A new years goal...

What is it about a New Years? It is a strange phenomena, one day (Dec 31) we are burdened down with the economy, elections, the housing crash, weight gained and lost and gained, sorrows and joys we felt the last 12 months, and then bam...we go to sleep and wake up the next morning (Jan 1) feeling renewed... like all our previous cares of the day before are gone. When in reality, it is the same week, and we still have our burdens, but for some reason we feel hope for better things to come. We feel like we can set goals and succeed, we look forward to writing a new year on our checks just because it's tomorrow.

I must admit, I am terrible at goal setting and every January, I sit down and write down my goals. This works for a week or two, and then I go back to my old self and go back to my old, habitual ways.

Well, this year, may be the same, but I have a new incentive. I only tell you this because, I am hoping that if I write it down and somebody besides myself reads it, then maybe I will work harder to achieve this. Now if you know me well, you know that I HATE my teeth. Yep, they are not teeth I can be proud of, and for years, I have envied anyone and all who have shiny white, straight, perfect teeth, well perfect in my eyes.

So, my good husband has challenged me...now it wasn't entirely his idea, I planted it in his mind not really realizing it, but it is brilliant. Now again, if you know me well, or not so well even, you know I HATE to exercise and diet... and I have battled with my weight for years now, only to become a living yo-yo. You ask, 'what does this have to do with my teeth?". Well, I will tell you.

The other day, we were driving home from Vegas and I mentioned to Jamie that I would LOVE to have a nice set of teeth....not dentures, but I wished my teeth were different, white, lovely etc...He told me that if I can get down below a certain weight, (no, I am not telling you, but trust me it is substantial), that he would pay for me to get my teeth fixed, capped, veneered, or whatever.

Now he didn't tell me this, because he thinks I am a fat slob, but because he knows I am trying to lose weight and have had trouble with finding an incentive to lose it. So in front of the 12 people or so that read my blog...I am going to strive for this goal, however long it takes! I am hoping though, that by June I am well on my way, because I have a cruise to go on!

Puppy love

Kattie the mom...she is a beautiful dog...we fell in love with her and her pups. Ours is the one in the middle -bottom of the picture...


Today is Martin Luther King day and since Jamie had the day off we drove down to Tombstone, AZ to look at some Springer Spaniel puppies. We have been contemplating on getting a dog again, and have narrowed it down to a Golden Retriever (Jamie's favorite) and a Springer Spaniel (smaller and what I am leaning towards). Jamie coerced his parents into driving down with us, which was a lot of fun, and we went down to check out the puppies.

It's our new puppy....well almost!

After driving 3 hours we arrived at the breeders home. We instantly fell in love with Springers, they were all so sweet, and loving and friendly. Once we saw the puppies, I knew this is what I wanted. Two hours later, we walked out of the house as future Springer Spaniel owners. We found a puppy we loved, and put a deposit down on it. We will be able to pick it up the end of February.


Front view of our puppy.

Sleeping puppy

Good experience

I had a really good experience today. I went with two other sisters from my ward and helped dress a sister who passed away last week. I have never done this before, and was surprised at how sweet the experience was. We dressed her in the temple clothing and she looked so nice afterward. This sister had passed away from breast cancer and had been suffering for quite some time. It was nice to see her at peace.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

















Well, maybe not outside, but Jamie has been busy decking the halls inside and I must say, it looks mighty festive.



Jamie loves putting up the Christmas village and since living in Phoenix, we haven't put it up until this year.











From far left: Jerusalem and Germany, then moving right is London, school and park and a fair.



We have about 70 other houses that we did not put down, they are currently up on a shelf in our family room.



This is a part of the wall the houses are on. Maybe one of these days, we will have a house big enough to put them all out.

Thanksgiving

I know it is late in coming, but we had a great Thanksgiving, the only thing that would have made it perfect is if Kristi and Jared and their kids were also with us! :(


We went to Pennsylvania to Steve and Lindsay's house and had a great time. The best thing besides the grandkids, is that we found out that Lindsay is expecting again. We are thrilled and just hope the grand kids keep coming!



