Sheepdog

My sister gave my mom a cute kitty puppet for her birthday. She had bought it at the Country Barn boutique that was held around the time Stacy got married, so I had missed it. I anxiously looked forward to the next one. With conflicting work schedules, it was hard to find a time when Stacy and I could go together, but we finally went Friday afternoon. I went looking for the kitty, and almost passed it by. When I discovered the puppets, I fell in love with the sheepdog. Sure it was expensive, but it was so darn cute. I knew we had to have it for our photography business. Little kids would love it. I ran into Brooke Wheeler and her cute little baby and showed her the puppet, her baby started grinning. I knew it would be a hit, heck it brought a smile to MY face. I bought the dog, and Stacy bought a monkey and a rabbit in a hat. The kitty was put back.

I took the sheepdog into work last week to show it to Patty, the co-workers loved it too. Mario the cat hated it and ran. Today, Conie and Mireya came up to me and Conie said that Mireya loved my dog and wanted one for her little girl since she has asthma and can't have a real dog. (Mireya doesn't speak English.) I told them I had got it at a boutique and that it had been expensive. I noticed that the monkey had a Quilted Bear tag on it when I removed it on Saturday for our photo shoot. I told them to check there, or online. Patty said she wanted one too. So, at lunch I went out to the car and got the monkey and checked the name on the tag. I looked it up on Amazon and found the dog. It was $9 cheaper than what I paid with no tax and shipping fees. I helped Patty sign up for an account and she bought two. Then I helped Mireya sign up for an account and she bought one. Her eyes were sparkling with delight. She was so happy and thanked me again as she passed me later that day. I was glad that I could bring some joy into someone's life. I told you that dog could make people smile.

An Outing with Brockton

Brockton is such a cute kid. We took him with us up to Fifield's homecoming. He sat next to some poinsettias we were taking up there. Let's just say one poinsettia got picked on. Poor thing. Brockton loved seeing all the horses along the way. We sang, asked him what different animals and people say and played peek a boo with the monkey puppet.

I asked Cody to pack a diaper bag full of toys to entertain Brockton at church, which he did, but then sent the wrong bag with us. So we had to entertain Brockton with two little cars, a little bit of goldfish to eat, his sippy cup and my iphone. We have "The Wheels on the Bus" which Brockton loves to play with. (It's interactive.) I turned off the sound, so we wouldn't disrupt the meeting. Brockton would shake it and turn it over and pronounce that it was "broke."

At Fifield's he wanted to explore, so I had to follow him around. Gracie was running around and around a pole in the middle of the room. When she was done, Brockton decided to try it. He had also seen her get dizzy and run into the pole and fall down. So he'd purposely run into things and fall down. We ate, then I took him into the spare bedroom, computer room to play. Too bad there wasn't much in the way of toys in there. We found a piece of paper and a pencil and drew pictures. He ran around the pole in there, climbed on the desk and played with the lamp turning it on and off. It was kind of lonesome in there, but we weren't missed. I'm glad he was there to keep me company. He's such a sweet boy. So cute. So smart. So loving.

Stacy's First Christmas Tree

Scott bought Stacy a Christmas tree for her birthday. She was so excited, she headed off to Hobby Lobby and purchased some ornaments. I saw all the silver ornaments and wondered what an all silver tree would look like. She told me she was going to add red. When she finished decorating it, she told me I had to come and see it. So, today when I went to pick her up for our photo shoot, I got a glimpse. It was gorgeous! When I took her back home, I snapped some photos. They do not even come close to doing it justice.

Great job Stacy! Now come put up and decorate my tree.

My Talented Daughter

I just had to share this photo Stacy took and edited of her co-worker.

Gorgeous!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We've had a great day so far. Tracy, Jace and I went to see The Blind Side. What a great show! Then we came home and had Thanksgiving dinner, just the three of us. I am so grateful for these two guys who share daily life with me, and all my family. I'm thankful for my friends. For all the many blessings the Lord has blessed me with. For my Savior, Jesus Christ and His love for me.

