Timpanogos Storytelling Festival - Labor Day Weekend

Hey friends and family -

Just a heads up about the wonderful Timp Storytelling Festival - it runs this Friday and Saturday. This year is the 20th anniversary for the nation's 2nd largest storytelling festival! I'll be there with Cherish Bound and I really hope to see you.


Here is the link for information and tickets:
http://www.timpfest.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31&Itemid=35

Just a few of the renowned story tellers who will be featured: Donald Davis, Carmen Deedy, Bill Harley, Syd Leiberman (my favorite), Barbara McBride Smith, and MORE!

Imagine a beautiful park, HUGE white tents all over with flags flying, lots of yummy food, men and women with a gift for storytelling - all of this, and more, when you come to the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival! Stop by the Cherish Bound booth and say "hi"!

My feature on I Never Grew Up Blog...

Vanessa, at "I Never Grew Up" is doing a feature on me tomorrow (Monday). When she emailed me to ask if she could do this, I was surprised and very flattered. I met Vanessa at a blogging conference called Moms Who Make It. I'm very glad I met her, because she is going to help me make lots of money from home using my computer! (Right, Vanessa?!) She is a genius when it comes to making money with blogs. I love her sight and encourage all of you to visit it: www.inevergrewup.net
Check out her cute button in our button blog roll (left side bar).

Hope you enjoy the interview!

This is a sad day for me and my family. My grandmother just died. Last night, my mom called and told me that my grandma had either had a massive stroke or that she had fallen and hit her head - whatever happened, she was at the hospital and was unconscious. They did some tests and discovered huge amounts of blood around her brain. By the time a surgeon looked at the tests, he said her brain was damaged badly. He could have done surgery (drill hole in head and drain blood), but that she would still have brain damage and probably wouldn't survive the surgery. My mom left on a flight to Arizona this morning - just wanting to say goodbye before giving the go-ahead to take Grandma off of life support. She was a 1/2 hour too late. Grandma died before she got there. I'm so sad for my mom.

I couldn't sleep last night, worrying about Grandma and Mom. How do you say goodbye to your mom? I can't even imagine it. After a lifetime of loving her, relying on her - where do you get the strength to let her go? My heart is breaking for my mom. I'm feeling awful, but thought I'd write a post of my grandma so that I'd feel better.

My grandma met my grandpa during World War II. She worked in a parachute factory and he was a bomber pilot. My grandma would bring parachute fabric home to her mom and they'd make quilts. My mom still has one of those quilts! After the war, when they were married, Grandma moved with Grandpa to Utah (from Virginia). Grandpa fixed airplanes at Hill Airforce Base. They lived in this cute little house in Bountiful. I remember visiting them there. Grandpa had this cool pool table in the basement. There was a hill in the backyard that we used to roll down. One time, when Grandma Evans was babysitting me, I left the house and walked all the way to the little corner store by myself (I was 3!). I stole a candybar, and Grandma found me a while later, on the porch, eating this candybar. She asked where I got it, and when she found out what I did, she marched me right back to that store and made me tell the manager. I don't really remember any of this, but it's one of those great stories everyone tells through the years. I remember a few of the rooms in Grandma's house - the kitchen had white cabinets and kind of a fluorescent light - I love the way the lights played on everything in the kitchen - making it all look so neat. I remember sitting at the kitchen table (the same table my mom would ride around on her trike) and Grandma teaching me how to write cursive - and not letting me stop practicing until all of my letters slanted the right way. I owe my beautiful handwriting to my Grandma! I remember Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom. I have flashes of memories - like photographs - of things on the top of their dresser. What I remember most was that some of those things were handmade by their kids (my mom and my uncle) and they still had a place of honor in the master bedroom. I remember the beautiful white mantel around the fireplace, and that beautiful clock on the mantle that went round and round. We used to go every Christmas eve to visit Grandma and Grandpa. One of the most vivid childhood memories I have is riding back home from Grandma's - around the point of the mountain in Bountiful - lying on the backseat of the car and watching the lights travel across the inside of the car as I fell asleep. I remember watching the super bowl with Grandpa and him being so mad that my team won and his didn't. He made me turn the tv off right when the fans flooded the field (my favorite moment of the game). When I would stand in front of the tv, he used to say "You make a better door than a window!" Haha! Grandma would say, "Oh, Tom!". Grandma was a gifted seamstress and a great cook. She grew up on a dairy farm and knew how to work! Grandma knew how to quilt as well. She helped make many of the quilts that I got for my wedding. I remember fleeing to stay with my grandma and grandpa when my boyfriend broke my heart. They didn't say anything - no preaching, no opinions - just let me stay there and heal.

