God's Cake

Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!
A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong: she's failing algebra ; her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile, her mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely, Mom, I love your cake.'
'Here, have some cooking oil,' her mother offers. 'Yuck,' says her daughter. 'How about a couple raw eggs?' 'Gross, Mom!' 'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?' 'Mom, those are all yucky!' To which the mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad by themselves , but when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times, but God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful! God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. ...I hope your day is a piece of Cake..

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

There is a wonderful video presentation at www.foundationarts.com that I would recommend you watch. If I actually knew what I was doing, I would have it here for you to watch. (Goal-learn how to do that.) Have a wonderful Christmas filled with the spirit of God.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Here is our family in front of the tree. We can't get our whole tree in the picture since it is 10 feet tall.

Band Concert

Valesca and Joshua participated in a Christmas Band Concert a few days ago. They had 94 kids in beginning band, and they played WONDERFULLY! Sounded much better than I expected it to. What a wonderful evening.

Christmas lights downtown

Each year our family has the tradition to go down to Temple Square to view the beautiful lights the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This year we had wonderful weather which made it even nicer. As we stood outside of the Visitors Center and listened to the narration by the Nativity Scene I heard a very familiar voice that I miss hearing. I heard him testifying of Jesus Christ. I hope that they keep the narration with President Hinckley for a while.

Now appearing for the FIRST time on the Desert Star Stage...

Tonight was the last performance of our season tickets and our table was center and down in front. It was a fun Christmas show until they were in need of understudies and they chose me to go up and do a dance number on stage. Well, ok, it was still fun in spite of all of that. Cindy Anderson was sitting next to us and tried to record it on her cell phone, but had no luck. Look for my performance on YouTube, surely someone got a good laugh and thought to document it.

Actually, I have always enjoyed performing even though I usually wind up making a fool out of myself. My children still remind me of a Christmas performance about 4 years back for a Christmas breakfast with Santa Clause where I was the MAIN attraction. Brad just shudders at the thought of it while the kids just laugh. Oh well, life is meant to be fun, and if I can make someone laugh or smile, then they were at least having fun for a while. Who knows when I will appear on stage again.

Visit to Santa

Noah and Elijah wanted to talk some things over with Santa, so we went to see him way back on Elijah's birthday before all of the crowds of kiddos were there and we could get some genuine one-on-one time with him.

TAG

Ok, so I was tagged a while back, but haven't had the time to actually sit down and play along. I was supposed to go to the 4th file of pictures on my computer and then go to the 4th picture. So, are you ready for this...DRUM ROLL...TA DA!

Now I am supposed to tell about the picture. Well, this was taken in 1996 on our wedding anniversary. We take turns being in charge of what we do on our anniversary. This particular year happened to be my year and for some reason I had us go and have a picture taken that evening. I think that my sister came and took it for us- she didn't have a husband or kids yet.

FYI- I borrowed a scanner from a friend and I am in the LONG process of scanning all of my negatives to make everything digital. I am glad that I am doing it. I realize that I took more pictures than I thought. I am having loads of fun in short trips down memory lane. I will be very glad when I can say that "I'm done!", and return to a normal life.

So- TAG- Now it is your turn: Jane W., Sara, Sydnie and Melissa R.

Happy Thanksgiving

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP. MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP, MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS, MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE, MAY YOUR THANKS GIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.GOBBLE TIL YOU WOBBLE......... And Above All, Give Thanks to God For All He Has Done!

Our 3 minute newscast

http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ba9cee97-c073-4574-aeff-596830158ebb This is the link to watch the news story last night. Hope it will be available for a while. The text is below.

