Happy New Year!

Alas, I still have not written an entry about my wonderful Christmas, and now it is already New Year's Eve. My plan was to write a Christmas blog today so that I could write a New Year's blog tomorrow, but the day got away from me.  So, I will do a New Year's blog now and hopefully soon write about Christmas.

Today has been a nice day. We went to the temple this morning with my parents and my Uncle Joe to do some family names. It was a good session.  I love the peace and  beauty of the temple. I spent a lot of the time pondering about family and what a blessing it is in general and specifically how much I love my family.

After the temple we went over to my parents for awhile. It is nice to have a few days off to spend time with family this weekend.

I came home and had three more chapters in the Book of Mormon to read in order to finish it. In 2000, at the suggestion of a friend, I decided to try reading the Book of Mormon in a month. I did, and it was such a wonderful experience that I have done it every year since then. I usually do it earlier in the year, but this year I was reading the Old and New Testaments (finished the NT, only half way through the OT) so I didn't start until mid November. I am a little over my month, but I wanted to finish it before the end of the year. I finished a few minutes ago, so I barely squeaked by. I sure do love the Book of Mormon and I love reading it fast like that every year, because it gives me a different perspective.

So, here I am at 5:55, about to leave for a New Year's Eve party, and I thought I would do a quick post.

After I finished the Book of Mormon I spent a few minutes going through my journals and getting an overview of my year. Every New Year after I get home from the celebration, I write a journal entry about the year. So in preparation for that, I sat down for a minute and reviewed my year.

It was so wonderful to look back. Yes, there were hard things that happened this year, but they were far outweighed by the many good things that happened: sleepovers with my nieces and nephews; many fun family parties, including our family Olympics; summer vacations, trips to the canyon and Lagoon trips; going to two temple open houses and the wonderful opportunity to be at the Oquirrh Mountian Temple dedication; going to Conference; working at the temple and the wonderful experiece of being a coordinator, working with the sweet Primary kids in my calling, working as a nurse and having patients tell me I made a difference for them, teaching and training new nurses; all the fun things we did for the Holidays this year...

OK, I guess that is enough of a review, but as I reflected about my year, I just felt so grateful for my blessed life! New Year's Eve used to be so hard for me because I am not married, but Heavenly Father has taken that pain from me and given me sooo many compensatory blessings.

So, I end this year with gratitude for all that has happend this year and with excitment for what the New Year will bring. I want to be a better person in the New Year, be more willing to serve and love and help others.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

It has been a wonderful Christmas, and I will write all about it soon, but I just wanted to send out a quick Merry Christmas!

This was what Jen and I saw as we left our house this morning:

What a beautiful sunrise and what a wonderful way to start off Christmas morning! I love the color of the light coming over the mountains in the first picture and the light just starting to touch the tops of the mountains through the misty clouds in the second picture. It was so beautiful! I about froze Jen by opening the car window to get the pictures, but I think it was worth it.

As I looked at the beautiful sunrise, I thought about how it was perfect imagery of the birth of Christ and how that singular event brought light to a dark and troubled world. I love this time of year and the chance it gives me to ponder on and celebrate all that He did for us; His humble birth, His perfect life and His supreme sacrifice.

We came home for a few hours and I was reading Matthew 1 and Luke 1-2.  I love what Mary says to Elizabeth:

"And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation… He hath filled the hungry with good things… He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy."           --Luke 1:46-54

He has surely filled my life with good things and blessed me greatly.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Odds and Ends

Ok, so it is midnight and I should be in bed, but I wanted to post a few pictures. Last week we made Gingerbread houses with the nieces and nephews, and it was so fun (and hopefully some day I will post about it), but I was so busy helping the kids that I did not get to do my own. So tonight, the adults made houses while the kids played.

I love making Gingerbread houses! While mine are by no means professional, and I usually only spend an evening making it, it is a fun tradition that I have been doing for many years. Ems and I were the only ones that spent all night at it (which is why it is now midnight) so by the time we got around to taking pictures ours were the only ones left to take pictures of:

Here is Em's house--she is amazing! Unfortunately, you can't really see how detailed it is in the picture. Look at the decoration done in frosting on the front of  the house. She did that around the whole house. The roof is graham crackers, perfectly placed, and the lights around the roof are Christmas Cadbury eggs, cut in half. She really is creative. (One year she made a big church complete with stained glass windows, but that took a lot longer than just one evening.)