Grandma was so proud of all of her grandkids and great-grandkids. She would always ask me to give the kids and Rick and kiss for her and tell them how much she loved them. I remember visiting Grandma and Grandpa Evans when Rick graduated with his bachelor's degree - Grandpa let us drive around in his old truck and Grandma would ask Rick over and over if he wanted something else to eat! Grandma took care of Grandpa through his fight with Lymphoma cancer. I remember visiting during that time and was touched by the love and care she showed him. I took my family to visit and we all stayed in Grandma's trailer. We had a great time. She's been slowing down a lot the past few years. She's had heart problems and back problems. My sister, Kris, and I went a few years ago and stayed with her for a week and took care of her. Then, a few months ago, we again went down and stayed for a week. I could tell she was much weaker. She has fallen a few times and I'm always worried about her walking around by herself. This past year, during my fight with breast cancer, my grandma has called at least 2-3 a week. She had helped me so much. I've gotten so used to her phone calls, I will have a hard time not hearing her voice again.

I love my grandparents. I know that Grandpa was just waiting in the spirit world for Grandma to hurry up and get there. They've been apart for so many years. I'm so happy for her - she is basking in his love and I can just see the gathering that is happening right now - she is in the arms of not only Grandpa, but her parents and siblings as well. What a wonderful time she must be having. I love you, Grandma!

Here are just some of my favorite pictures:

Cute Irene showing those gorgeous legs! No wonder my grandpa fell head over heels!





Two of my all time favorite pictures of my grandparents.

Wordless Wednesday - My Lunch

This is my lunch from yesterday - looks pretty, huh? Zucchini bread, apple slices, celery w/peanut butter, and tomatoes from my tomato plant!

A Blog You'll Enjoy - I promise!

On my new schedule, Tuesday's are for promoting someone else's blog, so I'm excited to point you in the direction of... http://henrythefrog.blogspot.com/

This is "Henry the Frog - A lucky father of four, living the dream. Making readers laugh or roll their eyes since 2004". I really love this blog. It's the only one I read whose author is a guy! He's really funny and entertaining. So, pop that URL into your address line and ENJOY!

Oh, and I wanted to share my new office with all of you, because I'm SOOOOOO excited. Grant moved out, Michael moved downstairs into Grant's room, and Matthew moved upstairs into Michael's room... so, I kicked Rick out of my office and into his own office in Matthew's old room! YAY! I say this, not because I'm glad Rick is no longer taking up space in my office, but because now I have much more room. Room enough to move the leather chair my dad gave us into my office (can you say... READING CHAIR!). So here are the pictures - and I'm sure you'll agree that the decor fits me much more than it fits Rick! But, first.... Rick's new office:



This is Rick's new office - I tried to paint it, but he didn't want me to - BORING! But, he has a bigger bookcase than me (he wouldn't trade - I think he resents me kicking him out!) and he has this cool futon thing for Grant to sleep on when he comes home to visit - we are "storing" it for some friends (thanks, Larsens).

This is my desk - look at that HUGE window I get to look out of!

This is my bookcase (think I need a bigger one?! And those are just SOME of my favorite books!) and the cute shelf on the RED wall that I LOVE!)

That's the printer and the bulletin boards on the right of the desk.

This is the filing cabinet that Michael made me in woodshop, in Jr. High (He just finished his first year of COLLEGE - yep, it took that long - we finally sanded and painted it a few months ago!) It's pretty sweet, huh?!

A view of that scrumptious, comfy chair - it's old, but, hey - it's leather, so it just gets better with age! And, yes, it is as comfortable as it looks!

