Smart Youth...

Sitting in the row in front of me at Church was a very cute little girl with a big imagination. I was impress with her and how she could entertain herself.

She had been given a sandwich bag which had some snacks in it for her to eat. As she was almost finished eating, she kept one of the Gold fish crackers in her bag, sealed the plastic bag and blew at one corner, blowing up the bag. She now had a make believe aquarium, with a little fish inside.

This little fish became her friend and the two played together quietly, reading books and coloring, racing around the bag, and jumping inside the bag, and teasing her big brother.

My kids didn't have snakes during Church time, It was frowned on to have food in the Chapel during this time. That came latter on when young children had to be good for the three hours. Sometimes that is hard for little ones to do.

I had made a "Quiet Book" which had pages of activities which kept my kids busy. They seemed to like working with it. We had it for many years, and parts would have to be replaced as they would fall out and get lost.

If you make a Quiet Book it would be a good idea to make the pages so they could be removed from the book, so more than one child could use it.

I had a large set of tube paints that I used to paint the Quiet Books with. They were in a large can that had a holder for each tube to set in.
We moved from Phoenix six years ago, I don't remember packing the tube paints, or seeing them then. I wonder where they are... I sure enjoyed using them...

Shock...

I am still shaking a little over this last phone call!
Today is Sunday and it was Stake Conference for us. I have been sick for several days with a bad cold. Not the flue that is going around, but a bad cold.
I wanted to go to the Temple Thursday for Stake Temple Day. And to attend the Saturday evening Conference. I so enjoy going to both, but I was sick and couldn't go.

Tonight My Stake President called and wanted to know what happened to me as I was not at Conference....

I was Surprised that a Stake President would be aware of my attendance as I am one in several hundreds in this stake, and not a person of importance.

After catching my breath, and the feeling of Surprise, I began to feel Honored, that my Stake President was aware of me. He cared enough about me to call and see if I was alright.

I was reminded that the Lord is aware of each of us, and we are loved unconditionally. With all the thousands of people that are and have been on earth, the Lord knows each one of us personally.

I was so touched by Pres. Collings concerns for me, that I hope I will be able to do the same for someone elts that might need a spiritual hug...

Falling...Who me?...

I have always wondered why older people could fall out of bed during the night...Well I found the answer this morning as I was having a good dream and found myself falling sidewards off my bed. I was very Surprised! I also found myself in the dark and I was wedge in between the ceder chest and the mattress, as it also came off my bed. Making it impossible for me to move. I screamed for Lynn who was in the next room, but he could not hear me. I felt with my loose right hand for anything that may be on top of the ceder chest that I might use to tap on the wall. I was lucky to find a wooden bunny laying there. I was able to reach over the ceder chest and knocked on the wall which Lynn did hear. Latter I discovered there was a space of about ten inches, that was free of things to reach the wall. Some how I was able to hit that tiny space to knock on the wall. Again I was amazed by it.

Getting to my feet was not that easy either, as both of my knees are in bad shape. I feel blessed, that I had no problem landing on my hip. I am learning interesting things about our bodies and how they react to ageing. I ask myself if this is another thing I have to learn about, here on earth? Some how I wish it could be easier... at least I have a better insight to older folks when bad things happen to them. I am looking for more ways to be helpful when I can.

I feel very blessed, that nothing real bad happened to me this morning...

When I was young I remember my Aunts talking about falling out of bed, and saying how Silly they felt, that it had happened... How ever it could be a serious thing, If you could not move, or get stuck, or broke bones, and no help, one could die there, never being discovered until it was too late...

Jodie came home...

I guess Home is where I happen to be living. I have always considered Utah to be home, even though I spent 39-40 years in Arizona. Jodie, last November, decided to move to Provo Utah.

This week Lynn, David, Jodie, and myself, moved the rest of Jodie things from Lake Havasu City Arizona, to Provo Utah. The weather was extremely cold. David drove his truck,a four seating Avalanche, and had his covered trailer. The weather was snowing more than half the time, and the tempiture was extremely cold. at one time it was -3 below 0.

David drove both ways, from Springville Utah, to Lake Havasue City, and back again. While David got some sleep for driving, Lynn, Jodie, and I packed, and Tom helped. We brought back Jodie's piano, and fireplace. and other things that Jodie boxed up for travel. They also strapped Jodie's two Kiacks on top of the truck.

We left Utah on Monday, packed and left for home on Tuesday. The wind was so strong it rocked the truck. Often David and Jodie would check on the Kiakes to be sure they were secured.

We were reminded several times by Lynn that the coldest spot in Utah was Beaver. Being so cold that day, Lynn would say lets don't gas up in Beaver.
On Davids rear view mirror there is a spot that tells you what the outside tempture was. We watched it go from above 0 to -1 and -3 and back to -1. While Lynn was sleeping, we asked each other if we wanted to gas up in Beaver? as it was coming soon and Lynn had made such a point of not stopping there. We kind of snickered and decided to stop in Beaver, where Lynn would need to get out to gas up the truck.

David also got out to write down the numbers from the gas pump, and quickly jumped back into the truck exclaiming how extremely cold it was outside. Lynn climbed back into the truck and said he figured out we were in "Beaver", because he saw a advertisement paper on the counter indicating that we were in "Beaver"!

Blue Day...

I HAD ONE OF THOSE DAYS!!

Who are You?...

There is a movie called "UP". It is a animated story of a man who grows old and is lonely. In his many adventures he ties balloons on to his house and floats away to a dream spot on a mountain where there is a tall waterfall, he and his wife, who is now dead, use to dream of living there.

In this cartoon as the man is ageing he uses a chair lift to move to a different floor level in his house. My kids laughed and laughed at the thought of a chair lift. And wondered where this weired idea came from.

In the back of my mind I am at the age where chair lifts are a reality, and have been thinking that it may be something that I may need in the near future. I was surprised to see my kids laugh about it, but then again they have not been around family that has grown older.

I am almost 67, I never dreamed that getting older would happen to me, I thought I would always be the same. Life has some surprised for you as you get older.
I never dreamed I would have 2 hip replacements, and have to have 2 knee replacements coming up. With out them I would have been in a wheel chair long ago. I am still walking pretty good, after all I am considered still young...

I look in the mirror and the face that looks back at me, often scares me. my skin seems to be sagging and hanging around my mouth and chin and neck, making ugly deep wrinkles of age. I see more brown spots appearing everywhere. and the bones in my fingers and toes are twisting out of shape because of arthritis, and causing more pain.

I have never been a beauty queen, but I never thought I would lose what I did looked like. I hardly know myself now. and its hard to find ways everyday to except the way I look, and I am not done, ageing yet.

Maybe its another lesson we have to learn here, because we can't learn it after this life. And we have to know what it is like, to have compassion for others.

Some time I will be able to say "been there....done that!"...

New Year 2011

A new Year....A new day....A new hour.... A new page.... A new moment in time...

Every thing is fresh... and starting new... with blank pages before you.

What will be written on these pages before the end of this given time?

Looking back... Hopefully... they will contain mostly smiles...