Happy Six Months

Sunday marked the six month anniversary for James and I and he got me this wonderful bouquet of six red roses and my favorite, daises. I know six months isn't a big anniversary, but if these last six months are any indicator, then spending Eternity with my sweet husband won't be near enough time.

Things I'll just never understand

1. The allure of Dan Brown books. Yes, I've read them all, but I only read the Lost Symbol to see if he kept to the exact same template that he used for the other four books. By the way, he did with minor modifications, but by page 10, I new where the "treasure" was buried, by page 50 I knew who the real good guy was, and by page 100 I knew who the person working against the protagonist was.

2. Liberals

3.Jon and Kate

4. Subatomic physics

5. Entitlement attitudes. Seriously, when did work become a 4 letter word?

6. How Silvio Berlusconi is still in office.

7. Huskermania

8. All the words to "I Want You" by Savage Garden. You remember the "chica cherry cola" song.

9. Glenn Beck

10. Why Arrested Development was ever canceled.

Ahhh, the healing power of Hymns

This morning I was stressed.

Not the normal stressed, I'm always the normal stressed, but I was worried about the balance in one bank account (We use that one to pay only two things and I foolishly hadn't left quite enough for our car payment) so I was rushing around town trying to find the one location in Lincoln so I could deposit some extra money. I was upset about some misinformation that one of my clients had received and was trying to figure out how best to rectify that situation. I was also worrying about my afternoon and how I was going to fit in all of my clients and get everything accomplished. I was so stressed about everything that my head hurt and my chest was tight.

As I was driving, I tried to call my sister to chat. Talking to family almost always helps with the de-stressing, but she was about to take a nap with her little one, so we didn't talk long. I turned on the radio, but my station was super staticky. I decided to switch over to listening to the iPod. James had left it on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The minute I heard the soothing sounds of the holy hymns, my soul relaxed. My headache went away and my whole body just calmed. Things would be okay and I just needed relax and face each problem as they come. All those answers from a few strains of "I need thee every hour." How blessed we are to have the healing power of hymns.

Grapes

My Uncle Mike stole grapes. He came right up to my father's vine and took them without even asking. He even recruited my husband in his dirty deed. Neither of them mentioned that the grapes had been filched. The only reason my family knew that he had taken them was that his wife, Chris, was silly enough to thank us for giving them the grapes.

Okay, so Mike didn't really steal the grapes, he just took them without asking, knowing full well that was absolutely acceptable. That's the beauty of my family. If we need something, someone is always there to give it. Whether it's a service such as coming over at midnight to "take care" of a raccoon that my father can't get (by the way, evidently crutches, a gun, a flashlight, and a raccoon aren't the best combination) or if it's needing grapes so your wife has something to serve guests, our family is always there for one another. We help each other build cabins, gather cows, feed animals, pull out stuck vehicles, and a host of other services. It's always done with no expectation of compensation, no expectation of reward--just the knowledge that someone (literally) helped his brother.

As far as families go, I think I've got the best and that only gets cemented every time I see one of my uncles help another. The service and love that is offered in my family cannot be beat.

2009 Family Reunion

This year my immediate family was in charge of the family reunion. It was so much work, but in the end I think everyone had a good time. Being in charge & having a ton of things do didn't leave me with much time to take pictures, but here are a few I did get.

Everyone mulling around chatting,

because isn't that really what a reunion is

all about?

The boys cooking
err, burning the food?


and some one's kid just rocking that

piece of watermelon

Every year at the reunion we have an auction to raise money for the family. This year we gave the kids pretend money and let them "bid" on toys and candy and trinkets before the real auction got underway. This was a smashing success. The kids loved being able to buy things and it gave them something to do while the adults did the big auction.

This year I had a lot of fun at the auction and was able to help out the family a lot. I say this because I got caught trying to bid up an item--a quilt my mother had made with pictures of my great-grandparents and their children. I was trying to get the price just a little higher and had bit it up to $170.00. Someone else bid $180.00 and my father told me to bid again and he'd give me the extra $10.00. I took it up to $190.00 and the person I was bidding against stopped bidding. I was going to just let her have it for $200.00 but got caught with my $190.00 bid. Opps. Luckily it is a beautiful quilt and my father really wanted it, so I left it with him and am able to feel good about helping the family.

I love our family reunions. It's so great to go home every year to see those that we love the most. I hope it's a tradition that will continue for a very long time, and if I have anything to do with it, it will.

Food Storage

James & I decided it was time to heed the prophet's counsel and get a year's worth of food. By the first of August we could finally afford to purchase a ton (okay, not that much, but it felt like it when we had to carry it downstairs) of food. We're so excited to have some food storage. It may not be much & it may be a bit bland, but we can survive, if necessary, on our supply.

Now fast forward to Labor Day weekend. My extended family did a service for my Great Aunt Veda. She has been canning and storing food her whole life and had a plethora of bottles, boxes & bags full of food storage. Unfortunately most of it was thirty to sixty years old and absolutely inedible. Our family cleaned out her storage room for her. We hauled bottles, boxes, & bags full of food storage up the stairs and onto a trailer to be hauled away. This wasn't easy for Aunt Veda to watch. We kept reassuring her that it was okay to throw away the food, growing up with the mantra of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" had taught her never to throw out anything. But she had done as the prophets have asked. She built up her food storage and was blessed never to have to use it.

Aunt Veda has taught me many things over the years, but this experience with her helped enforce the need for obedience. We need to follow the prophet. We need a years supply of food. Just in case. But in following that command, we pray that the blessing from gathering a food storage is never to have to use it.

Coming home

This last weekend was my family reunion (more to come on that). For many many reasons the family reunion was needed this year and it was very hard to come back to Omaha. Among those reasons is this: