tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57383446648458596592024-02-08T06:52:58.630-06:00A Thankful Heartbecause a thankful heart is a happy heartPhogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-60157140562942154662012-01-05T21:54:00.000-06:002012-01-05T21:54:55.266-06:00Sew CooperativeI'm supposed to be sewing, not blogging. But my (middle) brother is getting married this weekend, and I'm making him a jean blanket. It's tradition. I make a jean blanket for each one of our siblings that gets married. Sometimes, I get it done in time for the wedding, sometimes it's for Christmas five years later.
What do you do with a jean blanket? Well, it's for picnics and fireworks shows andPhogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-57614191237480712872012-01-03T23:05:00.002-06:002012-01-03T23:08:43.376-06:00Send OffHave I mentioned that we feed a lot of missionaries? We do. We fed them the week before Christmas, we fed them tonight, we will feed them again and again before the new month is over.
Feeding the missionaries is an old family tradition. Both my husband and I grew up in homes that fed missionaries frequently. It was a natural thing for us to do when we started our own family. So, yes, we feed thePhogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-63805715722428136772012-01-02T21:58:00.001-06:002012-01-03T11:44:29.817-06:00Happy NewsYesterday evening, the phone rang. It could have been anyone, seeing as how it was New Years Day. It was Jennie, that sweet, insightful young woman who has often commented on this blog.
Yesterday was her birthday. It was also the day she got engaged.
Jennie is one of my former Seminary students. She graduated and moved on to college and life as a young adult, but we keep tabs on each other.
I Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-65708806640133605602012-01-01T15:26:00.002-06:002012-01-01T15:34:33.370-06:00Here I AmAgain.
169 posts out of 365 days. What is that? Almost 50%, right? Plus, you know, the ten or so drafts waiting around for me to finish up and post. So, not a bad showing, considering my ideal versus my reality. But not the 100% I envisioned this time last year.
I'm conflicted.
Part of me wants to berate myself for slacking so badly. Another part of me thinks 50% is actually really good, Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-80902447638725448222011-09-14T09:17:00.000-05:002011-09-14T09:17:38.603-05:00Birthday RainToday is my birthday. It's raining outside. I didn't know it was raining until my son told me when he walked in the door from Early Morning Seminary. We have had a long streak of bright, sunny days, so I was kind of expecting more of the same. But I don't mind. Rain is a great birthday present.
Seven years ago, we were in a drought, quite a bad one, actually. Everyone was praying for rain. We Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-64099555451168238122011-09-13T23:16:00.000-05:002011-09-14T11:23:07.017-05:00Holding Down the FortToday was a busy, busy day. I really am a home body, so it rattles me a bit on these kind of days. All of the leaving and arriving and appointments and errands gets me all turned around and befuddled.
Somehow, I managed to make it to all the meetings, and keep all the crucial commitments, and none of my children starved and all of them did school. A huge shout-out goes to my three oldest Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-84233386482462393592011-09-12T21:59:00.001-05:002011-09-15T12:49:30.813-05:00Moon RiseIt was my husband's idea to watch the moon rise. It was my idea to do it for Family Home Evening.
We were late (as in, not in place to watch it as it came over the horizon), but only by a few minutes. We took the children out of town to a perfect rise-and-set spot. We all ooohed and aahhed, the children explored, the baby slept, the toddler exclaimed in wonder, "Yook at da moon! Uh moon!" over Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-36211818713132756592011-08-30T08:21:00.000-05:002011-08-30T08:21:12.696-05:00A Thankful Little HeartLast night, as we were all gathered in the playroom for family scripture study and prayers when I found a folded piece of paper on the floor, with "my thankfall list" written on the outside. Interested, I unfolded it and found this:
small and simple things
my dall
my family
Aroru
frend's
chaklet
hot gloo guns
the holy ghost
borbr shops
pezza
cloths
my stripy blanket
Eliza
the gospol
Hevinly Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-30895904879860863552011-08-29T21:24:00.000-05:002011-08-29T21:24:51.014-05:00Floaty SuitMy toddler - well, I refer to him as a toddler, but really he is almost three. He doesn't "toddle" at all, he runs and climbs and jumps and does gymnastics everywhere he goes. He's a little kinetic ball of enthusiasm and destruction. He is focused and fearless.
Tonight we went swimming as a family. My fearless little man marched up to the diving board - much to the Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-72568460323350480292011-08-23T22:35:00.000-05:002011-08-23T22:35:21.582-05:00Sick as a DogI am sick today. Not the hip sort of sick, or the mental type. No, it's the "I don't feel like I've been hit by a Mac truck, but I wish I had been, because then I wouldn't feel anything" kind of sick.
I am not grateful to be sick. Let's just get that out there. Being sick does, however, bring many things into sharp focus that I am grateful for. So I will list them for you here.
I am grateful Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-86114484650332963432011-08-22T23:03:00.001-05:002011-08-23T23:06:55.707-05:00Guest Post: Going Back to Say Thank You[from my youngest sister, who spent the first part of her marriage in a really big city, far from everything familiar.]
I am thankful for the ability to say thank you.
When someone helps you out, and then one day you run into them again and are able to thank them for the difference they made in your life? I love that, and I think it is the most beautiful moment you can share with Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-86497746427017005052011-08-21T22:24:00.001-05:002011-08-21T23:10:23.346-05:00Eyes to SeeI ran into an old friend this evening. We haven't seen each other in a very long time, and we haven't truly talked for even longer. Tonight I was able to visit with her for 15 minutes or so. It was very good.
