Happy Birthday, Jennifer!

Sunrise, Sunset

THEN:

NOW:

I admit it. It's true. We're all feeling a little Scott-deprived these days. I'm not quite sure why, because he's been away 18 months. One would think his absence would become more normal, not less. But recently, especially when the whole family is together, there's a tangible, empty spot. The odd thing is that, lately, one of us, out of the blue, will usually verbalize it.

Perhaps we're subconsciously "counting down", though I don't really sense that. In any case, this one's for Elder Scottly or, more accurately, for us. If you'd like to know what he's been doing, click on the right panel link, "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)."

Remember the first picture, girls? For my blogger friends, in the second photo he's the one in the suit. And yes, although the two young men he's with are a little on the short side, Scott is tall. Very tall. About 6'4" at last calculation. And we're unabashedly missing every inch of him.

Wisdom From Mom

1975

My mother has always had wisdom on the tip of her tongue. She's one of those people who continues to learn, to self-educate, to ponder, and will do so as long as she is able.

I was visiting with her the other day, and we were talking about wealth, of all things, and the tremendous times in which we live, when so much of the earth's material goods are available to us. She lived through the Great Depression, while working in the banking business, so I'd say she's sort of an expert on the subject. We talked about that period of time in her life for a few minutes. Then, she said, "You know, Judy, when I was young, you could tell who had money and who didn't by the size of their house, their cars, the trinkets they possessed. Today, though, people can have the very best of all these things and be buckling under a load of debt.

It's difficult to tell the difference now."

She wasn't judging. She was teaching. And it gave me something to think about. On so many levels. Thanks yet again, Mom.

Bloomin' Tuesday

My apologies to all Bloomin' Tuesday bloggers who perhaps checked my blog for something really beautiful this week. I'm new at this, and apparently there's more to the procedure of posting via Mr. Linky than I anticipated. I'm out of Tuesday! Next week, I'll get going earlier and will have something ready to go way ahead of the deadline.

If you want to refer to a post of mine entitled "Rain in the Desert" (scroll down just a tad), you'll see in a general way what beauty all the rain has brought to our neck of the woods. As Suzanne has said, it isn't easy keeping a beautiful flower growing with the harsh winters both Colorado and Utah have. It's sort of like starting all over each spring. But when one peeps through, it's delightful!

What's in a Game?

Brandon, 8

Luke, 4

Trevor, 3 months

I’ve been a negligent blogger this week. I’ve been lying low, “riding the crest of a wave”, so to speak. If you totally get what I mean, you must really know me. Anyway, I decided to steal some pictures from my daughter’s blog and then monologue for one or two lines.

Pictured above are my three grandchildren, all boys, watching their Dad play Ultimate Frisbee last night. Their mother made this comment on her blog about the evening: “We just hung out, watched the guys run around, enjoyed the stunning view and the beeeeautiful weather. THIS is why I love living here. The evenings are divine!”

I agree with Jennifer that the evenings around here these days are to die for. But honestly, three of the reasons I LOVE living here are pictured in the photos above. They’ve been away too far too long.

Lovin' Life--The Tall One

Lovin' Life--The Small One

Rain in The Desert

Last Sunday, I grabbed my camera and wandered around outside to practice with it. I've been a little tentative with this camera, because it has lots of whistles and bells, and I'm a simple kind of girl. But that day, I decided to throw caution to the wind and do some shooting. While I was sizing up things to photograph, I was suddenly caught in a moment of awe as I recognized how the extra rain we've had this spring has been imprinted on all things green and beautiful. The phrase "blossom as a rose" came to mind. Here are a just a few images I captured.

Do you think that if we didn't have such harsh winters, we'd appreciate this kind of beauty so much? Hard to say. Thanks for the inspiration, Suzanne-from-the-other-side-of-the-Rockies!

Bob's a . . . *drum roll, please* . . .CORVETTE!

According to the sports car quiz, I'm "a classic--powerful, athletic, and competitive. I'm all about winning the race and getting the job done. While I have a practical everyday side, I get wild when anyone pushes my pedal. I hate to lose, but I hardly ever do." And may I add, I'm American-made, of course!

Judy's a Lotus Elise! A Whatus?

According to the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz, I "believe in maximum performance and minimum baggage. I like to travel light and fast, hit the corners hard, and dance like there's no tomorrow." Yep. I'd have to say that's pretty much me. But where's my Mustang?

I've Been Tagged!

Suzanne, Bob's lovely, joyful cousin, at Just Another Hangup, has tagged me! Sounds like great fun! The rules of the game are posted at the beginning of each post. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 4 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers.

A) WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO?

