Think Spring!

Doesn't this background just shout "It's Spring!!!"? I'm so ready for it! I'm also ready for our trip to Rexburg for my nephew, Aaron's wedding. I'm taking Mom and Melanie and we're going to caravan with LaVoy and Alan starting at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow returning on Sunday! Melanie will be dropped off in Pocatello to visit a friend. This will defintely be a post for the future! Stay tuned...

A Wonderful Friday the 13th!

This morning I was able to take a dear friend of mine to the Columbia River Temple. My friend is Maxine Carlson from Ephrata. She is a beautiful, classy, and a sweet, sweet woman. Here is a picture of Maxine and I outside the doors of the Temple after we'd finished a session today. (Thanks for taking the picture, Brianne....she met us at the Temple and went through the session with us.) Let me tell you a little about Maxine....

Maxine is in her 80's. I've known Maxine for years...well, I knew who she was when I was growing up, lets say that! Her son, Doug is my age and we dated a little bit (a day or two!) in high school! I was going to "save" him or so I thought! Bad decision! Anyway, the Carlson's were a family that wasn't active in the church. There were 3 older girls born to Maxine and then quite a few years later she had 5 boys really close together so it's like she raised two families. She and her husband were both raised in Idaho Falls and Maxine's family was active, I believe, while she was growing up. She got married, had kids and all of her kids have been baptised but they were never active. She'd send the boys to Primary once in awhile but that was about all the church they had.

Many, many years went by and we moved back to Ephrata and into the same ward as Maxine. I then was assigned to be her visiting teacher and I was thrilled. I called her that first month to set up a time to go visit her, told her who I was and she was tickled, too, that I had been assigned to her. We instantly had a connection and enjoyed each others company. I always looked forward to my next visit. We always had great talks and lots to talk about!

During the time I was her visiting teacher, her husband died. I was glad and grateful that I was her visiting teacher at that time. Our visits continued and she had stressed to me on many occasions that she always had a desire to go to church. After her husband died, she stressed that desire even more but she was afraid she'd get asked to pray! I promised her that no one would ask her to pray...............was that all that was keeping her from church? The talks and visits continued...........

.....then we moved to Moses Lake. I told her even though I wouldn't be her visiting teacher anymore I'd still keep in touch. I did here and there but not on a regular basis like I should have! The next thing I knew......she was going back to church......and then the next thing I knew.....she was going to the Temple for the first time!! I was ecstatic! Maxine asked someone in the ward to call me and tell me she would be going through the Temple and wanted me to be there. I had a conflict and couldn't be there! Come to find out I was told the wrong date! I felt sooooo bad that I had missed it! But so happy for her!

A few weeks after, I got a call at work from her daughter, Linda. She called to ask if I could come over to her Mom's. Maxine's 58 year old (about that) daughter, Brenda who had Downs Syndrome had died and they needed some help. When I got there they were both really upset and they needed help with arrangements. I was so thrilled that they had thought to call me. It meant the world to me! I stayed until we had the funeral planned and phone calls made for who they wanted to take part in the service. I was honored to help!

Maxine has since been sealed for time and all eternity to her parents, her husband, Brenda and her oldest daughter who passed away a few years ago have both been sealed to Maxine and Vaughn. I am so proud of Maxine and the courage it has taken for her to be where she is now!

Thank you, Maxine, for being a dear friend and letting me be a part of your life! It's truly an honor and a blessing. May the Temple trips continue......

When I got home from the Temple these were sitting on my counter! Being the private detective I am I'm almost certain they're from Holli, my dear D-i-l! Thank you, Holli!

So you see, Friday the 13th isn't at all what it's cracked up to be!

25 Random Things....

Shaila tagged me on her blog and 2 others tagged me on Facebook to publish "25 Random Things" about myself. I'm not sure I want anyone to know that many things about me but I'll give it a try...

1. I am the 3rd child of 7 children...5 sisters; Annise, Barbie, LaVoy, Jana Lee and Cara Lynn. And 1 brother; Travis who although he was the only boy in our family and he is just 15 months older than me, he was the best brother! I have so many wonderful memories of him.

2. I was born in Brigham City, Utah and Mom and Dad built a house in Honeyville when I was 1. We lived there until I was 8 when we moved to Ephrata, WA. Utah is and always will be home to me.

3. I have 5 children, 11 grandbabies, a wonderful husband, Michael and 1 dog. My family is everything to me! I love being a grandma and I love spending one on one time with each of them.

