Goodbye to President Hinckley

My first thought upon hearing that President Hinckley died was how happy he and Marjorie are to be together again. I'm grateful for the wonderful example he set for all of us of being positive and full of good humor and giving his all to living the gospel and fulfilling his callings in the Church.

Monday morning when I dropped Michael off at Timpanogos High School it touched my heart to see so many of the students heading into the school dressed in their Sunday best. I think it is a great honor to President Hinckley that the youth planned and got the word out to each other to dress up in honor of him. I have to admit I shed a tear on the way home. They really are a chosen generation!

I Ski, I'm a Skier, I'm Skiing!

I love cross country skiing! I just started last year, so I'm still kind of new to the sport, but words cannot express how much I love it. I love being outside on a winter day, preferably sunny, but any day on the trails is great. The sky is the most beautiful deep lapis blue and the snow glistens with millions of diamonds. The leafless trees are a beautiful brown silhouette against the white snow and the blue sky, and every once in while there's an evergreen thrown into the mix. It feels so good to work hard at getting up a hill and then speed down the other side. I think about going everyday, but my goal is to get there a couple of times a week. I'm so blessed to have a dear husband who supports my hobby. And blessed to live so close to the mountains; in twenty minutes I can be at the Sundance Nordic Center, on my skiis hitting the trail. Here are some of the awesome views from today's outing.

Alan took the picture of Laura and me when we went skiing on New Year's Day.

Note: The title comes from "What About Bob?" where he says "I sail, I'm a sailor, I'm sailing"

MUTUAL THEME 2008

The Mutual Theme for 2008 is "Be Steadfast and Immovable, Always Abounding in Good Works." We decided to go with nautical symbols to remind us of the theme: an anchor for the first four words and a lighthouse for the last five words. I found two items in my decorating stuff (I used to have a "Lighthouse" room) and wrote the words on the appropriate symbols. They will be our centerpiece for YW this year!

TEMPERANCE

Laura shared with me the idea from a blog she visits of having a "word of the year." Just something you want to focus on and think about during the year. I chose the word "Temperance," I especially want to be better at using this word in my life as it relates to eating and spending money. So I created a visual to keep on my desk with the word and some definitions. I know you can't read the definitions in this picture, so here they are:

~habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
~moderation or self-restraint in action & statement; self-control
~being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme, mild or calm
(the picture just WOULDN'T upload)

SNOW!

Last Tuesday our Young Women made snow sculptures for our activity. I thought they were pretty cool! (excuse the pun) One is what we're calling the "Alaska/Hawaii Temple." It looks like the Hawaii temple, but since it's made of snow, we added Alaska to the name. The other is a bust of the Savior with a red robe and crown of thorns. Pretty impressive for just 30 minutes. I love my young women!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I suppose that the lack of posting on my blog lets you know that we had a great holiday season. It was fun to spend so much time with our children and grandchildren. I'm posting a video clip that captures a bit of family time together singing and dancing to Christmas carols and just hanging out. I love having all my family together in our great room!