FORGET NOT.........

The women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints received so much great counsel last night at
Women's Conference. I am so grateful for my membership in the Church and for the wonderful organization of Relief Society. All of the talks were great and each had a special message, but President Uchtdorf's resonated with so many women. It will be one of those talks that is quoted from, for years to come. I would pray that all our children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren could grab a hold of these five things that President Urchtdorf counseled us to "FORGET NOT". It is counsel like this that helps us along our way through life and it's challenges, disappointments, pain and sorrow. Forget not to be happy now!

Crocks and Pottery

I love Crocks and Pottery. I have acquired a few pieces over the years. Some of them are from yard sales and second hand stores. With the passing of years I get more attached to them. I have recently been redoing some rooms, moving things around and putting more of my vintage stuff on display. Below are a few pictures of the groups of my Crocks and Pottery that have found new locations in our home.

And the Winner Is

I was so excited to win these paper doll postcards, how fun is that?!

The winner of the paper doll postcard set from Amanda May is: Lois Tanner

(It looks like Lois and her husband are serving a mission for the church at the moment! She also shared a TON of great ideas for making your own postcards and paper dolls in the comment section of this post.)

The Tanners said... 4
"I mailed one of the most important letters of my life today. "

Choosing Charity: The Good Part

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.” _ Elder Marvin J. Ashton

Christmas Can Be Magical

When you are far from home, no matter what you do Christmas becomes "different" and we have found that it is okay. We have talked a lot and thought a lot about Christmas this year.
Mostly for me it has been recalling a lot of special memories. Christmas seems so magical when you are a child. It really doesn't have to do with how much is spent. It is the gifts that money can't buy that are the most important and the most memorable. One of Michael's memories that he has shared with me often is a wagon full of oranges. Oranges in the winter time in Idaho, what a wonderful gift for him. He has never forgotten it and it still becomes the topic of discussion a few times during the season. My memories put me into another world. Lights, cookies, candles, music, stockings, the tree, wrapping and ribbons, fudge, divinity, cards, relatives, the artificial fireplace, hard candies, a bowl of nuts, giggles, anticipation, secrets, food (oh my) the food. Did I know we were "poor"? Never at Christmas. To me Christmas was magic. When I grew up I found out that someone has to create that magic. My mother was at the center of all that magic for me. When I think back on all those wonderful memories, I don't know how she did it. I know my dad and grandpa helped and probably many others, but it was her that pulled it off every year. Then I realized that responsibility fell on me now. I picked up the torch and was determined that the magic of Christmas would not be lost with me. It was not always easy, but the magic continued. As we moved on through our lives and found the Church, the magic continued, but increased and become even more meaningful in the very special way of knowing what that magic is all about. The Jesus present become the central theme of our celebration. The Christmas story though mentioned and heard as a child, now become vital to our family. We carried on a lot of our traditional activities, tweaking some and adding some of our own. It was magical. Certain music and certain smells can transport me back in seconds.
I have often said that I wait each year for the Christmas Spirit to come. There is always something that triggers it. Some years it is early and others it is evasive and hard to find. This year it has come later, perhaps because we are away, or just that we have been so busy. The video that has been circulating on the internet about the flash mob singing the Hallelujah Chorus in a food court really helped. The most important thing that really brought the spirit to us was letters from family members. Home made cards, hand drawn pictures, testimonies, letters, special talks, little books. They touched our hearts and made the tears flow. They will be a treasure always, not just at Christmas.

To be serving this mission and associating with these missionaries at this time is surely a blessing we will always cherish. I think the Lord gives extra special blessings at this time of the year when it is difficult to be away from home and family. There is a warmth and peace that comes from within, to know we are in the Lord's service. When all is said and done, when all the gifts have been opened and we move into the New Year, we realize it is not magic, but the Spirit that makes it Christmas. That little baby who was born in the stable has grown up and now is our Savior. We are grateful for his loving sacrifice.

Putting it all Together Piece by Piece.

When you put together a jigsaw puzzle how do you usually start? With the border. Why? Because the straight edges tell you where the pieces fit. You can tell that they go around the outside. It is the easiest and fastest way to start. Next you usually go by color and following the picture that comes on the box. Section by section following the designs and colors to accomplish putting that part of the puzzle together. What if it had no border pieces, no guideline to get you started? Harder? Take longer? Would there be a chance you would give up and never complete it? Setting goals without a plan to achieve them is like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle with no picture printed on the pieces and no border pieces. Anything that you put together needs an instruction sheet. So make your plan, make a list, take one step at a time and achieve your goal.

