Showing posts with label FAVORITE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FAVORITE. Show all posts

17 November 2010

My Thanksgiving ABC's


Since Thanksgiving is so close (I am so looking forward to a week from tomorrow!!!), I would like to share a list of some of the things for which I am so very grateful.

When I was younger my family attempted various ways of expressing our gratitude around the table at Thanksgiving, including each person sharing one thing for every year of their age. It was mostly entertaining for the children, I imagine, as we watched our parents. If my memory serves correctly, we abandoned that practice after we decided it just took too long...lol! ;-) So, a few days ago I thought it might be fun to create a list, one item--specific or categorical--for every letter of the English alphabet (it's the one I know the best). As I write this, I'm somewhat amused that the 26-item list is a few items shy of the age challenge...well, I might go for that one again next year!


Art
Breath
Challenges
Dancing
Education
Family
Generosity
Hugs
Intelligence
Journals
Kites
Laughter
Music
Naps
Order
Pictures
Quotations
Righteous Examples
Sweetheart
Truth
Universe
Vision
Words
Xenophanes
Yarn
Zero



So if you choose to accept it the challenge is now yours...what are your Thanksgiving ABC's?

HERE is a great TOP 10 Thankful List which I also agree with and think it is worth sharing.

With love.

30 July 2010

A Favorite Place...




There are many things that I like, and sometimes -- a lot like my husband -- I have a hard time picking a 'favorite' this or that. I have a few long-time favorites...French Vanilla, for example, is my favorite ice cream flavor, but Thrifty's Chocolate Malted Crunch comes in at very near the top of the list, and on some days will be chosen over a top-notch French Vanilla! Of course, favorites can change over time, but it does seem strange to me to have a new favorite this or that if the last one didn't last very long. Maybe it depends on the type of thing we are talking about, such that a favorite color may only last as long as that blouse that you love so much lasts, but a favorite song will always pluck those heartstrings like only your favorite can. In lieu of having hard and fast favorites, a lot of the time I will elect a list of favorites instead of a top, all-exclusive spot with space for only one thing at a time.

All this being said, however, I do have a strong favoritism to a special place on earth called the LDS temple. Here again, though, another place comes into my favorite space and sits very near this special place on earth ~ home.

The temple is a place of holiness, sanctuary, prayer, peace, and countless blessings. A walkway between heaven and earth. A place dedicated to the worship and service of the Most High God. David & I were blessed to spend a few hours of our day yesterday in peaceful pursuit of its hallowed, transcendent space. What an incredible, magnanimous gift to be just minutes from a temple! These pics are from yesterday...such a beautiful day!


Answers to prayer may not come all at once. Sometimes they do! Sometimes we need to seek peace in our hearts and minds so that when the answer(s) come, or the parts of it we are ready for at the time, we will be ready to receive. I hope then that we can truly rejoice that Father in Heaven hears us and knows our every need. I am working on better expressing my gratitude and implementing what I know into my actions. Some needs He lets us figure out on our own. So many He grants us in grace and mercy without our even giving thought. Others we need to seek from His guiding hand. I know that in seeking, we can find Him. In finding Him we find peace. A friend once shared with me the thought that if there is something coming between you and God, that thing is closer to Him than you are.

* * *

May you have an opportunity to find peace...the peace that comes from knowing God and the awareness that He truly does know you. You may feel small and insignificant, and even less on some days, but I know that you His son or daughter, and I am grateful to know that I am your sibling!

With love.

21 July 2010

A Walk Around the Pond

This past Saturday was a fun and busy day...

David & I went to a picnic activity celebrating our church's pioneer history, specifically the 24th of July (we celebrated early!) of 1847 when the first groups arrived in the Salt Lake Valley after trekking great distances and surviving horrifically trying circumstances. Since we are new in our ward we did not recognize a lot of people, but we did get to visit with a few and meet some as well. Toward the end of the event we took a walk around the pond in Elk Grove Park. It was my first time there, so I went a little shutter happy...I see why it is the perfect setting for the annual Strauss Festival!





