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This year, my birthday fell on a Sunday which is not always the most fun day to celebrate.  However, my peeps came through for me, and it turned out to be a wonderful day.  And all this with our power going out in the morning (thanks so much, "bomb cyclone") which meant I had to go to church unshowered . I wasn't about to not  let anyone know about my birthday at church, but my friends surprised me by actually remembering themselves, and handed over gift bags before I'd even popped up on the organ. Good ol' Hilary and Amber.  And that morning, John had skipped church to help another member of the Elder Quorum presidency whose basement was literally flooding at that moment, so instead of leaving me sitting alone, Amber and Sage sat with me in the pew.  How fun it was to make comments and make conversation during sacrament meeting ;-) And after sacrament, it was off to Young Women's where I played the piano for myself while the girls sang to me, and because

Whenever the kids ask Mama what she wants for her birthday, by now we all know the standard answer: "A blog post." We were also talking a while ago about how Mama likes to collect memories, rather than material things that might not mean much later on. I think the longevity of this blog and the journals she has filled before that all speak to that. It also 100% reminds me of Dumbledore's Pensieve in Harry Potter, who has lots of memories from himself and others stored up, ready to recall at a moment's notice. Mama can keep the blog for forever (as long as the world doesn't go apocalyptic and we can still access the internet?), just like a Pensive can keep all of the memories stored in it as well. Plus, a blog post is a memory that Mama doesn't have to write down on her own, saving her lots of time. So here you go Mama, a blog post for your Pensieve! I figure I can share a few stories from different points in my life that I remember. These don't really have

Words cannot express how much I love working at the temple.  I know that there are thousands of people around the world who also work in the temple, so I know it isn't some kind of exclusive opportunity, but I sometimes feel like the experiences I personally have in the temple are unique only to me.  With that, I've had touching experiences, and spiritual ones, and I've made a lot of life-long friends, but I think the emotion that I experience the most in the temple is joy.  Like, pure, unadulterated joy.  And happiness.  And surprisingly, a lot of laughter. I want to record something that happened this past week.  I have retold this story three times now and each time, I have had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard, but I'm sure it will lose something in just the words, but I'll do my best. So before each and every shift, there is a training meeting.  It doesn't matter how long you've worked at the temple (and believe me, the pros complai

I really like sports. Growing up, I LOVED playing sports. Like if there was a sport I could be involved in, I wanted in on that action. I think its because I had older brothers and I wanted to seem legit. I was definitely a tomboy. I played softball for eight years and basketball for five. But those weren't the sport for me. Volleyball was my sport, I played it all through junior high and high school, so six years. When I got to seventh grade I could try out for the Volleyball team. I not only made the team, but I wasn't that bad at it either. Height is not an attribute I was blessed with, so luckily I was good at setting. A quick crash course in Volleyball for anyone who doesn't know much about the sport: Each team gets three hits (or touches on the ball) to return it to the other team. Ideally this proceeds as first a bump, a basic pass using the flat part of your forearms, second a set, using the fingertips to send the ball into a high arch for the third hit, the spike

Recipe for a great birthday: Ingredients: 4 great children 1 mother 1 "geldautomat" father Directions: Birth the four greatest kids on the planet over the course of nine years. Instill in said children the importance of letting people know you care....and the importance of birthdays.  Allow their clever minds to come up with the idea to SURPRISE! their mother on her birthday.  Papa supplies the moola for the plane tickets.  Mix ingredients together and pour into an FJ Cruiser.  Let the fun begin! _________________ Thursday evening, 9:15, John and I loaded ourselves up into the car after a very long day of working at the bishop's storehouse and working our shift at the temple.  John told me that he had a surprise for me. That sentence--a surprise for me--makes my heart skip a beat, and not in a romantic, idyllic way, but in a I'm-going-to-have-a-heart-attack-and-die way.  I immediately started looking through my purse, wondering if I had brought my

I am so thankful for someone in the area who realized this month is my birthday!  I didn't honestly expect Amber to think of it, because she's rather into her own life and her kids, and I tend to be the "giving" one in our friendship.  However, she asked at the beginning of the month what we were going to do for my birthday.  It became a running joke though, because anytime I would try and discuss plans, we would get off on some tangent about something.  Like, this happened at least six times while eating our burgers at Shake Shack after going to the temple.  And Amber is kind of picky.  Nothing can happen after school because her kids are so busy in sports and she drives them everywhere.  And I knew she wouldn't want to go to any concerts, because, you know, my birthday is all about what SHE wants ;-). And with Ryan flying for Delta, he is gone for several days at a time, so we had to work with his schedule as well.  I guess we can look at it as a bonus that John

Hola Glo!  Cómo estás?  Espero que bien!  Todo está bien aquí.  Yo y mamá fuimos al templo ayer para un endomwment en la mañana, y tuvimos un buen tiempo!  Luego fuimos a Shake Shack con los Barney. Entonces fuimos al Bishop's Storehouse hasta 5:15 y luego fuimos al templo para trabajar.  Mucho templo y mucho del Espíritu Santo! I hope you can understand what I am saying.  Fuimos is the past tense of to go and it is nosotros since it is mommy and me.  Luego means then.  Entonces also kind of means then.  I hope you are learning Spanish quickly! It is such a good language. It has been a pretty good week.  We had a house showing on Monday and though the people did not want the house at least we had a showing and we have another one today.  It would be a big load off our minds if the house would sell.  My lawyer had me talk with a doctor who will be an expert witness for me and when he was done talking to me he did not understand why the hospital was suspending me.  He agreed

I know that my children (at least the ones who read this blog) are probably freaking out, reading the title of this post.  No worries--this isn't my final note, or anything. I don't know much about suicide.  It's always felt rather silly to me, because in my mind, people should just get help.  Like, walk into any hospital ER, tell them you want to kill yourself, and they will do something about it.  And there are suicide hotlines.  Call them. But with our lives once again falling apart, I've gained a bit of an understanding into the thoughts behind some of it.  Unfortunately, a lot of my suicidal thoughts relate to the gospel which I don't believe is the case for many people. Being tired of living .  Sometimes, it feels like there is just too much being laid on my shoulders, especially when I'm trying my best to live a righteous life.  I look at the struggles I've had in the past with people, and I look at the struggles John has with staying happy and