A Thought for Today

"Perhaps most significant of all classrooms is the classroom of the home. It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed. Our homes are the laboratories of our lives. What we do there determines the course of our lives when we leave home. Dr. Stuart E. Rosenberg wrote in his book The Road to Confidence, 'Despite all new inventions and modern designs, fads and fetishes, no one has yet invented, or will ever invent, a satisfying substitute for one's own family.' "
~Thomas S. Monson~

A Moment Most Disappointing

Last night the world series ended and my team didn't win. I am not a good loser, never have been and never will be, but I am learning to cope a little better as the years go by.

An incident that stands out in my mind is watching a football game that determined which team would go to the State playoffs. The game was tied and in the very last seconds, a pass was beautifully caught by the receiver over the top of the defender for a victory.

A victory for the other team. The defender - my son.

I can't describe the feeling I had as a mother watching my son in the end zone, his head down on his knee. It took my bad-loser attitude to a new level.

But something happens in situations like that - or can happen. Champions are born, character is built, men are made. We get to see what people are made of in times of challenge, trial and disappointment. I wasn't disappointed in what I saw that night.

If we won all the time, we would begin to think that life is like that.

And it is not.

Someone I greatly admire once said,

“[The fact is] most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. …

“Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

“The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride”.

Every hair on my head

About 9 months ago, I wanted a hair change and so I decided to go to Sherilyn, a friend of mine at Madril Hair Design. I have always had dark hair and have always liked it, but wanted a change.

Actually, for 48 years old, I have surprisingly little gray except for a few strays and a patch right where I like to part it. Is that bragging? I guess so, but it's true.

So, I went to get a change in my hair. I came out with beautiful blonde highlights.

I loved it.

Trying to get a response out of my husband, I would ask him what he thought of my new hair.

"I like it dark" is all he would say.

As I asked my boys what they thought, they would say the same thing. A few months later, I went back to Madril and with summer coming, I had Sherilyn put even more blonde highlights in my hair.

I loved it.

Gordon's response, "I like it dark".

Even Scott wrote in a letter saying, "What did you do Mom, put highlights in your hair???"

With the approach of fall and on my next visit, I told Sherilyn that I had to get more brown back in my hair because all the men in my life liked it that way. "As a matter of fact", I said, "I really like yours". It was a nice, rich brown with some beautiful blonde/carmel highlights on the top. So that is what we decided to do. Now, I should mention that red hair runs in my family (right out of the clairol bottle usually) and my hair has a tendency to go that way.

I was a little nervous as Sherilyn put the last "glaze" on my hair. It looked very apricot, not the pretty brown-ish I was expecting. Sherilyn even commented on the "pretty" apricot color. I was getting a gnawing in my stomach at what I was seeing.

Then when she blew my hair dry I was slightly nauseated at what I was seeing. I jumped in the car and hurried home to see what it looked like in a different light. As the sunlight hit my hair, I felt like I had reflectors on it, it was so bright; the nausea threatened to overtake me.

Every woman knows the feeling I am talking about.

It was not apricot hair. It was copper penny red! I am serious. I called Madril back and told Sherilyn I could not live with it. She told me to come right back and she could diffuse the red with another glaze. Two glazes later, it was a little better and there was nothing more she could do. I went home and fixed it as usual and tried not to feel like Grandma Nola, my henna-bottled, red headed grandmother that I adored. The next day was the BSU game and all I had to do was wear a royal blue shirt with my hair and I showed true Bronco spirit.

The part that I am just now getting over? When Gordon came home from work that night and I showed him my new hair, this is what he said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I really liked the blonde in your hair." Of course he did!

As my boys came over they would comment on my hair, "Well, isn't that nice?"

Or something equal to it.

As my hair has faded, I really love it. It is a rich auburn on the bottom with blondish-red highlights on the top. I am in a quandary as to what to do with it next because I can't go through the ultra red again to get it to this point. And, I really want the blonde highlights again. So what color will it be next month?

Something in the brown/auburn/blonde/red category, I'm sure. But hey, change is a good thing - right?

Everyone needs a headlamp!

Saturday we had another workday putting away all the vestiges of summer; cleaning out the garden & putting away the boating accessories etc;. I should mention that it's the Royal We: "Of course when I say 'we', I mean 'you'". We use that phrase often with each other. I poked my head out into the garage while "we" were doing all the work and discovered Gordon on the ladder putting life jackets away into the attic. We are gadget people; we love all sorts of them and are intrigued with new ones. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw Gordon wearing and using his headlamp. I had to take a picture. (isn't he handsome?)

