Never Again!

We had the most amazing guest speaker at Millcreek High today. His name is Stephen Nasser and he was there promoting his book, "My Brother's Voice--How a Young Hungarian Jew Survived the Holocaust." He shared a very moving story about how he and his brother and mother along with several other relatives were taken from their homes and put in the Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz. He was the only one of 21 people taken that survived the ordeal. He witnessed the brutal deaths of his aunt, cousin, and his brother who died in his arms. His story was heartbreaking, but despite all of this tragedy, he was so uplifting and positive in sharing his messages of "We are all equals" and "Never Again."

I was so glad I went in to hear him speak....I almost stayed at my desk to work on files. It is so easy to forget so many years afterward that this horrific thing really happened. I was thinking my children probably don't even know that much about it...I am glad that there are people who have written down their experiences so we can remember. If you can believe it, his book was taken from a journal he kept while in the camp at age 13 on discarded concrete bags with pencils he got from the guards in trade for carvings he made with a Boy Scout knife he smuggled into camp!! It's hard for me to even wrap my brain around the suffering and inhumanity he talked about today.

I bought his book and I can't wait to read it. I think it will be a hard book to get through but I feel connected to this person now, since I shook his hand and heard his voice. What a privilege! If you want more info...check out the website: www.mybrothersvoice.com

Need a good laugh? Here you go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

These are so not my children...but it's hilarious!

Dixie Red Storm Basketball

We had a terrific time at the Dixie State Basketball game tonight. They were unveiling the new mascot and nickname for the college....They are now called the Dixie State Red Storm. The mascot is an ox or bull named Ragin' Red. I like it...although I liked my suggestion better..the Red Rox. But I didn't get any takers. Scott wanted the Desert Tortoises. I'm sure this will grow on us.

I love this funny picture of Shaylie...I think she is proud of her new teeth. She didn't have any for so long...she should be proud.

Here we all are in our new Red Storm t-shirts. They gave away nearly 3000 at half time (after a big show with Black Light dancing and a lot of noise from the PA that I couldn't understand.) I was afraid that Shaylie was going to get trampled in the rush...but Scott was looking out for her. Shaylie asked if she could come back to the game tomorrow night. She said the game made her feel happy!! I'm glad. We had a blast!

Picture Test

I'm sorry that you had to see this!

Yay!

It worked! We'll have to see if it lasts, since I thought I set it up once before!

Another Test

Second try...I'm wondering if the feed I set up on facebook will automatically update when I post to my blog...

My fascination with Twilight continues....

In my quest for new music for my Playlist, I discovered that my favorite song from the movie other than Bella's Lullaby (it's the song that plays when Bella is dying) is called "Let Me Sign" sung by none other than Rob Pattinson!! Who knew? It's not actually on the soundtrack, but another song that Rob sings is: "Never Think" He has a great voice even if he is a bit hard to understand sometimes....sort of Bob Dylan-esque. I was pretty impressed.

I also found a link to the screenplay too...not quite the same as seeing the movie but pretty close.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8572818/Twilight

Hope my fellow Twilight fans enjoy!

Nuttin' To Say

I don't have much to say, but it's been a week and I don't want to disappoint anyone who might be anxiously awaiting my next post.

We had a beautiful January day today! We took advantage of the weather to get outside and do some much needed yardwork! We raked all the leaves that have been falling off our trees since the middle of November. We have the tallest trees in the whole valley and it took some work. We pulled weeds and mowed/fertilized the yard. My back held up pretty well, but I am definitely having spasms tonight...we'll see how I feel tomorrow. What can you do? The work has to get done.

The majority of our weekend was spent working on Taylor's school projects. She had two due tomorrow...one was a model of the layers of the earth; and the other was a Utah History Indian dwelling diarama. I have to admit that we all had a hand in the projects...Scott's planning to use her teepee diarama on his latest train layout, so he got excited about helping and I helped whenever Tay asked, so we are all proud of the way her projects turned out:

Shaylie had Anje over on Friday for a fun sleepover. Anje stayed here at the house for most of Saturday so I think she was pretty much ready to go home, but they always have such a good time together.

Oh...we did get to go see Twilight on Friday night too! Taylor had finished reading the book so we went out to celebrate! The 7:00 show was sold out (if you can believe that) so we had to hang out at the mall until 9:30! Shaylee S and Stephanie went with us and the girls bought Twilight shirts that said, "I heart boys that sparkle." We had a great time!

So, sorry I didn't have anything to post. Maybe next time I'll have more to say. :)

Our Family Fun Night!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My First Creative Project of 2009

A gift for my friend, Julianne, and her new little one!

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste...But Sometimes I Can't Help It!

My friend Julianne and her husband, our Bishop, Joe Brooks just adopted the sweetest little boy and Anita Lindsay, her neighbor was kind enough to invite me to a Baby Shower. I've had the invitation on my fridge for a week or so and I made plans to go.

I had the gift all wrapped up and today I headed out to go to the party. It was billed as an open house from 11-1 so I didn't want to show up too early (I don't know why) but I pulled up in front of the Lindsay's home about 11:10 and there were no cars. I thought I must be the first one after all, so I went up and knocked on the door. It took a minute to hear any noise in the house (hmm) and then Brother Lindsay unlocked (weird) and opened the door.

His hair was a little mussed (okaaay) but he smiled at me and I asked him, "Am I in the right place for the Baby Shower?"

He said, "You sure are." and he took my gift but made no move to let me in. He chatted with me for a few minutes about the wind and the leaves, and all the while I'm thinking "Okay, I know the baby is supposed to stay away from germs, but are they not letting anyone in?", then he said, "Well, thanks. I'll be sure to get this to her and let her know you came."

