Riley is so busy...

... blowing up things in Chemistry Club.
...being the rockstar of an assembly.

The Happy Missionary

Sam finished his training paper!
Sam had his first baptism... Dorthy.
They found her tracting, his first week in Orlando.

FHE Thought

Family prayer—that is a practice, once very common, that is largely disappearing. I believe that the very act of people supplicating the Lord in prayer, night and morning, would have a most salutary effect upon our civilization and our lives.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, “Inspirational Thoughts,” Ensign, Apr. 2002

Sam....

It was a great mail day at our house... more pictures of our favorite missionary...

Sunday Thought...

"If Joseph saw what he claimed to have seen, and I testify that he did, then in sharing his vision he did more than any man who has ever lived to reveal the nature, character, and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world. As a consequence, we Latter-day Saints have some duties and responsibilities."President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) eloquently expressed himself in this regard:" 'I read this morning a part of Joseph Smith's testimony of the First Vision. You are all familiar with it. His going into a grove, pleading with the Lord, a light shining above him, and then the appearance of the Father and the Son. I read that testimony and thought of it. I said to myself, "If every one of us knew in our hearts that that statement is true, then we would know that all else which follows it, which came through the restoration of the gospel, is true also." And we would walk and live with greater faithfulness." 'Tithing would not be a problem with us. Temple service would not be a problem with us. Keeping the Sabbath day holy would not be a problem with us. . . . Missionary service would be no problem with us." 'All else that follows would be true. We would know it in our hearts if we had a solid, firm, immovable conviction of the truth and validity of that great vision wherein God the Eternal Father and the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph Smith and the Father said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"."

F. Burton Howard, "Hearing and Heeding the Message from the Grove," Ensign, Feb. 2009

No Christmas at the Post office....

I happened to be at the Post Office on Saturday mailing a package to my favorite missionary.... and they had their new Holiday Stamps...I love to send Christmas cards and plan ahead on some things, so I thought I would buy the stamps now.

well they had Hanukkah, Kwanzaa

Winter Holidays...

but no Christmas!

The world has became paranoid. I think it is great we can celebrate Religous Holidays like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa but it would be nice if we could celebrate Christmas too.

Merry Christmas!

If you don't believe me click here to see the Post Office news release.

a Sunday night phone call....

I got the BEST phone call tonight....one that any mother of a missionary would love.
A sweet sister from Florida called to tell me that she had Sam to dinner tonight and he has been in her area for 6 weeks and he "is amazing". He "started awesome" and she can't image how awesome he will be at the end of his mission. She usually picks her favorite missionarys and takes them to Disney World. She is already planning to take Sam on his last P day. She thinks Sam looks exactly like Peter Pan and he could be cast as Peter Pan with that face! This sweet sister was converted three years ago and is now very busy taking care of the missionaries. What a blessing to them. What a blessing to me. What a nice Sunday night.

Saturday night...

...was Homecoming.... we went along when Riley picked up his date!

Books Books Books

These are two books that I have recently read. I loved them and I hated them both.

I loved the story and the characters... but I hated the language in the books.

Why do they need that? I will tell you: They Don't.

I do not like to read books with the "f" word

and other profanity.

I have returned books before for bad language.

I should have returned these, but I was too engrossed in the story line.

I wish they had a rating system for books.

I would love a website where you could check to see if it has bad language or steamy scenes.

Then I would not even start them. I could avoid them all together and read better books.

Weekend update...

What a weekend. We took a quick trip to Salt Lake for Conference. Conference was wonderful as usual. I loved so many talks. It was nice to be with my parents & Katie and Jeremy. I loved Elder Eyrings talk about love and family and "No Empty Chairs". That is my dads theme!

The trip to Salt Lake also had another purpose...

My dear parents who are 88 and 89 are making a major change in their life. They have decided to move to Assisted living. "Assisting" each other is getting harder and harder. They both have their challenges. My dad has totally lost his eyesight and my mother is losing her memory. They have had a wonderful life and they have sucessfully raised a family of 14 children. They have 86 Grandchildren and 143 Great Grandchildren. What a posterity. They have created a wonderful legacy. Their family theme is "No Empty Chairs" and my parents strive every day to make sure their family will all be with them.

My parents love their children and love to be with them. We are blessed that every other year they take their children and spouses and we have a wonderful time on a cruise together.

There really is no greater treasure in life than Family. I have a wonderful treasure, I am blessed with wonderful parents and siblings. What a blessing to be from a fabulous big family. I also have a wonderful husband and children. We truly are best friends. It is so fun to read Sam's letters and to have him reminisce about memories of things we have done together. He has a whole new perspective on the family now he is in Florida for two years. I am truly blessed and life is sooo good!