One More Sleep.........

Being together.... is right up there on my list of "favorites"!

Zion Ride

This past weekend my daughter Mackenzie, her hubby Joe and baby Wynter were here in Zion for a visit. They are training for a couples Triathlon in April and there is no better place than Zion this time of year with so few people here. They were able to get in some great runs and do some biking even with the cooler temperatures.



Baby Wynter is thinking "Seriously...........where do you see that I signed up for this ride"? It was cold, probably around 50 degrees but more like 42 up in the Canyon area. All in all with a few stops they were able to get in a super great ride and they are feeling really good about competing. Not to worry Wynter..........you will hang with Nana the day of the Triathlon and I will just bet we will go for one of those yummy Banana Cream Pie Blizzards at Dairy Queen. YUMMY

My Confession

Well I did it.......I didn't want to do it but my children have been bugging me for months. Please mom, just go and do it and you really should have done it at age 50. So whats the big deal? I guess having been a nurse for 22 years you have kind of an insider look at these so called "procedures" and some not so pleasant thoughts about them.

We here in Utah had a local TV sports personality, Doug Miller who recently passed away because of colon cancer at age 59. There have been these constant commercials on for months about how if he would have had a colonoscopy at age 50 maybe it could have been detected and diagnosed early and he might still be alive today. Hence the prodding from my adult children. The older I get the more I realize that 59 is not old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes........So now I am blogging about it. So....pass on by if you are offended or disturbed by this post. I apologize........

The only unpleasant part is the prep..........The stuff you drink is called Colyte. There is nothing that one could mix with this foul drink that could possibly make it taste any better. It is nasty and you have to drink a gallon of it in one day. A half gallon in two hour increments. I am not gonna lie........I could not finish it! I had a headache and chills all day long and after awhile you are so nauseated that you really don't care about the loss of food.

The procedure was a breeze! Thank goodness for the sleepy time medication through the IV.

It wasn't long I was back on the road again with my driver (thanks, my little bear)!

I encourage anyone over 50 who loves their family to just go and do it!

How precious is your life? How precious are your loved ones?

The best news here ....is now I am good for 10 years, and I will hope and pray that by then they have come up with something better to drink. We can go to the moon but can't seem to flavor a drink? Really?

I love you....my darling daughters! You are my world and I thank you for loving me enough....to care!

I LOVE YOU

Why is it that I love you so much? You are my obsession......my weakness! Do I not know that 15 of your delicious chips equal 150 calories? WOWZA

Do I not understand that all white food is evil? I went for a really really long time not eating pasta, rice, chips, potatoes and breads. Why oh why must these chips beckon me so. ........

Do I really believe that I can buy a bag and not eat them all?

Most people have an obsession with chocolate.....not me! Mine is potato chips, and seriously I could eat them non stop..... 24 hours a day..... 7 days a week.

Please Frito Lay......stop making them!!!

Carl H. Bloch Exhibit at BYU

Carl Heinrich Bloch (May 23, 1834 – February 22, 1890) was a Danish painter.

He was born in Copenhagen and studied with Wilhelm Marstrand at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) there. Bloch's parents wanted their son to enter a respectable profession - an officer in the Navy. This, however, was not what Carl wanted. His only interest was drawing and painting, and he was consumed by the idea of becoming an artist.Carl Bloch met his beloved wife, Alma Trepka, in Rome, where he married her in May 1868. They had a very happy and prosperous life together until her early death in January 1886. He was grief stricken and was left with 8 children to raise.


He was then commissioned to produce 23 paintings for the Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace. These were all scenes from the life of Christ which have become very popular as illustrations. The originals, painted between 1865 and 1879, are still at Frederiksborg Palace.The altarpieces can be found at Holbaek, Odense, Ugerloese and Copenhagen in Denmark, as well as Loederup, Hoerup, and Landskrona in Sweden.

Carl Bloch died of cancer on February 22, 1890. His death came as "an abrupt blow for Nordic art" according to an article by Sophus Michaelis. Michaelis stated that "Denmark has lost the artist that indisputably was the greatest among the living." Kyhn stated in his eulogy at Carl Bloch's funeral that "Bloch stays and lives."

