Do What Is Right, Let the Consequences Follow

Lehi and his family go into the desert for eight years.



Tonight I went to a fireside about Lehi and his wilderness experience with his family. It was an interesting subject and about a film that F.A.R.M.S. made of a documentary on this Book of Mormon first family.

The speaker talked about Lehi's family's struggle to be united. If you were to ask me what impressed me most I would have to say it was the issues that face many of us in family situations that were similar to Lehi and Sariah's. I went away with a greater appreciation for the history of the trek into the wilderness. We in essence have similar "wilderness" journeys in our lives.



We also have our own Liahona, the Holy Ghost to guide us as the Liahona was their guide directly from Heavenly Father. I liked that analogy. I look forward to seeing the new DVD, "Journey of Faith" soon; sponsored by F.A.R.M.S. and Brigham Young University. I look at how easy we appear to have it in lives today.

Our closing song was "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful." It seemed an appropriate song after the fireside s we go forward into the holidays. "Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."

I am so thankful to the Savior and do adore him in my worship and reading His Word. I am almost finished with my Book of Mormon for this year. I have four more chapters in Moroni left to read. I think now I will read the October Conference November issue to finish out the year.


I read SkippyJon Jones with Parker this evening. He loves that funny story and laughs as he says, "SkippyJon Jones." I decided to take the book to visit with the Ks.


I went to Hank and Lori's for dinner tonight. Everyone was there except Bp. Hank. He had tithing settlement and was there during dinner time. Lynn and Linda were there helping Lori make dinner. It is a big job, I know. It is great that her parents live so close and can visit regularly and have influence on the grand kids. I appreciate being so close as well. I read a story book with Kimball. It was "SkippyJon Jones and the Mummy." He loved it. I did too.

Remembering Carlos' Birthday Nov 28, 1919

He is dressed here in his suit ready to go to work. He said that he worked a year in sales in the late forties to earn enough to buy a new car in Chicago. It was a 1949 Dodge, maroon color.
This is a picture of my dad with his father. He looks about three or four months old.



Eighty-nine years ago, my father, Carlos was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was born about eleven months after his mother lost a child in 1918, also named Carlos. I celebrate his being born and becoming my father. I was browsing some of the photos I have of him on disk and will share some of them that tell his story and about his life.

I continue to see so many good qualities that I see in my own sons that are characteristic of them also. Aaron comments about how Parker walks around the house and has his Great-Grandpa Carlos' walk. It is comical to me to imagine how true it is.

Thanksgiving--Family Time

Tana & Nathan showing her Peach Pie. She bottled the peach filling herself and made the pie from scratch. It looks almost perfect. Good job, Tana!

What a feast we had for Thanksgiving dinner. There was plenty of great food and we had a wonderful time visiting with each other. The kids watched Kung Fu Panda & Polar Express. We all ate turkey and baked ham.


The best part about Thanksgiving was being together as family. It meant a lot (to me) to have each of you be here and have some sense of an anchor that holds us in place, like home. There is no place like home. We talked to Michael and Matt. It isn't the same without them though. We missed you both and your families.




I count my blessings of being here and living in this point in time. I wouldn't change it for anything.



I drove down to Spanish Fork to visit with Tara for a little bit and was glad to have some time to visit with her. She and Russ had his parents over for dinner and spent Thanksgiving with them and her family.

Kaitlyn Hallows a Big Girl now, No Glasses!

Did you recognize this cutie girl? She looks so grown up without her glasses. I snapped this at the family get-together and wanted to give her a page of her own.

She is nine years old now and is in third grade at Foothills Elementary School in Salem. She likes to eat salads, and makes a very delicious green salad too with Ranch dressing of course. She jumps rope, teases her brothers, and plays the piano. She practices often and knows her music very well. I know it someimtes takes a lot of coaxing to get kids to practice. When I am there taking care of them I just remind her and she is right there playing her songs. She loves her piano teacher, Amy too. Besides playing violin, sister, Lindsay takes lessons from the same piano teacher as does brother, Austin.

Way to go kids!!!!

Aislyn Dresses up for Thanksgiving Program

Aislyn is in costume as Pochantas for her second grade class program today. She could be either a Pilgrim or Indian, so chose to be an Indian Princess, Pocahantas.


She is very creative and found some face paint and did her face and Parker's. She made her own head band and did individual feathers in many colors. They posed for the camera.


Getting ready for Thanksgiving. School out today for the holiday. Family time.