That's the picture of a Stripling Warrior and his Mom (from the Book of Mormon) - it matches perfectly (that wasn't even planned - I just found it in my "crap" room downstairs!!!!!). With all the boys I have, what an appropriate picture, right?

So that's my office - are you jealous?! I'm so excited. It looks just the way I've always pictured it. Too bad I had to get rid of a kid (read *adult* here) to get my office! Ha...ha...ha... yeah.

Education Week...

I haven't posted for awhile, because last week I was gone! I attended Education Week at Brigham Young University, in Provo UT. It was a full week of classes - from 8:30 am to 9:30 pm. I had such a great time. I went by myself, because no one else could go. But, I still had a great time. I'm going to share the things I learned with you for Mondays' posts for awhile. Here is a one liner from each of the classes I attended...

1. Rand Packer (Powerful Scriptures in Solving Life's Problems): "Write down the personal revelation you receive."
2. Linda Eyre (A Joyful Mother of Children): "When you have laboriously finished your tasks for the day, go to sleep and rest. God is awake."
3. Lynn Scoresby (The Crisis of Unbelief - How to Ensure Faith and Testimony in Our Children): "Provide examples of positive emotions - give kids opportunity to express emotions. If they see love, they are more likely to believe an unseen Father (God) can love them."
4. David Christensen (Hope is a Gift of the Spirit): "If you are going to develop worlds and have kids forever, you must develop the characteristics of God - Faith, Hope, and Charity."
5. Dennis R. Deaton (Battling Satan's Ploys in the Latter Days): "Satan hates you as much as Heavenly Father loves you!"
6. Gary and Joy Lunberg (Filling Your Heart and Home with the Irresistible Light of Christlike Love): "The greatest gift you can give to your children - parents who love each other."
7. Susan Fullmer (Food - To Please the Eye and Gladden the Heart - Weighty Matters): "Eat a variety of foods from ALL food groups, in smaller amounts."
8. David LeFevre (Book of Mormon - Discoveries and Evidences): "The greatest evidence you will have, that the Book of Mormon is true, is your own personal testimony and witness from the spirit."
9. Mark Ogletree (Improve Your Marriage This Week): "Successful marriage requires a high degree of motivation. The commitment has to be mutual. There's more to marriage than just surviving!"
10. Ted L. Gibbons (Lessons from Moroni's Letter to Pahoran That Can Bless Our Homes and Families): "When Satan wants to disrupt God's work, he attacks the family. The attacks will not come so much from outside of the home, as from the inside - TV, computers (pornography), arguments, etc."
11. Diana McGuire (Food - Fighting Fat: Facts, Fads, and Fallacies): "There is no such thing as "cleansing your body" - your body does just fine on it's own. It doesn't have to be cleansed. This is a fad diet and will just waste your money." (I heard this two different times - once from a nutritionist and dietitian, and once from a surgeon).
12. Steven A. Tersigni (Obesity, a Modern-day Pandemic - It Does Matter What You Eat): "Don't drink soft drinks - they cause HUGE insulin spikes. Very bad for your body. Soft drinks with artificial sweeteners are bad as well."
13. John Hilton III (Making Your Scripture Study More Meaningful): "The most important thing you can do as you prepare to meet the Savior is immerse yourself in the scriptures."
Nora Nyland (So What's For Dinner - Stocking a Healthy and Convenient Pantry): "We should appreciate food more - it's a gift from God. Healthy eating and busy lifestyles can go together if we Plan (menu), Procure (shop), Pre-Prep (time saver), and Produce (cook)."

That's just a taste of the things I learned last week. Several of those speakers were classes I attended every day - with different subjects each day. If you ever have the opportunity to attend Education Week, DO IT! I learned so much. Now, I just have to apply what I learned!

IS A DAILY SCHEDULE BEST?

I've been neglecting this blog while I work on my new blog: www.reallyincrediblewomen.blogspot.com, so I guess I'd better update this today.

