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

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

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

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

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!

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 ...

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

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 ...

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

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?!

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

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

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 ...

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

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

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

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?!