The Best Thing

This is back when Grandpa Derek
watched Brigham.  He was drinking the
melted ice.  He likes straws.

The best thing about today is that my friend Shannon is home from her trip and I got to talk to her and hear a little bit about it.  Yay!  

Also, Connor wrote an awesome song that he shared, and Tia sent a fun Marco Polo of Brigham dancing.  I not so shockingly like all pictures and videos of my grandbaby who isn't such a baby anymore.  Sigh.

It was also nice that the chiropractor seems to always be able to fit me in and his receptionist is sweet!

Using Imagination for Learning

Trisa and a happy Chewy

I enjoyed looking at baby pictures of Trisa today and then talking to the grown up Trisa.  We were talking about The Chosen and I was telling her that as I watched the depiction of Jesus visiting the place where He grew up and telling people in the Synagogue who He really is, I realized that it is easy to read the Gospels and not stop to think of how Jesus must have felt, or Mary, or even the people in the town!  But if I do stop and think about it, and use my imagination to picture it, then I am even more grateful for what Jesus was willing to do.

I was also thinking about their depiction of the Apostles.  It made me think of them in the context of their lives and the people around them and how they were very human, and just learning as they went along.  They were far from perfect and yet the Lord was able to use them to do great things in building His kingdom on the Earth!  If He can use them, then He can use us - if we will let Him!

Repeat Gratitude

I love a good picture of Brigham!

 I was trying to decide what to write about today and am struggling to not feel like I am repeating the same things over and over that I am grateful for.  The snow is pretty.  We didn't get stuck.  My temple shift was good, there are nice people there.  Brigham is cute.  He loves Aunt Kayli who went to visit him and Tia today.  Teddy is funny.

I did go through all of our music CDs today.  Technology changes and then we end up with a whole bunch of nice music that we don't listen to.  At least we don't listen to it using a CD player.  We just stream music on Alexa, or Spotify, or something.  I figure that we don't have to get rid of them all, but there is no use storing the ones that I'm 99 percent sure we won't use again!

I think the other great thing of the day is that Dan got to go spend time with friends.  I am so thankful for these friends who he enjoys being with so much.  He is alone a lot and I am glad that he doesn't have to be alone all the time!

I am glad that there are repeating blessings to be thankful for.  Maybe repeatedly writing them down will at least remind  me not to take them for granted!

Flowers

I am looking forward to the crocuses poking up through the snow!
Photo by Alexandra Vo on Unsplash

Today I'm thankful for fun shows where they re-do houses. Some of the houses were obviously in need of an update. Others seemed fine until I saw the re-do and then I could easily see they had improved. I'm a little skeptical that everyone kept the white couches though. It seems like they would be hard to keep clean! I love to see things fixed up! 

 I'm also thankful for the telephone since I made a new cover for mine that has flowers on it and the word "Thrive" because that seemed like something I would like to do. Mostly though because phones actually work as phones and so I called my sister Tina and she seems to be doing well which is great. 

I enjoyed the beautiful big snowflakes today but I was in the mood for pretty flowers. I had to look in magazines for those!

Who Guards Your Plates?

 

We have an Ewok and R2-D2!

The paper plates have Wonder Woman!

I was cleaning out the decoration closet the other day and found a box of little characters.  I didn't know what to do with them until I remembered that in one of the Happiness Project books Gretchen Rubin actually emptied a shelf so she could have a panoramic view installed.  The idea, and execution, gave her some joy.  I didn't do that, but I did have fun putting little characters at various places in the kitchen and one on my desk!

Captain Moroni (a righteous general) is guarding the desk.

Eeyore and Piglet are hanging out by the little plates and some fancier bowls.

Winnie the Pooh is helping me be cheerful about all the medicines to keep us feeling well.

Tigger is all about the supplements!

And finally, Olaf is playing peek-a-boo from the elephant pot.

Jake's Christmas Present Project

 Jake only asked for two things for Christmas.  One was a bookshelf, but he wanted one that he and his Dad would build to some specific specifications.  Today the bookshelf was complete and moved up to Jake's room.  Here are the pictures.  It is a very nice bookshelf!

Jake and his well made shelf.

Jake's shelf all loaded.

The Car Show Tradition

 Every year in January Derek and I head off to the car show.  Sometimes we are just looking at which car would look best with us in it.  This time we were wondering whether, when the time comes, we would replace the van and the truck with a truck, or if we'd just replace the van with an SUV and then get a truck too (which sounds extremely expensive).  Who knows when any of that will be.  We also just like to see which impractical and way too expensive cars we like, or imagine driving those huge camping vans that are missing the all important bathrooms.  Here are the pictures from this year.

Jaguar

Derek in a Jaguar

Derek's choice this year:  The Honda Truck

The breast cancer awareness / tribute jeep (and me)

Derek in the Nissan Z

My impractical car choice:  The Toyota Supra

The Toyota Rav 4.  I'm hoping they would throw in the kayak for "free".

Sunshine!

Teddy has pretty much taken over the bean bag.
He was a little sleepy and is always cute.

 Today was sunny which was really nice.  It was not warm.  But it was sunny.  And, through the sunshine, a whole flock of giant turkeys came flying across the canyon to our yard.  I mentioned yesterday that I like to see those big birds fly - and I do!