Saw this little clip on Melissa's facebook and thought I would share:

New Trick and a Good Deal

Years ago we had a lady come to our ward and talk about freezer meals. It was very good and I bought one of her cookbooks. I tried it out and found that cooking all day long was too much for me. I did find one trick I loved and continued to use it. She said that she cooked all her ground beef ahead of time so she didn't have to defrost it and brown it when she wanted to cook something using ground beef. She said to put the beef in cake pans, cover them with foil and put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, stirring it up every once in awhile. Well, tonight I remembered that I bought some ground beef last Saturday! I had forgotten all about it, so I hurriedly put 2 pans in the oven at 10:00 at night. "Great," I thought. "I'll be up all night." Then I remembered going over to a friends house a few years ago and seeing that she put hers in a big stock pot to cook. At the time, it seemed like she had to cook and stir it, just like you usually do when you brown hamburger, too much work! But, tonight, I decided to put the rest of my ground beef in a stock pot so I wouldn't have to do another batch in 45 minutes. I put the lid on, turned the heat to just above medium and left the room. I checked on it every 5-10 minutes. It was wonderful! It cooked more evenly and got done much faster than in the oven! Yay! I'm doing it this way from now on. For those of you who haven't done this before, I then drain the hamburger, rinse it, put it in a big bowl and then put just less than 3 cups in a ziploc freezer bag, that's the amount the lady said to use for 1 pound. I write on the bag with what's inside and the date.

Okay, now for the good deal. I saw Target's ad sitting on the table, and happened to glance at it. They had a Fisher Price nativity set for $12.99. I had just seen this on the internet and thought it was such a cute thing and wondered if they still made it.

When I got to Target, they were all gone, but I could get a rain check. They were also substituting the barn which is regularly $34.99 for $17.49! What a deal! I had to buy one for Brockton and my future grandkids.

Passing the Time

I'm grateful that I get to work with my sister Patty. She is such a great friend. I love being able to talk to her as we work. During poinsettia time, she picks the plants out, tags them and cleans them and I put the cover and sleeve on them and flat them up. We're a team and work side by side. Other times, we work close, but not close enough to talk. It's at these times that we don our headphones and listen to audio books. Sometimes we suggest the other listen to what we have listened to and then discuss the book. We loved such books as "The Book Thief," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." I remember looking over at Patty as she was listening to "The Book Thief" and seeing tears streaming down her face. She looked over at me as I giggled listening to Brendan Fraser reading "The Dragon Rider." Books can make an otherwise tedious, boring task become bearable. I am so grateful for audio books that help me pass the time and for my wonderful sister Patty, one of my greatest friends.

I'm Exhausted

I don't think this was a good month to post everyday, because I am exhausted most of the time. Getting poinsettias out to the stores is hard work, especially with a torn rotator cuff. I come home so exhausted, I usually fall in bed at 8:00 p.m., and wake back up around 10:30 to get ready for bed and hurry and jot something down in my blog. I hope I can make it through this season.

Happy Birthday!

Wow! I think I'm over the blues of missing Stacy and then I wake up and realize that for the first time since she was born, I can't give her a birthday hug first thing in the morning and tell her how much I love her.



She requested chicken and noodles for her birthday and lemon frozen dessert. We went shopping Saturday night on the way home from our photo shoot, but forgot the potatoes and the graham crackers. Luckily Scott's mom let us borrow some of each. Cody and Brockton came over to help us celebrate. We had a great time! I love you Stacy! You are such a treasure to me!

Mists of Darkness

It's very disheartening as a parent, when our children do not make the choices we wish they would. Sometimes I feel like a failure. I realized that I feel like Lehi, standing at the Tree of Life begging my children to come, but seeing them leave the iron rod thinking that the dark and dreary world with the laughing people will make them happy.

I went to a viewing last night. An old friend who lived in the ward when we first moved in (and has since moved) lost her 17 year old daughter. I remember her daughter as a little toddler, so cute with chubby little cheeks. I thought how precious she was so new from heaven. What happened along life's journey that led her to unknown paths?

As we headed home, Tracy, Marinda and I, we stopped at Arby's to get a bite to eat. I was thinking the above thoughts, when Tracy discovered a tattoo on Marinda's wrist. I cannot even begin to tell you how upset I was to see my child falling away from the iron rod, falling into the mists of darkness and not even realizing it. My heart is indeed heavy.

Music

When I was a teenager, I loved sitting at the piano and playing songs. It was a form of escape. I wrote a lot of my own songs. I loved those times. I haven't played the piano much since then though my mom let me take the piano. It is an old piano and some of the keys don't make a sound. I have called tuners over the years, but they never do fix it. A few years ago, my sister was buying a new electric piano and gave us her old one. Stacy loved to play on that one. Sometimes we would play Pachelbel's Canon together, on our respective pianos. I let Stacy take that piano when she got married. I miss hearing her play. She played almost everyday. Sunday mornings were always filled with church music. When Cody was little, around 2 years old, he had a fascination with violin music. We bought him a toy violin and he played it all the time.

