If Only It Were Real...

Apparently today marked the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speach, "I have a dream."  Well, we all have that same dream, in one way or another.  We would all like to see world peace, and not sound like a beauty contestant.
The problem is, his speech and his dream have become soooo different than what I think he meant for them to be.  He meant for all of us, whether colored, white, etc., would come to live in peaceful co-existence.  There would be no separate peoples, we would all be one race.
When you think about it, we ARE all one race.  The human race.  We are all children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and made us in His image.  If only everyone realized that and acted upon it.  The world would be a much different place.
I have often dreamed of a world without crime, hate, war and anger.  A world full of peace and happiness.
I realize that this dream is only possible with the return of our Savior.  We can come close - I mean, Enoch managed it with the city of Zion, and we are striving for that today, are we not?
But true peace, and amazing happiness will come with the return of Jesus.  I pray for it to come soon.
The world really - really needs Him.

Really?

I read a post this morning on Desnews website that made me groan and shake my head.  Now granted, I tend to read a lot of stuff online that makes me groan, and lots of it I'll shake my head at, but doing both at the same time?? lol

(sorry - found this photo a LONG time ago and don't know who to credit it to...)

Anyway - it was an article about soul mates.  Personally, I think her premise that there is no 'soul mate' for us is probably true.  The whole Saturdays Warrior thing is more romance I think, than reality.  I do think that there are those more likely to be right for us than wrong, and that we need to be selective.  But to say that Heavenly Father really doesn't have a say on who we marry, as far as encouragment, isn't quite there.

We know differently, I think.  I'm going to be a little personal here:
My patriarchal blessing told me that I needed to be careful in choosing my friends because I would choose my husband from my friends.
I tell you - that gave me BIG hope during my struggling college and post mission days.  Just because I wasn't dating didn't mean I wasn't going to get married.  My Heavenly Father knew I needed hope and He gave it to me in a way that I could always hang onto.

When I met my future husband, I was attracted to him, though I thought he was weird.  Apparently being weird is a qualification for being my friend.  Just so ya know...cause I guess I have several that are kind of weird...and my kids are weird, so we kind of passed it on... lol

Anyway - I met him for the first time when I was 18.  Didn't make much of an impression, and I didn't give him a second thought.  I met him again after my mission.  That's when I thought he was weird.  But, he was cute, and I could tell he was getting ready to go on a mission.  (a little late...some of us are slow in that department - he is 5 days older than I am)  We became great friends.  I could talk to this man about ANYTHING!

And that's something that I think is essential in a future mate.  He may not be your soul mate, but he is someone that you have much in common with, you can talk to him about anything, and you don't feel like you have to talk when you're with him.  It's comfortable just to be together.  Our Father in Heaven may not point a finger at a particular guy and say, "Hey!  Pay attention!  That's your man, now go get him!"
We do have freedom of choice, remember?  He also knows that there is the possibility of several men that we would find happiness with.  He will guides us in our lives to find those that we need.

I know there were several jokes going around when I was single about our husbands being killed in the war in heaven...or that our hubby was born in the dark ages and we missed out...  But each of us has a plan.  There are many variables in life, and there is a plan.

We learn and grow from everything we go through, and waiting to find the one that makes you happy might be your growing experience.  For those of us who never do find the man of their dreams, there could be all sorts of reasons.  Perhaps he never found you either and went through life alone.  Perhaps he was born on the other side of the globe and never did follow the guidance of Heavenly Father to find you.

I'm just glad I had that little sentence in my blessing so that I had hope.  Now 27 years, 7 children and 2 grandchildren later, there isn't much I would change about my life.  Definitely wouldn't change who I chose to marry.  ;)

And I know that Heavenly Father had everything to do with that.  Just saying.

We're Back! And We Survived....sort of...

