God's paintbrush

"When the challenges of mortality come, and they come for all of us, it may seem hard to have faith and hard to believe. At these times only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement can bring us peace, hope, and understanding. Only faith that He suffered for our sakes will give us the strength to endure to the end."

Robert D. Hales, “Finding Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Nov 2004, 70–73

Gifts that keep on giving

This year for Christmas we received some generous and thoughtful gifts from our children. The thing I like most about them, is that we are still enjoying them and will continue to enjoy them for some time to come.

Dave and Courtney gave me some wonderful bathroom products. I've enjoyed the bubble bath, fizz aromatherapae balls and lotions from Bath and Body - one of my favorite places. I'll enjoy pampering myself all year long. They gave Rick the new BYU Vault football book. It's a compilation of a bunch of BYU football facts and memorabilia. He loves it and I've enjoyed reading it as well. It sits on our coffee table and is enjoyed by all who visit us. They couldn't have thought of a better gift for him!















Jord and Jake gave us this meaningful word collage wall hanging. They asked each person in our family to submit some words that they thought exemplified each of us. Jord knew a woman in her area who makes these tribute posters for income. The designer took each of the words submitted by our kids and their spouses and then she decided the font size, color and placement of each phrase or word to make the word collage . It was very humbling to see which words our children chose to describe each of us. I hope we live up to the words they attributed to us! It was very sweet of all of them and a gift we will enjoy for years to come. (I covered up Rick's occupation with the blue post -it note since he didn't want that shown here.)


Claire and Rich gave us this digital photo frame. We love it! It sits on our piano and we love to turn it on and watch some of our favorite family moments once again. Claire loaded 100s of pictures on it and some video chips. We love to see all those family faces smiling out at us when we pass by. When we start missing our family too much, we can turn this on and great memories come flooding back. Cherished family memories are preserved and shown in such a fabulous new techno way!
Thanks again to one and all. We send our love.

Size 12

I just want to be a size 12. Always and forever. For years I was a much smaller size. Been there, done that. Smaller is OK, but in my advancing years - size 12 works better for me. Obviously I'm a bit larger than that (not much) but I don't like it. I feel thick. I just want to be a size 12 again. All my clothes are a size 12. I refuse to buy new BIGGER clothes. I'm not influenced by the media or the beautiful people (although I do admit to being motivated by my sisters sizes, because they are less than size 12, one and all) I'm influenced by my closet. I DO NOT want new clothes.


Having said that, here are some truths I have found over the last couple of years:

~If you don't move, you gain. If you sit, you gain. If you eat, you gain.

~I hate exercising, but it is necessary evil.

~Exercising goes down much better with a friend.

~You have to starve yourself to lose weight after age 50. Seriously, it does not come off otherwise.

~You can never eat sweets again. Never. OK, maybe on your birthday you can have a small piece of angel food cake with non-fat Cool Whip, but that's it.
~You will never bake again. Heck, you don't hardly cook anymore either. It doesn't take much skill to throw a frozen chicken breast on the George Foreman and steam up some asparagus spears.
~Fruit in moderation. All the fructose just turns to SUGAR anyway.
~Carbs (the bad little devils) are the enemy -especially those white ones. They're like the plague...the whiter the bread, the sooner you're dead. White rice - that's a no, no. Rolls, doughnuts, cookies - eat em and you're weak, you poor sorry person. Get some gumption!
~packaged anything - completely out of the question
~Fast food - another "fast" route to big bottom, big thighs, big stomach,
~Multi grains - good in moderation, but no jam or honey on your wheat toast. Watch the spread you put on the toast as well. Always vigilant!
~Milk - only skim of course (Claire always thought it was called SKIN milk and she refused to drink it. Consequently, we only had the good stuff around when she was growing up.)
~You can only eat lean meat and vegetables. Lots and lots of vegetables. Watch the dip on the fresh veggies, that will get you every time.
~You can never eat as much as you want to ever again. Never. You must eat small, child size portions for the rest of your days.
~You will pass up good stuff day after day and have very minimal results on the scale or with the measuring tape. And when you do lose some - why is it that you will lose in all the wrong places...you know -- the places where you would LIKE to keep some inches.
~Your weight redistributes. You know those women with large stomachs? They let those pounds accumulate and take up residency around the middle and they refuse to be evicted. Ain't leaving, no how, no way.
~You must change the fats you eat. Out with the bad fats, in with the good fats. How does your body know the difference? You have to be a scientist to tell the difference.
~Drink only water. Don't drink your calories. Water, water, water. I feel like Noah. Would someone please send the dove back with the olive branch? Enough already.
~Take the stairs. Walk, walk, walk. 10,000 steps a day. Just keep walking. Sing a song, hum a tune. Try and get your mind off the tedium of walking, walking, walking. Those pioneer children have got nothing over me.
~For 48 years I couldn't understand what people were complaining about. It couldn't be THAT hard to lose a few pounds. I enjoyed eating that crow with some tasty salsa on the side.
And all of this for WHAT I ask you? Just to be a size 12!
Sometimes I just want to throw in the towel and make Lane Bryant my new best friend. Sad, but true.

