Leave It Better Than You Found It

Another mantra that I love is "Leave it better than you found it."  I think this is kind of a boy scout motto, as scout leaders through the years have tried to instill it into scouts when leaving their campsite. But it has so many other applications.  I try to think of it as I leave a room in my house, as I leave my car, as I leave a choir rehearsal that I'm conducting (did I leave a message that helps people be better than they were when they came?), as I leave a home where I visit taught (same application), as I leave a phone conversation or a personal conversation, as I teach a voice lesson, etc.  I think it's a great mantra for missionaries- to be determined to leave an area better than they found it.  It can be applied in so many ways.  So, there's another great mantra to consider:  Leave it better than you found it!

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My Favorite Things- Cookie Butter

Thanks, Joan.My sister Joan brought me a jar of this Trader Joe's Cookie Butter.  It is uncommonly good.  It is addictive. The other day I was tearing apart the cupboards seeking a graham cracker.  Ken asked what I was doing. I told him I needed a cracker on which to spread the cookie butter. "Who needs a graham cracker?" he said, and calmly walked over to the drawer and pulled out two spoons.  He unscrewed the jar lid and we both got our fix.  He's right.  No graham cracker needed.  I did try it on Ritz and it was delicious.

 Lucky Boise is getting a Trader Joe's.  Lucky, lucky Boise.  This stuff is my new one weakness.  It is one of my favorite things.

Spring Break and Heritage Dinner

We had a whirlwind week the week before Easter. It was Joan's spring break, so everyone decided to come and spend the week in sunny St. George.  Joan drove to Provo on the weekend, then Shonna and the kids met her in Provo and climbed in with her to come on down.  I made Ritzy Chicken that night, then we watched the NIT BYU game.  Yea!

On Tuesday, we went shopping at Tai Pan Trading and I got a big old pot.  It’s big.  Then we went to Michael’s and got flowers to fill er up.  I LOVE flower pots- always have.  But they die when we’re on vacation in the summer heat, and it’s frustrating.  So I filled them with permanent botanicals (artificial flowers and greens), and Joan and Shonna arranged them and they look pretty on my front porch.  In the afternoon, we went out to Pam’s and went to a museum in Santa Clara and then to a couple of stores out there.  I didn’t buy much.  That night I made pasta.  After dinner, we were supposed to have our online book club, but Joan's car died, so we ended up having an adventure in the Target parking lot, and then getting a new battery installed in her car.  

Wednesday, I had two Keynote performances at Assisted Living Centers in the morning.  Joan and Shonna and kids went to both; John, Cindy, and Pam came to the 2^nd one.  It was so nice of them.  John and Cindy drove down from Patty’s that morning to be there for the 11:00am one.  I felt so supported.

  After the performance, we went to lunch at a Greek place.  It was yummy. 

 Then Joan helped me get set up on the church’s website on family tree.  I’d actually been there before, but she taught me a lot and got me excited.  It was fun.  We did that until my first voice  student arrived.  Joan left to go to Vegas to shop and pick up Tom at the airport and they stayed down there that night.  It was fun to have hot dogs with Shonna and kids that evening. 

Thursday, I tended Caleb and Lily while Shonna went to the temple.  Blake’s parents stopped by while I was tending them.  They had been to Vegas and were just passing through.   I taught voice lessons all afternoon.  After lessons, we all went out to dinner at Pasta Factory- at least those who were here:  Pam and Roger, John and Cindy, Joan and Tom, Shonna and kids and us.  We forgot the camera.

Friday was a busy prep day for the Heritage Dinner. We have a dinner with foods from the countries of our heritage. It makes a great excuse to all get together.  This year, we had all Scandanavian Food, since that is where most of our ancestors are from,  and everything was delicious. Pam hosts it and set a beautiful table and decor.

   We made the rolls, salmon, asparagus, rice pudding and yummy butter cookies.  Patty and Hal arrived that day and so all of my siblings were there.  Joan, Shonna and I went to the arts festival downtown in the morning. I haven’t been for years.  It has really grown and was fun to see all the cool stuff.  I bought a little bit of,  you guessed it- jewelry!  It's my one weakness.  The guys had the Gabrielsen Open golf tournament.  Ken  and Joan's husband, Tom tied for the win.  So they sawed the duck in half. 

After a couple of hours at the festival, we came home  and finished prep. for the dinner and went to Pam’s.  It was a delicious meal and we all ate way too much!.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful meal.  Like Blake teased, only in the Gabrielsen family would you find labels on the food!

 It was so fun to be together.  We played a fun getting to know you better game after dinner. We would have learned a lot more about each other, but Whitney was there!(inside joke)

 then the sisters looked at family photos and decided what to scan to put on family tree.  It’s a big project.

Whitney (Joan's daughter) and a friend, Ruthann, came down and got there late for the dinner, then Blake (Shonna's husband)  arrived and had dessert.  It was such a fun evening and even worth all of the work to get it ready!

I was kidding about the duck- it's still in one piece.

Spring Break Week, continued- Easter!

Saturday, we had egg Muffins and then Patty and Pam came over to visit for the morning (John and Cindy had already left to head back home to be there for Sunday, and the other guys were golfing again.)  It was so fun to visit and get their advice on my kitchen remodel.  Little Lily loved all the aunts and also Whitney’s friend, Ruthanne.  She really likes people.


We went on a picnic to the water park at lunch.  Both kids got soaked to the skin and came home in diapers only.  But they had a blast.

