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| It was a sweet little manger with Jesus and licorice flavored taffy What a sweet little boy. It melted my heart. |
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season by Molly Fader
The Bodyguard by Katherine CenterKen and I recently celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary. Next year it's the big 50!
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
From a talk by President Spencer W. Kimball when he was first sustained as a prophet:
"Caleb concluded his moving declaration with a request and a challenge with which my heart finds full sympathy. The Anakims, the giants, were still inhabiting the promised land, and they had to be overcome. Said Caleb, now at 85 years, “Give me this mountain” (Josh. 14:12).
Humbly, I give this pledge to the Lord and to you, my beloved brothers and sisters, fellow workers in this sacred cause of Christ: I will go forward, with faith in the God of Israel, knowing that he will guide and direct us, and lead us, finally, to the accomplishment of his purposes and to our promised land and our promised blessings."
I have to admit that this is not really my mantra. I want to avoid challenges and hardships. But I love the attitude of Caleb and President Kimball. If they can do it at their age, I also need to say, "Give me this mountain!"
1. What made you happy today?
This builds the habit of finding joy in small moments.
2. If you were a hero in a fairytale, who would you be and why?
This activates the imagination.
3. What did you learn today that you didn't know before?
This helps children see learning not only at school, but in everyday life.
4. How would you help a friend if they were upset?
This is how empathy and emotional intelligence begin to form.
5. If you had a superpower, what would it be?
6. What could you do tomorrow to make the world around you a little better?
This nurtures responsibility and care for others.
7. What is the most important thing you realized over the last seven days?
Helps see personal growth.
Madrigals
I loved to
sing. It was my “thing” in high
school. I looked forward to being in the
elite choir, Madrigals. You could try
out at the end of your sophomore year to be part of the group in your junior
year, but most people didn’t get in until their senior year. I had tried out for all-state choir in my
sophomore year and was so happy when I got in.
It gave me courage and hope to try out for Madrigals. I auditioned in front of the teacher and the
madrigal officers. I did really well. I knew I had done really well.
A few days
later, Mrs. Schmidt called me into the Madrigal room. She told me I was very qualified to be in the
group, but that there wasn’t room for another alto in the group, so I wouldn’t
be in. I was devastated. Right there, in front of her, I burst into
tears. I was so sad. She felt horrible. She said I was qualified and that she would
talk to the rest of the committee and let me in. I wasn’t trying to manipulate her. I honestly was just sad and so cried. I was
so happy. But then, the next day she
called me in again. She handed me a
tissue and said she had talked to the others and they said no. I didn’t cry that time. I just told her thank you for trying and left
with a heavy heart.
It was a
long year to wait until I could try out again at the end of my junior
year. This time I made it. Being in Madrigals was such a joy in my life
and worth the wait. I made many friends
and really loved singing with the group.
It was during that senior year in Madrigals that I discovered that I was
really a soprano. My teacher listened to
me sing. He then gave me a soprano solo
in a Carpenters song, “Crescent Noon. “The words I sang: “Green September
burned to October brown. Bare November
led to December’s frozen ground. “I remember while I was singing it at
rehearsal one day, he said, “Just listen to those high tones.” (It was written
in a higher key in our SATB arrangement.)
I have never forgotten the joy of him saying those words. They built my confidence so much. Our words are powerful and can make a big
difference in someone’s life.
We performed
often in Madrigals. People would hire us
to sing at their private parties, so we went in homes and halls and
restaurants. It was such a fun year. I loved every minute of it. It gave me a love for what I do now with the
Keynotes. Being in Madrigals was truly
one of the joys of my life.
My sister,
Patty, is a mover and shaker. In 1997,
she organized a Madrigal reunion. We all
gathered and practiced songs for a couple of days, directed by our directors
through the years. It was so fun to be
together and to, again, join our voices in song. It was so fun to see old friends and sing
with them again. I am so grateful for
the experience of being in Caldwell High School Madrigals.
The program from the Madrigal reunion
Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden
Hadley the Hawk is pretty much a member of the family during the summer. She usually comes and sits in the bird bath in the afternoon when the temperature reaches around 100 degrees. This year we have had flycatchers nesting nearby. They divebomb her while she's trying to rest in the water. So she sometimes moves to a limb in the nearby tree where they can't dive bomb her.
A robin also does not enjoy her presence and chirps and chirps her alarm call. It can go on for hours. We often have bird drama in the backyard, thanks to Hadley.
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara BrunsvoldKen was recently released from his calling in the Elder's quorum presidency. He has served in that calling since 2018 when the church combined the elders and high priests (except for 1 1/2 years.) He served for two years before that (from 2016-2018) as a counselor in the high priests quorum presidency. He was also released as the ward temple and family history leader. He has served well and faithfully. As you can see, he had quite a long list of callings. He still has all of the others listed. Ken is a faithful and loving servant.
