Quote for the week of 3-30-2009

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~ Melody Beattie

Oh "Deer"!!

This is a common site in our neighborhood. Bambi and family LOVE Hidden Oaks. They eat everything but the rocks! They are beautiful but they need to return to their mountain home. My neighbor Cindy told me see saw 17 in their back yard last week. Oh deer is right!

First Day of Spring!!

Yea baby, tomorrow is the first day of Spring and I have Spring fever! I have been cleaning like crazy this week and love hearing the birds singing and seeing the grass start to turn green. I heard a Meadowlark (the Wyoming State Bird) singing when I came out of the temple on Tuesday. They have a pretty song and it always reminds me of home. I hope it will be a nice, long Spring!

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's Party!" - Robin Williams

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring!!

Enjoy!!!

Quote for the week of 3-9-2009

Everything I Need to Know About Life, I Learned From Noah's Ark!!

1. Don't miss the boat.
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
4. Stay fit - When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
5. Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
6. Build your future on high ground!
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
9. When you're stressed, float a while.
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
11. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

P.S. The woodpecker's might have to go!!

Birthday Party!!

It seems most things I do revolve around my church calling. I am grateful to be able to serve and I guess it's all things Relief Society for now! I served as a ward president for 4 years, a counselor in the stake Relief Society for a year and half and have been serving as a stake Relief Society president for 3 years.

Every year we have a stake Enrichment Conference. This year we had a birthday party to celebrate the 167th anniversary of the organization of the Relief Society.

We used quilts to decorate the room. We compared the quilts to Relief Society - each piece is different, some are light, some are dark, and some have different shapes but they all fit together to become a beautiful quilt. Such is Relief Society, we are all different - different talents, different interests, different backgrounds but we make a beautiful, loving group when we put it all together.

This was the first quilt I ever made. I stayed with Grandma Federer one summer and she taught me how to quilt. We cut each piece with a template and I sewed them together with needle and thread - no sewing machine. Many years later a group of ladies in Ogden hand quilted it for me.

This beautiful painting by Walter Rane depicts the first Relief Society meeting held in Nauvoo, Illinois. On Thursday afternoon, March 17, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith, in company with John Taylor and Willard Richards, formally organized the woman into a society. What started with 20 women has now grown to about 6 million members.

My counselors Val Peterson, Valerie Blain and my secretary Ann Adamson always give their all to help prepare for any meeting we have.

Val and Ann created this beautiful display.

Grandma Federer made this quilt for for my high school graduation (1976). She made all of her grandchildren a quilt or two! My Mom made many of my dresses and she saved the scraps. She gave them to Grandma who turned them into a beautiful "Flower Garden" quilt. It is one of my most precious possession.

This display had to be moved because we had to make room to set up about 6 more tables to accommodate a much bigger crowd than we expected. The Stake Center, which is larger was not available (and this was the only time our guest speaker could come), so needless to say it got a little cozy in this building!! We never know how many sisters will attend so we just use the average from previous years but yikes this caught us by surprise. A quick run to Kohler's to grab a few more rolls and things and we managed to serve everyone. It's that loaves and fishes principle!!

Dear friends who stayed to help clean up ... Valerie, Susan, Christina, Whitney (just home from a mission to Japan), Val and Ann.

A group of sisters sang the song that was our theme:

Make Us One...

Make us one that our burdens may be light.
Make us one as we seek eternal life.
Unite our hands to serve thy children well.
Unite us in obedience to thy will.
Make us one ...
Teach us Lord, to be of one faith,
of one heart, one in thee.

Our guest speaker was Anne Pingree. She is a former member of the general Relief Society presidency. She gave a wonderful message and reminded us of the blessings of belonging to Relief Society. She also shared pictures of sisters from her travels around the world. She told inspirational stories from their lives. It was a wonderful evening - a success by all accounts!! Now what will I do with my extra time!!

Quote for the week of 3-2-2009

Grandpa Glenn with Christopher Glenn - June 1988

A Message to My Grandchild

by Paul Harvey

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand-me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. I hope you have a job by then.

It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the line because he is scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a Disney movie and your little brother wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride I hope your driver doesn't have to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as un-cool as your mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use those newfangled computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get razzed by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and the joy of holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster of Paris mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

And I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa.

Paul Harvey
September 14, 1918 - February 28, 2009