The First Day of Our Christmas

A new and different . . . and rather quiet Christmas has come and gone from our house. Brennan called Christmas morning and we got to talk for an HOUR instead of the usual 45 minutes. He sounds just like our Brennan right down to his dorky laugh and was finally ready to talk about coming home. That will be the end of January, probably the 28th, and will be here, like, tomorrow. Our Christmas will continue through the week as the kids arrive, but here are two of my favorite gifts of Christmas so far.

This Sentsy candle and some wonderful smelling candle bars - thanks Dalen and Tiffany. I have one Senstsy candle in my kitchen. This one found a perfect home in a small cubby in our entertainment center in the family room. I have a sticky cinnamon bun scent melting away in this new burner and a mulberry apple masala scent in the kitchen burner and two scents are colliding into the most amazing smell. I love it when someone else picks out my Sentsy bar scents. The pressure to choose my own is too much for me. Good job guys!

And then there's this new addition to my nativity collection courtesy of my good and long time friend, Rachel. Isn't it beautiful, all in one piece and each piece a part of the whole? Many of the pieces in my collection have come from Rachel. She says she thinks of me whenever she sees a nativity. I think of her whenever I get my nativity sets out each year. It was a very simple and wonderful Christmas yesterday and we're excited for it to continue as our kids - and our grandkids - try to get here through the snow.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve and all the bustle and hurry to get things done, wrapped and delivered are either over or being shrugged off as not going to get done this Christmas. This has always been my favorite time of Christmas. When things finally slow down and I'm able to focus on the true reason we celebrate. I've just spent a few quiet hours finishing my 49th book, and I am so looking forward to a 45 minute long Christmas present at 8:00 tomorrow morning when Brennan calls from France. Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you are out there having the best parts of your Christmas.

Moab is Fun!!

(Notice I am ignoring the "how did your song go today" issue. We're not going to talk about it.)

When I was younger people visiting here used to ask me, "So, what do you do here for fun?" That was always a hard question to answer, because we really did have a lot of fun - just different kinds of fun than people in the city who hang out at the mall or go to one of 100 different movies every night. And if we tried to tell these people what it was we did for fun, they would look at us with a kind of puzzled expression and say, "Huh. . " And walk off. A few of those people actually were stuck in Moab for the summer and they got to experience our kind of fun. And when they left, they always acknowledged that they did, indeed, have fun.


As I was looking through my photo files today I found these - pictures of Drew and his friends - sixteen and seventeen year olds - demonstrating what we do here for fun. And they made me laugh, which was important after the day I've had. . . but we're not talking about it.

This is Drew and the boys this last summer at Left Hand - having fun. Now, you have to know there are girls taking these pictures. They couldn't have hammed it up as well without the girls to show off for.

To steal a line from the play, The Song Inside of Me, "Oh, what a happy time that was."

Slooowww Doowwnnnn

I took a track class when I was in college - just to stay in shape - and at the beginning of every class we had to run two miles. My theory on running those two miles was, if I ran as fast as I could, I would get to stop running sooner. So that's what I would do, run two miles as fast as I could. For our final we had to run for 23 minutes. (Why not 20 minutes, why not 25? I don't know.) We had to run the whole 23 minutes without stopping to rest or walk, and if we did that, we passed the class. Easy enough unless you have spent the whole semester running the first two miles of class as fast as you could so you could stop sooner. That didn't immediately translate over to the 23 minute run for me. When the coach said go, I took off like a shot and left my track classmates in the dust, focusing on speed and getting to stop soon. It wasn't until I ran once around the track, past the coach, and heard her yelling, "Carri, your run is going to last for 23 minutes no matter how fast you run!" that I realized I'd better slow down and pace myself.


This is where I've spent every spare minute this past week. That piano, by the way, was my grandmother's. It's a Remington. Yes, like the gun. It was built in 1912, and when Grandma gave it to me, I gave piano lessons for two years to earn the money to have it refinished. That oval stained glass insert that you can't really see? I designed it and Dave and I made it. I love my piano, but I really have been spending too much time with it and not making any progress it seemed on the song I am playing tomorrow in church. Until today, when I thought to pull out the metronome and see if I was playing the song at the right tempo.
The seminary kids love to have me to play the piano in seminary because I play fast! Because playing in front of people is much like running to me. I play as fast as I can so I can stop sooner. That, I found out, was my problem with the song I have been trying desperately to learn. WAAYYY TOO FAST! When I slowed down to the speed the metronome was beating out, and I even set the metronome a little fast, I could play the song. YEAH!! I just might get through this. O.K., there is hope again in the world

Hey, Who Pushed Me?

