Joy of my life!

Camille put these pictures on her blog for me. Thanks sweetie you made my day.

A few thoughts about the week...

So I've been trying to go to the gym on a more regular basis. I know it's not like me at all!!! but I have just felt like it lately. Kelley usually goes with me and is a fabulous trainer. He shows me some killer exercises and is quite encouraging when I want to quit. I miss having Candice go with me. We had some fun times, (if you can call anytime at the gym fun) I have never really got to the point where I enjoy going to the gym. Katie tells me that it willl happen if I keep going, but I can't see it happening any time soon. Anywho, I guess I'll keep at it till the feeling passes.

We went to the Temple dedication last Sunday and it was really good.

It's hard to believe, but we do need another Temple in that area. Kelley and I have been doing sealings for a bunch of people who needed work done on Kelley's side of the family. Kelley's dad and Kim have been doing a lot of work at the family history library and have found quite a few people that needed some things finished. We go once a month with our ward sealing group, and were able to get a bunch done there, then we went a few other times to do the rest. There was a lot of women that needed initiatory work done, so I went myself one day and was suprised to see a whole line of ladies ahead of me waiting to go in. When I took my names in, the lady there said she didn't know why, but there has been a huge increase in people doing this work and it is like this all the time now. I waited quite a while to get in, but felt blessed for the opportunity to be able to do it and felt the love of the sisters I was doing the work for. We are so lucky to have Temples so close. Anyway, the man that has been doing the sealings for our group, ( Brother Vandenburg) is being moved to the new Draper Temple. We will surely miss him. He is such a kind man, and always made us feel welcome and needed. He had the ability to make each sealing feel very special and important, as I am sure it is to the people we are doing them for. I always leave there feeling that the worth of Every soul is great in the sight of the Lord.

There was a Thai cooking class on wednesday night at Nancy's that Candice and I had planned on going to, but it was also American Idol night. So I called Nancy and asked her if we could just watch for a minute while Megan sang, and she said" Oh sure...I want to see it too!" She is a sweetie! So we made some yummy thai food, (unfortunatly all with meat, so Candice didn't eat any) and were able to watch Megan too. The song she picked wasn't very well suited for her and the judges really tore her apart. I felt so bad...Candice can't watch her without crying...either good or bad. Megan is really handling it well though. She takes the critiscism really well and just stands there smiling and looking georgeous. The next night we were a little nervous to find out if she was voted off or not. Candice came over and we both waited with our sick stomachs. Sarah didn't get to see it this week so she was no help. Well she wasn't even in the bottom 3. We were so happy for her. So...another week of nervous stomach.

I went up to stay with mom this weekend. I always enjoy the time I can be with her. She seemed a little confused when I first got there, I don't know if it was because she hadn't eaten anything or just woke up from a nap, but she was telling me about Daddy's horse and how Alan was keeping it in his pasture up in Smithfield. She said they couldn't keep it at their house because it would eat all the apricots off the tree. I don't know where that came from. Daddy hasn't had a horse since 1950. I don't ever argue with her, but it made me sad to realize how her mind is slipping. She repeats herself a lot, which is fine because the things she is saying really happened...at some time. But she said a few things this weekend that kind of suprised me.

Teina and Brenda and Leslie came over on Saturday and we all went to the Bluebird to celebrate Teina's birthday.

It was sure nice to be able to sit and visit with them. I made Teina a embroidery picture with the words to the song "Forget Me Not" on it. It is one of my favorite songs that mom taught us when we were little girls. Then we all sang it together and I think it made mom happy.

I had a hard time saying goodbye to mother this time. She has just seemed kind of lonely. And when we were all leaving she said " oh I wish you didn't have to go." It breaks my heart to think of her there alone. I know people stop in and check on her, but there are so many long hours sitting there alone. I would give anything if she would come stay with me. But then she wants to be in her own house and I don't blame her for that.

