to play along. Except I'll wait until Tuesday to post my memory so I can follow along with whatever fun spark she pulls out of her slips-of-paper-jar. Debbie, I'm so glad you're getting some good use out of that gift! I have a jar of my own too. Maybe someday I'll diverge and pull out my own little paper slips. BUT! As for today ...

Here's this week's memory jogger: "Describe the teacher you hated most in high school. Why was he/she your least favorite?"

Like Debbie, the very first memory that popped into my mind was NOT of high school but of third grade. Great Minds Think Alike, yes? :-) At least ... I think it was 3rd grade. Hah! And another brain cell bites the dust. My mind remembers it as 3rd grade, so I'm going with that. And like my BFF, I'm going to describe that memory instead of high school. To be honest, I can't even think of a single teacher I hated in high school. I really liked H.S. (for the most part).

I went to Franklin Elementary in north Redondo Beach, and I absolutely hated my 3rd grade teacher. My dislike was not because of her teaching skills or anything like that -- it had to do with one impactful incident on one not-so-fine day. And THAT memory has not faded one iota (unfortunately).

You see, there was this boy on the playground who was a little bit of a weird kid, and also a trouble-maker. I don't even remember his name nor how old he was. Hah, for that matter I've blotted out my teacher's name too. All I remember is that she was a slightly built Oriental woman.

One day during Recess (what do they call that nowadays?) the weird kid decided it would be fun to line up all the girls against the playground wall and run down the line giving each one a kiss. Yes really! Silly, huh? I guess in this day & age it might be viewed as perverted. Maybe it was? But we fell for it and a whole bunch of us lined up against the brick wall. I can remember debating about whether I wanted to join in ... a part of me felt really uneasy about it. But in the end I wanted to be part of the crowd bad enough that I squashed my qualms and fell in line near the end.

He didn't get very far before the Recess teacher stopped the whole thing (he didn't reach me, for which I was thankful). Later on when Recess ended and we had to line up in our class lines, they announced that everyone who had participated in that little break-time shenanegan had to go to the Principal's office. We were required to turn ourselves in, queue up in a different line and follow the teacher to the Principal's office for disciplinary action. I was deathly afraid of the Principal so I did not turn myself in and went off to class with the "Not Me" kids.

WELL. Someone ratted on me. But that wasn't the horrible part. The horrible part was that my teacher pulled me aside in the classroom and asked me if I had been a part of the "kiss-a-girl" line. I was so embarrassed, so rattled, and so afraid, I lied straight to her face and said, "No." In fact, she asked me several times and I very stubbornly said "no" each time. I refused to fess up. She got furiously angry with me, grabbed my arm, shook me and yelled at me about how it was much worse to lie, and of course I cried like the scared little kid I was. But I refused to confess and finally she just let me go and sit back down.

She was right: lying was much worse than standing against a wall with a bunch of other silly girls. From the experience I recognized a weakness in me: my fear of embarrassment or retribution or being singled out, etc. can be stronger than my integrity, unfortunately. And it's true that the experience showed me how easy it is for me to go along with the crowd, even when I know it's wrong. Recognizing this weakness has helped me to combat it.

But I have to admit: I have never forgiven that teacher for embarrassing me in front of my peers. Oh dear!

My Favorite Spot - Zion's

2009-08-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

I went to visit my mom in St. George this past weekend, which I always love to do.

This trip was especially restorative for me (I needed it so badly ... I've been putting myself through my own personal hell, again) and we had such a good time besides. Part of that fun was Friday ... thanks to my mom's willingness to go with me, I had the chance to visit my very favorite place in the whole wide world: Zion's National Park http://www.zionnational-park.com/ .

Majestic ... don't you think? The picture above is a shot through the roof skylight of the tram/bus we were riding. The one below is part of the River Walk trail:

When you arrive in Zion's there are a few places to park just past the entrance (at the Visitor's Center, the Museum, and near the tunnel turn off) but if you want to go further into the heart you need to take one of the free bus/trams. Or I suppose you could ride your bike. The buses stop at all the main trail heads and tourist spots (the Weeping Rock, the trails that take you up to the Emerald Pool, the Lodge, the River Walk, etc.) and they are free (well, they should be since you pay a pretty high price to get in ... though the entrance fee IS good for a week). I remember when they first started dis-allowing cars in Zion's several years ago -- there was some complaining about taking away people's freedom and what-not, but mostly the consensus (I think) was that it was a good thing. It certainly adds to the mystery and beauty of the place and it has done so much to preserve and protect. When cars were allowed through people would park anywhere and everywhere, almost blocking the road sometimes, and it was noisy, over-busy and terribly crowded. Now it is quieter and more orderly. I love the change, actually. Here's a shot looking towards the front of the bus:

And one looking directly out the partially open window (interesting that my poor little camera completely washed out the sky where the window was open and looking through the window tint you see the sky how it REALLY was -- that BEAUTIFUL deep blue):

My mom is "getting on in years" (so she keeps insisting ... I guess I have to begin accepting that it's true) so we weren't interested in doing one of the "real" hikes or stopping at each of the scenic places. We just wanted to take the tram through the beautiful valley, feel the peacefulness of the place and take the one-mile-up-one-mile-back River Walk to the Narrows Trailhead. I'm very proud of my mom -- she made it the full trek, in spite of a little high-altitude dizziness and muscles that refused to fully cooperate. Mom, you are very stubborn and determined! Hah! The hard part to swallow was admitting a cane could've come in handy.

It was SUCH a beautiful morning!!!!! A fabulous cool front came through over the weekend and though the really great coolness was up in northern Utah, still they saw low 90's in Dixie, which felt nice after 110-degree weather. In Zion's (in the morning, anyway) it was heavenly: teperatures in the 80's and probably even cooler in the shade. When we reached the end of the River Walk at the Narrows trailhead, there was a lot of THIS going on (sorry for all my blurry pictures):

And this:
And this:
(We weren't the only ones sitting around people-watching though ... there were lots of people just hanging around enjoying the shade, catching their breath and watching the splashing and climbing):

There were also LOTS and LOTS of these, and I was absolutely amazed at how fearless and completely unconcerned they were around humans. They knew where the good stuff was, too!

Which leads me to my funny story of the day. Check out the furry dude in the next picture (again, sorry for the blurriness -- this time it was partly because he was across from us on the other side of the walkway AND I was also laughing):

There were other squirrels who went after other backpacks. But THIS guy was amazingly PERSISTENT! Intent. Determined!!! And he could care less that he was in the middle of dozens of milling human beings. Some unsuspecting hiker had planted this backpack and shoes next to the retaining wall and went merrily on his way down to the water, and Mr. Squirrel went in for the kill. He started with the shoes but those soon went the way of the ground and THEN the fun really began. He climbed all over that backpack -- he pushed and pulled at the flaps -- he stuck his head into tucks and crannies ... and finally ... oh yes, I kid you not ... he unzipped one side of that thing and began to climb in!!!!!!!! Mom and I sat across the way and just laughed and laughed. All that effort really drew a crowd (at one point there must have been almost a dozen people standing in a half circle around the squirrel), and what really cracked me up is that EVERYONE was trying to take his picture and NO ONE was trying to stop the little invader! I think I laughed harder over that than the fact that he was actually getting into the backpack:

HAHA! Of course, did WE try to chase him away?! NO! That is, not until he managed to get that thing unzipped and began to climb in. Then I jumped to my feet and was about to go on over but a nearby man grabbed a large stick and chased the squirrel out. He didn't hit the critter of course -- just threatened him. The squirrel gave up and ran the other direction, and shortly thereafter the unsuspecting owner came back, picked up his backpack and prepared to move on. And do you know that not one person leaned over to tell him what had happened?! HAH! Again, I toyed with the idea but I think eventually the guy with the stick told him. It was sure entertaining for people-watchers such as my mom & I! And I learned a valuable lesson: don't leave your backpack (or other stuff) hanging around unless you KNOW it's secure and can't be gotten into!

It was a very pleasant morning but by the time we got back down the trail it was early afternoon and starting to get hot. NOT so pleasant then! So we went on home for a good little rest before heading out for another favorite family pasttime: EATING.

I truly, truly love Zion's. There is a magic to this place ... a majesty ... a spirit. I think all national parks have something of the Divine, but for me Zion's has it in abundance.

Jessica Sprague Class

2009-07-16T22:30:00.001-07:00

Hello Hello Hello! I'll bet you thought this blog spot was going to be dormant forever, eh? It almost was! I came "this close" to giving it up. I went through a "spell" I guess. At any rate, I signed up for the most WONDERFUL digital scrapbooking techniques class at Jessica Sprague's website - here: http://www.jessicasprague.com/ and I've enjoyed it so much it broke my silence -- I just HAD to shout out how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the class!!! If you ever get into digital scrapbooking, Jessica's website is a must-visit. And you know what? Even if you don't scrapbook digitally ... even if you are a traditional scrapper or even if you don't scrapbook but love photography, there are great classes t0 sign up for. They are worth every penny you spend. She has a wonderful way of explaining and teaching and you learn tons. And even better -- the class information is there for you FOREVER! If you ever get interested and want some info on how to sign up for a class, give me a holler -- I'll help you.

So the picture above is my latest attempt from the class (and it's FREE no less!): it's called "Frame-Ups and Special Effects." This is from lesson 6 -- I'm way behind. Ack! The class is only 2 weeks and they're already barreling ahead to lesson ... good grief, 11 or 12 I think. Still, I really loved how this picture turned out and wanted to share. You make your photo vintage-like and then you use a Photoshop technique that sort of fakes something that they say is becoming very popular among photographers: TTV ("Through The Viewfinder").

What do you think? Do you like it? I used two textures on it: "bus stop window" created by Steffen Jakob and offered here: http://steffen67.blogspot.com/2009/07/texture-bus-stop-window-fake-ttv.html and "texture 41 ttv" offered here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasos3/3610200946/ (I can't figure out who created it but they did a great job).

The teepees are part of the Mountain Man Museum exhibit in Pinedale, Wyoming. That's where Ruth and I took the woof this 4th of July! (Man, it's really hard to reference just little Cowboy instead of both Brizzy and Cowboy. I sure miss the Briz.) We didn't go through the museum -- we just wandered around the outdoor exhibit which had life-style Native American teepees and mountain man bent-stick enclosures. They were really something. If you ever go through Pinedale, I recommend this museum. Even if it's just looking around outside. Just so you can see the difference with the technique, here's what my photo looks like "out-of-the-camera" ... hmmm ... drat. I can't move my picture down for some reason. It's at the top of this blog.

Okay, now that I've broken the ice again I'll have to post something else in a day or two, right? Next up: I've gotta tell you about a little amazing thing my co-workers Chad and Sara discovered at their cabin. Very cool! It deals with a tree and some initials carving. And after that -- guess I'd better step in where I started last year and talk about our 4th of July trip, yes?

Play Dead Dog - thank you David Letterman!

2009-05-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Powers That Be say we need to laugh every day ... so here's a little sumpin-sumpin' to fulfill today's quota .......... I thought this was darn funny and I thank my friend, Wendy-Lady for passing it along to me (and for that matter, thank you to whoever posted it for the world to pass on). Enjoy!

Blogger musings ...

2009-05-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've gotten into the habit of (every once in a while) clicking on the links of people making comments on blog entries I'm following. 90% of the time the blogs I'm reading are written by people I know and love, and I get curious about the other people who know and love them too. Sometimes I know most of the commenters ... many times I don't. Occasionally (in my wanderings) I stumble across someone who either delights or inspires me.

There are a few people I've read enough times I've added them to my Internet Favorites list. I've hesitated to add them to my blog "favorites" list -- what's the protocol on that anyways? I've always wondered if I should get permission, or at least know the individual personally ...?

Anyway, today during a very late lunch hour I followed just such a lazy, hazy path ... reading a few entries written by someone I don't know personally but I follow just because she has such interesting things to say. This time I got curious about her list of "people I follow" on the sidebar and I clicked on the first link there. I found myself on the page of a man who had just lost his best friend. His words touched me deeply, and he wrote so fetchingly I added him to my Favorites list on the spot (that's a fun phrase - where did that originate?). But the reason for this musing is that as touched as I was by his expression of loss (and the beautiful way he wrote), I was even more deeply touched by the 194 comments that followed ... 2/3 of them (it seemed) from people he didn't even know. I can say that because almost every one of them made mention of the fact that they were strangers to him, but felt compelled to offer their sympathy, their support, their hugs.

It made me emotional! It reminded me that this crazy "new" feature of 21st-century life (blogging) is valuable and worthwhile on so many levels - levels we maybe don't even realize. I love the idea that there is a community of complete strangers out there who don't even know each other but yet they do, or maybe they "meet" for the first time and immediately feel such a bond to the blogger that they are drawn to offer support, or commiseration, or kinship, or offer their own story, or just delight in the moment with the blogger.

It also reminds me that even if there are only a handful of people who follow my own occasional blog, what I have to say may be worthwhile to them and sometimes that can flow into the lives of people who know them, and to others who know those others and so on and on and on and on ... and who knows what may touch, uplift, assist, teach, inspire, chastise or brighten someone we don't even know ... yet. I'm really glad I stumbled upon this interesting man's blog. I'd link him here if I knew it was okay to do so without his permission ... is it?

WATCH THESE! I PROMISE YOU WON'T BE SORRY

2009-04-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

I only have a minute or two ('cause I'm hungry & want some lunch), but I just HAD to post this ... maybe some of you have already seen it. For those of you who haven't, you're in for a TREAT!!!!!! My sister Beezie sent me the following link this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

You've gotta watch it -- the YouTube clip will make you feel SO HAPPY!!!! And then move on to this (which I suspect is where it all started):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUZrrbgCdYc&NR=1

And then if you enjoyed both of those, watch THIS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFNM8f9WnI&NR=1

I don't know who these guys are, but I'd give 'em hugs if I could because their "show" made me feel so very, very happy inside. In the midst of all the angst and sadness and depression in this world, isn't it wonderful to see people doing good and joyful things like this?!

It'll be fun to see the neighborhood blogs on this day ...

2009-04-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Spring! I want Spring! Oh wait, they say this IS Spring in Utah ...

Yes, it was quite the surprise for us too.

Summer! I want Summer! But ... how can I complain when it is THIS BEAUTIFUL?!

another shot ... our other neighbor ...

Except driving home from work last night -- in a blizzard -- at 11:30 at night was NOT a fun experience. I'm grateful for my winter driving lesson Margaret and Steve gave me at the beginning of the year.

I hope the flowers and newly budding trees survived!

An Unexpected Kindness

2009-04-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

The nicest thing happened to me yesterday evening ...

January-May is not my good time of the year. I usually suffer from varying degrees of low-spirit energy and depression. I used to think it was the standard winter blues, but now I'm pretty sure it's more my seasonal circadian rhythm. And for some reason, March and April are my very worst months.

This year I had a plan of attack: read the scriptures every day, go to the temple at least twice a month, and exercise regularly. And it was working, too! But then I fell off the wagon in March, and so for the past week I've been feeling pretty low. Not as bad as last year, but not such a happy bug either. And even in the midst of friends and family, I've been feeling a little lonely and disconnected.

Yesterday evening I was walking Cowboy around the walking track at the hospital, and we were just coming down the home stretch when a big dark vehicle pulled up and out popped two of our girls from Young Women's (Hailey and Rachel). I was delighted to see them - they're sweethearts! And even more delighted when they ran over to ME (which I didn't expect). They said they had divided into groups and were doing service projects for Young Women's that night. And their little group had a service for ME! They gave me a card, thanking me for the things I did for the sisters in Relief Society and they said their group put balloons in my chainlink fence at home. They even let me hug them! I was deeply touched. Little did those girls know how much I needed that little something-something.

I don't know which guardian angel whispered in the Young Women ears to pick me for a service, but I'm grateful that they did and even more grateful that the girls listened and acted on it. Their small-but-not-so-small act of service lifted that little black cloud right off my shoulders and I felt happy, cared about and renewed. I was going to just do a little clipping together of some pictures to add to this post, but I've been learning Photoshop Elements and I just couldn't help myself ... I ended up doing a full scrapbook page last night. HAH!

I was also going to make a list, add some pictures, add some links of things that bring me joy (to fight against the dark side) but maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I want this little experience to stand on its own. Thank you, girls!

Do we know each other or WHAT?!

2009-03-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Okay, I have to tell you a funny story!

So every Christmas season myself, my 2 sisters, and my 3rd adopted sister (Ruth) get together for an annual "Sissie's Christmas Outing." We go to dinner and try to hit something else fun like a play or a movie or a place that sounds interesting (one year we went to the Old Deseret Village at Heritage Park http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/PHI2163.php).

This year we didn't go because 1) Ruth and I were in mourning over Brizzy's death, 2) Everyone was extremely busy, and 3) it was a short holiday season. We swore we'd just postpone it until after the new year. And in the meantime we began to think about (and acquire) Christmas presents for each other.

So ... the new year came and went ... January came and went ... February has come and gone ... and how close are we to having our Sissie's Christmas Outing?! HAH! You guessed it -- NOT VERY! We love each other, but we're such slackers when it comes to planning outings!

But you certainly can't say we aren't in tune with each other because ... you see ... well, my sister Sue told it best (this comes from an e-mail she sent to Mom):

"Remember how I said I was going to buy the Charles C. Rich DVD for Judy for Christmas? Well, ... I found out that she ALSO got Nancy the DVD for Christmas and was hanging onto it to give her for Christmas. So, Judy has one for Nancy, and I have one for Judy. Well, Nancy told me that she bought the Charles C. Rich DVD for herself because she's been feeling this real connection to him. SO! Nancy already has the DVD. I sent an e-mail to Judy telling her that Nancy already has the DVD and so now Judy said, 'Oh well, I guess I'll just keep the DVD for myself.' Well, that means that I have Judy's DVD in my closet just sitting there and now I can't give it to her because she's keeping the one she was going to give Nancy. So, guess what? I guess I will now keep the DVD I was going to give Judy and so now we each have one. Isn't that hysterical?!!!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT's what we get for postponing our Sissie's Christmas Outing! The only thing that would've made it funnier is if someone had bought a Charles C. Rich DVD for RUTH! Then again, Charles C. Rich is our great-great-grandfather and not hers, so that would've just been weird, eh? But it just goes to show you how in tune family can be with each other, eh?