I'm going to start a bucket list of things I never intended to do in my life, but ended up doing anyway. And at the top of the list will be "play a piano solo in Church." I have a friend who reminds me constantly, "Carri, you always jump into things with both feet, and then, when you realize you're in over your head, you look around and ask, 'Hey, who pushed me?'" That, I guess, is how I got myself into the present situation of . . . you guessed it. I am playing a piano solo in our ward's Christmas program next Sunday. A piano solo. Me. I am not a piano solo person. I am an "accompany other people so the focus is not on me" kind of pianist. Most of the time I play while other people sing. I have played with no one singing before, but only as background music while, for instance, the Seminary graduates received their diplomas. But never have I played a solo where I am the main part of the talent, so everyone is looking at me and will notice every mistake I will make, which at this point in my practicing will be an awfully lot. So, next Sunday while you all are sitting all relaxed and easy in your own ward Sacrament Meetings listening to the great Christmas program with talks and musical numbers from people who really are talented at whatever they are performing - think of me. Because depending on how things go, I may just be moving to where you are.

On another note, just a reminder that while we are together as families this holiday season, Jayson is serving in Iraq this Christmas. Remember him as you celebrate and send a few prayers his way. And I know he'd appreciate a Christmas card or package or anything that will let him know we are thinking about him, especially at this time of year. Here is his address:

PV2 Jayson Johnson
Task Force 115 Medical
328th CSH DET 40
APO AE 09344

Merry Christmas :)

Sometimes You Just Get A Bonus

A few months ago we remodeled the "kids" bathroom - now the guest bathroom, since the only kid we have left in our house sleeps upstairs. It's a tiny little bathroom, so I went for a much smaller vanity and a vessel sink. A copper vessel sink because Dave loves copper. He wanted to outfit our house with a copper roof, but I compromised and let him have a copper sink. And in researching how to care for and clean my copper sink, do you know what I found out? Copper naturally kills 98% of bacteria within a few hours. Naturally. No harsh cleaners or disinfectants needed, I just have to wipe the cute little sink down and rub it with lemon oil to make it sparkle. I love it! And I'm wondering - do they make toilets out of copper? By the way, if you're wondering why the faucet is on the SIDE instead of BEHIND the sink - you're going to have to ask Dave. It's a sore subject, so ask nicely.

An Anomaly and An Obsession

So, I took Dave to see Twilight last night. It was the third Twilight viewing for me, which is almost an anomaly. I just don't see movies in the theater that often. Most of the time I practice patience and wait until a movie comes out on DVD so I can watch it in my PJ's in the comfort of my own home without the distraction of a glowing cell phone from the apparently bored young girl sitting in front of me texting every one of her contacts throughout the entire movie. Yes, that has happened to me. M.o.r.e. t.h.a.n. o.n.c.e. But not since I was a teen aged girl myself and the only thing to do in Moab was go to the Drive-In and the only movie playing for three weeks straight was American Graffiti have I seen a movie IN THE THEATER three times. And I still liked it, in fact, Dave got bored in the middle (before the vampire fights) and started talking to me and I had to shush him so I didn't miss anything. I'm not obsessed with Twilight - believe me, I know. I have a couple of friends who are. But the reason for my lack of boredom with this not greatly epic movie eludes me. I thought it might be the novelty of the thing - vampires fitting into the human world, but I didn't care for the Harry Potter movies and the same kind of novelty exists there. We ran into some friends at the movie who said they were just there to see what all the hoopla was about. They hadn't read the book, didn't know anything about the movie, just wanted to see what everyone was making such a fuss over. I wish I could tell them, but I don't know. I just know I like it. But I do know this . . . .

I think I am obsessed over these. My collection of many nativity's, from tiny to bigger . . .
And larger . . . .

And cuter - See the little Drummer Boy in the background? Oh, you can't see him very well in this picture. He's standing to the left of the angel. I like him. He's my favorite.


And my tree is up, it's pretty and it's real. So come on Christmas, we're ready here. And just a little obsessed.

Jam Packed

Jill has been harassing me about my lack of posting. I did vow at one point to post every day, and I've taken a short pause whilst being sick for a week, but today we packed in a week's worth of fun stuff. The only cure for three little grandboy withdrawals is to have one return to visit the very next weekend. Aiden came back, and while his Dad was out NOT winning the weekend coyote shooting contest, Papa was training Aiden in the art of falconing. Here they are exercising the new rehab owl Dave has. Owl was on a long rope so he could fly, and then Papa and Aiden would have to go out in the hills, get him, and bring him back. It was a lot of falconing fun.

And here they are training Jake, Dave's little kestrel, to fly to their hand for food. See, you make a fist, pump it up and down to get Jake's attention, and then open and close your first finger and thumb to indicate you've got some sort of dead rodent in your hand for the little guy to eat. Incidentally, Porter has learned to do this, too. These little boys are good at it! Minus the dead rodent. We don't let them go that far.

