Have you done any good in the world today?

Good Mood Gig from SAM-e

Here is the deal, one of my bff's  from blogland is trying to get  job by winning a contest.  She needs everyone's help, so click on this link and vote for her every day until November 10th.

She will also be having fabulous give aways on her blog so go and check it out if you are into winning free stuff.  Just click here.  Trust me, her blog will make you smile and sometimes outright spit your drink all over the computer screen.  So be sure to swallow before reading.  Oh and you might want to visit the bathroom as well.  Just saying.

So here is the chance to do a good deed with only the click of the mouse.  How often can you make someone's dream come true so easily?  Look to it peeps.

Missionary Update

I thought I would post just a little update about Elder Hammond.

Here he is the day he got to the mission field with President and Sister Barry.

Do you think he would hate to know that

I think he looks so cute in his badge?

Here is the thing, he is doing amazingly well and loving every minute so far.

I am so grateful that he is where he is,

but it is strange to be so starved for information

about what his new life is like.

You get this kid as a baby and you are there for every single minute.

And then you watch them grow up and you get to go to

every game or concert they are a part of.

You have a front row seat for everything,

and now when he is doing the most important thing he has done so far

you get a few paragraphs every week.

It seems completely inadequate.

And so I stalk the mission blog and

take great joy in seeing the corner of his head in one

of the pictures of the missionaries eating lunch at

a zone conference.

I belong to an email group of other missionary moms to kids

serving in Jacksonville Florida, and every now and then

another mom knows something about the area

he is serving in.

I google earth his address and learn about the city he is in and

any other useless information.

Let me share a part of one of his letters:

"We were challenged by Elder Pearson's wife to read Joseph Smith's history every Sunday and I can say that I've grown to love Joseph Smith. How he was just a normal kid and had many struggles including just bursting out with laughter and being irreverent at church even after his vision. He was a normal guy and I aspire to become like him. I'd love to meet him one day and give him a big hug. He's an awesome man and I appreciate him so much. I gave my first 2 priesthood blessings in 2 days. My first one was wild. I didn't feel any promptings to say anything specific, but as soon as I started I felt the spirit fill my whole body instantly stronger than I've ever felt it. My hands trembled a little as I finished the blessing. It was the wildest thing I've ever experienced with the spirit. He truly encompassed my body and his hands were in mine as I placed them on this lady's head."

Of course when I read something like that, I feel silly for even feeling

like I am missing out on "watching"  him serve his mission.

I know if I was there he could not have the same growth

and experiences.

And so it has been a couple of crazy months,

getting him ready to go,

adjusting to him being gone,

and settling into the routine of just one

letter a week.

It is good and truly I wouldn't want him to be

anywhere else than serving the Lord.

The Tallest of Tall with the Smallest of Small

I think I am going to start embracing wordless Wednesday.  It seems all I can muster right now.

This is Jared with my neice last summer in Seattle.

The Witch Is In

How do I feel overwhelmed, let me count the ways.

I am not quite sure, but I think I am suffering from post summer stress syndrome or PSSS, if you will.  I think back to May and I was so looking forward to having a break from the routine of school.  Of course we did start summer school just 8 days after school ended.  But still getting just one kid to school at 7:30 each day shouldn't be that hard should it?

At the same time I helped prepare a child to leave on a mission.  Again on paper this doesn't seem that hard, costly, yes, hard no.  Just go to the store and fill a cart and empty your check book.  But as my sister pointed out, anticipating your child's every need for two years and then cramming it in a suit case, well that could be cause for exhaustion.  Never mind all the introspection about how you should have taught him to sew on buttons or cook more or manage money better, never mind have done a better job of forcing him at gunpoint to seminary.   Well the tsunami of could'a, would'a, should'a thoughts tend to leave a person feeling less than perky.

