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.