Letting go of Autumn

I found this picture of the beautiful fall colored leaves. There is something about its brilliance that these colors never cease attract my attention, year after year. The reason is beyond me, but the autumn colors are next to spring, my favorite season. The fact that fall is the beginning of the season of my birthday could be the mystery. Nevertheless, I thought this picture was worth sharing!

Tithing Settlement, Gratitude for Blessings

This morning I woke up late but was able to get some sleep after being out so late last night. I am grateful my church schedule starts at 1:00 p.m. Aaron reminded me we had signed up for Tithing settlement. I hurried and got dressed to go to my appointment for tithing settlement.

Our bishop is great. He is so present whenever I visit with him. Aaron even said he called to the house before I got there to see If I was coming. He asked if we could have a word of prayer after our brief meeting for tithing settlement and asked to give the prayer. I was so pleased and touched by his prayer. He prayed for me and asked for angels to be around me and watch over me in my life. I know he is a caring and loving bishop and watches over his flock. What a good shepherd and example he is. I feel blessed.

There were two returned missionary talks, brothers who are fraternal twins who spoke in sacrament meeting. The High Councilor spoke and gave a great talk and spoke about gratitude. He quoted President Henry B. Eyring and the message to take note each day of seeing the hand of God in our lives. I appreciated the support our leaders give to us in reminding us to recognize the blessings in our daily lives.

I bear witness that I know without a doubt when I am mindful of the blessings poured out upon me, it also keeps me in tune with the Spirit humbling me so that I may come unto Him. This must have a ripple effect wherewith we can be unified and become one with our Savior, which is a blessing in itself at these times of the world and the influences out there. God's arm is bare and never falls short to bless me, I Stand All Amazed.

Our choir sang a medley of songs of Thanksgiving. It was quite nice. I ended up not feeling well and had a terrible splitting (migraine) headache. I can't remember having such a bad one as this one.

After sacrament meeting I went home to take a nap and slept for three hours. It felt good. I stayed home the rest of the evening. I think I needed that extra rest and my headache went away. I am grateful for Sundays, the Sabbath and most of all my FAMILY! I love you all and am thankful for your love, support and prayers.

Wheeler Farms Activity Dancing with one of Seven

This evening I went to a dance in Salt Lake with a couple of friends. I had a great time last week at the local singles Church dance so gave it another try. My expectation was to have as good a time as last week.

Maybe my expectations were a little high. I stood there all by myself for a couple of hours while my friends all got asked to dance. I walked around thinking maybe the one who would ask me to dance needed to see me first.

It was about fifteen minutes until midnight. Still no dance invitation. Then a young man came to ask me to dance. He had on a gray zip-up hoody sweat shirt, but didn't wear the hood. He asked if I would like to dance. I looked him in the eye and said, "Sure." His glasses were clouded and needed to be cleaned, but he was a gentleman, and DID know how to dance. He told me cute kid jokes the whole time we danced.

I was impressed that he could even remember so many. His name was was "Warren," but he pronounced it as "Wahwen." I had compassion for him. He looked a little lost. He reminded me of one of the Seven Dwarfs, he was so sweet and I thanked me after the dance. No one else came up to dance or asked me.



But later afterwards, my friends and I went to the Village Inn and had a cup of tea with the small group from the dance. It was more productive. I think next dance I will be invited by some of them. So the evening wasn't a total loss. It has promise.

I am glad that I was kind to the young fellow who asked me to dance. Maybe next time I will have better luck to dance. I hope so.

H2O, Hot Dogs and Sound of Music

Tonight I went over to Hank and Lori's to fill a couple of gallons with water. They were getting ready to eat hot dogs for dinner and then go to a play at Mt. View High School for th evening. They invited me to go with them to the musical production, Sound of Music.



The play was amazing, the music superb. The orchestra played to perfection as was the singing by the cast. There was a lot of talent on that stage and appeared to have a professional quality about it...needless to say, I was impressed.

It was a thrill to be there and I thanked Lori profusely for inviting me. I really enjoyed the evening and it made my day. I felt very fortunate to have witnessed such a fine evening and consider it a tender mercy and grateful for it.

Who would have ever thought. . . . ?

11 And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.
12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.


Today marked a milestone. It is the 344th entry of my blog. I was reading in Ether this morning and lo and behold it told how the Jaredites had journeyed 344 days in the water. It is hard to imagine that long of a journey without seeing land or traveling that long across the seas to the PROMISED LAND. Even though their journey took twenty-one days short of a year, they had light and the brother of Jared saw the finger of the Lord. God's hand is never too short, is it?

