Thankful Thursday on Friday

November 19, 2010

I just read Lizzie's blog and it made me realize that I too had not done my Thankful Thursdays for a very long time.

I am thankful for Gary. He is always helping me and telling me to take care of myself. Sometimes I don't slow down and end up sick, like I am now. He tells me to relax. He does laundry, dishes and cleans the house, among other things. He is so great.

I am thankful for the holidays coming. Lizzie and Luke, Sara and Doug are all coming for Thanksgiving. I think this will be a first in a few years. I can't wait for them to all be here.

I am thankful that Lizzie is doing well in school and the she is almost done with the fall semester. Then only one semester to go and she will be graduated. I am so proud of her.

I am thankful for Luke. He is so good to Lizzie. How lucky we are that they found each other. I am grateful he got his new job at another branch.

I am thankful for Sara. She is going to come back on Monday and stay the week. She is such a great daughter. She is trying to learn to budget, so she can live in a place by herself. She is learning how to live with others in an apartment, but would love to have a small place of her own. I am proud of her, too.

I am thankful for Doug. He is growing and learning about who he is. He has a new job at Target and is going to the singles ward. He is making new friends and having fun. I am very proud of him.

I am thankful for all my young women girls. They are such a great example to me. They are striving to live the standards in this crazy world. What a great time to be the Young Womens President!

Well thats all for today. Can't wait for Thanksgiving. It's going to be fun.

New Bed for Our Spare Room

November 13, 2010

I just completed the stripping and restaining of the bed frame for the bed to go in our spare room. It took my entire week off. I started on Monday and this is what the headboard looked like.

It took me three days to finishing just the stripping. It was hard work and then there was a lot of sawdust everywhere. I had to sand and use stripper to finally get all the polyeurethane and stain off. My hands felt like I had sand paper, too. This is what it looked like when the old stain was all removed.

On Thursday, I was able to apply the stain. It is a dark walnut stain. I was going to go lighter, but then I decided not to. I am glad I didn't because some of the spots would not have covered. As I was sanding I found out the frame was not solid wood but wood veneer over MDF. I accidentally sanded too much off in some spots, so the dark walnut worked better to cover those spots.

Thursday afternoon and Friday morning I applied two coats of polyeurethane to protect the stain and the bed. It took until today to completely dry because of the cold. Gary and I placed the bed frame in the room this afternoon. I think it fits well. Now all we have to do is get a mattress for it.

My New Great-Nephew

I just found out today Sunday November 7, 2010 that I have a new great-nephew. His name is Frederick. I am so happy for my niece, Emily, and her husband, Nate. I can't wait to see pictures of him. I hope I will be able to visit soon. They live in Boise, ID, and my schedule is really busy, but hopefull at the end of the month.

Frederick joins his sister, Allison. She is such a cutie that I know Frederick will be a cutie, too. His mom already told me he is. Of course, she is prejudice, but then so am I when it comes to my family.

Congratulations to Nate and Emily Jensen on the birth of their baby boy, Frederick.

What a great testimony to me of the Lord's love for all of his children.

Getting Ready for Winter

It was such a beautiful day today that we decided to work out in the yard. We put out the bricks around our yard to keep the grass from growing into the area we cleared during the spring. We also got a jump on the holidays and put up our Christmas lights. We are not going to turn them on of course, but it is going to start storming next week, so we wanted to be prepared. I hate putting up the lights when it is snowing and cold.

Gary got up on the roof to do it. The lights actually go around the both sides of the house and the front. I was glad that Gary did it because when I did it last year I was scared to death getting so high up in the ladder. So now we are ready for winter even though I am not quite ready for it.

I also cleaned out the garage so when Lizzie and Luke come there will be a place for their car. I know we are so nice to them. We are very excited for them to come up for Thanksgiving. We have so much planned. We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner and then maybe see a movie on Thanksgiving evening. Luke, Lizzie, Sara and Gary (maybe me) are going to be out on Black Friday. I still have not decided if I want to. Then we are going to go see Savior of the World on Friday night.