I finally said, "Isn't there a party?" And he finally said, "Yes, but it's tomorrow." And everything finally made sense. I told him I'd come back tomorrow then and took my gift back and went home to make sure my invitation wasn't defective.

Sure enough, the invitation said...Saturday, January 1oth from 11-1...I have no idea how I got it in my head that it was today, but all week long I've been planning for "the Baby Shower on Friday."

So, that was fun. I've been laughing at myself all day long. Now, if only I remember to go tomorrow.

My 2009 Motto

So, you know how sometimes you get a little down on yourself and it's New Year's time and you start to write your resolutions late at night and you feel like you have to change everything about You but the more you write the more you think "This is Crazy!" and you want to give up before you even start? You do??? Oh good, I thought that sort of thing only happened to me! :)

Well, I had a couple days to look over my huge list of ...well, complaints, really...and it occurred to me that I am concentrating far too much on my weaknesses and not enough on the positive things in my life.

So. Instead of resolutions (which frankly I never keep anyway), I've decided to adopt a Theme for the year...a code...a Motto. I picked a Scripture that reminds me that the Lord gives us weaknesses so that we will call upon Him for Strength. The things I struggle with may seem overwhelming to me, if not impossible at times, but with the Lord's help All Things ARE Possible.

My Motto for the Year:

My God Shall Be My Strength

(Isaiah 49:5)

So, while I may not abandon my list of resolutions entirely...I'm working on most of them perpetually anyway...I will approach them with the faith that this life is a journey and in the end, with the Lord's help, I'll be exactly who I'm meant to be.

Feelin' Fine in 2009!

Now that the New Year is here, I feel obliged to post some of my resolutions for 2009. I didn't do very well with last year's resolutions, which is why I'm rolling some of them over...but I think this just adds the pressure to finally get them done. I really only have one Resolution which is to Feel Better, but I'm breaking it down to several easy steps:

1) Support my local health care professionals. I really need to visit the back doctor, eye doctor, foot doctor, "girl" doctor, doctor doctor, and a dermatologist. This is a rollover, since I wanted to get my back dealt with last year and didn't. I might single-handedly jump start the economy with this one! But I can't put it off any longer.

2) Lighten my load. I MUST lose some weight! Normally, I'm not one to care too much (obviously) about my physical appearance...but I know a lot of my problems (see above for the jist) stem from my being so heavy. It can't be good for my body to be smothered in so much extra fattage. I'm feeling old, tired, in pain and old. This is also a perpetual resolution and I did lose about 25 lbs last year and kept it off pretty well...right up until Thanksgiving and then I put it all back on over the Holidays, just in time to be EXACTLY the same weight I was when I started last January. Yay.

3) Rediscover My Muscles! I know they're in there somewhere...my plan is to get back to the gym and make them hurt so I can be reassured that I have some. My kids are always helpful motivation in this area. The other day I jumped out of the way of a falling knife and Shaylie looked at me with big, round eyes and said, "Mom! I didn't know you could jump!" Sheesh~

4) Stress Less. My goal is to find a way to be a more soft-spoken, loving, patient person and less screaming-at-the-top-of-my-lungs, react-first-think-later, tension-headache, absorb-everyone-else's-troubles person. I honestly don't know how, but I've declared it as a goal and that has to be good for my mental health somehow.

5) Re-Create! I would like to FINISH some creative project each month this year...whether it's a painting, crochet project, story-outline, complete writing project, etc. I need to nurture this part of me...it's been a long time since I've actually seen an end product...I have a bad habit of starting things and not following through. I think this will help me feel better emotionally.

6) Tune In! I need to get back-to-basics with my Spirituality. I think sometimes I get so wrapped up in callings or family or just daily life that I neglect to take the small, necessary steps that help me stay close to Heavenly Father. Daily prayers, scripture study and Temple attendance are going to be my focus. It's been a year and a half since I've been to the Temple!!! I couldn't believe it when I did the math. How does this happen? Life gets so busy, but that's no excuse. I have a feeling that this one will be a key factor in all the others too!

Okay...so that was painful, but I honestly feel that I need to be a little harsh with myself so I don't look back at this post from 2010 and think...Wow, another wasted year. Life is short, I need to make the most of my time NOW. Wish me luck! I've got some work to do!

Celebrate Good Times!

2009 blew in with a bang! We held our traditional New Year's Eve party. This has always been an annual event in my life. It grew over the years from a small celebration with my Dad, to a major reunion/party with extended family and friends. 2 years ago, we all decided it was too difficult to get everyone together in the Winter Time, but we decided to carry on down here. Unfortunately, this year I didn't get to invite everyone I wanted to (blame it on the Troubled Economic Times, I guess and the fact that I just threw a big Halloween Party!) but we got to invite a few friends from our old neighborhood and my sister, niece and mom, too.


We had the Sabaitis, Moore, and Terry families over. Stephanie's brother was down visiting so we had the pleasure of meeting Shane, April and their two cute kids. Anissa brought her friend Craig and Taylor was with all her buddies: Kaitlan, Shaylee, and Aubrey. We played games, ate a ton of food, and toasted the New Year with Sparkling Cider! At midnight, we went outside and watched the fireworks from the First Night Celebration...we have a perfect view over Foremaster Ridge from our front yard. It was a great way to ring in the New Year!

After the party, Taylor, Shaylee and Aubrey had a sleepover. They had an all-nighter...I don't think they went to sleep until about 7am, then slept until about 11:30am.

They took a lot of cute pics...here's just a couple! I'm hoping Taylor will post more on her blog.






It was a fun night! Best friends since 1st grade...they're going to give me and Bobbie a run for our money!






You'd never know by her face here, but Kaitlan is a riot! Scott must have been taking the picture...Scott does his best to annoy Kaitlan and Kaitlan returns the favor....all in good fun!