I am thankful for the scriptures that bless our lives to show us the way.

A Blessed Sabbath--To Remember

Sunday, a full day. Lots to do, places to go. I didn't know how this day would unfold. It was a pleasant day, and I did not feel pressured about going to Hank's ward for he was speaking in his ward.

He was also called to be the new bishop. Bishop McIntire. Wow, what a ring to that, and I am sure he is getting used to it. I remember two of my past bishops who felt so humble about their calling that when they called to talk to me they both identified themselves by their first names instead of Bishop - - - - . I had not had any others do that. Interesting though.

Well, when I was told that Hank was going to be called, all that week when I thought of him and what is ahead for him in his stead, I cried tears of joy besides some condolences and congrats. My heart was full of gratitude to see him rise to the occasion and see how normal it looks to see him preside in his ward like that. I felt a sweet and loving Spirit overall with the brethren who spoke and leaders released. All good men.




One sister in the ward leaned over my shoulder afterward and said to me, "He will make such a fine bishop." I smiled and thanked her and thought how that is pretty much the indication that so many if not all of his ward felt and expressed to him, Lori and me personally. I was also so pleased that all of the siblings that live here could be there for you, Hank. I know it means a lot to have your family there to support you and give you the love and encouragement you need at these happy occasions. Hank has two good men to assist him in his leadership and I know they were called of God and will be a team and serve the Lord with all their hearts, might minds and strength.

The Stake Presidency were so amazing and carried over the most loving Spirit too as they conducted the meeting, ordinations and settings apart for each member of the new bishopric. My heart was indeed full and such a blessed memory made today.



It was my week to teach the Relief Society lesson, and felt a great love for my sisters in the gospel and the message that was given. I learned so much and expressed my gratitude for their love and support to sustain me as their teacher. I used a quote from Hank's talk that he gave in Sacrament meeting.




"We are the glue that holds together Heavenly Father's plan" and "We are the Lord's secret weapon." quoting Sister Sheri Dew. I liked what he said and wrote it down as best I could remember, with Hank's help. I felt fed and nurtured by the spirit and felt a measure of that as the lesson unfolded and we feasted upon the word and spirit.



This was a most rewarding day. My preparation for the lesson was sufficient and I did not fear. I encouraged the sisters to bear their testimonies in December or January for the end of or beginning of a new year. I hope and pray they will follow through. I really think sometimes that these sisters may underestimate the power they have as wives and mothers in gently guiding and teaching their families, and husbands collectively. "The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world".

Be not weary in well doing--

I am preparing my Relief Society lesson and wanted to do something of significance. A treat is usually in order when it comes to rewarding the sisters that day. However the last few months the other teacher has not given out the chocolate favorite. So I was wondering what would suffice in its place.

I woke up with some definite impression that sounded right to me. Here goes. The lesson is about Eternal Truths. I relate that to the scriptures and the influence a woman can have on her husband/family. Not all of the women are mothers, so I will de-emphasize that for their sakes.

I wrote out the word t-e-s-t-i-m-o-n-y and came up with words that began with each letter. Then added M-y to begin the word testimony. This is what I came up with.

MY TESTIMONY

M-Make a commitment to bear in December or January
Y-Yield to enticings of the Spirit

T-Testify of Truth, divinity of Jesus Christ
E-Example to family, express gratitude
S-Supplicate-ask for strength
T-Teach, take courage
I-Inspired let Spirit guide
M-Mysteries unfolded unto you
O-Often- use it, write it down!
N-Nurture and uplift
Y-Yearn to share it often


I extend this challenge to all and any of you who read this.

So Glad the Lord Has Taught Me to Fly

Ahh, Clouds always seem have silver linings designed by the Lord himself. What comfort.






"When you come to the end of everything you know...
and the next step is into the darkness of the great unknown...
you must believe one of two things...
either you will step out onto firm ground or you will be taught to fly." Claire Norris-- A quote from Lori's blog.





Everyone must agree that we are most resilient when we are given a challenge that seems insurmountable. I firmly believe there is no problem so small nor too big for our Father in heaven to bless us to grow from it.

Gingerbread Houses and Scouting & PTA

This morning I was asked to go help at a fundraiser activity at Thanksgiving Point.

The caller must have been in charge of some of this activity since she sounded so desperate and is also in my ward. I had no good reason to not go help them out in the bind that the PTA found themselves in at the last minute. I was already dressed to go out so thought why not go help?