HELP YOUR KIDS BE RICH
So you want to be rich? It's no secret; everyone has dreams of expensive cars, yachts and lavish homes. And while most adults want to be rich, a recent survey found that 89% of teens say they want to learn how to make their money grow. But can you really teach your kids to be rich beyond their wildest dreams?
We rounded up a team of experts to help answer the question: How can you teach young people to be rich? Lon Henderson from Soltis Investment Advisors says the answer is simple. "You've got to take the time to go through this process with them that allows them to see something, invest in that effort and receive a return. Then very judiciously take those assets and deploy them where there is a savings account."
The concept of a savings account is not unheard of. Most people will open a savings account at some time before they enter high school or college. But only a small percentage of young people will actually save enough money to be wealthy by the time they turn 25. Experts say parents need to be a financial coach for their kids. "If they can understand early on, you know how to manage their money so they are spending less money then they are earning and really budgeting and following that budget, they are able to become rich."
Ann Throckmorton and her four kids already have a plan in place. They are taking advantage of a program available at Utah's Central Credit Union that gets kids excited about saving money. In fact, her 2 oldest children already have a small fortune growing, and they have no plans to spend it.
To learn more on how to save money, you should visit your local bank. For more information on Utah Central Credit Union, just go to their website www.utahcentral.com.

Let them eat cake... again

We had inquiries to see the triangle cake. Well, it didn't look so hot, but it sure tasted good.
Elijah was specific in that he wanted an ice cream cake with little pink flowers around the bottom and a big yellow flower on the top.

The recipient of a great gift

Elijah and I were in a far away part of town that we don't visit very often. He said his throat hurt and that he needed a drink. He was almost in tears. I stopped at a store that I thought would have a drinking fountain. We went in and started exploring the store searching for that thing that would quench his thirst. We found the restroom and a man who was stocking shelves asked if he could help. We inquired about a drinking fountain and he led us to the front of the store where we quickly figured that he was not normally employed at this store. The manager told him that there was not a drinking fountain for the public, but that he could go up to the brake room and get a glass of water for Elijah. Instead the man walked over to a drink cooler, took out a bottle of water, walked to the checkout counter and fumbled to find change in his pocket. Looking and listening I assumed that the circumstances of this man were probably not as good as mine. The way he dressed and the way he searched his pockets made me think that he was probably lacking in income. The way he spoke gave me the impression that he either had a physical or mental challenge in his life. Yet this man wanted to give and sacrifice what little he had for me and my child. When he was counting his coins, I came next to him and told him that he did not need to do this for me. The girl at the cash register and the manager were both confused and somewhat threatening to the man. Apparently it is very much against the rules for an employee to purchase anything unless he is taking a break, so this man was also putting his employment on the line. After he purchased the bottle of water he lovingly gave it Elijah and went back to work. I thanked him and then told the cashier that all we did was ask him if there was a drinking fountain in the store. She then smiled and said, "He is nice", but I don't think that she really even knew the man very well. We walked out the door and I began crying. In fact, I couldn't control myself for about 5 minutes. In the car I said a prayer of thanks for such a wonderful act of kindness and sacrifice, and asked for blessings for this man. I couldn't remember such an act being done for me, except perhaps on my mission. I was very touched. I would like to think that I would do the same for someone else, but thus far, I have probably failed. I need to work on being more Christlike.

Six years old!

We had a birthday party this weekend. Much of the time was spent at Chuck E. Cheese. The birthday boy had lots of fun and has been enjoying playing with all of his gifts.

I opened the ads and what did I see?

Excited when I turned the page of the Seagull Book ads and saw that the CD of my friend Amy VanWagenen was featured as a sale item. COOL! I already purchased mine a month ago and had her sign it for me. Fun to know people who can do stuff like that. I am tooooooo chicken.

Cards, cards, cards

On Saturday I walked past the bedroom and saw that the boys had been laying out Pokemon cards. How did they accumulate this many? And, I was told, that these were only SOME of Noah's. Well, at least it is still an interesting pastime for them.

Triangle Cake?

