Fall Break

We had a wonderful weekend roofing a home that belongs to my parents. These wonderful working weekends are fun, but exhausting. We actually spent the entire week on this project. I am unable to climb onto the roof, so my tasks were mainly making sure there was plenty of food for those that were on the roof.

When I returned home yesterday, I had a package in the mail. It was a giveaway that I had won from Carol at http://songberries.blogspot.com . I won a game that came from http://aroundthetablegames.com/ . If you have a chance go check out these games. They are better than games. They are converstion starters for your family under the pretense of a GAME. Wow, how cleaver is that?. My teenage daughters enjoyed the converstations and loved the cards.  I was gifted the tin with two games, Family Talk and Grandparent Talk. I absolutely love games in tins.  My fifteen year old daughter thought that we need to purchase the teen talk or buddy talk as our next one.  I believe that which ever one you choose you are a winner. Thanks again to Beth at around the table games for the wonderful gift. Thanks also to Carol at Songberries where it all started. Carol, We all appreciate the generous giveaway opportunities from your blog.

If anyone is interested check out songberries for other giveaways including this big one....Win $750 Cash on the Fall Follower Giveaway Tour- Open Worldwide- http://songberries.blogspot.com/

We spent this afternoon and evening with some special friends and had a delightful evening.  Ate a delicious meal prepared by our hostess, we played a fun new game,Killer Bunnies. We had a great evening. Thanks Ken and Carol. We had a wonderful evening. We were having so much fun, we way overstayed the time that we had planned. Next time your family will need to come over to play at our home.

All in all, this has been a great week and weekend.

General Conference Weekend

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend basking in the spiritual uplift from the counsel of the Prophet and Apostles. We enjoyed the talks that we heard and will be making efforts to better ourselves.

Life at times seems to become so stressful. It was good to hear counsel that its ok to slow down.
Take time for yourself, so that you can better serve others. (I have a problem with that one)

We had friends  come to our home to listen to conference on Sunday. We enjoyed breakfast together then lunch together between sessions. We shared a box of kleenex as we shed tears from the spirit that moved us.

Finally in the final session of conference, my daughter tells us that we can get the sessions translated for our Exchange student, by way of the internet. So, we did that in the final session. She fell asleep inspite of  listening to conference in her native language of Japanese. I attibute the naps to the lunch that we ate.

It was great to hear of the 5 new temples that will begin their construction. I know their feeling and how many a saint felt their heart twitter as Pres. Monson announced that a temple was coming to their home town.

We in Brigham City are looking forward to our Temple which should be finished within the next 2 years.

Foreign Exchange Students

Time flies... 3 years ago we embarked upon what our family thought was a scarry experience, yet exciting. We opened our home and our hearts to a Japanese exchange student who was coming to Utah for a Home Stay. They were coming for an American Family Experience. Our first student was a young lady who was 12 years old. Her name was Chisato.  She was very shy, but quickly became talkative and was like a professional pianist. she had been playing since age 3.She was very experienced and it was beautiful. She spent the summer months with our family. We went everywhere, showing her things of interest. We sorta forgot she was 12. We took her to the State Capitol, Temple Square, Bear Lake, and so many other places locally. Day before she leaves she tells me she really wanted to go to amusement park. Well, there was no time nor did we have the money left to take her to LAGOON, the local amusement park. We loved her and we all cried when she left. She had become a part of our family.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go through that again. It was a wonderful experience, but my heart ached when she left.

Summer rolled around again and was getting those little email reminders that the summer Japanese students are coming, would we please again open our home and our hearts. We did so one more time, This time the young lady was 13 years old named Madoka, She had a interest in batton twirling. She wanted to see a competition in Baton twirling while she was here. They have those sorta things in Las Vegas. I explained, I didn't think that Las Vegas was a good place for a 13 year old child. She understood and we had a delightful time with her and our family. Learning my lesson from the year before, I asked this student what ONE thing she would really want to do, if we could only do one thing, what would it be. She said she would like to see Arches National park. So off we went to visit Arches,Dead Horse Point,  Grand Circle and the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon. I think that she quickly grew tired of seeing Red Rocks.  Again, time flew and it was time for her to leave...again, Tears!