Since I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, this is a toughie. However, after sitting at the computer and pondering for just a mo, I remember that about ten years ago I was finally getting used to having our oldest daughter married, and was continuing my recovery from those frenzied days of her wedding during the Christmas holidays. I think what may have sent me over the edge was the drive from SLC to Denver in a blinding, history-making snowstorm on the plains of Wyoming. In desperation, we followed behind a huge snow plow, as I-80 was literally shut down behind us by the WHP. We made this trek in order to arrive at the groom's home town for a second reception. Sometime during May or June, I began to notice feeling returning to my fingers. Still love you, Jenni and Matt.

B) WHAT ARE FIVE THINGS ON MY "TO DO" LIST TODAY?

1. Get out of bed, pad into the exercise room, and complete my 15 minutes on the treadmill before I wake up and realize what I'm doing.
2. Set up the DVR to record today's Oakland Athletics baseball game for Bob to skim through later if he has time. Watching daily baseball games became a habit for both Bob and me all through last year's season and was probably the only thing that kept us afloat as Bob lay in bed recuperating from his accident and I seemed to need a reason to be near him, just to make sure he kept breathing. This year, I renewed our MLB "prescription" as a birthday gift for him. Watching a little baseball, and the Oakland A's in particular, is absolutely the only thing that forces him to rest for a while. And this year, he still needs to do some of that.
3. Decide whether to wash a batch or two of laundry,

or just watch it multiply.
4. Write a letter to our son, who is serving a two-year mission for our Church. He sounds a little overloaded with responsibilities right now, and since last week's letter to him had a bit of unsettling news in it, I'm going to send him cookies this week. He says cookies fix everything.
5. Talk to Boey with extra kindness for a minute or two. He's our Beagle, who, if my math is correct, is 112 years old in dog years. We thought we were losing him just this last week, and it is amazing to me that I, who really didn't want a dog and capitulated to the pleadings of a four-year-old son ONLY if we bought an outside dog, can overload my tear ducts at the mere thought of not having this canine friend around any longer.

C) SNACKS I ENJOY

1. Licorice. I like to buy the two-pound bag with red and black . There's nothing like a soft bed, a good movie, and a bag of licorice.
2. Chex Snack Mix. Whenever I overdo on sugar, I have to counteract it with something salty and a little spicy. There's nothing like a soft bed, a good movie, and a bag of Chex Snack Mix.
3. M & M's. You gotta love that candy shell with chocolate inside. There's nothing like a soft bed, a good movie, and a bag of M & M's.
4. Cheetos. The skinny, crispy kind. I've recently gotten into the white cheddar variety. There's nothing like a soft bed, a good movie, a bag of Cheetos and a hundred paper towels.
P.S. If you come to visit us, and we offer you our soft master bed and a movie, opt for the guest room. Although, rest assured, I keep Tide in business.

D) THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE

This is going to sound, oh, I don't know, sappy. But this is my answer.

1. I've always wanted to have enough money that when I notice individuals who need a "hand up" I could anonymously slip them some crisp bills that would not only give them hope, but enough of a boost to get going again. The list of people who would fit into this category is endless, and, boy, would I love every minute of it.
2. Another thing I'd like to be able to do is round up our children and grandchildren, other family members I love, and anyone who wants to be in my family, whenever the urge might hit. We'd plan and carry out wonderful get-togethers and do whatever we wanted to do, costs being no consideration. A nod to Dr. Seuss here: "Oh the things we would do! Oh, the things we would see!" The key word, however, is together. I have learned in the last little while that together is EVERYTHING.
3. Obviously, if I were a billionaire, the opportunities for service would be available to me in thousands of ways. As a gift to myself, though, I'd buy the Steinway grand piano I've always wanted, without retiring my beautiful Yamaha console piano, which we bought instead of furniture, our first major purchase as a married couple. You'd have to pry that baby from my cold, dead hands before I'd relinquish the love and the memories it represents.

E) PLACES I HAVE LIVED

1. Springville, UT
2. Murray, UT
3. Provo, UT
4. Shelley, ID
5. Blackfoot, ID
6. Soda Springs, ID
7. Sandy, UT
8. Salem, UT
9. A hundred other places, due to the gift of good books

And I am tagging:

Joanna at Headlines and Happenings
Keri at Mark & Keri Minson

Marsha at Steve and Marsha

April at April's Blog

Beck To Cookie!

You may have noticed that I haven't posted my reaction to the American Idol finale. Perhaps I flatter myself in thinking that you've been holding your collective breaths. In any case, here's the truth: I needed a little time to breathe myself out of panic mode. But not for reasons you might assume.

You probably know that I've been pulling for David A for a while, because once a Murray High Spartan, always a Murray High Spartan. But for the record, I also liked David C very much. I particularly loved the slight rasp in his voice that reminded me of a young Neil Diamond (and yes, I was definitely a young Neil Diamond fan).

No, my frustration comes from something else entirely. The evening of the final show, Bob and I wanted to finish up some yard work, and so we decided to Tivo the finale. When we started watching it, we were about 20 minutes behind real time.

