That thing what smells... and BYU Graduation

A couple of weeks ago, Keaton was pretty hilarious in trying to figure out what "smells" in and around the kitchen area. He had some pretty disgusting theories... One day we realized it was this beautiful Easter lily that the parents of my grandkiddies bought for me(at the BEST grocery store around!) :)

Well, Kryn's all graduated. And what a celebration we had! Kindy and I went to pretty good lengths to arrange our schedules so that we could be at the Marriott Center at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keaton had to work, Tressa had parent-teacher coferences, Alicia had a meeting that evening, and the girls were sleeping. So that left Devon and Kryn to get to the Marriott Center early to save seats for the 4 of us. When I talked to Kryn just as we were approaching the stadium, he asked if that day really was all about him? And did we really have to sit through the commencement? There were "14 speakers before President Uchtdorf." Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So we called Keats to leave work early and the 5 of us went to the California Pizza kitchen to celebrate. There was some modest shopping at the mall afterwards. And then Kryn and I rented and watched "Stand and Deliver" to complete the celebration. :)

Actually tonight Kryn, Keaton, and Devon went camping with Joe and Steve, so I guess the party is still kind of going on. What's the phrase? From Where the Wild Things Are? I think it is a "rumpus..." that they are having...

Soooo glad Zade's surgery went well today! :)

Oh, it was soooo fun...

Out of a gazillion photos taken by 3 cameras, I've posted a few to share with ALL the fun time we had during Damian and Amy's family's visit to Utah. It was a PERFECT week. Hayden wanted snow - the rest of us wanted Utah Spring weather. Things could not have turned out better. Snow the 1st morning they were here, and very warm temps the last 2 days...

I have, without doubt, the cutest grandchildren on the planet. :)

Devon and Alicia, thanks for making yourselves available to play with us! And it was great to have everyone (those that are NOT in the northeast) home on Sunday.

Pure hearts in a pure home are always a whispering distance of heaven...
David O. Mckay


The Church is true... :)

The Fat Lady and another verse...

Isn't the expression, "It ain't over until the fat lady finishes singing?"

It would appear I'm not as ready to give in and give up as I'd thought. After an e-mail communique with Dr. Roby and a connection with a faculty member who I spent time with Saturday morning at a fund raiser/breakfast, I'm back in the chase for my MSW. I gave notice today that I will not be returning to Mt. Loafer (it's been 9 1/2 years), and I've applied for fall semester at BYU. An independent study course, and the text, are already on their way. I plan to spend the summer doing that course and getting very involved in at least 3 program/agencies as a volunteer. In the fall I will repeat my undergraduate statistics and research classes and take one more psychology course. :)

When I told Vern Bangerter (when he was home teaching) on Sunday about Gregan's acceptance to Oxford and Jaron's move to Paris and that I outta make a trip across the pond, he told me that passports are supposed to get ridiculously delayed again. So I really think I'm going to apply for a passport... 'Soooo funny that every one of my children and spouses have a passport and I don't. But I will, soon! 'Now for saving the bucks to get there next June...

'Can't wait for Damian and family to be here on Friday! Birthday dinner on Sunday at 5:00. Damian, what are we going to eat?!?! We have had snow every other day all week! Which is good, 'cause it melts and doesn't have to be shoveled. But I hope we have some warm days in the next week...

"Discover, rediscover, and be changed by the scriptures."


The Church is still true...

midweek post!

What! It's NOT Monday... :)

Met with Dr. Roby this afternoon. She was very candid and frank. She got her BSW degree 3 years after me (then she earned her MSW and then her JD degree). She said SHE wouldn't be admitted to the MSW program at BYU today. (Do we believe that? Naw...) Bottom line is that to be really competitive with the applicants today, I would have to retake several of my undergraduate courses. The material that is taught in the classes now is very different from what the same courses contained 30+ years ago. They want to know that what the students understand and know about Social Work is relevant and current. With the new emphasis of the Master's program on research, I would even be required to retake undergraduate Research and Statistics even though those courses are required again on the graduate level. I would also need experience IN social work. Then the dagger... "at your age..." "life experience and the investment of the University in students that will serve the community pretty much cancel each other out!!!" OUCH! :)

The picture Dr. Roby outlined for me was very different than that of the director of the School of Social Work in the meeting I attended in October. But Dr. Roby IS the Admissions Chair, and I see little promise for a different outcome if I were to apply again. They had 187 applicants this year for 40 spots. BYU does have one of THE best Master's programs in the country - ranked in the top 10. This partly due to the school's recent and ongoing emphasis on research and statistics.

