President Hinckley Dies

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our friend, Gordon B. Hinckley. While serving for over seven decades in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon demonstrated the heart of a servant and the wisdom of a leader. He was a tireless worker and a talented communicator who was respected in his community and beloved by his congregation. As President of his church, he traveled to more than 60 countries to spread a message of love and optimism to the millions of people around the world who shared his faith. A Mayflower descendent and the grandson of Mormon pioneers, Gordon was a deeply patriotic man. His leadership and service strengthened the Board of Trustees of Brigham Young University, the Boy Scouts of America, and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In 2004, I was honored to present him with the Medal of Freedom, our Nation’s highest civil award, in recognition of his lifelong public service. Laura and I will miss Gordon’s friendship and wisdom. Our thoughts and prayers are with his five children and the rest of the Hinckley family.

There have been so many people post on their blogs about the death of our beloved prophet, President Gordon B Hinckley. Very loving tributes to such an amazing man. This is something I felt I needed to do as well, so it is recorded not only for myself, but for my children. He died in his home on Sunday night January 27th 2008 at the age of 97 with his family by his side. I've shed many tears these past few days. As heart broken as I have been since hearing of his passing, I know he is so happy to be reunited with his dear wife Marjorie. He has missed her so much since her passing. I will miss hearing his words of wisdom and loving counsel and I will never forget his amazing sense of humor. This sweet man gave so much to so many. He was loved and admired by young and old, members of the church as well as non members. The worldwide humanitarian effort he made possible through our church is astounding and impressive beyond measure. That link shows just a few examples. Service has always been a top priority. Through the years he has taught my family so many things. I know in my heart he was a true prophet of God. I borrowed some of his quotes from Angie, since she had already compiled them.

*To not take life too seriously:
“We need to have a little humor in our lives. We better take seriously that which should be taken seriously, but at the same time we can bring in a touch of humor now & again. If the time ever comes when we can’t smile at ourselves, it will be a very sad time.” -Hinckley

*To never give up:
“We are in a period of stress across the world. There are occasionally hard days for each of us. Do not despair. Do not give up. Look for the sunlight through the clouds. Opportunities will eventually open to you. Do not let the prophets of gloom endanger your possibilities.” -Hinckley

*To be better:
“Shape up. I say that to myself constantly. Shape up. Stand a little taller. Be a little better, a little stronger, a little more thoughtful, a little humbler. A little more prayerful, that you may be worthy of the guidance of the Lord and of His wonderful blessing.” -Hinckley

*To measure up to the divinity within:
“Some of you may feel that you are not as attractive and beautiful and glamorous as you would like to be. Rise above any such feelings, cultivate the light you have within you, and it will shine through as a radiant expression that will be seen by others. You need never feel inferior. You need never feel that you were born without talents or without opportunities to give them expression. Cultivate whatever talents you have, and they will grow and refine and become an expression of your true self appreciated by others." -Hinckley

*To serve:
“I do not care how old you are, how young you are, whatever. You can lift people and help them. Heaven knows there are so very, very very many people in this world who need help. Oh, so very, very many. Let’s get the cankering, selfish attitude out of our lives and stand a little taller as we reach a little higher in the service of others. As Browning said, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” Stand a little taller, stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Forget yourself.” -Hinckley

*To be happy:
“We can lower our voices a few decibels. We can return good for evil. We can smile when anger might be so much easier. We can exercise self-control and self-discipline and dismiss any affront levied against us. Let us be a happy people. The Lord’s plan is a plan of happiness. The way will be lighter, the worries will be fewer, the confrontations will be less difficult if we cultivate a spirit of happiness.” -Hinckely

*To be faithful:
“I hope that prayer will take on a new luster in our lives. None of us knows what lies ahead. We may speculate, but we do not know. Sickness may strike us. Misfortune may overtake us. Fears may afflict us. Death may place his cold and solemn hand upon us or a loved one. Regardless of what may come, may faith, immovable and constant, shine above us as the polar star.” -Hinckley

*To pray:
“We can draw nearer to the Lord in our prayers. These can become conversations of thanksgiving. I can never fully understand how the Great God of the Universe, the Almighty, invites us as His children to speak with Him individually. How precious an opportunity is this. How wonderful that it actually happens. I testify that our prayers, offered in humility and sincerity, are heard and answered. It is a miraculous thing, but it is real.” -Hinckley
And lastly:

*To have joy:
“In all of living, have much fun & laughter, life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” -Hinckley

Till we meet again…

progress...and cards

It's not quite there yet, but progress has been made. MANY hours of cleaning/organizing/dusting have gone into it. Wish I could say that I was done, but I'm not. There is smaller pile of stuff in front of the file cabinet, a few odds and ends under the desk, and the closet still needs so work. The bookcase may not look any different to you, but while I was dusting everything in it, I did a little bit of shuffling around. Even little changes are pleasing to my eyes and that's pretty much all it takes to make me happy. I love that I can see the tops of the desks again. While cleaning up around here I've decided that I really want this to hold my works in progress stuff. I never know what to do with stuff that I get for a specific project that needs to be done soon, but not now. Know what I mean? and I REALLY want this to replace my green desktop "totally cool" tote. I love the way Making Memories designed them and I think it will work out much better for my needs. I thought the green tote would be great, but it's not (for me) Stuff falls in and I never see it again. I need to be able to see what I have and find it easily. I would have loved to win the MM ones, but I'll just have to start putting a little money aside and buy them instead.

