Marjorie's Chair

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes…and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp…I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really there, and that I really lived.
~Marjorie Hinckley

Love that!

But this is just the Best:
President Hinckley had Marjorie's chair moved from the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at BYU to the new Hinckley Alumni Center so that something of hers would be there too.

Son on Lake

I just love this picture of Halibut and the way the sun sparkles on the water.

Berry Nice

On Memorial Day we talked about the gift of freedom, and the freedom to go and do whatever our hearts desire. And I found my heart's desire for that morning! Big Tuna really found a gem when he found this little farm. The weather was perfect for filling a few buckets (tummies too) full of gorgeous strawberries. The farm is just a short distance from our home and it is really something - at least to us 'cityfolk'! The rows went on forever and were full to the brim with plump, juicy fruit. We didn't have to look very hard for the good ones either--the hardest part was putting them in the basket instead of our mouths!

There were also all sorts of veggies-and all sorts of flowers for bouquets. I bought the biggest head of green leaf lettuce I've ever seen! The girls really hoped to be able to harvest an armload of those flowers, too!

Well, we got a surprise when we got them home - we didn't realize how many we had picked and were running out of things to do with them (I've never made jam in my life--not a big fan personally) We were running out of freezer and fridge space when Big Tuna had an epiphany - dehydrator! Our first attempt at fruit leather went pretty well - not as good as fresh berries, but, then again,... what is?

snip , snip...

Well, it all started with a little boy's bang trim so that I could see his eyes and somehow I got roped into a stint as tweener beautician. I didn't have any problem snipping off the other two girls' hair when the weather started getting hot. they have fine, thin hair that turns stringly-looking at about shoulder-length. They now have the "summer bob" that all of their friends seem to be sporting these days.

However, when it came to Miss G - well, then I got nervous. She has the thick luxurious locks we all long for. When she was little she had those boing-boing curls that Romona Quimby coveted. As she grew older the curls were replaced with a thick auburn mop - see photo. But she begged and pleaded. "I'll braid it, put it in pig-tails, ponytail it - that'll be cooler anyway" said I, remembering the pixie-headed me of long ago and my jealousy over my sister's waist-length blonde mane.

Then she got mad and I gave in. I couldn't bring myself to chop off quite as much as I did with the other two, though. She seems happy with it, but not at my snapping photos of her. (And I've read the deer don't nibble on plants surrounded by human hair - so tomorrow, I'll be sadly scattering...)

What a blessing...

Lately H-man has been spending lots of time out in the garden with his dad. He digs and looks for worms--boy stuff. Dh has a huge plot tilled up and filled to the brim with tiny tomato, pepper, and been seedlings that hopefully will fill our kitchen with veggies this summer. Only problem is, once we got them in the ground we didn't have a chance to put up a deer fence since there has been so much rain. Without a deer fence (and chicken wire for squirrels) our poor plants don't stand a chance. The deer will mow them down before you can say "Awe cute, Bambi".
So, as I was helping my 5 year old say the evening family prayer, he came to a stop and I suggested "bless the garden". He repeated "bless the garbage" without a pause and the rest of us struggled to hold in our giggles until the end. Well, we are watching to see if maybe our garbage will not multiply as fast as it usually does. What a blessing that would be!

You Are Belle!

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your appearance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

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Good Call!

My parents were recently called to work in the Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple. This came as a bit of a surprise and I could tell that both were a little nervous about the call. I was grateful to have the opportunity to go with them on the last night of my visit. My DH suggested that it would be a good idea to pursue it even though it would add an extra day to my trip. I'm so glad I took his advice to get a photo of the three of us, since I may not ever have this chance again to be there with both of them. I actually never thought I'd see this day and I am still amazed at the blessings that the Lord has showered down upon our family.

Usually getting to the temple is a touch and go experience - with coordinating our schedules, babysitting, traffic, etc. something always seems to go wrong to keep us away. But this time things seemed to go smoothly, especially since I didn't have to worry about kids, although we did have a few small glitches - including me finding out that my reccommend was expired(!). Fortunately, the Temple President was able to track down President Hatch back here in North Carolina (it was late on the East coast!) who put in a good word for me. I could tell Dad was tired after working all day and not sleeping well the night before, but I'm glad he decided to go. The few minutes we were able to spend together in that sacred place was so worth it!