Eventually we found ourselves at the appointed time.  I have wanted to write some romantic emotional retelling of the events, but lack the wherewith all at this point to make it happen.  Let's just say I forgot his immunization card that they stress was the most important thing to bring to the MTC.  This caused me no end of guilt and concern.  Fortunately my husband can use a scanner and emailed them to me.  Of course the printer didn't work at my sister's house in Utah, so I had to run over to my brother's house, but that was OK because I also needed to hem the baptism pants we bought and I then forgot to even think about again.  So not much stress in printing out necessary paperwork and hemming pants all the morning before the drop off.  When it was all said and done, he was nervous and tired of waiting around and so we went a half an hour early.  And no I didn't cry.  I feel like I must be a bad mom for that too.  Are we sensing a pattern here?   Truth is I was just so relieved that we finally made it and that he still wanted to serve and that he was where the Lord wanted him to be.

It wasn't until we got home and I saw some of his favorite foods lying around that only he likes to eat.  Things like that kind of made me stop and think about how strange it is.  And I realized that he is going to miss seeing Jared graduate from high school.  Why did I never realize that before.  So perhaps I was able to delay my grief about him leaving and I was really sadder about it than I thought.

Of course I went right from Utah to Seattle for a week and a half of fun family time.  It was so nice to hang out and have fun with everyone.  It was a bit of a chore to help in the feeding of the masses, but everyone pitched in.  And of course fun is just so dang exhausting.  Can someone explain that to me?

I came home and immediately worked like a banshee, whatever that means for one of my jobs. Long, long hours, but at least my kids stayed in Seattle and I didn't have to figure out what is for dinner when I got home.   And then I have spent a lot of time at my second job for the past two weeks. 

I am also suppose to be spending every spare moment sitting in the car with Jared so he can finish up his driving hours and get his license.  Go figure that other things seem to crop up and take priority over ridding around for hours in the 100 temperatures.   We did spend about an hour driving around last Tuesday night, but someone in our neighborhood called the cops reporting that a small white car was casing their house.  I guess we need to increase our driving range to more than just driving around the block for an hour.  The cops were very understanding.

Things like 6th grade orientation.  Good news there, Diana got a top locker and PE sixth period.  Very happy for her.  We were not successful in getting her locker to actually open and plan to spend a few hours this week so she will be ready for the first day.  She also decided that middle school means no more glasses and so we are entering the time consuming world of contacts.  Last Sunday we were 15 minutes late to church because she couldn't get the goll darn things to stay in.  This week went better, and we went back to the eye doctor for follow up visits several times.  Oh and did I mention the doctor visit because her ear hurt,  but the found a darkened piece of ear wax the size of pea in her ear.  Once they washed that out, it felt better.  Who knew of such things?  I have never heard of anything like that.

Someone called to give me a quote for car insurance and I think it is lower so I need to finish analyzing all of that and make some decisions.  And I am suppose to be changing life insurance companies which needs some more finalizing and paperwork done.  I have got to mail Elder Hammond his new driver's licence which should be in a care package which means I should make cookies.  I need to find Jared's proof of driver's ed certificate which I am pretty sure will entail a painful trip to a line at the high school.   I am a complete failure at blogging.  It saddens me when I really think about it.  Next Sunday I am expected to give a wonderful lesson on Job.  So that should be no problem, right.  And does anyone else want to just smack me upside the head and tell me to chill out?

Seriously some deep cleansing breaths seem in order.  I am sure once I have poured this all out and into the universe, things will feel better.  But some of this could be why it feels like the walls are closing in. 

Apparently I am not doing this whole working/balancing everything thing very well. at. all.

I think a wiser me would tell me that I have been neglecting the important things like going to the temple and reading my scriptures.  But the current cranky me would like to kick the wiser me in the kiester.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Families may be forever, but family pictures are few and far between.

Well proving that sometimes dreams can come true,

or at the very least that fate can miss when it tries to kick you in the pants,

 we actually made it to get a family picture taken before

Trent left for two years.

I know, don't pass out from the shock, I know I almost did.

True it was 6:30 the night before he left and JC Penny's closed at 7,

but still

the picture was taken and actually it did not turn out half bad.