There are Signs of Spring

It seems like it has been a long time coming, but we do see some miniscule buds on the trees around our place. The crows have returned and we have even seen a robin. Although it was below freezing when we got up yesterday it did warm up to 45 before the day was over.

I spoke at the baptism of these two girls. One was a child of record baptism the other a convert baptism. It was a priviledge to get to do that. I gave the talk on baptism. It was a great experience and fun to see the kingdom grow by two more.

Right now we have over 20 people scheduled for baptism. We are praying that they will all make it. We do seem to have a lot of people cancel their baptisms. I guess it is no different from other places, but it seems like here they have such a difficult time choosing to live the commandments. I know seeds are being planted and these young people are being trained to be leaders of the Church. We see changes in the lives of the missionaries and the investigators daily.
There is a lot of adversity here as I am sure there is everywhere. But we have had some very choice people join the Church and they are becoming the stalwarts of this area.

We had a big get together at the mission home for lunch on the last transfers day. It was a big transfer, the biggest we have had so far. Many missionaries changing positions and areas, four missionaries going home. Some came off of Newfoundland and new ones went on to Newfoundland. We are having to sell eight mission cars so that makes some areas walking areas or car share areas.

We took a drive out to Eastern Passage again, it was quite cold, but fun to see the ocean again. This time we just walked along the boardwalk, most of the shops were closed. I look forward to spring when they will all open again.

ON THE BOARDWALK

I can hardly wait until it gets warm enough to get out and see some of this beautiful place. We do keep venturing out a little once in a while. This was a great outing. Nova Scotia is so diverse and there is so much to see. From the metropolitan area of Halifax to the quaint fishing villages. Many parts of the area look and feel like San Francisco. Of course we have the sea air all the time. There are so many trees (if they are leafed out) that sometimes you can't even see the houses or the city from the freeway.

This is one of the many (I mean many) frozen lakes. It just looks like a lake, but that is a frozen lake. All the swirls and what looks likes ripples are solid ice. It is one that we pass everyday going to and from the office. There are lots of peddle boats, canoes, jet skis and other boats including power boats on these lakes in the summer. We saw several boats of race teams practicing the other day. You know the kind that you see in the Olympics. This picture was taken a couple months ago and it has warmed up some since then so the ice has melted now. This mission is turning out not only to be an adventure in service, but in learning so much and experiencing so many different things. We have seen things that we had not seen before. Just walking through the stores is an experience in itself. The gospel is true.

Nova Scotia

With our Mission President, President Simpson

What an interesting few months since we have been here. It is a strange feeling to know that we are in another country, I never really thought of Canada as another country, but it certainly is. Yes, they speak English, so sometimes it makes us forget. So many things are different from the USA, it has taken some adjusting and we are still working on that. Apartment living is quite different for us too. Living close to the ocean certainly is different for us, at least in the past few years. I haven't lived this close to an ocean since we left Costa Mesa, California in 1955. Since Nova Scotia is almost an Island with just a small landbridge going over to New Brunswick it rises in the middle. We live kind of up from the shore, but still it in no way compares to the 5,000 feet altitude that we are used too. On our way out here we drove through two of the three states that I needed to visit to be able to say I have been to all 50 states. I still need Alaska and Michael has suggested an Alaskan Cruise when we get back home. Sounds like a plan to me.

We are sure enjoying the people that we are meeting out here on our Mission. The Mission President and his wife, Craig and Margaret Simpson are wonderful, we love them both and they are so much fun to be with. All of these wonderful missionaries that we serve with are the best, very special, just like I am sure all the missionaries are all over the world. These just happen to be our special missionaries.
Zone Conference January 2010

The weather is very cold this time of year as it is a lot of the time up here we understand. There are many lakes and now they are completely frozen over. There are people skating, player hockey and ice fishing on them. We even took a walk on one, that was a new experience, walking ON a lake. It was fun and we met some new people that convinced us it was safe to walk on after we had watched them walk on it for a while. Everything you see in the picture that is white is the frozen lake, it is that big.
We have experienced the coldest weather that we have ever known, they say it does not get warm until about June, so I guess we still have a ways to go to feel warm again. A down coat, gloves, ear muffs, tights, thermals, layers, yep that is the uniform of the day, every day. As you can see we do get blue skies and sunshine, but don't let that fool you, it is still very cold. If you want to enjoy the sunshine you have to do it through a window, we have often set in the sun or even laid on the living room floor with the sun shining on us.

