*MONDAY MEMOS*
(If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge)
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!
dear aloha taylor, I took Taylor to the airport on Monday morning. He is going to spend the summer working in paradise. Poor thing. See what Skyler started? But, hats off to him for having the guts to head over without any clue where they (him and his bud CJ) are sleeping, driving, eating, living, or working. Okay, I exaggerated that a bit. They actually have a car lined up to buy when they arrive at the airport, and they have a job interview the day they arrive. But as far as living, they can't get in BYU Hawaii housing until June and so they are homeless for now. We all gave him a hard time about doing this, but deep down I think it shows a lot of strength and bravery for taking a step out in the dark and seeing how it works out. He has a lot of faith it will all work out as is supposed to. But I have lost more sleep than I care to admit worrying about this move. Aaaagh!
ALOHA! Off to paradise!
I look like I just ate a "happy" meal or happy something. Gah
Taylor's post on Facebook (and CJ'S)
dear new hutch, I am SO excited! After years and years of looking and hoping I would find the perfect hutch someday, I finally found one on KSL.com a week or so ago. I had a feeling I should look and there it was. BUT... it was in Magna and I really didn't want to drive that far. So I decided against it. But it kept coming back into my mind and I thought how many years I have tried to find the one I wanted but never could and this one was perfect and a good price as well. But, I didn't know when I could make the trip. I decided I would just do it but then it was gone from the website. Oh well. Then I got a text from the seller (I had previously text them) telling me that it was still available and they had dropped it $50. I asked them if they would take $75 less. They said no, but they would take another $50 off and so then I really knew it as meant to be mine. The problem, getting to Magna with a truck to haul it home. Taylor happened to need a ride to the airport and so I had them send the measurements again and figured it would fit in the Escalade. The problem was having someone help lift it into the vehicle. Hmm.... The seller said it was "crazy heavy". So.... I was not sure HOW it was going to work out, but I decided to go with faith and see what we could do. She was new to her neighborhood and didn't know anyone. She said there was a bus stop near her house and we could maybe recruit some peeps to help. After I dropped Taylor off, I drove to her house and not only was it crazy heavy, but it had to be lifted down some concrete stairs. Hmm... I tried to see if the two of us could lift it, but neither of us was very buff and it was worse than crazy heavy. I decided to go around the hood and see if I could recruit anyone. Amazingly before I even left, I heard some noises coming from the backyard across the street. I meandered over there and saw two men working. What? Seriously? I knew this was working out perfectly and so I asked them if they could do me a favor and help me lift it. They didn't speak much English, but obliged. I could tell it was difficult for them but they kept at it and didn't want our help. They got it down the stairs and then tried to get it in my vehicle. It wasn't quite fitting. We were all very discouraged and I submitted to the fact I was going to have to come back with a truck or just bag it. Then I suggested the one guy go inside my car and try to pull it through that way as we tilted it. He did and it worked! I think I witnessed a miracle right then. If I hadn't drove off with it today, I am not sure I would have gone back for it. Pretty sure the way everything worked out, that this was the hutch for me! hehe I had to drive very delicately on the way home, but I am now the owner of a gorgeous refurbished hutch! I can now get out my China that has been in storage for almost 35 years! Crazy huh? I would have never bought China had I known I would never use it! But now I can!
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| Shoved in the car |
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| It doesn't have the shelves in it yet or, of course, the China, but I think it's gorgeous! |
dear group harp lesson, I headed to Kaysville and we had five or six of us at the lesson. It was actually fun this time. I think we all had practiced our songs and so we sounded pretty good.
I finished my Social Books once I had the 40% off coupon. Now, I have them all up to date with the exception of one of our trips to Hawaii and our cruise last year.
dear run with robin, we headed out about 6:30 and it was a gorgeous morning! We basically did the Peach Day's route. This was the first time I felt like I wasn't a turtle since Boston, though I still was. But the photos were worth it.
I LOVE spring!!!
So does this guy!
