May TA DAHS!

Another month is over, looking back I remember lots of fun moments and accomplishments:

1. Volunteered at DUP-Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum as a docent

2. Attended two DUP Jubilees and a picnic/visited with old friends from New Harmony

3. Got a perm, color and cut for summer

4. Started water aerobics three times/week for an hour-can feel the difference-my stomach muscles are there again!

5. Spent Mother's Day with family, heard from all my sons and grandkids

6. Visited with local family members-spent the day at This is the Place State Park and decorated graves for Memorial Day

7. Organized a Writers WORDshop class-last one till Sept. on rhythm in our writings

8. Wrote a gazillion articles and poems-submitted articles for my column for two months ahead and the HWG newsletter

9. Blogged daily-it's a fun habit and gives me a place to publish my thoughts

10. Facebooked daily-making contact with younger family members more and uploaded my family tree (see last post) with photos for four generations

11. Got registered for new Familysearch.org-our church's latest genealogy program and am cleaning up my family tree data

12. Submitted 12 entries for a writer's conference and got registered to go in Sept.

13. Visit taught my friends in church and attended the temple

14. Still reading First Things First by Stephen R. Covey and thinking about priorities and my mission statement

 

What have you been up to this past month? List a few in your comment or blog. Celebrate all the good things that happened and just learn from the more challenging events.

Check out FACEBOOK

Oh no, you say I'm already BLOGGING and TWITTERING how could I possibly add Facebook? Well, let me tell you some of the benefits I've found. It's less demanding than blogging-you don't need to write as much each time or put any photos or clipart or backgrounds on your posts. Just make short remarks to other's comments or questions. It's part of GOOGLE and social networking. What it does make possible is finding long lost friends, roommates and high school buddies. Everyone uses their real name and maiden names so you can search for them and make contact again. No one can access your page without your permission to make or read comments. There's also a more private email function if you don't want the whole wide world to read what you are writing to someone.

What I've seen happen is more interaction between individuals in my OWN FAMILY. Individuals who normally wouldn't write an email to each other are now having mini exchanges and getting to know each other better. All ages can join-kids to retirees. And there is a fun area called FAMILY LINKS where you can upload your genealogy and ancestral photos into MY TREE then make it available to others. Check it out under We're Related-Tree. Here's four generations of my family.
There are also lots of little cutesy things like games and things to send to each other if you really want to get more involved and have the time. I just make comments and check on activities of family and friends. Posts can be as simple as nite nite. Guess that does it for this blog too.

Article #57 Childhood Pets

When we lived in Eureka with my grandma, I had a mixed collie dog that I named Boots. I couldn’t take him along when we moved to California for my mom’s work, so he stayed in Utah. It only took a short time for him to get into trouble running with a pack of wild dogs that chased sheep. He was shot by the sheriff. I should have taken Boots with us but there wasn’t room in our 1940 Hudson coupe that was packed with all our earthly belongings. We planned to live with my mom’s sister and her family near Los Angeles in their backyard in a small 19 foot trailer with no bathroom or refrigerator. Sharing my aunt’s one bathroom in her small house with her family of four was like camping––just my widowed mom and me in a trailer. Our space was limited with NO room for a dog.

Soon we moved our trailer from my aunt’s backyard to a nearby trailer park. We had a fenced-in area with an attached awning over our patio. In time, I was able to get another pet when we purchased a larger 35 foot mobile home which seemed like a mansion after our small camper. We had our own small bathroom with a tub-shower, toilet and sink all about the size of my grandma’s outhouse back in Utah, except we had hot water and…room for more pets. Think small pets: gold fish, turtles, and later parakeets or love birds. They were considerably less work than a dog or a cat. But no matter how careful I was in taking care of my new pets, it seemed that one of them was always dying. That would call for an elaborate funeral as they needed to be properly buried in our yard. (I certainly hope than I don’t meet all my many childhood pets in the next life.)

California was certainly a different climate than Utah––no snow or separate seasons just sun, fog, rain or overcast weather. Then there was the beach, only a few miles away where you could play in the sand and waves to your heart’s content. In those days, no one warned you about sun tanning and skin cancer. We loved California. Many hours were spent at the beach, but we were always homesick for Utah’s sagebrush and cedar trees also I missed my dog Boots.

Seeing past first impressions...

When we first meet someone, we form an impression of them that may or may not be true. In our church, we have a program where the men in twos go home teaching several families once a month and the women in twos visit teach several women also once a month. The purpose of these visits is to be shepherds of the flock, to give assistance, support and present a spiritual message. I've noticed how it takes time to get to really know the people we teach.

What we see in public or at church are the smiling best foot forward faces that we all put on. It is only by interacting and gaining trust with others that we come to truly know them-their heartaches, struggles and challenges. This month as I visit taught one of the ladies we see, she felt safe enough to share her heart and past hurts. That in turn, gave us as the teachers an opportunity to open our hearts and bond as friends. That process is quite interesting...making friendships. It requires that we first reach out and send value/love to another person and genuinely listen to them. TRUST and friendship is a by-product of taking the time to care about each other.