My daughter feeling abandoned when her brother got married and left her at home alone, she had been asking for us to adopt a child. Well, I thought lets risk and branch out a bit and open our home to a Japanese High School student who would be coming to study for the entire school year. We all agreed and we decided not to participate in the summer exchange students and we would just have the high school student.

 We picked a young lady who had many things in common with Eve. This young lady is 17 years old and her name is Fuzuki. We had been in much anticipation and excitement for her arrival which wouldn't be til the end of summer just a week before school begins..

 As summer approached, again those emails started coming telling us that they had so many summer students coming they needed more homes, so we extended and opened our home and heart once again to a summer student. Her name is Ryoko and she is 15 years old. She was a beautiful young lady. So very mature for her young years. Very smart as well. She was only coming for a short home stay. Only 2 weeks. Well, 2 weeks will fly by in such a hurry and there  is no time to "fall in love" right? WRONG!!! Ryoko is the one student who we fell the hardest for and the fastest. I still feel like I am missing someone in my; home, my heart. She is a lovely young lady. Like Madoka, Ryoko requested to see ArchesNational park, we also took her to Deadhorse point. . Unlike Madoka, she seemed to have actually loved Arches and I think she would never grow tired of Red Rocks! She loved to hike and see the beauty of the National parks. She loved it!!

There was a glorious 2 days where we actually had the two Japanese girls together with us, Fuzuki arrived on Friday August 13th. Ryoko left to return to Japan on August 15th. The morning before she left we took her to watch a live recording of the Music and the Spoken word. It was a very nice morning. We took a family photo together on Temple Square then had a special lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and then we returned again for the second time that day to Salt Lake to see Ryoko off and return her to the UTrek Program. Again... we and she Cried. Our hearts had touched and joined. She will forever be a part of our family. We stressed over and over before she left... if anyone were to ask her where she lived. she was to say she had two homes, on in America in Utah and one in Japan. She writes us an email every week. Her mother also writes and our lives have been enriched!

Fuzuki is now a part of our family as well. We are being blessed by a 17 year old, very thin, beautiful young lady. She is struggling with the English language. I had no idea that so much of our culture revolves around Christianity.  I have tried to be so respectful of these young ladies religion and to not impose my own views and beliefs onto them, that I have perhaps neglected to share with them what I really do believe, other than what the Sister Missionaries have told them on Temple Square when we take them to tour.
Now, I am faced with one Daughter, who is Buddhist,, and needing to understand Christianity to be able to understand her English literature class and her American History Class. She has no background for Christianity. Knows nothing of Jesus. Nothing of Creationism. Nothing of Adam and Eve.   She is so wanting to learn so that she can understand. We are discussing these things everyday now.

If anyone really reads this, I want you to know that participating in this program is a real blessing. If you have the opportunity to participate in these programs, you will enrich your life by opening your home and your heart to one of these wonderful students!!

If any;one reading this lives in the Bountiful Area, there is still a student that is here for the school year and his host family had a crisis and couldnt' take him at the last moment.. and He is still in need of a permanent family for the school year.  If you know of someone in that area, please leave a comment and a way to contact you and I'll have those in charge contact you regarding a life changing experience.   We are having a wonderful time!! I don't even want to think about May!!

