Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sixty Ways....


Paul Simon found 50 ways to lose his lover .... I've got 60 (just the beginning) reasons to keep mine!

Happy Birthday to the man I love...

60 Ways I love my Husband....

1. His smile
2. He's a poet
3. He can really hit a baseball.
4. He gives me back rubs!!
5. He plays classical music during dinner.
6. He loves small towns, esp. one.
7. He's a great (truly) teacher.
8. I love hearing him speak.
9. He fathered my eleven children.
10. " "
11. " "
12. " "
13. " "
14. " "
15. " "
16. " "
17. " "
18. " "
19. " "
20. He changed their diapers.
21. He is patient.
22. He is on time (unlike myself!)
23. He wants to do what is right.
24. He willingly does his church callings.
25. He is wise.
26. He is balanced and see all sides to issues.
27. He is unfailingly honest.
28. He is not materialistic.
29. He exercises.
30. Which means he is disciplined.
31. I like to hear him laugh (sometimes until he cries!)
32. He makes an effort to eat healthy.
33. I have always liked his hands.
34. He rarely watches TV!!!
35. We sometimes go to the symphony.
36. If his team loses he recovers! (More so the last 15 or 20 years.)
37. He plants our garden every year.
38. He looks good in his work clothes (jeans and plaid shirt)
39. He also looks good in a suit!
40. He owns more ties than I own shoes (perhaps quadruple!!)
41. He wears his clothes into oblivion before he thinks he needs new ones.
42. He puts the weekly schedule on the whiteboard faithfully.
43. He keeps track of our budget.
44. He's an insightful writer.
45. He says prayers with me every day.
46. He has faith.
47. He's not a dandy (or blown 'round by every wind of fashion).
48. He faithfully earns the living for our family day in and day out. (I try hard to faithfully spend it! JK!!!)
49. He takes care of me when I am sick.
50. He's handsome!
51. He saves his lunch money to buy something special rather than take it out of the budget.
52. Sometimes after saving his lunch money he spends it on something for one of his children.
53. He likes to run or take long walks.
54. He has an affinity with nature.
55. I like how he smells when I am close to him.
56. He keeps a few $$ in his pocket each week to give to homeless people.
57. He supports me in the things I want to do.
58. He likes being a grandpa.
59. He smiles with his eyes.
60. He loves Heavenly Father.

Monday, November 24, 2008

The proposal....


A few months back Lorien announced she was buying tickets to Hawaii in Nov. and asked me if she could treat me to a vacation. It didn't take me long to say YES! Thanks Lorien - it was superbly fun. The first thing we did? Go shopping for sunglasses of course!! And in case you aren't aware, there is a swimsuit shortage in Nov. But, finally after shopping the clearance racks for a few summer items we were off!

Thanks Jason and Michelle!!

Somewhere on the North Shore - ask Jason. Actually ask Michelle!


Love you too!


Lorien at dinner - we had the most amazing seafood chowder!!! The tarro (Hawaiian sweet potatoes) were awesome as well. We also ate amazing Thai food in Haleiwa with Jason and Michelle.

Ocean views....





The resort....

We stayed three nights at Turtle Bay....


I loved the lobby of this resort. There are no walls. It flows into the out of doors.

Waiting for the elevator.

A room with a view.....

Fun in the sun....

Beach hopping on mopeds - it's the way to get around. We had a blast.




I think we were at Keikis. What lovely sand!!!

Lorien found a beach friend on Pipeline. He just came over, scooted right up and went to sleep. He wasn't the only guy on the island to try his luck with Lorien.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

It's about time.....


...for a new post!! Lorien and I have been in Hawaii for the last eight days. We couldn't have had a better time!


V for Volcom! Pipeline it is.

Jason and Michelle, our fabulous hosts, with Lorien!

More to come. Lorien's blog.

Friday, November 7, 2008

This "Guy" has something going for him...


Quote from Guy Larson who runs the "Y" everyday enthusiastically (in spite of difficulty and pain) because of an illness with his lungs.

"Life is, in so many ways, what you make of it. It's not that life is without its challenges, but if you truly turn yourself over to the Lord and strive to face the challenge with faith and a determination to do what's right...he will turn that challenge into a blessing in disguise. I'm just real grateful to be alive....When your faith is strained to the point where it feels like it's breaking that's when your faith really grows."

(Daily Herald - Nov. 2, 2008)

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Election afterthoughts....

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."~ Kurt Vonnegut

While President-elect Obama is not from my high school class (he would be about 10 years younger!) the sentiment that those your age (or younger!) have actually grown up enough to run something so world-impacting as a country none-the-less is a little jolting. Actually, I truly do hope our newly elected president will effect positive changes for our country.

The Spirit of At-one-ment

I've just read an essay that has changed my life. (M. Catherine Thomas - Living the Spirit of At-one-ment from Selected Writings of M. Catherine Thomas.) When something is significant for me I like to read with a red pencil in hand. I finally got to the point I practically had to sit on my pencil because I was underlining the entire thing.

This essay is about relationships - with God, and with others - and how the atonement of Jesus Christ is all about bringing together into One that which has been separated. I can't find the essay online so here are a few quotes:

"...the word rendered atonement by the early biblical translators could have been more accurately rendered re-at-one-ment or reunion. Christ wrought the great Reunion."

"The opposition to at-one-ment can seem formidable when we realize how easily in times past we may have traded the spirit of at-one-ment for disturbance."

"As I have watched myself and others, it is sobering to realize how readily we trade inner peace for something less, for some sort of upset; how readily we take offense and then escalte the disturbance around us--in home or office or even church..."

"The Prophet Joseph focused the idea: 'The policy of the wicked spirit is to separate when God has joined together, and unite what He (God) has separated, which the devil has succeeded in doing to admiration in the present state of society.' "

"Is it possible that much of the emotional pain we have comes not from the love we weren't given in the past, but from the love we ourselves aren't giving in the present?"

"Truly we receive what we send out: "For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again and be restored" (Alma 41:15). If we don't like what we're getting in a particular relationship, we may need to check out what we're sending into that relationship."

This is hardly a taste of the goodness of this essay. My hope is to retain in rememberance enough of what I've read to think and act differently at least to some small degree.