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| I'd much rather find a penny than a snake! |
dear how to be a 10 cow woman, I got a text asking if I could please be in charge of our entire RS night because Shauna and Becky couldn't make it. Hmm.... Okay. I was okay with it only because the idea was mine on what we had planned and I knew what was happening for the most part. I was informed that the speaker who was teaching the class on Goal Setting was not able to be there and so I had to scramble and throw together 10 minutes worth of stuff for that. Luckily, I had taught a couple classes about that to my SS class and so I had some notes and handouts. I got the rest off the internet. I also grabbed a talk I had given and revamped and was good to go. I got there an hour early to set up and make copies.
Some of the classes
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Some of the presenters A few of the notes on my Goal Setting class. I wanted to include Rodney Brady's Principles of Goal Setting on here for future reference because it truly is invaluable. He is truly inspiring. He set 200 goals in his youth and when he was WSC Pres. he had accomplished about 167 or so of them if I remember correctly. Since then I have never forgot how powerful setting goals are. I challenged the sisters to write one goal on the back of their card that they think is impossible and I challenged them to reach for it and see what happens. GOAL SETTING
“Decided
to cut hay. Started to harness up the horses and found that the harness was
broken. I took it to the granary to repair it and noticed some empty sacks
lying around. The sacks were a reminder that some potatoes in the cellar needed
the sprouts removed. I went to the cellar to do the job and noticed that the
room needed sweeping. I went to the house to get a broom and saw the wood box
was empty. I went to the woodpile and noticed some ailing chickens. They were
such sad-looking things that I decided to get some medicine for them. Since I
was out of medicine, I jumped into the car and headed for the drugstore. On the
way, I ran out of gas.”
Share
with the youth some of the goals you have set for yourself throughout your
life. Include both long-term and short-term goals. Explain how you decided to
set those goals, what you did to achieve them, and how your efforts blessed
your life. (Boston Marathon)
Elder
Ballard: Wise goal setting includes the
understanding that short-term goals are only effective if they lead to clearly
understood longer-term goals. I believe that one important key to happiness is
to learn how to set our own goals and establish our own plans within the
framework of our Heavenly Father’s eternal plan. If we focus on this eternal
path, we will inevitably qualify to return to His presence.
It is good to have goals and plans for our
careers, for our education, even for our golf game. It is also important to
have goals for our marriages, our families, and our Church councils and
callings; this is especially true for missionaries. But our greatest and most
overriding goals should fit into Heavenly Father’s eternal plan. Jesus said,
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you.”2.
President
Thomas S. Monson
has taught: “Wishing will not
make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects
our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion” When we plan
prayerfully and work diligently to achieve our goals, the Lord magnifies our
efforts and helps us reach our potential.
"It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say
we'll make the effort...it's in the doing, not just the thinking, that we
accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see
them fulfilled."- Thomas S. Monson
M.
Russell Ballard “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals…
and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can
reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but
a small part of our full potential. When you learn to master the principle of
setting a goal, you will then be able to make a great difference in the results
you attain.”
Noelle
Pikus Pace - I loved her advice on goal setting, "You need to have goals and
determination in order to succeed. It's through the daily goals and tasks that
you become who you want to be. Work on one or two things at a time and that is
how you become better."
An old proverb says, “The best time to
plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
SMART GOALS
Specific
- Measurable - Achievable - Relevant or Realistic - Timely
In this case, my S.M.A.R.T. goal went from “I’m going to
complete a full marathon” to what really brought me there: “I will train for a
full marathon in four and half months by following a set training schedule of
running five to six days per week, and building my long runs up to 20 miles in
11 weeks.”
ONE
WORD- one word a year.
That way you are successful no matter what because you will see at least
SOME improvement in a years time.
We know that our Heavenly Father has goals
because He has told us that His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man”
Our personal goals can bring out the best in us. However,
one of the things that derail our efforts in making and keeping resolutions is procrastination.
We sometimes delay starting, waiting for the right moment to begin—the
first day of a new year, the beginning of summer,
But
What If We Fail?
Sometimes the
thing that holds us back is fear. We might be afraid that we won’t succeed,
that we will succeed, that we might be embarrassed, that success might change
us, or that it might change the people we love.
And so we wait. Or
give up.
Another thing we
need to remember when it comes to setting goals is this: We almost certainly
will fail—at least in the short term. But rather than be discouraged, we can be
empowered because this understanding removes the pressure of being perfect
right now. It acknowledges from the beginning that at one time or another, we
may fall short. Knowing this up front takes away much of the surprise and
discouragement of failure.