(Note: his violin looked a lot like this one, without the purple and green.)

As he grew, I wished that I had the money to buy him a real violin and enroll him in lessons. One day, I went with my sister-in-law Valery to visit a friend who was moving. The friend was giving away some of her things. On the porch was a violin case. Upon opening it, we found a 3/4 violin without a bridge and strings. I asked if I could have it and she said yes. I took it to a repair shop and my ex paid the $100 bill to have it fixed. Cody started lessons shortly thereafter. He eventually saved up his money and bought his own full sized violin. He was quite good, but life got a little too busy to practice much.

A couple of years later, Jace seeing Cody play, decided he wanted to play. We found him a cheap, 1/2 size violin and he started taking half of Cody's lesson since we couldn't afford more. The teacher was really impressed with Jace's talent. He picked it up quite easily. He was eight years old.

Jace and Cody took lessons for a couple of years, then their teacher quit to go back to teaching elementary school. Jace has played off and on since then. He has taken Orchestra but hates having to write essays on musicians so quit. Stacy took a guitar class in school, and Jace showed interest in the guitar. He taught himself how to play using tabs found on the internet. This summer Stacy and Jace took guitar lessons a learned a little more. He kicks me off the computer now and then to look up more tabs and I hear him singing and playing a new song. Joy fills my heart as music once again fills my house. Music is his escape too. I'm glad he has found an instrument that he loves to play just for fun.

A Night Out

When Stacy and I heard that a girl from our ward was going to play the lead in the high school production of Pride and Prejudice, we knew we just had to go, since we both love Pride and Prejudice. I asked Stacy if we were going alone or inviting our husbands. She said the Scott was willing to go. Tracy said he didn't want to go but would.

Stacy called me up at work and invited us to dinner at her apartment before the play. Stacy is a wonderful cook so of course we took her up on it. When we got to the play, we sat in the second row since those seats looked a little more comfortable than the ones on the front row, plus a lot of the front row was saved. The seats were perfect until an enormous man sat right in front of me! I am not kidding. He was at least a foot taller than everyone else on the row.

Tracy did okay, after watching the different versions of Pride and Prejudice with me throughout the years, he knows what's going on. Scott thought it was terrible. Stacy reminded him that she had sat through a monster truck date with him. He said, "That was when we were dating." I'm still trying to decide what that means.

I thought the girl in our ward did a wonderful job. I also thought the girl who played Mrs. Bennett was a wonderful actor, and the boy playing Mr. Collins was hilarious. Jane was well Jane, and Lydia was very giggly. I thought it was pretty good though it did vary from the book a great deal and it was hard to understand some of the actors since they were speaking with a British accent too quickly. I also was extremely tired. That's what standing on your feet all day will do to you.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening. The men concurred that next time, Stacy and I might want to have a girl's night out. I do think the price of $8 a ticket was too high for a high school production, especially in the little theater. At that price, we should have left the men home.

How Old

How old do you feel? Somedays I feel like I'm still 18. My body begs to differ, but me, who I am inside still feels young. So I ask, how old do you feel?

The Answer

Today was not a good day. I just want to go to bed and escape in a book.

Melissa was so close in her guess with Niefe. One letter off.

The name I thought of was Niefi.

Pronounced Nephi.

I told you it was crazy.

Added: I just saw Andrea's post of NiFi (Ni pronounced nee) ! Yay Andrea!

Touchdown

Brockton went to church with us today. It was so much fun. Can I say that? He is such a cutie. When we were asked to raise our hands to welcome a new family into the ward, Brockton turned to me and said, "Mom." (He calls his grandmas mom because he can't say grandma. Grandpa is papa.) Anyway, he turned to me and gave me what was in his hands. Then he raised both hands up like he was doing "touchdown."

He was pretty good in Sacrament Meeting, wanting to escape only a couple of times. He played with little cars, read books and played with Boggle. He loves to dump the dice out and then put them back in the little slots or stack the dice up.


After Sacrament Meeting it was off to nursery. He loved playing with all the toys. A little boy brought me a plate and then a little girl kept bringing me a cup to pretend drink from, so I gave some to Brockton. I don't know if he's pretended to eat and drink before but he liked the idea and played along.