Funny how some people always teach me. I ride around on my high horse more than I care to admit. This gentle lady, however, has taught me so much, and it shouldn't surprise me that she Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-38304224222752329892011-08-20T22:24:00.001-05:002012-01-01T15:46:47.381-06:00Party PlannerAs a young woman, it was my oldest sister who decorated for every birthday. I was the one who planned get-togethers. My mom was the one who made the food. In the family I am raising, I have filled all three of those rolls for so long, I forget how much easier it is to do fun things with family and friends when I'm not doing it on my own.
My oldest daughter wanted to have an end-of-summer party Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-76958655370268588222011-08-19T22:35:00.000-05:002011-08-21T22:50:26.554-05:00Power DownHuge storms have been moving through our area yesterday and today, violent, destructive storms. The first one was the worst: hail, several inches of rain, winds above 80 miles per hour...lots of damage. We only lost one storm window and a side rear view mirror on our van. No trees or limbs down in the yard, no damage to our property, other than lots and lots of leaves stripped off bushes and Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-86725044143644503942011-08-18T22:51:00.000-05:002011-08-21T23:05:02.986-05:00Track RecordOn our date last night, my husband and I sat down and wrote out one hundred date ideas, for future reference. The idea, of course, is that we won't ever waste our precious date night time doing this. It was kind of a half-baked idea when I blurted it out, based on another idea I had come across some months back.
I figured we would plunk away at it, coming up with a few ideas here and there, and Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-67561168901662842392011-08-17T14:45:00.001-05:002012-01-01T16:06:38.477-06:00A Decade and a HalfToday is my 15th wedding anniversary. I have been married to my best friend and one-man-fan-club for a decade and a half. Our life together is very good. He is my rock.
It's also a Wednesday smack in the middle of a crazy-busy workweek, so taking the day off to wander around, holding hands and gazing romantically into each other's eyes will have to be abbreviated and/or postponed.
That's fine Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-5216604894146762962011-08-16T10:24:00.019-05:002012-01-01T16:08:14.503-06:00Open Thank You Note: Jerry & Roxanne and the Comfy CouchDear Jerry & Roxanne,
You are the only people I know who would go out to celebrate their own birthday, and then buy a gift for someone else. Do you remember when you went to that auction, and saw that couch and bought it? Not because you needed it, but because you thought of us. I was curious when you called to say you were on your way over with a "big surprise". I was completely bowled overPhogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-13123632654991899612011-08-15T21:20:00.000-05:002011-08-16T00:23:50.153-05:00Familiar FaceI had an appointment this afternoon that I really didn't want to keep. Or, rather, my husband had an appointment that he couldn't keep, so I got to go in his place.
Doing things in his place makes me nervous, as his areas of expertise often line up precisely with my biggest weaknesses. But weaknesses aside, this appointment had to be kept, so I went along, hoping to be effective and Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-57576467524279287872011-08-14T22:25:00.001-05:002011-08-14T23:42:38.733-05:00Dump CakeThere are a few recipes and meals that say "love" to me, comfort food that never fails to comfort. I am not surprised that most of them come from my childhood. My mom is a good cook, and there are many tasty things that were made over and over again.
Some of these good eats I have carried over into my own household, and they are loved by a new generation of family. But some have fallen out of Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-82294762258716113902011-08-13T13:51:00.004-05:002011-08-15T23:57:59.608-05:00Cousin CampWhen we were young, my brothers and sisters and I would watch jealously every summer as our friends went off to various family reunions. And then came back to regale us with the good times and funny stories they had with their cousins and aunts and uncles.
I went to just one reunion during my growing-up years, and it was for my father's grandmother's family. We knew hardly anyone therePhogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-47002374890081311182011-08-12T21:42:00.000-05:002011-08-12T21:42:00.158-05:00SwallowsLast month, a pair of barn swallows started building a nest on my back porch, not five feet from my door. I was confused by birds nesting in July, but a garden-and-nature friend of mine informed me that barn swallows will hatch out three clutches in a summer, or more.
I was excited to have swallows nesting at our house, even though my friend warned me that they were messy. We all watched the Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-91631382581948956592011-08-11T13:33:00.001-05:002011-08-15T23:55:12.597-05:00Relief SociteyTonight was our Branch's monthly Relief Society meeting. I always try to go, but I had completely forgotten about this one until a friend mentioned it in passing.
I'm so glad she did, and I'm so glad I went. It is really easy for me to allow myself to become overwhelmed and feeling burdened and unrewarded and unappreciated. And I love the women in my Branch and how they lift me up. I don't hang Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-66518242989845427382011-08-10T23:52:00.005-05:002011-08-11T00:12:58.541-05:00The FridgeOnce, I was reading about a woman and her forays into provident living and home storage. Her husband had been a real estate agent in Las Vegas, and when the housing market went south, Vegas was hit the hardest. So she was doing everything in her power to feed her family under their current circumstances.
I quite liked reading her tips and stories. She was full of optimism and can-do spirit. I Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-49874367191269100602011-08-10T13:33:00.001-05:002012-01-01T16:20:27.365-06:00Cutesy CurtainsI like surprises. My husband does not. So, I am constantly trying to surprise him, and he never surprises me. It sounds worse than it is, and we're working on it.
One time I really like surprises is on my birthday. In an effort to surprise me (in a good way), my husband asked for a list of stuff I would be happy to receive. So I gave him a long list, full of practical, frivolous, small,&Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738344664845859659.post-86474232867699848902011-07-15T23:47:00.000-05:002011-07-15T23:47:44.437-05:00Flower ShowMy friend Melanie has a lovely yard, and she puts a great deal of effort and time into it. My daughters love to play in her yard, and help her plant and prune and pick. Because she knows this, she recommended my girls to Cynthia, the woman organizing a Junior Summer Garden Club.
The girls were uncertain at first, but now they love it. And today was the "flower show" for the regular Garden Club, Phogleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15333075334675647763noreply@blogger.com1