Then there was Pooh sticks at the park so we could enjoy more of the beautiful December weather we are having, which is making it very hard to get into the Christmas spirit around here.
But this helped some. The Moab Christmas Electric Lights parade - which may seem a little hokey to the big world out there, but for us here in Moab, this was a great parade. Here are a few of our favorites.


I'm not sure what a volcano and dinosaur have to do with Christmas, but it was pretty . . . and it roared ! ! ! so Aiden thought it was great. We're all about having a Jurassic Holiday here.


And this was the cutest little gingerbread house decked with presents tumbling out of the mailbox and an American flag(that you can't see in this picture). I loved the details.

And I thought this was adorable. This is a group of little dancers, and see the cute little girl in pink? Sound asleep. Right in the middle of being in a parade, she laid back her head, closed her eyes and fell sound asleep. They were cute, though, those little Studio Elite girls.
So now I have a window of opportunity while Aiden - and Jill and Kenny - are at their other Gramma's to get a Relief Society lesson together. The day is Jam Packed!

Traditions Old and New

We've never been consistent enough for traditions at our house. Just when we think we've got one going, somehow, through no fault of our own, it comes to an end. But this is one that I plan, by treachery or trickery, to keep going. The after Thanksgiving washing of the dishes.


I know it was because my birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, but seeing these three - one man and two little boys - doing the Thanksgiving dishes together is a sight I plan on seeing again. And not just because that means I have less work to do. Look at the bonding going on here. The "are you sure this is how you do it Papa?" teaching moments. Porter carrying on as if he does the dishes every day, both boys soaked from head to toe, the floor a virtual pool of water. Yes, a tradition worth keeping, I think.

And by next year we'll be adding little Chase, who was a little too young to stand on a chair this year, but just old enough to enjoy pajama tramping.


The old traditions? Hunting Christmas trees. We have been going to Huntington for our trees for a few years now, and even though the rest of the family petered out on us this year, we sojourned to Huntington and the fam. that was there watched us get OUR trees. No pics of this excursion, though, because I was, well, busy hunting my Christmas tree. Just in case you're wondering, we had a fun weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving and a Birthday Note

Here is a much younger and toothless version of myself. Today I stop teetering at the top of the mountain of life and begin my journey over the other side. In honor of turning 51, here are 51 trivial facts that you may or may not be interested in knowing.

1. My favorite color is green. Especially khaki green.

2. I’ve been known to wear an all green outfit. i.e. green pants, green shirt, green socks, green jacket and not have any idea that might be too much green.

3. For twelve consecutive years I was the president of some organization in the Church.

4. I had braces on my teeth when I was in my thirties.

5. I play the piano fairly well even though I only took lessons for six months when I was in first grade.

6. I was almost named Edna. Thanks Mom for vetoing that one!

7. I have EXTREMELY naturally curly hair and I hate it.

8. I set a goal to read 50 books this year.

9. So far I’ve read 45

10. I used to wish I was named Carolyn and that Carri was my nickname so I would have an elegant name to grow in to.

11. I played the clarinet through Junior High, High School and two years of college and never owned a clarinet.

12. When I was in 7^th grade I could outrun the entire 8^th grade boys PE class.

13. My favorite sport to play is softball.

14. My favorite sport to watch is football.

15. When Dave and I became engaged I had to write Dear John letters to two missionaries

16. I have a hard time shutting my mind down at night in order to fall asleep, so I watch West Wing episodes.

17. If I had had one more daughter I would have named her Carri Joe and called her Josie.

18. If I had had one more son I would have named him Gabren and called him Gabe.

19. I love to learn. If I lived near a college I would take classes all the time just for fun.

20. I am a shoe person. I love shoes

21. I have always struggled with keeping my house clean, but am getting better!

22. I save all my old shoes in case I have to walk back to Nauvoo. And because I love shoes

23. I love to prepare church lessons. Sometimes I prepare them just for fun even if I’m not supposed to be teaching anything.

24. I’m a home body. I love being at home.

25. I never thought I would love anything more than being a Mom, so I am surprised at how much I love being a Gramma.

26. I used to like the taste of paper. My mom told me she could always tell which books I’d read because the corners were chewed off all the pages.

27. I have pursued but never finished degrees in Home Ec. Ed., Elementary Ed., and Business Management.

28. I have gone to college a total of six years and still don’t have a degree

29. When I go back to school it will be to major in History or English.

30. I’ve always wanted to learn to speak Latin

31. I’ve always wanted to go to New Zealand. And now, France.

32. I hate being late for things. It really bugs me and causes internal turmoil (and external sharp remarks to those who are making me late).