Here is a rather fuzzy picture of what we looked like the last time

we managed to force everyone at gun point to sit

in front of a camera.  It has been way

too long since Trent wasn't even shaving

the last time we had a formal picture taken.

Diana took a shot with this adorable hat.

And another with a chair and teddy bear.

The three offspring even managed to sit next to each other long

enough for this moment to be captured for posterity.

And no Trent does not moonlight as a bouncer

or hit man for the mob.  So you will have to look

else where if you need that kind of thing.

Here is the soon to be next driver in the house.

And here is the future missionary, 36 hours from the MTC.

Here is the happy couple 26 years into this marriage thing.

We needed one of all the boys.

And one with just the girls.

All in all, it was one of the more painless family picture taking episodes

I have been privy too.

Now we don't have to worry about that for 7 more years.  Whew

Its a good thing.

Trent has been deposited at the MTC and seems to be doing well.  Sometime

I will write a whole post about that, but I don't have time now.

I am off in Seattle vacationing with the whole famdamily.

Its is tons of fun and there is no time for blogging.

So here are some pictures of one of my neices who never ceases to make me smile.

Could this ice cream cone possibly be any bigger?

How lucky is she?

Seriously have you seen anything as huggable as this little girl?

Three White Suits

Nineteen years ago, we took this cherubic, cherished

young man to the Logan Temple.

Together we knelt at the alter,

and a worker brought Trent

in, and set him up next to us.

When he saw us, he gave us a

grin as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Together, dressed in white, we made

covenants to be a forever family.

 A precious day, never

to be forgotten.

A day dreams came true.

Last Friday, we took this very same young man

to the Las Vegas Temple.

This time it was so he could

make covenants of his own.

 Another precious day,

never to be forgotten.

Another day dreams came true.

The years have changed each of us a bit.

In so many ways it seems impossible

that he is not the sweet little cuddly baby of

nineteen years ago.

Where have the years gone?

Eleven years ago, was another day for covenants

and dressing in white.

As a parent, there is no greater joy

than to see your children walk in truth.

I loved seeing my husband looking so happy

with his arm around his son,

as he escorted him around the temple.

You can't always have what you want,

but sometimes you can.

For that I am eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven.

Three Weeks and Counting

Well at least he will look like a missionary if we don't get anything else done.

Trent goes to the MTC in just over three weeks.

I know that it will be here in a blink of an eye.

We have finished most of the shopping, and

He should go to the temple this weekend.

Still on the to be completed list:

Update immunizations.

Extend his Driver's License.

Take care of a traffic ticket.

Get new scriptures.

I plan to spend the day with him tomorrow,

where I hope we can knock those things off the list.
We also need to get a family picture,
which means I need to get my gray hair colored,
loose twenty pounds,
and buy an new outfit.
Not sure I can get all that done in
just three weeks.

It is amazing how putting on a suit,

can change a boy into a missionary.

I suppose the bright side is, that with him

in Florida, I can mail him anything

we don't get ready.

See Pat stalk the Prophets

Shockingly enough, I still have things from Women's Conference that I want to post. Scary that it is a month later and I haven't managed to get them done yet.

After I had the amazing experience of meeting Katherine Nelson (Emma Smith) and Jane Dudley (Pres. Hinkley's daughter), I was kind of caught up in the stalking spirit. A stalking high, if you will.

As I was walking out of the Hinkley Alumni Center, I spotted this picture of my favorite prophet. I couldn't resist snapping a shot with him. Please forgive the fact that I didn't manage to take the picture straight. But seriously, don't we look cute together? (Just try to ignore my double chin, K? The camera adds ten pounds, right?)


By this time I had stalked away all of the time I should have spent getting to my next class, so I decided to just take a walk down memory lane and visit some other Prophets.