Creativity - I do love President Uchtdorf

2009-03-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

My BFF sent me the following wonderful clip the other day ... it's so good, I wanted to share:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k

It really is a most powerful, inspirational message -- so beautifully done it made me cry, a little (of course I'm always hormonal, these days).

I don't know who puts together that Mormon Messages site on YouTube, but I'm glad they are doing it. They are helping to communicate some of what we believe, as LDS peoples.

This clip came from a talk given by President Uchtdorf last September, during the LDS Women's General Conference Broadcast. That was one of the best talks I've heard in a long time -- so inspiring and empowering. And delightful, too! President Uchtdorf is such a charming human being. Here is a link to the talk:

http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-37,00.html

If you can watch the video, do that because hearing the talk is a different experience from reading it (just scroll down to the very last talk on the page -- it's called "Happiness, Your Heritage"):

http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-947,00.html

But if you can't watch it I hope you read it ... again and again and again. Even if you are not LDS, I think you will enjoy and appreciate what he has to say.

We are women of worth

2009-02-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the kind invitation of my friend, Margaret (thank you, thank you!) I had the privilege of hearing our General Relief Society President, Julie Beck at a special Enrichment meeting last night. Quite the Stake Enrichment Activity! And I do mean privilege. In a world where I see many women striving to figure out what really matters and who they really are and how they can really make a difference, I listen to Sister Beck's words and watch her demeanor and marvel at how true and clear and steady she is on these issues ... and she presents what I believe a REAL woman is all about: family, steadfastness, integrity, spiritual strength, nurturing, example, friendship & sistership, joyfulness, and most especially we are daughters of our Heavenly Father.

I always said I wanted to be like Sheri Dew when I grew up (and various other women too) but I expand that circle to include Julie Beck. I was so impressed with her! She was funny and charming and down to earth yet also wise and strong in her words. The talk she gave in October General Conference 2007 is one of my absolute favorites. You should read it, honestly: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-40,00.html

LDS or not, it will give you a clearer vision of who you are and what you can do to make a difference for good in this world.

Sister Beck handled things last night very differently than I expected: instead of giving a prepared speech or talk she asked for questions from the hundreds of women in the audience. COOL! I was again impressed at how strong, firm and clear her answers were to each and every question. And absolutely NOTHING threw her! She quoted something from President Spencer W. Kimball that struck me deeply, and then she repeated it at least once more before the end of her talk. I share:

"...Finally, my dear sisters, may I suggest to you something that has not been said before or at least in quite this way. Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world.

"Among the real heroines in the world who will come into the Church are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish. These real heroines have true humility, which places a higher value on integrity than on visibility. Remember, it is as wrong to do things just to be seen of women as it is to do things to be seen of men. Great women and men are always more anxious to serve than to have dominion.

" Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days."

I was curious about this quote so I went out and found it this morning: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=a3f0615b01a6b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

It was part of an address President Spencer W. Kimball gave (sort of ) at a gathering of sisters in Salt Lake City in 1979! Wow. It's worth reading so I've linked it for you, if you're interested.

I wrote down lots of little impression snippets - things that touched me as Sister Beck spoke. Here's some of what came across, for me:

1) Along with our testimonies of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the greatest trait we can develop (and teach our children) is listening to the Spirit;
2) It's a privilege to be exemplars of our beliefs via the opportunity to be distinct and different, in HAPPY ways (as President Kimball stated in the quote Sister Beck read);
3) Visiting Teaching is a way of showing our faith. And ask yourself this question: if your sisters can't or don't want to call on you when they need help or lifting up, why not?
4) If I don't come out of this life with my relationships intact, I will have failed to a certain degree. Everyone, no matter how rough the association, can be an interesting friend (and can teach us some stuff);
5) No matter my circumstance: single, widowed, single mom, married with kids, married without kids -- the gospel plan needs to be lived in my home with exactness. And if I do have children I need to be intentional in my parenting. It will take intentional parenting to keep our children safe in the current world we live in;
6) This struck me the deepest: It is joyful to have the experience. This life isn't about always getting the dream, it's about having the experiences. We are promised the dream AFTER the growth that comes from our experiences;
7) I was also deeply touched as Sister Beck responded to a question one sister had about her loved one (sister? friend? I can't remember ...) who can't have children. I'm sure it struck me because I haven't gotten to be a mom. She said that Motherhood is an opportunity to learn lessons, and even if we have no children we should still want to learn things because Motherhood is our Eternal Role. Someday we WILL be mothers and we should learn what we can!
8) I loved this: men usually have just one shift to work, don't they? Women usually have to work all three [don't we?] (Morning, Swing and Midnight). Doesn't it seem like EVERYTHING happens on the Swing Shift?! Hahahaha! That's when people are tired, they're hungry, they're needy ... so that's one of our greatest opportunities to nurture, to influence, to teach. Conserve your energy for the Swing Shift! (if you can.)

As I'm preview-reading this entry I realize I can never do justice to what I experienced. I just hope you can feel a little of what I felt: that WE are amazing, wonderful, STRONG women and it's a privilege to stand tall as one of God's daughters. :-)

AND after I posted this I visited my friend, Margaret's blog and she gave a WONDERFUL summary of both the questions asked and Sister Beck's responses. It's great -- go check it out!!! Here's the link: http://magspie.blogspot.com/

Ahhh, what we do for our loved ones ...

2009-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Cold ... EARLY ... Sleepy ... Muscles tight ... dog ecstatic ... human ... semi-grumpy ...

Hmmm ... PRETTY ... peaceful ... clothes warm ... snow looks like many-mini-glaciers ... dog still ecstatic ... human not-so-grumpy

Back home! ... THAT WENT FAST ... enjoyed it! ... dog still ecstatic ... human happy she went ... after all.

Some Miscellaneous thoughts and my love of ICE CREAM

2009-01-30T16:34:00.001-08:00

WHOO-HOOO! Two blogs in the space of an hour! Who would'a thunk it?! And THIS one is going to have PICTURES!!!!!!

I wish I had taken a picture of the rainy days we had a week or so ago. It's amazing to me -- we went from those crazy snowstorms to RAIN in the middle of January no less. Whew. No wonder the poor trees don't know whether to bud or not. :-) Recently though we had a bit more snow (wonderful, heavy, wet, snowball/snowman snow) and in the dusk towards near-dark, I took the following picture of the little tree in our front yard:

It's pretty blurry (I didn't use a flash) and it WAS twilight (oooooh that word makes me think of the book series, which I really enjoyed, like half (most of?) the country). But oh my, the tree was so pretty with that beautiful coating of heavy snow, I took another picture with the flash on:

It wasn't full night yet, but a camera flash at twilight will give you that effect. Still it captured the tree a little better and caught some of the snowflakes as well. I just loved how thick and frosting-like the snow looked on the branches. And I admire how brave our little tree was! Brrrr, it was COLD.

Thinking of things cold, I wanted to say a word or two about one of my greatest loves: ICE CREAM. I love it. I'll eat it whenever I can get it. I almost always have a box of it in my freezer. For that matter, so do all my brothers and sisters (well at least I know for a fact that my sisters do! hahahahaha). We can thank our parents (and especially our dad) for that. Ice cream was one of our most favorite family desserts, and our dad used to fondly recount stories of ice cream -- like the time he had a major brain freeze and fell over in a dead faint (or was that my uncle who fainted?), or the time he and his two brothers each ate a 7-scoop cone (that was a 7-scoop cone EACH, I repeat). Who could not love ice cream with such fine examples?

Well I have to admit, it's also been my weight downfall. If it wasn't for eating ice cream before bed every night I'd be a size two (HAH. THAT'll never happen on this medium-framed body). Oh okay, I eat other things too that put me at my current weight range. "Sigh." I've been trying to give up my extensive ice cream habit and haven't had any luck until lately. And how, pray tell, did I manage that, you ask?! Cost. Irritation. I hate it that they are now selling ice cream in an almost-quart-sized-box for the price of what should be a half-gallon-sized-box. Does that make sense?

Just look at it. Puny. Tiny. Almost half the size it used to be. Oh okay, you can't really tell from the picture. (I love Dreyer's by the way ... creamy, smooth, rich ... mmmmmm). But honestly, don't you agree? I understand the reasoning behind it: people won't buy ice cream if it gets too expensive, and there's no way to keep making it at the prices we're used to (so they say). So here's a brilliant idea: shrink the boxes down and keep the prices what we're used to! Yeah, that'll work. And it does ... well we the Buying Public don't have much of a choice, do we? I just wonder, do these companies really think they're deceiving us? I saw this happen with my favorite boxed cone: they used to be nice big things. Then the company shrank the size of the cone. Then they shrank the size of the ice cream blob, and thinned out the chocolate coating. It's now child-sized and the quality has decreased. So ... of all things, I find it's harder to buy my ice cream in those puny boxes than it is to go without. I will buy it ONLY on sale and ONLY when I can't stand it anymore and have to indulge. Who woulda thought the economy would help me out, eh? And have you noticed? They are now shrinking the cereal boxes. I wonder what's next?

Well on a completely different tract (and just for fun) here's a picture of Cowboy in Heaven. Nothing like a guuudddd neecckkk wrruuubbbb, eh?

I wish I could've caught him at the height of his joyfulness ... he turns his head completely sideways and pushes against you hard, to get into the rub. Mmmmmmmmm.

Hello ... it's musing time

2009-01-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well hello -- here I am again! It's been a while. :-} That little spectre in the back of my head that keeps whispering, "You've got nothing interesting to say" has kept my fingers off the keyboard (well, off this little blog-site, anyways - my hands are on the keyboard ALL DAY LONG for work).

I was thinking about that "little spectre" today -- the insecurity which gets in the way and causes me to play small. I read once that we do no service to our fellow man (woman/humankind) when we play small and don't put our grandest self forward. I now believe this is true, though old habits die hard. I used to believe that it was important to tone myself down so I wouldn't make others feel bad, or less, or maybe just incredulous. Or maybe make fun of me. Now isn't that the silliest thing?! Playing small cheats everyone out of the best we have to give. Or maybe not even our best -- maybe it's our semi-best -- but even our semi-best can be worthwhile to someone, right? It's so funny: I read all of your blogs a lot and enjoy every single one of them, though sometimes I get soooo intimidated by the wise essays, the humorous stories, the great pictures, or just the stuff I find fun to read. "I want to write like that!" I think, or "She always makes me laugh and cheers me up!" I smile, or "Look at that cute kid! How'd she get a picture like that?" I ponder. So inevitably what follows, if I'm not careful? OF COURSE! "I can't write/ponder/photoshop/take pictures/ [you fill in the blank] like that. I better not write at all." ACK!!! Yep, THAT is why I am sitting down RIGHT NOW and stopping the nonsense (by writing this entry) instead of going to the Rec Center to exercise (oh okay, I'm still going to the Rec Center ... after).

Well, this is a bit of a confessional. And since it is, I might as well lay it all out there, eh?! We all have character flaws which may be our stumbling blocks, right? Mine is THE WHIP. Or more accurately, THE FLOGGING WHIPS. Hahahahahaha! Several years ago (WOW! I think it's six years ago already!) I went through one of the infamous ... what are they called? ... oh yes, impact seminars. My dear friend, Wendy and I just call it "The Cult." She and I went through it together -- all the way through, all three levels. Talk about living through Hell! (oops, sorry). It was one of the most painfully difficult experiences of my life. It was almost one of the most ... well ... impactful. I guess they named those things correctly, eh? I see lessons and insights from that experience almost daily. BUT! They have a very real emotional danger potential, which is why I would never, never recommend one outright. There's no denying it was the correct thing for me though, especially at that time in my life. "Sigh." I guess they can be a good/bad thing. :-) I'd never send someone I loved into one without a lot of prayer first, though.

Anyways, I digress. One exercise we did worked to assist us in figuring out our greatest (or one of our greatest) negative behaviors. Something that was a real stumbling block (as earlier mentioned). My memory is hazy, but seems like we had to act out that behavior (sort of). It was very revelatory. I nailed mine right on: it was the flogging whips. Have you ever heard of those? There's a particular religious group that uses them extensively (can't remember what group they are ... but I remember one of the dudes played a role in the book, "The Da Vinci Code"). They flog their back with whips that have chips at the end, punishing themselves for imperfections and whatnot. Well that's what I have done all my life: flog myself with unseen emotional whips for my imperfections. Hahaha! It's a wonderful joke-yet-not-a-joke between Wendy and I. You'd catch me playing victim: "Oh I'm so [this that this]" and Wendy will laugh and say, "Whip! Whip! Whip!" And then I will laugh because it's true. I had the whips out again. And then I have the choice to put the little whippers away (or not, which is the playing small part). I'm really grateful for that knowledge gained about myself! I can continue to change. Knowledge IS power, right?

The good thing is, our flaws don't have to define us or hold us back. We can choose to work on overcoming them, right? And THEN -- yeah, I LIKE this part: THEN they become our stepping-stones!!!!!! So I think I'll close this and do another little blog, just because I should. I want to talk ice cream for a minute anyways. :-) :-) :-)

SNOW DAZE

2009-01-07T17:24:00.001-08:00

Oh ... MY ... GOSH!!!!!!!! Snow snow snow snow snow snow snow ... everywhere I turn there is SNOW!!!!!! We have been dumped on in a huge way here in Orem -- something that we don't see all the time. It usually snows a ton in Salt Lake, Ogden, Bountiful, Brigham City ... all points North, in other words. And here in Utah County we get about half their amount ... usually. BUT NOT THIS JANUARY! Hahahahaha!!! The joke is on me, this little California girl who (even tho she's been here for 15 or so years) hasn't been able to give her heart to it. Would you like a preliminary peek?

This is looking out over the driveway where I pull up my car (we have two driveways: one that goes up to the carport section where Ruth parks her car and a second one that goes up to the extended carport section where I park my car ... I can't even remember how it happened that Ruth got the "enclosed" carport space - hah). The giant ridge in front is the snow piled between the two driveways. And beyond the second ridge is the snow built up on our neighbor's lawn, and then THEIR ridge before their driveway, and on to the next lawn ... etc. Do you get a feeling for it? WheeeeeEEEEE!!! Everyone has been doing some SERIOUS shoveling, yessir!

But I have to tell you a secret ... as much as I've been hating the snow ... I MAY just change my mind and come to really ... rather ... gulp ... like it! And all thanks to my good friends & co-workers Steve & Margaret. Yessir, today they gave me a lesson in the thrill of doing parking lot donuts!!! Oh okay, we didn't really do donuts -- we fishtailed. Over and over again, to teach me how to feel a slide so I can learn to correct and not be so scared. And speaking of scared, I WAS DEFINITELY scared to begin with! But you know what?! Oh man I hate to admit this ... it was FUN. I liked it a lot. In fact, I want to do it again. Hahahahahahahahaahaha!!!!!! Can you stand it?! Here are some pictures Margaret took while we were having my lesson:

We started out by going in Steve's car, and he skidded & spun & slid several times so I could get a sense of it. Whoo-ee! What a feeling when you feel that car start to slide and your stomach bottoms out. Nothing like it. Hah. Steve's really, REALLY good at this game:
Then we went back and got my car, and it was my turn:
Steve was in the passenger seat pulling on my hand brake so the back tires would lock & the car would skid, and Margaret was in the back seat enjoying the ride (?), and taking pictures for me! THIS is a monumental occasion, you know.
After a few times I was surprised at how much more natural it felt, and a lot of my fear started to go away. That's very cool! Margaret got out and took a picture of us trying to go into (and out of) a skid:
And as you can see below, we helped do our part to chew up the snow in the parking lot, and alter the natural beauty of the pristine, unmarked snow (hah):
As I said before, I hate to admit it - but I may actually come to like snow season. HAH! I wish I'd caught a picture of Margaret too but she was -- well -- behind the camera. "Sigh." Here are some more pictures of the snow outside our home, and Cowboy having a ball (literally & figuratively):

Looking south down our street (that's the sidewalk you're seeing - notice the almost-covered mailbox):
Cowboy, after digging out the ball I kept throwing into snowbanks in the yard:
Digging FOR that ball:
Walking the path Ruth and I dug for Cowboy in the front yard. Poor Ruth - she's dug those paths out three or four times so far -- I've dug them out a couple of times. That shows you who rules, eh? The dog! He has no trouble whatsoever jumping through the snow when he wants to play, but put his delicate bum down onto that snowpile when he wants to go poddy? NO WAY:
Hence, the pathways. And this next picture is for you, Deb - seeing as you love to take pictures of your feet wherever you are! (Which I think is a cool idea). I had to retire my old, OLD boots (you can see why) and now I'm sporting a new pair of not-so-pretty-but-they-sure-don't-slide shoes:

I have to admit it's been fun to play in the snow (having the right clothes & shoes helps a lot) and I've even enjoyed some of the shoveling I've done (not too much because a couple of TERRIFIC Young Men and a MOST EXCELLENT NEIGHBOR are helping to keep our walkways shoveled for us - bless them!). And NOW I'm learning how to drive in the stuff ... so ... I guess I'll have to stop singing my swan song: IS IT SPRING YET?!

Merry Christmas (and Merry After-Christmas)

2008-12-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hello and Merry After-Christmas! I've been having a hard time getting past my last blog entry, my Brizzy-goodbye ... I think I just started to believe I didn't have anything worthwhile or interesting to say anymore. But I feel a little guilty and need to move on (obviously), so I'm joining the ranks and will add some holiday thoughts and pictures.