I've looked at the programs at Utah and Utah State. No comparison. I'm ready to put a period at the end of this sentence.

Next year I have 3-hour weeks at school compared to my 10-hour weeks this year. (NO STAR reading or recess duty, and each class gets 35 minutes in the piano lab instead of an hour. Plus, we'll have only two 4th grade classes instead of three). Kryn was very helpful this afternoon (we "hung" for 2 hours at the CougarEat!!) in helping me think of things to do with my freed up days. He thinks I should learn French and take a trip with him to Europe next summer. :)

So that's the "rest of the story..."

Until next Monday... :)

Belgian waffle party

'Had a great Belgian waffle party yesterday! And today I found real maple syrup at "my" new grocery store! Next batch will be even better...

'Can't believe that in only 10 more days the Florida kin will be here! Ava is really looking forward to playing with "the girl!" I tried and tried to explain... :)

This morning I listened to Elder Bednar's last General Conference talk. The topic was "Pray Always." He taught, "We are promised that if we pray sincerely for that which is right and good and in accordance with God's will, we can be blessed, protected, and directed."

I think at least a few of us have the desire that the things we are praying for are God's will - that we don't really want anything that is NOT God's will. And the promise is that we will be directed and blessed.

In my thought processes about the talk, I remembered a theme for a BYU Stake Homemaking Fair that I was responsible for back during Rudy's graduate school days. I was the stake RS homemaking counselor in our BYU stake, and the president, Marie Jensen, (wife of the famed 'Dinosaur Jim' Jensen at BYU) was away from Provo for several weeks. She made it clear that things needed to be well outlined before she returned. The assignment scared me to death. But finally I was able to settle on "Bloom Where You're Planted." Things came together beautifully for the event. The theme took on some meaning for me personally as I took care of that assignment and I still think about it pretty often, actually. This morning, something about Elder Bednar's talk took me there again.

I will admit that I have an appointment on Wednesday with Dr. Jini Roby, the admission chair for the MSW program. I'm very interested to see how that plays out. But I've reached a delightful place of trust and optimism that things are happening in my life the way they are supposed to. I almost can't wait to see what things are supposed to happen in 6 months, a year, and 5 years from now. But as quickly as garbage days roll around, I know all of that will be here before I know it. :)

The grass is covered with snow again! And there's another storm forecast for Wednesday, but ALL the weathermen promise Spring-like weather the week Hayden and Zade and "the girl" come to visit!! Keep your fingers crossed!

The Church is true...

Foot prints in the snow, PART 2...

Well, Thursday afternoon, I finally got the "rest of the story..."

'Turns out Kristin Roylance was right when she speculated (on facebook) that one of my kids was trying to sneak IN instead of OUT! When I finally talked with Keaton Thursday afternoon, I learned that he has been getting in the house on Sundays by climbing through the (new) family room window. And that's how he got in on Monday night. Not only that, but then he unlocked the door for his friend to come in, and they watched a movie!!! I heard none of that...

So Thursday afternoon I had a group piano class. I had just talked with Keaton, so I asked them if they wanted to hear a funny story. I recounted for them all of the trauma of Monday night. When I told them about the motion lights coming on while I was watching the news, and my dismissal that it would have been Levi Stone crossing through the yard that late at night, Michael Goodman said that he and Levi HAD gone through the back yard about that time to shovel Joan's steps! Evidently there had been just enough snow through the night to cover their footsteps to the back gate by the next morning when Officer Kirby and I were investigating the scene...

So now the window by the back door is locked, too. AND I gave Keaton a key for the deadbolt on the front door. I'm too embarrassed to call the police to tell them what really happened. :) So Keats' footprints and tire tracks are on file at the police station...

'Had a FUN time shopping for wedding dresses with Kindy and Marty yesterday.