Bathroom cleaning

I must be living in the dark ages. I've been using Comet to clean my sinks and tub for years. We've been using an old fashioned toilet bowl cleaner with a toilet bowl brush and some less than effective tub and shower cleaner. I recently found two new items I love for cleaning the bathroom! Granted, Rick mostly cleans the bathrooms, but I decided to give him a break and I took a turn last week. These new products are great! Comet is good for the kitchen sink, but I'm moving on to these other products for the bathroom! The toilet wand will clean THREE toilets before it loses steam, and then you just toss it on the garbage can. No sick, wet toilet brush sitting around. Brilliant! The scrubbing bubbles action scrubber is great for the shower and tub and it too is disposable after use. There goes the germs, there goes the mess. Who knew?

Happy 200th birthday Mr. President

I thought these photos were so interesting, and I wanted to give a belated shout out to Abraham Lincoln on his 200th birthday! It's been wonderful to read more about his life in the last few weeks and to celebrate his amazing accomplishments as the greatest President this country has even known. Ever since my dad worked for the Lincoln National Life Insurance company, I've had a keen interest in Abe. My dad had some keepsake Lincoln items that I loved to look at. He had some plaster casts of Lincoln's hands that I remember well (where did those end up anyway??) They were huge hands that accomplished much good in his life. Happy 200th Birthday Mr. Lincoln!!

Here is some Lincoln trivia I found interesting:

• When Lincoln was inaugurated, there were five living ex-presidents: Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.
• Lincoln was the first president to have a beard, is the only one to have had a beard and no mustache.
• Lincoln was the first member of the Republican Party to be elected president. However, he was re-elected on the National Union ticket. Following Lincoln, Republicans were the dominant party from 1869 to 1885.
• Lincoln taught himself law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, when he moved to Springfield, Ill. During his 23-year law career, he was involved in more than 5,000 cases in Illinois. He and his partner appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court more than 400 times.
• Lincoln made good money as a lawyer before becoming president. By 1858, he was earning about $5,000 a year. In terms of dollars his biggest case dealt with ownership of land at the mouth of the Chicago River. Sued for more than $600,000, the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad hired Lincoln. The case eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his clients ended up paying only half the original amount.
• When moving to Washington, the Lincolns decided it would be too expensive to move their belongings, so they held one of the first "garage sales" of their day. A bill of sale in Lincoln's handwriting shows that a druggist named S.H. Melvin paid $82.25 for "6 chairs, 1 spring mattress, 1 wardrobe, 1 whatnot, 1 stand, 91?2 yards of stair carpet and 4 comforters."
• When Lincoln was shot, the only money in his pocket was a $5 Confederate note.
• Lincoln's assassination stunned the nation. As the first president to lie in state, his body was viewed by tens of thousands of mourners.
• At 6 foot 4 inches, Lincoln was our tallest president.
• When it came to his likeness, Lincoln preferred photographs to paintings. That may have been in part due to the fact there was an exceptional photographer named Matthew Brady in Washington at the time. In fact, Lincoln credited an early photograph taken by Brady for helping him get elected. In those photographs, Lincoln never smiled — so no one knows what his teeth looked like.
• Among other things, Lincoln has had an automobile, a ballistic missile submarine, an aircraft carrier and an American faction of the International Brigades (during the Spanish Civil War) named after him.

Here's a fun quiz to take to test your knowledge of our 16th President.