Monday, January 28, 2008

What a Blessing


Last night after we came home from grandma and grandpas, Melanie called and said that Pres. Hinckley had died. I am so grateful she called, because we probably never would have turned the TV on. I got on to KSL.com and watched the broadcast they did imm. after the announcement came. I am sure my feelings have been the same as millions of others, but they are still my feelings. I got a small tear so many times last night and today. It’s so strange, because there is a little empty feeling in my chest, I think I am a little surprised by that, but it’s also one of such gratitude and gratefulness for all the Love and Sacrifice he gave to all of us. Also for the sacrifice of his family. They have had to share him their entire lives and now in their personal time they will share him again. I am grateful that we were able to attend Conference last fall and see him wave his cane and almost look embarrassed by the out-pouring of attention from everyone in attendance. I truly knew I was in the presence of someone great and marvelous.

We are told that at our passing we will be greeted by family and loved ones, and we will then be in the presence of our Father in Heaven. Pres. Hinckley was not only greeted by his dear sweet wife but I am sure he was welcomed back with arms outstretched by Christ himself and our Father in Heaven. And he knew them as well as he knew his wife and family.

I know that we will continue to be lead and directed by Men of God and their words will be words inspired by the Lord. We are in good Hands.
My personal love and appreciation for Pres. Hinckley is a warm and comforting feeling.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The really good stuff

I hate it when I miss the good stuff. Today was a working Sunday. I haven’t worked one in 2 months so I guess it’s about time. So tonight after work we went out to Grandpa & Grandma Hardcastles to celebrate Don’s Birthday. Jodi made cake and most everyone was there. It was a really nice visit.

But during the visit Jodi and Kim said that is Church today they announced Temple night this coming Friday and that we were having treats after at the Hardcastle’s home. I guess Jodi and Kim looked at each other and couldn’t believe I hadn’t told them. Well no one told ME! Last month there were only 3 couples who went and I joking said to the Bishop “We'll have to bribe them next month with Ice Cream.” End of conversation. Then suddenly I hear they are announcing it in Church, Relief Society and Priesthood. I would have thought the Bishop would have asked, but OK we can handle that. When we get home I had a message to the call the RS Pres. And she tells me that she is so sorry for what happened. She had the assignment from the Bishop to ask me. She totally forgot and when she heard it in Sacrament meeting she was just sick and she was so glad I wasn’t there. Because I guess Kim and Jodi looked a little surprised and I would have been even more surprised. I actually think is pretty funny, but I am so grateful that I am off Friday and I already had it on the calendar to attend the temple.

I had set a goal to go each month this year, not just because I should, and I need to, and it is asked of us to go regularly ,and not just because we receive blessings by going and we are doing important work for those who have passed. Not just because we feel good when we go and I learn something new each time and I am reminded of things I’d forgotten. Not just because I feel close to my husband when we attend together and I get a good feeling knowing I am away from all the earthly worries for 90 min. I also feel closer to my Father in Heaven in that very Holy place. All of these are great blessings and so very important, but this year I get the added advantage of receiving 3 cows for going monthly for 8 months and I need to earn 8. I want to become an 8 cow women by Aug. 9th. I’ll write more about that later.

I am grateful for Temples and Ice Cream.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Just a trim please


Today I went to a Hair Styling Salon to do a vinyl job for them. She needs her window signs done differently and her menu prices changed. Did you know they had menu prices? But the thing is I have never liked being in a Salon.
At this one the young and old girls all looked the same. I must have missed the last hair craze. Most of them literally had Mohawks. In the back, on the sides, down the middle or just anywhere. I saw very very black ( that’s ok), but then there was dark purple stripes, patches of red, green, orange, yellow and white in places I know have never been found in a natural women.
I went for years and years to a salon in Roy, and the women who cut my hair did a good job, but I hated being there. I just never felt comfortable. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn't like the feeling I had there. They are very “catty” and loved to talk about everyone who walked in. My gal had a booth next to her sister and they were both a little older. But they were just like the young ones. They had a comment about everyone and knew something about most. They would comment on their clothes, their hair, their kids, just anything, I have always hated when normal things and people are made fun of just for entertainment. But there were other things I didn’t like either. It seemed like it’s always a fashion show, and let’s see who has the best tan lines. I can’t explain exactly, but I never liked going.
Now I go to a young gal’s home. It’s just me and her and the 3 kids, her toy filled basement with one chair, her running washing machine/ laundry room with the sink, sometimes we even get to watch Barney. If I need a perm we take a nursing brake. But for some reason I am comfortable there, no one is in competition there, it’s real, it’s more like home.
I guess I need my comfort zone. We are put in uncomfortable situations often enough that if I can avoid one, then I will. I am grateful others have talents I do not and can share them with me.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Never the End