Ellen T., her husband and family, moved in the ward about the same week as we did. They have a son on a mission, a daughter who just graduated from high school and a couple of younger girls about 13 years and 8 years old. I am just guessing on their ages. Her mother used to be the principal at Cascade Elementary when Tana, Michael were going to school there. The other younger two missed out since she moved schools to the Provo School District where she lives closest to for her job. I think she is still a principal now. They are a friendly family and I have sat next to Ellen often in R.S. until she was called to Primary.

Anyway my helping out for an hour and a half turned out to be quite pleasant. The Christmas decorations were in the process of going up with lots of lights, and artificial Christmas trees to decorate for the event. It reminded me of a small scale Festival of the Trees at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.





Eric Dowdle is an artist that does a lot of local scenery in his paintings, like Temple square, Pioneers, the skyline of downtown Salt Lake City. He does a lot of puzzles with his paintings, so I am almost sure you would recognize some of his art work.


It looked like there would be a silent auction of some kind, by the looks of the paintings that were brought in by the artist, Eric Dowdle while I was there watching everyone scurry around to get things ready for the three day event.



The Gingerbread houses were so beautiful, with some that looked like mini-mansions representing the late 1800s. I took several photos of the display, so I will post them a little later.

I really think the event is something my grandchildren would love to go, see and do. The volunteer work I was doing was helping the bakery booth squeeze that thick white frosting into a 2 1/2" by 2" zip lock baggie. They were going to sell $1.00 gingerbread cookies and have frosting ready to glue them onto the cookies with lots of hard candy to decorate the cookies. It was a nice intro to the Christmas season and Spirit. There was even Christmas Carols playing which were rather nice considering we were there to help raise money for the local Scouts and schools.

It was a sticky messy kind of job to put the frosting in those small zip-lock bags, --but someone had to do it! So I, and two other ladies inserted the frosting for the fund raiser activity. The UVU culinary department are in charge of that booth which took up a rather large size area, with several long tables connected in a line long enough to have like a mini-general store. It looked very nice with all the red and white aprons, candies ready to go for the cookies, with lots of Eric Dowdle puzzles to sell in metal cans for the fund raiser.

The day was kind of cloudy and looked like it might rain some time today, but I don't think it did but it got very cold, with some wind blowing and sprinkling enough to have to turn on the windshield wipers. Winter is trying very hard to come before Thanksgiving. Too bad. I really liked the fall weather, but the trees are losing
all their leaves so the dreary brown trees are about all you see outside these days.

It is late so I can download the Gingerbread house(s)pictures tomorrow.

Food for Thought--the Book of Ether

"4 And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a cloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not.
5 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should ago forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel.
6 And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.
7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people.
8 And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should aserve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fullness of his wrath should come upon them."

This scripture makes me wonder about the political situation and if the president-elect makes it to inauguration day in January. Just an observation.

Veteran's Day--Hurray for the Red, White & Blue

Next to my Family, my country means the most to me...any wonder?

Today is Veteran's Day. I honor all the military servicemen/women as well as my own blood who have and are serving our country. I found an image of honoring the tomb of the Unknown soldier. He represents all the soldiers of all the wars every fought for our beloved country.



This flag that appears to be waving in the wind is a favorite of mine. The acceptance speech that John McCain gave at the Republican convention had a similar image on the screen in the background. To me, it represented his service to his country and his loyalty to giving his whole life for the freedoms of our country.


Many years ago, about 55 years now, my father began his life long work with the aeronautical company which the name changed over the years but was Rockwell International when he retired. I don't know if that changed after he left, but nevertheless I recall that he started his new job on November 11, 1953 when I was just ten years old!

My father was in the military less than a year, yet I do remember his being gone, and the Hershey chocolate almond bars he would send us in the mail. Military personnel were the only ones who could buy them, since it was a rationed commodity. The II World War was a time when even basics were rationed. I imagine the Church at that time had warned the members many years before to keep a years supply of food on hand if at all possible after the Depression years of the 1920s and early 1930s.

I do not have a picture of my father in his military uniform. Sadly, I wonder if there ever was one. If there is, my Aunts probably have one. I could ask if there was such an one.

I look forward to this month to get a few of the baptisms for our kindred dead to be done as a special thank you and gift for them to have the blessings of the temple and sealing to parents, children, spouses. Aunt Alice and Aunt Mary await (us) to show up and get the blessings that are now in "escrow" for them to receive. Thinking about it makes me want to hurry. . . but I cannot do it all myself.

P.S. Thank you Beth for helping change around some of my music/songs on the Playlist. I appreciate your help!