Most days look about like the following pictures.

A shot taken off our deck and yes that is our car under there. It took about an hour to dig out completely so we could go to the office.





I did mention earlier about apartment living, but we have rather settled in and it is cozy and warm, the office is cozy and warm and the work keeps us moving and busy. We love our misson and our experiences.

Here's one shot of our apartment I have more pictures somewhere, will find and post later.

A Lot Has Happened

So much has happened since our last post. We have gone through the training at the MTC, driven across the USA and part of Canada. We have arrived at our Mission and have already been here almost three months. Boy, does time fly. I spend time on facebook posting and kind of forgot about blogger. We have had so many experiences, including seeing Canada for the first time. We entered Canada at Sault Sainte Marie and traveled east all the way to Nova Scotia. Canada was really beautiful in the fall. It was a long and exhausting trip, but as soon as we got to our assigned area we only had part of Saturday and Sunday, to get settled in and report to the Mission Office on Monday. There was so much to do and so much to learn, I will spare you the boring details of that part. We had dinner with the Mission President and his wife and later in the week had dinner with the Temple President and his wife and four others. Since then we have been serving in the Mission Office, five days a week, often for 12 hours a day. The most enjoybable part of the mission is serving with all these wonderful young people out here trying to get the gospel to as many as they can in this area. They are doing a good job, and right now it is cold, windy, freezing, sleeting, snowing, icy, foggy, take you pick. It is one or more of those things every day. Our car doors have frozen shut more than once.

Almost Departure Time

Just another day before we enter the MTC. All kinds of emotions swirl around in my brain. This is something we have planned on for years. Not having any idea it would end up being in Nova Scotia. I remember saying it would be fun to go to someplace that sounds a little exotic. Well, I think Nova Scotia sounds a lot exotic. We are looking forward to the adventure of the trip out there by car, then serving for 18 months in the mission office. We can only imagine the things that we will experience and see and do. I am just praying that we will be able to learn what we are taught and retain all that we learn. We, of course, want to prove to be an asset to the mission. To make a difference, to be relevant (to quote a famous judge on AI). We will keep in touch and hope to keep this blog updated.

Another Mission

July 2009 was a big Month

July has been a full, fun, exciting, hectic, special, spiritual, interesting, and exhausting month. I will remember it forever.

We had submitted our mission papers earlier, but had not said much about it. We were hoping the call would come while everyone was here for a reunion and it did. That was the highlight of the reunion for us.

Jason arrived in Utah on the 5th, Steph and the kids arrived on the 15th, Steve and Lisa and their kids arrived on the 17th and right away the reunion began. We stayed at home to sit with the young ones that weren't old enough to go to the Pioneer Day Celebration Concert in the Conference Center. From what we have heard they all had a great time and great seats. A lot of them were in the General Authority area and were just a few rows from the Prophet. We had a fun time with Trevor, Preston, Gavin and Lindsay.

We received our mission call on Wednesday, the 15th of July, but did not open it right away and did not tell anyone that we had received it. We were trying to decide on a special time to announce it. We also decided to open it in private and we did, we were so excited when we found out where we would be going. It was very difficult to wait, but we wanted it to be special.


The picture we sent with our mission papers

Since we were all going to the open house of the Oquirrh Temple the next morning we decided to wait until after we had gotten back. We were going to have a big breakfast of French Toast with Christi being the hostess, at our place and with her homemade caramel syrup, but we made them wait until afterwards. We had all of them sit down in the living room and told them we were going to do a little spiritual activity since we had just returned from the temple. Right away when everyone got quiet Michael told them we had received our call. They all seemed a little taken by surprise, shocked, stunned, excited, happy. Don't know which for sure or all of the above. We had a board fixed up with all their names listed and let each person guess where we were going. Jason did the honors and read the call letter to the rest of them. It was such a special event.




In the hospitality tent at the Temple open house



The family in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple



Jason reading our Mission Call letter

Stephanie got the closest by guessing Vermont, and was rewarded with a $20.00 bill.
There were congratulations and hugs a plenty for us.

The next day July 19th our Mission Call was officially announced in our ward, Michael was asked to announce it and I added a few details. Like what all the area covers. It is the Canada Halifax Mission. Covers all of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, New Foundland and Labrador, and the Northernmost 1/4 of Maine.




