Big BYU Win!

 We love BYU football!  The recent win over Notre Dame was such a great highlight of this year!

Go Cougars!

Hinton Sibling Gathering

Once a month the Hinton siblings that live in this area gather for an evening. We take turns being in charge.  The couple in charge chooses where to go out to dinner, then hosts the others in their home for dessert after.  I usually forget to take pictures, but I remembered for our last one in Don and Ada's home. It was a very rainy night.  We had dinner at a crepe restaurant and then we went to their home for dessert. We had all recently traveled, so we all reported on our trips.  Don and Ken had just returned from Costa Rica on their birding trip.  Don is a photographer and showed beautiful pictures of the birds they saw. 

We then had delicious treats and went back out into the storm.  We enjoy these evenings with family.

Brian Sings in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints General Conference Choir

For the Saturday afternoon session of general conference, October, 2026, they held auditions in the Salt Lake City area to sing in the choir.  Over 3,000 people auditioned., including our Brian.  He got in!  It was a wonderful experience for him and for all of our family watching him.  

I was snapping pictures each time he was shown on camera.

On the left

Each choir member was given two tickets for family members to attend.  Michelle let Gabbi and Jaron go.

I was so busy looking for Brian and taking pictures, I wasn't absorbing the sound.  On Monday morning, I watched the video of each number.  This choir was so good!  I'm sure because it was by audition, the quality of sound was amazing.  I sincerely felt it was a similar sound to the Tabernacle choir.

This was such a sweet conference experience for Brian (who loves church music and is so talented) and for all of us.  We are so grateful he had this opportunity.

My Reading Life

 

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Non-Fiction Physical Book

I love this book. I mean I love the actual book. It is small, perfect for holding, and has a beautiful cover. I so enjoyed holding it and reading it. It is a collection of essays written by Pat Conroy, celebrating the books, people (some nice, some not so nice) and libraries that shaped his soul. I loved it. It inspired me! It caused me to reflect on my own reading journey. I may even write a similarly themed book, as it brought so many of my reading memories. I particularly loved the last two chapters. May I share some of my favorite quotes from those chapters:
“My mother’s voice and my father’s fists are the two bookends of my childhood, and they form the basis of my art.”
“I have tried to read two hundred pages every day of my life since I was a freshman in high school.”
“Here is what I want from a book, what I demand, what I pray for when I take up a novel and begin to read the first sentence: I want everything and nothing less, the full measure of a writer’s heart. I want a novel so poetic that I do not have to turn to the standby anthologies of poetry to satisfy that itch for music, for perfection and economy of phrasing, for exactness of tone. Then, too, I want a book so filled with story and character that I read page after page without thinking of food and drink, because a writer has possessed me, crazed me, with an unappeasable thirst to know what happens next.”
“That’s what a good book does-it puts readers on their knees. It makes you want to believe in a world you just read about-the one that will make you feel different about the world you thought you lived in, the world that will never be the same.”

And that is what Conroy does. Every sentence he writes is perfection. I am working my way through his books. I loved this little book that gives background and insight into his soul and life and will help me appreciate each of his books. 5 stars.


View all my reviews

Hope- Holland

 

Beach Music

 

Literary Fiction/ Historical Fiction   Physical Book

To read about this book may not engender interest in it.  It deals with suicide, abuse, Holocaust (though I just skimmed those two parts,) family relationships and trauma, friendship, betrayal, etc.  Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?  But to actually read it is a glorious, epic journey of words and emotions and forgiveness.  This, people, is a masterpiece.  I am a sensitive reader.  But the only parts that were too much for me were those dealing with the Holocaust.  I saw them coming and simply skipped them.  All the rest were sensitively revealed.  This author was a master.  It is a big book.  I read a hard back copy with 628 pages.  It was heavy and hard to hold.  It took me a while to get through it.  But it was worth the journey.  I am already reading another by this author and have collected more to read in the future.  I have been in presence of greatness.  4 ¼ stars.

Temple

 

Weenie Wednesday

 For many years in our ward, the guys in our ward have a fun tradition:  they meet each Wednesday for lunch.  For years they met at Costco and had hot dogs- hence the name.  But in the last few years, they meet at the park in our neighborhood or at Jack's (selfie taker) house.  Even some of the men who have moved from the ward, but still live in the area come.  It seems that women do this a lot, but a little more rare for men to do it.  It's a great bonding experience.

Tower of Books

 

10 Virgins

 Michelle and Gabbi were asked to participate in a stake Relief Society program about the parable of the ten virgins.  It is a play written by Emily Belle Freeman.  They each told their scripted story and each sang a solo.  The night before the big event the participants' families were invited to a preview of the show.  Brian was so kind to video it for us.  I was blown away with both of their acting talent, eloquence, and their singing voices.  It was absolutely moving.  I SO wish I could show a video, but blogger won't upload videos.  But they got some pictures, too.

What a beautiful thing for mother and daughter to participate in together.

Ah Oh!

 The Keynotes really better watch out!

Prayer Gives Hope For Society

 

Pilot Blake

Blake has been taking flying lessons on his day off from work.  Shonna was able to fly along and experience what he is experiencing.  She loved it!