Today's date is 8.9.10.
Every time there is a date that does something cool like count up, count down, count by even or odd numbers, etc., I think of Mark.
Last time I pointed a date out to him, he acted surprised. He hadn't thought of it!
Maybe it was just when I was there. Yeah, that's it. It was just when I was there that he thought of it.
THAT MUST BE IT! (It makes me feel special.)
1. Spencer and I got ice cream and saw a movie with my brother and his wife. (I really liked Charlie St. Cloud.)
2. I ran 6 miles (Go, Me!).
3. We attended a party with my family.
4. We attended a party with Spencer's family (Happy 80th birthday, Bert!).
5. We decided to move.
6. We went to church.
7. We had all of my family over for dinner, visiting, and playing (we missed you, Orangevale Fishes!).
8. Bri and I went to choir practice.
It's been a full, fun weekend. Here's a picture of all the girls at my family party.
If I wasn't sitting alone all the time, you would not hear from me. Aren't you glad I sit alone all day long?
Today I asked Jesse if he would use _____'s account code and order me a fridge for my house. He said he was sure he could do that. But he was also sure that we would both be escorted off the premises. Permanently.
I replied that we might get escorted out of the Church. He said, "Yes. And you are the ward activities committee chairman. But I am the stake president. There is a place right on that form that asks if the person involved in losing their church membership was a leader."
A few minutes later I said, "Jesse, I'm really sorry you know what that form looks like."
He walked out of his office with tears in his eyes. He said, "I have learned that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can make it right for everyone. If any one of us will do everything that we can to allow him to make it right for us, we can return to the presence of God our Father. THAT is what that form means to me."
Shortest devotional ever. Also the best one.
Spencer had a dentist appointment before work this morning, so he left very early. He kissed my cheek and wished me a happy anniversary.
When my alarm went off, I rolled over to turn it off, and I rolled onto something on Spencer's side of the bed. I instantly recognized the sound and the feel of a large bag of M&M's.
Pathetic? Maybe.
But it was a SWEET way to start the day! :)
I went to sleep at 1:00 a.m. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. Spencer picked me up at 4:00 a.m. We drove to the hotel to pick up Vehicles Two and Three (Spencer's parents and brother) in our convoy. We drove to pick up Vehicle Four (Spencer's sister), and then we all drove nearly three hours (in weekday morning traffic) to the temple. We waited a short time for my family to arrive.
My mom and I were escorted into a beautiful room. She helped me put on my gown and my ceremonial clothing. The sisters serving there were sweet and happy and suitably excited for me. One of them escorted me to the Celestial Room, where Spencer was waiting for me, looking as beautiful (in all the appropriate, wonderful, masculine ways) as I felt. Except for the sister who was my escort, we were alone in that amazing room. We held hands and whispered a little bit. I wasn't nervous at all.
The sister then escorted us to a sealing room. All of our family and friends were inside, but the sealer hadn't arrived yet, so our escort had us sit outside the room. We sat. We waved to people inside. We sat some more. And more. And more. Spencer's dad came out to walk off the stiffness in his back. The mother of the next scheduled bride came and paced in the hallway. THEN I got nervous. At last, the sealer arrived, and we were escorted INTO the sealing room.
We introduced everyone in the room. I wasn't nervous again. We knew everyone. We loved everyone. There were friends, co-workers, church leaders, parents, siblings, grandparents. We listened carefully to the instructions given to us. (I don't remember any of them!) And then we were married for time and for all eternity (at which point I thought I might tip over backward). We kissed each other. We stood together and gazed at one another in the 'eternal mirrors.' We hugged everyone.
My mother and I were escorted back to the beautiful brides' room. The sisters asked me my last name so they could retrieve my stuff. I said, "Fish." And they said, "Sorry, there's no 'Fish' here. Are you sure your name isn't 'Hill?'"
There was a heck of a lot more to that day, but the highlight was the approximately 5 minutes during our time in the House of the Lord, when we made covenants with God and with one another, resulting in our marriage for time and for all eternity.
It was a good day, 22 years ago.
I took the dog running with me the other day. I came home with three large blisters on my left hand, one of which had popped before I got home. That one was located on an inside knuckle and it was very sore for several days.
I HATE that the dog ruined my run!
Today that sore is finally in a definite healing mode. The broken skin has gotten hard. It doesn't hurt to bend or straighten my finger. But it keeps snagging on things.
And now you know.
