River and Grandma Me at the OK Coral in Oregon!

This is me in the saddle with our granddaughter River, who is now (as of 8-18-13) over 6 1/2 years old! She's been on horses several times since this time, but this happened to be when we were all living in Hillsboro, Oregon, and it was her first time. We both LOVED it!

2 Years in a Nutshell

Yeah, it's been a while!

It has been over 2 years since I posted here on my own blog. To be honest, most of that time I felt that I honestly had nothing really worth saying. Then when I thought it might be TIME to post about truths and changes, the blogging/editing THING didn't work right. I seem to be blog-challenged! When I WANTED to post here, I couldn't find the right screen, but this time, when I have neither the mood to reflect nor the time to write, it just popped up! When I wanted to respond to Tom and Scorchi's mission blog, my comments wouldn't post on their blog either.
So I've let more time go by.
We lived in Cottonwood, AZ when I began this blog. Now we are in Payson, UT, and have been here going on 2 1/2 years.
A large game-changer for me has been the mission call for Anne and I to work in the Orem Family Search Processing Center two afternoons each week, from noon to 5PM. We're coming up on 2 years at the end of next month.The difference in the spiritual atmosphere of our home is amazing. When we began there, it was a fledgeling program to take some of the workload from the SL family history offices, and do computer work that prepares records for members all over the world to do indexing and arbitrating. The Orem center began as a 'pod' with just a few workers in the basement of one of the the old WordPerfect buildings in north Orem, under the mission leadership of Elder David Slagowski and his adorable wife. He was amazingly knowledgeable in all aspects of genealogy, plus he could slap Excel around like nobody's business, so was excellent at setting up and tracking our assignments. His wife has taught special education, and so was especially gifted at explaining, over and over sometimes, what we needed to do in our growing and changing assignments that came down from headquarters. 
Now our little 'pod' has about 75 missionaries covering an entire 2nd floor of the building,  working various hours, plus 2 other locations in SLC and Arizona. It's a growing field. Individuals and couples are called for various lengths of time. Most the wonderful people we've worked with have served 2 or more missions already and are not content to come home and just sit; they still want to serve. 
Vic said that my personality changed after I began working there at the Family History Center. Something about me not being as sarcastic any more. I haven't decided where to file that yet.
Also, for the last year, Vic and I have served every Friday night in the Provo Temple from 5:30-10:00 or so. We usually get home sometime between 10:30-10:45. This has made a HUGE difference in our home!
These callings have been amazing for us!
Also, I teach Relief Society once a month, and until a few weeks ago, Vic taught Sunday School every other week. These have given us launching pads for good discussions as well.
I wish to spend some time writing about deeper spiritual issues, but "today is not that day". 
At least this is a start.
Grandchildren have been born and grown. And grown! I will post pictures next time. And we've had FamCamps, and I'll throw in some pictures of those. You'll see! It'll be fun!

Faith in Every Baby Footstep

Is It Too Late?

I used to want to learn to sail. Heck, I still want to learn to sail! Motor boats are fine for skiing, and I'd like to do that again, too. But give me a silent, gliding-through-the-water experience over a noisy, smelly motorboat any time. Like canoeing or kayaking. I've done both of those only a time or two, and would like to do LOTS more of both of them. We always made sure the kids got turns before mom did.

Of course I always wanted to learn how to ride a horse...I've ridden, but got seriously thrown when I was young, and have never since been around any horses enough to get comfortable again. I'd like to take classes, nerdy tho that sounds.

I want my own dirt bike, and enough country nearby so I could go riding. A lot. And/or four-wheeling! I always ended up watching my kids try the four-wheelers out, especially my sons.

Here's the thing: I grew up as a tomboy! I grew up climbing trees, playing baseball (better than most the neighborhood boys), running full-speed around the neighborhood (faster than most the neighborhood boys). Then I became a girl. Then a more grown-up girl. Then I became a mom. And got to watch husbands and sons have all the fun, fishing, shooting guns, riding motorcycles, and got to cheer them on, when I REALLY bad wanted to get in that batting cage or go-cart or on the motorcycle or four-wheeler myself. Now, I'm 62, with no sailboats, canoes or kayaks, motorcycles nearby, no budget or need for horseback riding lessons, not much of a bucket-list budget, either. So I'm asking, is it too late?

