February Birthdays

Since my blog is now my family scrapbook for 2008, I realized that I need to record the entire family, so I'm playing catch up.

On February 14th Michael turned 16 and on the 17th Jenny was 19. We had a birthday celebration with family Sunday dinner on Jenny's birthday. They each got their own cakes: Jenny's was a rainbow confetti and Michael's was Gram's special German chocolate cake.

Jenny and Michael are really wonderful children and I'm so thankful that they are part of our family; they are good and kind and pretty cute as well!

March Went Out Like a Lion!

Oh, am I happy about that title! I really thought my skiing days were over for this season and then I woke up Sunday morning to the beautiful sight of snow. Fortunately, my Monday morning was free and I headed for the trails. I had my best ski ever: over two hours and 6 1/2 miles! I cannot describe the joy I felt being in the beauty of the winter landscape: fresh snow, freshly groomed trails, snow on the aspens and pines, the azure blue of the sky with just a few clouds. Every once in a while the wind would blow the snow off the trees in big beautiful flakes onto my face. I was overwhelmed with gratitude to my Creator for the amazing beauty and the great blessing of being in it! Is it a bit weird to be grinning and laugh out loud with joy when you're all by yourself? Maybe weird, but also pretty wonderful.

Road Trip!

I accompanied Mom and Dad and Jill on a road trip to Grand Junction, Colorado to watch Brent play lacrosse with the BYU lacrosse team. It was a pleasant 4-hour drive of visiting. Thanks, Dad for getting us there and back safely!


Here we are all bundled up and ready for the game to begin.

The BYU lacrosse team against the setting sun.

Saturday morning before heading home we had to check out a cute boutique across the street from our hotel. I got this little sign that says it all!

Daughters as Mothers

When I was organizing photos recently I found these two and framed and hung them. I love these pictures! The first picture of each of my daughters as a mother. I just love the look of awe, wonder, love on their faces. Having just suffered through childbirth, I see a depth of character that wasn't there before. I love you, Laura and Mary. I am in awe of you and the amazing mothers you have become.

Easter Thoughts

I've often wondered why we have so many traditions and make such a big deal out of Christmas,(which I love!) but Easter has been pretty understated, no real traditions - I mean, the Easter bunny - seriously? Well, this year, thanks to blogging and the internet I've discovered traditions and thoughts about Easter that I was previously unaware of, and which I would like to integrate into my personal and my family's Easter commemoration. I plan to do better next year. Such as: observing Ash Wednesday and Lent, it's a great thing to give up something in honor of Christ's sacrifice, improving ourselves and bringing a greater spiritual depth. I also want to somehow commemorate Maundy Thursday; what an important day, the day that Christ washed the disciples feet, instituted the sacrament and suffered in Gethsemane. Also, a more thoughtful Good Friday, maybe even serving hot cross buns. I'm looking forward to making the Easter season as special as the Christmas season. One thing I've done the past few years is listen to the song, "He's Alive" by Dolly Parton on Easter morning. I love that song, it's written in the voice of Peter and it never fails to bring the Spirit and remind me of the true meaning of Easter: He IS Alive and because of that we can be resurrected and work toward Eternal Life.

Random Thoughts on 3 Negatives

I've been thinking lately about three negative habits/thought patterns that rob us of our potential for growth and progress:

"Playing the Victim" Whenever we feel that we are a victim then we are not taking responsibility for our own life and progress. Victims are busy blaming others, life, "the universe" for their troubles instead of being accountable for their being. So, note to self: whenever you feel like a victim, let it go, move on and take control of your life.

"Worry" I love the old saying: "Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere." Sometimes we have a lot on our minds: our own challenges and problems, other people's problems, overwhelming to-do lists, but frankly, worrying about them doesn't really accomplish anything. Personally I finding writing down everything that is weighing on my mind, (journaling) and then recognizing the things I do have control over, and planning what to do about it (prioritizing to-dos) and then letting go of the things I don't have control over (or just making them a matter of prayer) frees my mind of worrying - what a relief!

"Complaining" The quote about worrying can apply here as well. Unless the complaining is leading to a constructive problem solving action, then it really is useless, a waste of time and energy. There is one caveat: I believe everyone has permission on occasion to complain to their spouse and/or one other BFF, because we all need to keep our sanity, and sometimes you just have to get the complaining out of your head. But that having been said, keeping it to a minimum reduces the amount of negativity in your life and leaves more room in the relationship for fun and happy moments.

Okay, I'm climbing off my soapbox now. But it felt good to get all those thoughts out of my head on into words on "paper." Maybe they'll help someone else, but at least it helped me to verbalize it and hopefully will lessen my future moments of being a worrying, complaining victim.

Blogging Warms My Heart

I've just spent a few minutes (okay, more than a few) checking my usual blogs, I start with my daughters and move on from there. I just read two that really touched my heart with goodness and gladness. So, I recommend to you: Chelle's post today at Segullah and M&M's February 13th post. Happy reading!

I added the links but it didn't work. You can find M&M at: iammullingandmusing.blogspot.com and Chelle's post at: segullah.org/guest-post/let-it-be/

March Madness

The Heatheridge 9th Ward had their second annual "March Madness." This is an activity where the Young Men play the "old men" in basketball and the Bishopric are the referees. Then we eat hot dogs and the Young Women play the Relief Society. It's a fun activity. Rich bought his very own referee shirt and these very attractive glasses to enhance his ability to call the game accurately. You can see Michael in his red shorts on the court. He was an integral part of the YM winning in the last seconds of the game. Way more fun than watching it on TV!

Scrapbooking and An Epiphany

For the first time in almost four years I sat down to scrapbook. I finished 12 pages - June 2004 - the last month of our mission. I'm now 3 years and 8 months behind. Unlike my daughter, Laura, and the scrapbook gurus of today, I'm still stuck on the notion of scrapbooking in chronological order.