Well...we went to Bear Lake last weekend for a couple of days of family fun and reunion time.  It was mostly...but it was also just a lot of driving.  ;)  We went up Thursday night -- about an hour later than we meant to start out, and got there later so we had to put the tent up in the dark.  That's always fun.  NOT.  Have I ever mentioned that I'm not really a camping fan??  My idea of camping is a trailer or a condo...just saying...
Anyway - spent the night laying there awake...as usual now...and then freezing as the temperature finally went down.  Then we got up a little earlier than everyone else, simply because we hadn't really slept well...and went for a quick bike ride.  It was a gorgeous day!
We came back and made pancakes, which turned out to be a great way to re-introduce myself to my nieces daughter.  ;)  She really likes pancakes...  Then we spent most of the morning putting my mother-in-law's new tricycle together (and I forgot to take pictures!!  It was great, lol) and then spent the majority of the afternoon helping everyone blow up their water toys with our car air pump. I got sooo fried!  I can't believe it - I spent the entire day other than my quick bike ride, in THE SHADE!!  But no, I've got this almost purple sun burn around my neck.  That makes things interesting...sigh.
We ate dinner, sat around and talked and then I decided to try and sleep as I was soooo tired.  Not happening.  They talked till past 1:30...and then we had changed the spot where the tent was, which made my head kind of down...so I had to switch ends so I wouldn't be sleeping on my head all night.  It was crazy!!  Finally got to sleep...
We got up later than we meant to because we were so tired, and then got most everything packed up and took off to come home.
We had my nieces baptism!!  So we got home and changed clothes and dashed up there only a couple of minutes late... that went really well, she is such a doll!
Then we went back home, changed clothes and ran errands that needed to be run before the Bean Dip that night.  This is our annual Bean family gathering on what used to be GG Bean's bday.  This year, all the uncles weren't feeling up to coming, so none of their progeny showed up.  That didn't bother us, it was still fun and we had a great time playing a game of Jeopardy that my niece created related to the family.  Then we went swimming at the Farmington pool, which is why it's called the Bean Dip...get it??  lol
Then we left early because we were so tired - to come home and get things ready for Sunday as we were going back to Bear Lake to spend the day with everyone.  We ended up not getting to bed till after 11...sigh.  But it was the best nights sleep I've had in a LONG time.  ;)
Then we drove up a little later than we'd planned, but it was okay - they were still doing breakfast when we got up there, so we made ours and then we ran to church.  I tell you - they know how to prepare for large congregations!!  They had two sacrament tables!  And 24 priesthood holders helping pass!  It was the most organized thing I'd ever seen!
Then we went to meet everyone at the beach, where we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon.  We ended up driving all around the lake...which isn't a bad drive.  It's kind of pretty!  And ended up down at Rendezvous Beach.  It was windy, but fun.  We walked up the coast a little - it was pretty crowded.  What really kills me is the garbage people leave behind...  I mean, really??  It's like their brains take a vacation when they're on vacation and they don't think about what their doing.  We figured it would make a really good Eagle Scout project to install garbage cans on the beach and clean it up once a month during the summer.  I just saw online though, that they have an annual clean up day in September...so perhaps they're on it.
Anyway, as we were packing up to leave the beach a dust devil picked up and blew our umbrella and another groups umbrella and a lot of their stuff down the beach!!  It was crazy. I thought 'Oh man!' and ducked down, afraid we were going to get hit with them.
We went back, made dinner, which took longer than expected, which I could have done a post about and might still do - only no photos!!  sigh.  why do I have a camera??  which is another thing - my sister-in-law has an awesome zoom lens that she found in KSL.  I'm sooo jealous!!  It was amazing!  I want a zoom...sigh.
here's an example-

this is the sail boat from where we were sitting before I switched lenses

and this is after.  See how much closer I get???  My lens just doesn't get any closer!!
here's a shot of them on the jet ski -

this is from before the other lens...

and after.  So...this isn't the best example because it looks about the same, but I can tell you that the second one is farther out...lol
Anyway, so we hurried up and ate, finished packing and headed home.  We played a scripture game on the way home with walkie-talkies, which I need to remember for next family trip.  It was so much fun!  and it made the ride go much faster!
Anyway - so, we survived the crazy weekend and are now trying to put the house back in order from Sherie and family moving into their own house.  So- we are back down to 7!!!  Which feels much nicer...lol
insanity continues...
2 weeks till work starts back up....:(  but I'm glad to have a job!! Which has actually turned into full time this year, and will be quite the challenge...sigh.  Life is always about change, right??  Yep.

And on an ending side note - I am SOO thankful for air conditioning!!  ;)

It's Hot

I just thought I'd clear things up about the weather, you know?  In case you had any doubts, in case you lived in a nice northwestern location that is usually green year round...lol  Or perhaps south eastern..sigh.  But if you live in the rocky mountain area of the world, it's HOT.  It's summer, and I'm soooo ready for fall.

I also got hired on in a full time job yesterday!  I have mixed feelings about it.  They had a full time position where I work open up two years ago, but they 'forgot' I was part time and didn't even offer it to me.  It was okay, I wasn't really ready for a full time spot yet.  I'm not sure I am now - I still have a kid in school!  But it is his last year, and he can handle it if mom isn't there for the first 15 min after he gets home...I guess.  :(  And then my oldest son reminded me that when my youngest daughter was a senior, I was working at a part time job in Salt Lake that I got home after them.  I had totally forgotten that!!  It was one of the reasons I quit that job...

