Inspired.....

That is what I was last night as I watched the General Relief Society Broadcast from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  For more information click here.  Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency gave the best talk to the women of the Church.  He managed to make us laugh, liberate us from the constraints we put on ourselves, inspire us, motivate us, and help us to be better wives and mothers.  I know that he is called of God to help lead us in these Latter-days, and I am so glad that I was able to strengthen my testimony by listening to him.  What did you think?

P.S.  My great friend, Alice, was able to sing in the choir and they did an amazing job as well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATILIE !!!!!!

To the woman of my dreams, I wish you a happy birthday, and like you did for me I will list 32 of the my favorite things about you.

1.   I love that you look the same with or without any makeup, (BEAUTIFUL).

2.  I love how you are with our children, you are an awesome mom.

3.  I love that you blame me for stealing the covers at night, (not true).

4.  I love that you are a doer, there are plenty of watchers and not enough doers. 

5.  I love that you have embraced watching baseball games and actually enjoy it.

6.  I love that you stick by me even though you have been left at various places while I've went on fire calls.  (Weddings, church, the grocery store, and the mortuary to name a few.) 

7.  I love that you've put no pressure on me to finish Math 1050.   :)

8.  I love how you like when I whisper sweet nothings in your ear.

9.  I love to watch movies on the couch with you under a blanket.  (Hey Kerry, we're married now so we can do that.) 

10.  I love how you can read a book no matter the length in just a few hours.  (That's borderline superpower if you're asking me.)

11.  I love your patience.

12.  I love your fudge you make at Christmas time.

13.  I love teasing you that I will die first and that you will live to be an old bag of dust.  (It's gonna happen.)

14.  I love that you are smarter than me in most things even though I will never admit it again.

15.  I love that you will first attempt to dig a hole for flowers or plants and then kindly return the shovel to it's rightful owner.  

16.  I love your laugh.

17.  I love your eyes, they are the first thing I noticed.  (Seriously they were.)

18.  I love that you talk just slightly faster than the speed of light, and that I can actually make out most of the words.  

19.  I love that you do almost all things very fast and accurate.  (Except for clothes shopping- not fast at all, but accurate.)

20.  I love your creative genius with projects, and your quick whit.  You also think on your feet extremely well.

21.   I love that you say what you think.  I enjoy the looseness of you inner filter, it makes me laugh.

22.  I love your competitive spirit, even when I'm your opponent.

23.  I love your taste in how you decorate our home, it just feels right. 

24.  I love how you teach Taylor and Torey to be ladies and Jake to be a gentleman.

25.  I love to watch you sleep.  Even if it was on my arm during Jeopardy before we were married.

26.  I love your body.  

27.  I love to have conversation with you, no matter what the subject.

28.  We are total opposites on many things, and I love how we still make it work.

29.  I love how when you say NO, you really mean YES.  (Usually this occurs around 36 or 37 repetitive No's).

30.  I love to spend time with you no matter what we are doing.

31.  I love your testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the Gospel. 

32.  I love being married to you and knowing that we will be together forever, which will give me more opportunities to list more than just thirty-two reasons why I love you.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART !!!!!!!!

Come with me...

on a journey as we discover what is quite possibly the World's Coolest Treehouse.  It was built by Grandpa Mark and the kids over the summer.  Every Friday, or Grandpa Day as we have affectionately dubbed it, they would spend hours hammering away at this three tiered masterpiece.  Recently, Grandpa added a new feature that has captured our hearts, and our sense of adventure.  You guessed right.  It is a gigantic 18" pipe slide, otherwise know as Great Big Fun.

The slide was not always the engineering marvel which you see before you.  It started out as a a lonely white pipe, and an abrupt 10" drop to the ground.  It was a blast sliding down it, but the landing was somewhat unforgiving.  After having the wind knocked out of them several times, many bruises on elbows, the occasional concussion (it is a face-first slide), and some jammed fingers the kids implored Grandpa to do something about the landing.  This is where a 34 year old crib mattress, decorated with lovely gingham checks, and a foam pad were introduced into the fray.  The landings became much softer, and that is when we decided to make it a competition and started measuring for distance.  Torey flew out of the slide the farthest, Jake had the most finesse, and Taylor was the screamer (who woulda thunk?).  This is the point where Mom showed up.  After determining that the trip down the slide did not force the uh-uh-uh-uh vibratory reaction that one would assume, she was talked into taking a trip down herself.  It was given two-thumbs straight up by the parental authority, and the kids showed much relief.  "Oh good.  We thought you wouldn't approve," they were heard to say.  Apparently, I have taken on the role of fun police, or safety officer at the very least.
When we arrived at Grandpa's today, Sunday, we discovered that Grandpa had made a few more modifications.  The black pipe was added to slow down the landing and ease the kids out of the slide more gradually.  Fun was had by all, parents and little children alike.  It is amazing to think that some scrap wood, hay bales, railroad ties, and a motley assortment of pipe could turn into such fun, all it took was some hard work and a little imagination. 
Jake's face in this picture negates all of the previous discussion about how fun the slide really is, but I wanted you to see what measures they have taken to protect their elbows.  Sweat bands have now been introduced for extra padding on those delicate joints.  You can't say they haven't learned from previous injuries and experiences.  Grandpa has not yet filed for his amusement park license or we would invite you all to check it out.  As for us, we will be sliding until the snow flies, and then we will turn it into the luge!