He threw balls and footballs to me and even said, "touchdown," while he lifted his arms. We cleaned up and then the kids sat at tables to get ready for a snack. It was time for my primary class to be in class, so I snuck out. Jace went and picked him up after church and he was still doing fine.

We were home just a little while playing Boggle again, when his daddy came to get him and visit for awhile. Stacy and Scott came over for a bit too. After dinner, I went in my room to read and after a chapter, I fell asleep. I woke up at 8:00 and tried to read some more, but fell asleep until Tracy came to bed about an hour ago, I tried to wake up then too to get ready for bed. I finally made it up, got ready and came in to type in my blog so that I could have a blog post for the day. Hopefully I can fall back to sleep and sleep through the night.

Headache

Major headache all day today, but I did get my apple pie filling done with the help of Tracy and Jace. I am so grateful they were here to help.

Melissa is the only one who has tried to guess the name I thought of. Sorry, Melissa but neither of those is the right answer. Anyone else have a clue? When I told Stacy, she guessed it right away. We must think alike. She used to be able to finish my sentences.

Stuff and Nonsense

Today I thought of a new name that Stacy and I could name our photography business. I thought it was quite clever and laughed out loud. I'm surprised we haven't thought of it before. I wondered what we could call ourselves if we put our two last names together, Nielsen and Fifield. Can you guess what I came up with?

I worked with a cute girl today since Patty had a wedding to attend. She's 19, married and has a three month old baby girl. Most of the people I work with are hispanic and most can't speak English, so I'm glad I was paired with Jasmine as she speaks perfect English having moved here from Mexico when she was four. Halfway through the day, she told me that some of the other workers wouldn't talk to her and she didn't know why. I was surprised. She said that she'd say hi to them and they wouldn't even acknowledge her, so she just gave up. The only thing she could figure out is that she talks to Coni and Mireya, who have both worked there the longest. It seems that last year Mireya told Anna that she was doing something wrong and Anna and the rest of the newer workers quit talking to her and Coni since Coni is her friend. It's funny, when I came back from working at the garden center, I found they would not go to lunch or break at the same time because they wanted nothing to do with each other. I asked Patty what was going on and she told me about their little feud. After about a month or two, they started eating together and talking to each other again. I thought all was well, but I asked Coni about it today and she said no, they talk a little while eating, but they do not like each other. She said that Allen made them get along since they have to work together. How sad. I have worked with them all and I think they are all pretty nice. It's too bad they can't see the good in each other like I see the good in each of them.

Kind of reminds me of a similar situation which I'd remind you of, but alas that post has been deleted.

Reach for the Light

After yesterday's post, I feel like I need to post something positive. This song came to my mind.



A story about this song. Tracy and I heard it down at Impact and loved it. We wondered who sang it. Well, I found out right before Father's Day. It was from the movie Balto, so I went and bought the movie for him. We started watching it the night before, but I said, "Let's watch the rest tomorrow" (on Father's Day). Well, the movie got over and I tried to distract Tracy a little while I grabbed his gift from under the couch. Well, it finally caught his attention that they were playing "the song" during the credits. He said, "Hey, it's the song." I asked what song, he said you know the song. That's when I brought out the soundtrack from under the couch. I said you mean, "This song?"

Anyway, enjoy the song and the words.

Deep in the night
The winds blow cold
And in a heartbeat
The fear takes hold

Deep in the storm
There's a place that's soft and still
Where the road waits to be taken
If you only will

The voices inside you
Can lead your soul astray
Believe in what you dream
Don't turn away
Don't you turn away

Reach for the light
You might touch the sky
Stand on the mountaintop
And see yourself flying
Reach for the light
To capture a star
Come out of the darkness
And find out who you are

Somewhere in time
The truth shines through
And the spirit knows
What it has to do

Somewhere in you
There's a power with no name
It can rise to meet the moment
And burn like a flame

And you can be stronger
Than anything you know
Hold on to what you see
Don't let it go
Don't you let it go

Now, there's no turning back
When your destiny is calling
Listen to the thunder roll
And let your heart break free

Reach for the light

I need to remember in my darkest hours, to reach for the light.

