A GREAT LADY

A great lady in my ward passed away Sunday morning. She served as my Relief Society President for the first 5 years we lived in our ward. We never went to lunch or went on long walks. We weren't close friends but I considered her a sister in my ward whom touched my life in so many ways. She was a Giant among women and will truly be missed. I have a quote in my home from Marvin J. Ashton:
GREATNESS is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved.
Elaine Knighton was a lady of GREATNESS. She was my strength, my mentor, strenghtend my testimony and gave me hope. I will miss her presence at card making night every month, her lessons in Relief Society, her laughter at enrichment nights and her smile as I passed by her each Sunday on the back row in Sacrament. Her testimony of the Savior and His love for her in such a trying time will live on in my heart. I thank her and love her.

BLOODY MONDAY

Bloody Monday- is over
The final week of January began a blood bath for the job market. Over 71,000 more job cuts were announced on the following Monday.
At least 6 companies from manufacturing and service industries cut thousands of jobs. More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year and more than 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008. The highest yearly job loss since 1945.
The consumer has been hit hard. Less spending equals more job loss.
Construction machinery manufacturer said that it will cut 20,000 jobs.
Pfitzer said it would cut 10% of its staff of 81,900 and close 5 of it's manufacturing plants. A second round of cuts will be the combine Pfitzer/Wyeth
staff at a 15% cut of its employees.
Sprint/Nextel, Home Depot, Texas instruments , Warner Bro. Entertainment, Microsoft, Honda, Motorola, Walgreens, Macey's, John Deere, Ethan Allen, Cigna, Hertz, Boeing, Intel and more....also having huge layoffs. It's a terrifying start to 2009.
Some time ago I started buying a case of food each time I went grocery shopping. The one thing that is hard for me to remember is WATER. Food storage is not much good to my family without water. There are so many options out there of how to store water. I think that buying water bottles by the case will be a good start until I can invest in bigger containers. Fuel is also important. Propane for the grill and a portable toilet. I know that if I'm prepared, the out dated food and all I have tried to save will have the Lords blessing and my family will be okay. Remember to pray for our President

A NEW DAY

It's a new day and I'm PROUD to be an American. A

day in the life of a new President. Pray for him. Taking

on the mess that Bush and the entire government left

him, he's going to need it.

TITLE OF LIBERTY

I saw this with an article from the Meridian Magazine which I love to read. The feelings that came over me when I saw this picture were PEACE, GRATITUDE and SECURITY . I feel that I will be raising the Title Of Liberty along with our country flag on each of the holidays that we fly the flag. Maybe you should purchase one also. I think it says alot on who we are.

"Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.....Alma 46:20

CHIPPED POLISH

January is always a solemn month for me. All the HYPE is gone from the holidays. Decorations are put away, which I love. I can only take Christmas clutter so long before I feel crowded. I usually have a few pounds to loose, ( CRAP why did I eat all those yummy No No's?) and the cleaning and organizing begins. It takes a week or so to get in the mood to DIG in which leads me to a fair amount of reflecting on my life and the past year. Usually I think "What emotional catastrophe is going to happen this year? Better get prepared cuz you know it's gunna happen."May sound a bit negative I know, however it's just one of those things that I can depend on. I've been reading some fun articles on friends, personalities and getting along with those friends with different personality traits. I was laying on my bed while reading and happened to look at my feet. I thought, "WOW you need a serious pedicure. I wonder who I could get to go with me?"
"I NEED A FRIEND" I thought. I'm sad to think that there is no one whom I could call on the spur of the moment to go do something, anything with!
I notice it more when I'm flipping through TV channels. And it's night time and the boys are off doing whatever they do with friends and my husband is reading a hunting magazine or watching hunting video's. I'm too restless to watch a movie or get lost in a book.
That's when I notice a big GAPING HOLE that cannot be filled with husbands, kids, blogging or working out. It can't be filled with spending weekends with my daughter and granddaughter.
It's the hole that, as much as I try, cannot be stuffed with family or friends that are miles away,
no matter how many e-mails I send or phone calls I share. I cannot fill it with food, parties,
hobbies or church activities.
I know because I've tried. And while I've made new memories and discovered new sources of joy, the original HOLE remains.
My toe nail polish is chipped and I miss having a friend. Not that I don't have female friends, but it's more than just another women to laugh with that I'm missing.
I miss the friend that drops by your house unannounced on any given night. Sometimes she stays
and visits for hours, or just stops to say HI. If your busy, they don't worry about it, they will
call you later, and they actually DO call back.
I miss the friend that drags all her kids over to your house and throws them in the back yard
to play before you have a chance to say hello, and her husband sits with your husband by the grill while the two of you swap stories on the latest events of family and friends. She stays forever because she enjoys your company.You know that you have to get up early to go to work the next morning but Hey, you still have to eat.
I miss the friend who can call you on the phone from work and ask you to go check on their dog
because he threw up on the floor and her husband put a bowl over the vomit because he has a weak stomach, and would you please clean it up so her house doesn't REEK.
And you do. And you don't feel inappropriate at calling her husband a wimp while your spraying the floor down with Resolve.
I miss the friendship that is easy even when it's work. The one that is part of your day and has long since passed the awkward insecure stage of calling only to set a lunch date.
The one you don' put make up on for.
The one that sees you without a bra and after a good cry.
The one that you can call on a Saturday morning because you feel like a pedicure and she says Okay. She has a lot to do so you part ways after the pedicure and go about your life and responsibilities and It's NO BIG DEAL! Until it is.
Until you don't have that in your life and then some days it's the BIGGEST DEAL in the world~
Like when your polish is CHIPPED

KANGAROO CITY

Lacey and I took Coleman to the Kangaroo Zoo after Christmas. I thought he would love it being he's active and loves to discover things. Lacey being pregnant didn't think bouncing around bumping into your child let alone someone else's child sounded that great. So I went in with Coleman. He looked at all the HUGE Animals and TALL slides and wanted nothing to do with it. The kids there were older, so maybe next visit we'll try it again.

Coleman was scared and wanted off the big Kangaroo

I couldn't even stand up so I was fine with that!
He kept running into the miniture golf room which
was quite fun. There are black lights throughout
so everything gl0wed in the dark. We decided to
try him at golf. I think he ran around that entire
room 10 times and climbed on everything.
He loved the Hippo so of course he had to climb on it.
 

"NOSE!"

"HI MOMMY"

MOM'S BIG DAY

My sister and I wanted to give mom some TLC on her wedding day. She was pretty much run down after having walking pneumonia, planning the wedding and tying up all the loose ends. We were her makeup artist, hair dresser, and nail technician. She looked so pretty and we had some good laughs. There were 70 friends and family, some who traveled from Wyoming, Oregon and Washington. The Red Flame catered a wonderful dinner of Lasagna, corn, 5 different salads , rolls, drink and brownies. Pictures and visiting went til 9:00 p.m. It was exciting for me to see mom so happy and visit with all of Henry's family and friends. Afterwards some of us went over to mom's where some of Henry's family were staying and played a game of Zilch. We had a blast. Henry fits well into our family and we all love him. We love them both so much that we short sheeted their beds (both queen size). Henry took no time in calling us at the house asking "Who Short Sheeted The Bed?" When their alram went off at 5:00 a.m. no one seemed to know anything about it. We love you guys. Have a great life together. Travel lots and mom, don't get too home sick.

I DO

My brother Randy performed the wedding.

What advice do you give your 80 yr. old mother?

Already BEEN THERE DONE THAT.

Shared some wonderfull things about mom and Henry

Well done.