As I do every Christmas, I went to St. George to be with my mom ...

and my brother, Scott:
For years the tradition has been: "You are the Single Ones ... come home for Christmas!" And I've loved spending the holiday with my mom, dad and brother (I can't believe this was already our second Christmas without Dad). This year I felt really, really guilty for leaving Ruth behind in light of the loss of sweet Brizzy ... I felt like a good sister and friend should not leave her to spend Christmas alone (Ruth wasn't given time off from work, so she couldn't go anywhere). But as time went on it felt so important to go home and be with Mom and Scott; I just had to do it. Ruth understood. I don't think it was easy for her and Cowboy to be alone, though. I told her, "NEXT YEAR your job had BETTER let you off and you WILL go somewhere with your sister and I will stay home with the woof(s), if need be." But probably we'll try kenneling the woof(s) for at least a couple of days so we can both leave for the holiday.

So ... I left last Sunday and MISSED all the SNOW (yayyyy!) and instead, got lots of this (a nice rainy view from my mom's backyard):

A little of this (sorry, the picture's not the best -- can you tell I was driving?! shame on me):

And I came home to this (the view from our office parking lot in Provo):

"Sigh." My little California heart cried ... I don't think I will ever, ever, EVER get used to the snow. It's beautiful -- it's fun -- it's ... (let's see, I should be able to think of more positive descriptions, surely) ... it's scary and wet and cold and messy. Oh well!

It was such a sweet, peaceful week for me. This has been a very harrowing year ... one of those extremely painful ones you grow from astronomically but NEVER want to repeat more than once in a decade. So I am grateful for the quiet, the good spirit, the non-busying days that marked this Christmas experience. We ate out a lot (hah! Nance & Sue, I never thought I'd see it but Mom was actually tired of going out after several days! hahahahahaha!) and we watched some videos: "October Sky" (GREAT MOVIE!!!!), "The Polar Express," "Prophets and Presidents," "Hinckley: a Giant Among Men," "The Legend of Johnny Lingo" ... and read books, took naps and yakked & yakked & yakked. (I've often wondered if other families sit around and talk as much as ours does whenever we get together - hah.) We even tried to watch "The Polar Express" a-la-3D ...

But we didn't last more than five minutes -- HAHAHAHAHA! We needed a giant-screen TV I think. We end up watching it "normal" and enjoyed it very much. But the glasses are cool, don't you think? (hehe)

And of course on Christmas Eve we caught one of the best parts of "It's a Wonderful Life" - the last 25 minutes. Is there anyone who doesn't love that ending? Is there anyone who doesn't cry, no matter how many hundreds of times they've seen it? That's gotta be one of the best feel-good movies of all time (thank you, Frank Capra!). I was unfortunate enough to come down with a "small flu" on Christmas Day ... fortunately it wasn't severe enough to ruin the holiday - just strong enough to keep me from wanting to eat much for a day or two (a mixed blessing).

One thing that meant a great deal to us this year: during Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story, which brought the Savior into our thoughts and hearts, and then afterwards Mom read one of Dad's journal entries from a Christmas in our past (in the '80s ... 1987?) and a couple of Christmas-past journal entries of her own. I didn't know this, but Mom has written a journal synopsis of every Christmas ... I think from the beginning of our family! Christmas, and Thanksgiving too. What a surprise - I had no idea. It was touching and uplifting to hear about Christmases in their own words. I keep being reminded of how important it is to write of our experiences. SO important! What we see, what we do, what we feel, in our own words ... priceless.

You know, the gifts were fun and the candy plentiful (oh dear):

but it's the connections that mattered most ... being with my mom and brother, having each of my other brothers and sisters call in (and some of "the grandkids"), hearing that my nephew, Jared & Camilla are pregnant (YAYYY!), talking with Ruth, thinking about my friends (though dear friends, I sorely neglected you this year - I should have called and/or e-mailed, and I didn't, though I thought about it every single day), and pondering my relationship with my Heavenly parents and my Savior ... this is what Christmas was really all about, to me.

My wish is that you had a special, joyful Christmas too, and I hope you felt the love of the Savior and a love FOR the Savior that will propel you into kind acts and good patterns in the coming year now stretched out before us. CHEERS!!

Brizzy's Rainbow Day

2008-12-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

It is with great sadness and a broken heart that I have to write what I never wanted to write ... that yesterday we sent our sweet Brizzy over the Rainbow Bridge. His spirit was strong but his body was too weak, and the cancer won. But it didn't win out quickly! It was a fight to the finish, not just by us but by this magnificent, gentle, strong-willed woof. I have learned some powerful lessons from him about strength and the will to keep going, and about loving others so much that you want to stay with them despite pain and difficulties and a body that can't cooperate like it used to.

Sometimes we are lucky to be blessed with special individuals who come into our life and touch us in ways we never thought possible. Brizzy has enriched me in just such a way. He taught me deep lessons about unconditional love and how to really enjoy the quiet, peaceful moments in life. He taught me how to sacrifice for another being and to give up my own wants for the wants of another. He gave Ruth the most sacred gift of all: what it feels like to be a mother. She who is a wonderful soul and who has longed for a family, but who hasn't had the privilege of being married and bearing children (yet), had this wonderful dog to fill the gap. Even though he was a dog and not a human child, Ruth loved him and cared for him as if he were her child. They had a very special bond, those two, and it was a privilege to be a part of it in my small way. Mostly I was the sister and the "alternate mom," which is a pretty good role for someone as independent as I.

Brizzy shared with me the gift of living in the moment and boy did he have a thing or two to teach me about enjoying FOOD! (Not that I needed that lesson - hah.) And best of all, I who have no children either was gifted with the opportunity to love and sacrifice for another living being, and to give up my own selfish wants for the wants of another.

Ruth and I will be okay. Though our hearts are hurting and we will miss him desperately, we are being blanketed in a warm cocoon of love and support from you: our family and friends and ward family, and it is seeing us through. The Lord promised Ruth in a blessing that the Comforter would come ... and He has. But what I never expected is that He would come through feelings of peace but ALSO through the service of all of you. We are both overwhelmed by it.

I am so glad that Brizzy enjoyed what he could right up to the end: Wednesday night he ate two hamburgers PLUS his regular dish of dog food, and Thursday morning he had an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Peach Ice Cream (he ate EVERY BIT OF IT with gusto) PLUS he ate almost a full bowl of dog food, and on his way to the vet's office he ate a ton of peanut butter. In fact, his final acts were to let us pet him and cry over him and look at us both with big, I love-you eyes, and THEN try to finish off as much of the peanut butter as we would allow him. He ate half the bottle before Dr. Edmonds told us we'd better stop (it could have come back up when all his organs relaxed - euww). So when he crossed that rainbow bridge, it was with his very favorite taste in the whole wide world on his lips -- peanut butter.

I would like to add a quote and a poem I found which I really liked:

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace." ~Milan Kundera~

THE CREATION

When God had made the earth and sky
the flowers and the trees,
He then made all the animals
the fish, the birds and bees.

And when at last He'd finished
not one was quite the same.
He said, "I'll walk this world of mine
and give each one a name."

And so He traveled far and wide
and everywhere He went,
a little creature followed Him
until its strength was spent.

When all were named upon the earth
and in the sky and sea,
the little creature said, "Dear Lord,
there's not one left for me."

Kindly the Father said to him,
"I've left you to the end.
I've turned my own name back to front
and called you dog, My friend."
~Author Unknown~

Goodbye Sweet Brizzy -- I am so grateful for the knowledge I possess which teaches me that there IS a Spirit World and I will see you again. Run free -- Run fast -- and eat joyfully!

A Briz-man Update - not such happy news

2008-11-24T18:24:00.000-08:00

I was going to talk about last week's really enjoyable Relief Society enrichment evening (and I still will) but tonight before I go home I wanted to post an update about our little woof (and mine & Ruth's state of mind(s)).

It's with much sadness (but not with the same overwhelming pain we experienced two weeks ago) I write that once again things have taken a turn and it's now sure that our little Brizzy has cancer. "Sigh." The only reason I'm able to write this without the same deep, raw pain I (and Ruth) experienced a couple of Sundays ago is because the Lord has been so good to us and has allowed us both to come to terms with the possibility that this could be cancer after all. He could have taken Brizzy right after Halloween when it got really bad. And in the ensuing four days it looked as if Brizzy really was ready to go. But nope, that little dog rallied and in the past two weeks he led us to believe he would get well after all. His pain diminished and he perked up and it was so evident he wanted to still be living. So the Lord has allowed this to play out in its own ebb and flow, and because of that we've been given time to accept and even prepare.

What a painful but educational roller coaster we've been on. NOT the kind of education I wanted to have, but it's one I get to have anyway. As much as I want it to be different, I am still grateful for what I have learned and (yes) am experiencing. Isn't that crazy? But true. We went from "What's that limping about?" to "Oh no, he can't walk very well!" to "The front leg is so swollen" to "OH NO, Briz can't walk at all" to "It's probably cancer" to "But he's rallying, and look he's walking again - how could that be cancer?" to "No cancer in the biopsy!" to "Look at the x-rays, I'm 80% sure it's cancer" to "Look how well he's doing" to "If it was cancer it would have manifested itself by now, so I may be wrong and I'm cautiously saying it's 80% NOT cancer" to "Oh no, now the back leg is swelling" to "Now his little face and neck are all swollen!" to "I'm so sorry to tell you this ..." "Sigh."

We both knew. I think as soon as Brizzy's face began to swell and his nose to run, I knew. And as soon as the large lump appeared under Brizzy's chin, in his ruff - Ruth knew. I hope you don't think that our vet has been insensitive or incompetent because he couldn't get an accurate diagnosis right off the bat -- our Little Man is such a fighter he pushed back the symptoms and refused to succomb. Today Dr. Edmonds said Brizzy "had the heart of a lion" and I agree. All through this experience he has fought to get better and has been so patient with Ruth and I as we've administered all kinds of holistic stuff and made him get up and "go poddy" when he didn't want to and petted and fussed and mothered (and probably smothered) him. So patient.

So now ... we wait. He is in minimal (if any) pain right now and we have some STRONG diuretic pills to get all that water out of him, and as long as Brizzy wants to be here and is not hurting, we will do whatever we have to do to make his life comfortable and we will take it one day at a time. Dr. Edmonds said that he will try to get Brizzy through Christmas, but we will see. And we will not let him suffer just to have him a few weeks longer. But you can bet that each day he's here will be relished.

And through this whole traumatic experience, both Ruth and I have experienced so much love and kindness from our wonderful families, our wonderful friends, our wonderful Ward friends. People have been so good to us: no one has mocked our pain, and we have been given phone calls and hugs and pats and blessings and kind acts of service. I don't think I will ever forget the kindness and care we are being blanketed in. I wish I could do for others half of what others are doing for me. I feel very humbled.

Case in point, just from today: Several of the Young Men came over today and for a service project they dug up all those yukky, long stringy weeds that were all over our front yard. We haven't had the time or the tools to get those darn weeds out of that cold ground and they really created a problem for "picking up poops," etc. It may have felt like a simple act of service to those young men, but they really REALLY helped us and I feel much gratitude towards them. And then my friend, Margaret forwarded a YouTube video of the "the Sky Angel Cowboy." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0r_FbARIn8&NR=1. The religious reporters get a little over the top but that wasn't the point of the video - it was the message that God understands our pain because he experienced the death of His own son.

Onward we go - and in the end (if we're lucky) we remember that God is Good, loving someone is worth the pain of losing them, and we never really lose them anyway because we KNOW what awaits us in the Spirit World.

COLORED PENCILS

2008-11-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I've written a blog (okay, it's only been 2 weeks but from what I've seen in the Blogging world two weeks seems to be a LONG TIME - haha). So I thought I would jump back into it with a little essay I wrote last night. My BFF introduced me to a WONDERFUL website called jessicasprague.com and Jessica has been holding a fabulous online class called "Stories In Hand." Debbie joined up and at her urging I did too and I am SO GLAD I DID!!! The class is all about capturing the stories of our lives -- the little ones as well as the big ones -- the ones inbetween all the pictures we take to scrapbook or blog. She does it by way of "memory sparks" and I've seen things similar to this before (you know, like the terrific memory jars with pieces of paper asking all kinds of questions about your life) but this goes deeper than anything I've ever seen and to me it seems designed to help you dig deeper into your memories and capture all kinds of things you may never think about otherwise. I love it I love it I love it!!!!!! I haven't put together my prompts and checklists binder yet (heck, all I've done is print everything out because I gave away many of my scrapbooking tools - hahahahaha! I thought I was "going digital" and would never need them again. Little did I know. :-) I hope you're enjoying them, Mom! :-) :-) ). I'll get it put together eventually. I'm notorious for not doing a project through to its completion.

So anyway, for better or for worse, here's my first little memory essay. I'll never be the kind of a writer our friend Amy Sorensen is (Amy is AMAZING!) or my BFF, Debbie is (she's also fabulous!) but I sure enjoy stuff like this, and I'm not tooooo bad ... :-}

COLORED PENCILS
Well, not too long ago it was Saturday again ... correction: it was Super Saturday again and I had offered to bring my box of colored pencils for one of our creative projects. Funny how I hadn't touched my colored pencils for several years yet I knew right where they were, stored away with my scrapbooking supplies. I don't know where many of my things reside these days but some things I never lose track of, even when I don't use them for a long time.

Okay, I was happy to share (within reason). On that Saturday I pulled the box out and as I did so I was surprised to find myself inexplicably drawn to that lovely box of brightly colored pencils. Almost longingly drawn. And for goodness' sake, they were just sticks of colored lead! Yet ... I LOVE colored pencils. Always have. For me, a colored pencil goes hand in hand with storytelling and artistic endeavor and coloring inside the lines. I wish I were the kind of wild, adventurous sort who colors with abandon outside the lines but nope, not me. I love the structure of following the rules and filling in the spaces as neatly as possible and creating beauty with color. But I love the tools most of all: the pencils, the crayons, those little oblong tins of water colors with your basic ten colors (and oooohhh if you're lucky, the double sized tins that have all the fun extended hues).

I have a vivid memory of spending grade school recess huddled with my best friend against a wall, creating stories with ... you guessed it, colored pencils. We drew all kinds of stories about little girls who did fun and slightly dangerous things, and who had to be saved by the knight in shining armor (whoever THAT cute boy happened to be at the time). I can still feel the warm wall at my back and the secret fun of sharing what we were writing. Of course it was secret ... we couldn't let anyone read our stories ... horror! At least ... not right then. Then was all about the creating and the giggling together and the colors. Some time later we graduated to something just as wonderful: colored PENS. All together now: ooooohhhh yyyeeaaahhh. Pink and purple and red and turquoise blue and GOLD of all things! Little small pens the size of my index finger that flowed color and made writing and drawing pictures so much fun! I loved those pens as much as I loved the pencils.

My attachment to colored pencils didn't end with grade school, though. As a Tweenie I spent many quiet Sunday afternoons sketching. I had a whole series of pictures of young women from all over the world, dressed in their native costumes. I would sketch them as meticulously and precisely as my young hands could master and then color the pictures with my pencils. I would sit quietly on the bed in the room I shared with my two sisters and take great pleasure in copying the pictures as closely as I could. That same pleasure followed me through high school and even into a few college art classes where I tried to master drawing, watercolor, charcoals. I was never the best of sketchers but you guess it ... I had a killer eye for color. Still do.

So where did this love for coloring tools come from? It's hard to say for sure. Part of it comes from my mom, I know. I remember sitting at the kitchen table as a really little girl, watching my mom do these gorgeous, vivid colorings of Bible stories using crayons. They were intricate and beautiful and I was in awe. I thought my mom was a true artist and I wanted to do something just as detailed someday. I also wanted to help color the pictures but Mom would never let me get my tiny hands on them (I wonder why, ha ha). But my mom's influence is only part of it ... I still find myself inexplicably drawn to every box of colored pencils I see. Perhaps it's the creative potential, perhaps it's the sense of creating something lovely, perhaps it's just the colors themselves! And perhaps I had a peculiar love for the colors that populated the Spirit World, and I brought that attraction with me to my mortal life. That's a particularly nice thought -- I think I'll stick to that one.

Whatever the reasons, I'm glad for this little personality peculiarity. HEY, does anyone have a box of colored pencils I could borrow?

WELL ...

2008-11-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

Yep. Well. The elections are over, "the people" have elected a new president ... and I think we're in for it now. Which I guess tells you in a nutshell what my political views are.

I think it's wonderful and historic that we've come far enough in our national thinking to elect a Black man as president -- that's a good, good thing. A woman might have been possible too ... if Hilary hadn't been a Clinton. Which all says something about the progression of our country away from bigotry. However. I wish it could have been someone other than Obama. If Colin Powell had run I'll bet he would have had a huge support among Democrat AND Republican and it still would have been a "historical win." As it is -- we have Obama. My concern is that he is such a liberal man. How could people lose sight of that fact? Or maybe they just don't care. Maybe those who put him into office want that. I recently heard in a quote from one Senate member that Obama was the most liberal man in the Senate.

So I ask you: now what happens? If the Democrats get a filibuster majority (see this link for a discussion on what that means: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/28/us-elections-democrats-senate) then what kinds of laws are we going to see landing on the books? What kinds of judges are going to be elected to the courts in our country? What are businesses going to be forced to do? How far will foreign radicals push the envelope to test this young, unproven president? What will happen if he pulls out American troops in 18 months when our military leaders consistently say the Iraqi government isn't stable enough yet? I worry. I'm trying NOT to worry, but it's hard not to be emotionally affected by this particular election.

The big chant this election has been "Change Change Change." Whoo-hoo. I ask you: Change toward what? How far have you really thought this through?

How do I find the right words? So you get many words ...

2008-10-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

[this is a picture-less entry ... but I will be adding them later on ...]