It's rare with our families to find those minutes to truly communicate in our fast paced lives and multimedia lives, but it's important as we patiently wait and pray for opportunities to talk heart to heart. Guess that's one reason why we have problems to humble us so we need each other and God who waits patiently for us to find time in our busy lives to approach Him with faith and trust. He will turn everything that we experience to our good. Reminds me of a scripture... Search diligently, be believing, and all things shall work together for your good. (D&C 90:24) A great promise!

Happy Birthday Happy Birthday

It's time to celebrate Emilee and Heather's birthdays

To my twin grand daughters who will be eleven today

What fun and excitement when you came to our family

Two cute little lively babies just nine months old 

Placed in our loving family's arms by their birth mother

Given to us to nurture and raise in love and security

Taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and sealed together

In the bonds of an eternal family forever and forever

We love you both equally as if you had been born

To our family, we know our Heavenly Father guided

You to come and live in Utah and be raised with the

Gospel's influence and two loving faithful parents

To guide and cherish you always, provide everything

Needed for your growth including a father and a mother

And many sets of grandparents to love you plus two

Little brothers also adopted to learn to love and cherish

This is the Place

After we decorated graves last saturday we went as a family to This is the Place State Monument near Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah. It's a fun Heritage Park of 27 different restored pioneer buildings staffed by costumed volunteers explaining life in pioneer times. The grandkids really enjoyed this and at the same time were learning of our family history including the early settlers of Utah and the Native Americans. The kids got to pet baby farm animals, ride a train and a pony, and see lots of demonstrations of life in earlier times.

Decorating Graves

Had a wonderful time joining with family members and placing flowers on graves to remember our departed loved ones.




Had a family luncheon with my one remaining uncle-my dad's brother and his daughters-my cousins and my twin grand daughters plus my youngest son and his wife.  It was a fun and a fitting celebration of Memorial Day. We remembered our departed family members.

Remembering...

Silence and peace prevail
Where once they fought
On far off battlefields
Giving their last breath
To preserve our freedoms

Now a simple headstone

Testifies to their bravery

WWII, Vietnam war and others

Called to them to service

Challenges and horrors
Too difficult to recall
Plagued the survivor’s
Thoughts and dreams

Many never returned

 Gone to a higher place

Of rest as we remember

Their sacrifices for us

Worth your time....

A friend of mine sent this utube video to me and it's certainly worth watching and thinking about...

Article #56 A Day to Remember

I remember my first Memorial Day, the year after my dad’s funeral in June 1945. He was killed unexpectedly in an airplane crash when I was five years old. My most vivid memory from his funeral is the smell of gardenias. My mom kept all the ribbons from his floral displays for years and all the sympathy cards. There were many. We tried to meet yearly with family to decorate his grave. Now mom has passed away and is buried by his side when we visit their graves. I find myself the oldest member of my immediate family-the matriarch. That’s a sobering thought as you realize in just a few years you could also be planted beneath the sod with only a headstone to mark your life.

That’s why I write and collect genealogy, so our family will not be forgotten. I’ve visited most of my ancestor’s burial places within Utah and photographed their headstones. Nowadays I have a webpage on the Internet where I publish my family histories and photos. It does get the attention of my younger family members who are computer literate––which is most of them. My goal is family unity and learning from our ancestor’s legacies or our own heritage.

What are the lessons you want to leave for your immediate family and close friends? Your example and daily life speak volumes as you touch others’ lives and struggle through your own challenges. Writing a life history or memoirs of your experiences can help connect you to your family, a way of extending your legacy or memory for generations yet unborn. Aren’t you just the tiniest bit interested in the lives and challenges of your great grandparents who you probably didn’t even know? I am. So, should your life be any less interesting to your great grandchildren?

Try writing your own obituary of your life’s accomplishments and lessons learned or better yet write your life history or a summary. What do you want your headstone to say? My uncle Les’s headstone says…gone fishing. That was his favorite activity while living, but I bet he’d love to have just one more day, week or year of normal everyday activities with his family around––eating dinner together or simply talking. Life does have a habit of rushing forward whether or not we are prepared for the end, it will come. Think about that, as you celebrate this Memorial Day.

Family far away

We all have some of our family who live far away in distance but not from our hearts. I wanted to share some photos from my daughter-in-law Nedret's facebook page. She is an excellent photographer and I love looking at photos she's taken of their family. Only wished we lived closer together. Photos: my oldest son Frank and my grandson Hakan, and the family. FAMILY is what it's all about...

Fun Similes

You're as cool as a cucumber.

She's some tomato.

Cute as a button.

Ugly as a mud fence.

Fresh as a daisy.

Sweeter than honey.

Skinny as a rail.

Fat as a pig.

Wise as an owl.

Crazy like a fox.

As strong as an ox.

Regular as a clock.

Quiet as a mouse.

Drunk as a skunk.

Proud as a peacock.

As cuddly as a cactus.

Smooth as sandpaper.

Busy as a beaver.

Dead as a doornail.

As happy as a lark.

Mad as a hornet.

Nutty as fruitcake.

Old as the hills.

Quick as a wink.

Pure as snow.

As scarce as hen's teeth.

Slippery as an eel.

Slow as a turtle.

Solid as a rock.

Straight as an arrow.

Stubborn as a mule.

Tough as nails.

Nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Check out these websites: 
www.saidwhat.co.uk/spoon/similes.php and 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile