Burro Mountain

We woke up yesterday and decided

to take the quads up Burro Mountain.

I called my friend, Leslee, to see if

she and Mark wanted to go.  Actually,

her daughter, Gabby, answered the

phone (her family is up for the holiday).

I thought maybe I shouldn't interfere

with their time but Gabby gave

the phone and permission to her mom and

we all loaded our trailers and took off.

 

Boo knows Saturday.  She just gets

so excited when we start moving around.

This is her day to go with us.

David told me not to take her but

I just felt so bad that she would

be stuck in the house on a Saturday.

So we took her.  She ran along side

for about 300 yards and died.

The rest of the trip was on back

of David's quad.

 

 

We rode all the way to the Big Lake

Store and got some ice cream

sandwiches.  This is where Leslee

realized that her wallet was not

in her back pocket.  So we took

off to backtrack and hopefully find

it.  And we did!  David and Mark

must have driven over it and

flipped it up and emptied it out

 because they didn't see

it at all and Leslee came up on

this.  Cards everywhere.

Lucky girl!

 





 

It was fun to go in a caravan,

if you would call it that. 

I am thinking we might do it again

sometime.

Baccalaureate

First, let me say I am getting lousy quality pictures

using my phone.  David says to check out my

DPI.  Will somebody tell me what DPI is?

 

I am on the back row of Blue Ridge High School's

Baccalaureate last Sunday.  If the picture were clear you

could count the number of people in attendance.

Let me do it for you.....there were 30 and that

included the four speakers.

 

One of the four was David.

That is why I took this picture.

But the tale is really in the empty

auditorium.

 

I don't even know what to say.

The picture says it all.

 

Yard Sale Season 2013 (officially underway)

All through the winter I squirrel

away extra coin for summer and

yard sales.   I am a nickel and dime

shopper BUT I saw this light

and am so happy I did.

We have been talking about

taking down our lighted fan

and just putting up a light over

the dining table. 

 

 I only dreamed of a tiffany light.

It set me back 250 dimes.

I wish my pictures were better

so you could see how good it

makes me feel!  I love it.

 I have to thank David for putting

it up.  He did in 45 minutes

in between yard work and

a youth temple trip.

xoxoxo

Love that man!

And the light!

The Few That Helped The Many

I never quite know what to say on

Memorial Day or Veterans Day.

I listened to several tributes to

our soldiers, living and dead, today

and the things that stand out are

the age of most soldiers.  These are

young men and women.  And second:

those who died gave all but we

can't forget their families.  We

remember the brave once a year

they remember them every day.

It is a whole family that makes

a sacrifice. 

 

 

They are brave that fight and

they become brave who are left behind.

The Bonds Of Marriage

Today is my oldest daughter’s wedding anniversary.

I am trying to remember how many years she

and John have been married…..11or 12 years.

Anyway, happy anniversary.

 

Last week was my youngest daughter’s

wedding anniversary.  She and her husband,

Aaron, have been married 4 years.

Our oldest son and his wife, Brittany have been

married 13 years,  Tim and Connie have been

married 9  years, and Heidi and

Jeremiah have been married 8 years.

 

Between the five families we have 14

grand children and two on the way.

(One of those could make his appearance

any day!)

                                      

 

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

AND

HAPPY MARRIAGE TO ALL!

~
 

I went visiting teaching yesterday and

my friend, Kristen, posed the question:

Why is it we fall in love and choose our

ETERNAL companion when we are

young and naive.  It was more of a

statement and we laughed!

 

Later in the day, I talked with David and asked

him the same question.  He said, “because if we

all waited until we were older and

‘wiser’ we would probably forego marriage.

Once we had become accustomed to single life

and not answering to anyone

else’s needs we would probably opt out

from the bonds of marriage.

 

It makes perfect sense.  The ties that bind

bind early.  This also applies to having children.

I have lamented so many times in these

last several years about the things I know

now and wished I had known when I

was raising our family.

We are meant to raise

children when we are young.  We have

the strength and energy then.

Evidently strength and energy

are paramount.

 

SIDE NOTE:  ON THE CHURCH’S WEB

SITE ON MOTHER’S DAY WAS A GREAT

THOUGHT ~ CHILDREN DID NOT COME

WITH A MANUAL THEY CAME WITH

A MOTHER.

 

It is interesting how we become a wife,

then a mother, then a mother-in-law, then

a grandmother.  One day you

hold a baby and then you hold the baby

of your baby.  Each title or place being

a good place but you wonder how

you got here. 