For over 40 years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made heavy use of Carl Bloch's paintings, mostly from the Frederiksborg Palace collection, in its church buildings and printed media.

Many of these works are on display at the BYU Museum of Art in Provo, Utah. I am so excited to see these inspirational works on Valentines Weekend. It has been a dream of mine to sit and admire these works in person.

For further information please visit the following two websites.

http://www.carlbloch.org/
http://carlbloch.byu.edu

Carl Heinrich Bloch

"Christ Healing The Sick at Bethesda" This masterpiece will be the focal point of the exhibit.

"Christ At Gethsemane I". It's hard to pick a favorite but I would have to say that this painting touches me the most and pulls at my heart strings with tears.

Hangin With Nana

Baby Wynter had a tough time yesterday keeping up with the shopping with the mommy, the daddy and the Nana! This is how I feel about shopping sometimes too Wynter! But we sure had a fun day being all together!

Doubt .......Means Don't

Life's Greatest Mystery

Most people will tell you that life's greatest mystery is death. I beg to differ. I have that one pretty much figured out and needless to say I do not worry about it......much. I think we should be more concerned about our relationships. Life's greatest mystery to me is "the relationship" and why would we worry about what happens after death when we should all be working on our relationships with the living that surround us on a daily basis!

Relationships are always an important part of life. And I mean all relationships - friendship, love, marriage, relationship by choice, relationship by birth. Learn what makes them tick, why they sometimes go wrong, what one can do about it, and why they are so precious.

I am constantly wondering about relationships and what makes them tick. Just what is it that keeps friendships safe, that keeps couples together, that keeps us caring for and loving one another. I do believe that sometimes as we grow older we finally come to understand the things that make up "great relationships". As we grow wiser with age we come to understand to not sweat the small stuff that bothered us so much in our youth. Dang.......I sure wish alot of this would have come to me in my youth, as it would have really come in handy and saved me alot of tears and heartache.

I believe everything does happen for a reason. It's tough for me to regret much of anything that has happened in my life, because it has brought me to my current state of being. But I would have certainly done alot of things differently. Oh well.........moving forward.

Our relationships should be one of our most prized possession's and we must nurture them on a daily basis. We must always continue to care and serve those that we love.

We must never judge or criticize!

We must uplift and encourage those we love.

We must pray for our relationships that we are able to constantly strengthen one another.

Communication is such an important key to any relationship. If we can't talk ...how do we ever understand what the other is saying or feeling.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

My Little Vandal........

My Little grandson Lukas is at that age where he is very curious about everything! And you know how kids seem to speak the truth!

Well.......a couple of weeks ago he was riding with his Grandma Becky and he asked about the state prison as they drove by and wondered what is it that "gets them in there". Grandma Becky told him that some of these people are vandals. To which he replied "what is a vandal"? She explained to him that a vandal is someone that destroys other peoples property. He thought about this for a minute and then replied. I'm sort of a vandal!!!!

Now really.......I ask you....Does he look like a vandal! I am still cracking up over this story!

What Do We Fear Most

I don't care what anyone says............We are all afraid of something, whether it be big or small fears....everyone has something that they are afraid of. Stop and think about it.

In the next couple of weeks I will be looking fear right in the face. These of course aren't big fears...not the old stop ya in your tracks....can't breathe paralyzing fears, but mostly just silly fears.....but still very real to me, but on a "gotta do it" level. Did that make any sense? These are more of just the old "out of my comfort zone" fears..........But still.......my heart will race, I will become anxious, I will pray alot, I will be taking many deep breaths and soon the eye twitching will begin!

I will not go into my fears as I am always afraid that someone will use these against me in the future if they need to or feel the need to scare me. Sound silly? I don't think so. It did happen many many years ago when I divulged a fear to someone. The aliens are out to get me.....I know that is what you are thinking. There are just some people in this world that seem to find humor in scaring other people.