Oh well...life goes on.

I'm also a little frustrated with my body and with life in general.  I've been unable to loose any more weight since my initial wonderful loss of almost 100 pounds three years ago.  I've also gained half of it back!!!  And I eat healthy!  Okay...I do have chocolate now and again, but my biggest struggle has been excersising.  I have so many things going on that I have a hard time getting it in.  I end up doing some time on the recumbent bike at 11:30...pm...sigh.

And I am not sleeping well.  I know part of it is stress - remember the post about all the people living in our house???  (which actually should start getting better, as they are officially moving out today!! I'm going to miss my little granddaughter...:(  )  And then keeping on top of two teenagers..and fixing meals for everyone when we don't want to cook - oh well.  I know many people have MUCH more stress than I do, it just seems to make me blow up like a water balloon.  I just don't know what to do.

I might have to go back on veggie shakes for a while.

Anyway - got to get stuff done.  I've been painting - trying to get something done for the fair, and I'm still not happy with what I've come up with.  Might need to try painting today....not like I've got nothing else to do, lol.

Random question - why is it that the wind blowing makes it look cooler outside???  lol

The Impossible

If you haven't had a chance to watch this movie yet, you really should.  I know it's just another disaster film, but yet, this one is real.  It's also a tear jerker and man...so many painful parts!!

I'm a fan of Ewan McGregor, and he does a great job in this.  I guess if you wanted to pick it apart you could tell it was a little lower budget film, but it's still amazing.  I think it does a much better job than that other film I did a review of, the Fifth Quarter.   

So anyway - if you want something that reminds you how wonderful and important your family is, how people can pull together in a crisis, this is a must see.

It reminds me how once again, we're stuck in a place where we can't help anyone.  We couldn't help with Haiti, we couldn't help with Katrina, the tornado in Oklahoma, sigh.  We pray for them, we support financially when we can, and we donate blood.  

Sometimes it just doesn't feel like enough.

It also makes me wonder what it's going to be like when it's us.  When the end is closer and we have some kind of disaster of our own.  Are we going to feel like we're living in a movie?

Only time will tell.

At least we got rain today!!  Much cooler temps so it's a bit nicer weather.  Have a good one.  Tell the ones in your family that you love them.

Looking for the Stillness

Well, I told you how we now have a house full of people.  We haven't been this full since like....2005?  Actually, I guess we've never been THIS full, but it makes life interesting.

It also makes it a necessity to find whatever spots of peace that we can.  To enjoy every bit of joy that we can find.  The other night, for example; my son-in-law was taking care of his daughter after a bath.  They were talking, he was reading her a story, and her little voice was so sweet.  Then mom (my daughter) came in, and they were all three of them a spot of peace in the chaos that had been the weekend.  It was a moment I wished I'd been able to get on video.  This is one of my favorite shots of them.

Sunday was my youngest daughter's bday.  Her sister's were two weeks before, but things being what they are, no one has had a proper celebration at the house.  So, Sunday was kind of a combination for the 2 of them.  I made three smaller cakes, one for each of the girls, in hopefully the flavor they wanted, lol, and then one big one for everyone else.

I hope the youngest doesn't feel like she was just thrown in with the crowd again...because I was worried about it.  I tried to make her cake the center and more decorated...sigh.  Our weekends are so crazy lately though, that I don't think she had very much fun.  I did make her waffles for breakfast, at least.  And she asked for lasagna for dinner which we did dutch oven style and seemed to turn out okay.  She liked it, so that's all that matters.  ;)

My little granddaughter is growing up so fast!  She seems to be like a sweet weed...just shooting up!  And so smart!  We were slightly worried that she wasn't talking much.  That is not a problem any more.  I think she has an amazing vocabulary.  She still will stay stuff that's a little gibberish sometimes, but usually it's pretty clear.  It was really sweet when my in-laws were over and she came and grabbed GG Dahl's hand and said "come play!"

We have been extremely blessed with moisture the past week and today.  It hasn't poured so much (except for Saturday, of course) but it's been sooo needed.  I am so Thankful!!!  Our lawn is past saving at this point, but at least we do have some green spots.  ;)

I can't believe that I'm coming up on only having a month left before going back to work!!!  ARGH.  The summer is never long enough.  I'm really wishing I could just stay home, I have so much that I want to do!  But, the need is still pretty high for me to work, so I am thankful that at least I can work part time, and it's a great job.  And the ladies I work with are awesome.  So, if you got to work, it's not bad...lol

Anyway - off to try and get something accomplished for the day, since the house is VERY quiet today...odd...Hope you have a great day!