 

And all titles or places born from naivety.

As I have embraced each title I have

grown. (Hence the above mentioned

lament of gained wisdom.)

I am thankful I was young and naïve

when I fell in love with David.

It could be so different.  Marriage

and family life has subdued my

selfish tendencies and brought

love into my life.  And that love

is multiplied with each new addition.

 

And I can see this in my children.

Married life and family are molding

them.  I love to see it.  As it has been

with David and I, not every day is a good

day.  But in many ways that is the

point. 

 

Growth and wisdom come through struggle.

 

“WHEN LIFE IS SEEN AS GOOD

A BAD DAY CAN EASILY BE ABSORBED.”

Neal A. Maxwell

 

 

So, this morning I wish Jill and

John a Happy Anniversary. 

 

I wish all of my children many

Happy Anniversaries.

 

And I am happy they found each

other in the naivety of their lives.

 

 

Boo

Doesn't this just say everything about Boo.

"OK, I'll do it."

 

 

She has been living with us for four years.

I was reading in my journal and found the

entry when she came to live with us.

She is exactly the same now as she

was then.  Sleeps....eats....sleeps...eats.

What more could I have asked for in

a dog. 

 

 

She loves the Elders.  When they come to the

house she just gets so excited. 

 

 

She and Elder Clark have bonded.  I think he

must have left a dog behind because he

will just hug her and pet her forever. 

 

I just wanted to write a little something about

her because she has been here for FOUR years

and because she is really a good dog.

 

 

 





Call The Midwife

When I sat down at the computer this evening

to blog, I thought I would do a post about

Call the Midwife.  It is a series on PBS.

So I looked for a picture for my blog and

in doing so I noticed that there was an

episode I had not seen and it was available on line.

I came this {} close to watching it and skipping

my blog updates.

 

 

I love this show.  It is a drama about midwives

after WWII in England.  What I love most

is how all babies are cherished.  Mothers want

them and Fathers want them.  Such a

different world than we live in today.

There is so much humanity.

 

But it isn't all pretty.  Since we're

talking babies - we're talking sex.

Don't get me wrong, I have yet to

see a sex scene, I just mean that

stuff happens.  And women suffer.

 

The midwives are so dedicated to

their jobs and they love these mothers

and are skilled at delivering babies.

 

As this week closes and we had

the verdict of guilty in the appalling

abortion clinic in Philadelphia it

is refreshing to watch a drama

where life is given the highest of

priorities.

 

I think you would love it.

Mothers Day

Mothers Day chocolates

for Sunday!

 

 

 

We have a new missionary who left from

our ward about 6 weeks ago.  He has really

been homesick.  Mothers Day is one of the

days that missionaries can call home (Christmas

is the other).  I learned today that

he had talked to his mother Sunday and

and when they were hanging up he told

her "now everything was all right".

The power of a mother's voice.

I love it!

 

Since Mothers Day is never over ~

it starts again every day when the sun comes up,

I wanted to encourage my

daughters (all five of them) with

some of the thoughts from our

Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday.

 

~

The love of a Mother comes nearer to being

like the Love of God than any other kind of love.

Joseph F. Smith

 

~

 

Motherhood is near to divinity.  It is the

highest, holiest service to be assumed

by mankind.  It places her who honors

its holy calling and service next to the angels.

The First Presidency

 

~ 

 

When you educate a man; you educate a man.

When you educate a woman you educate a generation.

Brigham Young

 

~

 

When you are a mother you are never really

alone in your thoughts.

A mother always has to think twice-

once for herself and once for her child.

 

~

 

God created mothers so someone in the

house would know where everything is.

 

~ 

 

In our Heavenly Father's great priesthood - endowed

plan, men have the unique responsibility

to administer the priesthood, but they

are not the priesthood.  Men and women have

different but equally valued roles.  Just as a

woman cannot conceive a child without a man,

so a man cannot fully exercise the power of the

priesthood to establish an eternal family

without a woman.  In other words, in the

eternal perspective, both the procreative

power and the priesthood power are shared

by husband and wife.

Elder Ballard

 

~

 

God bless the mothers in my life.

Those before and those after.

 

 

 

 

 

 



I only have a kitchen because it came with the house.

 

Every time I do my dishes I count my knives.

I lost on last year.  I still miss it.  It was a

Chicago cutlery paring knife. 

 

 According to this chart I have

three paring knives, one boning knife,

two utility knives, one chef's knife,

a sharpening steel and one that is as

long as a roasting knife but is serrated

and I call it a bread knife.  And there

are a dozen steak knives in there.