I do believe that as we grow older we learn to deal with and live with our fears. Somehow we must find a way to become one with this very scary reality. In the past three years I have dealt with my greatest fear but only because I was confronted with it. I am so proud of myself that I am now able to deal with this one. and trust me..........it was the GREAT BIG CAN'T BREATHE PARALYZING SCARY FEAR! What a feeling of power to know now that I can handle this one. I still don't like it but I can now "not go completely wack-o" about it.

So these people who tell you that they aren't afraid of anything...........just don't believe it!

They just aren't willing to share their secrets!!!!! and rightfully so!

Northern Weekend

This past weekend Steven and I traveled north for a missionary farewell, and what a wonderful farewell it was. This Elder will be serving in the St. Louis mission for the next two years! It was a wonderful time with family and friends.

These first two photos were taken while traveling about 15 miles an hour for about 26 miles on I-15 between Santaquin and Orem. Road construction everywhere! We were not in a hurry so we just enjoyed the view and each others company. It probably wasn't 26 miles as I tend to exaggerate on some things......hahahah.

We stopped at my daughter Ivy's house both on the way up and the way back. This is our adorable baby Jenni.

Our sweet baby Claire. These babies are so adorable and soooooo patient.
We just love them, hug them, and kiss them to pieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Lukas loves it when Steven comes along! He has found a new playmate for sure! Lukas immediately grabbed him, took him downstairs for a little Lego fun and then later for some baseball! When they were playing catch he told Steven: My dad catches every ball! You miss some of them..........so your more like a "grandpa type"! He says the funniest things!

Little Henli likes to add her touch on the Legos...................look out!

For Christmas Lukas got a whole bunch of the Lego Star Wars sets. He had not made this one yet so.............he and Steven sat down at (or on) the kitchen table and with the 30 some steps of instructions, they were on their way to building some of sort of star wars cruiser!

Henli wanted to be part of the fun too!

Oh my gosh................here is the finished product and it appears to be carrying Luke Skywalker, R2D2 and C3PO. Very Cool

Anyway..............all in all it was a great weekend!

We did take in a movie, The Green Hornet!

I loved it............I thought it was hilarious and there were some awesome stunts in this movie. Two thumbs up from me!

Our Sweet Twins!

I finally got to see these sweet babies in their Halloween costumes. Thanks Lit'l Beck for getting all the cute photos on your blog!

They Are Returning!

I got the call a couple of weeks ago ...........and they loved their time here so much in Zion Canyon that they are returning again in March.

These cute kids and their leaders are part of The Jewish Community High School of The Bay.

That would be San Francisco.... for ya all that didn't know. They filled 20 of our rooms last year for three days. They were delightful and some of the best behaved youth we have ever seen.

It was so exciting for me to get to see and understand some of the their Jewish culture. They actually bring and feed their kids with all kosher food. Can you imagine? I helped unload all of their groceries that they pick up in Vegas and then transport to our facility.

They actually hire a couple of local guides and then travel up into the park for two days and hike some of the most beautiful trails. They then have a day trip up to Bryce Canyon which is about a 2 hour drive from Zion.

Can you tell that they love their time here in Zion?

These are some of the teachers that accompanied them and of course they were so much fun to be around. The most wonderful thing about their visit last year was that the weekend they were leaving to fly home, I too was traveling to San Francisco for the weekend. They gave me some great tips and things to do and especially taught me about "the trolley".

As my mother and I were going through security at the Las Vegas Airport............who should I see...but all 73 of their smiling faces! How funny is that? They were on the earlier flight so that was the last I thought I would ever see of them.......until the recent phone call.

Interesting how we sometimes roll in and out of each others lives! Not really ever knowing when we will meet again. I am so grateful for my many earthly experiences and I feel like there is so much to learn of others and certainly from others.

Just call me............ "Curious George".

BYU Basketball's "Jimmer Fredette"

Provo • It started to flicker more than a year ago with a 49-point explosion at national power Arizona, grew hotter at last year’s NCAA Tournament after Jimmer Fredette scored 37 against Florida and then re-ignited last week when he dropped 39 on UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But "Jimmermania" took hold of the country and the college basketball world for real on Tuesday night, as BYU’s senior guard dump-trucked rival Utah with 47 dazzling points, including a did-he-just-do-that? halfcourt shot that beat the halftime buzzer, his 30th, 31st and 32nd points of the half.