33. I don’t like carmel or anything with carmel in it.

34. I want to be buried at the cabin so I won’t ever have to miss out on all the fun.

35. I only want to work part time so work three part time jobs

36. I played the organ for the Monticello temple dedication.

37. Also at the Monticello Temple dedication President Hinckley spoke my name.

38. I drove all the way to Salt Lake once a month to watch Aiden while Jill worked, and then once every two weeks to watch Chase while Kimbrey went to school.

39. I like to sew. I made all my girl’s prom, homecoming, and pageant dresses.

40. My biggest crafting mistake was making all of Jill wedding announcements. Not that they weren’t cute, it just took a LONNNGGG time.

41. I drove our Landcruiser the entire length of Hole in the Rock trail.

42. I knew Stewart Peterson (Against A Crooked Sky, Where the Red Fern Grows) He was in my ward for a few months in Moab when I was 17, and then was in my ward again at BYU.

43. I, with Dave’s persuasion, thought vacations should be educationally based, so would never take my kids to Disneyland, but went to Disneyworld by myself as an adult.

44. I dated Dave for two weeks before we got engaged, and we were married 2 ½ months later.

45. For three summers running I played China in the Moab based play, The Song Inside of Me.

46. My favorite restaurant is Sizzler

47. My biggest vice is drinking Pepsi.

48. My Dad thought watching TV was such a waste of time we didn’t have TV most of my life and now they have a TV in just about every room of their house. (He also thought string games were a waste of time and gave us work to do if he caught us playing them.)

49. Following in Dad’s footsteps, I didn’t let MY kids have TV most of THEIR lives, however, we always had our TV hooked up for the Olympics.

50. My Mom always told me I was born on Thanksgiving. I found out when I was in college that I was really born the day BEFORE Thanksgiving.

51. I had seven siblings and they were born boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy.

Twilight at Midnight

Not that I am one of those over the top Twilight fans, but I work with two girls who are, so I WAS one of those who went to the midnight showing of Twilight last night. There wasn't going to be a midnight showing in Moab until the two girls I work with decided they couldn't miss out on the excitement of Twilight's release and so bought out the movie theater and sold tickets to the show themselves. And they sold them all - in three days! So there I was, not wanting to be the only girl in the office who hadn't "watched the Super bowl" so to speak, so I went - just for the experience. I expected to be disappointed as I usually am with a movie made from a book that I've read, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the show was good enough that I'll probably see it again. MY only disappointment was in Edward. I just didn't think he matched the character in book, but maybe it's my age. He did get better as the movie went on, but that one character was still a little bit of a disappointment to me.
So now, here I am on my way out into the big, bad world with a "I stayed out too late last night and didn't get enough sleep" hang over headache. It's going to be a long day, but hey, I have something to talk about at work, and I've seen Twilight!

Three Books I Simply Could Not Read

This year, in honor of - or mourning for, I haven't decided which yet - turning 50, I set a goal to read 50 books by the end of the year. Without really thinking it through, I announced that goal in Relief Society one day and heard an audible gasp from the sisters in the room. Then I heard someone say, "That's like a book a week!" And then I got a little nervous. But it has been a delightful journey, one I'm nearing the end of, and I've learned a few things. One of those things is that if a book is really bad, I don't have to finish it. I used to think I did, once I started a book I had to get through it. I thought I would share a few books that I simply could not finish reading. First - The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Actually I did finish this book, but it was the first book I read, so I hadn't learned my "you don't have to finish a bad book" lesson yet. I did not enjoy it and would never recommend it to anyone else. While the story is really good, the time period interesting, the descriptions of the building of cathedrals intriguing, I found the play by play depiction of the raping and pillaging too vivid for me. It was disturbing and left me feeling anxious and uneasy. I wish he had focused more on the story and less on describing every detail of a rape or torture.

Michelle warned me about Anna Karenina, but it is a classic and one of my self set guidelines was to read some of the classics. Not this one. It is a long book, and I made it about half way through, but the characters are boring, they each have about six different Russian names, so it's impossible to keep them straight, and the story is like reading every tiresome detail of someone's daily journal. The book opens with the affair of one of the characters and centers around the affair of two others. I found nothing uplifting in the 1/2 of the book I read. At this point, I don't think I'm going to try and finish it.


I had hoped this book would be similar to "Three Weeks With My Brother", by Nicholas Sparks, which I found delightful, but the little I read of Eat, Pray, Love just made me mad. The author, Elizabeth Gilbert is one of the most selfish people I have ever come across. That she could write a book about her self serving life and have people rave about it was amazing to me. The fact that I actually bought a copy of the book REALLY irks me. I don't know what I'm going to do with the copy I own, but I'm not going to waste my time finishing this book.
Later, when I finish my last few books, I think I'll highlight a few of my favorites. Meanwhile, I'm trying to follow Elder Oaks advice in his talk, "Good, Better, Best" when he said " . . it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom”. My attempt is to find those that are best.

