The Sweeney Sisters

 

The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Meh. I never did connect with any of the characters. I don’t think there was one happy scene until the very end, and it was just medium happy. This one wasn’t for me.

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It Was Always You

 The same actress that stars in "When Calls the Heart" stars in this Hallmark movie.  Elizabeth is engaged, but find that her heart, since childhood, has always belonged to his brother.

I'm an App!

Two apps, actually, See, see, down at the bottom of my phone home screen- I'm an app!  Two apps! Hiintonhappenings.blogspot.com and hungryhinntons.blogspot.com. On our recent zoom call, Kristen taught us how to turn any website into an app.  It is so easy.  It makes it so much easier to get to frequently visited websites.

 I wish  I could tell you how to do it.  I know it was very easy.  You could google it!  I am so excited to be an app!

"The Things of My Soul" Zoom Meeting

After reading Elder Rasband's October, 2021 general conference talk, "The Things of My Soul," I invited my family to do a Zoom meeting and share their 8th, 9th, and 10th things of their soul, as Elder Rasband suggested.  We met with our daughters one recent morning and had a wonderful discussion.  

Elder Rasband explained what he meant by "things of my soul:"  Nephi wrote, “And upon these I write the things of my soul.”²

Nephi’s words raise the questions “What things do you ponder?” “What things really matter to you?” “What are the things of your soul?”

May I share with you some of the things of my soul? These things apply to all who seek to be true disciples of Jesus Christ. Ten would be a good, round number. Today I am giving you seven with the hope that you will complete eight, nine, and ten from your own experiences:" 

Elder Rasband then suggested the first seven things of my soul:

1. Love God the Father, and Jesus Christ, our Savior.

2. Love thy neighbor

3. Love yourself

4. Keep the commandments

5. Always be worthy to attend the temple

6. Be joyful and cheerful

7. Follow God's living prophet

We discussed each of these seven, then each of us shared a number 8, 9, and 10 as Elder Rasband suggested we do in his talk. With their permission, I will share each of our lists:

Ken

8  My testimony

9. Gratitude

10. Going to the temple

Shonna

8. Live in gratitude daily- see the Lord's hand in my life

9. Keep a personal history- Instagram

10. Attend the temple frequently

Michelle

8. Studying and working on how to best care for my family

9. Choosing how to best spend my time

10. How to connect with others

Kristen

8. Connection with heaven- personal revelation

9. Gratitude

10. Openness and humility- seek for peace in my heart and soul

Kay

8. Teaching- it is high priority to me

9. Gratitude

10. Personal revelation- learning to hear the Holy Ghost

 It was such a sweet meeting.  We kept it to under an hour, but it was so sweet to connect in this way and to have a peek into their souls.  I sure love my family and learn so much from them.

Swiss Cheese

 I LOVE Swiss cheese!  I think it is my Norwegian heritage.  I don't know.  But I love Swiss cheese!  I have found two brands that I particularly like:

Whenever we go to  Logan to visit Shonna and Blake, we stop at Gossner Dairy and buy Swiss cheese.  It is so tasty.  Compared to grocery store Swiss cheese, it has so much more delicious flavor.

Gossner Swiss Cheese

A good second choice is this cheese, sold at Costco.  It also has a lot of flavor.  I find it kind of difficult to cut, though, with the wax coating around it.

What they sell at Costco

I love it as a snack with crackers, grated into casseroles, and best of all, sliced in grilled cheese sandwiches.  Swiss cheese is one of my favorite things.

Helen Marr Passes Away

My dear, almost 102-year-old friend passed away.  She was also my mother's dear friend.  They were just a week apart in age, both born in 1920.   I am so very sad.  

I didn't know she had passed away.  I guess that makes sense because none of her family knows me, so no one told me. The obituary was published in the newspaper we no longer subscribe to. But I was so sad to find out in such a hard way.  I sent her a Christmas card. Then I sent her a birthday card, but, after several weeks, it came back.  I called the assisted living center to ask why.  They told me she had passed away.  I was so shocked.

I then texted a mutual friend that told me she had heard about it, but that there was no service for her.  She said that Helen Marr didn't suffer long, so that was comforting.  I had just talked to Helen Marr a short while before she died.  She sounded happy and healthy.

I called and visited with Helen Marr frequently, whenever I needed my Helen Marr fix.  She was a such a delightful, positive person.  Here are some pictures of her:

These five ladies somehow found each other in St. George. (I wish I could call Helen Marr and ask the story.  I have forgotten)  They were all born in the same year- 1920.  My mom is in the middle and Helen Marr on the far right.  They were celebrating their birthdays together.  If my memory serves me.

After my mom passed away, Helen Marr brought me these beautiful figurines.  She said they represented my daughters and I and how our mother and her talents live on in us.

This is us with Helen Marr at her 90th birthday party.

Her family put on a big 100th birthday party for her. 

