Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter

me and shannon

Thirty one years ago today my sweet baby girl was born. The miracle of being a mother is you can remember each little detail of giving birth, but you forget about the physical pain. ~one would have to forget, or no one would have more than one child.~ Shannon was one of the Lord's tender mercies in my life. She came to me when Heavenly Father knew I would need to turn my attention from myself, and the deep sadness I was experiencing with the illness and inevitable passing of my own mother, to the care and attention of one so tiny and innocent. Shannon was then, and continues to be a great source of strength to me. I've watched her grow from a happy little girl to a valiant young woman who made wise choices in her youth, to a beautiful, strong, attentive wife and mother, teaching her own children to "walk uprightly before the Lord."  Could any mother ask for anything more? Happy Birthday Shannon.

This man has me, heart & soul

OK, after last night's post it's time for something a little more warm and fuzzy.
I'm finding these little notes...

 

On the front seat of my car

 I found this in my  cart when I came
out of the restroom at the craft store.
I was shopping alone. Or so I thought!
 

On my lesson manual when I sat
down for my Spanish lesson




On my bedroom door when he had gone to a meeting

You know, it may be just a little thing to him, but the thought of him even taking the time to write these little notes then posting them around for me to find... not to mention the sentiment on the note, and well, who wouldn't be crazy in love with a man like this? 


The Family Proclamation states: HUSBAND AND WIFE have a solemn responsibilty to love and care for each other...Husbands and wives...will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

Pretty powerful, right? I love the Proclamation. It's simple and direct.

 I love this quote from one of my favorite Prophets:
"I am satisfied that a happy marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion."
~Gordon B. Hinckley.

Yes, romance isn't the most important element in a happy marriage. But take a happy marriage and add that romance and you have a blissful marriage.

WARNING: This post is not Rainbows & Butterflies

Ugh! I just came from the movie theater. We saw the movie/documentary 2016: Obama's America, by Dinesh D'Souza. It was informative, but more importantly it cleared up some issues for me that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Remember back in '08 when everyone was eagerly awaiting the "change" with "hope"? I blogged about it in 2009... read this
While I did NOT vote for the guy, I'll admit I did find him to be intoxicating with his acceptance speech at the DNC and his inaugural speech. (And weren't we all eager to show the world how far we had come from the racist generation of our parents and grandparents?) But smooth talking can only get you so far. At some point you have to have "product" to back up your sales pitch. And I'm afraid America is no longer buying what Obama is selling. watch here.  Sad. No leader, be it of our country, or otherwise, should be serving the people who voted for him/her, with any kind of personal agenda. The idea of giving America "hope" under the guise of "change", when you know the change you are talking about is not to make America better, but to fulfill some personal askewed dream from your immoral Johnny Appleseed father, is just that...a guise. And a guise by any other name is still a lie.

Loved this column and this couple!

Go here to read a refreshing story of a newlywed couple

Logan scores....A whole bunch!!

 

I love to watch little kids play sports. Tonight we watched one of our grandsons play soccer, and their team was really good! I mean, little kids playing soccer usually look like a big ol' constant group hug running around the field. But these little boys were playing actual defense and everything. Kudos to their coach (Jon)! Another thing I love about watching little kids play, is their lack of inhibitions when it comes to expressing pure joy! It's both hysterical to watch and heartwarming!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ET can't phone home

We've cancelled our home phone. We had a phone in every room of the house. Literally. But they were in sad shape and would on occassion just hang up while we were talking to someone. Which was embarrassing because it was usually like the Bishop or Abuela, or someone else you really didn't want to hang up on in the middle of a conversation. I hadn't memorized the number (which I'm sure was an easy one, I just hadn't committed it to memory) because I never had to. I have, however, memorized Ron's number. Finally. I think.

Playing catch up on the weekend

Feliz Cumpleanos to my little brother Greg! He turns 50 today!

Yesterday was our cute D.I.L. Vanessa's birthday, she turned 27, which happens to be my favorite number.



Saturday Ron and I participated in the service project our stake was involved in at Point Defiance Park.

Sue Cousins, Emily & Jeannette Hill, Debbie & Pres. Gessel, Ron & me

Here we are chopping down Yarrow on the hill across from the park entry.

Boy did we have a fun summer! We bought a National Park pass in June and we've used it 9 times! It paid for itself the third time we used it!

Today we are off on a new adventure....
To The Olympic Nat'l Park. 

My handsome hubby!

  The view of the Olympic Mountains from the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center is really an amazing sight to see.

 

My honey and me on top of the mountain

                      

Here are some of the tree's in the rainforest, all mossy.