Why I Like Drew Best

My kids believe it's true even if it's not, that Drew, the spoiled youngest child of the family is also the favorite child. Now I've come up with a reason why he could win in that area. Sunday as I was backing our car out of the garage to go to church, I stopped going backwards in order to go forward and my tires skidded on the gravel of our driveway. This usually results in Dave jumping all over a teaching moment on how to drive correctly, so before that could happen, I made the comment that, though I tried, I couldn't figure out how to stop slowly and evenly enough so I didn't skid. Drew said he didn't skid when HE backed out and Dave said he didn't skid when HE backed out and Dave was starting to come up with some law of physics kind of explanation for my skidding when Drew spoke up. He said, "Mom, I think the problem is that you must weigh SIGNIFICANTLY less than Dad or I." Dave tried to continue with his answer, but I stopped him. I was happy with Drew's. Yes, that had to be it. I must weigh SIGNIFICANTLY less than Dave or Drew, so my tires float on the top of the gravel instead of grabbing traction and stopping. And that, right there, is why I like Drew best.

Follow the Prophet

I heard a story once and I've repeated it many times, so if you've already heard this, bear with me, I'm going somewhere here. Ardeth Kapp told of an experience she had when she was General Young Women's president. She had a mother come up to her and state the following. "My daughter has a hard time with all the rules in the church because she feels the prophet is older and many of the standards of the church are outdated." She went on to say, "I told her that the prophet isn't always speaking prophetically, that many of the "rules" are just suggestions. What do you think?" I thought Sister Kapp's answer was clever. She said, "When the prophet is speaking from any pulpit or to any body of the church you can be sure that he is speaking prophetically. I'm sure there are times when he isn't. For instance, in the morning when he is choosing which breakfast cereal he wants to eat, I'm pretty sure that isn't a prophetic decision . . but I would choose the same kind, just in case." That is why we remodel at our house, because that is what President Hinckley did, remodel, and we are choosing to do the same thing, just in case. At least, that's what I keep telling Dave :)

On that note, do you see anything missing in this picture? Hey, where the heck is the fridge?

Oh, there it is, in the Family Room with the kitchen table. What project, do you suppose, we've got going on now? Actually, it really isn't all that exciting to anyone except me, but I've been waiting a YEAR for this to happen, so I am excited!! I'll keep you posted.

We Will Anchor Ourselves

What are the Proposition 8 protesters hoping to accomplish at this stage of the game, does anyone know? Are they hoping California will ask for another election so those who voted yes and have now been swayed by the sweet and kind "no on Proposition 8" mobs can go back and change their vote? Are they hoping that their mild manner and calm demeanor will bring the understanding that they would NEVER step on our rights to worship and teach our children the things we hold precious and sacred? Before the election I talked about this issue quite often with our seminary teacher because he is from California and his parents still live there. Just days before the election Brother Jackman said, "My gut feeling is that Prop 8 will pass narrowly this time, but when it comes up on the ballot again, because obviously it will be on the ballot again, it will probably be defeated." His reasoning was that the generation under 30, the largest number of the "No" group, is being raised to be sympathetic of Homosexual behavior - that it's becoming more and more a normal, accepted thing. I know people who are gay. I like them, I treat them with kindness and respect, no differently than I treat any of my friends. In fact, one cute friend who is gay always asks my permission before she gives me a hug. But, in this life we make choices, and those choices determine our "blessings" as we call them, or "rights" as the world calls them, and to say that a people can make a choice and not only preclude the limits that come with that choice, but loudly proclaim that ME, MINE, MY rights override yours and if you dare speak up, well, we'll just show you . . .

This isn't going away, and as long as they are talking (yelling, screaming, profaning . .) about it, we need to, too, ( talk about it, not yell, scream or profane) or that group in the large and spacious building will begin to sway those we love who are desperately trying to hold on to the iron rod with their fingernails. Below is a link to great article in today's Meridian Magazine written by a LAPD police officer. It's a two part article so it takes a few minutes to read, but it is worth it. It's an eye opener.
http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html

Michelle

I was reading my Gratitude journal today. I started a gratitude journal after listening to Elder Eyering's "O Remember, Remember" talk in General Conference last year. This entry was written last January - the 29th. It was the end of what I remember as the longest and coldest January in my lifetime, and remembering to be grateful is what got me through those last and longest days of last January. It was ironic to me that I turned to this entry today because I had Michelle on my mind. I had just noticed this afternoon that her blog wasn't listed on my list of family blogs I read. What took me so long to notice? It's simple really, my blog checking ritual starts when I get home from work. I sit down to unwind and I spend 15 or 20 minutes checking blogs. And I always start with Michelle's. I enter through her blog - I always have - because hers is the first blog I ever read. So, I type her blog address in and then I link to all the other blogs through hers. I also found it interesting that as I was looking for a picture to add to this blog that most of the pictures that I have taken of Michelle are of Michelle taking a picture of someone else.