Vote for Taylor...

It's so easy, a MoNkEy could do it!!!

***This just in (9/19/08)  Taylor is a WINNER!!!

This helmet..

has quite an interesting story to tell.  It was assigned to its wearer back in 1997.  It watched as a young husband and father took a Firefighter I class and discovered that he had found his life's calling.  Firefighting came naturally, and it wasn't three years before the wearer of this helmet had worked his way up the ranks to the position of Training Officer within his volunteer organization.  Over the past eleven years this helmet has been to many calls and helped many people.  Back in 2001 this helmet was packed inside a duffel bag and flown to New York City where it saw the horror of the World Trade Center attacks, and sifted through the rubble in the recovery effort.  It was worn while they helped the members of Hell's Kitchen's Firehouse reassemble fire truck's and other firefighting apparatus.  It has seen carnage on the freeway, including fatal car accidents, fires, and underpass failures.  It's chinstrap was melted as its firefighter survived a basement flashover, but it kept on going and watched as they met that close call with more determination to train and learn.  It has been there as its firefighter was led by the Spirit to pay attention, look around, and find a safer way out of  a perilous situation.  It has found itself attached to a firefighter as he crawled through numerous attics checking for fire, and once falling out of an attic as the trusses gave way and the ceiling collapsed.  It was a close call, but his firefighter managed to stay safe and save his own life.  It has recovered victims of house explosions, extrications, and even found itself participating in the rescue of two giant iguanas suffering from smoke inhalation.  It has been tried on by various youth groups, church organizations, school children, and adults as they were taught fire safety in the firehouse and in surrounding schools and area churches.  It has come to the aid of surrounding cities, assisting them in whatever capacity they needed.  It has sought further training such as heavy rescue, haz mat, medical, and officer training.  It has been pushed to its limits.  It has been banged up, dented, and abused, much like its fireman.  Through it all, this helmet has watched as its firefighter conducted himself with integrity and purpose.  And now this helmet has been retired to a shelf in our garage, waiting for our city to conduct itself in the same manner.  It may never see action again, but its firefighter is finding it elsewhere.  

Happy Birthday to Niki!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite older sister who loves boating, eating chips, drinking diet Coke, and wearing ugly sunglasses.  I love you!  P.S.  Remember that time you spit in my mouth?  I think this picture more than makes up for it!!!!  {{bwa ha ha}}

Remembering...

It has been seven years since our country suffered the worst terror attack in our nation's history, and it has been interesting to look back and see how much has changed since that day back in 2001.  Reed and I were awakened by the phone ringing and his dad telling us that the first plane had hit the tower.  We were watching as the second plane hit, and then again when the Pentagon was hit.  I am sure that everyone had the same feelings that we did that day - feelings of grief, fear, and astonishment as we watched our fellow Americans struggle.  Those next few days were hard on everyone as we reflected on what had happened and what this meant for our country and our security. Reed had the opportunity to put his feelings into action, and we will forever be grateful for the opportunity he had to serve his fellow men.  Now, as we look back, we have learned many things.  We have learned to appreciate our freedom and the men and women who have fought for it in the past as well as the present.  We salute our armed forces at home and abroad as they spread the gift of freedom to those who have never tasted it.  We have learned the importance of being prepared, and making sure that everything is in order.  We have learned the importance of remembering and honoring those who lost everything.  During the few months following September 11 people were nicer, acting a little bit better than they had before.  Now we have all slipped back into our old habits - habits of rushing, busyness, and concentrating on ourselves rather than each other.  It is important to remember how we felt, and how we acted because of what we felt, so that we can become better people, more loving and considerate of those around us.  Most importantly, however, we learned to show our love for our families and friends while we still have the opportunity to do so, because there may come a moment when our time runs out.  We remember September 11 because we cannot afford to forget it.