Here I am with Joseph Smith. He was just glowing with happiness to see me. Although he was a bit stiff. Thank you Joseph for all you sacrificed, so I could enjoy the blessings of the gospel. I really like your wife, BTW.
And of course my hero, Brigham Young. I am very bundled up because it was cold and windy. Thank you for starting the academy that could later be turned into a University where I could attend and meet my future husband. BYU has had a profound eternal impact on my life. Oh, and the football team totally rocks. Just sayin.

Dear president McKay, Thank you for having a building named after you so I could get up at 4:00 am and empty garbage cans and clean bathrooms and manage to support myself through college. We shared some great times, but that is a post of another color.
Dear sweet, President Kimball, Thank you for shaking my hand when I was twelve. Little did you know that you created a stalking monster. What a wonderful memory and testimony builder. There was no denying how strong the spirit was that day, at that moment. You will always have a special place in my heart.

And President Benson, Do you remember the day I shook your hand? I was in a married BYU student ward and our stake had a conference about flooding the world with the Book of Mormon. You surprised us all by coming to that event and it was also a very wonderful day. I am very grateful for your words of wisdom about the importance of the Book of Mormon.

And just for a bonus, I decided to stalk a couple of apostles while I was at it.

Here I am with Jeffrey R Holland, who just happened to be the President of BYU when I was a freshman.

I even was privileged to take a Book of Mormon class from him, my freshman year. It was at 8:00 am and the times I was there, it was delightful. But I have to admit to a life long sorrow that I spent much of the year imitating Peter, James, and John at the Mt of Transfiguration. The me of today would like to slap the me of 1983 upside the head. Quit staying up until 2:00 am and get to bed so you can get to class and soak up all the wisdom and feast on the spirit with a man of God.

Sheesh, kids those days.

And last but not least, Boyd K Packer. I loved hearing you speak a few years ago when you came to Women's Conference, even though I did not manage to stalk you up close and personal. This will have to do, much to your relief, I am sure.

So there you have it. Me and so many of the prophets. It was a thrill I tell you. Although I may have frightened some of the students on campus. But maybe middle aged women posing with pictures of prophets is an every day occurrence, who knows. In any event security was never able to catch me and escort me from any buildings, so I count the day as another successful stalking situation.

Bye Bye Bye

A very unexpectedly exciting thing happened to me,

and it's name is:

I got a new garage door opener.

This may not seem like very exciting news,

but here is the picture of my old button for

my old garage door opener.

When my sixteen year old son totaled my car

three years ago,

this button thing barely survived the crash.

And for three years I have been having

to use this little screw driver

to push the metal inside of the little blue circle you can see.

It is a tricky thing to do and usually takes anywhere from a

minute to five.

There may be some cursing involved as well,

or at the very least taking

of said son's name in vain.

Quite the patience

builder if you know what I mean.

I tried getting a universal remote control,

but our door opener was so old that it wouldn't work.

But still getting a new opener never made it to the

top of the priority list of things to buy.

It still worked, kind of, so why spend the money to replace it?

Well last Saturday, Diana was playing water balloons with

some neighborhood kids.

In his usually annoying big brother fashion,

Jared popped one of her balloons.

She then threw another water balloon at him as he was

going into the house from the garage.

Of course she missed, and the balloon hit square on the

garage door opener button attached to the wall.

After that, it did not work. At. All.

I was most disgusted with her for a while,

but then a light bulb went off in my head

and I realized that our home

warranty covers garage door openers.

Hallelujah!!!

So I got a new garage door opener complete with handy dandy

button sans screw driver, for only the mere $55 co-pay.

Have I mentioned how much I love my home warranty?

And now with a quick little push of a button, my garage

door opens.

It is a thing of beauty I tell, ya.

Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Dig It

Diana participated in her school play titled "Dig It". It was about different parts of history such as Greece and Egypt. She had lots of fun practicing and learning songs for the play.

Somehow the music teacher discovered that I had some crafting abilities.

She asked me to create a huge sandwich to used as a prop in the play.