Weren't we supposed to be empty nesters by now???

Okay -  I have to admit, I've looked forward to the time when it would just be my hubby and me in the house.  (well, okay, we knew we'd probably have Randy for the rest of our lives, but he doesn't make much noise and we don't have to do much for him...lol)  We have a couple of dogs we'd have to walk, cats to feed, a garden to take care of, a yard that's too big, and the house to maintain.  That's plenty, don't you think??

But the kids just won't go!!  First, our second twin moves out and then back and then out, has child, gets married and is now back. in. our. house.  With hubby and baby, thank heavens, and two dogs...  sigh.  But, really?  and two turtles and three two fish...

Second, oldest twin, moves out, gets kicked out of that apartment, then another one, and ends up moving home.  with dog.  Look like a pattern yet?

Oldest son joins the Army, leaves home for boot camp and training.  Comes home, never finds a job...moves out with friends.  Gets married, moves back home, we kick him and wife out...  don't see them for two years, and now he's back with the second twin, as he'd been living with them....at least he didn't bring any animals.

Youngest daughter has yet to leave home....at least she's going to school full time and working full time...;)  and doesn't own any pets outside the cats that roam the yard...

Second oldest son goes on mission and comes home and takes forever to find a job, I'm not sure if he's really going to be going to school in the fall, but he's still here....no animals either, lol.

Youngest two are just here.  The very youngest is going to be a senior!!  sigh.  So, there is a chance he'll be out of the house in a year or so.  Maybe he'll take a cat with him.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that in the past week we went from a household of 7 to a household of 11!!!  ARGH.  Okay...I'm calm.

We spent our holiday weekend cleaning out rooms to make space for everyone.  We have now shifted our workout area to the old workshop, which is going to be handy.  There was just a lot of stuff in there that we still need to take care of...lots of visits to the dump.  Hubby didn't get much rest, and he's trying to get a paper rewritten for school.  Nothing trivial...

So, hope you had a great 4th.  The day itself was pretty good, nice bbq and fireworks!!  My favorite thing about this week??  RAIN!!  we've had rain almost every day (or night...)  it's been wonderful.

Hope you had a great one!!

it's a crazy world

wow.  I tell ya, life is totally insane.  I was reading an insert for the cover of an album of Simon and Garfunkel...(please tell me you've heard of them) and how they were a calming soundtrack to the troubled times of the 60's and early 70's.

Troubled times???  Okay, so I guess I was young, but I remember growing up in the 60's and 70's.  I grew up with Abba and rock and roll, back when it was recent, not golden oldies.  I remember wanting Nixon to be re-elected...and being heart broken when he messed up and resigned...  I remember Carter and the people lining up for gas.  I wasn't driving, so it didn't mean as much to me as others, but I remember it.  I also remember gas being .60 a gallon...but that's beside the point.

I'm sure there were many that experienced more of the troublesome times.  I know there was a lot going on with Vietnam and all that.

But I want to point out today.  I think today's youth have much more to deal with than I did.  I remember when my husband and I were engaged and we were commenting on something to my mom, and she said she had the same challenges when she was getting married.  Everyone has the same challenges, it's just a different generation.

Well, I hate to disagree with her (especially since she's passed on and can't rebut my statements, lol) but I think there is a definite challenge that the youth of today face.  It's much more than I ever dreamed of.  There is SO much more for them to process, for them to do, for them to decide on, than I ever thought would happen.

I mean, there was no such things as computers, cell phones, video games, etc.  We played games outside.  We had video arcades, but I never went there.  We had TV, and we watched cartoons on Saturday morning, and then American Bandstand when they ended with Dick Clark.  Porn was something we heard about existing, but it wasn't constantly in the face.  I don't remember ever seeing a commercial for tampons on the TV, or women's underwear.  Most bathing suits were one piece, the bikini was something that only the skinny girls and those who weren't LDS wore.  (oh well)  Movies would be in theaters for months at a time, and it was an event to go to them, not something that we did every week.  I remember watching the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday.

Today's world is a whole different animal.  Not only are the youth of today thrust into the reality of porn every time they turn around, but they have access to the world at their fingertips.  The chaos that is our world of today is every day a new storm, devastation, war, killing, drowning, natural disaster, etc.  It makes me sad.

I have begun to pray for the return of our Lord and Savior.  I don't want my grandchildren to be raised in this world.  It's bad enough my own children have to struggle so hard.  I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in 10 to 15 years.

It's a blessing that at least we have the gospel and hope for a better future...