Here is my house.  Notice I copied Em's frosting decoration on the front of the house, although mine is not quite as precise. (I am not quite as patient as she is...) Mine is on a bigger board so I was able to do a little more with the yard. It sure was fun to make! I especially like the tree. You can't really see in the picture, but it is red and silver, and the same silver accents are on each post of the fence (suggested by Emilee, of course.)

On a totally unrelated note, I have to tell one more quick story. I ran in to the gift shop at the hospital last week and bought a little stuffed animal. I think it was $12 total. The cute pink lady told me that because I spent over $10, I qualified to be in a drawing for a nativity and pointed over to the side of the store to show me what they were drawing for. I couldn't really tell where she was pointing, even when I asked her again, but I decided it didn't really matter since there was not much chance of my winning it anyway. So, I filled out the ticket and went on my way.

A few days later, I got a call that I had won the drawing. I thought that was fun, especially since I have never won a drawing like that, but I still wasn't sure what I had won. I assumed it was just a little nativity.

Well, I went in to pick it up and they handed me this large box. When I opened it up, this was what I found:

It is actually a Demdaco nativity! I looked it up and it sells for around $75. I couldn't believe that I had actually won something so nice, and from just a quick trip in to the gift shop. I just thought I would share my fun news.

Well, I'm off to bed. I hope you are all enjoying this Holiday season. I am sure having fun!

Deep Thoughts

(Warning, long post!)

Wow, it has been a busy week…oh wait, my goal is to say a full instead of busy. It has been a full week, packed with all sorts of good things, but not leaving me time to blog. I want to do a post about our Gingerbread houses with the nieces and nephews at some point, but getting all the pictures in would take too long before work this morning. So, I am going to instead share some “deep thoughts” I have been pondering about the past few weeks.


In Stake Conference a few weeks ago, the Second Counselor in the Stake Presidency gave a powerful talk about Christ and His healing power in the night session. The next morning, he gave another shorter talk about Christ. In that second talk, he told a story that I can’t stop thinking about. He first quoted President Packer as follows:

“I somehow knew there was one thing the Lord would never take from me, and that was my free agency. I would not surrender my agency to any being but to Him! I determined that I would give Him the one thing that He would never take—my agency. I decided, by myself, that from that time on I would do things His way.” (“Spiritual crocodiles,” Ensign, May 1976).

Then the Counselor told a story from his own life. Right after his first child was born, he knelt by the couch where his wife and child were sleeping and told Heavenly Father the same thing. He said in that prayer, “You can take my child or my wife in death; you can ask me to move…you don’t have to take anything from me, I give it to you freely.”

Wow, that was so profound to me! This past few years I have really committed to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and to do Their will, but I have never thought of it like that. I was especially impressed at the specifics of his prayer. I thought about what a poignant time it is to have a new baby, all the love and emotion that the parents must feel, and for him to specifically say that Heavenly Father could take his child or wife…I couldn’t believe what faith he was demonstrating!

One of my biggest fears as a child was that one of my family members would die. I used to lay awake at night worrying that someone would get in an accident or one of the kids would get lost. (In fact, anytime we went anywhere with all the kids I was constantly counting to make sure each one was there…silly me!) I don’t worry about it anymore like that, thank goodness, but of course at times I ponder about how hard it would be to lose someone or to have one of my sweet little nieces or nephews die.

So, I have thought a lot about that talk these last few weeks. I have thought about being willing to give up anything.

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon in my personal study last week I was reading about the people of Ammon. I have always loved this scripture, and it was particularly applicable to what I have been thinking about: “And they never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it” (Alma 27:28).

I think that is amazing! Because of their faith in Christ, they did not fear death for themselves, but I think they also did not fear death for their family members! I thought about when more than a thousand were slain without resistance…what faith!! I realized as I read it again that it was not that they didn’t mourn, but that they didn’t fear. I think there is a big difference between the two emotions.