I used to have a strict schedule for this blog, and then I stopped doing it, because I wasn't sure it was a good idea. But, I think I'll start the schedule again. This is what it will be: Monday - Family Home Evening lesson, or Missionary Moment; Tuesday - promoting someone else's blog; Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday, show-casing my kids photography skills at times; Thursday - Book Review; Friday - Thoughts about Freedom; Saturday - Family Update; and Sunday - either no post, or whatever I'm thinking about. So, if you want to vote and let me know if this sounds ok, or give me ideas of stuff you want to hear about, comment on this post. If it's like I've expected, and no one reads this blog, then I guess I'll do whatever I want! :-)

So, Friday is "Freedom" - Here's a great quote for you:

"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance." ~Woodrow Wilson

I agree with this whole-heartedly, especially in light of the current political climate. We must be aware and fight for what we know is right - even if it's disagreeing with our current leaders. If our leaders do not lead us in the right direction, we DO NOT have to follow. Stand up and let your voice be heard. Love your liberty and freedom and fight to keep it!

Where's My Book?!

I was reading a fellow blogger's post today, about some silly stuff that has happened to her, and it reminded me of a funny story. When Rick and I were first married (I'm talkin' the first week), and needed to do some laundry. So, I gathered all of the white stuff (mostly underwear) and set my book on top of the pile with the soap. When Rick saw me leaving to go to our little laundromat in the apartment building, he grabbed the basket of laundry and said he'd come to help. (ah, how nice, right?) When we got to the laundromat, I grabbed the soap and Rick dumped the clothes in and we went back to the apartment to wait. When we returned to change the clothes around, I opened the washing machine and everything was grey (?!) Huh? I grabbed some of the clothes and pulled them out and something was stuck to the clothes. Oh no! I thought maybe someone else had left something in the washer. Then, as I was thinking that the stuff stuck to the clothes looked an awful lot like wet paper.... "CRAP!!!! I think we washed my book!" We dug through the clothes to try to find the cover, but even the cover had disintegrated! So, I did the next stupid thing I could think of, and put all the clothes into the dryer. When Rick and I came back, we opened the door of the dryer and *POOF*, out flew tons of dried paper in teeny, tiny, pieces. Yeah. It went ALL OVER the laundromat. The place was covered in it. And if that wasn't bad enough, a bunch of the stuff had dried to our clothes. So, after gathering the clothes up and cleaning the laundromat, we found ourselves sitting on the floor of our apartment, scraping dried paper off of our clothes with combs. Geez! The reason this happened? Well, I used to read kind of stupid romance novels. Rick always hated that I read them. They were kind of naughty in parts. So, he said that the reason our clothes turned black was because they were washed with a romance novel!(Nuh-uh! The North and the South was NOT a romance novel). Haha! End of the story? We were so broke that my parents had to buy us new underwear. I love that memory!

Woohoo! Here's my new cute signature!

Italian Vacation... I mean, Business Trip

Found out last week that Rick gets to travel to Italy for his new job! What. The. Heck. Italy???!!!!! Ok, so I really hope that he is going to be taking full advantage of frequent flier miles, so that at some point I can go somewhere cool with him. Italy???!!!!!! Can you tell I'm incredibly jealous?! I am. I know he's going to be working - it's a business trip and all - but he will actually be in Genoa Italy, breathing Italian air, eating Italian food, seeing Italian things, pretending to BE Italian. Lucky! I can just see him - riding around on a scooter, hair blowing in the wind, wearing designer clothes, waving at beautiful Italian women... WAIT! Now I know that my imagination is getting the better of me. Rick would NEVER do any of that. Well, maybe the waving at beautiful Italian women part - but not the rest. The reality is that he'll be in meetings all day long. Hopefully for him, he'll have some time to do some sight-seeing. I hope Fabio has a great time. Really. I do. Yeah. Did I just call Rick, Fabio?!

Working from home...

Wishing I could make money from home. (Probably everyone does.) How does one do that?! All those stupid work from home ads that I see look like such a rip off. I'm trying to build my Cherish Bound business, one event at a time. I'm trying to start a blog that will make money, eventually. I just wish things would move faster - because bills don't wait for home businesses to take off - know what I mean? If anyone knows of an opportunity to work from home (without having to put out alot of money!), then let me know. Because home is where I'm going to be from now on. *sigh* Yeah.