Choose Wisely

 

Coming Home

 Historical Fiction    Physical Book 

I loved all 728 pages of this beautiful story of seeking and finding home.  I love Rosamunde Pilcher.  I loved Judith: Her goodness, resilience, and kindness.  I loved spending many days with her as I read her story.  This is a beautiful novel.  I wish more were like this.  5 stars.

Prayer (Eyering)

 

One Day at a Time with Gratitude

 Ken went to visit an aged friend the other day.  They worked together in their professions for many years and became good friends.  We hadn't seen he and his wife for a very long time.  He was on Ken's mind, so on the way home from watching me perform with the Keynotes he stopped by his home.  This good man is now in his 80's and has some health problems, as most do at that age.  In their discussion, he shared with Ken his mantra:

One day at a time with gratitude.

Isn't that a great mantra?  I knew I wanted to share it here.

Holy Ghost is our Houseguest

" The Holy Ghost is the perfect houseguest.  He always comes when He is invited and He never stays when he is not."  Henry B. Eyering

Our visiting authority for our stake conference quoted this.  I hope we always invite His presence in our home.  

Camino Winds

 

Camino Winds by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

We listened to this mystery on a road trip. It is the 2nd in the series. Grisham is great for keeping the driver awake on a road trip. (Not so much the passenger!) But I heard most of it. It was a good murder mystery. 3 stars

View all my reviews

Books (Emerson)

 

Comforting

 This is so comforting to me.

Minds Need Books

 

Red Steer Drive-in

 Someone from my hometown posted this picture of a Red Steer cup, and boy, was it a blast from the past!  I loved the Red Steer drive in as a teenager.  After I got a drivers license (at age 14), my dad would often send me to the Red Steer to get food for dinner.  The finger steaks were out of this world good- always tender and delicious. 

 My friend, Janis and I would go there and always get the same thing: grilled hot dogs with mayonnaise, tomatoes, and ketchup on them.  They were so good.  I wonder if Red Steer is still in business?

Michelle and Kids for the Hinton/ Hinton Wedding

 Michelle, Gabbi, and Jaron came to town to attend the wedding and festivities for Lizzy Hinton and Damon Hinton.  It was a big family reunion!

The sealing took place in the Red Cliffs Utah temple and Don (Damon's grandpa and Ken's brother) performed the sealing.

In the afternoon there was a nice dinner, then a ring ceremony, then a reception.

Noel, Bryan, Bryson, Caleb (Bryson and Caleb rode motorcycles from Arizona to be there), Sherrie, Gabbi, Michelle, Jaron, Don, Ken, Kay, Darren, and Brett.

Dinner

Ring Ceremony 

Gabbi and Jaron catching some sun.

It was so nice to see so many family members and especially to have Michelle and her two oldest with us.  I loved visiting with Gabbi and Jaron.  I love them all so much!!!!

Prayer (Hinckley)

 

President Russell M. Nelson later quoted this in his "Hear Him" talk.  

The Tao of Pooh

 

Non-Fiction  Physical book

Being a Pooh fan, I really wanted to love this book.  I have always felt that Winnie-the-Pooh was written for adults and has so much simple wisdom in it.  But I felt this book was more about explaining Taoism than Poohism.  2 ½ stars .

Books Can Change You

 

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man

 

Physical book   Historical Fiction

Not since Cee Cee Honeycutt have we had such a delightful, lovable young narrator to tell the story.  This is Daisy Fay’s coming of age story and it could not be told in a better way. Though Daisy Fay has a very difficult life and circumstances, she powers through with humor, courage, and aplomb.  As soon as I finished, I looked if there was a sequel, but there is not.  But I have several other Fannie Flagg books to read.  This was my first, but will not be my last!  5 shiny stars!

Callings

 

Free Frozen Yogurt

 Ken and I went to a new frozen yogurt place near our home.  We each filled our cups and I had mine weighed, then headed outside while Ken had his weighed and paid.  It was taking a long time, so I looked back inside.  The cashier was taking his picture.  What?  Evidently, they were running a promotion that if your yogurt weighed exactly 12.5 ounces, then you got it free.  Ken's was right on the money.  Free frozen yogurt!  Pretty sweet deal!

Home Repairs

 Our house is getting old and was in need of some repairs.  One evening we went to Lowe's and chose a new faucet for our bathroom and three new light fixtures for our living room and entry.  A couple of days later, Ken tried to install the new faucet.  He got it almost done, but had some trouble, so we had to call a plumber.

A few days later, he installed the three lights.  He did a great job and we loved them.  So he went back to Lowe's and bought five more of the same model, completely cleaning out their stock.  He came home and installed them.  He replaced all of the upstairs lights and one downstairs.  When they get more in stock, he will get a couple more to finish the downstairs.

We feel like we always do when we do home improvements:  Why didn't we do this sooner?

General Conference April, 2026

 General Conference was again, a magnificent, uplifting experience.  It started with a solemn assembly where we sustained our new prophet and leaders.

The apostles sustaining.

Our newest apostle gave his first speech as an apostle.

Landmark day.

Love Elder Kearon and loved this talk.  He just exudes joy.

Our delicious Easter dinner after conference.

We love general conference!

Easter Program 2026

 WHEW!

Did you hear that great sigh of relief on Palm Sunday?  I'm pretty sure it was heard around the world!

As Choir director, I am in charge of the Easter and Christmas programs in our ward.  It is a lot of work, taking many, many hours.  From writing or deciding the script, listening and looking at a lot of music, choosing the music, deciding solos and special musical numbers, asking them and getting them the music, asking narrators, scheduling the final Saturday rehearsal, setting up the mics, etc, etc.  It is such a beautiful relief when it's all over and feels a success.  This year, I used "The Living Christ" as the script, inserting music between sections of the document.  Choir members served as narrators.

We have such a great choir.  We had 7 basses, 5 tenors, 7 sopranos, and 6 altos sing in this program. They are such wonderful people.  We all felt such a unity as we joined our testimonies of Jesus Christ in song and word.  I love Him.  I know that He lives.  Happy Easter!