Against our best advice....

Jena turned 15 this past week.  It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years.  Like each of our kids, we are so glad to have her in our family (and glad to be finished with the birthday celebrations for the year.)

Getting ready to blow out her candles.

She commented that there was alot of smoke after she blew out the candles....that's why Gary and I don't have candles at our birthday celebration.....

Gary's "HAPPY" birthday!

Gary started his day with mom running some errands and then we met for a late breakfast then split up again to finish up errrands before getting Jena from school ealier.

As part of Celebration for Gary's birthday (Jena's and his mom's birthdays, too), we took Jena and his mom to see the matinee performance  of the Braodway performance of "Mary Poppins".  It was fabalous.  We had a very fun time.  It was at the Capital Theater in Salt Lake.  Of course, I expected we would see Mary Poppins fly through the air (although Jena was amazed by it), then there was kite flying, Mary poppins popping different places, her carpet bag just like the show where she pulled a coatrack and a plant out of her bagge along with other items, and the amazing scene where Mary Poppins with a "spoon full of sugar" fixes up a kitchen that had been broken.  A young girl behind us said "She's magic"  It was so sweet.  The costumes and scenery and voice was all excellent.  We would certainly encourage all of you to see it if you like the movie if it come to a place near your.

We headed quickly out and decided to change our evening plans since the BYU football game was tonight.  So instead of a nice Chinese meal in Salt Lake we hurried back to Gary's mom's home, picking up a take and bake pizza along the way (I know yes, we are still fans--forgive and forget, move forward....)  It got a little scarier in the first half, but we pulled it out at the end.  It was not all pretty but there was some fun plays including the run back on the kick-off to score...the first in over 13 years ago or something like that.  Yeah, a Win.

I am so glad to celebrate your birthday with you, Gary----

because:

You are my best friend,

my biggiest cheerleader

the labor for my wild ideas

the laundry folder when I am busy

the dog-feeder

the hard worker

my best travel co-adventurer.....

not caring where but just to be with me;

my computer programmer,

the provider, presider and protector-

even from the mud splatters from cars;

my handman,

yard "boy",

my Sunday walk companion ...

forever!

Happy Birthday, sweetie....

3333333333333333

For a day like yesterday....

I love living in Utah.....Our ward had their day of service on Saturday.  It was decided that we would help our neighbors with projects that were difficult to do alone.  Now our ward boundaries are basically one block by six blocks or so.  That meant when you drove around our neighborhood between 8 to noon on Saturday you saw groups of families working together to do yard work, clean out sheds, paint front doors and fences, etc.  One group of families cleaned out our roundabout flower area.  It felt good to be a part of something bigger as we helped one of the single sisters in our neighborhood tackle some fall yard projects.

Another reason I love Utah yesterday was the opportunity that I had to go with some friends and attend the General Relief Society Meeting at the Conference Center.  It was great of course, but it was also an experience to be in a room with mostly women (over 20,000) to hear Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on "Forget Me Nots".  Along with his amazing message, I will remember the responses of the audience as he spoke.  If you haven't heard it yet, head over to lds.org and listen to it.  Click below to be directed to the correct spot to read or listen to his talk.

Pres. Uchtdorf's talk

I have a feeling that there will be a run on "Forget Me Nots" in nurseries around the world.

I have loved everywhere I have lived.  Each place with their own uniqueness and richness......I am sure it is wonderful to live in one spot your entire life but I am grateful for each of the spots I have lived because of the impact they have had in who I am as a person.

Hope you enjoyed where you lived this weekend.

For those who are waiting

....I have officially completed all of my goals for my Wood Badge "ticket" and was given my beads and neckerchief at our Pack Meeting last week.  Jena was our photographer for this event.

Jena missed taking a picture of me actually with my new neckerchief and beads but this is the point where my Course Scoutmaster was talking about the beads.

This is a display with some quotes from Baten-Powell, the Pack History book I did for one of my goals, and some other Scout stuff.

It is a good feeling to be done and to have forced myself to do things that I would not usually have done.  It is easy to be caught up in the day to day business of life that we (at least I) can forget that we can do new things and challenge ourselves a little bit to do more or do better or learn something new.  It is part of what enriches us.  Now on to new tasks and goals.....(I am sure that Gary hopes it has something to do with cooking, but I am not sure.  I do know that I want to do a 25 miles bike ride down the rail trail between Parck City and East Canyon, so we have been biking in preparation for that.)  Come join us if you can.  It will be great.

Quote from Baten-Powell: 

“The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.”

Have a great day!!