Fly Away...........

We have FOUR BIG BLACK BIRDS that like to hang around our place. Can you spot all of them in this picture? Sometimes they make alot of noise......... and other times they are eerily (sp?) quiet, and I wish they would just FLY AWAY

Speaking of FLYING AWAY.......... Roger and I are going to do JUST THAT tonight - Goodbye Utah - Hello Arizona :) See ya on Tuesday !

I haven't done this for a few weeks, and I thought it was about time. It's not that I'm not thankful for things, it's just that life gets in the way sometimes I guess.

*I am so grateful that I can attend the temple. I went on Tuesday night, and I just can't express how blessed I feel, to be able to go inside.

*I am so grateful to be a missionary mom. I treasure this time in my life.... only 14 more months, and it will be over. That will be a hard thing to see come to an end. I will be forever grateful that my son chose to keep a covenant that he made before he came to this earth.

*I am so grateful that Amanda and Camryn are doing so well in Arizona. I know it is through the power of prayer (from many people) that they have adjusted so well, especially Cam. She called Roger tonight, and was SOOOOOOOOO excited - "Only TWO more days Grandpa!"

*I am so grateful that we have the means to travel down to Arizona once more. We leave Friday night, and will be there through Labor Day. Cam's not the only one who is excited :)

Where there's smoke...........

Tonight as we were fixing dinner, we noticed an amazing sight across the valley !



The farmers are burning the straw stubble from their fields. It sure sent up a BIG BLACK cloud, boiling into the sky. You would have thought a house was on fire (from our viewpoint)



After a little while, the smoke turned white. Treyson kept asking me if I was nervous - because he was "willy nervous" :)


Zac and CJ took a ride over on the other side of the valley for a better view..... I love the changing of seasons, and it looks like we are heading into fall - my very favorite time of year.

BYU Education Week - Part 2

1. When Brother Flake was a Mission President, his wife would inspect the missionary’s apartments. One bedroom she came out of, with an astounded look on her face…… She said, “I don’t know whether to vacuum or roto-till !”

2. There was also a sign on the missionary’s fridge which said……. “If you eat HERE, you will NEVER LIVE to regret it” - Huh?

3. Once the whole mission zone traveled to a city that was some distance away. They took four buses, and put a sign on each bus to “name” it. The names were Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni. The President also took along a van, and if the missionaries got too “rowdy” – they had to ride in the van. The name on the outside of the van? “Laman and “Lemuel”.

4. During Brother Flake’s tenure as Mission President, they lived next door to a Baptist minister. They also happened to have a big swimming pool in their backyard. Two funny stories: The missionaries would THROW the Flake’s children in the pool – and said they (the missionaries) were going swimming, “vicariously”. Also, one of the Flake children asked the minister next door, if he wanted to come over and go swimming in their GIANT baptismal font - he was NOT impressed.

5. Kids say the darndest things: “Please bless my brother, who is in the Empty Ocean” (MTC)

6. Brother Flake also taught for some time, a class at BYU called Mormonism 101. This was for non-members, who wanted to understand what our church believes, etc. Some of the questions answered on a test: What is the name of the place where Christ atoned for our sins? “The Garden of Yosemite” What is the name of the Mormon's health code? “The Doctrine of Wellness”, What type of marriage is important to Mormons? “Internal Marriage” What is the name of one of the “higher” priesthood? “Moronic Priesthood”, What is Fast and Testimony Meeting? “A meeting that makes you cry, even if you aren’t a Mormon”

7. Years ago, Elder Jeffrey Holland, who was studying at Yale, stood to stretch his legs after a long session in the Yale Library. He sauntered over to the librarian, leaned across the counter, and asked her if she happened to have a book, that was…. translated from golden plates, which had been buried in the earth for over 1500 years, and were found by a young man, because an angel and told him where to look……. The librarian, with an incredulous look on her face, exclaimed that she had NEVER heard of such a book, but if there ever WAS such a book, she would certainly like to read it. Elder Holland then smiled, and asked her to show him where “The Book of Mormon” was located in the library.

8. Elder LeGrand Richards, was quite “bold” – when he would board an airplane in Salt Lake City, he would stand at the front of the aisle, and ask every member of the church to raise their hand. He would then say to the others, “The person sitting next to you is Mormon, and they would LOVE to tell you about our church”. When asked by someone at a later date, if he was afraid of offending someone, he said that he would rather take the SLIM chance of offending someone by asking if they would like to hear more about our church, than the ABSOLUTE chance of offending God, by NOT ASKING.