Vic and I spent most of last week at BYU-sponsored Education Week. We had volunteered to be hosts, which means you answer questions and sort of monitor the entrances and exits in the particular building and class and times you're assigned to. Being hosts meant we were able to attend the entire rest of the week for free. We started with the 9:50AM class, and ended at 9:30PM, Tuesday through Friday.
It was AMAZING! Sometimes we attended classes together, and sometimes not. There was one class that Vic, Anne and I all attended, and another one that I raced the length of the campus the last 3 days to go to with Anne.
The really interested thing to me is that, although we were drawn towards some really different classes, a couple of common themes seemed to come through to us from each of them, no matter how different the subject matter. Apparently, the Lord felt that it was time to get our attention and teach us some REALLY cool stuff.
The ongoing result has been that we felt, and continue to feel, the real need to become more unified, purposeful and dedicated as individuals, as a couple, and as parents (and grandparents). There is so much we heard, and even more, so much that we FELT, that if we don't act on it, we would be REALLY STUPID.
The other very interesting thing -- a "coincidence", if you believe in them -- is that some of our adult children are going through difficult and/or transitory times; the kinds of experiences for them that we can't physically HELP, but where they definitely need support. It has been a very good time to feel that extra charge of faith that we received while at Education Week, so that we "happened" to be "in tune" to be able to add a little counsel in one case, loving support and heartfelt prayers, FEELING more sure than ever that those prayers and our love did and will continue to make a difference to our kids we love so much. Prayer has solid impact. We have learned that.
There was something I learned in our last class on Friday night that I'd never realized before that I'd like to share.
We usually feel like if we're not living worthily, our prayers will not be heard. AND that is a good motivation to become as worthy and obedient to the things we know as we can so that we can feel guidance when it comes.
Brother Ted Gibbons taught something really interesting, though. He began quoting and showing us many scriptures where the pray-er was either seriously unrighteous, or even an out-and-out sinner - even to the point of being called an evil man. Then he quoted where the Lord says, "Weary me no more about this", or words to that effect. Brother Gibbons showed many, many times where this happened. His point wasn't as much that the Lord was tiring of hearing from these men; his point was that the Lord WAS hearing the prayers of these men, unrighteous sinners that they were! So should we ever let feeling unworthy keep us from praying, rationalizing that "He won't hear us anyway"? Clearly, absolutely NOT.
I once told a grown child who had left the Church and was having some painful and serious problems, "You don't have to be a member of the Church to pray and get answers." I felt it was true when I said it, yet wondered at what I had said; wondered whether someone who had purposefully turned away from the Truth they'd been raised with could in fact get answers. Turns out I was right, and hadn't the faith or wisdom to know it. ANYONE who needs answers WILL BE HEARD. Period. It's as simple, and amazing, as that.

About a year and a half ago, I was very ill, and had been for most of a year. I weighed about 100 lbs, was taking a lot of headache meds, not eating very well--well, what I ate was healthy, because it was mostly cooked by my son-in-law, but I didn't eat much. I just could only eat so much before I felt slightly nauseous. After nearly crashing, as a result of a different doctor's take on a headache med, I hooked up with a wonderful naturopath in Portland who, through slow but effective means, got me healthy again. It took a long, long time. Months and months passed, while I gradually was able to sleep at night more than 1 in 4 nights, and could walk from one end of the house to the other without sitting down and breathing hard. Gradually Vic and I could take walks, carefully and slowly around the neighborhood. Natural healing takes way longer, but it sticks, and lasts.
Fast forward to here in Arizona. Health is recovered, and I find I can actually eat without feeling sick.
So I did.
Imagine my surprise when I go to a doctor's appointment and find I weigh 140 lbs!!! I had a flash of gratitude that I was healthy, and not mostly dead, as I had been not that long ago. Then it hit---140 lbs!! Trouble is, I can still eat! I'm all over thicker, so I look better, but I'm embarrassed to admit I have an upper-belly problem.
Anyway, I started having some abdominal discomfort, and realized that some of the organs in that area had shifted and were no longer where they oughta' be. Thousands of jumping jacks back in our Kentucky karate class had probably taken their toll.
So I talked to our new doc about it, and, long story short, the physical therapy people gave me some exercises to do. NOT Kegels, as I expected, and dreaded, because I know Kegels require hundreds upon hundreds for several months in order to have any effect. The new exercises seem simpler, but are supposed to be effective in only 2-3 weeks. I'm jazzed!
Plus, I picked up a tummy-trimming video on sale at the library, and those exercises are fairly simple as well, and somewhat challenging. Not depressing, frustrating challenging, just "Ouch, that feels like a good exercise" challenging.
So, I've had 4 days of exercises, missing one day cause I had a tooth extracted, and didn't want to get on the floor. I'm going to track myself here for getting healthier. I will eat better, eat less, and get more exercise. I downloaded a walk/run tracking sheet that I'm going to implement, besides tracking the tummy stuff. It's nearly a new year--at least, it is for me, so here we go!

STEPS THAT HELPED LIGHT THE WAY

I don't look forward to new issues of The Readers' Digest like I used to. Their articles used to be so much deeper--so much food for thought, that many of them became deeply ingrained in my own personal character and point of view; so much so that my sister Arlene chided me that my entire philosophy of life came straight out of Readers' Digest.
Well, she was probably right. Their articles were short, easy to read, well-written, and many of them stuck with me. Yes, I was very young and impressionable, but I promise, they were really good!
Anyway, the first article that I remember having a definite impact on me (somewhere in my early teens, I think) was a brief little blurb called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff". The only example I can recall involved some friends, including the author, were dining in an elegant restaurant, when an accident caused a plate full of spaghetti to splat all over one diner's beautiful white linen suit. The author was amazed that the white suit guy didn't get angry, but actually seemed to fairly easily laugh it off! When questioned about it, the man said it just wasn't really important enough to get upset about.
I forget the other examples, but the upshot -- the moral of the story, offered 2 rules: 1) Don't sweat the small stuff, and 2) It's all small stuff.
I would like to invite ya'll to think back about moments/steps/impressions, etc., that were, I don't know, I hate to say "Paradigm shifts", but pieces of light that made a difference--immediate or gradual, but that you can look back and see that your attitude shifted, and you reacted differently to certain situations from that time on because of that happening/person/lesson.
Let's see how it goes. As Madmardigan said right before he fell on his can in the snow, "It'll be fun!"