Well I haven't written anything for almost a month ... that can be typical for me ... and yep, that's pretty much how I keep my journal too. I'll do great at journal writing for a short span of time and then I just sort of slow the spinning ... slowwwww ... sloooww ... sssssslllloooowww .... sss stop. You know, I'm ashamed to admit it, but that's the way it is with most of the stuff I attempt in my life. I get going with something new and am very enthusiastic for a while and then I just stop. Oh dear ... that looks like a character flaw looming. (!)

I determined not to leave work tonight until I wrote something down. And then I got to reading my friend, Jamie's blog and was having such a good time and laughed so hard over her sons' super hero Sacrament Meeting, I pretty much ran well into the 6:00 hour. I read many of the blogs from the women in my ward and my out-of-ward friends, and I so enjoy them (Dear Debbie--you got me hooked! I now understand ...). It's getting a bit late and I should get home. But ... I won't. I MUST resist the "quit my new hobby [blogging]" urge! (And Hey - I have GOT to ask Jamie if she minds my linking her blog site here. If she says yes then you MUST go in and read her entry for Sunday, October 26th -- it's HILARIOUS and boy are her sons (Jacob & Mason) creative!!)

Actually there's another reason I haven't written yet. I'm very left-brained and have a hard time doing things out of order. There are lots of things I've wanted to write about but my little anal-retentive mind keeps whispering, "Gotta do it in order - can't get out of order - Gotta write about this first." Sheesh. And I've had a hard time figuring out how to write about this, which happens to be the Big Change that happened in my life (and my dear friend, Linda's life) now almost 3 weeks ago. Well ... in keeping with the driving whisper -- here I go:

Three weeks ago, over General Conference weekend, I was released as Enrichment Counselor in our ward. And Linda was released as Education Counselor. Gratefully, I knew a week ahead of time because Donna (bless her!) felt it would be awful for us to just get a call from the Bishop without some warning up front. She wanted it to come from her -- to talk with us about it first so we would understand. I love her for that. I wouldn't have been able to concentrate one bit on that special, fabulous Conference if I'd been blind-sided by the release. As it was, I had barely recovered from the shock and ensuing rush of feelings when Donna called the week before.

It was indeed a shock, because I had resolved the personal issues that plagued me earlier in the year and had re-dedicated myself to helping the sisters, had begun to see a new vision for where we should head, and felt so SO sure that we were supposed to be in there together -- the 3 Musketeers (Donna, Linda and I) -- to the end. Once the shock receded (slightly) a feeling of sadness and a great, great sense of loss set in. I thought about the women of this ward whom I've grown to love deeply, and my friendship with Linda and Donna (and Donna's secretaries: Barbara and Jennifer) and my four wonderful Enrichment Leaders (Alice Ann, Jamie, Jenie and Corinne), the happiness I've had working with them all, and the joy I've felt in all the many things we've done over the years and I just ... sat there and cried (really sobbed for a while, I must admit), for the loss ... for the change. And funny ... along with those feelings came darker thoughts for a while (get thee hence, you little devils!) ... thoughts like: "I failed; I wasn't good enough for the Lord to keep me in to the end," [and] "I've failed the sisters enough that the Lord has to replace me" [and] "I'm not ready -- I didn't do a good enough job!" I talked to my mom who told me those feelings were natural but they were untrue and were Satan's way of trying to bring me down. It helped to know that.

And then, when I'd had time to reflect I knew it was right. Heck, I've known for some time now that the sisters needed to go in a new direction, and I wasn't the one to take them there. And I was tired -- so tired! Not of the women ... never, never that. But I was running out of ideas and momentum, and I was starting to "get it right" (more or less) when it came to planning and executing. Hah! And isn't that the point where we always get released? When we start to "get it right"? I'd like to tell you something a little shivery too: Donna called Allison to replace me as Enrichment Counselor. When I met Allison and got to know her a few months ago when they moved in, I knew in my bones that she was supposed to replace me. I could feel it somehow. Even "funnier": Allison commented to me a few weeks before this big change that she still hadn't received a calling and she was getting pretty frustrated, and most of the sisters who had moved in after her had already received a calling! And I jokingly told her that she hadn't received a calling yet because she was supposed to replace me. Whew!

So a few of my thoughts and feelings. I can't even begin to express it properly, but here are a few things I wrote down the night Donna called me:

"I can't believe what I'm feeling! I thought I'd be so happy but I'm not. I feel an amazing conflict of emotions. Yes there is an underlying twinge of relief, but overriding that in a huge way is anguish over not getting to work with Donna and Linda anymore (both of whom I love to pieces) and not having responsibility for the sisters anymore (whom I have also deeply loved) and fear over what I'll have to do next and disappointment over not finishing the race and sadness over leaving something that I finally FINALLY have accepted and feel comfortable with! ...

"Over the top of all these other emotions is a deep, deep, overwhelming gratitude to Heavenly Father for this experience. This has been one of the greatest, most soul-stretching experiences of my entire life! And that sounds dramatic, but it's the truth. I have grown in ways I never thought possible and have become (hopefully) such a better person because of it. I have a deeper than ever compassion for people and have learned what it's like to love a whole group of women all at once. I have grown spiritually and oh my gosh! The things I've learned about trusting Heavenly Father!!!! I'm not very good at it yet, but every once in a while I find myself actually believing He will take care of everything. I've had personal witness that He does, through this calling."

And you know what else I've learned over the past almost-four years? Service is sweeeeet. There is such a joy, a satisfaction, a deepening of character when we serve each other. It really can lift us out of dark depths, depression, selfishness, loneliness ... and it teaches us to love more deeply. I think we begin to experience little glimpses of what it's like to mold our character towards the Savior's character. And if we allow ourselves the full ride we begin wanting to help people because we want to and not because we should or we have to. It changes everything when we want to.

I've watched many of the sisters in our ward form lovely friendships, and I'm hoping to have more of those opportunities in the future. I'm also hoping I never lose the friendships I've already formed. I can't believe how good sisterhood can be, and how much I admire the women in our ward. "These are excellent peoples here." And the final nice part? I get to be a Relief Society teacher now!!!!!! Whhheeeee!! I can remember asking the Lord a few months back, "Can't I just take Beverly's place and hand out programs for a while? Or if not, can I teach Relief Society again? I would love that!" I can't believe He actually said YES! I know I probably won't get to teach in Relief Society for a long period of time, but for now ... YES!!!!!

I have pictures I want to post, but will do that later on. Hugs to you all!

2008-10-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

I am SO EMBARRASSED!!!! I meant to add a new post with the expanded recipes for Jared & Erica's fabulous Cafe Rio salad (we found the recipes at the following link and expanded them to serve 50 women, for our Super Saturday last October:

http://jaredanderica.blogspot.com/2007/11/cafe-rio-salad-with-shredded-sweet-pork.html. I hope that linked - I'm having some trouble with that tonight. Here are the recipe breakdowns:

JARED & ERICA’S
CAFÉ RIO SALAD WITH SHREDDED SWEET PORK

http://jaredanderica.blogspot.com/2007/11/cafe-rio-salad-with-shredded-sweet-pork.html

THESE ARE THE RECIPES EXPANDED TO SERVE 50 PEOPLE (hopefully)
(expanded by Geneva Heights 5th Ward, Utah)

SWEET PORK [for 50 people we made 8 batches]16 pounds pork24 cans Coke (NOT diet) [we, the 5th Ward used 7-up instead]10 cups8 dashes garlic salt2 cups water8 cans sliced green chilies6 cans enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness)8 cups brown sugarPut the pork in several heavy duty ziploc bags to marinade. Add about 12 cans of coke/7-up and about 2 cups of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.Drain marinade and put pork, 4 cans of coke/7-up, water, and garlic salt in several crock pots or two large meat cookers and cook on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.In a food processor or blender, blend cans Coke/7-up, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about 8 cups -- you can add a little more or less to taste). If it looks too thick, add more Coke/7-up little by little.Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot[s] and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it! CILANTRO-LIME RICE [for 50 people we made 9 batches]9 cups uncooked rice3 tablespoons butter or margarine18 cloves garlic, minced3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice9 cans (15 oz) chicken broth9 cups water9 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice6 tablespoons sugar1 & 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantroIn a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 3 tablespoons lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine the 9 tablespoons of lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.
BLACK BEANS [for 50 people we made 13 batches, but it was a little too soupy. We recommend cutting back on the tomato juice – about 1/2 the amount]1 & 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons olive oil26 cloves garlic, minced1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon ground cumin13 cans black beans, rinsed and drained17 cups plus 1/3 cup tomato juice [try something like 8 to 9 cups instead]6 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon salt1 & 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantroIn a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. (**JARED & ERICA NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was AWESOME! We recommend doing this even though it's not "traditional Cafe Rio")CILANTRO RANCH [We made only 2 batches for our 50 people but it wasn’t NEAR enough. Everyone loved the dressing and wanted a lot, and we ran out. We recommend at least doubling and probably tripling the recipe – 6 batches. The calculations below are for 6 batches]6 packets TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)6 cups mayonnaise6 cups buttermilk12 tomatillos, remove husk, diced3 bunches of fresh cilantro6 cloves garlicjuice of 6 limes5-6 jalapenos (we like it SPICY so we kept the seeds in it, if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That’s it!JARED & ERICA’S INSTRUCTIONS: ’K so now to make it all PERFECT... Here is how we put it all together: First of all, we bought the aluminum deep-dish pans (they had these at the grocery store, you will know when you see them … they look JUST like the Cafe Rio tins). Lay a tortilla in the bottom of the pan, sprinkle cheese on it, and put in the oven at 375 for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven, add beans, rice, pork, then lettuce (we used the leafy green lettuce) and a little scoop of diced tomato and onions (pico de gallo). We made up some guacamole and put some of that on the salad (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). We also added a little spoonful of sour cream. Add some crushed tortilla chips (we have yet to find the little tortilla strips), a shake of Parmesan cheese, and top with a few cilantro leaves. Serve with the cilantro ranch dressing and there you have it!ERICA’S WEBSITE NOTE: It really is easier than it looks. It only took me about an hour to make (after the pork was in the crock pot). The rice and beans are SUPER easy -- you definitely want the beans and rice to get the whole experience! Also, be generous with the cilantro. Try it and let me know what you think! I KNOW you won't be disappointed!

Super Saturday - I'm so glad we did it

2008-10-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (gosh, almost a month ago already!) we had a nice Super Saturday for our ward -- at least I thought it was nice! Hah! I'll bet we're the only ward in the area still having them. Or so it seems. :-) Everyone I talked to outside of our ward said things like, "You're having that?! We haven't had one of those in a long time" or, "Wow we don't do those anymore" or even, "Hmmm, it might be fun to do one of those again ... someday ..." Haha. Yes it WAS a lot of work and yes I suppose it's not the current trend for Relief Society Enrichment activities, but we had enough sisters ask about having one that we felt it was the right thing to do ... for us ... for this time around anyway.

You know, this was my fourth Super Saturday as Enrichment Counselor. Fourth! It's funny because every year leading up to the event I and my Leader(s) have said, "No No! It's too much work. Do we have to?! [whine whine]" And every time we've been glad we did it. It's great seeing the positive response from the sisters and experiencing their enjoyment ... especially enjoyment of the time spent with each other. So worth it -- so worth every bit of effort and time spent. I love these women and I love seeing them delight in each other's company and the projects. AND of COURSE the LUNCH!!!!!!!!! Mmmmmmmmm.

This year we had to work very fast to get it pulled off, because I screwed up and didn't begin working with Corinne (my Enrichment Leader) and drawing together a committee and start planning until way too late in the summer. Our regular little Enrichment Committee had pretty much dwindled down to one or two and Corinne felt impressed to not officially call a new Commitee, but invite sisters who were interested to assist. As always, the sisters who helped were AWESOME. We have such wonderful, responsible women in our ward! It was the same with our past committee members: I could always count on them to do their part, and they always did. I never felt that I could thank them deeply enough for their help. I hope they know how much I loved and appreciated their sacrifices. And I felt the same with our little group this time too. AND I felt the same for those who wanted to help and planned to help (like Jenie) but whose lives just didn't allow for it this time.

I think the sisters who came had a good time ... I hope they did. I listened to the laughter and the conversations floating around the room, and felt a warmth and a goodness. It felt like we were enjoying each other's company, and some were getting to know each other better. I wish I had remembered my camera ... that was my one regret: no pictures. :-( Well, that and the fact that I couldn't free up the committee sisters so they could do crafts themselves, and also I felt soooo bad about getting the wrong thing for the Scrubbies!!!! (Sorry Sisters - it was supposed to be tulle and wasn't it a shock when we opened the box and discover I had ordered nylon netting instead! If you were wondering why your fingers were sore and it was too hard to crochet the stuff ... that's why. Oh Dear!)

Well I'd like to share our craft lineup with you (see all the pictures off the side here, too), but before I do that I want to tell you about LUNCH. Ab-so-lute-ly YUMMMMMMYYYYY!!! (In my humble opinion.) And I am SUPREMELY grateful to "Jared and Erica" (Walker) for their amazing recreation of Cafe Rio's "Salad with Sweet Pulled Pork." They posted it online -- we found it -- we decided it would be an excellent lunch. And then (bless her!) Donna was willing to take over the preparation for it. It was almost too much to figure out and gather up (we had to expand it to cover 50 people) but I'm so grateful she hung in there. Because I'm tellin' ya, that was some good eats. You really should try it out at home -- you'll love it. Here's the link to their website and the recipes ('cause you sort of combine several): http://jaredanderica.blogspot.com/2007/11/cafe-rio-salad-with-shredded-sweet-pork.html. But let me just say that we altered it a little bit: we didn't add near the amount of cilantro they suggested, and we didn't end up toasting the tortillas first. And we didn't add corn. Hmmmm ... if you ever want to serve this to a large group, maybe you could benefit from having the amounts we used. I was going to add that but I haven't gotten the numbers from Donna. I promise to get those and post them later on, for those who might be interested. (I promise! And not a year from now either, as I'm wont to do ...)

I think everyone enjoyed the lunch very much and it turned out to be a good choice for a coolish-warm, somewhat cloudy mid-September day.

I was pleased with the project lineup too, and I so hope that the sisters who were interested in them were satisfied. Here's what we decided to do:

*(1)* "Dinner & Dessert" in a jar. We offered two different dry soups ("Love Soup" which was beans & lentils & rice & seasonings and "Yummy Turkey Soup") and ingredients for two different cookies: "Orange Drop Cookies" and "M&M Cookies." We filled mason jars with the dry ingredients and covered the tops with plaid fabric. Allison had the ingredients all lined up along the tables buffet style and it was pretty quick & easy to put them together. And my but all the seasons & spices sure smelled good! If anyone is interested in reviving this trend for gifts, there are a LOT of recipes online for "gift basket goodies." I just googled "gift jar recipes" and found multiple sites. Here are some interesting ones to try:

** http://members.tripod.com/~HeresPoo/index.html
** http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmas/gifts/index.htm
** http://organizedchristmas.com/index-gifts-in-a-jar
** http://www.geocities.com/giftsinajar/

*(2)* Homemade Christmas cards using ink stamps, scrapbook paper and embellishments. Allison had several charming designs for the cards.

*(3)* Scrubbies! Linda helped teach us how to make these fabulous little wonders. You know, I had NO idea what a Scrubbie even was until several sisters begged Linda to teach them how to crochet them, and we decided it would be good for Super Saturday. I was curious and looked them up online and was floored by how many websites were out there dedicated to them. Wow! But as one person said, you can't get them anywhere but from someone's hands or at a boutique show. They scrub everything really well ... even your potatoes. If we ever do this again though I will make sure IT'S THE TULLE we use! Here's just one link and it has tons of cool patterns for them: http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/scrubbers.php. Also here's a link for a wonderful place to buy the tulle (and netting) -- this is the place we used and her prices are very good: http://www.knitsandbitsbylinda.com/Scrubbers.html.

*(4)* Candace put together the most adorable muffin tin advent calendar. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8242509@N06/1855132457/ We used the 24-count tins and each little muffin hole was covered by a scrapbooked square which attached with magnets. In the holes you can put in little notes, or a scripture, or treats or even suggestions for things your family can do each day during December. Hah -- this one just snowballed! At first there were only about 5 of us planning to make them, but as the sisters saw how cute they were more and more wanted to make them. The cost was highest for this: $15.00 because of the muffin tin (well, the supplies turned out to be more expensive than we expected too). I only included the link for one from the Internet - it's very nice but personally I think Candace's is even better. When I get mine made I'll put a picture out for you to see.

*(5)* Becky handled an adorable project we enlisted from a nice site online: Bath Salt Sundaes http://www.sugardoodle.net/Christmas/Sundae%20Bath%20Salts.shtml. We modified ours though: we used Calgon instead of homemade bath salts or plain Epsom salt (didn't want to turn anyone's tub a funny color!), and our colors were blue and green and I think purple instead of pink. We couldn't find the little bath beads anywhere (the cherry on top) so we opted for straws instead. The resulting "Sundaes" were much nicer than the picture I have in this blog -- the one above was our demo and we found better, more sundae-like cups at the Baskin Robbins Ice Cream shop later on. Still, this gives you the idea, no? The Sundae is made up of layers of bath salt, powdered milk, baking soda, a scrubber, and then the bath bead (if you can find them) or a straw for effect. We also put a layer of plastic wrap between the powdery stuff and the scrubber, to keep everything intact. Hey, Milk powder and baking soda, you say?! Yes indeed! They give your bath a luxurious feel and milk powder is good for the skin, did you know that? :-)

*(6)* Christmas stories in a notebook. This was sort of another take on an advent calendar, and I got it from my friend, Karen who did them in her Relief Society a few years ago. We had 24 divider pages (one for each day of December) that included a scripture, a song, and a xeroxed picture that you could color and glue in, and then there is a story to read each day. Karen was kind enough to share the whole book with us so we didn't have to go looking for our own stories or scriptures. They used Precious Moments pictures, but we offered both those and more traditional coloring pictures for those who didn't care for Precious Moments. I think they're very nice and I hope our sisters were happy with them.