But here is a picture from the reunion at the cabin this summer. And this is what I wrote on that cold, bleak, January day last year. I remember something my sister, Karlene once said about Kyle. She said, "Whoever marries Kyle had better be a really good girl, because he deserves that." And would you look at the really good girl he got! There is nothing quite so satisfying in this life than to see your children happy, and doesn't that boy look happy?! Now he has a six month old, absolutely handsome , smart, and fun little son, Porter, and he is more happy than ever. Even living in Cedar City and going to school, which he has never liked, (going to school, I mean. I think he is O.K. with living in Cedar City) I have never seen him as happy. That is what living the gospel does for you, people of the world. There is no greater or truer happiness to be found than in doing what the Lord would have you do. Thanks, Michelle, for loving my son and for making him happy.

And thank you Porter for making all of us happy. And all I have to add is . . Amen.

Walk This Way . . .

I am a walker. An early morning walker. I used to be a jogger, but when we moved into our neighborhood 21 years ago I joined a group of girls who walked together every morning and began a lifelong journey of walking. My friend, Marie and I are the only die hards left of our original walking group, but we still walk - every morning - at 5:40 AM - unless it's raining. We walk through wind, snow, ice, escaped convicts, Bandido motorcycles gangs, anything but rain.
And this is where I walk.
Every once and a while we have someone who wants to join in our morning walk, and we let them. We are not discriminatory walkers, but invariably they will want to change our course to something more challenging or longer or more scenic - like THAT does any good, it's dark when we walk, but eventually they will drop out and Marie and I go back to our three mile Millcreek parkway walk. It just suits us.


At one time the orthodontist I used to work for offered a comment that made me realize how unique our walking was. He was getting divorced for the second time and was being all introspective and philosophic about it when the subject of my walking came up. Someone asked me how long I had been walking, and when I told them 16 years he said, "Oh, wow. How do you do that? I can't even stay married for 16 years."

But here is a secret - the real reason I walk every morning without fail. When I was in college I had an Institute teacher who told us that his doctor promised him that if he would walk consistently every day, he would never die from a heart attack. Of a whole list of things I don't want to die from, a heart attack is up near the top of the list. So I walk, banking on a promise made to my Institute teacher by a doctor I don't even know. And if I do eventually die from heart failure . . . well, imagine the irony.

Because She Asked . . .

My friend finally got me copies of her pictures from the debate Dave did at the high school, but by the time they came the election was pretty much history so I thought I would just forget it. Kimbrey, however, is still intrigued, so I'll tell a few thing about the debate that I thought were interesting. Dave got 15 minutes at the beginning to present "his" candidate. He talked mostly about McCain's war service, in particular his POW years. One thing that brought tears to my eyes was when he mentioned someone in the senate once accused John McCain of being a carpet bagger. McCain's reply was that he came from a military family and they moved around a lot. He said he would have loved to have had the luxury of living in one place and calling it home. Then, almost as an afterthought, he said, "In fact, I believe the one place I lived the longest was Hanoi." Dave's point was that in order to effectively run the country you needed to have a deep love for the country and that he was confident that John McCain loves our country deeply. He didn't feel that Obama has that patriotic love for the US that John McCain does.

Mr. DeFrancia's main objection to John McCain seemed to be Pres. Bush. Let me pause here for a minute and just say that I think Pres. Bush has gotten a bad rap. He pretty well got crapped on his second term with 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, to name just two biggies. I think he did the best he could under a bunch of really BAD conditions, and if I knew where to send it, I would send him a Thank You note for holding to his principles even when the populace was against him and for serving morally and with dignity. I'll bet when Obama moves into the White House there won't have just been a mass of convicts freed from prison, more Utah property tied up as protected land, and all the B's will still be on all the keyboards. ("B"arak o"B"ama, get it?)