When we approach
our goals this way, failure doesn’t have to limit us. Remember, even if we fail
to reach our ultimate, desired destination right away, we will have made
progress along the road that will lead to it.
Shoot for the moon....even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
Even though we
might fall short of our finish line, just continuing the journey will make us
greater than we were before.
Elder
David A. Bednar recently
cautioned members to be authentic in the use of social media.11 A
prominent thought leader, Arthur C. Brooks, has emphasized this point. He
observes that when using social media, we tend to broadcast the smiling details
of our lives but not the hard times at school or work. We portray an incomplete
life—sometimes in a self-aggrandizing or fake way. We share this life, and then
we consume the “almost exclusively … fake lives of [our] social media
‘friends.’” Brooks asserts, “How could it not make you feel worse to spend part
of your time pretending to be happier than you are, and the other part of your
time seeing how much happier others seem to be than you?”1
Write on the board Long-Range Goals,
Intermediate Goals, Short-Range Goals, and Daily
Tasks. Ask:
It has been said that a
goal not written is merely a wish.
Ask: Why is it important that we actively direct the course of our
lives rather than just letting things happen?
Read together Doctrine
and Covenants 60:13.
Ask: Why is it important not to waste our time?
“Limiting the amount of time
spent playing computer games. How many kills you can make in a minute with a
computer game will have zero effect on your capacity to be a good missionary -
Elder Ballard
RODNEY
BRADY STORY:
Most
people have good, but simple, goals in high school — graduate, land a job,
maybe go to college. Not Rodney
H. Brady. As a senior at Jordan High, Brady was encouraged by his
debate coach, Phil Goldbransen, to take some time and develop more specific
goals for his life."I'm convinced he said the same thing to many others.
But I took him quite seriously," Brady said . So he set goals. About 200
of them, actually. And he carefully listed all of the steps needed to achieve
them.
Get the best
education possible. Check.
Run a major
corporation. Check.
Serve in a
high-level government post. Check.
Be a college
president. Check.
In fact, five
decades after graduating, Brady says he has been able to check off about 175 of
those original 200 goals. As for the other 25 — and numerous goals he has added
since — well, he's not done yet.
After all, it's not easy for a man of goals to stop setting
— and achieving — them. Brady still has loose-leaf binders at home that include
all of his goal lists, with checkmarks beside those he has accomplished. He
still starts his annual goal-setting process early each December. And he keeps
a further record of his experiences in the form of a series of bound volumes
lined up on a table in his office, books he has written about each stage of his
life.
When I was a senior in high school,
early in the school year, my high school debate coach and teacher in a course
called American Problems put his arm around me one day and said, “Rod, you can
really become anything you want to in life if you will but decide what it is
you would like to become.” And I’m sure that he must have said that to many others. I don’t think I was
necessarily singled out, but I responded by saying, “Well, Mr. Goldbranson, how
do I go about deciding?” And he said, “Well, what I would ask you to do is
spend ten to fifteen hours making a list of all those things you might want to
achieve in life. Once you’ve done that, come back and talk to me.” Well, I did
that, and it took a couple of weeks for me to do that. I came back with a list
of approximately one hundred and fifty things I wanted to do. In the process I
grouped those things I wanted to achieve into eight broad categories. There
were some spiritual goals, some family goals, some professional goals,
educational goals, some financial goals, some cultural and creative goals, some
athletic and physical fitness goals, and then there were some miscellaneous
goals. I took this stack of papers to Mr. Goldbranson, and he thumbed through
them, and he says, “I am amazed! I am really impressed, but,” he said, “your
task is only begun.” I asked, “Well, what else is there to do?” He says, “Well,
now I’d like you to take each of those goals and write them on the top of
separate pieces of paper, and underneath each one I’d like you to define all
the steps that it might take you to get from where you are now to where you
want to be.”