I realized though, that my scrapbooking days are numbered. Now that I'm just two years from having all my children through high school I don't think that I need to continue scrapbooking our lives in the same way that I have been. I will, of course, keep Michael's books up to date through his mission. And I still need to scrapbook my life: birth - marriage. I will continue to scrapbook our Christmases since I have Christmas albums with each Christmas since 1976. But . . . I believe that starting with 2008 I will use my blog as a journaling/family history method. Then at the end of each year I will print my blog for that year and my scrapbooking is done!

I have enjoyed scrapbooking my family's life and I treasure the family history I have created. It's just the best whenever any of my children sit down with a scrapbook and take a little walk down memory lane - that makes it all worth it. Not to mention the convenience of just grabbing a scrapbook if I can't remember a date and having the information at my fingertips.

But I have to say that I am feeling good about the fact that there is an end in sight. I may even have to move on to real family history work (read: genealogy) and begin redeeming my dead.

Note: the picture is the final page of our mission, and I just couldn't get it to copy rotated, even though I got it rotated in iphoto. I guess if I'm going to be a serious blogger I better figure some of this stuff out!

Praying for Snow

We've had a snowy weekend for March. Saturday we were in the sitting room watching it snow and everyone was lamenting the continuation of winter weather, except for me - I am planning to ski in the new snow on Monday morning! Jenny said accusingly, "Mom, have you been praying for snow?" Actually, I haven't (just wishing, does that count?) but I thought it was a nice compliment that Jenny thought that I had the power to the pray up a weather change. I really don't think God cares too much about me getting to ski, but I do feel His presence when I'm on the beautiful snow-covered mountain trails.

P.S. It's always great to have Jenny home from USU. She brings JOY, and I'm not the only girl for a little while!

my cute gkiddies

Are these just the cutest grandchildren ever?!? I just wanted to post these cute pictures. Valentine's Day clothing courtesy Nanajan and PapaRich

Random Things I'm Grateful For . . . continued

The Morning Sky. One of the first things I do each morning is check the sky. If I'm up early enough I even go outside in my jammies to look for constellations, the moon and other planets. But I always look out my bedroom window to the south and note the color of the sky, sometimes pink if I catch the sunrise, sometimes a great shade of periwinkle (my favorite) and sometimes sky blue (pun intended) with white clouds shaded in gray. My least favorite is cloudy and gray. I just love checking out the morning sky and soon birdsong will add an audio portion to this part of my day.

My bed. We have a beautiful king oak sleigh bed with a pillow top mattress. This is topped with a featherbed and then 100% cotton sateen sheets in "river run blue" (yes, I matched the paint color to my sheets!) Next is a down comforter and down pillows - at least two. Finally we have my beautiful Liz Claiborne (the one designer I almost always love) pieced quilt in shades of blue and tan. This bed is soft on so many levels and I just love climbing into it every night. I love waking up in it ever so slowly each morning. And I love getting up and making it first thing so I can enjoy looking at it each day.

My scripture desk. Not to be confused with my work/computer desk in my star room. Anyone who reads my blog probably has heard me talk about my favorite habit from my mission. Morning Sacred Grove. It's a time of journaling, scripture study, prayer and pondering. I love this place and space in my day when inspiration comes and I remind myself of what's most important. To make it a complete sense experience I have scented candles (my current favorite is Sweet Amber Musk from Salt City) and instrumental hymn music and a great view out my window as well as all the little things on my desk and windowsill that remind my of people and thoughts and words that I love. Plus, I also do my hair and make-up here.


Hot showers. I love a hot shower; it's just such a delight to stand there with hot water streaming over your body, so relaxing, and yet energizing at the same time. I think about all the people who lived on the earth who never got to have this simple pleasure and I'm just grateful to have a hot shower every day!

It's all good!

Random Things I'm Grateful For

I've been thinking about some of the daily things in my life that I am so grateful for. In no particular order:


I love it when my house it tidy and the kitchen is clean and the laundry in some state of having been started. I can put off dealing with dust and dog hair on the wood floor and less than sparkling bathrooms if I feel like the kitchen and laundry are where they should be.

I love being home alone. After twenty years with a preschooler by my side, even though my baby is sixteen and now drives himself to school, I'm still not used to being alone and I love it! I have long said that being a mother means that the only way to be "off duty" is to be alone. I love my peeps, but I also love being alone, especially in my very own home.

I love puttering, which is related to being home alone. Puttering while alone is optimal, but it can be done quite well on a Saturday when others are home, if they also are puttering and not requiring your attention. Puttering may consist of the following, but of course, is not limited to: entering receipts into Quicken and balancing the checkbook - which generally leads to checking email and blogs, changing light bulbs that you have noticed were out, same for battery-operated devices, manicure and pedicures and face masks and tweezing eyebrows, any general grooming acts are fair game for puttering. There's also cleaning out the pantry, doing a little laundry, but not taking it too seriously - ironing may also be involved, but not those week-high piles, just a few items! Cleaning out your wallet, purse, and playing with your planner are always welcome putterings. You can do any or all of these while enjoying episodes of "Clean Sweep," "Take Home Handyman" or "What Not To Wear" episodes on TLC. Yeah for Saturday mornings!

Last, but definitely not least for this post is the fact that my husband cooks his own breakfast everyday (Korean Ramen noodles with added veggies) and as part of this ritual of his, he empties/loads the dishwasher and tidies up the kitchen. Did you know that an empty dishwasher is an aphrodisiac!

Note: I had four more things with pictures, no less, then when I hit publish I somehow lost them!#@? - so frustrating. I'll try again later