I have had more than 3 weeks off work and sort of still got paid. Monday I have to go back to the work grind, and I'm not very happy about it. I got called off on Christmas Eve so I haven't worked since Dec. 21st. But of-course I had knee surgery on the 27th which is why I had so much time off.
When ever I think about not working for a long time I always think I will get so much done. And when it's over I wonder what did I do? Well I did;
read 2 and 3 of the Vampire Twilight books, read my book club book, A Town Like Alice, I got most of my lesson for Feb. done, at lest the maim ideas and plans. I finally finished the 9 towels I had to make for the girls who have been ordering them all year. Finished edging a baby blanket. We did a DI clean out,I cleaned the laundry room, went to see a good friends new home, cleaned up Christmas, had Jodi's B-Day, did 3 of my 7 visiting teaching, have gone to Physical Therapy 2x's a week. I've started the Book Of Mormon again and even bought myself a study guide.
If I started to list all the things I thought I'd get done this blog would go on forever and ever. So my point is: Do we ever get it all done? I have decided that NO is the best and correct answerer. Because if we ever do get it all done then what do we have do live for. I truly believe we need a reason to get up everyday and plans and list to follow. I get so much joy after I know I have accomplished what needed to be done, and if the list carries into tomorrow then that's OK too.
As long as our life here on earth is a test, then I want to keep studying and practicing until I get it right, and then and only then I might say I am ready to see if I passed.
I am grateful that I never finish and that I get to keep trying.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Happy Birthday Jodi


Happy Happy Birthday Jodi dear, happy days will come to you from me; if I had one wish then it would be, for happiness to be with you all year.


So Jodi is 26 years old today. She was born in Prove on a very cold and freezing night. Dad & I couldn’t see out the windows because we couldn’t even get them to defrost, so we drove to the hospital very slow with the windows down and just watched out the sides at the road. She was born without complications one day early.


For many many years Jodi was always considered the Peace Maker of the family, she hated if any one was ever fighting or sad, but as she got older she joined in more and more so that now we are just one big HAPPY family.


She has always loved little kids. Even as a baby herself, she would smother other babies and moms would have to ask me to try and keep her away from their kids. As a 2 ½ yr old she got lost. We thought she was at the neighbors playing with Mel and the other kids but the neighbor said she hadn’t seen her, as panic set in and everyone was looking, finally the same neighbor called us all in and had found her asleep in her baby’s crib, with the baby. She loves her little cousins so much and they do her too. (She loves the big ones too).


She is the one who can get grandpa Hardcastle to smile and joke the most and I guess he is even buying her a car. (A match box car)


She is fashion conscious to the point of annoying, but always looks great. She can save a penny even if it doesn’t want saving. She reads her scriptures every night without fail, and she has had her heart broken a few too many times and has done the same, too many to count. She is an exercise fanatic and cries way too easy at movies. She loves her sister and brothers and is always looking out for their best interest, and is easily anode by us all. She wants to marry someone like her dad, and cleans better than her mom. She is a friend to many and would like that relationship to change and advance with some.