The thought I have for you comes from Elder David Bednar. (He attended Keaton's stake conference today to install the new stake president. It was a great meeting for Keats...) Elder Bednar quoted Elder Neal A. Maxwell: Develop spiritual reflexes. In many cases, spiritual reflexes will save you when mind and intellect may waiver...

The Church is still true!

Foot prints in the snow!!

Actually, the snow that fell last night has been very "helpful" in scaring the bejeebies out of me. Last night as I was watching the news (between 10 and 10:30), the motion lights in the back of the house came on. The TV was on, of course, but no other lights in the family room. So there was no question about the motion lights on both corners of the house coming on. I thought perhaps it was Levi Stone passing through the yard to shovel Joan's steps. That is very late for Levi, but the snow was 8 inches deep and I thought it a possibility... So I went to bed - finally about 1:24 a.m. (I took time to make my airline reservations to Florida pretty late last night). Shortly after I was in bed, I heard something - almost sounded like it was in the house. But I knew that was impossible. I looked out my bedroom window but didn't see anything. So I finally went to sleep.

This morning when I let Spiche out, there were fresh footprints on the stairs and the back porch - NOT mine! Right to the door and then back down. And there were NO footprints to the back gate that Levi uses to get to Joan's yard. Before I showered, I decided to shovel some of the snow in the driveway. Guess what I found! Tire tracks right down the driveway to the side of the van in the carport. And the same footprints to the front door. (Kinda dumb of whoever did that. There was NO snow closer to the house, but they walked right on the snow...) Police Officer Kirby was just here and took pictures of the foot prints and the tire tracks. He agreed that it was an adult foot print - the same in front and back. And he guessed what kind of tire was on the car...

There have been lots of break ins and burglaries in Salem in recent months. Mostly drug users looking for cash and pills. But he said this is very different than the usual pattern - being in the middle of the night, and in a car...

So there you have it! Just think, if there hadn't been fresh snow last night, I would have been totally oblivious to the fact that I did, indeed, have a late night visitor... I've been careful to deadbolt the doors for even short errands away from home. You can be sure I will be even more so now!

It's Beginning to Look Like....

Just measured 8 inches of new snow... Unbelievable after the sunny warmer days we had the past 5-6 days. 'Gotta believe there will be plenty of water for the berries and petunias THIS summer...

Just made my reservation for Florida to spend time with my THREE grandchildren there! Leave here on July 22 and come home on August 3. 'Can't wait... I realized after I made the reservation, I miss Zade's birthday by 2 days. We'll just have to have 'nother party once I get there, right? 'Hope Damian and Amy can handle my being there for 12 days! Baby sister will be blessed on August 2nd...

'Waiting to hear how Gregan's interview went today! I don't know that he's told many that he was accepted to Johns Hopkins! (He's still holding out for London School of Economics...)

This is the week I should hear from BYU grad studies. I'm sure the decisions have been made. So does it do any good to still keep my fingers crossed? On so many levels, the idea of going to grad school scares me to death... But I do NOT want to be rejected!! :)

A thought from Sheri Dew:

The compelling truth of the Restoration is that the heavens are open. This is a Church of revelation. Our challenge is not one of getting the Lord to speak to us. Our challenge is learning to hear what He has to say.

The Church is true!

Yeah! A Little Sister...

'Sounds pretty good, huh? A little sister for Hayden and Zade. 'Anxious for her to have a name, now... :)

And Kindy has her bling bling...

And Tressa, Alicia, and I have weathered a very long week of croaky hoarseness and coughs. Unfortunately, the two little girls are now dealing with it. Which means, poor Mama!!

Today was Marty's birthday... Happy Birthday, Marty!

A thought:

All I Need to Know I Learned in Primary:
I am a Child of God.
Believe in Christ.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Choose the right.
Where love is, there God is also.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
Give, oh give.
Listen to the still small voice.
Count your many blessings.
Do the things the Lord commands.
Honor your father and mother.
Dare to be true.
Kindness begins with me.
Search, ponder, and pray.
Listen to the prophet's voice.
Jesus said love everyone.
When you're helping you're happy.
Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.
There is beauty all around.
Reverently and quietly pray.
Sunday is special.
Do your duties with a heart full of song.
My body is a temple.
Heavenly Father loves Me!
Dare to do right.
Keep the commandments.
Pray in faith.
The priesthood is restored.
Families can be together forever.
Jesus is risen.

