Mormon Messages

I love all of the Mormon Messages on youtube but this one is so inspirational. It helps to put things in perspective when we think our lives are hard.

This one by Elder Holland is also a great one.

Sister Day

On June 5th my sisters and I got together for a day of driving down "Memory Lane" and just enjoying each other's company. We went to visit our parents gravesite, drove past "The Villa" where Connie was married to Chris, and drove past our home at 6009 Upham Drive where we lived 50 years ago. It was amazing to see that the old neighborhood still looked very much the same only with taller vegitation. We laughed and talked, went the wrong way and then had a special tour of the Viginia Historical Society given to us by our own Docent, Kathy. We learned a lot and enjoyed being in the old Battle Abbey. We then went past our Hickory Rd house on the way to dinner, where this picture was taken.


When we got home we went over old photographs and memorabilia from Mom and Dad. It is always so nice just to get together and talk, and laugh and remember. I love being with my sisters!

Smith Mountain Lake

After graduation we went up to Smith Mountain Lake for 3 days of relaxation and just all being together. Smith Mountain lake is a 40-mile long, 20,600 acre lake, with 500 miles of shoreline, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural southwestern Virginia;The damming of the Blackwater and Roanoke Rivers formed Smith Mountain Lake in a filling process that began on September 24, 1963 - and ended almost 2.5 years later on March 7, 1966. It was made to generate electricity.



All the houses are on the lake and Emilie and Logan even took Tommy swimming.




There were some huge catfish that would clamber for anything you threw in the water and one night we had a huge hail storm.

Dad and I went to Bedford to take Connie to do some family history and while she was at the historical society we went to see the National D Day Memorial which was very impressive.Bedford lost more sons on D Day per capita than any other town in America. So here, in this small town is a gorgeous memorial.




It was very peaceful and then the "Rolling Thunder" motorcycle group came through on their way to Washington DC. I have never seen sooooo many motorcycles in my life!
Our vacation was a little different than we planned because Connie and I both got sick on Friday and just slept for the last two days but everyone enjoyed being together and having time just to do what we wanted. We decided it is a place worth going back to.
By the way, for movie fans, "What about Bob" was filmed at Smith Mountain Lake.

Logan gets his badge!

We were so proud to be with Logan as he celebrated finishing the Police Academy. His parents came from Washington State


and his police chief came to pin on his badge:


The kids were with us and Jack slept through the whole thing so we all enjoyed it!!

Coming soon

I haven't posted for awhile because I left my camera at my sisters House. I will be picking it up this week and then you will get to see Logan's graduation and my "sister trip". Both were fun events and I am anxious to see my pictures myself!

Mother's Day

Today was fun! John bought me a corsage for mother's day and it turned out I was the only one at church with one. Boy did I feel special! We had nice talks that didn't make me feel quilty or less of a mother, they gave out begoinias and CHOCOLATE which were great gifts so sacrament meeting was great. JJ,Emilie, Logan, Dad and I had dinner together and so I got to see Tommy and Jack and enjoy the family that is here. All in all it was a very pleasant day!
Here are a few pictures:
Thank you Hope!A beautiful handmade permanent corsage and card.


Thank you Christy!What a great purse.I have been looking for a sping/summer one!



Thank you JJ( a beautiful card and a manicure and pedicure).


Thank you Emilie (a wonderful family collage for my desktop at work)




Tommy & Jack, gifts from God.

My soul delighteth in the song of the heart

I have always loved to sing but until I joined the church I didn't think I had a voice worth listening to. Shortly after John and I got married someone sitting next to me said "you have a very pretty voice, you should be in the Ward choir". Being a new member of the church, I didn't know that every ward choir is always desparate for people! I was so excited and I joined right away! John and I both sang in the choir from then on. We always found that the best way to integrate into a ward qucikly was to join the choir.
I've always followed the person next to me so I am no accomplished singer but I sure have loved doing it. I have learned an incredible amount and have been able to sing in some small groups and even did a solo one time (didn't turn out very good!). I have been blessed to sing with my daughters which gave me great joy and our whole family even sang one time in Sacrament meeting.I love all of the hymns and can quote them much better than scripture! They bring me peace when I am upset,teach me principles and help me express my thoughts along with chasing off sadness or bad thoughts. They are part of my everyday life and to know that they are a form of prayer gives them added meaning.
A few years ago I began to notice that my range was lowering and I was having difficulaty singing the higher notes. I started sitting next to second sopranos and that worked for awhile.I knew I might be able to learn the alto part if I always sat next to someone to follow but my head was so full of the soprano part that it just didn't.
The last several weeks in church I have discovered that I can't even fake the high notes any more, not even the second soprano part (which I could never do on my own). As I sat in church today I realized, sadly, that it will probably never be back and that I need to learn to deal with this "new" voice.

Darn this growing old stuff! I love to sing but mostly now it will have to be in my heart.