A LOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG Walk

B and A, along with about 20 other Young Women and their leaders, decided to take a walk.  

A very LLLLOOOONNNNGGGGG  walk. 

Their destination:

A Holy Place.

They started really early in the morning. 

In the dark.
Now that's early!

They 

walked
and
walked

and

walked 

and 

walked

Stopping for a few breaks.
AND still looking like 

QTs!

Then
walked 

and

walked

some more.

Seeing some interesting sights along the way.

And then 

walked 

and 

walked

some more.

Almost there!  A's friend was really feeling the burn!

Once the temple was in sight, B. started RUNNING. 

Running on blistered feet and tired, jelly legs.  

 Standing in a Holy Place!
Was it worth it???
YES!!

To Stand In a Holy Place, these girls paid a price. 

They kept going even when it hurt and burned and seemed so far away. They sacrificed  sleeping in, a free Saturday, non-sore muscles, and blister-free feet. They had leaders walking beside them, urging them on. Some were pushed along (in a wheelchair). Others were pulled while a few were carried (in cars) for just a few of the miles. A few girls ran back and forth to check on each other. All were encouraged and cheered along.  One gal rode her trike the whole way with her dad pulling her up the hills with a rope attached to her bike. Near the end she started awake when cheered as she rolled along. 

             To Stand in a Holy Place--

I think every girl there would say, was well worth the price. 

"Whether [your holy places] are geographic or moments in time, they are equally sacred and have incredible strengthening power." 

Ann M. Dibb

(former 2nd counselor in Young Women General Presidency)

April 2013 General Conference

Personal Progress

In the Young Women's program at church, girls ages 12-18 are encouraged to work on developing characteristics that bring them closer to their Heavenly Father through experiences and projects of their choosing. It's called Personal Progress.  The values they work on are: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. The girls work on a 10 hour project for each value and then take steps to work on that project, in addition to several smaller experiences.

B. and A. have been working hard on the projects and experiences. A. wanted to finish the whole program before she turned 14 and she did!  She worked so hard.  I can't remember all her projects, but some were to read the entire Bible, participate in swimming, try-outs and meets included, and take part in a school play with the try-outs, many practices, memorizing, etc. She did other projects, but I can't remember them now and she isn't here to ask. One of my favorite experiences she did was to help plan and cook family meals for 2 weeks!  It was like a vacation from cooking for me!

She received her beautiful medallion with the Salt Lake Temple on it this Sunday. She now wants to do the program again and help other girls (and me!) complete the program.

29 and Holding!

 I don't usually blog about myself.  Especially my age.  But I blog about everyone else's birthday, so I thought I'd blog about mine!  Yes, I have hit the magical age of 29. I've plateaued at this age for sometime now and feel I'm really getting the hang of 29.

Little me 

29 (or so) years ago.

I love my birthday! It's a day I can NOT do the dishes, because, hey! it's my birthday! Or I CAN sit and read a book in the middle of the morning and not feel guilty, because, hey, it's my birthday!  This year I started my celebration a few days early just so I'd get into the feel of saying, hey, it's my birthday!  It was great!

I was so spoiled on my b-day with early morning donuts, sweet cards from family and friends, perfect gifts, hugs and squeezes, lunch with 2 of my favorite gals in the whole world, dinner out with my sweet family, and pecan pie that A. made. It was a grand day!

This was my senior picture!  Too FUNNY! 

Look at the fuzzy, blond haired lady! I tell T over and over that this WAS the style in the day. I WAS very stylish. This is even before "The Claw" days of BIG bangs for me. 

Really, I WAS stylish.  Really.

Me now.

L. colored and gave me this picture frame.

I have a very good life. I have a very loving family, near and far, good friends, health, a happy attitude, food, clothes, style (had to add that), a home, an education, a firm knowledge of my Heavenly Father's and my Savior's love and my place in Their plan. 

Here's to 29 more years!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last night the boys, T, and I went to the opening night of our local minor league baseball team. It was school night, so many other schools were there. It was so fun! Do I sound surprised by that? I was.  I was excited to spend time with my guys, but not as excited about a long baseball game. But it was such fun! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game with T being my own personal commentator, explaining pretty much everything since I don't know much about the game. I ate a hot dog and didn't think too much about what was in it. We even saw a homerun with bases loaded! Unfortunately it was the other team. Our team did score, so it wasn't a shut out game.  Our pitchers kept hitting the batter (that's how 3 players got on base for that homerun score). T joked that since our team wasn't hitting the ball, they were trying the strategy of hitting the batters and knocking them out. I was glad I wasn't a batter.

Lots of foul balls were popped into the stadiums with people scrambling to get a game ball, T and the boys included, getting within feet of one before someone else got their hands on it. There were several hit near us.  I never realized how much you need to look out for zooming balls! In L's mind, a good ball player was one who hit a bunch of foul balls into the stands, forget any hits or homeruns. He was especially impressed with a certain player from the opposing team, expounding what a great player he was since he hit so many balls in our area.   While watching for foul balls, X-man tried doing some funky dance moves to get on the t.v display. I was so surprised he wanted his 5 seconds of fame since he usually saves his dance moves for the privacy of home.