9. When Elder Flake was in the mission field, he was one time paired with Elder Looney as his companion. Can you just picture the introductions?

I love my Boys !!

Click here to see what a fun time was had !

What do YOU eat for Breakfast ??

Can you name the (5) ingredients in my FAVORITE breakfast?

BYU Education Week - Part 1

On Thursday, Bonnie Peterson (Elder Dallin Peterson's mom) and I traveled down to Provo to meet Elder Woolf's parents. All of our boys are serving in Peru Lima North. Before we met with them, Bonnie and I attended a couple of classes.

The first one was taught by Lawrence Flake, and it was about HUMOR. Here are some of the notes I took.

1. Whenever President Faust blessed a baby, he always prayed for the baby to grow up with a sense of humor.

2. Elder Neal Maxwell once said, that all of the prophets he had ever known personally, had a sense of humor.

3. Elder Packer, told of the last time that Elder David B. Haight and Elder Neal Maxwell attended a meeting of the Quorum of 12 apostles. They both had walking canes, and started a "duel" with each other. He said that fortunately the brethren were able to "break it up" before any blood was shed. (TOO FUNNY)

4. Elder Neal Maxwell's wife once had this to say about Elder Maxwell, who was well known for his use of the English language: "Neal had to ask me 3 times to marry him, before I could understand what he was saying !"

5. When President Hinckley was dedicating the Orlando Temple, he noticed that the chairs in the Celestial Room were lavender. He said, "PURPLE CHAIRS in the TEMPLE?", "PURPLE CHAIRS in the TEMPLE?"........... the temple builders, designers, were looking around uneasily, and then he said....."I LIKE IT :)" (Can't you just picture him doing that?)

6. President Monson's ability to wiggle his ears.

7. President Kimball was heavily involved in the sacred duty of missionary assignment. One Stake President had written on an Elder's application, that his mother had requested that he not be sent more than 500 miles from home, so that she might be able to visit him..... President Kimbal, without even a hint of a smile, said, "Brethren, I feel inspired that this missionary should be sent to South Africa".

8. Speaking of missionary humor, Elder Flake, who was once a missionary president, said that he had noticed on a certain missionary's bio, that he could type 35 wpm, and so this missionary was chosen to be the President's clerk/secretary. After a week or so, it became apparent that his typing skills were sorely lacking. President Flake asked him about it, and the missionary, said he better check the bio again........sure enough, it said his words per minute were 3 TO 5.....

9. Also, during President Flake's mission tenure, they had a sister missionary who was about to be sent home at the end of her mission. She had a bit of a hard mission, and many trials, which in turn became the President's trials. In the letter which was sent to her parents, there was a small "typo"......only ONE letter wrong - it said, "She gave us alot of hell".....it was supposed to say "help".

10. He also told of missionaries who had a problem with their bikes being stolen. The new mission motto was, "Locked tight or EYES locked tight on the bike". One day a couple of missionaries parked their bikes on the front lawn of an investigator, and when they went in her home, one of the missionaries positioned himself, so that he could keep an eye on their bikes. Halfway through the lesson he yelled, "Elder, your bike has just been stolen!". The Elder jumped up, ran out the door, jumped on the bike that was still there, and took off after the thief, who had a half a block on him. The thief underestimated the determination of a MAD missionary. The Elder finally caught up with him, pulled along side, and literally jumped off the bike and onto the thief, knocking the bicycle down. Thankfully a cop was nearby, and came and arrested the thief - the good part about the story?? The man had a warrant AND reward out for him, and the missionary got $200 reward money that he used to repair his bike, AND his torn suit :)

11. Be LightHEARTED - NOT LightMINDED

Part 2 - coming soon..............

Yesterday........

I had to go to a couple of meetings in Salt Lake City, and one was from 7:30am to 10:30am, and the other was from 2pm to 4pm. What to do in between...........? You guessed it ! I went to the Salt Lake Temple for an endowment session. It was a good opportunity, because I just don't get down to SLC often enough. It's hard to put into words, the feelings I have about the temple. I am just so so so GRATEFUL that I can go there. Those thoughts kept going over and over in my mind, I'm so GRATEFUL, I'm so GRATEFUL. As an added bonus, there were two young missionaries in my session, and I was able to talk to them afterwards. I just LOVE missionaries, I love to talk to them, it helps me feel closer to Landon.