With Lizzie and Luke in town, we are going to have our family Christmas party the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We are going to have a Polar Express party. I have made tickets, we are going to wear our pajamas and have lots of fun. I am looking forward to it.

September Vacation

Monday September 27, 2010

Days 1 and 2

Gary and I took a vacation to Albuquerque, New Mexico, this past week. We had such a great time. We saw many different things, but made sure to relax. That was what is was all about.

There is so much to tell that I think I will have to do it in a few blogs.

We left on Friday Sept. 17 and drove to Monticello, UT. We stayed there for the night. We did not do much, but relaxed in our room and went to sleep. The next morning we got up early, had breakfast and drove to the Monticello Temple. We took pictures, but did not have time to go through it.

It is a beautiful temple.

We drove to Mesa Verda, CO to see the cliff dwellings. We went on three tours. Two were with guides and one was self-guided.

The first tour we took was to the Balcony House. We had to climb up this really tall ladder and for those who know that I have a fear of falling from a great height, you know that this ladder was hard for me. By the time I got to the top, my hands were shaking and they would not stop.

The ladder from Balcony House

From the Balcony House, we went on a hike to see Balcony House from afar. It was a fun hike and the view was amazing.

Cliff Palace was next. This is the most photographed dwelling in the park. It was neat, but not as neat as Balcony House.

We went to the Spruce Tree House next. This was cool. We got to go into a reconstructied Kiva. It was neat because you got the real feel of how a kiva would have been so many years ago.

We drove around another road where we could see the Cliff Palace from a different angle. We also saw a few of the other 600 dwellings in the park.

We loved the park. We did get tired though and made our way out of the park and drove to Farmington, NM where we stayed for the night.

Day 3 Coming Soon...

Adamswood Ward Girls Camp August 9-12, 2010

We left for camp on Monday August 9, 2010. Some of the leaders and all the youth leaders left at about 9 am. They went up to the Atoka camp which is just outside of Huntsville, Utah. The rest of us leaders and the rest of the girls left about noon. I rode with Kati Lewis and we ended up getting their before they were ready for us.

Our theme was "Happily Ever After." It was based on President Ucktdorf's talk during the General Young Women Meeting during the last conference called, "You're Happily Ever After." We wanted the girls to know that they have the potential to have there own happily ever after, there own eternity with our Heavenly Father.

The scriptures that were chosen by our camp director were Moses 1:39 and D & C 14:7

"For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life on man." Moses 1:39.

"And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." D & C 14:7.

These fit perfectly. I was asked to do the flag. I painted a castle in the middle and had "Happily Ever After "above the castle. I wrote the two scriptures on the top and the bottom edges of the flag. I had put gold ribbon on the edges, too. Below the castle I put the words "Receive a crown in the mansions of my Father." Each girl and leader decorated and put their name on a crown and then placed them on the flag. I think it turned out really well. Here is a picture.


This is us after we have set up camp.

When we first got to camp, we had all the girls gather around the tables and showed a video that was made about part of President Ucktdorf's talk. It fit perfectly with our theme





We took the girls over to the rock to be crowned princesses. Each young woman was placed into a tent group and had a princess for an example. There was Belle (this was my tent), Pocahontas, and the princess from Princess and the Pea. Then each girl walked through the castle we had and received her crown.

We had pizza for dinner. It was done in the dutch oven. It was really good. My tent had to fix it. I think we did a fabulous job. After dinner we had a devotional. It was really good.

On Tuesday, we talked about having our own happily ever after. The devotional was done by the Pocahontas group. They talked about how Pocahontas had become Christian and had been a guide in the life of many, but now had her own guide, the Savior. They took the girls on a compass activity. We showed another part of President Ucktdorf's talk about his wife and his own happily ever after.

The camp director showed pictures of some of the temples and the girls had to guess which temple each leader was married or sealed in. Mine was easy for many of the girls because we had talked about it during a lesson. Then the leaders each told about some things about their husbands. It was really fun to hear about the leaders and their spouses. I learned a lot.