Addendum to Sunday--Report on Temple Workers' Devotional

Sunday was a busy day. Not that challenging but nevertheless full. My meetings start at 1:00 p.m. It seems that half the day is gone by the time church begins, with home and visiting teachers it feels like a full day already. Then after Church there is usually things to do and places to go. There goes the Sabbath and that is mostly every week of how to spend quality time with family, Aaron & Candice.

I missed them while I was away at Tana & Nathan's. I opted to have dinner with them and visit with them un-rushed. I knew I had a devotional with Elder L. Tom Perry speaking at the Tabernacle in American Fork. There were two sessions to choose from, but since my meetings go so late until four, the 5:00 one was out of the question.

The messages given by the speakers were wonderful. Sister Perry spoke before her husband. She gave an inspiring message. She spoke of her own experience of receiving her endowment as a single sister and shared some of her comments from her journal. She was a single sister for most of her adult life it seems and became Elder Perry's second wife when his wife passed away.

Sister Perry told about a beloved granddaughter, (never mentioning a word about "step" granddaughter) who just got married in July this year. She told of a poem the mother of the bride wrote when she was eight years old and the white dresses she wore when she was blessed as a baby, baptized in and to be married in. I love that poem and have always liked it.

The sweet thing about it was when she told about her granddaughter's wedding reception that a baby (relative) in their family wore the original white blessing dress, besides her younger sister wore her white baptism dress and she herself wore her own beautiful white wedding gown too. I was touched by the poem to say the least. I had never known the origin of the poem about the white dresses.

Then Elder Perry spoke about his first interview with his father/bishop to be endowed. He shared how his parents always attended the temple in his youth and knew the blessings of seeing his parents faithful in their service to the Lord in the temple.

I will post more from my notes later which are not close by.

Faith precedes the miracles, after the trial of our faith,

My Home Teachers came today and shared their message. My Visiting teachers shared the same identical messages from the same Conference issue talk by Elder Anderson, You Know Enough. I didn't tell the second teachers that my first ones taught me the same lesson. I wanted them to have their own approach, and was glad I chose to say nothing.

I must have needed to hear it twice. I really liked what they taught and had remembered the original message from conference. As my visiting teachers discussed faith, they spoke of how some have a hard time accepting things on faith and it made me really think about and analyze my own faith and what motivates me to have faith--

My faith, I think comes from personal revelation as I look upon my own experiences. I recalled and shared with them how when I know something it comes from when I received personal revelation which tells me what I need to know whether it is a decision or prompting to do something important. There is not a doubt in my mind about whatever it is I am told, and there is where faith kicks in for me. When I know, I KNOW, nothing wavering.

I hope that doesn't sound arrogant or anything. My faith may be child-like and I take the WORD as firm. I remember a few things about my father, Carlos and a dream I was given a few years before he passed away. I knew from the dream the circumstance s which would occur with his stroke. I saw him in the hospital with my aunts around him and that his left side was paralyzed. I was there in the dream with him as well. What I didn't know was where we were nor when this was.

My father had had a stroke in May of 2003 in Boise, Idaho. I kept asking my contact about who was there and which side he had the stoke. None of it matched my dream so had the feeling this was not final one. I stayed in Utah and everything kind of went into place after the fact of the May stroke. I sensed he didn't have a lot of time left and I know in my heart I made the most of it because of my faith and what I had been given. I spent several visits going up to see him and was so grateful for the knowledge I had to help me understand what to do.

The stroke he had on Labor Day while visiting his sisters in San Antonio proved to be the one I saw in my dream two years earlier. My aunts of course were ALL there at the hospital. He even had the paralysis on his left side, like I saw in my dream.

My faith tells me that I was told the truth and wrote the dream down. How blessed I am to be able to have the support of the Holy Ghost to comfort me as well.

Time out with the Hallow's Grands

These next few days, I am at Nathan & Tana's with the grandkids. They are in California on business. The kids are doing great and seem to have gotten more mature and able to enjoy spending time with Grandma Mattie, even though their Mom & Dad are gone for a few days.

I came down in a literal snow storm. The day took on a wintry feel with seeing your breath in front of your face. We had a good time and went with the flow of things, i.e. violin lesson, piano teacher coming to the house, and Kaitlyn's orthodontist appointment.

Stepping Stones from Stumbling Blocks

Life has its challenges, no doubt. It is remarkable how a stone can be a stumbling block yet can be honed down and shaped to become a serviceable stepping stone.