Maybe my favorite part of the whole week was Shonna and Whitney making music for us.  Whitney played and sang, Whitney played and Shonna sang, and Whitney played and Shonna played the flute.  It was heaven.  They are so good!!!

We decided to have our Easter dinner that evening while everyone was still here.  We did a huge ham, I made more rolls, asparagus, Funeral potatoes, lemon salad and scotcharoos for dessert. .

The kids colored eggs and hid them.  We put on our Easter feast, and somewhere in there, Ken put together his new smoker grill.  We’re looking forward to trying it out.

After dinner and clean up, we played some games.

Memorable Quotes from the Week:  (see if you can guess who said them)

"Fi Fi Fo Fum!"
"We need to work on family history."
"Where does the Easter bunny live?"
"Odder side."
"I pooped!"
"Leave Lily's head alone."
"Where Wee Wah?"
"These Danish cookies are damn good."

Can you guess who said what?  Here's the answers:
"Fi Fi Fo Fum!"  is how Ken greets the kids.  All of the grandkids know that's what Grandpa says.  He comes in the door from work and says it and they all know he's home.  They look a little scared(cuz he chases them and "gets" them.) and a lot happy when they hear him.
"We need to work on family history."  That would be Joan.  She got me going.
"Where does the Easter bunny live?"  Caleb wondered.  Hmmmm!  I didn't know.  So we googled it and found that he lives in deep burrow on Easter island.  It is very deep so that us humans won't find his immense candy stash.
"Odder side."   This was cute Lily.  She loved to play a game where she would give Ken or I a kiss on the cheek.  We'd blow out air that made a noise that she thought was hilarious.  She'd giggle and giggle, then say "Odder side," so we'd turn the other cheek.  She could play that game for hours!
"I pooped!"  On Sunday, the Primary president came and got me out of Sunday School to play the piano in primary, as the pianist hadn't shown up.  On the way down to the Primary room, I peeked in the nursery to check on Lily and Caleb.  So, a few minutes later, the nursery leader, knowing I was in Primary, brought Caleb in.  Sister Steck, the primary president was right in the middle of teaching the children a beautiful Easter sharing time when Caleb very loudly announced, "I pooped!  I pooped in the nursery!"   It took poor Sister Steck two minutes to calm all of the children back down.  Oh, my.
"Leave Lily's head alone."  That's Shonna, well all of us really.  Caleb loves his sister, and sometimes likes to torment her!  Sounds like normal siblings to me!
"Where Wee Wah?"  That's Lily.  She calls Caleb Wee Wah.  We don't know why.  If you say, "Caleb" she knows who that is.  If you say Wee Wah she knows who that is.  So it's not just how she says Caleb.  We've decided she has the Gabrielsen inclination to give a nick name.  It's just her pet name or nick name for her brother.  When all of the aunts were here on Saturday morning, Caleb was bouncing off the walls, so his Daddy took him on a field trip to see Grandpa's office.  Lily kept going to the window and asking "Where Wee Wah?"  "Where Wee Wah?" She didn't like having her tormenter/ best friend gone.   All of the aunts tried to convince her to just relax and enjoy the time!
That last quote, well, it will just remain anonymous.  It's the least likely one who said it- someone who likes to shock others!  It worked! 
(Those cookies were, by the way!  They were goooooood!)

Shanghai Girls

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


First, I must say that this is a very aesthetically pleasing book. It's beautiful- in my favorite color of pink. It was a joyful experience to handle this book and look at it. I just have to say that in this world of the e-reader, Kindle, and I-pad. There's still value in holding and reading a book with real, turnable pages.
This is the story of two Chinese sisters set first in Shanghai before, during, and then after World War II in America. The reader lives through that difficult history in a very personal way with these two girls,then women, so it definitely has historical significance. It certainly explores the complex relationship of sisters. But I think it's greatest value is that it is a study of perspective. We hear the entire story through the voice and perspective of the oldest sister, but only at the very end when the two are having a very heated, intense, and candid conversation, do we recognize that there are two sides to the story. Reading this was very eye opening to me. What we see and feel and seems like truth to us may not be at all what others are seeing and feeling. Though not graphic, this book deals with some very intense scenes and may not be everyone's cup of tea. My biggest complaint is that it leaves the reader hanging at the end. I have and plan to read it's sequel, "Dreams of Joy." Hopefully that will complete the story. Maybe then I will rate it higher.



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She Logged On

Because Ken is over family history work in our stake, he has access to the Indexing records.  A few months ago, he was looking at those on his computer and shared with me something that really touched me.  The records show who in each ward has done indexing during the month and how many names they did.  Our ward had quite a long list of brothers and sisters who had indexed during the month.  But I was most touched by the record of a young mother.  This sister was, at the time, just about due with her fifth child.  Her oldest child is six, she has twin four year olds and  a two year old and was just about to have her fifth child.  The record showed that she had logged on.  No names done.  But she had logged on. I can imagine the scenerio:  She probably got her kids to bed or they were otherwise engaged, so she thought she might have a few minutes to index.  But, as so frequently happens with young mamas, she was called away and didn't quite get back to it.  I am deeply touched, though, that she tried.  About due with a baby, I'm sure she felt like lying down if she had a minute's free time, but she offered her widow's mite.  She showed her intention to serve.  She showed up.  She logged on.

1 Samuel 16:77 "But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for theLord ^aseeth not as ^bman seeth; for man looketh on the outward^cappearance, but the ^dLord looketh on the ^eheart."