:)

Birthday bash

We had a great family dinner/party for February and March birthdays yesterday. Marty passed the test of all tests. He at least acted pleased to have received his very own set of foam clothing! Modeled it for us and everything... (Kryn says he's not sure that HE (Kryn) qualifies to be a part of the family if a show of enthusiasm for foam clothing is one of the criteria...) But I am done, done, done with foam clothing! At least for the foreseeable future. Yeah!! I'm waiting on the "Devon family oompa loompa photo..."

There's concern that with the economic crunch, that planning time positions will be reduced or eliminated next year. I may especially hope to get accepted into grad school if I'm going to lose my job at the school any wayzzzz! Should know something in about 3 weeks...

Kindy has been working on her letter to get temple clearance for her June wedding. In one paragraph, after describing the struggles of her first marriage, she wrote, "Miraculously, I did meet someone who is everything I always wanted and then some." That reminded me of a thought that I included in one of my letters years ago: "A righteous desire becomes a mighty miracle when it occurs in the Lord's way and according to His timetable." :)

I hope to get a phone call tomorrow right after the ultrasound!!!

The Church is still true!

Seasons

I have felt so excited that we are about done with winter weather! The snow is mostly melted off the roofs, now. Although there is still a lot of snow on both sides of the street, most of the driveways and sidewalks are clear, and I actually see the lawn in parts of the front yard. Tonight the forecast is for a major snow event tomorrow, but then warmer temperatures. 'Don't know if I'll ever have the carpet tacked down in the basement, but it would seem that one day we WILL be able to at least lay it back down...

This has been an awesome week. I am so happy for Kindy's and Marty's engagement! 'Just feels so good and right... What a happy event to look forward to. :)

I'm ready for a new week. 'Glad to have had a long weekend to take care of some projects that have been nagging at me.

A couple of thoughts:

Life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain.

True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

The Church is true...

Spaghetti and a Spiche story

Kryn and Keaton came for dinner yesterday. Kryn said I was due for another blog entry. So today we're going to talk about spaghetti.

Have you ever felt like your life was a bowl of spaghetti with noodles hanging out over the edges of the bowl? That pretty much sums up how I have felt for several weeks now. Life has been a bit crazy. And I've started worrying that I was going crazy. :) I have found myself making lots of silly blunders and I can never remember if I've conditioned my hair or just shampooed. On Friday I went to Orem to help the grandparents. TWO times, both Grandma and Grandpa tried to help me find where I had set the furniture polish. (Actually it was Grandpa that finally found it the first time). Then we did another search for my keys before I could come home. And yesterday I went to scout committee meeting at Kath Ricks' home on 100 East. I drove right past her house, did a u-turn, and then drove right past it again coming from the other direction!

I HAVE had a lot on my mind lately. Lots of Primary matters to sort out and it's time to find recital solos for everyone etc. But today I've really focused on just what is "most needful" at the moment, and I've had a very coherent day... :)

Today we had our Primary presidency meeting. Kassie Vance was still laughing about last week when she brought her "lunch" with her, a homemade whole wheat flour tortilla. She was standing in the kitchen, just chatting with us, when Spiche jumped up and grabbed the tortilla out of her hand! It startled her so much. But everyone was especially impressed that Spiche had actually jumped - all 4 of her feet off the floor at once! She regularly steals crackers etc. from Ava. But it was pretty brazen of her to do that with someone outside of the family...

I'm hopeful Gregan gets a job soon! And that Kindy's getting more hours at work than she's had in the past 2 weeks! I'm glad that Devon's on the last leg of his trip home. (Almost as glad as his 3 lovely ladies are...) I'm glad Jaron didn't die during the Tough Man competition. I'm glad that I only live 20 minutes away from Kryn since his car has only a 20 minute range these days... Keaton gets to start doing his work for Sean Roylance in an office in Orem now, instead of having to drive to Elk Ridge. Tressa has stuff figured out pretty well - I like the lessons she's learned from her hobbies (refer to 25 random things on facebook.) Life is good at the Florida State Fair. It will be fun to learn if Hayden and Zade are going to have a brother OR a sister later this month.

