Our House All Spruced Up

After 27 years, our garage and front porch needed a makeover.  We had a guy come and epoxy paint both.  We finally are back open for business after a two week project!  Yea!  

It was great to get the garage cleaned out.  Ken took a carload of stuff to DI this morning.  

Our flowers are always prettiest in the fall after things cool down a bit.

Ken even did a makeover on the bench.  He repainted it.

Ken also sanded and painted our back deck railing, and, as I write this, he's outside washing the windows.  The outside of our house is all spruced up.  Now it's time to start on the insides!

Forget Yourself and Go to Work

I'm sure you know the source of this mantra.  It's what Gordon B. Hinckley's father wrote to him when he was discouraged on his mission. It's a great mantra for missionaries, but it applies in many other situations as well.  I think it's very applicable to women and girls.  In November, 2005 conference, then General Young Women President, Susan Tanner gave a great talk that inspired me so much . I still remember the advice given- advice she'd received from her mother.  Here are here words: 

"I remember well the insecurities I felt as a teenager with a bad case of acne. I tried to care for my skin properly. My parents helped me get medical attention. For years I even went without eating chocolate and all the greasy fast foods around which teens often socialize, but with no obvious healing consequences. It was difficult for me at that time to fully appreciate this body which was giving me so much grief. But my good mother taught me a higher law. Over and over she said to me, “You must do everything you can to make your appearance pleasing, but the minute you walk out the door, forget yourself and start concentrating on others.”There it was. She was teaching me the Christlike principle of selflessness. Charity, or the pure love of Christ, “envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own” (Moro. 7:45). When we become other-oriented, or selfless, we develop an inner beauty of spirit that glows in our outward appearance. This is how we make ourselves in the Lord’s image rather than the world’s and receive His image in our countenances."

I love that!  Make yourself look as nice as you can, but as soon as you walk out the door, forget yourself . . . and go to work.  Go to work helping others and tuning into them and their needs.  So there you have another mantra to consider:  "Forget yourself and go to work!"

Click here for other mantra posts.

Who's That?

We're having our garage and porch painted this week (pictures to come!) and so have had a guy here every day.  Yesterday, he came in the house and saw a picture of President Monson we have in our entry- this very picture, in fact.  He asked, "Who's that?"  You may remember a post I did about little Caleb identifying the picture of George Albert Smith.  "That's George.  He's a prophet!"  Two- year- old Caleb's words popped in my mind immediately. So  I said, "That's Thomas S. Monson.  He's a prophet."  As he left, I realized what had just happened.  I had had the oppotunity to bear brief testimony to someone.  The perfect words came because of the example of my two- year- old grandson.  Thank you, Caleb, for teaching your Grandma.

Sibling Reunion, 2012

Last weekend, we attended the Hinton Sibling Reunion in Arizona.  Each year, Ken's siblings and their spouses get together for a weekend of fun and reminiscing. A favorite destination is the Law cabin near Heber, Arizona.   This year, everyone but Dave and Gerri were there.  They are serving a mission in Tennessee.  

The drive down was gorgeous.   There was a storm blowing in and we watched it roll in and then rain. The Indian reservation is gorgeous in the rain.  We met up with Don and Ada at Cameron for lunch.  We shared a huge Navajo Taco.  It was fun to be with them.  We then continued our journey, arriving around 2pm.

After everyone arrived, we prepared dinner and sat around most adult-like and chatted most properly. We had a delicious dinner of soup and rolls and cake.  We continued to converse appropriately.  

Then all billy heck broke loose(excuse the language.)  We played "Action/ Adverb" or another name for it is "After the manner of the Adverb." (Thanks Michelle, for the suggestion)  Is that Rick and Jim dancing wildly, you ask?  Yes, yes it is.

Is that now Don and Ken dancing crazily?  Yes.  Yes.  

 Now could that be Clark somersaulting all over the floor exuberantly?  Yes.

I laughed so hard I nearly cried.  Is that Ada trying to get Leslie to guess adamantly?

And Jim crawling slowly?

After the game, and after a most accurate poll (done by one accountant in the family and audited by the other) on what movie to watch, the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of watching "The Scarlet Pimpernel"  on the big screen.  No, really on a screen.  I confessed that I had tried to watch it two times previous.  Both times I fell asleep.  With much encouragement, I made it through the whole thing ( I did fall asleep once, but just for a short time, I think) and enjoyed it.  The other movie I've tried to watch twice and have never made it through is Star Wars.  I don't think I'll even attempt that one again.  I know, I'm weird.  

The end of the day.  Is that a tumbleweed above Ken's head, you ask?  Yes, each of the bedrooms has a name and  a theme.  We were in the "Cowboy Room,"  and yes there is a real tumbleweed in the decor.  

I just had to take a picture of Mark's high top converse.  He loves high top converse and  always wears them- except to church.  He says he wants to be buried in them.  

The next day- Saturday- we were back to adult-like behavior/  We enjoyed hearing Jim and Leslie's report of their mission to England, We each shared our courtship with each other.  We loved hearing about everyone's trail to marriage.  Don and Ada reported their "mission" to the Hill Cumorah pageant this summer and Don reported his research on the Hinton family name and tree.  