*(7)* Hemp or seed bead bracelets and chokers. Our last project -- and the one I handled. :-) We only had a few people doing these but it was so much fun working on them together. I got them started by crimping on the "findings" (the clasps) and the sisters did their own designing and stringing. They were really nicely done. We had Patrice B.'s daughters involved and they were fun -- lots of interest and good energy from those girls! I couldn't keep up with everyone though -- I was surprisingly slower at getting those findings on than I expected. Well it didn't help that I kept distracting myself by collecting money or handling a few managerial things or talking and not working. Hah! They were all very patient with me.

When the day was done I felt the same happiness and satisfaction I felt after each of the other Super Saturday's I've been involved in. It was a nice day. There is a bonding between women that is unique to the female sect ... I think we need that connection with each other. And I think when we have those association opportunities it brings a necessary richness to our lives. It's something we should seek out and foster, don't you agree?

2008-10-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing my nephew, Jared receive his Endowments in the Timpanogos Temple Thursday evening. What a privilege and an honor it was to be a witness to that sacred gift. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for Jared and the path he has chosen for his life. He and his sweetheart, Camilla were married a year ago (already!) and at the time he promised her that he would get his life together and take her to be Sealed a year from their marriage. He has kept his word to her and Thursday was his preparation step. They are now scheduled to be sealed in the Provo Temple just a couple of days before Thanksgiving, and won't that be a fun Holiday for our family! :-)

My brother-in-law Frank had the opportunity to be Jared's escort at the Temple (meaning he assisted Jared through all the Initiatory and Endowment steps) and my sisters Sue, Nancy and I plus Camilla's uncle and their home teacher went through the session with them. I was thinking about it while sitting in the chapel waiting to begin -- how there are many things in this world that bring us happiness and delight, but this ... this brought deep, deep joy. It's difficult to describe adequately, the richness and fullness of the feeling. But it's real and abiding and profound. Connecting us together as families -- that is the most important thing in and out of this world, I believe.

Afterwards while we were in the Celestial Room I asked Jared how he felt about his experience, and he said he felt peaceful ... right. And Camilla -- sweet Camilla! We learned the depth of her feelings when she was first escorted into the Chapel before the Endowment began. When she sat down next to Jared, she burst into tears. Oh man! Both Nancy and I were sitting behind them and of course we both cried. What a sweet and touching moment.

So yet again ... I have experienced another really, really good day.

Remembering my Dad

2008-09-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today is my Dad's birthday ... well, it was his birthday ... well it still IS his birthday, on this side of the Veil. In Sarah Menet's near-death experience book, "There Is No Death" (http://www.thereisnodeath.com) she talks about there being another celebration in the spirit-world: the day we cross back over when we die. She mentions what it's called but I can't remember at the moment (Ack! Brain Cell Loss strikes again). They celebrate their "rebirth" into the Spirit World like we celebrate our birth here into the Mortal World. It made me wonder if my dad now celebrates two special days: his mortal life birthday and his death-day Spirit World birthday? If so, I guess he can choose the age he wants to be: 85 years old or 1-1/2 years old. Hah! Here are a couple of pictures I scanned:

(Sorry about the big white space - I'm not a pro scanner, as you can see.)

I can't believe it's already been 1-1/2 years since my dad passed away (December 2006). Since today is his earthly birthday I've been thinking a lot about him -- missing him and wondering about how he is. That's one of the hardest things about this necessary earthly Veil -- we don't get to visit with our loved ones in the Spirit World (unless we're darn lucky). I wonder, what is he doing now? Who is he associating with? Does he spend time with my husband, Nathan and his family or with past friends and other family members? What about people he knew in this life? Does he get to spend much time with them? Is he on a mission, teaching people about the Gospel (which he so dearly wanted to do again in this life) or is he in school, learning new things? Questions ... I have sooo many questions! But I DEFINITELY don't want to go through the associated pain that would accompany a near-death experience so I'll have to content myself with waiting until it's my turn to cross over (which I have to admit I hope is a long time away - I love this earth life).

(That one picture above of Dad and his family entitled "The Musician" is during the Depression ... they traveled as a family orchestra around the West -- Dad was 5-8 years old and he played the trumpet, led the family and sang. One of my greatest regrets is that I didn't interview he or my Grandma better (and soon enough) to get quality information about this unusual experience. There were many families who did this and I should have written an article on it, during my college years.)

I've also been thinking about what a GOOD man my dad was (and is). He was never a flashy or high-profile man, but one of the Lord's "worker bees" who always did what he was asked to do, always stayed true to his values, and always stood stead-fast in the Gospel. Of course he had some negative points too ... he could be stubborn and sometimes emotionally remote. But that's okay - that's what made him human. Negatives are part of us, yes? One of the greatest things my dad taught me was to love my ancestors and be proud of my heritage. He consistently told me, "Always remember that you are a Daughter of God, and you are a Rich" (and of course Iverson & Workman & Alldredge too). My direct great-great (-great?) grandfather is Charles C. Rich and my other family lines go way back to the beginnings of the church also. It wasn't a boastful or prideful thing for my dad -- it meant that I had a heritage of good people behind me and I should live equal to my ancestors. AND I should never forget about them. I often worry about getting my act together and doing more family history work. Who is missing that needs to be linked in?

My dad was also a great example to me of courage and perseverance. He never made a lot of money and he changed careers three times: first as a barber, then as a welder, then as a full-time custodian for our church building. But there was usually enough to care for us properly and to keep ice cream in the house. OF COURSE! Who could live without ice cream?! And he LOVED the 4th of July and any celebration. He wanted birthday cakes and cards and presents and all the Christmas trimmings clear up until he wasn't able to function, and then I'll bet you anything he was longing to be a part of the celebrations even when he couldn't communicate that to us.

Dad bore his "last-years illness" with great dignity. I always thought it was terribly ironic that my dad would be so healthy his whole life (hardly even a cold) and then be hit with such a terribly debilitating illness such as PSP (Progressive supra-nuclear palsy) [http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/psp/psp.htm] ... sheesh. But even while my dad's body shut down and he moved towards immobility, he bore the whole experience with humor and grace and rarely, RARELY complained. I learned a lot watching my mom and dad go through this experience. Who knows, he may have complained loudly to himself, but I never heard it much. (I, on the other hand am a vociferous complainer - one of MY negatives.) Dad had some pretty cool guardians from the Spirit World too: during those final years he consistently saw four girls in white who would come and be nearby. He would be sitting at the dining room table and would suddenly say, "Well there go the 4 girls! They're leaving now" ... or he'd make other references out of the blue about them. I truly believe that they were assigned to help him through this experience. I can't wait to meet them and find out who they were (and say thank you). I think there were lots of family members from the Spirit World who helped my dad through his illness ... you should see some of the family pictures we've taken -- LOTS of orbs in the pictures sometimes! I'll have to find my favorite picture and post it in someday -- it's a picture my brother, Scott took one Christmas where a bunch of us were in the front room playing a board game and just laughing away. The picture is filled with orbs. It's really something.

Well I'm rambling ... and my lunch hour is over (way over). I just wanted to say that I'm so grateful for my dad, for what he taught me and for his steadfastness and surety in Gospel truths. He taught me everything I needed to bring me great happiness and put me on a good course, and I love him very much. I hope he's celebrating today in the Spirit World! And I hope he gets a HUGE cake to eat!

(My dad - surrounded by some of his sketched cartoons)

WHOOO-HOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

YES YES YES!!!! We heard from our vet today and he told us that the pathologist found NO CANCER in Brizzy's biopsy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHEEEEEEE!!!

Who says prayers don't work?!

Of course he did add the caveat that it's possible there's something deeper in Brizzy's bone that wasn't reached, so we're not totally out of the woods yet. BUT we choose to think that the Lord has decided we could keep our little woof around for a while longer. He'll be on strong antibiotics for another week and then we'll see what's next ... another biopsy, or something else.

But for today ... TODAY is a GOOD DAY!!!!!

We soldier on

2008-09-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well there are lots of other things I want to write about (Super Saturday will be next!) and oh my goodness! I'm really behind the times in creative stuff I can do with this blog (I can't believe some of the cool stuff I'm seeing on you, my friends' blogs), but right now our sweet little Brizzy is still very heavily on my mind. So here's a quick update before I head on home (and to bed):

We haven't gotten The Word yet on the biopsy - still waiting. We are both hopeful and anxious and I'm not sure if "no news is good news" as Ruth keeps saying, or if no news means "We are reticent about calling and giving you the bad news." We keep hoping for good news though. The Briz has been given a pain reprieve thanks to all of the wonderful prayers offered on his behalf, the power of the Priesthood, and the "quiet" he's been forced to endure (lots of staying in the house, no running, jumping, etc.). Even getting into the car for some rides has been easier thanks to our wonderful Home Teacher, Brother Bennett who came over and cut some board down for us to use as a ramp from ground to car seat. Ruth glued carpet down onto one of the boards and it's worked like a charm.

Ever since last week when everyone began praying in earnest for Brizzy and some of Heavenly Father's power was offered on his behalf, the little woof has acted almost like his normal self. It was evident the pain had receded and he felt better. He even wanted to play. It's been such a gift and I have felt deeply grateful. Today he's hurting a bit again, though not too bad (I hope). He certainly did attempt to exert his independence though when I got home! Hah. He has had enough of our crazy rules. Here he is -- Brizzy making a statement:

"Hmpfh, make me stay in that house any longer?! I don't think so! I'll just show you by going into MY house to work on my basement for a while." (Notice how a tree has taken over the next-door apartment? Gotta pull that baby outa there someday ...)
"Okay, let's get some good dig on!"
"And I'm just going to sit here for a minute ..." (you can't see him very well, but he's in there) ...
"And it's hard with this darn foot, but I'll just dig a little bit more because I want to."
"Okay, enough of that. NOW I'm going around to the back yard and don't you try to stop me!"
"And to REALLY make a point, I'm sitting myself down right here and not budging."
Even when I tried to coax him with "Go for a ride?!" He wasn't havin' it. He just sat there and looked at me as if to say, "I dare you." I finally got him with food though. He's always up for "Want a treat?!" (Thank goodness for peanut butter and carrots!!!!!) And THEN we went for that ride. Cowboy was going manic -- we had to.

A side note: You may think Ruth and I are a little crazy, but we've chosen to use everything we can think of at our disposal, to help Brizzy. We have even visited a natureopathic (is that a word?) healer-lady who reads irises, and who gave us a very interesting regime of homeopathic products to follow. AND I wire-wrapped two stones for the Briz to wear. See this?

That's amethyst and lapis lazuli. Both are healing stones and have very positive vibrations. Okay I know, that's just waayyy weird (to some). But hey, everything on this earth is made up of the same protons, neutrons and electrons, true? It makes perfect sense to me that the electrons in stones could vibrate to the same frequency as some of our cells and generate energy. Why not? In the end, isn't that how we utilize food energy? At any rate, I agree with the iris-lady who said that the Lord has given us all the tools we need on this earth to take care of ourselves. I have learned that the power of prayer and the power of the Priesthood are the greatest of all and should be our main focus, but there's nothing wrong with utilizing some of these other tools as well. I plan to add rose quartz and citrine very soon, too. And you want to know something odd? I was recently drawn to all four of those stones (the two in the above picture and the two I'll be adding) at a recent gem show. I just had to get them. Who knows? Maybe it was a foreshadow of my need for them. Or maybe I just got lucky. All I know is I'm happy to add them to the arsenal. :-) Sweet Brizzy aside, I do love gemstones. I've always been drawn to them.

A Horrifying Possibility

2008-09-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

We had some terrible, terrible news on Tuesday evening. Here we thought we were only dealing with arthritis in Brizzy's shoulder and maybe a pinched nerve, and instead our vet told us he was 80% sure our sweet little woof has ... I can hardly write the words ... bone cancer. The horrible C-word. I'm a mess -- Ruth's a mess -- it's too awful to believe.

It came on so fast. Only just a few weeks ago Briz was fine and then the next day he was limping a little. When it didn't improve we took him to our vet who diagnosed arthritis ... understandable since when you lift Brizzy's leg you can hear the little click-click in his leg. He gave Briz a cortizone shot for the pain and sent him home with a full array of drugs, and told us we had to keep Brizzy quiet (QUIET!!) for three flippin' weeks. THREE WEEKS?! What was he, nuts?! You tell me how to prevent an Aussie-Healer from running, barking, jumping, etc. for any length of time?! Hah. And this for a dog who doesn't even know the meaning of the word "crate" or "cage". THAT was not an option, obviously. Instead Ruth and I worked out an elaborate system: the bank is letting her take 2 vacation days a week and for the other 3 days I'm working 4 hours, going home for the afternoon, then going back to work in the evening for 4 more hours after Ruth gets home. For the 4 hours I'm at work we have to keep the Boyz locked up in the house and pray they'll be peaceful, be able to "hold it," etc. Not easy, but we're all dealing with it. Brizzy thinks we're crazy -- especiall when we make him go into his own front yard on a leash (of all things).

This picture is of the spot where they shaved Briz and gave him the cortizone shot. Looks bad, but boy was he feeellliinnn' guuuddd when the shot took full effect. I wish it had lasted ... only two weeks later and he's hurting pretty badly again.

On Tuesday morning I noticed that Brizzy was completely dragging his front paw, and that really worried us. Ruth took him back in to our vet and this time he took an x-ray. Some of the bone has been eaten away ... a pretty deadly sign. But he said it's possible he could be wrong -- it could be a bacterial infection like Cowboy had last year and miracles do happen, yes? Prayers are powerful things. Maybe it will turn out to be an infection, or if it is cancer maybe the Lord will be merciful and will stop it from metastacizing, and maybe there'll be something we can do for his quality of life and he can stay with us a couple more years ... Maybe, Maybe, Maybe ...

I hate the idea of Brizzy having cancer. He is such a sweet, SWEET dog. I especially hate the realization that he is hurting. And I can't even bear the thought of him not being here for much longer. I am really struggling with this. For any of you who may think it's slightly silly to love an animal this much, let me just say that ... well, I hope you don't think like that. It is absolutely possible to love these marvelous beings as deeply as we do a child, a friend, a family member -- and losing them can be just as deep a hurt. At this point (as I told a friend), I'm trying to prepare for the worst while hoping and praying for the best. Pray for a miracle! Or if there isn't supposed to be a miracle, I'd appreciate your prayers for strength.

Who said corn on the cob was just for peoples?

2008-09-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I was telling Debbie how Brizzy and Cowboy have been enjoying Ruth's corn right along with the rest of us. She thought it was hilarious when I told her that they ate it much like we peoples do. I promised her some video shots the next time we ate corn so ... HERE YA GO!

Brizzy is better at eating corn than Cowboy is ...

But Cowboy isn't bad either ...

Aussie-Healers are such intelligent woofs ... gotta love 'em.

Green Things

2008-09-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that we're seeing September already. WHERE did the summer go?! In fact, where has this year gone?! Before we even blink we're going to be singing Christmas songs and slogging through the snow (well, some of us will be snow-bound ... the rest of you will probably just be cold!). Several of you know my personal theory (I really believe it's true): I think the world is spinning just a bit faster than it used to and therefore a second isn't as long as a second used to be. I was talking to my brother, Scott yesterday and he gave me another interesting theory: he thinks the earth is tilting a bit too. That could help to explain why the light is changing from summer light (yellow light) to fall light (a bluer light where everything looks a bit sharper) almost a MONTH early these days!!!!!!!!!!!

"Sigh."

Well, in honor of summer I wanted to talk about my "granola months" (I've been doing all sorts of hippie-like things such as sprouting, herbs, etc.) but that'll be next post. Seems like everyone around me is canning, freezing, putting things up, etc. and for the first time in my life I'm feeling just a little envious and a little left out. I never had a canning urge in my life until this year. Isn't that odd? But FIRST I want to talk about Ruth's garden.

I've so enjoyed watching it grow this year. Ruth always grows green peppers and banana peppers every year, and she has a huge strawberry patch she's cultivated in an old swimming pool set up on cinder blocks (darn, I forgot to take a picture of it). I usually don't pay a lot of attention to the garden, either. But this year was different. A good man in our ward helped Ruth build a raised garden space in the middle of our big, dusty, lawn-free backyard where there was good full sun. Ruth decided to try her hand at some new stuff: corn and white bulb onions, PLUS her usual green peppers, banana peppers and one zucchini plant (which is PLENTY - that sucker is producing like crazy!). She even let me plant my one lone tomato bush in the corner of her garden plot. I try one tomato plant each year, to see if I can actually do it. I haven't had much success but I keep trying. Most years Ruth takes over because I just flat-out forget about it. Last year I was too diligent and over-watered the poor baby (and all the little tomatoes got bottom rot). This year I decided to try a Roma tomato plant and I'm only watering once a week, deeply, at the excellent suggestion of a good friend.

But I digress (to myself, wouldn't you know it?). Here's the crazy part: Ruth also ended up planting a bunch of potatoes! She said she was cutting off a bunch of potato eyes one evening and she thought, "Hmm, I wonder if these would grow? Awwww, I don't want to deal with all that work." But before she could even stop herself she had propelled herself out the door and found herself planting all those eyes in a little plot right next to her garden. It's so funny -- she said one minute she was thinking "No way" and the next minute she found herself on her knees, digging in the dirt! Hahahaha. Well shock and of all shocks - ALL those eyes grew into potato plants. She hasn't dug any up to see if there are actual potato roots, but that's coming. I hope there are!

So ... everyone got such a late start here this year because winter lasted so long, and many of us have wondered if our gardens would grow. Last year we didn't get to grow food-stuff at all in our area because the city sprayed a powerful poison to eradicate the Japanese beetle bug. This year (bless them!) they used a pesticide that allowed us to eat our fruits and veggies. But then the weather stayed cold longer than usual. Still ... we're seeing rewards at last and it's soooo satisfying. Here's my picture chronicle -- enjoy!