Fighting the Blues

I've been fighting the blues all day. I used to be really great at budgeting my money. I knew exactly how much I had and how much I could spend. Then I lost one bank statement and gave up. Since Kerry got sent to prison and quit paying child support, I figured, I would have to make up the difference and work more. I just didn't realize HOW much more. The greenhouses went into a slow period for awhile and there wasn't work for me. Well, I couldn't figure out why my bank account was getting so low each month, so I got out my old budget, adjusted it to reflect changes and found that our bills are $500 more than Tracy makes! That means I would basically have to start working every day (which I can't if they're slow). I also can't see working everyday at a job where I have to take muscle relaxers and pain relievers to get through the day, especially since I tore my rotator cuff.

Our bills are nothing extravagant. We don't have new cars that we have to make car payments on, we don't have a brand new house which boasts a large house payment. We don't have tivo or dvr or whatever else is new and exciting. We do have internet and very basic cable. So there is not much we can cut out.

We do have Dallan. I lost all my savings helping him out of his messes. Today just makes me want to give up. What is there to look forward to in my life? More back breaking work? Yay for me!!! Then there's the fact that I come home from work too tired to clean and I live with 2 guys who think they don't have to help me. I take that back, they help mess up the house, they just don't help clean it. I have photos to edit, which I try to get work on after work each night if Jace doesn't need the computer for homework. I feel like I'll never get caught up. Then there's the apples I bought last week that I need to put up. But you know what? I'm too tired to do them after standing on my feet all day!

Sorry, like I said I'm fighting the blues.

A Quick Errand

I got an overdue notice on my library book. One that was only a 2 week check-out and I never had time to read. I decided to hurry and take it back to the library around 7:00. Tracy came with me. We had to hurry because I didn't want to miss much of The Biggest Loser. As I was traveling I thought how blessed we are that we can get in a car and travel a few minutes to return a book that we were able to borrow and read (if I had the time). Most of the books I read are historical fiction, so I read a lot about traveling by buggy or wagon for hours instead of minutes. I mean seriously, could you imagine having to get the horses ready to travel to town? That would take awhile all in itself. I also read about how thrilled people were to borrow a book now and then. We can borrow more than we can read. I am extremely grateful for these two blessings, and a husband who will come with me to keep me company.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Winter

Okay, so you all know that Winter is my least favorite season of all. Makes me wonder why I was born in Winter. Well, I guess technically I wasn't since Winter doesn't actually begin until December 21st and I was born the first week of December, but close enough. Anyway, one thing that makes winter a little bit more enjoyable is Farr's Peppermint Stick Ice Cream. Mmmm... I saw that Kent's is having their Farr's half gallon ice cream on sale for $2.50 and was hoping that Peppermint Stick was already out. I have been meaning to get to Kent's for the past week and finally made it there today. Tracy asked what I wanted for dinner while we were shopping and I said, ice cream? When we got home, Tracy fixed the flat tire on his jeep while I put away the groceries. Then I dished me out a good helping of ice cream, went to the computer to figure out a way I could e-mail someone about 15 pictures, turned on the space heater, and enjoyed my ice cream.
A little while later Tracy came in and told me the furnace was not working. Great, I just ate a bowl of ice cream and now the furnace isn't working? Nice timing. Luckily, Stacy married someone who knows all about furnaces. Scott came over and looked at it and figured out the sensor just needed cleaning. Who knew it wouldn't stay clean for 17 years. He cleaned it, the furnace was up and running in no time. Yay!!! Made me hate winter (I know it's fall but I associate cold weather with winter) just a little bit more. Time to move to Disneyland (or close to it.)

They're Home

We went to the airport to welcome Tracy's parents home today. With all the rash of camera thieves, I opted not to take my camera. Tracy took these pictures with his phone. I was watching him and thought oh, that's a good shot, tender moment. Oh well, they didn't turn out like I thought they would. That's Tracy's daughter Emily hugging her grandpa.

Afterwards we went to Tracy's brother's house. His wife had cooked a turkey dinner. We ate and visited, then we took the Acura back to Dallan. We're trusting him one last time. We got the Jeep which was dead from him, jumped it, then gave it to Cody to drive as a second car for awhile, since Stephanie's car needs repairs. We visited with Cody and Brockton for awhile, but then I got too tired! So night all. I'm going to bed at 9:30.

Too Tired to Think

This blogging everyday is hard. Especially when I'm tired. I had to work this morning, thought it would be a couple of hours, but finally got done around 12:30 or so. Tried to catch up on Digital Scrapbooking Day. McKeown came up to visit, we went and delivered pictures, visited Stacy and Scott, went shopping, ate pizza, watched a movie. Didn't get my apples done. Maybe Monday.

