Happiness!

Coming soon to~

Hobby Lobby

• 360 W University Pkwy ·
• Orem

Need I say more?

Laboring on Labor Day

I'm exhausted after laboring quite hard on Labor Day. Our weekend went like this:
~Friday afternoon visit from Janet - toured the remodel.
~Friday night movie with Rick.
~Got a phone call from Courtney saying that she got a job in a school district as a speech therapist! Hooray! Congrats to Courtney.
~Saturday morning departure to attend Swiss Days in Midway with Janet, Sydney and DaeLynn. Wow, what an event. Who knew that is was so HUGE and attended by 1,000s of people? We made some good purchases and a had a good time. We heard some yodeling, and saw some lederhosen and other authentic Swiss costumes, houses and food. Sauerkraut was smelt in abundance. 95 degree day. So fun to be with the Idaho girls.
~Lunch at the Homestead in the air conditioning, away from the crowds.
~Homestead homemade fudge on the way home.
~Visited Rick's mom Pat who is recovering from knee replacement.
~Went grocery shopping for food for Vern who is staying alone. Made him dinner and visited.
~Watched bits and pieces of the BYU-Washington game on TV
~Enjoyed the Sunday routine. Attended the MTC testimony meeting. Grilled on the patio and enjoyed a garden dinner with Janet, Syd and Adam. Good visit.
~Enjoyed phone visits as usual with our kids and their families on Sunday night.
~Got going early on Monday. Walked for an hour with Patsy. Cleaned the windows of Diane and Steven T. ~Cleaned Patsy's windows and screens and she helped me clean ours.
~Rick, Andy and cousin R. hiked to the Y on the mountain.
~ We washed all four of our cars, cleaned inside and out when they got home.
~Cleaned the garage. Hoisted all of Dave's long term storage boxes up on top of the room in the garage.
~Started putting the tree bench together again.
~Got cleaned up and ate dinner with Pat at her rehab center. Attended the pre-dinner before the concert of KC and the Sunsh*ine Band at the Scera shell. OK concert. Not the best. Exotic dancers were a bit much for conservative Utah.
~Fell into bed exhausted.
All in all, a good weekend!

Service with a smile

I'm very proud of my daughter Jordan. She was released from serving as the primary president in her ward after many years. She served the little children with such kindness and helped teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was great to see her in action a couple of times when we were visiting. She loved serving in Primary and she will miss the association with the children and their teachers. She really accomplished a lot in her years of service and touched many lives. She's moving on to serve with the Young Women now, but a piece of her heart will always be in Primary. Her husband Jake is the EQP, so their little family keeps busy with service in their ward.

The purpose of Primary is to teach children the gospel of Jesus Christ and help them learn to live it. The objectives of Primary are to:

1. Teach children that they are children of God and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.
2. Help children learn to love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
3. Help children prepare to be baptized, to receive the Holy Ghost, and to keep their baptismal covenants.
4. Help children grow in their understanding of the gospel plan and provide opportunities for them to live gospel principles.
5. Help boys prepare to receive the priesthood and be worthy to use this power to bless and serve others.
6. Help girls prepare to be righteous young women, understand the blessings of the priesthood and the temple, and serve others (see Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2: Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders [1998], 229).

The Primary theme is “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (3 Nephi 22:13).

Over half way

~The hardwood floor was delivered (in the red boxes) so that it could acclimate to the humidity in the house for 10 days. ~The finish carpenter came and installed bead board in the kitchen and around the island. It will be painted next week. ~The kitchen cupboards were glazed and refinished, knobs were attached. They look NICE. Of all the improvements, I think I may like having knobs on the cupboards the best! ~The horrible wall paper was painstakingly removed from our bedroom and bathroom and Andy’s room and the walls were re-textured. ~The ceiling was painted in a flat paint so that the lights don’t shine off of it. ~The carpenter added crown molding to the front room and dining room. ~The family room is painted “Tavern Taupe” and the living/dining is painted “Salt Bush” (who comes up with these names??) So far, so good.

Independence Day

The BIG announcement came yesterday afternoon with a news conference coming up today at noon with more details. All the fans were a flutter with excitement and questions about possible scenarios. The "what ifs" and "maybes" were flying abundantly. It has dominated the conversation around our house for weeks. And weeks. It has helped distract Rick and Andy from the mess of the remodel. Last night the boys were watching clips of past games and even clips of the hardest hits of all time in football over the Internet. They can't sleep at night in anticipation of the new season beginning on Saturday. Sometimes I wish I liked something as much as they like football. It's fun to watch them get excited about it though.

Two of Andy's friends walked on yesterday. Two. Tanner C. and Greg M. Good for them. He has another friend Tom who is already on the team. It will be fun to watch them play.

Claire wrote again on Cougar Board. She got awarded the post of the day for her entry called "Lifetime of Being a Cougar." Check it out here. Our poor kids. They can't help themselves. It's in their blood. They were brainwashed from an early age and they are true fans through and through. They married people who are equally as devout. Next weekend we're going to Denver to see the Cougars play Air Force. Everyone is coming. No one wanted to be left out. It's what we do!

This building has a huge impact on the decisions that are being made concerning the direction the athletic program is going. BYU TV. Ever heard of it? It's big time for lots of different reasons. Here are a few:

BYU Television is celebrating 10 years of success and in 2010 will be expanding their vision. BYU Television, a service provided by BYU Broadcasting, is often confused with KBYU TV. While KBYU TV is a public service limited to Utah, BYU Television reaches audiences across the world on 650 cable systems reaching more than 50 million households in the USA and millions more internationally.

BYU-TV's new tagline, "See the Good in the World," describes their mission to provide good content with LDS values, including content from BYU campuses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Programs often include BYU devotionals, BYU sports, General Conference, and various religious and educational series.

It sits on a hill, its tall glass facade gleaming in the sunlight, a modern tower housing a state-of-the-art TV studio that rivals anything in the industry.

This 100,000-square-foot building, filled with enough soundproof walls to build another complete building, has a giant belly filled with complicated cables, wires, high-definition production wares and state-of-the art technology that feeds a modern TV studio.

Next to it is a sports studio. All of this can split off four BYU-TV broadcasts simultaneously and is rigged for digital media operations and Internet streaming. This tower of glass and mortar is hard-wired with video and audio HD capability direct to LaVell Edwards Stadium and the Marriott Center, reducing the need for one of those giant TV trucks.

And a truck? BYU owns the best HD production truck in the West.

This network, with its capabilities and instant access to DirecTV and Dish Network's basic platform and 200 cable companies in North America, is at the center of the national story that caught the attention of the college football world this past week.

By Dick Harmon, Deseret News, Published: Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010