Next to our camp there was a river. We had brought tubes and we spent Tuesday afternoon in the water. I was not going to get wet at first, but it looked so fun that I decided to do it. We all had a lot of fun. There was also a spot near our camp that had some big rocks in the river. Some of the leaders and the girls gathered there and just had fun talking and hanging out.

That night we had hotdogs over the fire. The Princess and the Pea camp did the devotional that night. It was really good. Every day for lunch we had sandwiches. I am not really a fan of sandwiches, but we had watermelon and chips with them, so I was ok.

Everyone stayed up around the camp fire until around 11 pm. We sent the girls to bed and then some of the leaders went down to the big open area to finish setting up our faith walk. Kelsey did a great job. We have been memorizing "The Living Christ" since December and our New Beginnings was based on the story of the "Ten Virgins." We wanted to emphazise how learning "The Living Christ" has been a part of helping the girls put oil in their lamps, so they will be prepared to meet our Savior. The open field was set up with a path of lamps with electric candles in them. Attached to each of the iron candle holders was a part of The Living Christ.

We got the girls up around midnight and had them sit at the campfire. They got them up by saying, "The Bridegroom is coming. Take what you need and get ready." A leader took a pair of girls from the campfire, down through the camp, down a path and to a spot in the open field where Kelsey was. It was really dark and the only light was from the flashlights of the leaders guiding the girls and the lanterns out in the field. Many of the girls said it looked amazing as they came around the corner to the field.

At Kelsey's spot, she explained what they were doing there. Then she sent them on to me. They had to walk through the path toward three lights that were at the end of the path. That is where I stood. My job was to tell them about the first two paragraphs of The Living Christ.

"As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, two millenia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has has so profound and influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.

"He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, he was the creator of the earth. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He went about doing going, but was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come."

I was supposed to focus on a couple of points and talk about them. I had prayed about it, but not really put anything down on paper. I wanted to go by the Spirit. With the first couple of groups (we had nine) I did not really know what I was supposed to talk about. As each group left, I would pray to feel the spirit and be directed to what I needed to say. I started to feel that I needed to talk about each girls potential and make it personal to each one. Once I started doing this (at around the 3rd group), it came easily. I was touched as I saw each set of girls come out of the dark to find me. I know the Lord was helping know what to say. What a blessing it is to be close to the spirit.

I directed the girls to the next set of lights. Sister Rees was here and she talked about the atonement. Lindzee was next and she talked about Joseph Smiths testimony. Jessi was the last leader and she bore her testimony of Christ. After they left Jessi, the walked to a place where we had blocked off a portion of the field behind tarps. At the door, Danette stood and told them that to enter in they would have to say a part of The Living Christ. Once they did this, she gave them a bracelet with a charm on it and sent them through the opening. Inside, music was playing and a picture of Christ was the first thing they saw. There they also got a letter from their parents. If they could not repeat a part of The Living Christ, we had Suzanne there to help them learn one paragraph. We let them know that they have many along the way to help.

It was a very spiritual activity. I felt the spirit so strongly and I was very blessed to be a part of this activity and of this camp.

On Wednesday, Belle (my tent) had the devotional. My youth leaders did the whole thing themselves. I was so proud of my youth leaders. They did so much. They got the decorations for the tent (plates, knifes, forks and spoons). They wrote out on the plates "Be Our Guest." They even made up the skit themselves. I had three youth leaders and two third years in my tent. All of my girls did everything they were asked to do and did not complain once. At least not to my face. They were so helpful to everyone.

Two of my girls at camp, Maighan and Tiffanee

Wednesday afternoon we had a spiritual spa. Jessi W. and Lindsey did a really good job. We had some girls who did not want to do it, but we good sports and did it anyway. We did our hands, our feet, and our faces. We did a mask, a foot wrap with plastic wrap and cucumbers on our eyes. They told us stories and scriptures about how important each part of our body was. That we should use each part to help us keep the commandments to be able to have eternal life, our own happily ever after. At the end, many of the girls did their nails in the value colors.

Spa Day. I am the one standing in the back. I was helping Jessi and Lindzee pass things out.