Wait a Minute...

I'm just getting used to the fact that summer is over and that fall is on its way. Okay, maybe it's really here, but I'm trying to be optimistic. Just when I'm kind of getting used to it maybe being fall, I get called in to work to send out poinsettias? No way!!! I haven't even begun to think of Thanksgiving yet, and now it's time for Christmas?

I found this picture on the internet and it looks a lot like the sea of poinsettias out at our greenhouses (except they don't come up to our shoulders.)

A Brown Paper Bag

Who would know what the crinkling of a brown paper bag could do? It's funny how certain sights or sounds can trigger an emotion from a memory long ago. Whenever I hear the crinkling of a brown paper bag, I am filled with delight and anticipation. When I was in first grade, my teacher would place an object in a brown grocery sack. She would then give us clues and ask us what we thought was in the bag. As each person guessed, she would carefully unroll the top of the bag and peek inside. If the answer was no, she would then re-roll the top and give us another clue. This continued until someone guessed the right answer and she would pull the object out of the bag. The rolling and unrolling, the crinkling, the guessing, all lead to the wonderful anticipation of seeing what wonderful surprise that brown paper bag held.

I missed a day!

Shoot! I totally forgot about my blog yesterday! I got called into work, then after work Jace needed help catching up on his math. He transferred back to his normal school on A days and they are 10 lessons ahead! We had to run errands, get my college math books and notes back from my nephew who borrowed them, tried to remember math and help Jace. He's now only 9 1/2 lessons behind! I wish I had never transferred him to the other school. It's just a better school with more concurrent enrollment classes, but he's just not happy there. I'll be happy when the semester is over and he can transfer back full time!

In other news, I was reading the WSU Signpost and found out this little bit of info on Diane:

"Pugmire’s oldest daughter, Ariana Sears, said her mom exercised with her every day. A few days before passing Pugmire told her daughter she was feeling a little achy. Sears said she felt similar but figured they were already over the illness. On Monday, Pugmire told her daughter, “I wonder if both of us had the swine flu, but our bodies are just strong enough that it kicked it. I feel great.” Later that night she said she was in a bit of pain and went to the hospital. Within 31 hours Pugmire died."

I heard it wasn't just a bit of pain, I heard she was having a hard time breathing and was taken to the hospital in an ambulence. She was taken to Ogden Regional, which I have heard is as bad as Davis.

She will be Missed

I brought in the paper Sunday and quickly put it aside. I haven't had time to read the paper lately, or watch the news. Tracy asked where I put Sunday's paper and started reading it while he was eating breakfast Monday morning. I picked up a section and noticed it held the obituaries. I almost put it down, but something told me to look inside. There might be someone in there that I knew. I opened it up, glanced through and found my niece Jody's brother-in-law. I had heard that he had died and mentioned that he was in there from Tracy, who immediately pulled the paper away from me. I pulled it back, read his obituary and then gave the paper back to Tracy. I didn't look at the rest.

That night, I went to the library to return some books and saw an old Weber State classmate who works there. She went to see if I had any holds, which I did, so she proceeded to check them out to me. I asked how school was going and if she was still majoring in Elementary Ed. She said no and told me all her child development classes, Elementary biology and Elementary math classes had been a waste because they didn't count towards her new major of communications.

I said, "Oh, but aren't you so glad you took math from her? She was such a good teacher. I learned so much. You did have her didn't you? Pugmire?" She replied, "She's dead." I gasped, "What?" She said, "Yeah, she died last week from pneumonia and the Swine Flu. I bumped into her last Monday and she said she had been teaching that day but didn't feel good. She went home and laid down for a nap. By evening she couldn't breathe and was taken to the hospital. Tuesday she was given a 50-50 chance of surviving. She died on Wednesday." I was totally shocked. How could it be? Did I miss the funeral. I was told that the funeral had been that morning. THAT was why I was supposed to look at the obituaries and I had missed it!!!

There have been so many times in my life when I have felt a prompting and didn't follow it, and have regretted it afterwards. How do I know if it's a prompting or just me? But this time I DID follow it. I did open it up to the obituary section. What are the chances that my niece's brother in law would be in the same day as Diane? He died Oct. 15th. She died Oct. 28th. I didn't have to work yesterday, I could have gone to the funeral. If anyone can give me some pointers on how to listen to the spirit and follow his promptings, please let me know!