Well, that challenge took me! It
must have been a couple of months, but I ended up thinking of some additional
things I wanted to accomplish; so I went back to Mr. Goldbranson with over two
hundred goals that were on that list, and defined what steps I thought might be
necessary. He was really impressed. He says, “May I take these and study them a
bit closer?” So a few weeks later he returned these papers to me, and he had
taken a red pencil and he had made a number of suggestions, markings, on those
papers. He didn’t make any changes to the goals, but only to the steps. When he
brought them back he says, “I am really impressed.” He says, “But your task is
only begun.” In the vernacular I would use today, I said, “I’ve set my goals,
I’ve laid out my plan, now what else is there to do?” And he says, “Now you got
to do it! You’ve got to work that plan.” Well, from that day to this, that goal
structure that I laid out for myself has been a guiding light to my life, and
every year sometime between the first of December and the end of January I’ll
sort of disappear from view for several days, and I very carefully go over that
list of goals. I will record those that have been achieved during the past
year, ask myself the questions, are there some new goals that ought to be
established, and then what had I ought to really concentrate on during this
next year. I’ve done that to this day. I’ll tell you, I feel much more
comfortable each year after I’ve gone through this process than I feel when
it’s been a year since I really reviewed these goals. But that’s something that
Mr. Goldbranson, a marvelous, marvelous man, taught me. You know, as I give
speeches around the community and so forth, a lot of times I share some lessons
that I’ve learned in life that have really contributed to what I’ve achieved.
The very first lesson on that list is that I believe a goal-oriented life is
more likely to lead to success than is a life that leaves success to chance
The book on his missionary years includes the story of his
meeting to discuss the LDS scriptures with the British prime minister, Sir
Winston Churchill. Brady still has one of Churchill's trademark cigars —
unsmoked — and other mementoes from that visit. When asked how he managed to
get an audience with the great man, Brady has a standard answer. "You set
yourself a goal, you lay out the steps, and then you do it."
It's all part of the philosophy Brady learned from his
debate coach half a century ago.
"What I have learned about
professional and personal life during four decades of leadership in business,
government, education and community service . . . "If you don't know where
you're going, you'll probably end up someplace else."
"A goal-oriented life is far more likely to lead to success than is
a life that leaves success to chance."
"People . . . can greatly enhance their chances for
future happiness and success. . . if they, at a time when careful and
rational deliberation is possible, will commit themselves to a set of ethical
and moral values that they can rely upon as they are faced with life's major
decisions."
"The greatest happiness and the greatest sadness that most people
experience in life are directly traceable to how effective they become in their
roles as children, husbands, wives and parents."
Let me also make one more statement
with respect to athletics. During my years at Weber, our basketball coach was
Neil McCarthy, and he had phenomenal success. Essentially every year we would
go to the NCAA tournament and do very, very well. I tried to determine what it
was that caused his teams to be so successful, so I followed them into the
locker room after a practice one
day, and I observed something that was really
quite extraordinary. He took these players, got them in a circle, they all held
onto
each other, and they proceeded to
chant the following chant: Every day in every way we get a little better. Every
day in every way we get a little better. Every day in every way we get a little
better. He would have them do that as many times as they had won games that year,
and I’ve been in that circle with those players as they have chanted that
twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five times! Now, consider our lives. We
somehow need to become better every day. If we’re not better today than we were
yesterday in some respect, all that’s happened is time has passed and nothing
has been accomplished. Every day in some way we each need to get a little
better.
Some of his accomplishments because of his goals:
Valedictorian and from the University of Utah with High Honors, earning
degrees of Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Master of Business
Administration in 1957. He then earned a Doctor of Business Administration
degree from Harvard University.
In 1960, while serving as a lieutenant in the
U.S. Air Force, he married Carolyn "Mitzi" Hansen, a fifth grade
teacher and also a University of Utah graduate. Rod said, "I could have
accomplished very little without her."
His major professional assignments were:
•Vice President, Management Systems Corp.
(management consulting), Cambridge, MA
•Vice President, Hughes Tool Company
(aerospace), Los Angeles, CA
•Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C.
•Chairman, President's Sub-Cabinet Executive
Officer's Group, Washington, D.C.
•Executive Vice President, Bergen Brunswig Corp.
(pharmaceuticals), Los Angeles, CA
•President, Weber State College, Ogden, UT
•President, Bonneville International Corp.
(nation-wide broadcasting), Salt Lake City, UT
•President, Deseret Management Corp.
(international holding co.), Salt Lake City, UT
He also served as director for many commercial
and non-profit enterprises. He documented his life in volumes available at
local university libraries. Among his special interests were marathon running,
astronomy, bird watching, family history, writing, gardening and public
service.