We had the bishopric up that night. We had foil dinners and they were delicious. We had a wonderful testimony meeting. Again the spirit was very strong. After we sent the girls to their tents and went down to the RV (yes we had an RV for some of the leaders. I slept in a tent with an air mattress, which was way nice.). We stayed up till around 3 am doing the camp awards. It was really fun. I am so glad to have been able to get to know the other leaders better.

The next morning, we got up and took everything down and packed up. I wore my pajamas home. What a fun camp. I remembered why I love girls camp so much. What a wonderful spirit and a wonderful group of girls and leaders. Love girls camp. A lot of work, but well worth it.

Girls Camp

It has been a week since I got home from girls camp. I have not had time to write about it. I will write about it tomorrow and show pictures. You will see what a great time we had.

Thankful Thursdays

It's Thursday again, so time for Thankful Thursday.

1. I am thankful for my house. I drove by the place that we were trying to by in the summer of 2008. I thought about our new house. It is so wonderful to have a place of our own and know that this is where the Lord wants us to be. We have settled right in and it is truly home. For this I am so thankful.

2. I am thankful for my work. I am blessed to have a job that pays well and that is only part time. It also allows me to adjust my work days, so that I can do things for Young Womens and things with Gary.

3. I am thankful that we are going to be visiting Lizzie and Luke soon. It is going to be a fun time.

Well thats all for this Thursday.

Thankful Thursdays

I am so thankful for this past week.

1. I am thankful for girls camp and for the Spirit that is always there. I just got back today around 11 am. It was so fun and made me remember how much I love going to girls camp. I will tell you all about it in another blog.

2. I am thankful that Gary had a great time in his travels to Indianapolis for work despite the delay in his flight back. I am glad he got home safely and that I am able to see him today.

3. I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge I have of its truthfulness.

4. I am thankful for my best friend, Jilian Colwell. Her daughter, Melanie, is getting married tomorrow and I am so happy for her. Her daughter, Arriana, just took out her endowments today. I wish I could have been there. Jil is such a wonderful friend and always makes me feel special. I love her to death.

5. I am thankful for all of my children. They are the best.

6. I am thankful for my love of reading. I love to read so many different types of books. Right now I am trying to read all the books in our library and I have a list of books that others tell me I should read.

Well I guess thats it for this Thursday. I will show pictures of girls camp as soon as I get them on my computer.

Thankful Thursdays

Lizzie started doing this because a friend was doing it. I have loved what she has said yesterday. It touched my heart, so I decided I would do it. I know today is Friday, but I just wanted to start.

1. I am thankful for a wonderful husband, Gary. He loves me for the way I am and encourages me in everything I do. He has been selling some of his things because he wants to downsize. It has been amazing to watch him as he has let go of some of the things he has love. He sold his camera, the tv and just last night his beloved scooter. He sold the scooter to a young man who has just come to Utah from Hawaii. He just became of member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Gary put his scooter in my work truck that I was borrowing and took the young man and the scooter back to Salt Lake. He said it was such a wonderful experience to speak with this young man on the drive to Salt Lake.

2. I am thankful for my youngest daughter, Sara. She is moving out today and back to Salt Lake with some friends. I am so proud of her. She is taking a big step in her life. She will still commute up here to the Dairy Queen until she can find a job down there. She has grown so much in these last few years. She is so amazing. She cooks, she is an artist (she had a drawing of hers turned into a mural), she is a great friend to so many. I love her and will miss her.

3. I am thankful for my other daughter, Lizzie. She started soccer this week. She is the undergraduate assistant coach at UNLV. She can't play soccer anymore, but she is great at coaching and helping the coaches do what they need to do. She is a good wife and loves her husband, Luke, dearly. She is a great example to me.

4. I am thankful because I got the castle painted on the flag for Girls camp done last night. I am thankful that the Lord has given me that talent. Now I just need to finish sewing it and adding the words.

Well that's all for this week. I head to girls camp on Monday. It's going to be fun.

