Inspirational

This Saturday we were privileged to attend a performance of the Saints Unified Voices Choir directed by Gladys Night.  The Choir - fabulous and inspiring.  Gladys Knight shared her testimony and her story about how she became a Mormon.  She is beautiful and she is on fire!

Watch this for some inspiration.  How one Young man  made a difference.


Click here if you want to know more.

Happy New Year

“You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.”

                                                                                                                           Publilius

Thought for a Sunday

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

- Oliver Wendel Holmes

Fathers Day

A Happy Fathers Day wish to my Dad.  He is a great guy who loves his family and would do anything for them.  Here we are in our younger days.  I am the little white, chubby, rolly-polly one on my Dads knee.

Fathers Day love also goes to the Father of my children.  I love this guy.  He has been and is an amazing Dad.  I'm so lucky to raise these kids with him and they are so lucky to have him as a Dad.

He is smart

He is adventurous

He is fun

He is a good sport

He is generous

He is crazy

He is spiritual

and now he is also a Grandfather.

and he is loved by his family.  

Coppertone and Anne Hathaway

One of my memories of childhood is this ad.  When I was a youngster my family lived in Florida on the beach .  I remember this ad so well and I remember us using Coppertone.  Sunscreen (I believe we called it tanning lotion back then) was nothing like it is today.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was pure oil back then.    We used it but we were always sunburned.  

I recently ran across this photo.  This is where we lived in Florida. Now there were obviously kids with these moms if you take notice of the shoes and toys. We were surely playing in the water getting our suntan on.  I guess that beach chairs hadn't been invented yet.  The red keds are mine.  I remember them.  I hated them.  I wanted boy style vans but got girl style keds, but I digress.  That bathing beauty on the left is my mom.  The woman who is covered head to toe  is my Grandmother.  When I first saw the photo I thought wow my grandmother looks like a barrel of fun at the beach all covered up like that.  After this week I take back that thought and say "Wow she was a smart lady".

Here I am this week after having basil cells removed from my face.  Yes it takes a good 20 to 30 years for all that sun damage to start taking over our skin.  All I ever wanted as a teen was a good tan.  Now all I want is my face not to be puffy and sore and scarred.  Darn that coppertone look what they had promised us.......

                                   

Do I look younger?  I am now going for the shade I affectionately call Anne Hathaway.  

You must admit that she is a lovely shade of pale.  Just look at the alternative.

Be Cool.  Get Your Sunscreen On!

A Perfect Valentines Weekend

Perfect Weather

Perfect Place

Perfect Company

Perfect Flowers

Perfect Fun

Perfect Weekend

Recovery

Question and Answer time.

I write the questions.

I write the answers.

Q: Why haven't you posted anything for so long.
A: Um, I've been busy.

Q: What have you been so busy with, I thought you had a life of leisure?
A: Recovering from this takes time and effort

Q: So after you cleaned up that mess what did you do?

A: Put away the christmas decorations, cleaned, shined polished and scrubbed what was left. Next I returned unwanted, non-fitting christmas gifts which involved driving all over God's green earth. Then I worked on Primary making posters, putting together manuals, planning and prepping for the new year. Then just the usual gym, grocery shopping, more cleaning, cooking, hiking, laundry, cleaning the garage, running errands, etc.

Q: So now what?

A: More of the above I am sure and enjoying the warm California weather, learning how to use PhotoshopCS4, practicing taking photos with new camera (christmas gift!). Why? do you have any suggestions?

Q: Why do you have up a Valentines banner on your blog already.

A: Because I already made it and what the heck, why not, and no it isn't to put any pressure on anyone for a valentines gift because all I gots all I needs!

Q: Why are you talking to yourself on your blog?

A: Because no one else is.

Q: Why are you so lucky?

A: I don't know. I really am blessed. I have a family I love and adore, I live in a beautiful place, I am healthy, I have friends who are the best, and I know I am a child of God.

Q: Do you have a perfect life?

A: Far from it. That's why my New Year's Resolution list is so long, too long, exceedingly long, too long to even write it up here in my blog. But, my life is pretty darn good.

Mr. In-Between

Prayerful

Thankful

To The Core

On Saturday Ken and I attended a workshop on working out the core. It was offered at the gym and so I signed us up. They were only going to let 40 people attend and the list was filling up fast.