4. I was a super shy child and I am still a shy adult but I've learned that I have to step out of my comfort zone if I want to form relationships outside of my family. I hide my shyness fairly well.

5. I love playing the piano and wish I was an accomplished pianist. I took just a few piano lessons when I was in the 4th grade in Honeyville. We moved shortly after I started and then taught myself after that. I used the church hymn book and the Primary song book to learn from. I knew the tunes and would find the right note by ear and that's how I learned notes. I miss having a piano!! It's a stress reliever for me.

6. I am an avid recipe reader! They are my favorite books! My favorites are family, hometown, fundraiser cookbooks. The tried and true recipes! Give me a cookbook...I'm happy!

7. I love to cook, sew, make things, etc., and work with my hands...but having a job prohibits me from doing the projects I'd love to do. By the time I get home my get up and go has got up and went!

(Only 7!! I'm not even half way yet!)

8. I can do a lot of things but I don't feel I do just one thing really well! I would like to feel like I've mastered at least one thing! I guess that's my own fault! But I've always felt I could do almost anything given the opportunity.

9. I like to challenge myself...see above! Once I can see I can do it I kind of lose interest! Thus...I never "master" anything!

(Isn't this reflective!)

10. I like to write...something I don't do hardly ever! I used to write poems and I wrote one children's story that I always wanted to try and publish. When I'm asked to speak in church I enjoy writing my talk. I like to express my feelings on paper and I express them much better by writing them down. I verbally don't express myself as well.

11. I used to be really skinny! Honestly...I would get teased even in high school! I could eat anything I wanted for YEARS! My brother would say, "Marion, if you stood sideways and stuck out your tongue you'd look like a zipper!" At 38 things changed! Oh, my!

12. The 3rd time's the charm! Something I'm not proud of....I've been married 3 times and wish I was as wise then as I am now. It took me some major trials and some hard years to get where I am today!

12. I have a wonderful Hubby. We've been married for almost 17 years! He's also almost 14 years younger than I am but it doesn't feel that way. He was worth the wait! (I had to wait for him to grow up, after all!)

13. I've met John Denver! And I'm proud of it! He literally ran into me after I attended his concert at Lake Tahoe back in '79. I didn't wash my hand for weeks!

14. I like salty over sweet. I'll chose a bag of chips over a dessert until I eat the chips, then I need something sweet! Give me a big bag of hot buttered theatre popcorn with lots of salt and extra butter I'm in seventh heaven! Did I mention I used to be skinny?

15. I love music! I love classic rock music! I love all different kinds of music! I love my iPod!

16. I love to travel. I've been on vacations to Maui & England (twice) as far as "overseas" and hope to visit more "oversea" destinations. I was able to visit the early church history sites while back in New York at Leisha's. This year we're going to Nauvoo and I'm so excited to visit there. I'd love to just take a church history vacation.

17. My wish is to go to Rome, Italy when the Temple is dedicated there. What an awesome blessing to have an LDS Temple in Rome!

18. I love to shop! Not necessarily buy, but I love to browse and look at things. Especially things for my house. I'm slowly getting my house decorated. It's so expensive!

19. Another desire is to have color on my walls. I just can't decide on what colors I want!

20. I work with my sister, LaVoy! It's been an absolute blessing to see and talk to her everyday! I love you, Tillie! Now get to work!!

21. I love Hubby's family! His brother's and Hubby are wonderful men. I'm grateful for the good relationship I have with my mother-in-law and I have great sister-in-laws and we have lots of fun when we're together!

22. I'm indecisive! (See #19!) I'd rather have someone else make the decisions!

23. I love the Gospel! I'm proud to be a Latter-day Saint! I can't imagine not having the knowledge that it has given me! I'm grateful to have the faith that it takes to believe as I do and know for certain that it is Christ's restored church.

24. I love the Book of Mormon. It's from reading it that #23 means so much to me. If you haven't read it I give you the challenge to read it, ponder it and pray about it. It will change your life! Don't take someone else's word for it that it is true or not true. Find out for yourself!

AND FINALLY...

25. It's from personal trials that #23 and #24 mean so much to me! Unfortunately, for a few years I lived contrary to those beliefs. I'm so very grateful that I only found misery in those few years because now I know who I am and how I want to live my life. I now have true peace, happiness and joy and I know it's the gospel that helps to bring me there!

I DID IT! Now I tag anyone that hasn't done their list of "25 Random Things" that reads this! I'll be looking to find out more about you!

Winston Clark Hardy...Our #11 is "1"!

