Today I checked out a blog that I haven't looked at for a while:  http://www.cranialhiccups.com/2018/12/come-follow-me-new-testament-resources.html This blogger has a page on resources for each week's Come Follow Me lessons that was pretty interesting.  I hope to use some of them in the near future.  One resource was a video from lds.org called:    Pure and Simple Faith    The young girl in the video looks like she is from the Philippines or some similar country and her needs are much different from my own.  But it was a good reminder to me that I need to exercise more faith in Christ in my own personal challenges.  Reading or viewing stories of other people's faith strengthens my own.  Last fall I exercised some hope and faith by planting some bulbs that my mother gave me for my birthday.  It was a lot of work to dig up the soil to properly plant them but my faith has been rewarded this week.  It's been slow this year bu...

I have been a closet fan of Arthur C. Brooks for a while and recently I read an interview with him in the newspaper  here .    I'm pretty excited that BYU is giving him an honorary doctorate next month and I'm planning on being there. In the interview, he talks about his recommendation to condense your life's story and purpose into 12 words.  His is:  “A lucky man, dedicated to lifting others up and bringing them together.”    He talks about reading about J.S. Bach who was asked why he composed music.  Bach said, "The aim and final end of music should be none other than the glory of God." Brooks says reading that is what inspired him to make his own life purpose statement.  He says,  " It’s really super empowering to do it." So I've been thinking what would mine be?  What would I say is my life purpose statement?  Here's what I've come up with:   Committed  wife and mother, striving to follow Christ, gra...

One constant in Utah is the moaning by the water managers about our lack of snow.  No matter how much snow we get, they're going to say it's not enough.  Snow melt captured in our reservoirs plays a major role in our water supplies since we only get about 16" of precipitation annually.  Last year was especially bad.  We got almost no snow and it was so warm that the little we had melted too quickly.  Fortunately, this year has been different.  While the snow in the valley has not been that impressive, the mountains have gotten a LOT of snow.  I didn't really appreciate just how much until we went to Aspen Grove on Saturday, March 9, to do some sledding and cross-country skiing.  This is what we saw: The background for this next picture is the ampitheater at the Theater-in-the-Pines campground.  You can just barely see the top of it above the snow: For perspective, this is what it looks like in the summer: Here is the bathroom (...

One thing my husband and I have done pretty consistently is have a Family Home Evening every Monday night.  It helps us to spend a little more time with our children. I think because we started when our kids were pretty young, it has been easier to keep going.  This last week we decided to go to the Museum of Art at the nearby university.  The exhibit was called "Windswept".  The artist had a semi-truck full of willow saplings brought in and then created the exhibit on-site.  It was kind of cool.

In January, my project was making a quilt for my grandson who turned 3 in February.  I was going to machine quilt it instead of tying it but it didn't work out. It took me a little longer than expected but I got it to him in time for his birthday.  It was probably not a highlight of his birthday for him since what he really likes is trucks.  But hopefully he will eventually come to like it and use it for many years.

It's been a colder winter this year than last.  This time last year I was worried that the fruit trees would blossom too early because the temperature never went below freezing for a couple of weeks.  This year we're wondering if spring will ever come! Talmage standing on a huge avalanche that happened up the canyon about a month ago.  It's a pretty massive amount of snow. Fortunately we've been able to get outside and do some fun activities.  For Presidents' Day, we decided to go visit my sister's family in Idaho and rent some snowmobiles.  We had never done that before and Scott wanted to try it, so we did it.  It actually worked out well. Right after church on Sunday, we drove up to Rexburg arriving in time for dinner and some visiting with my sister's family.  It was fun to see them and they were accommodating hosts. On Monday morning we dressed warmly and drove up to Island Park which is near Yellowstone.  There was a LOT of snow....

Last Tuesday my grandma Ellen died.  She was 98, almost 99.  Less than two weeks ago she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and put on hospice. I saw her on Friday and Monday night and both times she looked the same--non-responsive and looking like it was a little difficult to breathe despite the extra oxygen she was on.  After watching her abilities decline for several years and feeling like her quality of life has not been that great, I don't feel sad about her passing.  Her husband died almost 25 years ago and her parents and siblings have all died.  She was always pleasant company but her life seemed lonely despite our efforts to visit and bring her places.  I feel certain that she is much happier being reunited with her loved ones who have passed on. So yesterday we had her funeral and burial.  I was impressed with the number of her grandchildren that came.  At the time of her death, she had 39 grandchildren, 110 great-grandchildre...