The finisher

I've been thinking about this for a few days. In Relief Society on Sunday we were talking about the attributes of Christ. My friend said that He was a finisher. Everything He started, He finished.

Sometimes I am a great starter.

Sometimes I'm really good in the middle.

Sometimes I fade at the end.

What a tremendous thing to be able to say that He finished everything He started. And He finished well.

Last of the original five

I always learn something with my quilts. This is for a great-nephew. I think that is just crazy.

Once again it is a value lesson. Two fabrics were very close in value, and the third looks best with the dark colors.

But cute for a baby quilt. I was surprised by how much I like the brown in it.

He is almost a year old, but I got it done.

Now I'm looking at three more baby quilts. Do you think I can get them done before I have to add more? :)

Arrow of Light

Back in December, we attended an Arrow of Light Ceremony for a friend of Josh's. He had his face painted. Josh was impressed and told me that is what he wanted.

So tonight, he got his face painted.

Blue, yellow, white and orange for the 4 winds and attributes of scouts

On his chin, green, black, brown and purple for each year of Cub Scouting.

On his nose, a long red strip for his Arrow of Light.

I quilted a sun symbol with 7 rays and bought an arrow. I will take all his badges and belt loops and awards that he has on his shirt and put them on a banner that will hang under the arrow. That will hang on the wall to remember all the work he (we) did.



Craig said he wanted to come to see Josh get the award I earned. I was relentless in making sure he did the requirements. But I was also his Bear leader for a while and his Webelos leader for a while. I learned the program. That is what you get when you ask mothers to be part of the program.

Boaz's pick

However, the Mohawk did not distract him. So I buzzed it off. I stopped to laugh at the Alfalfa look.

Craig buzzed it for real. We found out that the clippers don't cut evenly. Easy to see when you are trying to get it all and it is so short to begin with.
Lathering up for the razor.































The hair cut he wanted all along. It took all day, but he got it.

He worried that everybody would want to feel his head. I think he feels his head the most. But I have a hard time keeping my hands to myself too.

I keep telling him it will grow back, but he isn't ready for that yet. Craig shaved him again this afternoon.

The Mohawk

Boaz has been talking about going bald. I tried to distract him with a Mohawk. He laughed and thought it was cool for a while. I kept it until Craig came home from work. I thought it was cute.

Another one down

Remember way back when, when I said 3 down 2 to go. Well, this is now 4 down, one to go.

But since then I have new ones to make. So 1 down, 4 to go. Baby quilts anyway.

I still have to finish the last details on Deb's Christmas quilt -- from last year. And I have Willa's Christmas quilt -- for this year -- to get started.

Way back when, I had Joe's Christmas quilt, that I substituted at the last minute. But I still have that one to do too. Dragons and tigers intimidate me a bit. :)

And I have the one more block to do for the Oregon Quilt and get that one put together.

I don't think I will ever be caught up. It is fun to see them come together though.

Ron and Dawn

Some times we are just too far away.

Dawn is in the hospital and was cold after her shower. Ron is helping to warm her up.

They are truly wonderful people and I love them.

We wish we were closer. We pray for them every day.

Wendy Roommate

Dad and Joyce named her thus. We were roommates at Dixie College back in the day.

The sun is in our faces and we are squinting something terrible.

But we had fun catching up and chatting. Wendy brought her family by on her way to Logan. I fixed dinner.

It was wonderful to visit face to face.

Day Two

I was so good about doing Pilates before we moved. Then I just deflated I guess.

Josh working on his Athlete has inspired me.

Yesterday I broke out the DVD and was ashamed at how I had let my self go. Things that I used to be able to do, are now very hard.

Today I ran down the street (and huffed back), and mourned the time when I could run 1 1/2 miles. Now I can't go 1/4 of a mile without wheezing and gasping for breath. I am a bit embarrassed at how far I can't go, but have decided that that shouldn't stop me from beginning.

So, day two of Pilates and I'm trying to run again.

Mexican dinner

I learned how to make Chile Verde when I was on my mission. It is one of the few authentic Mexican dishes I know how to do.

When I was dating Craig, I made it once. He has since lamented that I have only made it four more times since then.

This year he hit the jack pot. I have made that dinner twice in a month and a half.

Yesterday the Browns came for dinner. It was so nice to have people eat what I cook. I am not talking about Craig. He is very considerate. But my boys whine and complain about my cooking. Yesterday I made them pork tacos.

Everyone else ate my homemade re-fried beans, Mexican rice, and chile verde. They ate the Ranchero cheese too.

I told Craig that it would be 20 years until I am due to make it again.

Saturday morning

I woke up at 5:00 am this Saturday morning.

I rarely wake up that early. But we had a family outing planned.

We were headed to the Blackfoot River to check out fishing holes.

Craig had plans later that day, in fact, starting at 11:00 am, Craig was booked until 8 - 9 pm.

On the way, we saw 2 moose. We grabbed the binoculars to make sure they were moose, and yes, indeed -- they were. They saw us, and started booking it. They ran behind a ridge and we couldn't see them anymore.

We headed on our way.

Next we saw 3 hawks. They were all sitting on a fence. We scared two off the fence, but one sat still with one wing extended ready, but not committed. (We saw another hawk on the way home. He was sitting on a fence too.)

We made it to the river. I was fascinated by the birds seeming to dive bomb the bridge. We got out and I noticed they had mud nests under the span.