Oh...and the tree in the corner has valentine stuff on it not Christmas.

Saturday night I had 8 ladies from church come over. I did a little make and take card class. A happy birthday one and a valentine one for their hubby. We ate....we visited...we created! It was great! I would have taken a group picture, but I looked terrible....I'm honest! Terrible! I think they all had fun too and they didn't care what I looked like. Cole said to me before they got here.."hey mom, are you going to go change your clothes first? " LOL! Who knew and 11 year old would care about stuff like that. At that point my feelings were, nice girls wont judge me....and I was right. :o)

Who's been using dad's razor?

It didn't take long to solve the mystery of who used dad's electric razor. Kyle came into my office the other day and told me I need to check out Cole's eye brows and advised me that he looked pretty goofy and that should be punishment enough. LOL! I think he's right. Cole says it was an accident. Hmmm....I just don't know how one slips and falls on a razor and happens to shave off the middle of their eyebrows...but that's just me. (that's not how he said it happened...but he may as well have) Good thing hair grows back.

This picture was taken with my little purse camera at his game Saturday. It is grainy because it was on the wrong setting. He had team pictures that day too...nice, huh?! They lost their game but Cole scored 14 of the 22 points for his team. He's an awesome basketball player!

Don't judge me!

***Edited at bottom-progress update***

My friend Amy has been working very hard on her scraproom for the past several days now, so it motivated me to want to work on my pig sty. I don't know how it got to be this bad, but I'm embarrassed and ashamed. It's never looked this bad. I'd like to blame it all on my family, but they are only responsible for a portion of the mess. Most of it is mine. Lots of projects in progress at the same time, mail everywhere, packages that are incoming and outgoing, valentine stuff, lots of shoes, socks, clothes (those are not mine) and lets face it...just a bunch of crap that needs to be thrown away or put away. Paper is my enemy! Not the pretty stuff...it's the mail, school papers, church papers, scout papers, receipt's, banking papers, business papers, etc that consume me. I need to come up with a good organizational solution for all of that crud so I can have some peace of mind. My bookcases are all still organized, but I do need to take everything out and dust it all. Dust is enemy number two! I have a couple of the young women coming over in 5 hours and counting to work on invitations, so my goal is to make a dent in this mess before then. When I'm done, I plan to post new pictures of a much less stressful environment. The clock is ticking...gotta fly!

Note my disclaimer in the last picture. This quote is on the wall in here. It says...

I'm creative-you can't expect me to be neat too.

clicking publish.....now! (shudder)

Progress update as of Thursday morning....Yes, I am a real girl, with real messes...big ones too! It's still a disaster in here. I did finish up 3 of the projects in progress that had to be done by last night for the young women. I work in here in between distractions....you know what I mean by distractions. Getting your kids to do their homework, laundry so Mark has clean work clothes, run up stairs to put something away and for some reason decide that your bathroom MUST be cleaned right now, Are you making dinner?, Hey mom...we need milk, Jolene...can you bake cookies for cub scout pack meeting tonight, stain and seal the cub scout tree and make a word search about recycling...yada yada yada. You get the picture. So this room WILL get done, but it will take a little longer than I'd like with all of my lovely distractions. Believe me...there's nothing I'd like more that to redeem myself with some clean room pictures.

Random fun stuff...

On Friday I went out with two of my sisters, Julie and Coleen. We went to park and swap and did a little shopping. Got this way cute purse and matching wallet. I paid $44 for the purse and $22 for the wallet. I broke my normal rule of never spending more that $35 for a purse, but I didn't go over it by too much. Mark should be thrilled that I don't have to have the beautiful purses that costs hundreds of dollars. No offense to those of you that have those kinds of purses...and I know several of you that do. I have to pick my battles and purses isn't one of them. :o)I also picked up the grand babies a couple of t-shirts. After walking forever at park and swap we headed over to Cafe Rio for lunch. It's a dang good thing there isn't a Cafe Rio in Maricopa because I'd be eating pork taco's several times a week. I LOVE them! After that I went over to visit with my parents, who I don't get to see nearly enough. It was go good just to sit and talk and catch up with them. I need to make more time for my family. I had an awesome day followed up with a dinner and movie date with Mark. We saw National Treasure (the second one) and loved it!



I got to go see these sweet guys on Thursday. Baby Mark and Little John make me so happy every time I see them. I love those babies so much. They are getting bigger by the minute and I miss a lot of those minutes. I plan to spend more time with them.

