This Sunday my husband and I are celebrating the 25th anniversary of our wedding.  My children think the story of how we met is very boring and because of this, my husband has made up a very entertaining story of how we met that involves me being in a motorcycle gang and having a very ugly dog.  However, it is completely untrue.  Just so my kids know, this is the REAL STORY. This was taken at the reception which was at my aunt's house in Provo We first met in the fall of 1987 when we had a daily music theory class together.  It was a small class of about 20 students but I didn't really talk to anyone except a good friend of mine.  One day I was walking to the class and I saw a guy I recognized from this class.  We said hi and walked together to class having our first real conversation.  During that walk, I happened to see just about every boy I knew so I kept saying hi to them and my future husband decided I was way too popular to ask out (or that's his excuse, anyway

I haven't figured out the best way to celebrate Easter yet.  It's definitely worthy of more celebration than I give it.  On the other hand, I certainly don't want it to become like Christmas. Here's what we have been doing and what we will be doing: 1.  Singing Easter songs in our church choir.  I have loved this.  One of my personal favorite songs ever is "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross".  Here's the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsBiaBTFADI .  It's hard to sing well but I have really enjoyed experiencing the powerful spirit you feel when you sing it. 2.  Singing Easter songs at the beginning of our daily family devotional.  I really love "He Is Risen" and "Christ the Lord is Risen Today."  Clearly I am an Easter music fan! 3.  Dying Easter eggs and having an Easter egg hunt on Saturday.  I'm not really sure how much this has to do with the real reason to celebrate Easter bu

For the past several years we have done the same thing for spring break.  We drive to Green River, stay in the Comfort Inn and swim in the pool, then go somewhere to visit the next day.  There are quite a few fun and beautiful places to visit that are less than an hour away:  Goblin Valley, Arches National Park, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Canyonlands, Dead Horse State Park, etc.  We have enjoyed visiting all of those places. This year we decided to visit Arches again.  My favorite destination hike at Arches is hiking to Delicate Arch.  It's quite possibly the most famous landmark in Utah.  It's on our license plates, for heaven's sake! The Forest Service calls this hike strenuous.  I would not call it difficult for teenagers, college students, and other people in good physical condition.  But for the rest of us, it's challenging, especially if you have small children with you and it's hot.  It's a 3-mile hike round-trip with a 480-feet elevation gain, alth

My brother recently had to have an emergency appendectomy with his appendix close to rupturing.  That reminded me of our experience more than 20 years ago when my husband's appendix really did rupture.  So for the sake of family history and not one-upmanship, here it is. Family picture taken right before the appendix difficulties One Monday night in the fall of 1993, I came home from an orchestra rehearsal and my husband told me he felt some pressure in his abdomen and he might be getting sick.  Sure enough, the next day he started vomiting.  He decided he needed to go to the doctor and made an appointment for himself.  I happened to be gone with our only car when he did that, so he actually got on his bicycle and rode the two miles or so to the appointment!  Incredible, but that's how he is. The doctor told him he had a stomach virus and that's what we thought for the next 6 days.  On Wednesday, he spiked a fever and had chills and threw up rather violently.  His