The "please bless" list has been growing. It includes families we love whose marriages are struggling (4), family members who are looking for employment (3), people we love who are seriously ill (3), and family members of friends who are seeking heaven's help (presently 2). It includes all of our parents and our grandparents and our siblings and their children and THEIR children. It includes our own children (a lot of this!). It includes our own concerns, including housing, employment, callings, and parenting.
And THEN we start the "thank Thee"s. After all of the "please bless"-es, the "thank Thee" list is enormous. We can blink. We can run. We can walk. We are healthy. We are safe. We are wealthy. We have a home. We have FOUR vehicles! We have good employment. We can learn. We have the opportunity to learn. We have marvelous families: parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We have wonderful, wonderful children. We are surrounded by temples. We have the priesthood in our home, held worthily by 3 men. We have dozens--maybe hundreds!--of friends, neighbors, and co-workers who bless us daily. We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the atonement of Jesus Christ. We have the sky and the clouds and the rain and the sun and the flowers and the grass and water and the mountains and the desert and the ocean. And to put a cherry on top, we have a doofus dog who makes us laugh.
Do you ever feel like you could kneel down, and by the time you got up it would be the end of the day and time to kneel down again?
I have been riding the West Jordan Fast Bus for about three years now.
I pick up the bus in the morning at its second-to-last stop. There is a stop that's about a half-mile closer to our home, but it is on a busy corner that is difficult to exit from in the afternoon; so I choose to drive the extra half-mile in the morning so I can get out and get home in the afternoon. In the mornings I make my way completely to the back of the bus because the lumbar support on those seats is better than the others. I also sit on the left side so my face isn't in the sun for the majority of the trip into the city. I get off the bus about a half block away from the Temple Square. There's a later stop, but I like the view as I walk in from the stop I choose: the flowers, the Beehive and Lion Houses, the temple.
In the afternoon I pick up the bus on the north side of the COB. I usually sit somewhere near the middle of the bus instead of the back, because I am going to be one of the first people off. I almost always sleep all the way home. Yesterday I woke with a start--I had been sound asleep and wondered if I'd missed my stop. When I looked around, I realized that we were still in the downtown area. :) There have been two times when I slept through my bus stop, and one other time when I would have if I hadn't been awakened by a friend.
I have made several friends on the bus and at the bus stop. There are several other riders who are friends from the areas where I work. I've had a couple of people in the COB say hello and follow it up with, "I think you ride my bus." I've had the same thing happen in Macey's in West Jordan. There are also ward members who ride my bus, though usually at a different time than I.
I pay $12 a month to ride UTA. There are times when I drive into work, but you can't beat the low cost of the UTA commute. I also love that I don't have to drive in the rain or the snow. And at the end of the day I would ALWAYS rather be on the bus, because I'm really sleepy.
The bus drivers usually drive a designated time and route for about 3 or 4 months. There have been a few who make me a little sick because of their stop-and-go driving; for the most part, the drivers have been friendly and great. Once there was a Polynesian driver on our morning route. Every morning when we got off the freeway in the city he would do a big long greeting. I once understood that he said that date. Another time I understood that he told us the temperature. But for the most part he spoke too quietly, and I didn't understand a word he said. The first few times, we all looked at one another saying, "Did you hear any of that?" It only took a couple of days before we all stopped worrying about it. :)
UTA and the West Jordan fast bus are things I love.
The Church Office Building cafeteria has not served breakfast in over a year. They still occasionally have chocolate muffins, which they sell to a select few, including my boss.
My boss is a good sharer.
Chocolate muffins are more appropriately called "Large Chocolate Cupcakes."
Another of the managers I support is having a birthday today. He lives 4 hours' time difference way, so I haven't sent him a birthday message yet.
There are two kinds of people in the world: sneezers and non-sneezers. I am a non-sneezer. (The sun shining in my eyes does not cause me to sneeze.)
Sneezers make up 25% of the world's population.
We have the world's nicest dentist. I still hate going to see him.
Yesterday I enrolled a team to run the 2011 Ragnar Wasatch Back relay.
I am running in the Ragnar Valley of Fire relay in October. My long run is 8.8 miles!
I have officially lost my mind. (Somebody call an ambulance.)
Kelly loves me.
I was endowed in the Oakland California Temple 22 years ago today.
Yesterday I was wishing with all of my heart that I could just sit with my mom in a very quiet room. I wanted to lay my head in her lap and not say anything--just know she was there watching over me for 15 blissful minutes.
Since that was out of the question, I considered and/or participated in the following:
Chocolate. Lots of chocolate.
Curl into a fetal position.
Cry.
Complain.
Curse.
(Nice alliterative list, no?)