I wandered around JoAnn's one night and came up with the supplies to make this:

Here is a shot of it in action:

Here Diana is demonstrating how it looks good enough to eat.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out.

Who knew?

Now we need to think of another time to use it, because

it seems like a waste to only use it one time.

I wonder what kind of object lesson it could be for

Gospel Doctrine?

My dad had a conference here that week, so both of

my parents we able to come and cheer Diana on.

This is the first time in her grandparents were able to attend such an event.

Of course no school function would be complete with out the last minute shopping.

I shook my head in disbelief when Diana came home the night

before the performance and told me she had to have

tan pants. What the what? Couldn't I have known

about this sooner? Didn't I spend quite a lot of time

and money on making a prop? Seriously?

Gotta love those "Oh by the way,

could you build me the city of Rome in a day,"

kind of moments.

A trip to Target and Wal Mart supplied her with two choices.

But wait there's more.

The morning of the performance, she insists that she MUST

have white sandals.

If not the earth would open up and swallow her whole,

due to mortification.

I should have just been a good/mean mom and said no

but this is why there is a Wal Mart a half a mile from our

house, for just such emergencies.

Finally with her costume crisis resolved, I deposited her at school.

I wonder when I get to take a bow.

All in all it was a very successful event.

Way to go, girlie.

Love ya tons.

(this is not to say, that I am fairly relieved the elementary

days are almost over for me, ahem, I mean her,

of course there is still the fifth grade dance to provide

one last chance for "I need it or I will die"/drama)

Three Kids and a Camera

Last week we went out to dinner at Applebees.

The universe having the sense of humor that it does,

my kids ended up sitting next to each other

across from me in the booth.

I can't really remember the last time they have sat next to each other.

Because close proximity seems to result in hooting and hollering

and battles the likes of World War II,

generally I like to keep them in separate rooms,

if at all possible.

So I couldn't help snapping a shot of this very rare occasion.

For some reason they were not impressed.

You would think they would be used to me by now.

Apparently, not so much.

Look how thrilled they were that I was taking their picture?

Classic mother opportunity to bug their socks off.
Diana made an attempt in this shot, but the boys, still not so much.

Well people, chances are you are going

to be together forever,

so maybe you might want to try and at least like each other, K.
I promise it won't kill you.

Scatter Sunshine

So far you have seen that women's conference is full of yummy food and awesome stalking opportunities, but just like a infomercial on TV, "Wait there's more."

Yes indeedy, one of my favorite parts is doing service whilst learning to be a better person. Kind of a two-fer, if you know what I mean.

My sister and I decided we would prefer to sit and do projects, with a lovely view of the snow falling outside the window, and other women scurrying around to their classes.

The first project we choose was to color these floor mats. He we are ready to get our color on.

And here is the finished project. While we colored this, we listened to a class about avoiding emotional infidelity.

The first half of the class was actually taught by NieNie's sister. She was very charismatic and fun to listen to. She referenced Elder Bednar's talk titled What is real. If you haven't heard about it you should really read it. It offers an apostolic warning about the dangers of the internet and modern technology.

The class urged us to have real expectations for our husbands and to be absolutely loyal to him in word, deed and thought. She also warned that we need to be aware of the adversary's goals. We need to limit time spent with those or things that are in competition with our husbands. Also be sure to connect with our husbands every single day. Also we need to learn to receive personal revelation on how to improve our individual marriage.

Next we moved rooms and worked on sewing up these fleece pockets that have velcro making them attach to a wheelchair.

I wish I had a thimble for this project because it was really hard to get the needle through the velcro. But we persisted and finished both of ours. When I turned my in, I asked if they could find a blind person in a wheelchair to give it too, that way no one would see how crooked it was.

There was a definite learning curve to this project, and so we stayed in that room for the next class and made another one. It actually turned out pretty well.

On Friday they announced all the of the service that was accomplished by so many willing hands. It is amazing what can get done when people put their minds to it. The theme of the service event was "Scatter sunshine." And it was fun to be part of the scattering.