All Request Hour

Hey, the blogger guys suggested this, and I think it sounds fun. You, the reader, use the comment button below to suggest three photos you would like to see posted on my blog. In a week, I will tally the votes and post 'em. They cannot be crass or naked, I'm just telling you right now. So let the voting begin and I will start snapping photos just for YOU!

On This Date in History

On October 7, 1992 at about 1 pm I entered the missionary training center (MTC) in Provo ,Utah to prepare for my mission in North Carolina.

So at this exact time (10am-ish), I was probably driving around Provo with my grandparents, being set apart by my Stake President in Orem, then eating lunch at Frontier Pies. I was wearing my black suit that made me look like a flight attendant and my hair was very much like it is now. I was nervous but so excited and the weeks and months that followed changed my life so much for the better. It's really hard to believe it's been 12 years...that means some of my Beehive girls (the class I teach at church is made up of 12-14 year-old girls) were actually born while I was a missionary. Sigh. Coincidentally, the Elders-- "boy-missionaries" who live next door, got transferred and we get Sisters--"girl-missionaries"--today. One is from Mongolia and I am so excited to learn more about her culture.

I will write about my trip to Utah last weekend as soon as I get more than 5 minutes to myself. It's all good, except that nasty tummy virus followed us down and got my sister's family sick, as well as my poor grandfather. Shucks. More later....

Here is a picture of me in the MTC (Mission Training Center) on October 13, 1992.

Today my little brother Sam turns 27. Here's a mug of him at 11...always a cutie, always a pie face! Happy Birfday, Spam!...

...and here is Sam in 2004, with his lovely ladyfriend, Kristin. Everybody Loves Sammy.

Generosity

It's the last day of the month (Happy Birthday, Susan) and I have just squeaked in the last of my monthly visit teaching for church. The message this month was really good for my "gratitude attitude"--about being generous with our time, talents, and material abundance.

Here are two thoughts for today:

“Anything you do not give freely and abundantly is lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.” –Annie Dillard

"Never suppress a generous thought."-Camilla Kimball

You don't have to give money or stuff--even a kind thought can be generous.

Number 100

Look! It's my 100th post and it's a good one. Addie is just slaying me tonight! Just now I told her to go get her jammies on and she looked at me and said with exasperation, "*SIGH*--Mom, I don't understand what you want! I don't understand!"

Can you believe this? She's not even 3 yet! And right after that, about 30 seconds ago, she was trying to put a necklace clasp together and she said, "Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna die!" out of frustration. YIKES! She picks up EVERYTHING I say!

Meanwhile, Heidi is squealing for help, so gotta run.

Thirty-Three Things

Here's my birthday list of things I am grateful for...

my faith
other people’s faith
a happy, functional marriage
a good kind husband who is my best friend
my smart and hilarious daughter, Adeline
my sweet, sparkly little Heidi Baby
my education
my family of origin
good in-laws
my extended family who helped raise me
being an American
living in the West—open, clean beautiful
my knowledge of right and wrong
my comfortable home
the opportunity to build our own, even MORE comfortable home
indoor plumbing and electricity
our cool town
a relatively healthy and able body
my literacy and so many forms of communication
a car
smooth, fast free ways all across the U.S.
shoes and clothing
All 5 senses and a conscience
books to read, especially scriptures
delicious and abundant food
bubble baths
caffeine free diet coke
comforts like lotion, pain reliever, lip balm, and refrigeration
getting mail—snail or electronic
repentance & forgiveness
birth (so many healthy births in one family this year!)
The Great Plan of Happiness
the lagoon and Sacagawea park

Recovery

By the pictures, you'd think our weekend was fun and flawless, but you'd be wrong. We didn't take pictures of the bad part. Like when we got home from the cook out and started to watch "Mean Girls" and Addie threw up all over me in the living room. Or how I caught the bug (violent little bug it was) early Sunday morning and proceeded to pass it on to Rich, who fell ill Monday night and didn't recover until last night. We got a sad email from Matt back in Helena that the bug got baby Jake, too. SHUCKS! Only Heidi, Matt, and Amie escaped the yuckies.

So that's the main reason my Grateful Birthday list is still not posted. Today I am tending an extra little person and packing for my trip to Utah this weekend, so I will try to squeeze it in.

The best news of the day is this: I finished all the laundry yesterday AND put it away. Quite the feat after 8 days of 4 people's clothes/linens, conisdering that one is potty training, one is a baby, and 3/4 were sick this weekend. I also Lysol-ed the heck out of the house yesterday, too, so that bad little bug should have been squished into oblivion.

It's Fall in Livingston (this is Yellowstone Street). 

Here's our house from the front...