Five people showed up. Oh well it worked out great for us. We had personal attention from the master trainer and learned all about how to properly do core exercises. We learned five core exercises.

They had us do the exercises and watched to make sure we were doing them correctly.

I can now feel my core (which I was informed is what I would have left if my arms and legs were ripped off). OUCH! (that ouch is for the limbs being ripped off and for the pain in my core muscles).

I am hoping if I keep at it and really work my core that my figure will look more like an apple core rather than an uneaten apple.

Is that were they came up with the term? I'm sure it must be.

Hey if you were an apple what kind would you be. I think I would be a "jazz" apple. Yummy!

Food for thought:

Hmmmm?

Say it isn't so......Women of the world we must unite and make sure these never leave the runway and hit the stores.

For Katey: I think you will need a dog like this. I can totally see this in your future.

Please promise me I will never see this when I come to your house as a little old lady.

Boomer, a 180-pound Landseer Newfoundland dog, drinks water from the kitchen sink at Caryn Weber's home south of Casselton, N.D. The dog measures seven feet from nose to tail. stands 36 inches tall at the shoulders, measures 7 feet from nose to tail, and weighs 180 pounds.
For Ken: I think that I may have found your next sport. Your Welcome!

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Hope

I know
it's hard to be reconciled
not everything is exactly
the way it ought to be

but please turn around
and step into the future
leave memories behind
enter the land of hope

--Zbigniew Herbert, from A Life

I found this quote about a year ago in a magazine and posted it on my bulletin board. I love the message and I'd like to think that because of it's message I have tried to look to the future and all the hope that it has to offer a little bit more.

A Contest and an Amazing Prize

I was on my way home from work and listening to my ipod in my car. It had been on the same playlist for about forever! I decided I couldn't listen to Duffy or Sara Barreilles one more time. I needed something different, something I love, something I could really sing to, really belt out. Of course, I needed ......Celine Dion. 

Now I know many of you are concerned about this and quite possibly some of you may have thrown up in your mouth. Here is my confession. I love Celine Dion music. I rarely listen to it anymore but anytime I do I am reminded about how much I love her. So Celine it was and I cranked it up and sang along very loudly and happily and with lots of drama. She has some awesome songs to just sing-a-long to. 

So while singing along to "All by myself" I started to think about the movie Bridget Jones Diary (yes, I watched it on tv edited). Aren't you amazed that I at this point I am doing three things at once -- driving, singing, and thinking. Anyways, at the begining of the movie Bridget is sitting in her living room watching tv and she just starts to belt out the very same song  along with the tube and uses her remote as a microphone. Its so funny. (little known fact: in the movie it is not Celine Dion singing it is Jamie O'neal). Now stay with me here....this got me to thinking of great sing-along moments in movies. You know what I'm talking about. Where a character is lip syncing or just a great musical moment (no I'm not referring to High School Musical!). So after Bridget Jones my thoughts went to none other than Ferris Beuller. I totally want to be him on the Parade float with the entire city singing along with me. How cool was that? Another favorite...About a Boy. It is so cool when Hugh Grant goes out on stage and saves his little friend from the most embarrassing moment ever singing "Killing Me Softly With His Song". He even sings with his eyes closed. Finally Bohemian Rhapsody in Waynes World. I love Queen and well, Wayne and Garth, they are hysterical. I do want to give a big shout out to Jack Black in School of Rock as well. (hey click on the green ones for video of what I'm talking about).

I have had some  experience personally with public singing although I don't know that they were great sing-along moments ......

First impersonating another personal favorite  Abba - the crowd really loved singing-along to Waterloo.

Next an original group .... The Dixie Hicks

The next two gigs were more in the line of Singing Telegrams.....

Now here is the contest. I am not going to ask you to do any public singing.  I want to hear from you what your favorite sing-along music in the car is and your favorite music moment in the movies. Really I do. I don't want you to be shy about it either after all I bore my soul to you and confessed about Celine.

The prize.....I will mail to the winner a homemade CD of my five favorite Celine Dion sing-a-long songs. I am dead serious. Now lest you not make a comment for fear of winning the prize let me say I will include a top secret prize along with it that everyone will want. Please remember that the more comments I get the less likely you are to win. So COMMENT.   I will do a random drawing for the winner.  This contest ends whenever I feel like it.