These trees crossed the road to make an "A" frame.

This cedar tree was huge. It was six trees that grew together.

The coast was amazing with all the huge logs that have been taken out  to sea by the waves, then washed up on the shores.



It was such a fun quick trip. We are so blessed to live in an area with such beauty so close.



 We went through an artsy little town called Port Townsend.

...Sorry, I just can't help myself. Oh, and while on this street, in this very block...there was this ped. xing sign, and .....

If you need to cross a street anywhere in the world, this is probably the most safe place to cross!

Ugh!

I'm cleaning out all the old drafts of posts and I just accidentally deleted my last post (that wasn't a draft). It was about 9/11, and I don't have the emotional energy to write it again. Wah Wah Wah.

We are sitting in our bedroom watching a Mitt Romney video on Ron's computer. Suddenly we can hear the beautiful sound of two angels singing "I Like to Look For Rainbows" coming from the bedroom down the hall. It's bedtime for two little boys. Angels I tell ya. Angels.

...and so he did!

He said: "Where would you like to go?"

She said: "Take me someplace beautiful, I've never been before."

He said: "Watakushi wa chodo subarashi tokoro ga arimasu."

                                       ...and he did.

Ron took me to Kobayashi Park. I was thinking...green grass, playground equipment,,,nope. There is a cool Mid-Century Modern house on the property, probably originally belonging to the Kobayashi family. We looked thru the windows of the abandoned house, to find a tiny kitchen that looks like the last occupant had some kind of a fire. I love that era of architecture, and could imagine myself ( and a small army) gutting the place and bringing it back to it's former late fifties glory. The back of the house over-looks the joining of Chambers Creek and Leach Creek, with tall cedar trees and overgrown brush lining the foot path along the creek. It is beautiful....
except for these guys...

 

 

 

 

and these guys................

 

 

 

 

...and they were all over the place, and spiders FREAK.ME.OUT!   

 But other than that, I could totally live there...after I called the Terminex man.

P.S. After I posted this on my blog, an article came out in our local paper concerning this very house. I was wrong about the Kobayashi's being the original owners. And the home was built in the early 60's, not the late fifties.( But I was close).

Read more here:

 

How exciting, the first day of school!

All of our school age (and pre-school age) grandchildren have started school. We wish we could be with each one of them! Here's Cole on his first day of Kindergarten (can you say 'deer in headlights'?) with his big sister Ella, who started 3rd grade in Utah.

Next is Logan on his first day of Kindergarten, with his little brother Landon who started preschool in Washington.

Next is Nathan, ready for his first day of Kindergarten in Utah.

...and Nathan's brother Tyler going to his first day of 2nd grade in Utah.

Next is Elly, starting Kindergarten in Arizona.

...and Elly's brother Owen, who started preschool this year.

We love all our granchillun's! And want them all to "have the day they're going to have!" :) (I have no idea what's up with Tyler and Elly's picture size! I'll have to figure that out!

An outing to the cemetery

I took my cute little Primary Activity Day girls to the cemetery this week.

We talked about our ancestors and did some rubbings on some pretty cool headstones. And they didn't seem to be the least bit freaked out that we were in a cemetery.

Each girl chose a headstone and did their rubbings. They turned out pretty cool too! (let's only use that "pretty cool" term once in this post, shall we? They did turn out awesome!

Afterward, we took Brooklyn to her soccer practice, and celebrated her birthday with big chocolate cupcakes. She will be leaving our group and moving up with the 10 and 11 year olds. :(

It is so funny to drive in the car with these girls and listen to all six of them chattering away with each other. They really are good girls, and this has been a super fun calling. I'm going to miss them when we leave on our mission.

Fall

This has always been my favorite time of year. I love everything about Fall. I grew up with the mountains literally out my back door, and I miss seeing them changing colors. I love the crispness of the Autumn chill in the air, the sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet, and the tartness of biting into a fresh picked apple. I love the smell of ditches being burned by farmers, and roadside pumpkin stands that have a bucket and a sign that says "honor system". I love shopping for new school clothes and shoes. I love the smell of a brand new box of crayons and freshly sharpened pencil shavings. I love bottling fresh peaches, then proudly standing back, looking at the rows of gleaming golden quart bottles on the shelf. I love that smell the first morning the furnace kicks on, and wrapping up in the ugliest, but warmest crochet afghan made by Grandma. I love it all. What do you love about Fall?

Fun, simple project

With school starting this week, I made these little Rolo pencils (found on Pinterest, of course!) with a thought for the Young Women lesson that I taught on Sunday. I had good helpers (Logan, Landon, & Angela) with the project and that made it super easy to do.