Rod enthusiastically enjoyed scouting his entire
life. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout as a boy and loved working on scouting
requirements with his sons, each of them attaining the rank of Eagle. He served
for more than 40 years in national and regional Boy Scout leadership roles and
received the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, and Silver Buffalo awards.
He received honorary doctoral degrees from the
University of Utah, Weber State University, and Snow College. Hall of fame
inductions include: Utah Broadcasters, University of Utah College of Science,
and University of Utah David Eccles School of Business.
He was an active member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as a missionary in the British Mission
from 1953 to 1955 (where he met personally with Sir Winston Churchill), as
Bishop of the Westwood California Ward, and as President of the Los Angeles
California Stake.
Rodney Brady - WSC President when I attended and he
spoke in a devotional about goal setting. He is the most accomplished man I
know. He set 200 goals when he was in
high school and accomplished every one. His list was extensive and seemed
impossible to look at it but he spent months planning out how he would
accomplish each and he did. He grouped
those things he wanted to achieve into eight broad categories. There were some
spiritual goals, some family goals, some professional goals, educational goals,
some financial goals, some cultural and creative goals, some athletic and
physical fitness goals, and then there were some miscellaneous goals.
A few
of the main things he did:President and CEO of Deseret Management
President and CEO of Bonneville International Corporation. President of Weber
State University
Assistant Secretary of the United States
Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Officer in the United
States Air Force. Vice President, Management Systems Corp.
•Vice President, Hughes Tool Company *
Among his special interests were marathon running, astronomy, bird watching,
family history, writing, gardening and public service, and scouting.
Elder
Ballard: Wise goal setting includes the
understanding that short-term goals are only effective if they lead to clearly
understood longer-term goals. I believe that one important key to happiness is
to learn how to set our own goals and establish our own plans within the
framework of our Heavenly Father’s eternal plan. If we focus on this eternal
path, we will inevitably qualify to return to His presence.
It is good to have goals and plans for our
careers, for our education, even for our golf game. It is also important to
have goals for our marriages, our families, and our Church councils and
callings; this is especially true for missionaries. But our greatest and most
overriding goals should fit into Heavenly Father’s eternal plan. Jesus said,
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you.”2.
President
Thomas S. Monson
has taught: “Wishing will not
make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects
our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion” When we plan
prayerfully and work diligently to achieve our goals, the Lord magnifies our
efforts and helps us reach our potential.
"It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say
we'll make the effort...it's in the doing, not just the thinking, that we
accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see
them fulfilled."- Thomas S. Monson
M.
Russell Ballard “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals…
and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can
reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but
a small part of our full potential. When you learn to master the principle of
setting a goal, you will then be able to make a great difference in the results
you attain.”
“Limiting the amount of time spent playing computer games. How many
kills you can make in a minute with a computer game will have zero effect on
your capacity to be a good missionary - Elder Ballard
RODNEY H. BRADY'S
PRINCIPLES OF GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
"A
goal-oriented life is far more likely to lead to success than is a life that
leaves success to chance."
"If
you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up someplace else."
1. GOALS SHOULD BE
WORTHWHILE- One's
life goals should be significant in their scope and importance. Each goal
should have value in and of itself and should be worth achieving. The
accomplishment of each of one's goals should hold promise of providing personal
satisfaction and should stimulate one to strive for even greater
accomplishments.
2. GOALS SHOULD BE
ACHIEVABLE - The
striving for goals that are absolutely impossible to achieve can often be
discouraging and can interfere with the achievement of other important goals
that are achievable. If a goal is in conflict with another goal, one or both of
the goals should be altered so as to reflect an appropriate degree of realism.
3. GOALS SHOULD BE
AMBITIOUS - Effective
goals should stimulate one to stretch one's skills, capabilities, energies, and
commitments beyond where natural efforts would normally take a person. Few
achievements are impossible if sufficient vision, imagination, commitment and
hard work are applied. More often than not, goals are set too low rather than
too high.