This weeks occurances

Saturday was a great day. We had an 51st anniversary party for my parents and 70th birthday party for my mom. It turned out really well. They had many family and friends who came. I was so happy because I had all my children, Doug, Lizzie and Luke, and Sara there. They were such a help, especially Lizzie, Luke and Sara. Lizzie helped decorate the tables. In fact, she did most of the the table decorations. Luke made the best video from pictures I had scanned in. I think it was the highlight of the evening. Sara and her friend, TJ, played for us.

Lizzie and Luke made it home safely on Saturday night or should I say early Sunday morning. Gary and I are so happy they took the time to come up. We look forward to seeing them again soon.

Gary's family had a surprise birthday party for his dad on Sunday night. It was fun.

During the party, we found out that Sara is officially moving out on Friday evening. She has some friends in Salt Lake who have an extra room that she is going to rent. She got to see it yesterday and loves it already. She and I are planning on loading up the big truck from work on Friday and taking all her stuff back down to Salt Lake.

It will be really fun, but weird to be empty nesters. We will miss Sara, like we do Lizzie and Doug, but we know that she will visit us and we keep in touch. I mean, I talk with Lizzie usually once a day and I love it.

I am also working on getting the flag and secret sister stuff ready for Girls Camp. We leave a week from today. I think it will be fun. The closer we get, the more excitement I have about going.

Logan Days

Gary and I just got back from a trip to Logan, UT. We had to cancel our trip at the beginning of the month because of work, so we took a few days off. We had not been able to spend much time together and this was a chance to be just the two of us.

We left on Thursday afternoon. On the way we stopped at the American West Heritage Center.

This is a place where we saw a Shoshone encampment, a Mountain man camp, a pioneer settlement and a 1917 farm. We love history and it was really fun. Gary learned how to restore hats. Now he is going to go to the DI and find a couple of old hats and make them look great.

After that we went to the hotel and to dinner. We spent the rest of the night in the pool.

On Friday we drove to Bear Lake. On the way we stopped at Rick's Spring. This spring was discovered by some of Gary's relatives. It is a neat place.

We stopped at a place called the Limber Pine Nature Trail. It was a great trail. They had a warning about a mother moose and her baby. We did not see them, though. At the back of the trail there is an old Limber Pine that is 560 years old (it is actually five pines that grew together). A really cool tree.

Our next stop was the Minnetonka caves near St. Charles Idaho. We love to go into caves. We both find them fascinating. We actually saw some of my young women at the cave who were there for the weekend with their family. That was fun and coincidental.

In the evening we went to the Pickleville Playhouse to have a chuckwagon dinner and see a play. We saw "Crazy for You." It was such a fun time. Especially spending time with Gary.

We wanted to go to the Temple on Saturday morning, but found out it was closed. What a bummer. Our alternative activity turned out to be a disappointment. We went to the Oregon/California Trail Center in Montpelier, ID. They said they had a railroad museum (which Gary loves-railroads), but it was just a few artifacts and no trains. However, we did get to dress up as mountain men in a buffalo hat and coat.

All in all it was a fantastic and fun trip, but any time I get to spend with Gary alone is great. He is such a wonderful husband and I love him so much. I am so grateful to be blessed to have him in my life and to have celebrated our 6th anniversary this month!!!!

Losing Weight

So, in April, Gary and I decided that we needed to get into shape. We somehow finally got the motivation to start. For me, I think it was going to our new doctors office and stepping on the scale and realizing I weighed 151 pounds. I like my office scale better because it said I only weighed 145 pounds. Either way, it was a wake up call for me. I was not happy with myself and really wanted to do something about it.

We have a recumbent bike that we got with our points from our credit card. Here's what it looks like.

We started riding 40 minutes a day. It was really hard at first, but now I am enjoying it. We also started working to get our garden in and get our yard fixed up. This helped us get more exercise each day. We also cut our calories.

For me I have not given up some things; ie chocolate and popcorn, but I am just careful about how much I eat. It makes me feel good to exercise and know that I am doing something great for my body.

Gary and I go hiking and biking on the weekends now. This is so much fun!