She reminds me frequently that she has been told to “Be Patient” by a very important person, so that is what she is trying to do with her life. She is moving forward and planning lots of exciting things for herself. We Love her so much and wish her a very Happy Birthday.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

A very Long year end.(really it's long)



Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what an eventful ‘07 , I’ve got a glorious feeing, Great things will happen this year.
Happy New Year to all of us.
It’s about 7deg. outside today. The grass is covered is snow, the sky is clear and so are the roads. No one is hurrying anywhere today. We’ve all slept in and music is playing and it’s just a great feeling all around. I actually feel pretty good today from my knee surgery. Yesterday and Sunday were a little rough and painful but I think I just did too much. But with the help of Kim I did get Christmas decorations taken down Monday, and tomorrow maybe I’ll re-clean and re-decorate. But for now the house is a little less crowded and it just feels fresh uncluttered and open.
We did have a fun year staring with Grandma (MOM) being at her own home in her own routine and having survived her hip surgery and re-hab from the year before. And the excitement of Mom getting her first great-grandchild, Elliot.
When Mom and Dad Hardcastle arrived home safe and sound from their London Mission. We all remember there was a time we thought that would not happen with Don getting so sick. But they have always been such great examples of doing the Lords work. Staying and finishing their mission showed again of their love for the Lord. They also became grandparents of #12 with the birth of Audrey Kate to Ryan and Brooke.
I have always worried and wondered how life as an in-law would be and so this year I found out. I now have 2 great in-laws. Justin and Jessica. The weddings were so much fun, very stressful, but so much fun. Haley and James wedding caused no stress for me at all.. It’s a great feeling to see your kids find someone they are happy with and now they are begining to start their own lives. Something you always want for them. You pray they will be happy and responsible, faithful, active, good citizens, productive and that the things you have taught them will have been the right things. I now look so forward to the times we have together and the new activities to share.
Jodi had a wonderful experience of traveling, alone, this year. She was so excited to go to Spain and all the other countries she and Casey got to see. I really didn’t worry too much about her going alone, because I know she is smart and after she arrived she would have a good traveling companion. I know this is a part of her life she will never forget.
Jodi, Matt and Gordon all got new jobs they are happy with.
Jodi is a lot of fun to have around and share her excitement of soon be getting her own place and saving, saving and saving her money, collecting household items she’ll need and trying to sneak mine way. I have to always be on the look out for missing items. The things I want to give her she doesn’t want.
Matt completed his first semester of School this year at WSU, and he did well. His grades we good and he has been a great student and very dedicated and responsible. I honestly didn’t know how well he’d do, only because he wasn’t the best High School student but I have been very impressed and pound of what he has done. I am saddened by his inactivity in church. I thought he had a testimony, and I still pray that deep down he knows the Gospel is true and will ultimately make him happy if he lives the principles, but he has to find out for himself. I will just do all I can to love him as I do all my children, and pray for him.

We had to say good-by to Uncle Bevan this year. That was hard for so many different reasons. Many of us thought he gave up to soon and didn’t have the will or endurance to try any harder, but we all know we have our free-agency and we wouldn’t want it any other way. Paul was so tough and just never stopped being the care giver and planner. I will always be grateful for his example. Bevan brought fun and interesting things into our lives. His love for art and travel and being there for mom when every one else was gone. I am glad he was a part of my children and our lives, and for the memories we all share of him.

Our family also had the sad time of putting Charlie down. Everyone knows I would always say that I would not miss him, but I miss that he is gone. He had gotten so sick and not fun to have around, but he was a part of the family and it did change things a little.

I am so very grateful for the way things turned out for Kim and his back infection. We were facing some serious descisions when surgery was given as the only option, and that scared both of us. Not just the fact that he would have been laid up for 6 months but that the Dr. didn’t know what he’d find when he got in there. It was such a blessing when he was already starting to heal on his own and everything changed. Now he, Jodi and Matt are just as good at home-care as I am.
I still serve in the Relief Society Presidency and some how between my great enrichment leader and committee we keep coming up with new ideas. I will serve as long as needed and I am no longer going to draw attention to how long I’ve been in. I love getting to know each new sister, we have 3-8 each month, and I love who I serve with. I am the one who is blessed by my association with them.
Sally and I have had fun doing the little craft fairs and showing our talents and sharing our ideas. I am very grateful that I have had the opportunity to start my little business and put my creative energy to good use.
Life is a blessing and I know I am loved. I just hope and pray that I can be of service everyday to someone who is of need. And if this can be done, then next year it won’t be hard at all to have Christ in Christmas, because I will have Christ in my life every day.