President Gordon B. Hinckley, 1910-2008

Each time a prophet has passed away, I've felt a sense of loss, but also a sense of comfort that Heavenly Father has a plan for the leadership of the Church and won't leave us without prophetic guidance. And each time I've come to love the new prophet just as much as the previous one. But still, I think we will all miss President Hinckley. He was just so friendly and loving and open. I've always admired the way he could lead and inspire and motivate without seeming to put himself above anybody. Maybe I've felt close to him too because he was close to the same age as my grandfather, who also passed away shortly after Christmas. My grandfather's funeral was not a sad thing, but a wonderful family reunion and a celebration of a great life. I imagine President Hinckley's funeral will be like that too.

"My beloved associates, far more of us need to awake and arouse our faculties to an awareness of the great everlasting truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can put behind us our weaknesses of the past, and go forth with new energy and increased resolution to improve the world about us, in our homes, in our places of employment, in our social activities.

We have work to do, you and I, so very much of it. Let us roll up our sleeves and get at it, with a new commitment, putting our trust in the Lord.

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
(Hymns, 1985, no. 30)

We can do it, if we will be prayerful and faithful. We can do better than we have ever done before."

--President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, May 1995, p. 88

Life Lately

Recent thoughts and happenings, in no particular order.

* There is nothing I absolutely have to get done today. Which means there are a lot of things I should be doing with my "open" day. If a day like this would just coincide with a decision about which project to tackle and the motivation to tackle it, I would be set!

* I was looking for a baby picture of Ryan to use in our Primary class last Sunday. As I dug through boxes of photos looking for the right envelope, the burden of 20+ years of unorganized photos just sitting in boxes weighed heavily on me. I tried to get into scrapbooking once, but I have yet to figure out how to take the time out of living life now to catch up on documenting the life I've already lived. Maybe when the kids are grown....

* I had a couple of lousy days last week--life looked kind of blah and I couldn't put my finger on why. Hormones maybe. But I got through those two days and things are looking up again. I can deal with a down day every once in awhile, as long as they don't go on and on. I just feel bad for my family when I'm having one of those days...nobody likes a grumpy mommy, including mommy.

* The day that life started looking better again, I experienced my first ever migraine headache. Lovely. I have no idea what triggered it. I just know I'll be happy if I can avoid any more of those, and I feel bad for anyone who experiences them frequently. My eyes started doing freaky things and then I couldn't think straight, and then my head started pounding right behind my left eye. Advil didn't touch it. I finally called Jeff and he took off from work early to rescue me. I'm so glad he has that kind of flexibility with his job most of the time. He took care of the kids and made dinner while I went to bed. (He's been making dinner often lately. I love having a husband who enjoys cooking!) When I got up a couple hours later, I was fine, so I think I headed off the worst of it. Whew.

* I got a new pair of shoes last week, which I really needed. They weren't cheap, but they were super comfortable and my mom paid for half of them as a birthday present, so I was happy. Then Jeff told me they look like grandma shoes. Grrrr. I thought they were cute enough. Oh well. They are still comfortable, and I'm not taking them back. But I don't know whether I'm more frustrated at him for criticizing my choice, or more annoyed at myself for not knowing what looks good and what doesn't. My fashion sense is right up there with my interior decorating skills--mediocre. Grrrr.

* I've been exercising on a regular basis for the first time since last May. It feels good to get back to the gym. I've been feeling really out of shape--soft and weak and tired. We got a great deal on a family pass to the rec center through Jeff's employer, so I've been lifting weights and doing the elliptical machine on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have to pay extra to put Jared and Dallin in the childcare room, but they enjoy it and I'm grateful for the option. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I've been doing yoga with Deni Preston on the Total Body Workout program on BYUTV. In January the show was moved to 5 a.m. MT, which does NOT work for me, but I found out I can stream it anytime I want on byu.tv. I've been easing back into it, but looking forward to upping the intensity as I go.

* My little sister went in the MTC last week. I got to go with my parents to put her in. It was neat to be in the MTC again. There's just a spirit about that place that I don't think most missionaries really recognize. I'm more excited for Joy than anything, so I didn't cry much, but when we sang "Called to Serve" for the opening hymn I couldn't hold the tears back for a few minutes. The orientation meeting is about the same as it's been since I was a missionary, just a few different jokes. The movie is getting a little dated though. I think the clothes sister missionaries wear now are both more comfortable and sharper-looking than the ones I wore, and the luggage is tons better--just more convenient and better built. It will be fun to write to a missionary on a regular basis again, and I love hearing my boys pray for "Aunt Joy and Cousin Rex on their missions."

* I should devote a blog to President Hinckley , and maybe I will later, but I was surprised and saddened by his death. I guess it's just that I thought the Energizer bunny would run down before President Hinckley did. But I am glad he didn't have to linger here in bad health. I know he wouldn't have wanted that. I am grateful for his spirit, his wisdom, his humor, his optimism, his encouragement, and his counsel. I will miss him, but I am grateful that Heavenly Father has provided for prophetic succession, so that we will always have a prophet to guide us in these latter-days. What a blessing.

* Because of President Hinckley's death and funeral, my trip to Las Vegas this weekend with my mom and sister and sister-in-law is off. We were going to Timeout for Women, which is now postponed until September. I'm bummed because I was really looking forward to a girls' weekend out of the snow. Oh well. Grandma and Poppa are going to babysit and let Jeff and I have a date night on Friday instead. It doesn't meet quite the same needs that the trip to Vegas would have, but it will still be nice.

What's More American?