RUTH BEGINS ... new dirt, new space ...

Notice Brizzy ... he (and Cowboy) have to "help" with anything we're doing:

All those little plant babies just waiting to stretch their root-toes ...

Do you see the dots of yellow? Those are marigold plants ... they're supposed to keep away some of the pesky bugs (not to mention mosquitoes). I LOVE marigolds. I've decided they're my favorite flower. They are so bright and colorful and happy-looking AND hearty.

There were some anxious weeks when I kept wondering if anything would really grow (I don't think Ruth ever doubted, though), and then ... like a miracle ... everything just started to expand in a very short time:

The following picture should show you Ruth's potato patch. It's right in front in its own little box. Just LOOK at how high the potato plants have grown! All from eyes. Amazing. You also notice the spiky wooden posts and the big white vinyl siding? That's to keep Cowboy and Briz out, if you can believe it. Ruth was afraid the Boyz would tromp through the middle of the dirt (they would) and maybe even lie down among the greenery (again, they would). But one thing we didn't expect: Cowboy kept eating the corn stalks. He had a bad bout of "I-think-I'm-sick-and-I-MUST-eat anything-green-so-I-can-fix-it". Sheesh. He even ate all the green leaves off one of Ruth's plants in the house (but again I digress -- that's a story for another day).

Everything continues to grow ...

And just look at how high the corn is getting! MAN it was exciting to see those puppies shoot up. So pretty and so ... REAL! Real corn!!!!!!! Wow.

Here's my tomato plant ... it's not easy to see - just looks like a big bush. It sure is thick but it has a LOT of green tomatoes (still ... they keep ripening one or two at a time, which is very odd but a relief):

And HERE is Ruth and her successful garden (well, you get a good view of the corn anyway. It was so pretty with the late afternoon sun shining through the leaves and a storm-darkening sky in the background, I ended up going for an artsy picture rather than a "see this," like I was supposed to be doing):

At last - some of the bounty! I couldn't decide which picture I liked better so you get them both:

We just have the zucchini and corn pictured because the peppers are still growing and just getting ready to be picked. Every time I look at these pictures I laugh, because that one zucchini looks like a big honkin' worm crawling up Ruth's shoulder! Hahahahahaha. But let me show you MY bounty (hah):
Not quite as impressive as Ruth's foods but still I'm proud of myself. I added a green tomato in there because they are just staying green for the longest time!!!!! Longer than is usual.

And lastly, just for fun I've thrown in a picture of Ruth's mimosa tree, which is actually growing:

She has one in the front yard too but it's nothing but a stick. She's going to have to admit defeat with that one and take it down before winter sets in. I want to tell you about this mimosa tree though ... these are special to Ruth because when she was a little girl growing up in southern Louisiana, her dad decided to bring in mimosa trees to sell. All the mimosa trees you see growing in her area are directly connected to her dad. So when we saw one at the Water Conservation Garden in Riverton a few years ago she freaked. She had no idea they could grow here in this desert climate. But they do! She found two and planted one in our backyard, one in the front. This lovely little guy has survived ... and each year he's getting bigger and stronger and bushier. Really wonderful, yes?

So there you have it: Ruth's garden. I have promised Debbie that the next time Ruth eats one of her corns I will take a little movie with my camera of the Boyz eating her corn (they eat it just like we humans do, with our front teeth). The corn she grew is very sweet, by the way. YUM!

Another Year Down - still kickin'

2008-08-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

So in the Tag I just answered on Saturday I didn't put my age down and then yesterday I realized how dumb that was because of course most of you know my age, and some of you ARE my age!!! Silly Silly Silly. So now I'll state it plainly: I turned 51 years old last week. Still can't believe it. But hey, you've heard the new addage: "40's are the new 20's, 50's are the new 30's, 60's are the new 40's, etc." It seems to be true, yessir.

I really enjoyed my birthday last Wednesday - it was much quieter than some in the past but suited me just fine. And I felt loved and remembered, which is the important thing, right? Well that and the fact that I celebrated another year of life (the alternative isn't so attractive, eh?). The last couple of years I've felt especially grateful for this, and in my morning prayer I tried to make it a prayer strictly of gratitude, offering thanks for everything good in my life that I could think of. I did end up with a few requests at the end, but hey I'm not perfect ... yet. :-)

I decided to go into work a little later than usual (worked late on Tuesday so I had the comp time) and I made myself a birthday breakfast (rare, because you know how much I don't cook):

Buttered whole wheat toast, an omelet with onions and tomatoes, and grape juice. I forgot to add some basil from my plant - oops! I was going to try a little lemon verbena from my other herb plant too but forgot. Hahaha, the age thing was REALLY kicking in.

The work day was pleasant and not too stressful (yay!) and then I had the opportunity to go out to dinner with my 3 sissies, Nancy, Sue and Ruth (I consider Ruth my third sister). We went to a place we'd never been to before: a little Mexican restaurant in Lehi (just near the Saratoga Springs/ Harvest Hills crossroad) called "Cafe El Lago LLC." I picked it (birthday girl had to pick) and I based it on some rave reviews we read online. Okay, I have to admit the raves about their chips & salsa were dead-on ... they were REALLY REALLY good (hot, homemade and tasty) but everyone's main dishes were "good but nothing to rave about." I think Sue, Nancy and Ruth all had the taco salad and I had Nachos (of course!). But it wasn't bad food -- it was just good food -- but not "rave about" food. Does that make sense? Our waitress was darling (extremely helpful) and the atmosphere was pleasant and I so enjoyed spending the time with my 3 sissies. Here's our mug shots:

Nancy ...
Sue Bee ...
Ruth ...
(Ruth hates to have her picture taken but she succumbed since it was my birthday)

and Me!

And how did I end the day? Hahahaha - sorting beads so I could get back to making some bracelets!
I had a divider tray of different kinds of beads open up in my storage bag recently and they had a jolly good time combining themselves into one big mess. I'm too anal to allow that to remain, so I began laboriously dividing them back into their individual piles. Ack.

Along with a terrific dinner with my family, all during the day and evening I heard from my mom and my dear friends (via e-cards, phone calls, e-mails) and several people in the ward, and my poor brother tried to leave a message but our message box on our phone was full. Sorry Scott! I'm so fortunate to have such good people in my life. I didn't expect my other brother, Dave to remember and that's okay. :-) I often forget his birthday too, I'm mortified to say. But I know that we love each other anyways. My birthday has continued on for a few days, as Ruth and our good friend Wendy-Lady went to breakfast on Saturday morning (here she is - such a great person):

... and my friend and co-worker Margaret made a FABULOUS orange cheesecake with chocolate swirls and brought it in for everyone to share, today:

Talk about GOOD -- oh my. Margaret's cheesecakes are legend here and I swear she could rival the Cheesecake Factory, if she wanted to. Thank you Margaret!

I was blessed with some gifts too, though I'm so embarrassed because I told my sissies and some friends "no gifts please" and then I completely forgot to tell others! (Ack, it's that short-term memory thing going on again). I'm delighted with them though:

A lovely necklace from Debbie ... the pendant is hand ... hmmm, what do you call it when the design is carved into metal? This on-line designer has wonderful designs, you should check her site out (http://lisaleonardonline.com/).

The bird has special meaning ... it's to remind me that I should always think of the tag line I have on my blog ("life is a song worth singing"). And it IS, isn't it? Thank you Deb!

And Wendy gave me a beautiful opal pendant that matches some earrings we (she, Ruth and I) bought at a recent gem faire we went to in Salt Lake:

I'm afraid you'll have to look closely ... I should've had Wendy zoom the camera closer so you could see the pendant better. It's a lovely opal blue. Thank you Wendy! Hey ... I actually like this picture of myself - haha! I'm missing my glasses because I was trying to read the menu and I can't read with my glasses on. HAH! Can hardly read with them off, either.

Along with the good experience of my birthday, I've been doing some reflecting. I had a rather disconcerting experience in church yesterday -- my first "age-related terror moment" I think. I was in Sacrament Meeting and smiling over Karla's little girl who was offering a flirty smile to Adam's little boy (they were in the pews in front of me) and the thought crossed my mind, "Those kids are going to be so cute when they get into Young Men/Young Women, and maybe they'll even date each other." And THEN my terror moment ... my mind moved on: "Oh wow. I will be almost 65 years old when they DO get into YM/YW!!!!!!!" It absolutely horrified me ... not because I think that 65 is terrible but because I DO NOT want my life to end!!!!! I want to keep living and living and living. But, nor do I want to experience the possible illnesses many people face in their older years, either. And that's where my mind went next ... the potential for really difficult illnesses. My mind said, "I can't get old because I am ALL ALONE!!!" (translation: I am without a man). That makes no sense whatsoever because I know the Lord takes care of all of us, but it's what came unbidden to my mind. I have to wonder, do other single women my age have this same worry? Do the single men?

Well I didn't expect to have such a strong, freaky feeling overtake me but I pushed it back and resumed listening to the talk being given. It haunts me a little, but there's no stopping the clock, is there? It means I need to remember to NOT take one day for granted. Each day lived is a gift.

And on that note, let's end with something lighter and perhaps a bit of silliness, shall we? I found my very favorite poem from when I was a teenager -- it completely reflects my feelings about this amazing earth-ride (and it's what I wrote on the vellum page across from my high school graduation picture):

I am a child of God
I am in love
with life;
I live for today ...
I am today;
I love beautiful things.
I touch the dawn, and reach for the dusk.
I see sunbeams
I touch warmth
I hear music
I smell freshness
I taste happiness
I love my friends;
they make my life sing.
Life itself -- it's beautiful
Live!
I am alive -- and I love it.
(anonymous)

And one I've always loved, that also reflects some of my experiences (or maybe the tantrums I've thrown):

Old Tree,
How many storms you
Have withstood
While I,
Frail creature,
Find myself dismayed
By one.

And then let's show you what MY 50's look like:

Okay, I'm being silly ...

But Pretty Darn Good for an OLD LADY, eh?

I could go on and on but you'd go crazy, yes? (And this is getting a little narcissitic).

One tag down ... a couple to go

2008-08-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

Okay - this is going to be strange but I'm willing to give it a try. Hey Debbie, remember all those "about me" surveys you forwarded over the years which I (being the slacker that I am) sometimes filled out but usually didn't? (Thank goodness you had others who did.) I guess tags are the on-line version, eh? Jamie -- I'm trying to conform ... ;-)

So Jamie tagged me (and others) a couple of days ago (I think Debbie has in the past and Margaret too) ... I'm trying to change my non-responsive ways and I thought I'd start with Jamie's (since it's the most recent). I want to try the others, too. And me being me ... you get mine with commentary. HAH! But here's how this one works:

"For each question, look up the answer on Google image search. Then choose your favorite image from the FIRST PAGE OF RESULTS ONLY. I've tagged Four people below ... and I'll be watching for your posts!" (Yeah Jamie, I couldn't figure out the link thing either. All it'll give you in the end is the picture rather than the website it came from)

NAME:
(Who in the world WERE all those people in the image gallery with my name?!! I liked this person the best):
http://arthurshafman.com/artists/judyglen/
FAVORITE FOOD:
(Hands down - not even a contest here. And I WANT that cone! Plus, this image reminds me of my Dad and his brothers, and the 7-scoop cones he said they ate as kids)
http://www.graniteschools.org/jr/eisenhower/ice_cream.html

FIRST JOB:
(I guess technically it was babysitting, but this was my first "grown up" job)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_cleaning

NICKNAME:
Hmmm. I don't really have one. The closest I ever came was what my BFF's dad used to call me in fun ("Nudy Judy") and I am NOT going there!

WHERE I WAS BORN:
(Born in Provo, grew up in Southern California. I'm a beachy-mountain kinda girl)
http://www.utah.com/provo/

(Look at this next picture, Debbie! I couldn't resist!! ... someone else is doing a "rear view mirror series" too, it looks like!!!! Hahahahahaha! (Inside joke my friends & family -- I've been taking pictures of various scenes from and with my rear view mirror for a while now. Someday I'll "publish" my series ... but probably just in a post. :-)

BAD HABIT:
(Unfortunately there are many ... I settled on this one ... though when I'm burning the midnight oil, it's usually because I'm playing and not because I'm working hard)
http://www.goenglish.com/BurningTheMidnightOil.asp

COLLEGE DEGREE:
(sorry - I wasn't 100% sure on how to image this one. I have a Bachelor's in Family and Community History)
http://history.byu.edu/family/index.htm

WHERE I WANT TO GO:
(So bad I can taste it ...)
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage

FAVORITE PLACE:
(Hands down - my favorite place in the whole wide world)
http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/zion.htm

FAVORITE COLOR:
(I only recently decided this was my favorite color ... it's taken me years to admit it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_blue_(color)

FAVORITE ANIMAL:
(Of course. You'll probably have to click on the link to get a really good feel for this pic)
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/03/05/cc-dogs

PAST LOVE:
(I don't know if this is a cop out or not ... I was never one to worship movie stars or music idols and I'm not about to list the guys in my life I've liked/loved (hah!) BUT I dearly dearly DEARLY loved dancing [and still do])
http://www.squidoo.com/modernballroomdancing

and YES I admit it -- I DO like disco!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4IlqVdbTKI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwV2ksu0-z0

WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW:
(kinda obvious ...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

WHERE I LIVE:
(I guess this one doesn't really need a link, eh?)

FAVORITE OBJECT:
(Any and all genres ... well, except for maybe westerns and war stories)
http://bestsellers.about.com/od/readingrecommendations/Reading_Lists_Recommendations.htm

GRANDMA'S NAME:
(I couldn't decide which one, so I included them both. They're both gone, but definitely not forgotten)
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGall2.asp?catID=508

(Sorry Jamie - I sort of copied your hurricane idea):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Nora_(1997)

AGE:
(Hmmm ... how secure am I? Should I put my real age or make you guess ...?)

Sorry - not very secure. HAH!

You know what?! This took me a long time to do (I'm too anal) but it was fun! I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else does.

So here you go, tagged people: Debbie, Margaret, Candace and ... gosh, I don't have a 4th person who has a blog going! Too new at this I guess. No No! Carol - when you get your blog going, consider yourself tagged. :-)

A most excellent group of people

2008-08-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here's our work party slide show - oops, it looks like it posted BEFORE my discussion of our party -- I tried to get it after but didn't work. So view these after you read the post below. And if you need a plug-in to view this and the video below, I think you can download those free and w/out harm.

A Most Excellent Work Party

2008-08-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

[I'm trying a couple of new stunts in this post ... a video and a cool slide show that I stole from Margaret (hehe). Well, I didn't completely steal the slide show from Margaret, but I got her to show me how to create one and she also put up a slide show of similar pictures from our work party. She was first, so I'm the copycat. ;-) I hope these stunts turn out!]

A couple of Saturday's ago our little department at work got together for a most excellent Saturday. We gathered at the cabin of Chad and Sara, my most excellent co-workers. :-) Here they are ... my illustrious co-workers:

It's pretty cool when you can be a young couple who owns a home and a family cabin, eh? I thought it was great of them to invite us all up for a day of fun-in-the-sun, and I'm sure hoping that a tradition has begun, because it was an awful lot of fun. Their cabin is in the mountains up Payson Canyon (I think) ... in fact, it's in the same general area as Camp Shalom, where Girl's Camp is held. Here's a picture of the area ... beautiful, isn't it?

And here's a picture of the front of their cabin (tho the picture doesn't do it justice one bit):

Everyone from our department went except for Nate who (I think I remember him saying) doesn't feel comfortable doing parties & the like. Too bad -- he's a great guy with a fun sense of humor; he would've added a lot. A few of our team went up on Friday evening (John and a couple of his sons, and also Margaret and Steve) and from what I hear they had a GREAT night playing poker. Who won the $$, everyone? I don't think I ever figured out the final outcome. One of John's sons pitched a tent outside and the rest found various sleeping spots in the cabin. The rest of us (myself, Karen and Gary, John's wife in one car and later on Dave and his son in their own car) came up Saturday morning. Gary, Karen and I had ourselves a feast at Denny's Restaurant before picking up Patty (John's wife) and we had an enjoyable drive up to the cabin. Patty declined to join us for breakfast ... I think she said she wanted to sleep in more than she wanted to eat - hehe. I sure enjoyed getting to know Patty better -- she's a really nice person and we all yakked up a storm in the car!

As I said, we had a great day. John and his boys went fishing at the nearby lake during the morning, while Chad and Steve played on their ATV and motorcycle. Some of us learned to chop wood (I've always wanted to do that!) though Steve did the lion's share of the chopping. Hah! Check out the video ... it'll give you a little idea of just how good I was (not). We all got a hearty laugh out of it:

After that adventure, Sara took some of us (me, Karen & Gary, Margaret, Patty) on a most excellent hike above the cabins. (Hey Sara, is that "Sara" or "Sarah"?! I'm embarrassed to say I'm not sure!) It was a great hike up the mountain, on a neighbor's private property (we went about 3/4 of a mile, I believe). They put up a little "Nature Walk" sign and allow their neighbors to enjoy the path. Pretty considerate, I think. We had to take it slow because Gary is recovering from recent heart surgery. Can you believe he was out there hiking up an inclined trail at 9,000 feet?! Crazy! He did okay, but there were a few stops along the way where he scared us a little. I think by the end of the day we'd really worn him out. I'm amazed that he participated as much as he did. And I have to admit, I was secretly relieved that we stopped often because as you can obviously seen from my beautiful physique, I'm not yet in perfect shape!!!! HAH!