I enjoyed observing the ducks and geese playing in the water...



David was sweet and patiently waited for me to catch up - frequently! It was a beautiful and relaxing sight to enjoy with my honey just before we helped clean up after the picnic and headed home...

...then it was off to win the cupcake wars...okay, not really...

...my sister-in-law Debi is the family cupcake queen, and she made cupcakes (all day!) for a wedding in the evening, and I got to help during the afternoon. It was fun, and great to find that chilly room on such a hot day! I didn't feel a breeze in the afternoon...so sad...but cupcakes make it all better, right? It's funny...I have not been a fan of cake or cupcakes as long as I can remember...but Debi is influencing a paradigm shift in my life regarding cupcakes!
Then...(yes, there's more!) later in the evening David & I joined Debi at the hospital to visit the newly added upon Hinds family and enjoy cherishing little Naomi. I shared my favorite photos yesterday from Naomi's & my photo shoot, but here's my favorite from Friday (Naomi's Day 1)...
















No words are adequate!

20 July 2009

Some Fun Facts

For my historic, second post I thought I would share a few tidbits about me. You won't learn much, if anything, about what I did today. Although slightly modified, the questions or prompts are a composite of [some] getting-to-know-you email questionnaires which I have received (and enjoyed reading), but have not necessarily responded to. Please forgive me, then, if you have not received a much desired reply, and feel free to enjoy laughing at me if you feel so inclined...I understand! ;-)

From MY THREE'S:

1) 3 jobs I've had in my lifetime -
Movie Theater Employee (Concessions, Usher, Box Office, etc.), Telephone Call Operator (In-Bound, so no need to lump me with the telemarketer croud), A/R Accounting Clerk.

2) 3 shows I (do sometimes/would/have) watch(ed) - Gilmore Girls, Ghost Whisperer, Beverly Hillbillies.

3) 3 places I've been - Home, Work, School Okay, okay...Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, Houston Astrodome.

5) 3 of my favorite foods - Lasagna, Homemade Bread, Fresh Pineapple (I'm copying my friends answers here since I would have put them in the same order, even!)

6) 3 places I'd rather be right now - (As long as my Honey and I could go together, since we are right now...) Washington D.C., Italy/France, Ireland/Scotland.

8) 3 things I'm looking forward to this year - Family Visits (both ways), David's Graduation, Thanksgiving.

AN "X BY THE THINGS I HAVE DONE:

(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country
( ) Gone to Washington , DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robber
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only?
( ) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
(X) Blown bubbles
( ) Gone ice-skating
( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(X) Gone to the movies

20 QUESTIONS:

1. Do you have any nicknames? Yes. Okay, for example: T, Treese, T-Bobb, Skittlebug
2. What is your favorite drink? Water
3. Do you have any tattoos? No
4. Do you have any body piercing? No
5. How much do you love your job? LOVE it! Being my Honey's wife is the best, and student life is not too bad, either (please note: this question was answered during summer break)!
6. Have you ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes
7. Have you ever been on TV? Yes
8. Have you ever stolen any traffic signs? No
9. Have you ever been in a car accident? Yes
10. What is your favorite salad dressing? Hidden Valley Ranch (made with the mix!)
11. What is your favorite type of pie? Dutch Apple
12. What is your favorite number? 20
13. What is your favorite movie? Tough, tough, tough question...but, always near the top of my list is The Scarlet Pimpernel (Leslie Howard is amazing!)
14. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving
15. What is your favorite dessert? Cheesecake (Cindy's is still the best!)
16. What is your favorite food? Lasagna (especially vegetarian --I love the veggies!)
17. What is your favorite day of the week? Friday, usually.
18. What is your favorite smell? Freshly cleaned skin.
19. What do you do to relax? Play the piano, read, crochet -- but not all at once!
20. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Raising our children...patiently?

That's all for now, but I hope you enjoyed, and laughed at least a little!


15 July 2009

My Favorite Poem


INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow'd.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

~ William Ernest Henley
(1849 - 1903)