I had to hurry home saturday to help get the Young Women general meeting set up at the stake house. We had planned on decorating the front of chapel and side tables with big vases of apricot blossoms. They were all blooming so pretty. Well Jody came over that morning and Kelley went out and helped her cut a bunch off the tree. only one problem...it froze the night before and the blossoms were all wilted and dropping off. Jody tried to make them look nice by adding some greenery, but they didn't look too great. I was running so late I had to just run in the house, change into a skirt and grab my punch bowl and go. When we were setting up the refreshment table, Shawna comes running up and grabs my skirt and pulls it down in the back. I had gotten dressed so fast, I didn't even look in the mirror to see that my skirt was stuck way up under my slip in the back. I was so glad she saw it before I went into the meeting! It could have been epic like when Laura walked up to bear her testimony with her skirt tucked in her pantyhose. Thank you dear Shawna! It was a disappointing turn out for the YW meeting. Probably about 20 people, most of them leaders. Which is sad because the speakers were wonderful and the music was so beautiful!

That's what bunnies do...

I got out all my easter bunnies and spring decorations. They are not nearly as plentiful as my snowman friends, but there are quite a few.

When Candice came over the other night, she said "ummmmmm .....there's a lot of bunnies here."

She looked a little bit afraid.

Im not sure how I got so many. They must be multiplying when I put them away in their boxes till next spring.

I wish I could say this was all of them.

ok. I might have a little problem.

So much for spring

Alright Mother Nature, this is not funny. ..Don't tease us like this. We have been having some real nice warm days these past few weeks. So nice that we have been working in the yard, flying kites, riding bikes and planting peas.

All the pretty little crocus were blooming and it looked like popcorn was popping on the apricot tree. Then yesterday the wind starts to howl and you knew something was coming. Well we woke up today to snow on the ground...and it kept snowing ALL day. I bet we ended up with about 3 or 4 inches on the lawn. It is just kind of depressing when you have to get out your wooly sweaters and boots again! I know I should look on the bright side, (Thanks Camille for reminding me how beautiful the snow is) and I know we need more water, but I am so dang cold all the time, I was real excited to be able to sit outside and feel the sun warm me all the way through. I don't know what's wrong with me but I am always cold. At church yesterday, I had to play the piano for the choir to sing in sacrement meeting and my fingers were so cold, I didn't think they would move. If you touched my nose or my hands, they feel like ice. I about send Kelley through the roof when I get in bed and touch him with my feet. He is always so nice to try to warm them up for me. I always dress warm, sleep with a ton of blankets on me, have the heater blasting in the car till everyone else is dying, sometimes I turn the heater on in the bathroom and just go sit in there, but I just can't seem to warm up. I think my thermostat may be broken.

Anyway, I know warmer days will soon be here, just had to whine a little.

Just a few random thoughts. First of all whyyyyyyyyyyy? I go to get something out of my purse and notice it is zipped shut ( I never do that) and it looks really full. So I open it and this is what I find.

It is full of rolls and banana bread. That is not all. Last week this is what I found in my purse:The hand mixer, a can of soup and some crackers.

I don't really understand how Kelley's brain works, but this is something he has been doing for quite some time. When Katie and Camille and Candice were here, they would randomly find their purses filled by the purse bunny. Anyway, it always makes me smile.

Last night we had our Relief Society Birthday party. I felt kind of wierd to just be going to it and not be doing anything for it, because I have been on the enrichment committee for quite a while. I have really enjoyed it though and love the association I have with these great ladies. They had asked Erika Mendenhall to speak. She is one of my favorite people to listen to. She spoke at a Young Women Standards night when I was in there , and at the RS retreat a few years ago and at girls camp several years ago. She is smart and funny and has a great spirit and testimony. The theme for the night was "I can" so she talked about Moses and how God told him of his great worth and He called him His son. Then Satan told Moses he was nothing and said he was son of man. That is how satan wants us to feel, like we are worthless and can't make any difference in this world. She talked about how when we make mistakes, we beat ourselves up and can't forgive ourselves. That is what satan wants us to do. He is the master of fear and doubt and failure. God does not see us like that, he wants us to come to him and feel his love for us, even when, and especially when we have made a mistake. She talked about how important it is to pray...compared that to the relationship you have with your children and and parents and how how much you want to be a part of their everyday lives and how sad they would feel if you never tried to have any contact with them or have a relationship with them . It was very powerful and a great message I needed to hear.