August and the Perseid meteor shower

Wow, August just zipped past. We recieved our Japanese summer exchange student on July 31 and she left on August 15th. What a whirlwind of events happened in those two weeks.  Our students name was Ryoko. She was absolutely the most wonderful young lady ever! So very helpful and always happy. Just a real treat!!
It was difficult to send her home. Hopefully she will rejoin our family someday. Our hearts were touched and grew to love her so much in that 2 weeks.  She was such a delight!. We visited all the local sites in Brigham City. She and Eve went to the Brigham City Musuem and the quilt exhibit that was showing. We took her to the Bear River Bird Refuge. What a wonderful place! If you are in the area... go its well worth the time. Be sure to Watch the Movie about the Bird Refuge, called "Wings of Thunder". It's absolutely beautiful, nearly a spiritual experience!  We went shopping, and shopping and shopping from Logan to Salt Lake. Took her to the Cheese Factory, the Pepperidge Farms cookie factory, the Fat Boys ice cream factory, The creamies ice cream factory and of course the Logan Mall. We also went to Salt lake and escorted her through Temple Square starting with the LDS Conference center, then the North Visitors center, The Assembly Hall, the South Visitors Center, the Beehive House and all the grounds. We had a wonderful day there!! Then they went to the Olympic ice rink in Murray and skated for a couple of hrs. It was a very hot day and so their advertisement of the "Coolest Place in Town" was correct!! It was great!  We even went up to Mantua campground to watch the Perseid Meteor shower. Perhaps we went up there too early, it was 11pm, and we saw 3 or 4 shooting starts. It was neat, but we thought we'd see more. I think that Ryoko was impressed as she said in Japan they don't see the stars like we see them here.  We really are blessed that within 5 miles we can get to somewhere that there aren't any street lights and you can see the heavens bright and aglow! Then we took off on the weekend with her to take her to Arches National Park. What a beautiful place!!! We hiked all over the place! It nearly killed me, but it was so much fun inspite of the pain and aches. I have medical problems and problems from an accident a few years ago when an officer ran a stop sign and totalled my van. But I am not going to quit living.. I love life and I want to do things with my kids and family.  The beauty of Arches is so gorgeous.  Ryoko had the best time there!  This is the 2nd summer that we have spent in Arches. Seems the Japanese exchange students all want to see Arches.... so I oblige! Sorta hoping that the new one will want to see Yellowstone. It's been a few years since I was there last.
Two days before Ryoko left we recieved our Japanese school year exchange student. Her name is Fuzuki, she is a beautiful girl and so much fun! We just love these girls. Our lives are enriched by the exchange students and sharing of cultures. It's so great!
In less than a week school starts again. The girls attended the back to school BASH tonight. They had a great time. Being a teenage is so much fun! I love having teenagers in my home. The world is so much fun and they see the most positive things in life. They are just good kids. I am so blessed to have such great chidlren who are following Christ and have good goals and are seeking the good in life!

Can't beleive that August is nearly gone!

Pioneer Day Reflections

I have been busy preparing the ward YW bulletin board this week as well as preparing for family that is coming to visit for a few short days. We haven't seen them for a couple of years and so we are excited. In the midst of that, I have really not taken time to Think about TODAY.  Those in Utah and members of the LDS Church know that today was Pioneer Day, the day that we commemorate the Saints arriving in the Salt Lake Valley.   While I do not have Pioneer Saint Heritage, my husband does. His ancestors were among those that arrived in the valley, in fact he is a decendent of the first white baby born in the Valley, Elizabeth Young Steele.

I am grateful for those pioneers who came to the Salt Lake Valley. Those who sacrificed all for the liberty and freedom to practice their faith.  I am grateful for my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. of Latter Day Saints. I am grateful to have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for my membership in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

We flew our flag proudly today at our home. We are extremely grateful for those in our family and for all who have served this great country and who have fought for our freedoms and especially for our freedom to practice the religion of our choice. 

I do not have ancestors who walked the plains to Salt Lake, however I do have Pioneer ancestors who fought in many wars and who took a stand for truth. They were devout and loyal to their God. Good God Fearing and God Loving People.  I wonder if they would recognize the United States today. Would they feel that we have lost our way. Would they feel that we have respected their sacrifices. I don't know.  I can't speak for them.  I hope that they know that I remember them and their sacrifices. Both my ancestors and my sweet husbands ancestors.

Today, I am grateful to be a God Loving person, I can't really say that I am a God Fearing person,  I have great respect for the position, and  I regard Him as my Heavenly Father and will not Fear HIM, I only need to fear myself and my own choices, knowing that there are divine laws and with each there is a consequence, good or bad... It's up to me.

I pray that I will be the type of person that will save this country from destruction. It will not come from some great feat that I will accomplish. Perhaps by small acts of kindness and showing respect for myself, my children, my neighbors,  my country. Practicing Christ like behavior. 

Cub River Cabin firepit

Perfect Firepit!!!

This was the perfect place to warm up on the cool nights at Cub River. We cooked Hobo dinners one evening which was totally awesome and delicious too.  We charcoaled quite a few marshmallows along with smores on the cool nights as well.  Yummmmm

Perfect location for a dining room table...

Don't you agree, great spot for a dining room.