When we got back from our hike Margaret prepared a most excellent lunch/dinner (hmmm ... what would a late afternoon meal be called?! It's "brunch" for breakfast/lunch but no one's ever given a name to eating mid-afternoon. Hmmm ... how about "linner"? (If you prefer lunch/ dinner) "Lupper"? (If you prefer lunch/supper)). Margaret loves to cook dutch oven and she's DARN GOOD at it. Gary brought his dutch oven cooking paraphernalia (sp?) too and what a great feast we had. We helped some with the cooking (my part was stirring the chicken while it cooked on/in the fire pit) and we all certainly enjoyed eating everything. Margaret made chicken enchiladas (mild in one pot, spicy in the other) and cornbread that puffed up sky high. Hah! The size of it was quite the surprise. It sure was delicious though. Later on we had dessert that Gary made in his dutch oven ... an apple spice cake I think it was, with vanilla ice cream. We all ate sitting around the back patio fire pit, enjoying smoke from the fire (hah) and that fabulous mountain air. One thing I really enjoyed: clouds rolled in and the sky got dark while we were cooking (and eating). We thought for sure we'd get some rain but it never happened. How d'ya like that? Spared! (Though everyone who came up Friday evening got caught in some good rain, I hear.) It then rolled out again and left the afternoon sparkling and sunny again.

After "Lupper" (I LIKE that word!) John and his family took off for home, while the rest of us went down past the lake to a nice open field where we shot skeet. YES! REALLY! It was a most excellent adventure (for me, anyway). We mostly used Steve's rifle, though we also tried our hand with his .38 pistol too. THAT is the first time I have EVER held a gun in my life! I tried the rifle a couple of times, though I wasn't very good at it -- and I also tried the gun just once. I didn't like the gun at all ... it scared me, it made my ears hurt, and I didn't know how to be very careful with it. I liked the rifle much, much better. Sara, Margaret, Steve, Chad, Dave ... they all did pretty good! Karen, Dave's son and I didn't hit the little clay pigeons, but we came close a few times. :-) Or hey Karen, did you hit one? I can't remember for sure ... you might have! Gary didn't shoot at all because it was too dangerous for his recovering heart.

I have to say I was very impressed with Steve and Chad, who were very cautious with both the rifle and the gun, and they went out of their way to make sure we all handled them carefully. They were very responsible and I admired that. All in all it was pretty fun and I'd like to try it again sometime. Actually, I've wanted to learn how to shoot a gun for a while now -- I feel it's important to know how to handle one without fear. If there ever comes a time when we'll have to defend ourselves or our property, I feel it's more dangerous to have never handled a gun than to have used one and not be so afraid of it.

Well we finally had to call it quits in the early evening and everyone went back up to the cabin and pretty much packed it up. Karen, Gary and I left in our car first, followed by Dave and his son ... Margaret and Steve left a little later and I think Sara and Chad came on home too rather than staying at the cabin for another night. On the way home Karen pulled the car over at a Mammoth historical marker site ... did you know that a prehistoric wooly mammoth was discovered at this 9,000 feet spot? Amazing. Here's a link to some info: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM21XW. I didn't even know it existed - that's how unenlightened I am! Pretty cool, though. Dave and his son pulled up right behind us and we all hiked down the short path to a small viewing area and the marker. There was some lively debate about where the site actually was, from our viewing spot. :-)

We arrived home just after 8:00 p.m., pleasantly tired. You know, it's a pretty wonderful and rare thing when you can work with people who you like well enough to play with, too. Our whole department gets along great with each other, and I think we each recognize how lucky we are to have this kind of a working relationship. It reflects in our business too -- because we truly like each other we work well together and try hard to assist each other, instead of one-upping or backbiting or playing corporate games. I think our product and services are of a higher quality because of it.

So ... now it's time for the slide show ... I hope it works and I hope you enjoy it! Let's see if I can describe everyone off really quickly: Sara is blond and wearing a BYU sweatshirt, Chad is in a turquoise blue shirt, Margaret is wearing army pants and a red sweatshirt, Steve has the shorter hair and looks strong, Dave is the very tall guy, John is the comfortable, laid-back guy (and I think he's wearing a dark blue shirt), Patty has dark hair and I think she's sitting next to John in one of the pictures), one of John's sons (can't remember which one!) is holding several bottles in one picture, Dave's son is the youngest one there, Karen is wearing a fun camp hat and Gary is wearing a light blue shirt (I think). He's a little balding too. :-) And of course you know who I am! Oh, and by the way ... there's one little picture of some furry lumpy things ... those are BATS!!!!! The little guys all cram in between the shutter and the window pane in Chad and Sara's bathroom!!! HAH! They absolutely and completely fascinated me. I wish I could've gotten a better picture of them. So ... enjoy!

WHO WOULDA THOUGHT ...?

2008-08-07T14:00:00.001-07:00

Oh ... My ... GOSH! Who would've thought teenage girls could be so much FUN?!!!!!! Hah. Did I ever get my eyes opened last Wednesday. It was Relief Society night at Girl's Camp. Whee!

I'm Enrichment Counselor in our Ward Relief Society presidency, which means I got to go. Only Donna (our president) and I were able to go up ... unfortunately our Education counselor (Linda) couldn't join in because she works for the county and they're now on the new 10-hour-day/4-day work week plan (she's not happy about it). Our secretary (Jennifer) couldn't go either because she is very, very pregnant! We missed them both :-( and they missed a good time!

I've only gone to Girl's Camp just once in my life: last year when our stake was scheduled for early June and there was a terrible amount of snow. They were confined to the cabin and a very cold pavilion and though it was fun, I don't think they had the same freedom to do all the stuff they'd planned on. This year it rained on and off but never during the important parts, so it was a whole different experience. The first two years of our Relief Society presidency I didn't get to go (yes it's true: we HAVE been in now for over 3-1/2 years! I suspect that's heading towards a record; sounds like very few presidencies go past 3 years, if even that). Seems like everyone is familiar with Camp Shalom but me ... but I've never had a calling in Young Women's (yet) and when I was a teeny-bopper (oh yeah, that's an "age-me" word!) Girl's Camp was NOTHING like it is now. And I grew up in California so I went to places like Joshua Tree Monument out in the desert - hah! (Remember Camp, Debbie?) I have to say that Camp Shalom is gorgeous.

And, as I said it was tons of fun. It was really neat to see so many moms there too, as advisors. They were having as good a time as the girls I think, tho the girls look kinda bored in this picture, don't they?! :->. Hah! When we first arrived they'd all been painting and designing pet rocks, and were just finishing up. Our ward's theme this year was "We Will Rock You" (as in the Savior is the Rock of our Salvation). After we arrived Jenie gathered us all together in the "meeting cabin". Jenie (Connors) is our ward's Camp Director ... Jenie is one of my heroes ... I want to be just like her (and several other women I deeply admire in our ward) when I grow up. She did a leadership and team-building test on us, based on whether the image of a square, a triangle, a circle or a squiggly line were most prevalent in our minds. Each symbol connected to certain personality strengths -- such as the fact that triangle people like all the rules to be defined and are good at being decisive. Squiggles on the other hand have a difficult time making decisions and often start (and don't finish) a whole bunch of projects. Hah! THAT part is definitely me (yep, I was a Squiggle, and so were a lot of the girls and sisters). All types have strengths and a good team is often made up of combinations of the four types.

That was an interesting exercise and it also served as a way to divide everyone up for the big event later on: the girl's annual toilet paper fashion show! In the meantime we got to watch the girls practice their skit (to be presented to the whole stake later on during evening devotional).

And while dinner was being prepared by the leaders and girls Donna, Valene and I put together the special treat WE brought for the girls: BTS (Better Than Sex) cakes! Or, also called BTA (Better Than Anything) cakes. I'm deprived: I'd never even heard of this cake before last year's girl's camp.

Donna (on the left) and Valene (on the right) look very blue because they are under an ingenious food tent designed by Mel Cossey. He created it using PVC pipe and blue tarp pieces and it was long, low and excellent for keeping dry from the rain. They used it mostly as a kitchen and a craft area, I think. The cakes were pretty easy to make: start with a 9x13 basic chocolate cake -- poke holes (evenly) all over the cake, (the handle part of a spoon works great, I learned) -- pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake, being sure to hit all the holes -- then pour caramel topping over that (fill EVERY hole) -- THEN pour chocolate topping over THAT (and ... you guessed it! Hit every hole) -- then frost the cake with Cool Whip and (if you don't forget to bring it) sprinkle crushed Skor candy bars over the whipped topping. Talk about RICH and MMMMM GOOD. Whew! Everyone was severely sugared out after dessert.

The girls and leaders made Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner -- a Mormon staple for bigger families and gatherings, I think! But how can you go wrong? Here's a link to one of the many recipe variations: http://www.mormonchic.com/recipe/recipebox/pages/missionaries.asp. There are a ton of recipes out there in Cyberspace but I like this particular link -- I thought it was kinda cool. And she has some other interesting recipes for you to see too. Line down a little ways to get to the Hawaiian Haystacks. Ours had rice, the sauce, chow mein noodles, chopped red & yellow bell peppers, pineapple tidbits, shredded coconut, apple pieces ... and hmm ... seems like I'm forgetting something, but I can't remember what!

It was a really good dinner. And soon afterwards all the wards gathered at the pavilion for the Stake evening devotional. I think some of the Relief Society presidencies went home at that point, but I'm so glad our ward's main activity was later on so we got to stay! I thoroughly enjoyed the devotional.

I caught Patrice Cossey, one of our Stake Leaders, REALLY roughing it at the devotional (can't see completely, but she's on a nice comfy lounge chair):

And here are some of the girls leading everyone in singing -- the girls assigned to help with this were Super Heroes and dressed accordingly. :-)

The Spanish branch Young Women did a skit, and one of the stake leaders (Jen Erickson) gave a really great devotional thought. I was touched and impressed by how quickly she brought the Spirit into the evening, and how inspired I was by what she had to say, even though I was a "visitor" and not a Young Woman. The girls also had a pie eating contest, tho I can't remember if it was before or after the devotional thought. Hah, I expected to see full pies but they were the itty-bitty 4" sized ones! Hahahaha. McCall Connors represented our ward and she won! We were hollering our heads off. In the photo (see next paragraph), McCall is in the yellow jacket and purple tutu ... that's Shayla Wyatt covering her mouth like she's going to gag. Hehe. You can't see her very well, but Dolly (darn! I forgot her last name) is holding the pie tin.

Finally after the flag was taken down and a closing prayer was said, everyone scattered back to their cabins and evening activities. And THAT's when we (Donna and I) had the chance to participate in the girls' "Third Annual Toilet Paper Fashion Show"! funfunfunfunfun. WE were the judges (ack!). This year Jenie added more criteria to the show: each team (formed earlier through the triangle/square/circle/squiggle exercise) had to create a dress from toilet paper AND they had to use 5 pre-selected items chosen from around the camp site = one of the girls had to model the dress = another girl had to emcee and describe the dress = the "model" had to do a talent = and then the team had to create and perform a commercial. The pre-selected items were things like oven mitts, a fly swatter (or was it a spatula?), a potato peeler ... crazy stuff like that. While the teams went about plotting their performance Donna and I hung out and talked with Jenie. She told us about the Spirit Walk they had planned for the girls on Friday; it actually brought tears to my eyes as she described it because it sounded WONDERFUL and I just knew it would impact the girls. I am ever impressed with Jenie's soul -- she is cool and hip and creative and deeply, deeply spiritual at the same time. She reminds me of my sisters. Like I said -- one of my heroes.

It was dark before the fashion show was under way, but that just added to the mystery and magic of it. We had to gather in the main A-frame cabin due to more rain but I'm glad we did -- the atmosphere was cozy and more intimate and since there were no inside lights we used flashlights and lanterns and THAT added to the atmosphere even more. Some of the Stake Leaders joined us and they were wearing jewelry made out of glow sticks. It was sooo cool ... all you could see was their giant glowing hoop hearings, necklaces and bracelets. I do love a good atmosphere. And the show was hilarious. The girls were all truly funny and clever and I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants (oops, that's sort of crass -- sorry). Donna and I were so entertained we kept forgetting who we had awarded what. Doggone it, we should've written it all down. It was extremely hard choosing winners in the first place and even harder remembering what we had decided -- but then, she and I ARE both squiggles! hehe. I worried a little that we didn't get it completely right and that some of the girls might have felt left out of the awarding ... we tried to get them all because they were ALL so GOOD! Below are each of the four dresses.

The girls had built up Demi's bust nice and high on their team's dress ... again, my picture doesn't do it justice. We all had a good laugh. Let's see if I can get their names ... Kiera Bretschneider, Berkleigh Allen, Demi Allen, and ... oh gosh (forgive me!), I think that's Haley Sorensen.

And sorry -- I just can't seem to get these pictures put in here right! Well, I had a fabulous time and we didn't leave until around 10:00 p.m., which meant we were driving through the canyon in the pitch dark (catching some deer in our headlights, but thankfully they were on the side of the road). Donna did a good job though and we made it back home safely by about 11:30 p.m. or so. And it didn't even rain on us during the drive home!

You know ... I had a small, bad experience with some Young Men and Young Women when Nate and I were married and living in Las Vegas years ago ... and though small it scarred my sensitive ego pretty badly. I've been afraid of the Young Women ever since. But these girls were so friendly and kind to us, I felt comfortable for the first time in many years. If I could think of the right words to say without sounding dumb I'd thank them, because they did me a great service -- performed a "healing," you might say. :-)

Little Garden Nuggets

2008-08-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our neighbors and good friends Ron and Candace shared some of their garden bounty with us. YUMMM! Green peppers for Ruth and cherry tomatoes (and I THINK tomatillos) for me. Those little suckers are so GOOD!

The two bigger Roma tomatoes lurking in the back are from MY tomato bush - yay! The first of the season and they actually GREW!

Aren't they all pretty? I'm not a big green pepper fan so those beauties are all Ruth's. But the tomatoes are MINE (good thing Ruth doesn't like fresh tomatoes -- works out well, doesn't it?). :-) Sunday I cut up a bunch of the tomatoes and created the following noodle dish (rather delicious, I might add):

* About a cup (okay, probably closer to 1 & 1/2 cups) of noodles. I used fettuchine but I think it would've been better with angel hair pasta.

* Leftover burnt butter from the Spaghetti Factory Mizithra Cheese recipe. http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/23/Spaghetti_with_Burnt_Butter38272.shtml.

* Some grated sharp, hard cheese (like parmesan) ... I used some leftover exotic cheese I bought at the new, fabulous Harmons grocery store in Draper http://www.harmonsgrocery.com/webdev.nsf/Start?OpenForm.

* Some cooked, cut up chicken.

* A bunch of those lovely little cherry tomatoes, cut up.

* A little bit of basil/garlic seasoning.

MMMMMMM. I heated up the butter to melt it, stirred in the chicken and tomatoes, added the noodles and seasoning and cheese, and stuck it all back into the microwave to heat everything back up. I was surprised at how good it was and the tomatoes gave it quite the nice "ping!"

When I tried the Spaghetti Factory recipe a couple of weeks ago I discovered that you only needed a small amount of the butter to flavor your pasta, so I got a lot more mileage (and a lot less calories) from the recipe. Lovers of the S.F. Mizithra Cheese dish beware -- that recipe calls for a CUP of the butter (if I remember right). If they pour all of that (or even a fourth of that) onto our dishes we are getting a lot of calories. (But oh good grief, it's so good, who cares?!) It's taken me a while to use up the butter. But it is SO good! Try it sometime. It was easy enough that I could make it.

Yesterday I cut up a whole bunch more of those lovely tomatoes and heated them up with my leftover Nachos from Los Hermanos (have you ever seen the SIZE of that appetizer! WHEW). I love love love a good plate of restaurant nachos, so that's what I ordered when I went to lunch with Ruth, Sabrina and her Mom on Saturday (which was a ton of fun, by the way). But YUMMMM! Oh my goodness those fresh little tomatoes were SO GOOD on that leftover pile of soft chips and cheese (lots of cheese ... I should be chagrined but I can't help myself ... I love cheese ... Jamie, I totally join in on your children's mantra that EVERYTHING is better with cheese). I was delighted at how fresh and sweet/sour the tomatoes tasted. And all that wonderful lycopene ... YES. If my roma tomato plant continues to turn out okay I'm gonna have to try growing cherry tomatoes next year too. I'm surely enjoying these. THANK YOU RON AND CANDACE!!!!

Pioneer Day concert - yippee!

2008-07-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's time for me to write a few words again -- this online journaling thing is kind of fun! :-) Though it takes some diligence and attention, I must say.

Thanks to my wonderful sissie, Nancy I had the opportunity to attend the annual Pioneer Celebration concert in Salt Lake City on Saturday evening. It was presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square and the guest performers were the Osmond Family (all of them!). http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/mormon-tabernacle-choir-and-osmonds-celebrate-utah-s-pioneer-day. What a wonderful experience it was. Tickets were given away (not sold) and many people won their tickets through an online drawing. Our dear friend Sabrina and her mom got tickets for the Friday night performance that way, and (bless them!) they had invited Ruth and I to go with them. But because the home fireworks were pretty bad in our area on Thursday (and Brizzy reacted so badly to them) I chose to stay home so I could take the dogs away during the "danger hours" (9:00-11:00 p.m.). I REALLY wanted to go but the Osmonds have special meaning for Ruth and I knew she needed to be the one to go. I never dreamed I'd still get the chance (bless you Sissie!). Here's a review of the Friday night performance: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10006248?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com&IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com.

By Saturday evening I think everyone had run through their fireworks quota (and it rained anyway - yay!) so I felt I could go. And it turns out Nancy had a ticket for Ruth so she got to go again too. :-) Ruth grew up in Cajun country in Louisiana, and she was one of the many MANY people introduced to the Church in her teen years by the Osmonds (oh that good-looking Donny -- he caught the eye of a lot of teens). You can see why they hold a special place in her heart. Someday if I can, I'll try to talk her into telling you her story.