Transported Back In Time

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and it transported you back to another time and place? That happened to me today - big time. Here's where it took me:
We were riding in Big red up the windey switchback road up to Sawtell in Island Park. Most every year we would drive up there and let the kids ride their bikes down. This particular year Gordon and I were in the front and in the back were Scott, Jessica and Spencer Foote (one of our adopted daughters). Scott was about 14 and Jess & Spencer were 10 and 9. Every year, we would have one CD that we would totally wear out on a trip and that year it was "The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel". I wish I could remember the proper name of the song, but the chorus goes, "Lie Lie-lie, (boom) Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie (repeat). I'm sure with that description, you know exactly what song I'm talking about...Anyway, whenever the boom part would come on, Scott would hold his hands up like he was shooting a shotgun. It was one of those things that you probably had to be there to get, but for the rest of that trip, the joke was, "Lie, Lie-Lie (boom)" and we would all shoot our shotguns. Literally, every time I hear that song, I think about a shotgun. But today, I thought about our Scottie boy and how much he is missed and Jess as a 10 year old, and I was having trouble keeping the tears from blurring my eyes as I drove - over a shotgun! A true blogger would have the technical savvy to have a clip of the song to play for you, but I'm not that technically developed - yet. If anyone knows the name of the song, please share.

A Beautiful Day

Today was one of those beautiful fall days full of sunshine, fallen leaves and grandsons. We spent much of the day outside playing in the leaves and I got sooooo many cute pictures. But I will control myself and only post a few of them.

If summer has to end, days like this make it bearable.

Scott

When Scott was about 7 years old, Howard W. Hunter was the President of our church. Not far into his presidency, he announced via a news conference that he had terminal cancer and not long to live.  We talked about it as a family and then continued on with our normal evening activities. Bedtime came and I went up to tuck Scott in as usual. I went to kiss him goodnight and there were tears streaming down his little face. 

"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I'm just so sad about President Hunter.  I love him so much." 

We talked for a while and when I could tell he felt a little better about it, we said a prayer together and then he went to sleep.I learned a lot about Scott that night.  Like his compassion towards others.   His testimony of a living prophet. 

When Scott was 3 years old, all the boys were in the backyard of our home in Sandy happily playing baseball or some other game.  Suddenly, there was Scott, walking very deliberately the length of the yard with a stern look on his face.  It was obvious that one of the boys had done something to make him mad.  When he reached the fence, he stood there and then wanged his head hard against it.  Then walked the same deliberate way back to where the boys were and resumed playing with them.  I learned a lot about Scott that day too.  Like - when enough's enough, you will know it.  Our family calls it the "crap/dang-it" moments.  It's one of his most endearing traits and everyone in the family is very entertained by it.He has been gone 16 1/2 months now.  I miss his compassion, his spirit, his humor, and yes - his "crap/dang-it" moments. 

He's all grown up now and he deserves to be called a man, but he'll always be my dark haired, chubby cheeked little baby boy.

James

When James was a baby, he very rarely took a nap; maybe a catnap every now and then. When all of the other kids would sit and watch a movie or do a quiet activity, James would be exploring; seeing what kinds of things there were in drawers and boxes. One day when he was two I thought he was napping and a friend who lived behind me called and casually mentioned that James was playing in the street with a bunch of neighborhood kids. "No", I said, "he is taking a nap". Sure enough, he was outside. So the next day I purposely got on the phone and turned my back to the door; you guessed it, a few minutes later, there went two year old James sneaking out the front door! I was shocked at the audacity of this two year old boy of mine. I maintained that if we could channel all of his energy, some day he would be unstoppable.

Fast forward twenty years: He is a returned missionary married in the temple to a knock-out blond beauty (inside & out), an honor student on scholarship at BSU, in the student senate, in the Bishopric of his ward, and top salesman for his summer company, Gemtek. Energy channeled. Period.

But even more, he is the kind of young man that people just love to be around. He has this contagious smile and laugh that just light up a room. He is so fun to have conversations with about politics, religion, sports, life, and the latest hot topics. He is my buddy, my friend, someone I can confide in and someone I am proud of. Unstoppable.

8-Tagged by Laura and Michelle

8 Favorite T.V. Shows
Deadliest Catch
American Idol
So You Think You Can Dance
Dancing With the Stars
24
The Office
Medium


8 Favorite Restaurants
Taco Del Mar
Qdoba
Carinos
Cheesecake Factory (Their food is as delicious as their cheesecake!)
Smokey Mountain Pizza & Pasta
Pita Pit
Texas Roadhouse
The Mexican place by the Mall

8 Things That Happened This Week
Got my stitches out from the knee scope
Rested and recuperated my knee.......
Listed my first Million Dollar house!
Learned a new program to manage real estate listings
Watched the third presidential debate
Sent Gordon off on his week-long huntng trip
Went to Carinos with Jess

8 Things I Look Forward To
Seeing my grandsons
Having more grandchildren
Ben and Laura moving back to Boise
Scott returning from his mission
Watching Jessica dance
Traveling
Selling my listings

8 Things On My Wish List
A convertible
A cabin
A new laptop computer
The gophers to go away forever
All of my family to live close by
Gas prices to go down
Our economy to stable-ize (?)
A train to go around the Christmas Tree

Why I love Ben

Ben loves horses. Horses love Ben. He can handle horses better than all of us put together; they just seem to have this special relationship. One of my friends says that Ben looks like the "Marlboro Man". If you don't know who that is, you're probably too young to remember. (If you ask me, I'll tell you, though.)