A Big SHOUT OUT !!

We have been having a competition at work for the past MANY weeks. We started in April, and finished the end of July. Some did REALLY REALLY well, and others NOT so well. The WINNER of it all, was my very good friend Teresa. She won't toot her own horn, so I WILL !! Way to go Teresa !!

Our Life Lately........

Beautiful sunrise from my back window 08/18/08

Mom and Dad's new house is coming right along !

We like to go walking with the boys - we need to do MORE Of it.

We are VERY pleased with our new entertainment center.
Thanks Craig

Cute Cute Family - Where's Dad ?
We love to have them here with us :)

The Field is White...........

Last week I was able to go on "splits" with the sister missionaries assigned to our area. I went with Sister Pana'a from Hawaii. On the way to our first visit, she asked about the fields that we were passing. "Why is that white, and the other one green?" I was able to explain about grain vs. alfalfa, and the whole "crop" thing here in Utah, which is really different from Hawaii. I mentioned the scripture, about the "Field being white, already to harvest", and how it applies to missionary work. We arranged to meet the next day with her companion, Sister Forsberg (Seattle), and I took their pictures out in this beautiful grain field, which was "White - already to harvest". Then we went to Subway and had lunch. It was a great experience. It helps me feel closer to Landon.

Great Day

We had a great time in Chubbock, Idaho yesterday, with missionary parents whose sons are serving in Peru. We laughed, cried, shared, and enjoyed our time together so very much. Click here for a slideshow.

Thanks to Debbie and Kelly Wright for hosting the event. It was wonderful !

Another one of my girls gets married

Kelsie Adams married Brock Weeks in the Bountiful Temple today. The reception at the Weeks' residence was beautiful. Congratulations you two !!

Early Morning Watering

Recognize this picture? It's my mom and dad's backyard......... soon to be Zac and Christel's backyard. This was taken EARLY in the morning, on "watering" day. Some of the greatest times in the summer were when it was time to irrigate the yard. Dad had it all fixed up, with cement retaining wall around the perimeter of the lawn. When the water came down the ditch, it would fill the whole yard about 5-6 inches deep, and we would run and splash and play, and do cartwheels..... It was just like a big shallow swimming pool. Fun times to remember.

Tagg you're IT !

Tagg went to the doctor the other day for his 6 month check up. He weighs 18.75 pounds, and is 27 inches long ! And we thought Treyson was going to be big !

5K walk/run - Women Only

Well, I did it - I signed up with my good friend Teresa. We are going to do it ! I remember years ago, participating in the "Friends of the Library" 5K, and also the Gerald Andersen Memorial 5K. I believe I walked both of them, with very very little jogging. This time I hope to complete this 5K with mostly jogging, and very little walking. We'll see how it goes......

We need someone to come and DOCUMENT with pictures.........any takers? anyone? anyone? How about joining us? You get a "free" T-shirt out of the deal :)

Happy Anniversary - #52

52 years ago today, mom and dad were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Congratulations - we sure love you !!

Another Party....

It seems all we do is party !! We had a great get together at the Property a couple of weeks ago, with some OLD snowmobile friends........at least that's what I call us.

Prescott's, Judd's, Walker's, Kimbal's, Taggart's, Rose's. We are sorry that Bangerter's and Waldron's couldn't make it.


Some old geezers :) - Roger D., Bryan, Roger P. Mark (Where's Bret? - He's an old geezer too)

Happy Birthday to my Mom

My MOM - she is the BEST. She got up early last week, and made waffles for us, before we headed out to Arizona. She will help me out with ANYTHING, and I don't know what I'd do without her - Love you Mom and Happy Birthday today. I'm sure glad you are my mom. I want to be just like you when I grow up :)

Helping Dad Mow the Lawn is HARD WORK

What to Blog about FIRST ?

Well, in order.......... I should do the Morgan County Fair Parade (the only part of the fair that I saw), or our fun time in VEGAS, but I think I'll do the most important thing first..............brag about our granddaughter, Camryn Dee Schutt.........who by the way, was chosen as the STUDENT OF THE MONTH in her school, because #1 - she has made the most improvement (in the attitude department :), and #2 - she is SO kind to everyone, especially the new students :) We are so proud of her. If she is anything like her mom, she has a lot of empathy for others, and that is a good thing. Click here for pics of our fun times in AZ this past week. Love you Cam !!