Then they took questions. Mr. DeFrancia just kept coming back to Pres. Bush and the war and how terrible it was that we invaded another country without provocation. Dave pointed out that the war came after 9/11 AND after Saddam Hessian protected known terrorists who had killed United States citizens. Mr. DeFrancia's reply was, "It was a Republican President who put Saddam Hessian into power." So . . we shouldn't correct that? We should have just left him there? I'm not sure what Mr. D's point was, but Dave's was that we DIDN'T attack without provocation. They also brought up socialized health care. Dave countered with the fact that we have the best health care in the world here. That in places where they have socialized health care you can't get in to see a Dr. He mentioned one city in Canada (Dave served his mission in Canada) where they drew names every day to see who got to see a Dr. that day. Now, maybe I'm just stupid, but if WE can't afford our own health insurance and OUR taxes support the government, where is the government going to get the money to buy our insurance for us? If someone could answer that for me I would feel a lot better about things.

My proudest moment came when the question was asked about No Child Left Behind. I knew Dave didn't have an answer for that - I had seen his preparation paper, so when that question came up and it was his partner, David Knutson's turn to answer I was relieved. However, David K. took the mike and said, "Be brave, Dave" and handed the mike to Dave. Now, the girl standing next to Mr. D had answered that question for their side. She went on and on about bubble tests, the ACT, how testing doesn't test knowledge, blah, blah, blah, but she finally said that "No Child Left Behind was a punishment for the most important people in our lives - OUR TEACHERS!!" I was shaking in my seat as Dave took the mike, but this was his reply. He said, "I have three grandsons who we love a lot. My oldest grandson is an import (yes, he called Aiden an import) from Ohio. He just turned two years old and he can recite the whole alphabet and he can count to 15. And he has not had a school teacher in his life yet. Then he said, "I respectfully disagree with Miss S, but the most important people in your life are not your teachers, they are your parents and your family. When more parents start to take responsibility for their children's educations and stop expecting the government to do that for them, we won't have to have No Child Left Behind." I wanted to stand on my feet and cheer. But that's just not me, so I cheered and clapped from where I was sitting. He made other really good points about how teachers needed to be held to a standard just like any other person in any other occupation, that maybe testing wasn't the best way to measure a teacher, but that it is the best way we know right now.
Anyway, the outcome is different than I hoped for, but maybe Pre. Elect Obama CAN hold good on some of his promises and make things better. We can only wait and see. I'm really anticipating that middle income tax break - and having someone else pay for my health insurance. Let's see . . tax BREAK, pay more money OUT for health insurance . . . nope, doesn't add up to me, but I've never been that great at math.

A Sadie Hawkins Miracle

Although unrecognizable as such, this is Drew's room. Looking past the fact that he sleeps, by choice, upstairs in the rickety old water bed when he has his choice of nice downstairs bedrooms, you have to know that this room has never been so clean. Bed made, nothing on the floor except his big, blue bean bag chair where he plays X box, and just look at that neat and tidy desk there in the corner!
It all started a few weeks ago when this cute girl asked Drew to Sadie's. Doesn't she look just like Daisy Mae in her dress and running shoes? Actually in this picture she had just finished running in a cross country race and then threw on a dress on to accept an academic all state award. I was cheated out of a Sadie Hawkins picture, but that is another story. Anyway, Friday night, the night before the all day long Sadie Hawkins date, Ivy told Drew he needed to be ready at any time, the whole thing was a surprise and she wasn't going to tell him when she was coming to pick him up. In Drew's mind this meant he may very well be awakened early in the morning by a bunch of cute, giggly girls, (group dating, you know!) so he carefully cleaned his room and even slept in pajamas, just in case. Then he was up bright and early this morning - on a Saturday! The girls didn't show up until 10:00, but it couldn't have worked out better for me.

Just look at that nice, clean floor, shoes lined neatly by his bed. I wonder if I could I get them to do this every Saturday?

An Old Nutmeg Memory

It's funny the circumstances that will jar loose some old, dusty memory hidden in the deep recesses of your mind. While preparing my lesson on Gratitude, this one came hurtling to the front - so I used it - and the girls thought it was pretty funny, so I thought I would share it with my kids, who periodically ask me to tell them stories from when I was a child, like I'm from the 1800's or something! Anyway, this happened when I was 5 or 6 years old. My Grandma Sitterud was visiting us and was going to bake something yummy, but we were out of nutmeg. There was a tiny little grocery store on the corner about a half a block from where we lived, so Mom gave me some money and told me to run over to the store and get some nutmeg. (Oh, the days when you could send a 5 or 6 year old to the store alone!) Only, I didn't know what nutmeg was, so when I walked into the store I told the nice store lady that I needed some nut-neg. She looked puzzled and asked, "What?" "Nut-neg," I repeated. "Nut-neg. My mom needs some nut-neg." She couldn't get it! So she called over another store clerk and asked her to listen to what I wanted. "Nut-neg!" I said, slowly, emphasizing the word so they would understand. But they didn't, and I could hear them discussing what I might be trying to say. "It sounds like she's saying nut 'n egg. Does she want nuts and eggs? But she didn't send enough money for nuts and eggs." Finally, because they had no other solution, they sent me home with a little bag of walnuts and a note - "Did you want nuts and eggs?" Mom and Grandma read the note and then laughed until tears rolled down their faces. Then Mom turned the note over and wrote NUTMEG on the back, and sent me back down the street to the store. The store clerks laughed and laughed when they read Mom's note, and sent me home, finally, with the nutmeg. As I told the Achievement Day girls, memories from your past usually fade until you only remember those things that were really exciting, really scary, or really embarrassing. I don't know why I remembered this one.