I'm going to brag here and talk about some really great things he has accomplished in the past couple of years.
He made the Dean's list for the Marriot School of Business at BYU.
He had a cumulative GPA of 3.94.
He will complete his Master's degree in 4 1/2 years.
He has a job offer with Deloitte & Touche in their Tax Dept.

When it comes to computers, just ask him any question and he usually knows the answer right away and if not, he will email you within the hour with instructions on how to fix your problem. I asked him why he didn't minor in something TECH and he said it wouldn't be as fun if it was work. He has an informational blog on computers and the link is on this page.

I always say that having Ben around is like having a warm blanket on. He is just so soothing and comforting to talk to or just be in the same room with without even talking. When he leaves, there is this cool draft and it seems like you feel it forever. He told me Sunday that he gave a talk in church about patience. I asked him if he shared the greatest lesson he has learned in patience and he told me no, that he is uncomfortable sharing his life-changing experience with everybody. We agreed that it is best shared one on one. But, I believe, it is such a part of why Ben is the way he is. When he first got home from his mission, he gave a family prayer and I opened my eyes to look around because I felt like he was truly having a conversation with God.

I miss having Ben be a part of my everyday life. But, like his brother Rich, watching him as an adult puts a smile on my face and makes me happy. He is a kind and considerate husband and I know he will make a great father. I love him and...I really like him too.

Coming soon...James

I love My Sons

President Monson mentioned in his comments during conference that most parents experience a pang of loss from time to time after their children have left the nest. We still have Jess at home with us and so the nest is not empty yet, but all of my boys have flown and I just want to say how much I love them, appreciate them, and yes - miss them.

I'll start with Richard. One of the things I love the most about Richard is his sense of humor, as is evidenced in this picture. He always has just the funny thing to say at just the right moment and keeps us smiling and laughing when he's around. We all love to listen to him tell a story or experience because he does it so well. As my firstborn, we joke that he has been our guniea pig and that he still is. He has been so good natured about it!

As a mother, I feel so grateful to see this wonderful son so diligently complete his education, enter the work force, and support his family. He is such a hard worker and juggles so many things so well. But more than this, I feel blessed to see the kind of husband and father he has become. When I watch him with his two little boys, Cam and Eli, my heart swells. He was always good with kids; he practically raised Jessica and it was him that she took her first steps to. I am amazed at the instincts he has for teaching them responsibility and guiding them. I watch the boys, especially Cam, when Rich is talking and I see that Cam wants nothing more than to be just like his daddy.

Do I miss having him around and part of my everyday life? You bet! But to watch him as an adult is a rich experience that I wouldn't trade. Not only do I love him, but I like him.

You're next Ben....

Tagged by Laura!

I have never been tagged before, so this is a first for me.

Ten years ago, I:
1)Had all five of my children living at home.
2)Had three days a week to myself for the first time when Jessica started 1st grade.
3)Worked as the "Computer Support Specialist" at Capital Seminary two days a week.
4)Was the ward Young Women's president.
5)Had fewer wrinkles!

Five things on my "to do" list:
1)Complete 2 new real estate listings to go on the market.
2)Polish my nails.
3)Clean out my summer flower pots (a sad, sad day):
4)Balance my checkbooks.
5)Program my new purple phone.
(I just completed the last two because I am gimping around from a knee scope I had on Thursday afternoon).

Five snacks I enjoy are:
1)My favorite of Cracker Jacks & Diet Coke.
2)M&M's & Diet Coke.
3)Potato Chips & Diet Coke.
4)Pretzels & Diet Coke.
5)Grapes & Diet Coke? I don't think so.....

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1)Buy a cabin/second home.
2)Buy a convertible for me; new truck for Gordon.
3)Buy all my kids a new home.
4)Invest in real estate, especially now while the market is down.
5)Help those less fortunate.

Five places I have lived:
1)Idaho Falls, ID.
2)Rexburg, ID.
3)Pocatello, ID.
4)Sandy, UT.
5)Boise, ID.

Five jobs I have had:
1)Camp counselor
2)Receptionist/Secretary at a Law Firm
3)Aerobics Instructor
4)Real Estate Agent
5)A Mom:)

I TAG ROBIN, LYNDA, JO, SUZANNE AND HOLLY.

Todd is on the mend!

I left for Idaho Falls on Sunday to go and see Todd and the timing was perfect because he was leaving Dale's house for his own and I was there to help him get settled. Just in the time that I was with him, I saw a lot of improvement in his skin color, eyes and mobility. We even went for a drive up to the Ririe cemetery where Mom is and drove all around the Ririe/Heise area. The leaves were turning and it was absolutely splendid! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers on Todd's behalf. He still has a long ways to go and could still use them. It's so nice to have my brother back!