So Harmony, do you have the words to the song you sang all through 1st grade about "I'm as American as corn flakes, apple pie, and . . ."? Shucks, you probably remember the words. I thought it was a very cute song and since it was the Bi-Centennial year, you also rode on stick horses and sang "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Mom

That was the comment from my mom on my last post, to which I must respond. What a blast from the past. As I recall, I also wore a blue plastic tri-corner hat in that Bicentennial program. No, I don't remember all the words, but I did find part of the tune still in my head, and I did remember enough of the words to find the lyrics and the name of the songwriter. Is there anything that can't be found on the Internet?! Anyone else remember this song? Do you have a favorite song from elementary school that still brings back warm, fuzzy little kid memories? Aaah, first grade...that was a good time of life!

What's More American

Words and Music- Kadish Millet

What's more American than corn flakes?
The Fourth of July and Uncle Sam.
What's more American than baseball?
I am, I am, I am!

What's more American than tooth paste?
Rock and Roll, peanut butter, toast and jam.
What's more American than O.K.?
I am, I am, I am!

The Stars and Stripes, George Washington,
The Capitol Dome and Bubble Gum.
There's General Grant, and Robert E. Lee,
But most of all you can count on little old...
Me, Me, Me.

What's more American than ice cream?
Chow mein, pizza pie, Virginia Ham.
What's more American than bingo?
I am, I am, I am!

Ours is a heritage second to none.
We are a nation united as one.
Our Founding Fathers gave us that start,
And their love for our country lives on in ev'ry heart!

What's more American than Football?
T.V. and mighty Superman?
What's more American than saying
I am, I am, I am!

from www.classroomclassics.com

For Gintal

Last spring when my son Ryan graduated from kindergarten, he and his classmates sang a cute song called "Move Me Up to the First Grade" at their graduation ceremony. I posted about it here. Last week I got a comment on my blog from "Gintal," a person I don't know, asking for the lyrics to that song. Gintal had searched for those lyrics with no luck, except--I assume--for the reference to that song in my blog. (I got the same results when I did a Google search. Now how many times have you done a Google search and only got ONE result?!) Well, Gintal, you're in luck. I didn't have the lyrics, I didn't think my son could remember all of them, and my kids no longer go to that elementary school. In fact, we've moved out of that state. I didn't have an e-mail address for his kindergarten teacher, but I decided to see if I could find the lyrics anyway--for Gintal, and just to see if I could accomplish this task. (I love accomplishing tasks almost as much as I love helping people out. :-) I e-mailed the elementary school this weekend through their website, asking for the e-mail address of my son's kindergarten teacher or anyone else who could give me the lyrics to that song. I admit I wondered if anyone would respond, but lo and behold, first thing this morning I received an e-mail from my son's teacher with the lyrics attached. Now I know this is not a totally amazing miracle, but it came together more easily than I expected. And so I present--thanks to me and Gintal--the lyrics to "Move Me Up to the First Grade," now available in cyberspace for the first time that we are aware of! (Dan Miller, google-foo this one and prove me wrong if you can!)

MOVE ME UP TO THE FIRST GRADE

(TUNE: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME)

Move me up to the First Grade,

I have worked very hard.

I know my letters and numbers too,

I follow directions and tie my shoes.

So please move me up to the First Grade.

I want to learn even more!

So it’s time I’m moving along

Let First Grade begin!

Grandpa Bill, 1915-2007

My mom called early on the 27th to let me know that my Grandpa Bill had passed away. His health had been slowly deteriorating, but for a 92-year-old he wasn't doing too bad. Then over the Thanksgiving weekend he fell and it went fairly quickly downhill after that. I got to visit with him the week after Thanksgiving and he was still sitting up and communicating. He watched my little Dallin playing on the floor and said more than once what good-looking grandkids he had. He joked about how Grandma was taking her time about coming to get him. (She passed away in 1993, so he'd been alone for 14 years.) Just two weeks later when I visited him again he was bedridden and speaking was an effort. But his eyes lit up when I talked about Christmas music and the snow that he could see on the rooftops out his window. He looked so small and frail lying in that bed, and I hoped he wouldn't have to lie there too much longer. He lived a good life, he was a good man, he set a great example of service. I will miss him, but I am not sad. His funeral last week was a wonderful tribute to his life, with memories and stories and testimonies of the resurrection and eternal families. I am so grateful for my heritage, especially the spiritual heritage that has been passed down to me. Because Jesus Christ lived and died for each of us, my grandfather's funeral was not a sad event, but a happy family reunion and a wonderful celebration of his life. If I've got the count right, his six children, 31 of his 36 grandchildren, and several of his 54 (going on 60) great-grandchildren were there. We are all beneficiaries of who and what he was. Love you Grandpa!

My sister, Joy, took the photo of Grandpa's house that he built 67 years ago and lived in until October, and the photo of the swing that has hung in the chestnut tree in the backyard for as long as any of the grandchildren can remember.

Christmas Fish

We had a good Christmas. The kids woke up to find that Santa had, with Mom's and Dad's permission, brought them a fish tank. They also got coupons from Mom and Dad to go buy fish at the Animal Ark in American Fork, since it's too cold for Santa to keep tropical fish at the North Pole, of course. (Not to mention the water in the tank needed to be filtered and conditioned for a few days before the fish arrived.) Adam chose two orange swordtails, Ryan picked out two porkchop fish, and Jared chose three zebra fish. So far, so good. None of them are dead yet. Mom might get a couple powder blue gouramis for her birthday, if we determine they will be friendly with the others. This was a big step for us, as Mom and Dad are not pet people. But the fish don't shed, they don't poop or pee on the floor, they don't bite or scratch, they don't eat much, and if we take care of them they shouldn't smell either. And it's actually fun and restful to sit and watch them swim--kind of like watching the flames of a campfire.