For How Could We Hope To See His Face, Who Never Could See His Hand

The above picture was one I used in the photography class I took with Kimbrey this summer. I had kept it pretty quiet that I was driving clear from Moab to attend the class until the last session, but when it did come out, my fellow classmates were astonished (and my teacher was so flattered!) that I would travel so far to take a photography class. We had to do a series of five pictures we had taken and present them to the class, and when this picture came up on the screen I heard someone behind me say, "O.K., please don't tell us that is the view from your back door!" And I heard Kimbrey respond, "Well, practically." I am speaking to a group of cute little Achievement Day girls on Thursday about Gratitude, and the following is something I read in preparation for that assignment. It's by Joseph B. Wirthlin, and he says: "Unfortunately, because the beauties of life are so abundant, sometimes we take them for granted. Our minds have a marvelous capacity to notice the unusual. However, the opposite is true as well: The more often we see the things around us—even the beautiful and wonderful things—the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds—even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less. Those who live in thanksgiving daily, however, have a way of opening their eyes and seeing the wonders and beauties of this world as though seeing them for the first time." As my "year of 50 books" draws to a close, I have set a new goal for 2009. To more fully live my life in thanksgiving daily. And so, 51 thank you cards will go out next year, throughout the year, from my hand. As a line from one of my favorite songs states, "Listen to the wind blow, then listen once again . . ."

Soap Box

Today I am climbing on my soap box, something I rarely do because, although I am passionate about my beliefs, I have a husband who is vocal about them and I think one per family is enough. Recently I have been following the progress of a young girl who is pregnant and not able/willing to keep her baby. My friend who is a nurse and knew of her situation, called and talked to her in great length about a young couple she knew (she was referring, of course, to Jill and Kenny) who would love to adopt and raise the baby. We have had hopes raised and then dashed before in that area, so I really didn't place much hope in the idea that she would choose Jill and Kenny to adopt her baby, but I DID hope she would choose to have the baby and allow someone to raise it. Today I found out that she aborted the baby. And I am surprised at how deeply that effected me. I have been holding back tears all day at work and I am so ANGRY that we live in a country where many people believe it was her right to choose that course. I believe in a woman's right to choose. But I believe she made her choice when she made the choice to have sex. Pregnancy is a consequence of that choice - sometimes a happy consequence and sometimes not, but we live with the consequences of our choices, do we not? There are many alternatives to abortion. It only takes nine months out of a whole life to bring forth another life and then give the beautiful gift of a child to someone whose arms ache for one. So, here's my soap box speech. I have had more than a few Democrats say to me, "You say you could never be a democrat because democrats believe in abortion." And, by the way, they do. I looked it up. It's in their platform. So, to go on, their thing goes like this, "When you go to the polls, do you believe in EVERYTHING your Republican candidate stands for? Well, I can be a democrat and not believe in abortion." O.K., good for you, but I can't. I ABHOR!!! abortion. It's wrong. And it is not a LITTLE thing - it's a biggie. There is nothing I disagree with in the Republican party that is anywhere close to being as huge as that one belief. And, the moment the Republican party claims a belief in abortion is the moment I abandon ship with them. By the way, that is not the only reason I am a republican, but it is a HUGE reason I am not a democrat or affiliate with any other political party who believes a woman can choose to kill an an unborn child. I believe, I HOPE, that someday our posterity will look back on our country's sanction of abortion with the same shame and horror we now view slavery, or the killing of Native Americans. It. Is. Wrong. And I will never join hands with a party who refuses to admit that. O.K., now I'm down. I'm better. I've stopped crying and I can write to my missionary son with peace in my heart.

Halloween and It's Subsequent Weekend

Halloween has been a relatively quiet affair at our house for the past few years. No little kids clamoring to dress up and go trick-or-treating and so few trick-or-treaters come up our dark, scary road, we've resorted to handing out full sized candy bars to entice goblins and witches to our door. But this year a cute little monkey showed up and lifted our Halloween spirits.

Today we ordered lunch at Milt's and ate at the Rotary Park, a favorite thing to do when our kids come home. Dave brought Jake, his little kestrel along and we had a good time playing Pooh sticks on the bridge.
And playing on the toys. It was a beautiful day.