What I have finally processed and come up with is something I really always knew but never thought about in this way; the Stake Counselor and the people of Ammon and anyone who really commits themselves to the Lord can say that He can take anything from them because they know Him, and they know that He can be trusted impilictly! They know that He loves them beyond measure and wants only what is best for them.

I read something this week by John Bytheway that really sums it up for me, “While we may not have all the answers in this life, the Lord does, and we can trust Him more than anyone or anything in this world. He will help us get through everything” (“When Times Are Tough, p29.”)

I had the opportunity in the temple last night as I was working to be alone in the Brides Room for a few minutes while I was waiting for a bride to come in and then again to be alone in the Celestial Room at the end of the night. (Which as a side note, can I just say that I love, love, love working in the temple. What a privilege to be in those sacred rooms alone and have time to ponder!!)

Both times it was so peaceful and beautiful and I was thinking about all of this. I was thinking about how the Lord has led me and blessed me in my life. That He has helped me through hard times in the past and blessed me beyond measure. If and when I do have to say goodbye to a family member or maybe even a child, it would be incredibly painful, but He would be there to help me. It is like President Hunter said (as also quoted by John Bytheway), “If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ…nothing can ever go permanently wrong” (“Fear Not, Little Flock,” BYU Devotional, 1989.)

I can give Heavenly Father my will, and I can tell Him that He can take anything from me, and I can do it without fear because I trust Him. He has helped me in the past, He helps me day by day, and I know that He will never forsake me!

The Roof and Temple Square

Remember how I love Christmas??  One of my favorite things about Christmas is doing "Christmassy things" that become treasured memories. Well, Jen and I had the opportunity to go to the Roof Restaurant and Temple Square with some good friends this week. It was so fun and so beautiful to see all of the lights. I wanted to do a post about it with some pictures.

I love the Roof Restaurant. I love it because of the peaceful atmosphere and the beautiful views of the Temple. It is on the top floor of the JSMB, and almost every window has a view of the Salt Lake Temple and the lights of SLC. They have a person playing piano and  the music combined with the beautiful views makes it so enjoyable!  It is pretty expensive, so I only go once in awhile, and because of that, I have some wonderful memories of times there with friends and family.

We decided to go again this year with our friends JoAnna and Lisa, wonderful friends from our last ward. We got there right at sunset and had a wonderful seat. The man playing the piano was very good and he was playing Christmas music. After a few minutes, they turned on the Christmas lights, and I got this picture. This was the view I saw while I was eating. Isn't is so beautiful?

This is a picture of us at the table, Jen sitting by Lisa and me sitting by JoAnna:

Here is a view of the Temple that Jen took from her seat after the sun had set. Isn't it so beautiful shining in the night?

                         

And here are the four of us together, standing next to our table.  Notice the Temple behind us; we had wonderful seats!

After dinner, we walked around Temple Square. I love Temple Square at Christmas time. It reminds me of the many times we came up with my family when I was a child, with choirs when I was in High School, and more recently with my nieces and nephew and with friends. I love places that have such wonderful memories!

  

At one point as we were walking around and I saw the Temple shining brilliantly amidst the beautiful colored lights, I thought to myself that the reason the church goes to all the work to create this wonderful place is to bring people to the Temple, and ultimately to Christ. I thought of how much I love the Temple, how grateful I am for the influence it has been in my life. I felt so incredibly blessed!

We went and saw the Nativity that has music and narration. It is between the Tabernacle and the North Visitors Center, and is one of my favorite parts of Temple Square at Christmas. I love to ponder about the birth of Christ the way it changed the world! Here is a close up picture of the Nativity.

Here is a picture of the four of us on Temple Square. It was cold, but not too bad (although if you look closely, you can see my nose and cheeks red with cold).

Last of all we went over to the reflecting pool that has a Nativity in the middle. It was so pretty with the lights, the Temple and the Nativity reflecting in the water!

It was such an enjoyable night, and so fun to be with Jen and my good friends. Most of all, I loved the time it gave me to reflect on Christmas and the wonderful gifts our Father in Heaven has given us!