Today was driving practice with Dan.  He drove us to the antique store in Spanish Fork, and we walked around in there for a while.  I enjoy seeing old things.  I would enjoy buying them if they didn't cost so much and if I needed them.

Later I got to go and visit one of my friends named Maria.  I have two friends named Maria.  This one has a new grandbaby girl who is beautiful.  She is maybe 7 weeks old and was really cute and smiley while I was talking to her.  I love babies and I always enjoy talking to Maria.  A win for me!

Later I did my Christmas dog puzzle.  Derek helped me finish it.  After that we watched BYU almost win the game against Gonzaga.  Sigh.  So close!   

Questions

This is about a year ago.  It's hard to find pictures of us together!

Tonight, to break up routine, I looked up "questions for couples" and went out and asked some to Derek because I don't think we are very creative in how we spend our time together.  That ended up being my favorite time of today.  I like talking, I just can't always think of something to say without a good prompt!  

My other favorite was Teddy, the abominable snow dog, chasing turkeys with gusto.  It's fun to see those giant birds fly!

I also enjoyed buying new glass containers with lids to keep leftover food in.  Sometimes it is the small things in life :-)

One Thing

I couldn't find a picture of Isabelle fast enough, but she is beautiful like these flowers!

I worked at the temple today answering the phone and I got to talk to my niece Isabelle!  She is preparing to go on a mission to Denmark.  YAY!!!  That was my favorite part of what really was a good day.

Dan and The Wright Brothers

Dan and I are reading The Wright Brothers by David McCullough for a part of his school.  It is very well written and Dan and I are both enjoying it.  It is fascinating to me how the Wright brothers could so consistently be curious and fascinated enough with flight to write to experts, do experiments, build models, and then test models on the beach.  They did this while running their bicycle shop to earn money for all they did.   They did it even though the beach at Kitty Hawk wasn't necessarily a comfortable place to live!  Once an awful cloud of mosquitoes came that they couldn't get away from (Yikes!) They lived in tents for months, cooking over a fire.  It sounds like a miserable adventure!  I'm sure some of it was really fun, but wow!  I wonder what it would be like to be so very determined to learn to do something nobody has done before, and many people said was impossible!

This Savior Who Loves Me

 This Savior Who Loves Me

Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash

Did you ever wonder why the Savior came?

Did He really love me that much?  

Was I really worth the pain?

I imagine Jesus kneeling in the garden all alone

And He sees my face before Him when we were both at home.

And I was very little thinking He was very tall.

I loved Him very much.

And I looked at Him with awe.

He knew when I was born that though He’d remember me,

I would not remember all the things I cannot see.

He knew I’d make mistakes as I try to follow Him,

And He loves me very much and wants to save me from my sin.

I then imagine soldiers who are being very mean,

And hurting Him so badly, worse than anything I’ve seen.

And Jesus thinks of me and how I never intend pain,

But I will make mistakes and I will count upon His name

So I can call upon Him to release me from my shame.

I can see my brother carrying a large and heavy beam

As those who line the streets - spit on Him and scream.

And He knows I won’t be able to carry all my load

When I am here on earth walking on the earthly road.

So He keeps on stepping forward so He can do His part

And lift the heavy load that would be upon my heart.

In my mind I hear the pounding of the nails

As they drive into the hands and feet of He whose love won’t fail.

He doesn’t even cry out as He sees again my face

And He knows there is no other who can ever take His place.

Without Him I’ll be lost and He will not let that be

And He swallows all the pain.  Even more than I can see.

And finally it’s finished.  He’s rescued me from sin

And all I need to do is keep turning unto Him.

This is a blessed miracle, but there is one more still.

I watch as Jesus’ body is carried down the hill.

Tears roll down my face for this brother that loves me.

This will not be the end!  I keep looking and I see.

The stone is rolled away.  The tomb is empty there.

And He lives again.  He took more than I can bear.

And I know the final miracle is that I can live again.

And I also know I want to live my life with thanks to Him.

This Savior who loves me more than I can comprehend.

By Sherie

The idea for this poem came during the Sacrament at church today. I was afraid I would forget and so I started writing it down and had half of it finished before the meeting was over. Hopefully I'll be forgiven for not paying very good attention to the testimonies given. The parts I heard were good!

Visiting

 Kayli and I drove up yesterday to visit my parents.  We kept them up late chatting and then got up late with them to make some pancakes for breakfast.  Pancakes with pecans.  Kayli and I spent a lot of time with my Mom today doing some thrift shopping and working on food for our dinner at Jenny's this evening. Trisa came at a little after four and Kayli, Trisa and I played Jenga.  We played four times.  I lost twice.  At least I didn't lose every time! In the meantime Derek was mostly hanging out with boys.  Brigham in the morning, and Connor, Jake and Dan (and Teddy) in the afternoon / evening.

I don't have many pictures but I do have some!

My Wonderful Mom

My awesome Dad with Lizzie

Lizzie

The fancy decorated Christmas tree at the clubhouse for my parent's neighborhood.

A very happy Brigham and Grandpa Derek