We watched some old movies from the Hinton family.

We enjoyed good food.   Kathy and Mark were in charge, and Kathy  made lots of yummy food before we came.  She is really a good cook.  That evening, we played games and visited some more.  In the afternoon, we listened to little parts of the BYU / Oregon St. game on Sherrie and Rick's phones.  I guess it was a good one to miss.  We also heard a report from Dave and Gerri's mission activities.
We got up early on Sunday and got the cabin cleaned.  Ken and I left early to get to church in Hollbrook at 9:00am.  Ken needed to be home to do temple recommends by 5pm, so we needed to leave early.  The others attended an 11am church.  We enjoyed the sacrament meeting at the little ward in Hollbrook.  We even participated in their "Insta Choir" singing, "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet."  

The ride home was beautiful.

We enjoyed our weekend with people that we love!

What the Hail?

Last Friday morning, we had  a most unusual weather phenomenom for our dessert.  Marble-sized hail fell from the sky and pelted our house and neighborhood for a brief time, before turning to rain, then drizzle.  Ken was out front and called, "Kay, come see this!"  I grabbed the camera and we got a couple of pictures before it quit.  

In it's wake was a beautiful rainbow.  I love how the light is illuminating the temple.  

Extra Gravity Day

 I have no scientific proof, but I really think the force of gravity is stronger on some days than others.  Today was one of those days.  I struggled with gravity all day long.
It all started this morning when my soap kept dropping in the shower.  Hate that.  Then I was in a huge hurry to get to my choir rehearsal on time.  I was chugging one of those chocolate diet shakes for breakfast, in my bedroom ( I know, keep the food in the kitchen!), while I got ready, and dropped it and chocolate went all over the carpet, chair, wall, bedside table. . .   What a mess!  I cleaned it up (I thought.  I'm still finding chocolate everywhere.)  It made me late for my rehearsal.
All day long, I was dropping stuff and picking it up- papers and food and music.  I actually started getting dizzy from all the bending.
Then tonight, I was putting some soup I made in a container to take to a family tomorrow and, you guessed it: it fell, splashing soup all over.  I got that cleaned up and put the soup in the fridge.  As I was closing the fridge door, the top shelf in the door of the fridge dislodged and fell on the floor, scattering it's contents everywhere.   A can of biscuits popped open, and yogurt and Worcestershire Sauce went everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  There was Worcestershire sauce from the sink to the garbage can to the outside door.  Everywhere.  My kitchen reeked of Worcestershire(why couldn't it have been the soy sauce- so much easier to spell!) and vanilla yogurt.  I thought I got it all cleaned up, but later I looked up and found this:

Yep, that's Worcestershire sauce on the ceiling.  THAT was fun to clean.  I got the mop and attached a rag and cleaned.  Then when I had it all cleaned, I went to close the door of the fridge again, and it happened again.  This time , two more cans of crescent rolls popped open.
Then I went to the church to make LOTS of copies for our choir Christmas program.  I just kept dropping papers and having to pick them up.  Yes, I've battled gravity all day long.  I guess one good thing came of an extra-gravity day:  Rain fell from the sky this afternoon.  Those little raindrops just couldn't resist all that gravitational pull.  Rain is a happy thing in our desert.
  So, I think I'll go use that extra  pull to fall into bed and hope for a "lighter" day tomorrow.

Trip to Logan for Conference Weekend

Since neither Ken nor I had Sunday responsibilities on conference weekend, we decided to go spend the weekend with Shonna and Blake.  We enjoyed a beautiful drive through Sardine Canyon to get to Logan.  

We loved spending time with our grandkids.

It was Jacob's birthday, so we g-chatted with him and shared the excitement of a happy day.

When President Eyering was conducting, little Lily looked up at the t.v. and said said , "Bampa!" and started waving. Do you think Ken looks like President Eyering?  He sure gets that a lot.  

Caleb was such a good boy during all the conference sessions.  He couldn't understand why we were having so many Sundays.

Post- conferrence play:  The Grandpa Machine.

Between sessions on Saturday, we went on a picnic at a beautiful park in Shonna's neighborhood.  

Lily was so cute, giggling as she went down the slide with her Daddy.

As the conference speaker was talking about finding ways to serve others, Shonna was crocheting a cute hat and detachable flowers for a friend/ ex-roommate who is having chemo for cancer and has lost her hair.

Blake's brothers Brian and Bryce also came.  Caleb loves his uncles.

Sweet Shonna gave me a pedicure.  Shonna's hands are always busy serving someone: crocheting, fixing food, rubbing my feet, changing diapers, rubbing her husband's neck, etc.  

Lily reminds me so much of Shonna as a baby: Cute and so petite.  But believe me, she EATS!

Delicious taco dinner on Sunday.

Since we won't be around for Halloween, the kids tried on their costumes for us.  They will be such a cute Captain Hook and Tinkerbell.

The drive home on Sunday back through Sardine Canyon was so beautiful.  These pictures were all taken  "European Mode" (a term dubbed when traveling Europe and I snapped lots of pictures from a moving vehicle) so they are a little blurry.

I really wanted to see the new Brigham City Temple, so we took a little detour.   It is so beautiful.

Thanks Camerons for a fun weekend!