The house behind us is under construction. There were a lot of huge boulders delivered earlier in the week. I took notice when the smooth stones were piled up next to the dirt pile. There was a comparison that prompted me to take the pictures.

Parker was delighted to see the tractors outside so early in the day. It kept his attention the entire time it was moving the slabs of rock around.



I admit the rocks got my attention as well. The kind of foundation that is built also makes all the difference in the world of whether it stays strong and is reliable. The homeowners next door will use these slabs of stone to make steps to walk out from their outside entranced. The huge stones will be a retainer wall to hold up the earth and make a nice landscape.

Family is Where My Heart Is

Baby Joel-in all his cuteness!


I am so thankful to all my family and the great love and support each of you are to me. It makes me feel good inside to have prepared a grand meal for all of you and share it together.


I love you all and count you as my blessings and greatest joy. We had the opportunity to gather at Tana & Nathan's for Chimichangas, bean, rice and salads. Hank, Lori and the Ks, along with Shauna Crockett, Fryers, Hallows of course and Aaron, Candice and little ones all came to help me honor my parents' sealing and wedding ceremony four years ago.



What a wonderful blessing to belong to an eternal family like I do! I have a few baptisms for the dead to get finished. I appreciate all the blessings that are poured out upon me through such a great family and unity. I know God lives and watches over me. I am a Child, and Daughter of God. The Savior lives and is the Redeemer of the world.

Another Birthday Princess, Allie

Today was Fast & Testimony day in sacrament meeting. Aislyn and Ella bore their testimonies and so did I. I really feel the blessings of the Lord in my life and noticed some subtle blessings in my life. Recently I decided to be sure to read my scriptures the very first thing I do in the mornings. I made my home page scriptures.lds.org--

It starts my day and I am making sure I do that before I browse anything else or wait away the time, so reading my scriptures first is my choice. I love it. It brings me closer to the Spirit and to Jesus Christ. I find that other areas of my life are blessed. How grateful I am for the blessings of tithing, so matter how much I can earn, there is more to bless me when I am diligent.

The girls, Aislyn & Ella) went up front, as big sister help little sister. Parker was so cute with his new cast on his arm. He talks a lot more now too, and has given up his binky! He did that about two weeks ago. He makes conversation and knows what he wants to say and express himself. He walks around in his Grandpa Rodriguez walk, as Aaron calls it.

After Sacrament meeting I went to have dinner at Tara and Russ' for Allie's birthday. I took her pictures, she was so excited to celebrate it, since her birthday was last week and they are out of town to Disneyland.



We all had a nice Lasagne dinner and family visit. The Fryer grandma and Grandpa Joan, and Ken were there too.

Tender Mercies, I wonder sometimes does it get any better?

What a difference a day can make sometimes having been sick and unable to keep down my dinner; I ate lightly today and went to my temple assignment this afternoon. I had a little bit of rice and chicken to eat before I left the house. I didn't feel like eating anything else the rest of the time, and just drank a lot of water from the drinking fountains.

Last week at the temple was wonderful. I thought how great my day ended and couldn't imagine my day being any better than that. Well, I was wrong. Tonight as one of my assignments I went to do initiatory as usual. Sister Julie B. Beck was one of my patrons that I got to work with and she was so kind and gracious.

I smiled and knew who she was immediately. It was a privilege to see her, as I left to go to another assignment she thanked ME for being there. I felt the sweetest spirit from her and was thankful to have been able to serve her. She looks like many others who are wives and mothers, raising their families, and who are grandmothers.

I told her how much I appreciated the talk she gave in the October 2007 General Conference, Mothers Who Knew. She said, "You mean the one ten people wrote me to tell me they didn't like?" We smiled at each other and continued to praised her. I could tell she appreciated our positive responses. My companion and I were still feeling great later for having seen her and served her.

The hand of the Lord was there today and even my conversations with other workers was so uplifting. We are so blessed to be there and feel the holy ghost so strongly. It gives me great joy in the midst of a week with days like yesterday, and I am filled with gratitude for tender mercies. How blessed I am.

I meant to mention that Parker broke his right arm today. He fell down the stairs in the garage as Aaron and Candice were organizing some boxes in the storage area. He now has a BYU blue cast. He knows all about his cast and tells people he broke his arm when asked what happened. He seems to be handling the inconvenience very well.

Aaron said when they took Parker to the doctor's office he threw a fit to get an ex-ray. He did not like that at all. Maybe he was scared and didn't understand what would happen next. Aaron said he will have the cast about three weeks.