Anyway, I have now lost about 15 lbs, but best of all I have lost a couple of sizes. I was wearing a size 12 when I started. Last Friday I went shopping for a few things because nothing fits. I thought I was down to a 10, but that is not the case. I am now in a size 8. I was so excited and for once I found it easier to find something that fits me well.

Then Now

I am so excited for the accomplishment that I have done and feel so good. I look forward to continuing in helping my life to be better.

On another note, Luke and Lizzie got safely home from girls camp. We were a little worried about Lizzie, but she said things were great. I am starting to look forward to going to girls camp in August. I think it will be fun.

Well thats all for now.

Biking Fun

Last week for our anniversary, Gary and I bought bicycles. We have wanted to get us bikes since we moved to our new house, but just kept putting it off. We decided that bicycles would be the best anniversary present we could get each other.

We bought these bikes at walmart.

On the 4th of July, Gary, Sara and I rode down to Layton park to participate in the breakfast. However, the line was way long, so we ended up eating somewhere else. Then we rode back to our house. It was a fun ride.

Today, Gary and I took our bikes and rode on the Legacy Parkway Trail. We went from the Farmington Frontrunner Station to 2400 south in Bountiful. then we turned around and went back to 500 south in Bountiful. From there, we took 500 south to the Woodscross Frontrunner Station. It was about 12 miles and we were very tired when we got to the train station. Well at least I was. I am not sure that Gary was as tired. All in all it was a very fun day!

We have been loving spending time with each other and in nature. What a great way to spend our Saturday mornings.

Anniversary

Six years ago today, Gary and I were married. What a wonderful day that was!!! I still remember the ceremony. It was in our back yard in Sandy. Family and friends were there.

These are our rings. They are Celtic. It's kind of hard to see the symbols on them, but there is a heart with a crown on it being held by two hands. The heart stands for love, the crown for loyalty and the hands for friendship. That is what marriage is all about. His ring is gold inset with silver symbols and my ring is silver with gold symbols. It has been a wonderful six years. In that time we have become the best of friends. We love to spend time together. Which is good because Gary works at home, so we are together more than most people.

Gary is such a wonderful person and I am so grateful that I found him. He leads and guides our family and honors his priesthood. He supports me in all that I do. He encourages me in all my endeavors and I love him for that. He treats me like a queen and he is my king.

Many things have happened in our six years. We had Lizzie and Sara get their driver's licenses at the same time. We had three graduations; Lizzie and Sara received their high school diplomas and I received my Bachelors Degree. We sent Lizzie off to UNLV to play soccer, get her degree and of course to find Luke. We married Lizzie off to Luke on June 6, 2009. It was such a wonderful day! The temple was amazing and Lizzie looked beautiful. Luke looked really good, too. We are so glad they found each other and are so proud of them.

We moved to Layton in November 2009 and love it here. We were finally able to get Sara a job (well I took her to put her application in at Dairy Queen, and she did the rest). It took her about 9 months to find, though. We gave Sara a car, which unfortunately she crashed, but she was okay and she is more important than a car. Now she rides her bike to work, at least until we can get her a new car. She has her own room with her own bathroom. She spends much of her time with friends in Salt Lake. She is a joy to have around.

We have been able to spend more time with Tasha and Jared and the grandkids. This has special for us. We love them as well as Anneke (who is an amazing women), David and Doug (who is such a great young man). We have such great kids!!!

We have traveled to many places in those 6 years. Hawaii, Seattle, Portland, Yellowstone, the Oregon coast, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, Moab, Disneyland (Gary for the first time. We went with Luke and Lizzie), and Nauvoo (This was one of our favorites. What a great place and the temple was beautiful).

The best thing to happen next to our wedding was being sealed together in the Mount Timpanogas Temple on October 25, 2008. That was a special day.

We are going to go to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. This is where Gary asked me to marry him. We love it. So far it is a great day.

Testing, Testing

Lizzie set this up for me and I am just trying it out. She thinks it will be a great thing. I am sceptical about it, but Lizzie is very persuasive. You know how she is.