4. GOALS SHOULD BE
MEASURABLE- The
most useful goals are those which are stated in such a way that progress toward
their achievement can be measured and their ultimate accomplishment can be
determined. The establishment of interim milestones and percentage of
completion objectives are useful benchmarks against which progress can be
measured. A helpful method in the planning for goal achievement is to start
one's planning with a statement of the end goal and then work backward from the
end goal to the present and existing condition, identifying along the way
events that must occur, activities that must be performed, time that must
elapse, and resources that must be expended in order to achieve
the end goal.
5. GOALS SHOULD BE FLEXIBLE-
One
should recognize that at the time one's life goals are established a unique
combination of circumstances exist, such as age, maturity, education level,
perspective, proven abilities, health, family circumstances, resource
availability, and interests. From time to time these conditions change. One's
goals and goal structure should be flexible enough to accommodate these
changing conditions. Goals set at age 20 and not achieved by age 40 or age 60
may or may not continue to be relevant, realistic, or of continuing interest. One
should not burden one's self with outdated and obsolete goals which one no
longer has any interest or ability in achieving.
6. GOALS SHOULD BE
STRUCTURED - When
establishing one's life goals, the formulation of categories of interest, and a
logical structure around which one organizes his or her goals, can be very
useful. A logical goal structure not only triggers one's mind regarding areas
of goal interest, but a properly developed goal structure can be helpful as one
evaluates and plans the balance in one's life and as one seeks to identify
inconsistencies and conflicts among one's goals. A logical goal structure also
can be of assistance as one prioritizes goals and sets a time for their
achievement.
7. GOALS SHOULD BE
PRIORITIZED - One
should recognize that all goals cannot be accomplished at the same time, nor
can activities leading to the accomplishment of all of one's goals be
undertaken simultaneously. It is, therefore, important that one prioritize his
or her goals in terms of their importance and the sequence in which one will
strive to achieve each goal.
8. GOALS SHOULD BE IN
WRITING - Goals
that simply reside in one's mind and are not reduced to writing are often goals
that will never be achieved. By placing one's goals on paper one automatically
increases by orders of magnitude one's commitment to their achievement. Goals
not written down are seldom measured, almost always lack structure, usually go unprioritized,
are not systematically reviewed and updated, and are easily forgotten. A goal
left unwritten is a goal left uncommitted; a goal left uncommitted is a goal
left unachieved.
9. GOALS SHOULD BE PRIVATE
AND SHARED - Some
goals should be kept private, some goals should be shared. The setting of one's
life goals should be a very personal process, free from the undue influences of
others. The mere possibility that all of one's goals will be shared with others
often causes one to exclude from one's goals some ambitions and desires that
are of greatest interest and of highest importance. On the other hand, many of
one's goals cannot be achieved in isolation from other people who
will be affected by, and who will be needed to assist in, the achievement of
certain goals. Thus, attention needs to be given to deciding which goals should
be kept private and which goals should be shared with others.
10. GOALS SHOULD BE
REVIEWED AND UPDATED REGULARLY - Once goals and plans are
established and reduced to writing it is very important that they be reviewed
and updated regularly and thoroughly, at least annually. Periodic review
cements in one's mind that which one has committed to accomplish. Periodic
review also provides an opportunity to update, subtract from, and add to, one's
goal structure.
11. GOALS SHOULD BE
DOCUMENTED WHEN ACHIEVED - The
periodic review mentioned above is an ideal time to document progress toward,
and the accomplishment of, goal achievements. Goals achieved but unrecognized
and undocumented are goals where the ultimate stimulative power and satisfying
affect will have gone unfelt and unrealized.
|
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| The family fun game, I was a volunteer. It was a blast. |
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| The refreshments. COW PIES and MOO JUICE and COW TALES |
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| I had asked Troy to teach the Udderly Delicious class and so he asked me to be his assistant. Ever feel like you overdid your appearance at an event? Yeah, me too. However, I am grateful he did because first of all I learned how to make a perfect omelet and second, he gave me a VERY nice omelet pan just for helping him. Wow! Can't beat that! He did a great job. Me on the other hand... I guess I was the comic relief. I flipped the omelet perfectly the first time but after I added cheese and flipped it again, half of it landed on the table and part of it on the floor! |
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| Troy also brought crepes (Creps). I have been saying it wrong all this time! It's not CRAPES. It's CREPS! He would know since he served in France. They were filled with banana foster filing. Mmm.... My fave! |
VERY FUN NIGHT! Even if I was at the church for four hours!
dear scholarship recipient, Wednesday night was the Scholarship Awards night and so Dave and I went a bit early to meet the winner of this year's winner for Tyson's Memorial Scholarship. She is a darling girl and we chose her because she has endured some pretty hard things and chose to have a positive attitude through it all. She is even a cheerleader at the high school even though she is wheelchair bound. After reading her application, we thought she was quite deserving.