What a wonderful experience the concert was! It was held at the Conference Center (and on that Saturday evening ALL 25,000 SEATS were filled - whew!). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_Center. We were on the far left side of the balcony and though some might think those were lousy seats, once the concert began it didn't matter at all thanks to the spirit of the music (and performers), the excellent accoustics and sound system, and the large screens on both sides of the podium (and above the heads of the choir). We arrived just a little before 6:30 p.m. and parked at the Triad Center which was about 4 city blocks away. Talk about a fast, hot walk with a HUGE crowd of people! Hah. Because of incoming storms it was NOT our usual bone-dry desert air ... oh no, we were dealing with at LEAST 25% humidity which for most of us desert-dwellers is a huge (and difficult) adjustment (you southerners would just laugh at 25% being "high humidity"). I was drip-ping wet by the time we walked our four blocks. Whew. Still, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. We had to meet up with Nancy to get the tickets from her, and at first we thought we weren't going to find her! The heat had zapped her cell phone. But we did connect and they let us in. Nancy and Randy's tickets were for a different section so we didn't get to sit with them (I would've loved to) but at least I got the chance to hug her before we parted ways. :-)

As I said, the concert was WONDERFUL. I am ever amazed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the beauty of their sound, and I really enjoyed the music they had chosen to sing. They were alternately serious and playful, and I thought it was cool that they backed up the Osmonds for most of their songs. They even participated in Donny and Marie's joking around by singing "She's a little bit couunntrryyy" ... "He's a little bit rock and rooolllllll." I was also very taken with the Osmond family. I've never been one of the many, many devoted fans but I've always enjoyed their music and I especially gained an appreciation of Donny's current music since that first album of current Broadway songs. Their talent is dead-on and the vocal BLENDING ... wow. I'll swear that kind of blend only comes among family members, you know? You see it with other performing family groups too.

I was deeply touched by a few things: first, I was struck by the thought that here was an incredibly talented family, big-time stars, performers all over the world for 50 years ... and they believe the same things I do. We feel the same, they and I! It was a tender thought. I felt a kinship with them ... and not just with the Osmond family but with all the people in the Choir and Orchestra too. I felt a feeling of FAMILY. We are all part of a family who believes in God, in our Savior Jesus Christ, and we are striving to be like Them. Secondly, the Osmonds were deeply emotional during some of their songs (especially when they sang, "Through the Years"). This concert was the culmination of their 50th Anniversary World Tour, and I'm sure they had many feelings about it ending, about how they loved each other, maybe even some thoughts that this might be the last time they ever performed all together. And they had to've been missing their parents who recently died. Their emotion touched me and I'm sure it touched most everyone else in the Conference Center too because everyone gave them a HUGE standing ovation. I wish you could have felt the electricity in the room -- the love between performers and audience just didn't come across on the re-broadcast. And people cheered for them for SEVERAL minutes -- way past the point when people usually stop clapping. I kept thinking, "It is such a privilege to be a part of this!" And since I'm a big softy, I cried a bit too (of course!).

Lastly, I had the most amazing experience at the very end, when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the final song, "Come Come Ye Saints." A traditional, well-beloved Mormon pioneer hymn and I have heard it and sang it a million times, but for some reason this time ... this rendition ... I don't know. There was a spirit to the song that just ... flowed outwards and I was caught up in it. I really, really felt the words of the hymn perhaps for the first time in my life. "Though hard to you, this journey may appear" ... "Happy Day, All is Well" ... "And should we die, before our journey's through ... we then are free from toil and sorrow too" ... "All is well, All is well." Suddenly, as the refrain "All is Well, All is Well" echoed through the verses, I got the strongest, strangest feeling that all WAS well and all IS good. It's so hard to explain. I even found my heart saying, "if I should have to give up my life right now I finally, finally could (though I don't EVER want to) because I have now begun to learn what REALLY matters. And I don't have to worry anymore -- Heavenly Father and the Savior really are in charge -- of everything." Wow. All IS well!

And you want to hear something shivery? When I talked to Mom the other day she said she had the same exact feeling through that hymn as she watched the re-broadcast on T.V. Wow. Maybe we were both given that gift because both of us have worried much about the future, about the horrible stuff happening in our world, about the welfare of our family and friends. Maybe both of us needed to know that truly, all is well indeed. I'm not sure of the "why's," but I'm sure of the experience and I feel much gratitude for it. What a great evening!

And there it goes ...

2008-07-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

Late last week we lost another "big one" in our neighborhood ... the giant, beautiful old maple in our neighbor's yard. It was just too old and I guess even trees have to eventually move on, yes? I wonder if there's a special place in the Spirit World just for trees? I hope so. It was harder to see this grand old monarch go than I thought. And it was sudden too. My neighbors didn't want to cut the tree down but as you can see in my photo string, they pretty much had no choice. The tree had cracks up the main trunk and one large branch had already sheared off during the last windstorm. Better to lose the tree than have it fall down onto their house, OUR house, another neighbor's house, or someone's car.

Still, these beautiful giant trees bring so much character to our neighborhood (not to mention all that good carbon dioxide going up into the atmosphere). It's sad to see them go ... it changes the face of our homes and street. It's kind of similar to what some of us were talking about yesterday: we have a lot of older people in our church Ward who bring so much character and value and wisdom and downright goodness to our area. We hate the thought of losing them someday, though it's a fact that we will because EVERYONE (and obviously EVERYTHING) must "graduate" eventually. But when it happens it changes the face of our neighborhood and it's just never quite the same again. I guess it shouldn't be ... moving forward is important.

Well, I may never get to spend time with this tree again, but I'm fully expecting (and wanting) to spend time again with our human monarchs, when we all meet (someday) in the Spirit World.

Ruth suggested to our neighbor that he pull up and plant one of the many, many baby treelings that keep coming up in our yard (the maple was VERY generous with its seeds) but he just laughed. I guess that means they plan to put down sod instead!

It does mean no more shade for our woofs, which ... you guessed it ... means THEY will get their coolness from another source (US, of course).

4th of July Vacation

2008-07-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

[WARNING WARNING -- I'm know for being a very ... WORDY person. This is a looonnngg post]

Every year for the past ... wow! Six or seven years now, Ruth and I have taken the dogs away for the 4th of July. It started out as a way to get them away from all the fireworks in our neighborhood (is there a dog out there who doesn't hate all those loud and painful homegrown fireworks?!). It has evolved into "the dogs' vacation." Who says dogs aren't smart beings? For a month leading up to "the big event" we told Brizzy & Cowboy: "You're going on vacation! You're going in 30 more sleeps ... 20 more sleeps ... 5 more sleeps ... one more sleep!" and they got extremely excited every time. Oh yeah, they know what "vacation" means:

This year we chose to go back to the Flaming Gorge area http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/flaming_gorge.htm:

Beautiful, isn't it? There's a great little motel in Manila, Utah called the Vacation Inn http://www.utah.com/lodging/profile978.htm that has about 25 units, each with a bedroom, kitchenette and pullout sofa bed in the "front room."

Most people who stay here are boaters and fisher-people and almost EVERYONE has at least one dog (because it's a "dog-friendly motel"). We picked Flaming Gorge because the motel had a swamp cooler and it was relatively close to home (just 4 hours away). Gas is a huge factor these days, isn't it? We'd try going south but it's just too darn hot that direction. No more hot places! Someday I'll tell you about last year's trauma when we almost lost our Miracle Dog, Cowboy to heat exhaustion. This is the view from the long porch outside Ruth's (and the dogs') bedroom:

I really like this picture ... to me there's something a little wild and isolated about it. Storm winds were coming in and blowing the trees, the sky was getting gray, and there the chair sat, abandoned.

This vacation was a lovely one -- I enjoyed it soooo much. As I told Debbie recently, I've been trying to get my "joyeux de vivre" back (is that the correct French for "joy of life"?) so I tried very hard to be "in the moment." It made a great difference. Flaming Gorge is a lovely area ... all those beautiful red mountains around the dam and it's right near the High Uintah Mountains, too. I've come to love forest almost (almost!) as much as I love the beach.

We drove up to Manila on Thursday evening (the 3rd), arriving just before dark. They put us into a smoking room by mistake (did you know that if you don't ask for a non-smoking room they assume you're a smoker?) but the couple caretaking the inn (FABULOUS people, by the way) went out of their way to figure out an alternative for us. It meant going into one room the first night and switching to another room the next night, but that's okay. A smoking room would've been very hard on the sinuses.

On the 4th we cooked ourselves a fabulous breakfast (french toast, real bacon, Ruth's homegrown strawberries, milk & juice), moved ourselves to our new room, then spent the rest of the day driving through the Sheep Creek Canyon scenic backway http://www.northamericanparks.com/ashley.asp ...

slowly making our way up to a lovely little place called Spirit Lake. And of course we got out several times to hike -- the dogs insisted on that!! Here's myself and Cowboy along one of the trails ...

And Ruth and the Boyz (Cowboy on the left, Briz on the right) along another trail:

My pictures are a little blurry these days ... sorry about that! I think the ole eyes are starting to go - ack! [By the way, my dear friend Debbie coined the term "Boyz" for our two dogs -- I love that description and I use it regularly now.]

The Innkeeper told us that Spirit Lake was a lovely little lake where light sparkled off the water all the time, and tradition had it that the native peoples said the light sparkles were spirits rising off the lake -- hence the name. We were really looking forward to seeing the lake and hoping to hike around it some. Hah! It didn't turn out quite as we hoped. A storm came into the area which sure took care of any sunlight on the water! See what I mean?

And OH ... MY ... GOSH ... the MOSQUITOES!!!!!!!! EEUUGGWWWW. Millions and millions of mosquitoes. So many in fact that all we did was jump out of the car, take a few pictures, jump back into the car and take right off again. Hahahaha! Some big adventure, huh? A ranger told Ruth that there were many MANY more times the usual amount of mosquitoes at all the lakes and waterways in Utah because of the high amount of snow we had this past winter. The little buggers just buried themselves in for the winter and multiplied like crazy. Yuk.

Well at least I got several pictures of Brizzy sitting in the front seat of my car while Ruth went into the little lodge to get some information about the lake:

I would've taken pictures of Cowboy also but he was too busy being Aviator Dog (that silly dog ... head and half his body out the backseat window every chance he gets). Brizzy prefers to be Jungle Dog (oooh -- tall grasses -- must prowl).

Well, it was getting later in the day anyway and darker by the minute, so I suppose it was good that we didn't stay to hike around the lake. Who could wade through all those mosquitoes anyway? We got back to the Inn late in the afternoon and began cooking our fabulous 4th of July feast: BBQ pork ribs, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and ice cream later on. Mmmm. And of course we watched part of "Independence Day" while everything was cooking! I wonder if that movie is becoming a tradition for most people on the 4th? I'll never forget when it first released on 4th of July several years ago ... Ruth's brother and sister-in-law were visiting from Louisiana and were were very fortunate to be right in line for the movie after the Provo Freedom Festival Parade. WHAT an impact that movie made! Whoo-eee.

We ended up THIS Independence Day by spending a little time around our innkeeper's campfire (who by now had become friends) and tho neighbors across the street shot off fireworks for about a half hour ... they weren't TOO bad and Brizzy survived them.

I didn't forget, in all of this, what we were celebrating though. This country sure has its problems lately but it is still the best country in the world, in my humble opinion. I feel extremely blessed to be living in a place where I can say what I want, worship as I want, do what I want (within reason), experience such beauty AND I am very aware of the fact that we are blessed with much wealth (tho it doesn't feel like it sometimes). I hope we keep striving to be good and just people so we remain entitled to be here on this precious land.

Well, the rest of the weekend was great too. On Saturday we tried very hard to go see the wild horses on the BLM land in Wyoming http://www.wyomingtourism.org/cms/d/wild_horses.php but I'm afraid we were just too late. We didn't get there until 10:30 a.m. and by then all the horses were long gone down to the rivers and shady areas. Well we DID see horses ... sort of:

Doggone it. We've decided to come back in the Fall when surely the horses will be wandering around in the cooler air! I have to say though that the 25+ mile loop you take through the BLM lands is one BUMPY ride!!! The road is not paved ... it's gravel and rocks (mostly gravel, thank goodness). When we finally got off the road and onto real pavement again you could hear my car sigh out loud: "Ahhhhhhhhh." I found myself saying the same thing! Hahahaha.

We decided to celebrate our horse failure by getting a BBQ chicken pizza in beautiful little Green River, Wyoming -- we took the pizza to a sweet little park where we wolfed down almost the entire thing, and THEN decided on a Dairy Queen Blizzard afterwards! Talk about full to the point of sick ... oh yeah. I even drank a fully loaded Mountain Dew, which I haven't had in AGES. All that caffeine -- I sure didn't have any trouble driving back to Manila! Here's Cowboy at the park:

Of course the eating couldn't stop there -- oh no! This was VACATION. So in the evening when we got back we ate STILL MORE, as you can see:

Well, truthfully what WE ate wasn't as much as it looks ... the hamburgers and fries (only some of the fries) belonged to the Boyz. They ALWAYS get their very own hamburger on vacation. It's the only time they get one though.

We had to pack it up on Sunday for the trip home (sigh) but not being able to end it so easily, we decided to go home by way of Mirror Lake:

This isn't the lake itself, but part of the whole scenic byway that goes through Mirror Lake and the High Uintahs. What a BEAUTIFUL place! http://www.utah.com/byways/mirror_lake.htm It's only 1-1/2 to 2 hours away from Orem and I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't even been aware of it. Barely, anyway. Utah has to be one of the most beautiful states in this country and how much of it have I actually seen?! NOT MUCH! I don't have a real Bucket List per se, but I've decided to make it a goal to see all the major places in Utah before the next few years are up. Can you believe I've never been to Moab or the Arches or been to Antelope Island ... I've never even been to the Grand Canyon! Ack. Though I HAVE been to Zion's National Park lots of times. I think Zion's is my most favorite place on earth.

Oh dear, I digress. Here's a picture of Bald Mountain, near the summit of the Mirror Lake loop:

A storm chased us all the way home on this day too, but never did catch up. It was windy and overcast and wild and wonderful and downright COLD, can you believe it? Sure wish we could've carried that with us back into 90 degree Orem. "Sigh." It was so beautiful I kept stopping the car to take pictures, and as you can see Brizzy got a little tired of the whole thing:

Can you just STOP with the picture-taking PLEASE?!

One more thing I need to mention: driving up and driving home we went through Evanston, Wyoming and near Evanston were these amazing windmills:

There were dozens of them out on a windy high point. Aren't they cool and sort of eerie? They are wind turbines! My picture doesn't do them justice ... they are giant things and they face in many different directions, in order to harness the wind no matter what direction it comes from. On the drive up there was very little wind so the blades were moving oh so lazily, but on the way home the approaching storm generated a lot of wind and some of those babies were really cranking away! I wish we could have gotten close enough to get a really in-your-face picture, but this was taken from the side of the freeway (oops - probably shouldn't have stopped but I did).

Well at last it was all over and we arrived back home in Orem about 7:00 Sunday evening. "Sigh." It was sure hard to come back to reality! So ... we decided to extend our vacation a little. We didn't get to enjoy Mirror Lake as much as we wanted to, so we went back two days later. Hah! Ruth was off until Wednesday -- I went back to work on Monday but took another vacation day on Tuesday and we spent the day at Mirror Lake:

I wish that was ME out there in that little canoe but it's not ... it's just some lucky canooer (is that a word?) and I liked the picture they made on the water. We hiked half way to Ruth Lake (unfortunately it was just too rocky and uphill to get all the way to the lake so Ruth didn't get to see the body of water with her name on it) and then we hiked all the way around Mirror Lake. Who would've thought 1-1/2 miles could be so tiring? Hah! It was gorgeous but exhausting. We did, however, end the day with a picnic, which made Ruth happy! I hate picnics but I'd promised to be a good sport about this one (and I was). We ate at a secluded little picnic spot where we had deli meat, cheese & sprout wraps, grapes, chips, chocolate (of course!) and a very VERY mushy watermelon (had to throw that baby away, unfortunately).

What a great little vacation. It's amazing how just a few days away from life's normal setting can rejuvenate the soul and help us carry on. Though when we first got back home the following picture sure represented how all four of us felt!

This was actually taken at the Vacation Inn at Manila after our 4th of July adventures (notice the bandannas?) but this is exactly how we all felt Tuesday when we got home from Mirror Lake. Hah! If you ever get the chance I highly recommend a visit to all these places ... fab-u-lous, dahlin'!

Resiliency musings

2008-07-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I was running around like a little fool trying to get several things done before dashing off to work. I was hurrying across the backyard to put some water on my one lone tomato plant and was pulled up short by (of all things) several bright little yellow weed flowers.

Now I hate weeds as much as the next soul and usually pull them up when I'm feeling industrious, but I was struck by their resiliency. Just a couple of days ago they were nothing more than little semi-green spots against the vast expanse of our dead yard, and today they had sprung up into these large flowered stems. They intrigued me ... I thought about them on and off all day. I thought about how persistent the darn things are ... they just keep coming back and coming back no matter how many times we wack them down, pull them up or stomp all over them.(these pictures aren't the best, but hopefully they give you a sort-of visual)

It caused me to think about my life -- how resilient am I? How well do I bounce back after I get stomped on, pulled to pieces or wacked down? After many years I think I'm finally starting to learn that everything we experience has something to teach us, no matter how joyful a thing or how painful a thing. Working our way through experiences and allowing them to touch us or stretch us can catapult us to new levels, or even just move us one little inch up the ladder. Or they can push us backwards if we let them. Seems like it's all about how we choose to deal with life ... how willing am I to embrace whatever comes my way? Hmmmmm. Maybe I'll leave those weeds for a little while ... at least until this weekend (or until Ruth sees them and cuts them down - hah!).

Helloooooooo -- Here I AM!

2008-07-11T14:41:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it?! I'm joining the 21st century. Hope you'll be happy - hope I am! I've been thinking about doing this for a while now but have been just a little too chicken. After all, what have I got to say that the world would want to read? Then again, I'm sure there won't be a crowd reading this - hah! Just people who know me, love me, and are tolerant of my quirks. :-) I hope that if you visit though, you'll find my ramblings interesting and worth your time. Happy Living, Everyone!