I taught the young women's lesson today. Whenever it's my week to teach my stomach is upset all week. I think I did okay, but can see many areas for improvement. I was too nervous to even think about taking pictures of what I prepared, but the girls said it was a good lesson, so I got the thumbs up.

For now the kitties names haven't really changed....with one small exception. I still call Franky by his name, but I call Sunny Scaredy butt. He is such a wimp. He'll finally come out at night when I go to bed and decide that while I'm sleeping is the perfect time for me to pet him. He's slowly trusting me a little more each day.

I hope you all are enjoying your long holiday weekend.

Name that kitty and binder covers

Actually there are 2 kitties. They look almost identical and they are huge! I only have a picture of one who is currently named Franky. The other one, Sunny has been residing under my bed since Sunday night. He comes out at night or when nobody is around. As soon as I open my door he's right back under the bed speedy quick. Poor thing is traumatized. Franky is very lovey and will lay on his back and let you rub his tummy. He likes me the most so far because I give him the most attention. His eyes are not that icky red color. They are a beautiful blue. Why are pet eyes all creepy in pictures? Anyways...we have yet to come up with names for the new additions to the family, so I'm open to suggestions if you have any ideas.
I went to the scrapbook store while I was in town yesterday to get stuff to make binder covers for each of the young women. I love the spa colors mixed with chocolate brown, so even though I had no design plan I couldn't go wrong with those colors. The pattern paper is Autumn Leaves and the cardstock is bazzill, of course. For you local girls...Scrapbooks Etc is expanding their store AGAIN! So exciting! It was under construction while I was there. So neat to see it in progress. Such an awesome place! Here is the design I came up with. Simple clean lines. I hope the girls will like them. Going to finish them up and give them to them on Sunday.

Off to bed...my night with the clicker (remote). I like to watch a show in it's entirety. Mark on the other hand likes to watch bits and pieces of 3 shows at the same time to avoid seeing any commercials. Makes me nuts! Love him to pieces, but seriously crazy!

Busy times

Do you see my problem? Chad bought another motorcycle! Not just any motorcycle. A Rocket! I hate rockets. They are too fast. He promises to be safe. I'm hoping when he gets home and he spends some time on both that he will realize that the cruiser will be way more comfortable and he'll sell the rocket. A mom can hope anyways. My garage is so FULL! This Saturday we are planning on pulling everything out of it and re-organizing it. It's a mess, plus with the addition of 3 bikes, it needs a new plan. Not to mention the freezer needs to be relocated so it doesn't get unplugged again. It will be a lot of work, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Chad's mean machine
Chad's green machine

Mark's red monster

Kyle's-yet to be named :o)

This baby is 26 years old and runs great with lots of power

I swiped some more pictures off of Chad's myspace. They got snow in Afghanistan for the first time in over 10 years (at least where his base is) They didn't get a lot, but it was enough to show the locals how to have a snowball fight. I will use his captions he had on them. This is a picture of Chad and Castro

Reza and Chad

Snowman?
or snow cone?

Snow Angel

Packages from Chad have started coming in. They told him to send home anything he isn't using or things of value to prepare for coming home. Seeing the mail lady delivering them over the past few days makes it feel like his homecoming is right around the corner. He really doesn't get home until the very end of March which is close, yet far at the same time. I'm hoping time passes quickly. For now his boxes wait for him safely tucked in his bedroom closet.

Mark and I had dinner at Grandma's Kitchen in downtown Mesa on Friday night for the monthly Friday Night out on Main Street. There are other restaurants open, but since we know the owner (grandma) we like to support her business. She's normally only open for breakfast and lunch and does dinner once a month.

I thought this car was so cool!

I have a huge love of old brick buildings. They are so beautiful!

For the shoe lover in us all. :o) Main street has statues all down the street on the sidewalks. Mark got there late so I only got a few pictures before it got dark.

On Saturday we took the bike to town for brunch and Famous Dave's BBQ. (which explains my helmet hair) Love that place! Nothing like eating a feast for 2 atop a garbage can lid. LOL! In our defense we did NOT eat it all. I don't know how people could possible eat that much in one sitting. What we did eat was dang good though. I also love the decor in there....full of country goodness.

On Saturday night Kyle hosted a back to school party (semester) He helped me make food all day. He requested chicken salad sandwiches, veggies tray, chips, homemade salsa, chips, dip, crackers with cheese, brownies, stuff to make smores and soda. I think we had like 14 kids here. They ate, played games, played music, roasted marshmallow's, watched a comedy special and just had a great time together. They were all gone by 11:30 and the neighbors didn't call the cops, so I guess it was a success. :o) These kids must not have scrapbooker moms because ALL of them were very camera shy. Made my job difficult. Most pictures were terrible. Looks like I'll have to train them to just smile and get it over with.

Gotta go get ready to go. Cody has another dentist appointment, so I have to pick him up early from school. He has one appointment a week all month. sheesh!

Roast is in the crock pot...smells like Heaven! AHHHH! I sure hope there's roast in heaven...and steak and potatoes and chocolate...yummm :o)