Christi and Lisa at the Park below Y mountain

Lisa sang in our ward that day which really topped it all off.

We all returned to our house for dinner. Ham and cheesy potatoes, rolls, corn, salad, healthy homemade jello, watermelon, brownies and ice cream, Rice Krispie Squares. Then we played games and laughed a lot.

After a great Sabbath Day everyone turned their attention to getting prepared for the next day spending the day all together at the lodge at Mutual Dell. What a beautiful and fun place.



The family at Mutual Dell

Some random things Christi and I have posted on facebook.

Have Stone Hollow breakfast in the morning, looking forward to some time with some good friends and neighbors and some good food. Less than a week until our family reunion starts (posted July 10)

What is on my mind is that it is a fabulous experience to go through a temple open house with your kids and grandkids. There were 21 of us, grandparents, parents, teens, tweens, primary age and babies. Happy times. (posted July 18)

Basking in the love of family, preparing for our mission, shopping for cold weather clothes. Looking forward to a new adventure, serving, seeing places we have never been. (posted July 22)

Our family reunion continues, I beat my son, Jason and son-in-law, Steve at Scrabble last night, that is always a good night. I even out lasted my hubby at holding 5 pounds weights with straight out arms, shoulder height, now that is a good night. A few crazies are on their way to climb Y mountain. I opted out on that one. It will be the big Brick Oven night tonight, and that is a very good night. (posted July 23)



Lois and Michael, Mom with Jason

At the park after Brick Oven Pizza

I think the traveling to our mission by car, from here to Halifax will be one of the biggest adventures of all. We are really looking forward to that one. (posted July 23)

Christi's comment

First Activity of the Family Reunion - Great!! We went to the Pioneer Day Concert. We were four rows from the prophet of God, President Thomas S. Monson!! And Alex Boye' (my friend), You rocked the conference center! Second day of the Family Reunion - We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Open House this morning. Mom & Michael accounced thier Mission Call, Dinner, Snow Cones, Fireworks, Games. Day three of the Family Reunion - Lisa sings in church, a BIG dinner, and being together for games and fun. Day four of the Family Reunion - A fun filled day up American Fork Canyon at Mutual Dell, (what a beautiful place!! just off the Alpine Loop) we had a great lodge, ZIP line, played badminton, kickball, soccer, games, Lots of Yummy FOOD, hiking, skits, songs, and ended it with a camp fire & smores. Day five of the Family Reunion, some left for Girls Camp, Provo Temple Day six of the Family Reunion, We went to the Movie "UP" and than to The BYU Creamery. Day seven of the Family Reunion, The annual hike of "Y" Mountain, Brick Oven for dinner and the park afterward. What a great time!! We had a few missing, hopefully they will join us for the next one. Love you!! ( posted July 20)





We still feel so blessed for the place we live and for our wonderful neighbors. We just love being able to walk to the Church each Sunday.


A couple more random shots of the months events.
Jason, Christi and Lois at the Luau



Dinner with Mom at South Town

Tulip Time

After spending three years on a mission on Temple Square, tulips became part of our lives. Just as soon as they started coming up in the spring we would walk through the plaza at the Church Office Building just to watch their progress every morning and then take strolls through the tulips on our lunch break. I always liked tulips, never grew them, didn't know much about them. Now I grow them, love them and can hardly wait for them to make their appearance in early spring. I didn't know before how many kinds there are, now I am noticing that it is a LOT. I am not studying them, just enjoying them. They have become one of life's simple pleasures to me. They make me smile. They make me happy. One fun thing that we have done is to go to Thanksgiving Point after the season is over and buy the bulbs that they have taken out of the ground. You have no idea what kind of tulip they are and it is so fun to watch when they come up which ones you ended up with. We have ended up with some really pretty ones, heck they are all pretty ones.

Lois on a beautiful mission

Tulips in the snow

Michael with the tulips on Temple Square

The rest of these are our very own tulips, growing in our front yard. I am so excited that so many came up this year and are doing so good. I stand at the window first thing in the morning and watch the sun come up over the mountains and shine on my tulips. I just love my tulips and hope to add more this fall when bulb planting time comes around.

