Hurrah! Picture Day!

It has been two years and one new grandchild since we had family pictures. Everyone was so excited to have new ones taken. A big Hurrah was heard (maybe not really) but they all came like the good sports they are!!!

This is my eldest daughters family, Jeni & Rand Lemmon and their children. Cutest bunch you've ever seen. Each personality shines through and I love them all.

This is my son Matt. This picture is priceless to me because I know it almost physically hurt him to come and have his picture taken. He's so handsome and it made me very happy that he came ( I believe) just because he loves me!!

As you can tell, about here they are done smiling and almost falling asleep. What good sports. (Better than the grown ups by a tad!)

Here we are and we are definitely done.

Nothing too spectacular to report this week. I get to go to more website training at work this next week. Maybe it will spruce up this site a litte. At least this time the pictures look right in the preview. We'll see what they do when I publish it! Cross your fingers!

Family

Dason & Rheagn

Laura Jo and I and magic wands. A sister tradition!

Kay & Mark Bradshaw, Scott, Tim, Me, Jeni and 3 of the cutest grand children you will ever see!

I was blessed to go and visit family again this last weekend. My nephew Dason Phelps married my new niece Rheagn. She's from North Dakota and seems like a perfect match for Dason. I didn't get to visit much but she's beautiful, a 6th grade teacher, polevaulter and Dason had a great deal of love in his eyes for her throughout the evening so as far as I'm concerned she's perfect! My favorite quote of the evening however was from my brother Russell. He has two beautiful grandchildren that we kid back and forth about which ones are cuter, his or mine. This night Sunni was dressed in a absolutely gorgeous ivory dress with her hair done in ringlets and about as darling as a child can get. He quietly leaned over and said, "want to have a contest tonight?" I gave in very gracefully. He definitely won that night, but only by a smidgeon! :)

While I was there I was able to attend the family graveside service for my Uncle John White. His wife Elizabeth, my fathers sister, died a month ago. I have two very favorite memories of the service. One was when Mark Bradshaw, Tim Johnson, Scott Gunnell and Freddy Ashby sang an absolutely beautiful accapella quartet. It was as magical musically as I expected and my heart filled with gratitude that Mark, Tim and Scott were part of my growing up years. I have been surrounded by good people all my life. Good friends are such a blessing.

The second memory I will treasure was the playing of taps. It was beautiful. Then when the guard presented the flag to John White, Uncle John's son, the man said, "on behalf of the President of the United States in gratitude for his valiant service...." I was again so grateful for all the good people that protect and bless our country. I have so many blessings.

I also got to visit with my sisters for a while and it was fun. Life is good.

These pictures are not doing what I want and I'm out of time so you get the semi-finished version. Oh well.

This is where the Dale and Barbara Hathcock family started. The covenants made there give me great hope. I enjoyed the conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this weekend. One of my favorite thoughts was from President Monson. He instructed us to find joy in the journey now, rather than dwell on the past. We need to make pleasant memories today for the future. I have several other notes , but I'll save you all from having to read them and just remark that I am very grateful for modern day prophets and apostles.

I'm reading a book called Mormon Scientist, the life and faith of Henry Eyring. I'ts about President Eyrings father. When it talks about his scientific discoveries I get lost and my eyes glaze up a little, but when it talks about the man I really enjoy it. Here's a quote he gave in it that zinged into my soul. "To accept the idea that the human personality ends with death is to accept life as a futile, meaningless gesture. God would be less compassionate than many good men if life ended at the grave. Broken, uncompleted lives are the best possible reason for a hereafter in which the scales of justice are balanced by a just god."