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| I seriously need a new camera on my phone! |
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| I think Tyson would approve! |
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| As we were coming home we saw this... Yes, that is our son on his bullet bike...aka death mobile. UGH Who invented those things anyway? |
dear camo penny, sometimes the places and the way I find pennies (and coins) amazes me. This one was completely camouflaged and if I hadn't stopped to tie my shoe I would have never seen it. This happens frequently. I often wonder how many I run right past every day. I also wonder how rich someone would be if they were able to magically gather all the coins that have been dropped across the world!
dear presentation preparation, I felt really bad that I had to cancel a lunch with the City Creek Crew on Thursday. I was torn what to do but it was my ONLY day and first chance to get my talk prepared for Tuesday. I just couldn't justify a two hour round trip commute along with the lunch and shopping, so I decided I needed to put this first. I was asked to do a 20 minute presentation on Organization in the 13th ward. I decided to pull from three or four other talks I have filed that I have given on the subject as well as on Time Management. That method may have actually taken more time because I was trying to organize and pull from all four. Most of them were no longer on the computer because when it crashed we lost it all. Skyler kindly scanned one in that had the most info and I was able to use a program to copy and paste (kinda - it doesn't work great but good enough). I decided to do some of my prep outside so I could get some rays on my lily white legs before the Ogden Half Marathon. BIG mistake! As you can see!!! I was only out there for about an hour.
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| OUCH! |
I was able to work hard on my talk for most of the day and I knew I made the right choice about not going. Interestingly enough, part of my presentation includes a part where I explain that you can never say YES-YES to anything. When you say YES to one thing, you automatically say NO to something else. You can YES-NO or NO-NO, but not YES-YES. I had to say NO to City Creek so I could say YES to my sanity in getting this ready.
dear friday run, I am very disappointed in the shirt I had made for Boston. You can barely read it. It says, "I earn my CHOCOLATE one step at a time" . So I am going to just wear it to train in.
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| I was able to get in 10 miles on Friday. I did walk a good mile or so. Just not back where I was yet. |
dear boston sista lunch, we had rescheduled our lunch at BOSTONS for this week but sadly everyone came but Robin and she could have come LAST time. Oh well. She wasn't feeling well. We all wore our shirts except for Patti. She said it was too hot. Agreed. It was fun to reminisce and we all signed a shirt I am sending to Shauna to thank her again.
We face-timed her after we ate. She is so fun. We all DO miss her!
dear four wheeling and hobo dinners, Friday for date night we headed up to Camp Cumorah on our four wheeler with some friends. I wish I would have got a really cute group photo, but I only got candid ones. Some of the couples made some really unique hobo dinners. They all looked good. Ours was just the normal boring kind. It was gorgeous weather, but I still wanted to stick by the fire to stay toasty. It even stayed nice once it got dark, but then all of a sudden it felt like the temp dropped 20 degrees instantly! We loaded up and headed back down. The ride down was freezing! Fun times! We have some fun friends. We did miss the Parrishes though.
dear i'm going back to bed, I had my group harp recital on Saturday in Kaysville. As we were eating dinner on Thursday evening, we heard one of my strings break. It was the same one I had just replaced! Great! That means I need to get to SLC and get another one or scramble to borrow one. I tried and no one had it. THEN, on Friday night as I was tuning it, my F wire (lowest octave 5th) popped! Yikes! A wire! Those things are expensive! I text my teacher to see if she had a spare I could borrow. Nope. She text a few peeps to see if they did. Nope. I use that string a lot in my pieces for the recital and so I had no choice but to run to SLC before the recital! A little frustrating for sure since I had already been down that way several times this week. I hurried and got ready. Dave loaded my harp in the Escalade and off I went. The closest store was Lyon and Healy on South Temple but they were closed and so I had to go to Murray to Summerhays. Great store btw!