If you take a moment to watch the YouTube clip I have posted above, you might understand what caused me to stop breathing and initiate full-blown frenzy at our house. I frantically punched the remote, trying every local news channel, then national channels, all of which were deep into more newsworthy stories. I heard some screeching coming from an Idol party in our neighborhood, but I couldn't detect what the screeching meant. If I hadn't been in my pajamas, I would have run outside and gotten the info from these youngsters. But, I have a reputation (don't ask) to protect, so I pursued another angle. The internet! Uh, nope. Nothing.

In an effort to calm me down, Bob, bless his heart, said, "Don't worry. You'll find out tomorrow." Obviously this Bob was an impostor.

Picture the season-ending football game in 2006 between hated rivals BYU and Utah. BYU's John Beck throws an impossible pass to the end-zone with no time left in the game and BYU needing a touchdown to win. The ball is in the air. It's flying downfield, a perfect spiral in slo-mo. Players of both teams are running hither and thither desperately trying to position themselves so as to catch, or bat away, that coveted pigskin. Suddenly, BYU's tight end, Johnny Harline, appears all by himself, and the ball Beck has just thrown is headed right for his numbers. But hold on! At this very moment, the TV goes black, and we don't know what happens. Does the ball make it all the way? Does a Ute player intercept? Does Harline do the impossible? Who, in heaven's name, wins the game? You think MY Bob then turns to me and calmly says, "No worries. We'll catch the score tomorrow."? Not in a million years.

But I digress. We did find out who was crowned American Idol 2008, not in the eons of time that it seemed like to me, but in a very few minutes. We used the phone. Congratulations to David Cook for an outstanding season. He is a talented singer and a gracious person. He deserved the win. I foresee both Davids having successful careers.

For Memorial Day--May We Never Forget

“You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker somewhere along the road. It depicts an American flag, accompanied by the words ‘These colors don’t run.’ I’m always glad to see this because it reminds me of an incident from my confinement in North Vietnam... Then a major in the U.S. Air Force, I had been captured and imprisoned from 1967 to 1973. Our treatment had been frequently brutal. After three years, however, the beatings and torture became less frequent. During the last year, we were allowed outside most days for a couple of minutes to bathe. We showered by drawing water from a concrete tank with a homemade bucket. One day, as we all stood by the tank, stripped of our clothes, a young naval pilot named Mike Christian found the remnants of a handkerchief in a gutter that ran under the prison wall. Mike managed to sneak the grimy rag into our cell and began fashioning it into a flag... He made red and blue from ground-up roof tiles and tiny amounts of ink and painted the colors onto the cloth with watery rice glue. Using thread from his own blanket and a homemade bamboo needle, he sewed on stars. Early in the morning a few days later, when the guards were not alert, he whispered loudly from the back of our cell, ‘Hey gang, look here!’ He proudly held up this tattered piece of cloth, waving it, as if in a breeze... When he raised that smudgy fabric, we automatically stood straight and saluted, our chests puffing out, and more than a few eyes had tears... Now, whenever I see the flag, I think of Mike and the morning he first waved that tattered emblem of a nation. It was then, thousands of miles from home in a lonely prison cell, that he showed us what it is to be truly free.”

---Medal of Honor recipient Leo K. Thorsness, quoted in The Patriot Post, May 23, 2008

Happy Feet

On Mother's Day, I received a lovely card from my daughters, telling me to reserve the following Saturday for a surprise afternoon with them. Knowing them as I do, I promptly started feeling like a child on Christmas Eve. Whatever they had planned, I knew it would be good, and I was right.

We met at Jennifer's house at noon. I soon found out that this was to be an afternoon of pampering, something I rarely do for myself, and they know it. First stop, a nail salon for a pedicure. A pedicure! Although I knew the definition of a pedicure, I had no idea what bliss was in store for me. This was a salon whose people knew not only the definition of a pedicure, but how to perform one.

I was really afraid that they'd take one look at my badly neglected feet and decline any amount of money to work on them. Apparently, they've seen worse, because they immediately got to work. About 45 minutes later, my feet had been relaxed and softened like perfectly simmered noodles in a warm, pulsing foot spa. They had also been rubbed, oiled, rubbed, pasted, rubbed, repeatedly massaged, rubbed, kneaded like bread dough, rubbed, and firmly slapped (all in good circulatory fun) by tiny little hands that could take out a professional boxer. During all of this, I lazily lounged in a chair that was disguised as an expensive leather recliner but was in truth a magic masseuse working my back. It was heaven.

Having Jenni in the chair on my left and Lisa in the one on my right polished *groan* the whole experience. No Monologuing on that day. It was Triple-loguing!

As far as I was concerned, I'd been pampered enough, but there was a second stop. A fabulous Polynesian restaurant for lunch, the address of which is definitely going to make it into my Garmin. This place was teeming with ambiance and yummy food. And actually, the best way to describe the whole afternoon is "yummy!" Yummy, and appreciated. Next time, girl chillens, my treat.

M

Imagine David Archuleta