Our granddaughter, Gabbi is an excellent writer. She is an avid reader and reviews books on Goodreads. I thought this was such a great review of the book Outliers A Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell I wanted to share it here:
"oh dear. i fear i just read a nonfiction book. FOR FUN. who have i become, a middle aged language arts teacher?
besides that tho, i actually did find this book fascinating and engaging. i was expecting some pump up "you can do it with hard work" novel, but it was the opposite. 😂 it made some really good points, but i liked how it kept it in a relatively objective attitude and didn't feel pessimistic. overall, it was really interesting and i would recommend it!"
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| This is Alex on his baptism day. |
Our granddaughter Audrey is a great artist. Here is the picture she drew for her dad for Father's Day.
Kristen received a text from a ward member in Ohio where Nathan is serving. She kindly shared it with us:
"Sister Mackrory, Elder Mackrory spoke today in our ward. In the 50 plus years I've been in the church, it is best talk I've heard from a missionary. Bar none! So well prepared, written and speaking. So impressed with your son. It will be interesting to see what he does in the church. "
Okay. This is the best one so far: Braised Beef and Mashed Potatoes. Over the past couple of years we have tried prepared meals at Costco from time to time. I have reviewed them on here.This one is really, really good. But it's also very expensive. But for us, a couple, it served us four good meals. We'll keep trying these, but I think this is our favorite so far. For other meals that we've tried and reviewed click on the tab on the side that says "Prepared Meals at Costco."
After we parted ways and we were driving home, everyone shared their favorites from the reunion. Here is the list.
Blake: Park Day and playing the "Oven light game" with Grandpa(* see below)
Shonna; Square dancing, temple, and refit
Hannah: Park day, temple, Gaga ball, the cup game and square dancing
Caleb: Food, water park, Gaga ball (playing with Jared), and park day
Lily: Square dancing and water park
Gabe: Playing monkey game with Sam and Kenny, Gaga ball, Playing dragons with Lisi, William, Sammy and Kenny, doing Pokeman with Sammy and Jacob, Talent show, Square dancing, water park, Fireworks, Food and Park Day
William: Square dancing, Water park
Kenny: Fireworks, Water park, Gaga Ball
Jaron: Fireworks, the food, Gaga Ball
Gabbi: Fireworks, late night walk with cousins, Park day
Michelle; Devotionals, Refit, Games, Park Day
Brian: Meals together
Lisi; Playing dragons with Gabe, William Sam and Kenny, swimming with Gabe and cousins, Square Dancing with Grandpa, Park day
Sam; Monkey game with Kenny and Gabe, Gaga ball, and park day
Audrey; Park day, all things at the church on Saturday, spending time with Brielle.
Jake: Park day with all the cousins
Brielle: Lazy river, Park day, talent show
Kristen: devotionals, Dancing (introducing my family to my Refit community, and Square dancing, all the activities at the church on Saturday
Grandma: Everything! It was a perfect reunion. But that's a copout. I loved being in the temple with my grandkids, sons-in-law, Shonna and husband for baptisms, then with all the couples plus Brielle for sealings. So wonderful. I loved playing a game called the 5 second rule I think. All the adults played. It was so fun! We laughed so hard! (What three things not to do at a funeral: bury the dead in their intramural BYU championship t-shirt, turn the dead body on a rotisserie so everyone can see the back of the t-shirt, too, laugh.- good answer Brian!- You would have to have been there.) I too loved the activities at the church on Saturday (games, square dancing, talent show, Grandma and Grandpa stories. Everything was so fun.) I also loved going to Refit and seeing what Kristen has created there. I LOVED watching our three girls up there dancing together. It was SO fun. I loved all four devotional They were all SO good.
Grandpa: Also said everything. But I think he would agree with what I said.
* Blake was making yogurt during the reunion. He would leave the oven light on which gave just enough heat to grow the culture. He would come back and the light would be off. So he would turn it back on. Then it would happen again. It happened several times before he asked, "Who keeps turning the oven light off?" It was Grandpa. It is SO Grandpa!!
We got up Sunday morning and went to church. We then went to a park near Kristen's house and had our family pictures taken. A cute neighbor of Kristen's came and took them. I love the potato field behind us.
.HEIC)
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| William |
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| Gabbi |
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| Gabbi |
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| Oh this is William at breakfast. |
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| Brian taught an excellent closing devotional. Our sons-in-law are excellent teachers. |
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| Lisi |
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| Brielle |
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| Samuel |
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| Jake |
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| Kristen |
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| Jake |
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| Brielle |
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| Audrey |
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| Samuel |
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| Lisi |
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| Kristen |