Keep smiling and keep your home strong.  Take care.

Okay - copy cats bug me...

Just had to get that off my chest.  I'm talking about movies, actually.  And, not really copy-cats, but people who try to cash in on something, just because they think it will make them big bucks.

Ever hear of the movie 5th Quarter?  Well, if you did, you were probably one of the few.  sigh.  I had heard of it and saw it for sale at Blockbusters going out of business sale, so I grabbed it.  We watched it the other night for FHE activity, and while the beginning was really good, it went downhill from there.  It was emotional, and you couldn't help but cry your eyes out, but the characters were lame after the initial shock.  And it had sooo much promise!!  It could have been great.

Part of it was the acting.  The oldest son was pretty much the focus, and he just wasn't believable.  Andie MacDowell was wonderful, as usual, and the dad...well, he was very emotional but it wore you out to the point you wanted to slap him in the middle.  The way he acted it seemed as if he was handicapped in some way, and it made me wonder if the real father was.  But anyway ---  lame.  I felt like they had made it to try and capitalize on the whole football tragedy thing.   And it ended kind of lame too.  So...hopefully if you were planning on watching it you won't toss it out the window.  Just know that it's not going to be Blindside.

Nuf said.  ;)

I'm done ranting for now.

California Dreaming...

Well...we went, we basked, we visited, we drove (forever) and we're back.  Sigh.  Like I've told the people we ran into out there....I love the ocean and it's the only thing I miss about living in California.  I would never live there again.  I guess I could be tempted though...lol

We split the trip down into two parts, stopping in St. George so David could give grandma the report...  and then we headed to California.  It was gorgeous weather the whole time we were there!  I couldn't believe it.  We didn't even have fog!  Getting down to St. George was ugly...and our daughters ended up spending Saturday  night in a hotel, but the rest of the drive was great.  The condos at Oceanside are great, but I wouldn't recommend the 3 room one...it's too close to the railroad tracks, and I swear they run every 20 minutes...till like 1 am, and then start up again at 5.  We heard those things every night...UGH.

The last day we were there was the cloudiest of them all...this was taken from our balcony on Sunday.  The sunbursts were sooo cool.  My camera just doesn't do it justice.

We tried to get David to show us his mission.  He finally took us to an area south...and it had a really cool beach.  There was a little park on the way to the beach and the walk way had shells in it, and the little staging area had decorative steps.  It was way cool.  There was a lifeguard station just off to the right of this photo, and it was cool.  It had lanterns along a short wall that we would love to put in our back yard.

We went to Dana point another day and saw a couple of tall ships that were docked there.  The gift shop was fun and we picked up some fun items for granddaughters....;)  But what was fun was our last day, Sunday, the same tall ship was headed into the harbor at Oceanside!

When we realized where it was going, we went to the dock area to get a closer look.  It was way fun, and Don really liked it.

We got to visit with a couple of different families.  One great family fed us dinner and we felt like we'd gained treasured friends!

We told them to be sure and look us up the next time they came to Utah.  ;)

We also visited the San Diego Temple...how can you not when you're so close???  This building always looks so unreal...so fantasy to me.

here's the group in front of it.  We actually had one taken just below the spires, but we were in shadow and you can't see us.  ..lol

I just love this photo of Guy...he's so good lookin!

Kristie and Clarissa had fun messing around together.

Oceanside dock was fun...there were two pelicans that were nice if you left them alone.  One shop on the dock that sold bait and stuff had a sign that said they bite stupid people, lol.

This is David looking like a rugged sailor...
All in all, it was a great trip.  Over too fast because we were going the whole time.  we went to Knottsberry farm, (I'm probably not spelling it right...and I'm too lazy to go google it, sorry) and that was fun.  We went mainly because it was cheaper than Disneyland, and it's theme is Peanuts, which is Guys FAVORITE thing...

Here's the group in front of one of the windows.  We stayed till the park closed.  I thought I took more pictures, since we took the camera inside, but I guess not.  I also look like I'm mad at someone...so go figure.  ;)  We had a great time feeding the chickens and roosters in the picnic area.  The kids thought it was funny that there were chickens instead of pigeons and seaguls.

Anyway...so  now we're back and it's still winter... lol   Of course it is.  Brrrrr....

Morning Frost

Okay...when we talk about inversion and the fog associated (okay, more smog, but I don't like that word..lol) there is generally a frost that happens on the plants as a result.  This past January, that didn't happen.

This morning, this is what was outside my windows!

now that's more like it!!  Fortunately, the sun is actually coming out and all of it will melt away, but for now, it's been nice.  Have a great day!