Friday we had another birthday at our house...and that added another TEENAGER to the mix. I only got to see Joshua for a total of about 30 minutes on his birthday because he was at school, came home, then went on a scout overnighter. We celebrated on Thursday night and again Saturday night to compensate. At our house you get to choose what kind of cake you would like for your birthday. We have had quite a variety over the years. This birthday Joshua came up with the idea of a triangle cake. Let me tell you, it turned out to be a little more difficult than I had imagined. Hope he liked it.

Thanksgiving Tradition

Each year we approach Thanksgiving almost always needing to be reminded of what we HAVE instead of what we WANT. In our family we take time to write down things that we are thankful for on cutouts of leafs and then we string them around as decorations. Some years we have written on one leaf each day, others we do it once a week.

Weekend Company

This weekend we have had some company visiting. His name is Darth Squeeky. We have enjoyed having this little visitor, but are relieved that he will be returning to his place of residence tomorrow.

Lucky winner!

This is the year for me to actually be lucky enough to actually win something. A few days ago I found out that I won the new book "Paper Crafts Gourmet". It has some great recipes and some fun paper craft ideas that I will have to try. What a fun thing to win.

Good Things Utah, again

Had a really good time going to the taping of the show again. The snow made it more interesting to drive to the studio. Here is what we were "gifted".

Winter already?

We don't even have our Halloween decorations down, and this is what we found this morning.

Run, Jump, Rake, Repeat...

This time of year is such fun. The smells, the activities, the leaf throwing.

Youth Choir

Valesca and Joshua participated in a youth choir in Stake Conference today. They did a great job! It brought back memories of when I sang in a choir as a youth and sat in the choir seats next to LeGrande Richards.

Eat, Drink and be Scary

Boooooooo! Our little goblins had a great time TRICK OR TREATING in the nice, warm October air.

The last few years our kids have been taking a written inventory of all candy obtained.

They start marking down when they consume it as well, but that part doesn't stay current very long.

Look Mom, I'm on TV!!!!

The four kids and I were interviewed by Channel 2 (KUTV) for a segment that is scheduled to air in about 2 weeks. It was fun, but we were a little nervous. Hope we look and sound ok on tv.

Card Class

I had loads of fun at a card class taught in American Fork. Yes, I drove all of the way there just to go to it, and I enjoyed learning some new things. Plus, the class was taught by Sue Neal from Papercrafts Magazine, so I got to rub elbows with a CELEBRITY. (ha ha)

Brace yourself

Joshua is now the "good looking guy with braces".

It's the Great Pumpkin...

Ok, so it's a few smaller pumpkins, but this is how we spent our evening last night.

Sizzlin' good time

Thanks for taking us out to lunch for our birthdays Mom!

Happy Birthday Brad

Happy Birthday My Love! Thanks for letting me go out to Tucanos for dinner with you.

Emails and phone calls and gifts, oh my

Wow, what a great bunch of friends I am blessed with!!! This was certainly one of the very best birthdays ever, and I should know because I have had more than my share of awful ones. But I was overjoyed that so many people called, stopped by, gave gifts and sent birthday greetings in other forms. My visiting teachers even remembered my birthday, and that has hardly ever happened. So yes, turning 41 has been a pleasant experience for me so far. I thought that I might follow the example of my friend who just turned 40 and make a list of things I have learned...but I didn't get it finished yet, so it might come a little later.

We went out to eat dinner at Gardner Village, but we didn't realize that it was WITCH-A-PALOOZA there and we waited for over 2 hours just to be seated at the restaraunt.

While waiting we went and visited my friend Alan who owns Heels and Toes and he gave me a gift for my birthday.

It was interesting to watch all of the witches wandering all over, but I don't think I want to do it again.

It pays to let people know your dreams, goals and wishes...sometimes they can help them come true. Notice that one of my wishes on the sidebar is now a "wish come true". What a great birthday gift from someone who was going to recycle it anyway.

Brad's birthday is the day after mine. In a very real way it is like having a two day birthday, and most of the time that is a fun thing. Thanks everyone for truly making this a very Happy Birthday.