Thanks to an array of highlight reel shots, and national cable sports giant ESPN jumping on the bandwagon in a big way — Fredette’s heroics led SportsCenter — the nation was officially introduced to what Utahns and BYU fans have known for years: This kid is pretty good.
And he’s blowing up nationally.

BYU’s basketball sports information people were inundated with telephone calls from around the country moments after the performance that BYU coach Dave Rose said “will be remembered by people in the state of Utah for a long, long time,” and the calls continued all day Wednesday.
Everybody wants a piece of Jimmer, said BYU spokesperson Kyle Chilton.

And why not?

The kid with the unique first name that screams Americana (don’t think for a minute that doesn’t play into this phenomenon), affable on-camera presence and variety of shots that had deadspin.com calling him a folk hero and comparing his shot-making ability to that of Pete Maravich and Stephen Curry, is so hot that his name was trending on Twitter on Tuesday night.

Fredette became the fourth BYU player ever to surpass the 2,000-point mark, and with 2,001 in his career now trails only Devin Durrant, Michael Smith and the leader, Ainge.

Having done a telephone interview after the game on SportsCenter Tuesday night with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt in which he came across as humble, humorous and a bit self-deprecating about an ill-fated attempt to dunk the ball in the second half, Fredette rose early to go on ESPN’s First Take and also the Dan Patrick Show (albeit with a guest host).

“I’ve dunked a couple times this year, so let’s get that straight, first off,” he said with a laugh.
Across the country, it was suggested that Jimmer name his first son Jimmest. You know — Jim, Jimmer and Jimmest. Fredette’s father, Al, was happy he had flown in from New York for the Utah game.

The Cougars have a bye this weekend and don’t play again until Tuesday, at home against TCU.

Is it possible to be happy when life is hard?

"Yes........the answer is yes because of Jesus Christ whose Atonement ensures that we need not bear the burdens of mortality alone".

quote by: Sherry Dew

Preaching The Gospel

How cute is this! Elder Klein and his new companion.......Elder Snowman! I guess Texas got some snow and Mathew got to play. Your mom is gonna hope this isn't one of your good ties!

Crazy Bout Genealogy

For most of you who know me.........know that I spend countless hours on genealogy! It is one of my greatest loves and my greatest passions. It all started when I was a small girl growing up on a farm in Southeastern Iowa. We lived up the county road and you either went
to our house or an old county cemetery known as "Farlow". I have since added all these stones to http://www.findagrave.com/

As a small child, I loved playing amongst the stones and I would spend many an hour just sitting and pondering on who these sweet souls were......... needless to say I have a few pets buried nearby! Shhhh.......don't tell anyone.


Each year I try to attend the Family History Expo in St. George and this year promises to be another event with some great courses and special speakers. Last year I was so impressed as "being a consultant" for my local LDS Church ward and I was able to attend for free.

Please check the Family History Expo website for all Expos, as there may be some in your area. Web link is http://www.fhexpos.com/

I have also listed some of my most favorite genealogy links on my "blogs that make me happy list " and most of these sites are free.......free..........free.

Who Doesn't Love A Surprise!

I warned everyone this year that I was going to be more imaginative, more spontaneous and definitely "more sillier"!

So let's talk surprises!

I have one daughter that absolutely goes crazy for surprises and this year she had no idea about her Christmas presents and I wish I could have captured her excitement when she opened her gifts! And ....if you spoil a surprise......... believe me, there is a price to be paid with her!

Surprise in verb form: to strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness.

Surprise in noun form: a completely unexpected occurrence, appearance, or statement.

How fun it is to just plan a fun surprise weekend with someone and run away!

There is so much to see and so much yet to experience! Will there be enough time to do all the things that one wants to do? Oh pleeze Sweet Lord..............let there be many many more minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Life is so short...............I simply just do not know where the time goes! So it's time to enjoy it even more at this special moment in time!

One of my most favorite surprises of all times is when I awaken and it has snowed throughout the night and keeps on snowing!

Making a Call to Fisher Price!

And how cute that her little hoodie says................................... "HAPPY"