The birds were also swooping over the river. We had managed to be in the middle of some kind of fly hatch. There were millions. The birds were feasting.

The fish were not biting. I imagine they had already feasted and were full. But Boaz was hopeful. He was practising his cast.

Craig and Josh rode away on the four wheeler for a bit. I got a picture of them when they came back. They had stopped for breakfast. Cheerios and milk. Yum.


The boys then started playing king of the rock.

We were surprised by a splash. We turned to look, and there was a huge, white pelican. We watched for further evidence and eventually saw three pelicans.

They were so graceful when they were soaring.

A fun Saturday morning. Craig then got to go golfing and singing for the rest of the day.

Family History Excitement

I have found some family names. I have worried and wondered and delayed figuring out how to get them to the temple. The process (without me looking into it) seemed complicated.

So, last week, I hit the "continue" button in new.familysearch.org and it took me to a page where the names were all lined out. I had to hit another button and then print off a paper with a bar code.

Today, because the temple was closed for summer cleaning the last two weeks, Craig and I took 4 names -- three men and one woman -- and were baptized for them. Craig baptized me. That was fun.

I have found out that the feeling of doing names that I have found and prepared is different than getting names that someone else has prepared. I felt more part of the process. I know that names are really people. And all people need to have this done. But there was more of an emotional connection -- more enthusiasm.

Which is funny, because Craig and I discussed the logical and emotional reasons for doing family history on the way to the temple. He is almost pure logic. I am logical for a female, but am still emotional. The discussions we have make me laugh when we are done and have come to a common conclusion. Sometimes it takes us a while to figure out what we think and how we got there.

Lessons from Cub Scouts

Josh is approaching the end of Cub Scouts. I was his Webelos leader and learned the program. (A good thing for me, but not a good thing for him -- how he views it).

He will be 11 next month. We have less than one month to get everything done. Since I know the program, we are working on getting his compass points. That means he needs to get 19 of the 20 activity badges. We currently have 18. The two left are Athlete and Craftsman.  I can do many things, but I don't have the wood working tools and ideas for boys scout crafts. So I talked him into Athlete. (I will admit that getting all three arrow points is my goal.)

Today we stretched for 5 minutes. I ran down the street and watched Josh get farther and farther ahead of me. I used to be pretty good at running. My lungs are toast.

I counted off 50 yards and had him dash.

We did sit ups together. I let him do one more than me.  :)

He did push ups.

He did the vertical jump. (We now have chalk marks on the wall)

He did the long jump. (Painter's tape is a great thing.)

He did pull-ups. (Boaz decided to see if he could do them too.)

This is a good thing. I need to get moving more. My lungs needs to get stronger.

A few weeks ago Josh didn't want to go to Den Meeting. He asked why he had to go. I tried to tell him the normal stuff. "It will be fun." "You can play with your friends." He didn't buy it. So I said, "This is how we sustain people in their callings. Your leaders are trying to do their best, and they need your help." That one was accepted.

I thought about a conversation I had the week before with Craig. Craig has been called to teach the Gospel Essentials class. So I don't sit with him during Sunday School anymore.

We have two Sunday School teachers in the Gospel Doctrine class. One is fabulous! I love him. The other one talks the whole time--soapbox. I know he was a former bishop and other previous callings. He doesn't stick strictly to the doctrine, but adds his justifications in the lesson. I don't like his class.

One week I went in with Craig. I was thinking I was still attending Sunday School, right? When I gave my masterful answer to Josh about sustaining people in their callings, I remembered my little rebellion.

The following week, as Craig was headed to his class, I told him --quietly -- about my discussion with Josh. He laughed, I laughed (ruefully) and headed to Gospel Doctrine. I tried to be better prepared and ready to teach myself the lesson. You know Elder Eyring's talk. His dad telling him that he tried to think how he would say things better.

This is something that I have to get better at. All because my son has the same issue, and I won't let him slide. The lessons of parenting, right?

Weekend in the sun

I took my camera to both places, but I didn't ever take it out of the bag.

I was too busy playing in the water.

Saturday we went to Lava Hot Springs, and played in the pool. Boaz loves the water and he was in heaven. Josh enjoys the water too. They were teasing each other and playing together.

I tried to get Boaz to float on his back. He still hates that part. But he loves going under water (with his goggles). At the end of the day, he found a quarter in the pool. He decided to scope out the entire shallow end (4 feet and under). He found a pair of goggles, one earring and lots of garbage. But he had fun hunting.

Josh and his dad rode the water slides. He got in the hunting under water for a while. And he did the pre-teen thing and laid out.

Monday we went to Heise Hot Springs. We played nine holes of golf with Craig. I hit the ball so much better. I had high arching balls. Unfortunately, I struggle to aim the ball. So I went through lots of them. I lost two over the road. I was in the trees, searching. But I did manage two double bogies and one bogie. No pars this time, but I had fun.

Then we hit the pool. This pool has an old slide that curves and curves. No big drops, but lots of fun. They boys wanted to slide all day long. I went with them seven times, Craig went nine times. They each went more than 10. (We bought  ten ride passes, so we had to keep track.)

I managed to not sunburn too badly. I loaded up on the sun screen, and I wore a little dress that covered my back and shoulders. But there was one patch that I missed. But knowing how my skins reacts to the sun, I did a great job keeping it protected.

I am grateful that the boys have their father's skin. They are getting a nice tan. Of course I sun screened them up too. But you can tell that they have played in the sun this summer. :)