Right to the end, she could touch her toes.

She and her husband and my mom and dad were good friends back in Caldwell, Idaho.  Dad and Wayne, her eternal companion, 
 sang in a male quartet together.  I remember sitting in the living room, listening to them practice when I was just a little girl.  They were good.  They so enjoyed being together.  I remember there being lots of laughter and happiness.

Then, Wayne and Helen Marr moved away from Caldwell.  My mom and dad were delighted to discover that they had moved to St. George when my parents moved here after retiring. They renewed their friendship.  Then Wayne got very ill and passed away.

A few years later, Helen Marr remarried, and they and my parents continued to get together socially.  Then Helen Marr and Carroll- her new husband, moved into our ward.  When I was Relief Society president, I came to rely a great deal on Helen Marr.  I appreciated her kind wisdom and advice.  Though in her 80s, she was always the first one to sign up for work projects. She was amazing.  One very difficult project was that a couple in our ward were killed in a car accident.  Our Relief Society had to go in and clean out their home, donating most of the items to DI.  Helen Marr and I worked side by side for hours.

When I had my knee replaced, Helen Marr coached me through that.  She had had hers done.  She brought me a pair of pants she wore a lot in the recovery time.  "Those will never fit me!" I exclaimed.  As you can see, she was way smaller than me.  "They will.  They will," she said.  And they did.  I wore them a lot.  They were extremely stretchy!

 Carroll passed away and Helen Marr moved several times after that, before ending up in the Meadows assisted living center.  We kept in contact through all those years, visiting her in several different apartments.  When we would visit, she and I would chat while Ken would go through her list of "honey dos," fixing things.

 

How I loved this dear lady.  Where will I get my Helen Marr fix now?  I hope she and my mom are visiting and giggling in heaven together.  I feel sure they are.

Elisabeth's 3rd Birthday

 The "baby" of our family, Elisabeth Dawn, just turned three years old.  She is adorable, with the cutest personality.  She is the youngest of Kristen and Jared's six children.  We got to Facetime with her while she opened her presents from us.

Kristen made her a cute cake, but I can't remember the character's name.  She was thrilled with it.

Kristen told us a funny story:  Kristen always lets the birthday child choose the day's menus.  Lissi chose flat eggs and corn for dinner.  To round out the meal, Kristen added orange julius and bacon.  Lissi loved the julius and bacon but didn't even touch the eggs and corn!

We love you, dear Lissi!  Happy birthday!

A Visit to the Prince Family

 Ken's desire to see a rare bird combined with our desire to see the Prince family and meet our new granddog, Fred.  We left on Wedensday after my Keynote rehearsal, February 9th.  

We got up there in time for a delicious soup dinner and then to go to Jaron's basketball game.   When we arrived at their house, Jaron and Kenny were outside waiting for us.  They were literally jumping for joy and gave us huge hugs.  That makes a grandpa and grandma feel good.

Fred was SO excited to meet us.

It's hard to get action shots during a game, but here are a few.  Jaron is #12.

It was so fun to watch him play.

William entertained himself by reading little books.  He is four years old and reads really well.  He loves to sound out words and read.

Brian and Michelle serve as Primary teachers to the seven -year -olds that will be baptized this year- Kenny's class.  After Ken left on Thursday morning, I helped her make candy leis to give to the kids when they are baptized.

Already they have taught Fred many tricks.  He is a smart dog!

Sit!

Shake!

He is such a sweet, cuddly dog.

That afternoon, Gabbi brought Reflections awards home from school.  She won at the school level in three categories.  She won 1st place at the region level in Video and now goes to state.  It was a really good video that made me cry on how to change the world.  She won 2nd place in dance at the regional level and honorable mention in another category.  We were so glad we were there when she brought home her awards.

Valentine gifts for the family (and one Christmas gift that arrived after Christmas, so we brought it, too)

Jaron and Kenny love to play basketball and are really good.  Kenny especially loves to play H O R S E or whatever Grandpa and Grandma will play.  I often get him down to playing O X to make a shorter game.  He almost always wins.

Thursday evening, Gabbi had solo and ensemble festival.  She looked so beautiful all dressed up and ready to go.

Their string quartet did a great job, playing Hava Nagela.

On Friday, the kids were out of school and Michelle and Gabbi had to go to Logan for Blake to do dental work on them.  Michelle had some surgery, and Gabbi had major braces work done.  Ken and I tended the boys all day until we had to leave late that afternoon.  We had such a fun day, spending one-on-one time with each of these precious boys.  How we love them!

Kenny is a game player.  He loves games.  I played lots of games with him.

Big News!  I've found a Monopoly game I like.  This Monopoly JR. is really fun.  We played it several times.

Ken played lots of basketball with Jaron, but I didn't get pictures.

William and Grandpa putting together his new puzzle.

It was a short trip, but so fun to connect with the Prince family.