Lots of people left as it was getting late and the score wasn't that great, but we stuck it out. T and I wanted to watch the fireworks; the boys wanted to catch a fly ball. The fly ball never happened though several boys around us got one, making a very disappointed L, but the fireworks did happen. Since there were not many people left, it felt like we had our very own firework show. It was such a fun night!

"14!"

14 years ago last Friday this little gal blessed our family. 

At first she wasn't so sure of life--should she cry over spilled milk? 

She often did cry whether milk had spilled or not. 

Her first year, she cried and cried and cried--a lot. 

We felt like crying--a LOT. 

But it really just came down to this--Miss. A was/is a mover and a shaker, a getter and a doer. 

This laying around as a baby, waiting for someone to pick you up, was for the birds. 

Once she started crawling and moving, we saw the gal we know, love, and adore 

BURST OUT. 

Our Sunshine!

Her smile and love of life make us smile and love life. 

She's Brainy!

A. loves learning. She is the student teachers miss when she's absent. Even now when it's not as cool to love learning amongst her peers, she still works to learn and gain knowledge. 

She has style! 

She hasn't been easily swayed by trends and fashions.

 If she likes something, it's because SHE likes it.  

Oh, the places she'll go!  

She's motivated, obedient, and hardworking.

 She's an example of kindness and patience,

 knowing just when to give hugs to a mom low on patience. She listens to her brothers as they tell her about their day, talks with her sister, and laughs at her dad's jokes. 

 She is beautiful--inside and out. 

She loves her Heavenly Father and has a strong desire to do the right thing whether it's popular or not. She's stands up and speaks up for what is right.  

Oh, how we LOVE her! 

May all your wishes come true, A!

One day in the first year of her life as I was holding her and she was crying, the distinct thought came to my mind that this little bundle, while being a bit difficult and noisy right then, would be a great blessing to me and our family. She would be a supportive friend and a righteous influence in our home. She has been exactly that! 

Rapunzel Man

One of our children has the habit of twirling his hair around his finger. He also has an aversion to the notion he may one day grow chest hair. It's NOT going to happen to him. So just to get his ire up a bit at dinner, we'll say: "Eat this spicy salsa. It'll put hair on your chest!" or "Want some ice cream?  It'll put hair on your chest." Not a tiding of good will to him!

So one particular dinner conversation was especially amusing to our family. It went something like this:

Little guy twirling his hair with one hand, eating dinner with the other.

"You're going to have cuuurrrllls!" a sibling teases.

He grins and twirls more.

"Wait until he gets old and twirls his CHEST hair!"

Little man grimaces.

"Yeah, his really LONG chest hair!"

"What if it was like Rapunzel, except instead of long hair--long CHEST hair!"

Little man giggles.

"Rapunzel Man!"

"A fair princess would call to him high in his tower, 'Rapunzel Man! Rapunzel Man! Let down your long, curly chest hair!'

"And then Rapunzel Man would toss his long, fair, golden chest hairs out the window to the fair maiden below and be rescued."

The vision this gave us had us all chortling, even anti-chest hair boy.

So why eat dinner as a family? It certainly takes some rush and planning to get it on the table before everyone is off to their different activities. Some Many of the conversations can even get a bit...silly. Yet amidst the rush to get something semi-nutritious, semi-liked/tolerated by some on the table, little conversations and memories are made, hopefully binding our family with feelings of love, acceptance, warmth, and happiness. Yep, Rapunzel Man is welcome at our family meals any day---as long as he keeps his fair, curly chest hair under control!

Drivers, Start Your Engines...and a doll

It was Pinewood Derby time in our neck of the woods, L's first, X-man's last.  Last year a friend helped X-man carve his car, since T was always on the road with his daily commute. What a help that was!  This year it was up to T to figure out the carving, weighting, and building of two cars.  He did well, and the boys were happy with their cars.

 X-man's is number 3 and L's is #4. 

We weren't the fastest cars, but we weren't the slowest either. 

Right in the middle.

 One of the funnest parts of the evening was as each boy was introduced. Parents and siblings lined the gym, Rocky music was playing, and the Cubmaster introduced each boy with a few of their favorite hobbies and their racing name. The boys then ran down the line of fans, smacking hands and feeling like rock stars or race car drivers.  

Here is Lego-building, X-man "Nitro!"

The crowd went WILD!

 Here is soccer-playing L "Tuff E Nuff!"

BALLISTIC CHEERS!

The night was a success with many, many, many, many races raced. 

On another random note, B had a World Geography project to study another Asian country. She choose Laos since we have friends from that country. We learned a lot. B learned there are many snakes there. 

For her project to represent the culture of the country we made a doll dressed as some might dress there.    The doll has a fancy golden hat that we saw pictures of. We tried to duplicate it.