(There are more but they are on the

bottom and never see the light of day.)

 

Maybe I love knives because my husband

was once a butcher.  He has a couple of

good knives tucked away in his closet....

He occasionally helps somebody cut

up a deer or elk and he saves them for

these "special occasions".  My utility

knife came from that set.  I hoped

he wouldn't notice.  When he did

he told me to just keep it. 

 

The other utility knife came from

Germany.  My sister lived there and

brought German knives home with

her.  She wrote me once while there

and asked if I wanted a set of German

knives and did any one else.  I had

been married about 3 years and

had not grown to love knives.  So

I said, "no" and "neither does

anyone else".  Sometime after

she moved home she gave me this

utility knife.  It is my favorite.

I wish I had known then what I

know now about knives.

 

I don't use the chef's knife all

that often.  It is a nice knife. I think

my son, Tim, has his eye on it.

(That would make two things that

my children want when I go....the

kitchen table and the chef's knife....

you can have it Tim.)

I bought it because I started

watching the food network and

that is the knife of choice.  And I

liked that I could use it to

 scoop up my cut up vegetables.

 

Lastly are the all around paring knives.

When David and I were married and

lived in our little pink house my potato

peeler broke.  We were so poor that

I couldn't buy a new one.  (thinking

about that now I don't think I even knew

how much one cost I just assumed.)

Anyway,  I learned to peel a potato

with a paring knife and have never

looked back.  I have potato peelers

in the drawer.  They peel carrots.

I also can food.  And I have to have a

paring knife for canning.

 

I am going to yard sales in the

morning.....I am looking for one

more paring knife.  Wish me luck!

And don't try and take one of my

knives.....I count them remember!

 

 

The Accidental Gardener

This picture requires some explaining.

These are pumpkin sprouts.  I bought

a new hybrid variety that grows a pumpkin

-start to finish- in 90 days.

I have grown pumpkins for 20 years

but the last 5 years have been major

disappointments.  The growing season

is changing.  So I am trying these.

 

An interesting thing is they are

growing tall too fast.  They are under

the garden light so they aren't leaning

into the sun (which can cause them to grow spindly)

.  I think it must be the

character of the hybrid.  I have

put a second peat pot on top of the

first to contain the gangly growth

but up they keep growing.

 

Two more weeks before I set

them in the ground.  I will

be sad if they give up before

then. 

 

See the baby mushrooms?

Cute, huh?. . .not.

 

 

Let's take a picture.

My good good friend, Leslee, and I went to

the Temple.  When we came out we thought

it would be great to have a picture to blog.

I have seen my girls just pull up their phones

and take pictures of themselves.  Looked easy.

This is what we got. 

 

 

I don't remember just how we turned the

phone away from us.

 

Not bad.

Two other sisters came out and asked us

if we would take their pictures and they

offered to take one of us.

Thank Heavens!  . . . for the picture

and for Leslee.



Obedience Brings Blessings

 

 

 

My conference issue of the Ensign came this week.

I had considered letting my subscription go because

it is available on line.  But I know me….if it isn’t

in front of me, I forget it.  Even important things!

    And conference is important!

 
 

     General conference comes in the Spring

     and the Fall.  Sometimes I can’t

believe that it is conference time again.  And then I

feel a bit sad when it ends. 

 

I am studying President Monson’s talk on obedience.

I love it.  Sometimes I feel like the lights are just turning

on.  And that is how I am with this huge principle.  So

I want to share some of his words and the quotes he

used to teach me (and you) the value of obedience.

 

 

 

“He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth

and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all

things.”
DC 93:28

 

“A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest

questions come to us a we are obedient to the

commandments of God.”
Pres. Monson

 
 

“The Lord has provided guidelines and commandments to help

ensure our spiritual safety so that we might successfully

navigate this often-treacherous mortal existence and

return eventually to our Heavenly Father.”
Pres. Monson

 

“To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the

fat of rams.”
1 Samuel 15:22

 

“. . . never once did Nephi fail to do that which the Lord

asked of him.”
Pres. Monson

 
 

“Obedience is the first law of heaven.”
Joseph F. Smith

 
 

“The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the

Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints,

the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal

salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in

obedience to the counsels of . . . God.” 
Gordon B. Hinckley

 

“For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide

the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the

conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the

foundation of the world.”  DC 132:5

 

 

 

“The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which

we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to

meet the challenges of a complex and changing world

can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s

commandments.”
Pres. Monson