Wednesday night jamie and I babysat, while Steve and Linds had a long overdue date. We had fun watching 'Tinkerbell" and made chocolate chip cookies. Lana was a big help





Papa, Lana and Ike eating chocolate chip cookies and milk before bedtime.


Thanksgiving day, we had a great Turkey dinner thanks to Lindsay and Steve and enjoyed every bite. The next day, Doug and Lee and their kids drove in from Nashville. Once they were rested up, we piled in the cars later that day and drove to Hershey PA. Chocolate is one of my life lines, so I was thrilled!








Ike, Kevin and Lana at the Hershey store

There was a ride at this Hershey store that took you on a tour and showed you how the chocolate is made. The kids had a good time on this, and so did the adults, nice not to have to walk!

After the tour, we went to dinner and then came back to the Hershey park where there were rides the kids could go on, like the Merry go round, and all sorts of kiddy rides. They had a great time, but it was sooooo cold! The kids even saw Santa's reindeer!

The next day, we went home. It was a short trip, but very fun and it was fun to see the kids and grandkids. Maybe one of these years, we will have the whole family together for Thanksgiving! It's a dream of mine!! :)

Grandma again!

So, I am going to be a Grandma again! Lindsay, is pregnant with her number 3 child and my number 8 grandchild. She and Steve are not going to find out what it is until she delivers. It will be a fun surprise! I am looking forward to loving another sweet grandchild! Can't wait!!!!

New Orleans 1st Branch

This last Sunday, Jamie and I visited the New Orleans 1st Branch. It was a great experience, and I am afraid I can't do justice by telling about it, because "you had to be there", but I will tell you anyway.
As we entered the church, this cute African American older gentleman greeted us at the door and gave us our program, and we went in and sat on the back row. All through the meeting, this man mumbled under his breath, making comments after the testimonies and I expected him any time to stand up and say "Hallelujia!" I thought it was cute, but Jamie thinks he must have not been quite right. Anyway, as we sat there, I looked around and now, if you are like me, when I go to a new ward or branch, I immediately make a judgement, I know, it isn't the best thing to do, but I picture myself as a new member of the ward I am visiting. Sunday, was no exception, I counted about 60-70 people in this small plain chapel, and thought to myself, "I certainly wouldn't want to move into THIS branch". Little did I know, but by the end of the meeting my opinion would be different.



After the sacrament was passed, the congregation was invited to get up to bear testimonies, including the visitors, they were reminded that they were asked to fast for missionary efforts, since they were a branch, they have hopes of one day becoming a ward. The first couple of people came up to the podium, and bore their testimonies, one lady gave a history of her life for the past couple of years, and told how her house got gutted from hurricane Katrina, and the challenges she faced. The next sister was a cute young young lady who was from the Czech Republic. She and her husband had come here last year and she spoke about how this year has been one big miracle. She improved on her English, they found a beautiful cheap apartment, and she did well in her college classes. As she spoke in her broken English, I was taken by how humble she was and was so grateful for all that she had been through this year good and bad.

After she spoke, a middle aged African American man came up and as he stood, you could tell, something was wrong, he had a hard time getting up and walking to the podium. As he started to speak, all he could do was cry, he couldn't speak the words, and you could tell he was trying so hard to. He could manage to say "teach me to walk in the light", that was about all. At this time, his wife came up and stood beside him to give support. She didn't say anything and neither could he, finally, they started singing "Teach me to walk". They sang two verses together. It was his way of bearing his testimony. We were all in tears, not because it was such a beautiful way they sung, but the simplicity and the sincerity with which they sang. At the end of the meeting, the Branch President stood up and told us that this brother, had had a stroke, and even though his mind was completely fine, his speech was affected by the stroke, and the only verbal thing that wasn't affected was his singing. It was such a great meeting, everyone in the chapel was crying including Jamie and I. After the meeting, I just wanted to sit there, and stay all day. When we left, I told Jamie that I could totally live this branch!. It was a very sweet experience, that I will always remember.