I'm reading another great book, Forgiving Ourselves - Getting Back Up When We Let Ourselves Down by Wendy Ulrich. Here's a thought from that book:

"Repentance is not the back-up plan; repentance IS the plan..."

The Church is true!

No Empty Chairs

A couple of weeks ago, Devon and Alicia gave me this stick'em that I put on the kitchen wall into the family room. I love it...

Today was our stake conference. The theme for the conference - AND for Primary for 2009 - is "My Eternal Family." I have to say that few conferences have been as inspiring and reassuring to me as this one was. I guess if there was a theme within a theme, it would have had something to do with 'the best of times and the worst of times.' Interestingly, the testimonies that were shared both last night and today were by those who have had extraordinary challenges in their families: death of a husband/father and of a wife/mother from illnesses, death of children by suicide, a miraculous healing (Bishop Mike Stone was diagnosed with a terminal illness in September. After two Priesthood blessings, his 2nd series of tests, including another bone marrow biopsy done in December, came back clean), "wayward" children and those battling addictions. Another mother talked of many miscarriages and the miraculous births of 3 children in spite of a life threatening blood clot during her last pregnancy.

As I listened to all those talks, I remembered that exactly 20 years ago I was 8 months pregnant with Keaton. Rudy, a bishop and revered husband and father, gave a wonderful talk in the Saturday evening session of stake conference about our efforts to raise our "eternal family." There was no way I would have ever guessed at that time what challenges lay ahead for me and for my family. But today I was extremely heartened that, although things have transpired in our lives that I would have never imagined, our destination in life has not changed. Families ARE eternal. I have every hope that there WILL be "No Empty Chairs." I hope that will happen sooner rather than later, but I have real confidence that it WILL happen. I love my family! Every one of 'em...

The Church is still true... :)

Need a caption

I woke up to this winter wonderland this morning. My first thought was, "You've got to be kidding! This snow has to melt, and guess where it's going to go!?!?!?!"

I called Reid to come over and help me move more furniture and pull the carpet back even more. It's wet clear to the closet now....

So I left the fans running and headed out the door for work. Reid had expressed concern that I wouldn't make it out of my driveway. I didn't worry too much about it, because the van sits pretty high and I know to gun my way up and out. Well, the van sits high, but the snow and slush sat even higher. Yep, I got stuck. I called the school to tell them I would be late, and started shoveling. Less than 10 minutes later, a snowplow driver came around the bend. (Which is a miracle anyway. To cut costs, we seldom see snowplows in the neighborhoods any more). He went a little past our driveway, dumped some sand on the road, and came to help me shovel AND to put a few shovel-fuls of sand in front of, and behind, the front tires. By then Rod Warner was here with his shovel, too. After more shoveling, they were able to push me out and on my way! I got to school and found that the principal and Larraine Nelson (Castleberry) were just on their way out to come to my rescue...

But that's not all!! As I went to my van after work, the van would not start. Not a click - not nothin'.... I dialed Allstate road service, and then hung up, thinking I outta check in with Rudy about it. He suggested I wiggle the gear shift thingy several times. After a few tries, it started right up. I had errands to do. Spiche was OUT of food, and I needed to go to the post office to pick up Gregan's diploma from Brigham Young University!! YEAH, Gregan!! I left the car running for those errands. I stopped at Larry's Auto Repair. Wouldn't you know it... it started up time after time for them...

So I came home and started shoveling snow. Much too wet for the snow blower. As I shoveled, salted, shoveled, and pushed snow and slush, I thought what my caption could be for this blog entry. These are the contenders I could come up with:

• You've got to be kidding!
• Someone up there has an "odd" sense of humor...
• What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
• Bad news comes in threes: 1. flood 2. stuck in the snow 3. car won't start :)
  
• Count Your Many Blessings
• Gotta laugh (because crying won't help)
• "Come what may, and love it" (Elder Wirthlin didn't add ANY qualifiers)
• The sun will come out tomorrow (That's exactly what I'm afraid of!!!)
• Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked....

Can you think of a great caption? Or which one do you like the best?

Drive carefully and stay safe!!

The Church is still true...