They had made these cute cans for each of us and had put in it little papers with things that we "Can do" listed on them. Then we were supposed to fill out one for each person sitting at our table of something we know that they can do. It was fun and uplifting and made us all feel good about ourselves. I feel blessed to be in the ward with all these wonderful, strong, spiritual, smart, loving, compassionate, creative, funny, courageous, positive, gifted women.

Red Panda

Kelley came home friday afternoon with tickets to the Jazz game. Mark had hurt his back so he wasn't able to go. He has a good friend that is a big wig for KSL that always gets him these amazing tickets , and Mark has been very generous to share with us. So we were excited to go. When we were getting ready though, I started feeling really wierd. It was like my equlibrium was off or something cause I kept losing my balance. I didn't say anything till we got up there though and were going to go over to gateway and walk around till the game started. I felt like I needed to sit down, So we went in early and had some great people watching time. Very Interesting! It was great for me to have some time to sit and talk and laugh with Kelley. We haven't been on a real "date" for quite some time.
Our seats were amazing...fifth row, right behind Denvers team. It was fun to be able to see them all up close and hear some of what they were saying. The Jazz started out playing really bad! They got as far behind as 19 points and we thought it was just going to be a blow out. Then at the end of the second quarter they started to turn things around and ended up winning the game. It was pretty exciting, but I think what I liked most about the game was the half time entertainment. They had this japenese girl on this really tall unicycle balancing bowls on her head. She would place them carefully on her foot, then kick them up and they all landed nicely on her head. I think at one point, she had 8 bowls laid out on her leg, then she flipped them up in the air and they all landed in a stack on her head. I tried to take a picture of her with my phone but it is hard to tell what she is doing. Anyway it was very amazing. It was a fun night. Thanks again Mark!

You Go Girl!

Tonight was the "Wild Card" preformance on American Idol. We have been so excited to see what happens because they chose Megan to be one of the eight that the judges called back to sing again. Candice came over to watch with me and we were both so nervous for her! Than Candice remembered that the show had already been played in New York where her friend Sarah lives. So she text her and asked her what was going on. She told us that this terrible drama queen Tatiania had gotten through and Megan didn't. Then she text right back "just kidding! Megan made it!" I was so glad to know so we didn't have to sit and watch it with a big nervous sick stomach! Megan sang really well and what the judges really liked about her was her originality and cute quirky ways. They liked the song she had picked and all of them had good things to say about her. I thought it was really sweet that when they had Meg and Tatiania up there to tell if either of them were going on, they chose Megan and and Tatiania just fell apart. Megan didn't jump up and down or even act happy for herself, she just hugged Tatiania and tried to make her feel better. I mentioned that to Candice and she said "thats just how she is" Megan called Candice and after it was over and tried to talk to her but it was so noisy there she couldn't hear anything so she said she would call her later. I think Candice has mixed feelings for her because she had talked to her earlier today and Megan was really ok with coming home now because she doesn't want to be away from Ryder any longer. He has been sick and she was worried about him. I can see how she would be so torn. Anyway, we are so proud of you Meg and send you our love and wish you the best of luck no matter what happens!

meltdown # 1

ok. so I'm freaking out a little bit right now. As I was leaving church today, I walked by the bishop's office to say goodbye to Kelley and I saw K.C. sitting there waiting to go in and talk to Bishop Burns. I don't know why, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. K.C. was going to have his missionary interview. It has always seemed like it was so far away that he would be going, that it wasn't really real in my mind. Well now he's doing it and it is very real. K.C. was sitting there holding this little pinwheel they had made in primary ( he is teaching the 6 year olds now) and I had this flashback to when he was a little boy and he would come running to me after church to show me what they had made in primary. Wow I about had a meltdown right there at church. Anyway, it's all very good. This is where he is supposed to be in his life right now and I couldn't be any prouder of him and the great young man that he has grown up to be.