Diane was the best teacher I have ever had. She made math make sense. She didn't just teach students formulas. She said that she grew up memorizing formulas, but didn't know why that formula worked. She found out and then taught the whys to her students. Math finally made sense! The formulas made sense! I wish I had her for ALL my math classes! Memories of that class will be forever in my mind, as Stephanie went into labor with Brockton the night before my math final. I was up most of the night waiting for him. He was born around 7:30 a.m. and my math final was at 9:00 a.m. I remember going into class and showing Diane a picture of him on my cell phone. She said that I could come back and take the test the next day with the other class. I said I'd just take it, which seemed like a good idea until I actually sat down and realized I was so tired I really couldn't think. I did get an A though.

After that final, I took the next semester of math from Diane, this time I was learning geometry, which I never learned in school. I was at a total loss, but with Diane, it made sense. I went from being totally lost, to helping other students understand it. I almost wanted to minor in Math. Wait, what was I thinking? Diane made it that interesting! I remember the last day of class, after I took the final exam. I dropped my paper on the desk and gave Diane a hug. I loved her. She was a great teacher, and a great friend. I have never hugged a college professor before, but I wanted to convey my thanks to her. She will be sorely missed.

View her video below and you will see what I mean.

My Little Lion

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought of all the things that Brockton could be. I decided the perfect thing would be a lion since he is so great at growling. I was so pleased when Stephanie brought Brockton over to attend our ward's Trunk or Treat with us and had a lion costume in her hand. (Now Stephanie might be reading this and thinking, "I told her way in advance that I bought him a lion costume. And she probably did. That's how my memory is working these days.)

Here is my cute little grandson all dressed up in his Halloween costume.

As I started to take pictures, I was thinking how Stacy was missing this, and how much she'd like to see Brockton in his costume. Just then the door opened and in she and Scott walked! She threw a football to Brockton and he threw it back, then held out his arms again, so I hurried a snapped his picture. Stacy then took the camera and proceeded to take the pictures, since I was using her flash and she knows how to use it a lot better than I do. I'm pretty sure she took the first picture, since the lighting is so great and I wanted to get his whole costume, while Stacy is the queen of zooming in.

After Stacy left, I decided to hurry and get a shot with Brockton and his pumpkin. He was done with pictures by then, so it wasn't the best shot, but hey, it will do.

We tried to get Brockton to eat at the Trunk or Treat dinner, but he would close his mouth and shake his head. Stephanie had warned me that he just wasn't acting right and thought he might be cutting his 2 year old molars. He did love drinking the root beer though.

He was a happy kid and had a lot of fun otherwise. His parents had taught him how to say "Trick or Treat" but he didn't have to say it, the candy was just given out. He loved it when he could reach in a bowl and pick out his own candy.

When we were done, he sat in the car, pretending to drive while grandpa continued to give out candy. Later we went home and played. I tried to get him to eat some ice cream, thinking that would be easy on his teeth, but he pulled a horrified face after the first bite and only ate another bite or two, before he refused to eat anymore. I later asked his parents how he was doing and they said he cut two teeth and was feeling better.

Our Anniversary

Today is the day that Tracy and I were sealed for time and all eternity. Our wedding anniversary is in February and we got married in the Bountiful Temple, but we had to wait for my sealing cancellation from my first husband to come through before we could be sealed. It was a great day to be able to kneel across the altar and to know that I would have Tracy forever and that we would be able to celebrate not just one anniversary but two! Our marriage has been filled with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of stormy moments. But there have been a lot of good times too.

I remember when we got married (or sealed - can't remember which) we were told to look in the mirrors and see eternity as all married couples do. The future looks glorious and beautiful as we travel through eternity having faith in God and in each other. Then we were told to look into the corner. When we focus on other things besides our love for each other and our Father in Heaven, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our eternal goals, we find ourselves stuck in a corner, with no advancement, we feel trapped. We need to get ourselves out of the corner, out of thinking only of ourselves, and refocus on eternity, the heavens and each other. Only then could we be truly happy.

Happy Anniversary honey! May we look towards heaven hand in hand and continue on to a glorious life together!

National Blog Posting Month

Well, it's National Blog Posting Month again. (Thanks Andrea for telling me about it last year and reminding me about it this year.) I guess I'll try it again, to post something every day for the month of November. Wish me luck! Everyone join in the fun. It will be a great way to get to know each other a little bit better!