I text Nanette and told her I would be late to set up my harp and she was okay with that. As I headed out I noticed I was almost out of gas! I knew I could make it there but I would have to stop before I went to the recital building. I was on a serious time crunch as it was and so that was frustrating. I never drive that vehicle so I didn't know.
I ran in the store and the harp specialist helped me. She told me that the Bow Brand strings have been breaking like mine. She said they are no longer the best. So I got the Premiere brand and she tied the knot for me. Her way was very simple. We were making it too hard. So, off I went to get some gas. I had to go out of my way a bit. I spilled gasoline all over my dress and shoes cause I was trying to hurry and put the nozzle back. That meant I had to run into the gas station and buy some wet wipes to clean it off because it smelled bad! I rushed in and got some and headed back on the freeway when I noticed my phone was missing! I needed to call Karen to let her know I was on my way cause she was going to help me put on my new strings. Sooooooo.......I got off an exit and turned all the way back around! I was in a serious time crunch at this point. I was supposed to have my harp there to tune by 11 a.m. and it was now 11:25 and I was 20 minutes away. PLUS, I had to replace TWO strings before the recital began at noon! And I am a rookie! I got to the gas station and the clerk said he hadn't seen it. There was a long line and so I asked a lady in the line if she would mind calling it. Luckily I had it turned on! Nothing. So I ran back to the car and it was ringing! UGH! It was in the harp store sack! A wasted trip! I got back on the freeway and nearly got killed a few times! You should have seen all the illegal traffic things I was doing to get there! Some days you should just stay in bed! I kept hoping this wasn't an omen of how the recital was going to go! Oh well....
dear harp recital, I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare. 20 minutes to carry in my huge harp ALONE, my stand, my music, my books, park, and get BOTH of my broken strings restrung AND tune my harp! No stress at all. THANKFULLY, my cute fellow harpist Katie who is SO nice, helped me restring it. I just knew I would mess it up if I did it alone. It took a good 10 minutes. Then I tried to tune it and I was the last one to get it tuned. Nanette did a quick check and it was time to start. Dave arrived right before we started and gave me my Mother's Day corsage a day early.
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| The harpists |
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| With my cute niece Mickey. |
My third recital in the books.
I've been taking lessons now for 14 months and even after today, I still love it.
dear mother's day, I was grateful I didn't have to teach today because I had to play piano in RS and I needed to really practice for the songs. Not good to put that off! Dave's parents showed up for our sacrament meeting. I had the SS training class today. All the women received a long stem red rose today. Very nice. Dave made a delicious turkey dinner for me! I got cards from all the boys which is always my very favorite gift! I would be happy with only cards! They are all so sweet. Taylor wrote his before he left and had Sky give it to me. Ahhh...
I also got some Idle Isle chocolate! Mmm....
However, NOTHING beats THIS!!! ↓
We chatted for a while with Taylor after McKay had to sign off. He is doing well and loving the tropical life. He looked great too! He is living across from the PCC with a Samoan family. The lady takes good care of them and him and CJ call him Mom. Sugar Mama.
I LOVE BEING A MOM!
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| Love all these guys! |
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| This might be my fave photo of the day. This look is staged but it cracks me up. |
dear mckay, the countdown is ON! Still on, I should say! Only 52 more days! Yeah, I know I keep saying that!
dear random, Facebook is at it again messing with pix. Sometimes they turn out really cool. I am still undecided about this one. Looks a little Picasso to me!
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| Just looking at this relaxes me! |
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| Just looking at this un-relaxes me! I should be back to doing those again. |
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| Boston Marathon posted this of the FOURTH WAVE. The one I was in. I can't find me in any of them though I know I was there! They caption was May the Fourth Be With You since it was posted on May 4th. |
THIS!
LOOK WHO TAYLOR MET THIS WEEK?
A few of Bryce's adventures:
A few of Taylor's (that is his roomate Brad in the life jacket)
Recipe for Chocolate Melting Cake from the cruise:
I may have to do the math and make it a smaller version! Or not! I probably could put enjoy eating the full amount! Oh my I love that stuff!
1 comment:
I swear you have more adventures than anyone in the world! I'm so glad you share your life.
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