Winston turned 1 on February 2. He is such a delightful baby! He always has a smile on his face and is sweet as can be. I was able to take the day off work and drive to Pullman to share his first birthday with him. I'm so glad I did. We had a fun day!

Shaila had taken off his clothes so he could dig into his birthday cake! Thus, just a onesie...and he wasn't feeling good on his birthday. Poor little guy didn't even want to enjoy his birthday cake!

Quinnie and Malcolm couldn't wait to eat the cake! Shaila is amazing! When she wants to do something she goes for it! She found this birthday cake idea and had never worked with fondant! But she found a recipe and ran with it! Isn't it adorable? The pigs and chicks were made out of fondant, too, and were so detailed and cute! You did a great job, Lou!

Melanie had sent me to Pullman with a darling John Deere toy tractor that had a cute face on it but it was too wide for the cake. So....

...we made a trip to the John Deere dealership in Moscow and found a tractor small enough for the cake. And while we were there...

...the boys each had to try out a tractor. Here's Malcolm wishing it was really running!

...Quinnie ready to race Malcolm and be the little daredevil that he is!

...and the birthday boy, Winston, thinking he's as big as his brothers!

Of course, our trip to Pullman isn't complete without hitting the famous "Cougar Country" or "Cougar Chunky" according to Quinnie. That's what we all call it now!

Cute boys! Quinnie always has to do some type of a pose! What a kid!

Happy 1st Birthday, Winston Clark Hardy! You're the youngest member of our family tree but I'm sure not the last! Poppy and GraMimi love you and we're thankful for the blessing and joy you have added to our family tree! May we be able to share many more birthdays with you!

"29" is Fine!

February 1st has come and gone and I hope Brianne will forgive me for being slow with this post! It's been a busy week with me in Pullman and working in Spokane the first part of the week and sick the last part! Wah, wah, wah! Right? Anyway, it was Brianne's birthday Feb. 1st. It's also her husband, Tom's birthday the same day! They're the same age, too!

Here are the birthday kids...They drove up on their birthday ONLY because I kidnapped Jayni when we visited them Saturday so they had no choice but to come and let us celebrate their birthday's.

Saturday Tom was coaching his basketball team so we were at least able to hang out with Brianne, Jayni and Mason. Brianne chose to have dinner at The Olive Garden. No candles to blow out but at least Mason liked pretending!

Sunday they really got to blow out their candles. Brianne L.O.V.E. loves chocolate so we bought her the big chocolate cake from Costco since I didn't have time to bake one. Tom doesn't care for cake so Brianne bought him a pie. (Honestly, we usually do bake!)


We had to get Jayni in on the party at dinner Saturday! She insisted on doing bunny ears to herself! Silly girl!

A more normal look for Brianne and Mason! Brianne, you've always been a beautiful girl and you've grown into an even more beautiful woman! Here's a few things about Brianne....

• She's very independent! Has been since birth....no kidding! When she was just a few days old I discovered she'd rather be left alone in her bed to go to sleep than let me hold her and rock her to sleep! I was so sad!
• She's is so smart at everything! Learning has always come easy to her. She can figure anything out...computers, electronics, crafts....anything! She likes the challenge!
• She's a perfectionist when she takes on a project! It has to be perfect! And it's always done beautifully!
• She doesn't recognize how gifted she is...or how beautiful she is.
• She loves to sleep...and can sleep anytime and anywhere! She has always been my sleeper and if she doesn't get enough sleep........well.......she's not as happy as she usually is!!
• She's very loyal to her mother and that has meant so much to me over the years!
• She's can be so clumsy but it's so funny!
• She let's us laugh at her in the above situation and doesn't get mad!
• She has "Good Humor"! (Family, joke!) Right, Pop?
• She loves rock music....and could probably be a groupie if she had of been raised differently! (Wonder where she gets that from?)
• She has given us two beautiful grandbabies...Jayni and Mason! You are my sunshines!
• She has a wonderful husband who brings lots of life to our family!
• She's a wonderful Mom!

And let's not forget Tom....

• He is ALWAYS happy!
• He ALWAYS is smiling!
• He gives great hugs!
• He loves everyone and is good to everyone!
• He L.O.V.E. loves basketball....well...any sport for that matter!
• He honors his priesthood!
• He's patient!
• He loves to play games and have fun!
• He doesn't have a shy bone in his body!
• He brings a lot of joy to our family!
• He's a great Daddy!

Happy Birthday Brianne and Tom! We love you!