Yes, this is a tulip too,------------------- Purple tulips by the front porch

I had no idea we had these

I love these pink ones

This lone yellow one is so pretty


Brilliant orange too

The inside of a tulip

I knew spring would come

Facebook

I have really neglected my blog every since I joined Facebook. I do love the constancy of Facebook and immediacy. Is that an instant gratification thing? It has been my experience to touch base with people you haven't seen or talked too for a long time, and then we seem to "move on" again, but what fun to hear from the past. You know they are still out there somewhere and just a keystroke away. Something strangely comforting in that. An easy way to say a quick good morning to family and friends, far and near. Sometimes I can read what family and friends are doing several times a day, sure helps to keep you more tuned in to one another and their activities, particularly those that are in another town or another state. The pictures are great too, I love to see the pictures. Not only what is happening now, but the "flash backs" too. So to all my facebook friends who might also be checking in on the blog site, good morning, have a good day, and hope to see you soon on facebook.

Winter Wonderland

The end of the year 2008, and the beginning of 2009 has definitely been a Winter Wonderland. We have had at least some snow on the ground since about Thanksgiving. It is snowing off and on again yesterday and today. It is so pretty. The other day we decided to take a drive and just look at the snow. It has been the kind of snow that you see on Christmas cards. We were just kind of meandering down different rodes and through some of the small towns around here. Very unexpectedly we came upon this site, in the picture below. We went past, but just had to turn around and take another look. It was so amazing. We were in Pleasant Grove, just a few miles from us. We got out to take the pictures and there was a sign explaining that they had actually made it on purpose. YouTube - Building an Ice Castle If this works you can click on this You Tube video and see how it was built. Wouldn't this be a fun thing to try?

The Year of 2009

The Holidays are over, the new year has begun. Today, January 20th, 2009 we are getting a new President. A new season of "Idol" has begun. Michael and I have been mostly sick since New Year's and have spent a lot of quiet time at home. Having served for 6 years in the Oakland Temple, five years full time in the Fresno Temple, and now having completed a three year mission in the Temple Department in Salt Lake City, I find myself feeling a little at loose ends. The cycles of our lives take us to interesting places, events, experiences, feelings and ups & downs. We know there is another mission in the future, certainly more than one. It feels a little strange to sleep in and then have no place to go. Strange, but nice at time, scary at others, and exciting too. Being retired is actually new to us, because we really never have been retired. Going from running a business, to moving, to a mission and now to a much slower pace. Fun to think of the possibilities. Travel? Another Mission? Taking some down time? Beautifying our home and surroundings? Writing more in our personal histories? Serving at the temple, the D.I. , the MTC or the distribution center? Serving at the Humanitarian again? All of these things have presented themselves. I guess many of them can be done at the same time. It will be interesting to see where this goes from here. Our families are all grown with families of their own. The nation is struggling. My mind goes everywhere and no where at any given time. The Church is our life and fills our life. We love our life. I guess I can ramble, it is my blog. I seem to notice more of the simple things, the mountains, the beauty of the snow, the ice crystals that have formed from frozen fog (never have experienced that before). I am thankful to have reached and corresponded with more friends and family since finding facebook. The technology age that we live in is a marvel. My mother grows older (90) and so do I. My grandchildren are becoming of age to marry and have children of their own. The cycle of life goes on. Neat plan, this plan that Heavenly Father has. How grateful I am for it.

The Holidays

Celebrating the birth of the Savior has always been the highlight of my years. The spiritual part of the holiday has always been the best. The Nativities, the music about His birth, the family get togethers. The Church meetings and ward get togethers. The dinners and parties with neighbors and friends. The holidays are such a busy time. I just did not have or take the time to add anything to our blog. So many things to do and so many places to go, you all know the routine. We have had lots of snow and that means we definitely had a white Christmas. Our decorations were minimal and the tree was small. But the Spirit was strong and that is what it is all about, right? Thanksgiving and Christmas were filled with music, food, fun and family, just like they should be. Not a lot of extended family was here this year, but we sent our love their way. I cherish my childhood memories of the holidays that always come this time of year. Memories of homemade fudge, divinity and candles. A fake fireplace. Getting up before sunrise on Christmas morn. Lots of family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins joined my folks and my siblings for the day's activities, which always centered around food. My mother was able to be with us for Thanksgiving this year and that was a treat to have her along with some of the grandkids. We are the activities chairmen in our ward, so we were in charge of both the Christmas Social and the New Year's Day Breakfast. It is always a lot of work, but worth it.

I told you we had a white Christmas, this is our champion icicle. Grown on our front porch.

Yes that is our huge tree if you can tell it from our potted plant, it is the one on the left. It was just right for us this year.

Michael's snowman

Our Ward Christmas Social