Summertime

It's summertime!  This is me in the 6th grade at Portola Elementary School in San Bruno California!  Dont you just love it!  The dark mid-high socks, the red flowered skirt with this knit top with a zipper up the front.  I know, I know, sexy huh?  My best friend Tina Huntsman took this picture of me.  I know because it is written on the back of it.  I wish I knew whatever happened to her.  We moved to Auburn shortly after this and I never saw her again. Sad, but true.

Well, I love summertime!  And it is finally here.  It took quite a while but it has finally shown it's face. Thank goodness. It's time to enjoy the weather and be outside a lot! Hope you are enjoying your summertime! 

Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work;

Have you ever woken up ,like from a dream, and realized that your life is exactly like you dreamed it would be?  Like an epifany that just slaps you into reality after several years of worrying and fretting and wondering when and how it could ever happen?  Like you have been living with a cloud of doubt  following you everywhere you go and suddenly the cloud is gone and you are in the sun and you see all the beauty now, that you thought you were missing?  Well, I have!  It seems that these past 2 years have been one realization after another.  Does this happen to everyone I wonder?

Well, My Man and I were talking the other day about something that we have talked about alot during the past 2 years.  The subject was "our boys and the kind of people they are turning out to be".  Like Mike said, 'we are a couple of nobodies and our kids are turning out to be somebodies." How did this happen?  Well, I think he hit the nail on the head when he said, "they must have been choice spirits in the pre-existance and just needed to come down to earth to get bodies so that they could shine". This thought has led me to additonal thoughts about the family that I desired to have while in my young adult years. 

First of all, for some reason I always wanted to have boys!  Dont know if I just saw myself with all boys or what.  But I just did.  Then I remember so well when I was in my last area on my mission. I spent a good deal of time thinking about what my family would be like when I someday married and had children.  Well, this feeling of having all boys intesified for me.  I remember very well having a strong desire to raise boys to be great missionaries.  In fact my thoughts were that I would raise these boys to be strong valiant spirits early in their youth.  That they would be prepared early in life to be missionaries. That they would be examples and a light to their peers.  That they would have burning testimonies in their youth and would be living examples of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I recently expressed this to My Man the other day and it caused me to contemplate, as I look at my children now, whether this was a desire I had or pure revelation.  And then just this morning it hit me.  "If ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work;" (D&C 4:3)  And I realized that this is why my life is what I dreamed it would be.  Because I had a desire to serve my Heavenly Father in this way and so he has called me to the work.  At times like these I feel like falling to my knees and thanking the Lord for his goodness, for his mercy and for his faith and belief in me.  I truly have seen the hand of the Lord in my life in so many ways and especially at this time.  It is a testimony to me that he does know me, he loves me and I am his daughter. And I have a great work to continue to do!

Spring Wedding Reception

This past weekend my sister catered the food for my good friend Darcie's daughter's wedding reception which we had outdoors of  our home...

The Nelson Corner!

Kaitlyn wanted only brownies and lemon bars for dessert...no cake.  Just a luncheon and these beauties...which I spent the entire day Friday making 200 of.  Isn't the dessert table so pretty?

This was the first time my in-laws were able to use their gazebo for a wedding reception and they were so happy to do it!  They worked all week long getting the yard ready for this perfect day.

My little sister made pasta with 2 kinds of sauces, salad, and rolls!

It was delicious!

Everything was simple and elegant and yummy!

The bride and grooms families were quite impressed.

The flower arrangements were made by Darcie's sister-in-law Wendy who did an absolutely fabulous job!  They were to die for beautiful arrangements!

9 tables total...all differently arranged with the same type of flowers and different shapes and sizes of these box vases.

Even Darcie's niece dressed up in the colors for the occassion!

It was a beautiful day all around!

Oh, and they got married here!

The Manti Temple...my new favorite temple!

why do you love me?

So for years every time Mike would tell me that he loved me I would always ask him why.  This really bothered him.  He usually said, "just because I do".  Well, that wasn't good enough for me so, we have had this long standing joke about it.  I think after a while he withheld his reasons just to keep me asking and waiting for the answers.  I am a very wordy person (as you can tell) and My Man is not.  In fact we shared this little issue with our home teacher in Sacramento a while back and so each month when he and his son would leave our home they would ask Mike if he had been working on his list.  And now that we have moved to Utah he still inquires of Mike if he has finished his list.  It has been a never ending joke that just wont let up!  So, for my birthday I was in Idaho welcoming my nephew home from his mission and Mike was home working on the house.  But, on Saturday night I got a text from My Man telling me that I had a special email waiting for me.  So, I got onto my Mom's computer and pulled up my email and to my surprise I found this interesting attachment...

Forty Eight Reasons I love Lisa

1.  She is easy to talk to.

2.  She has many laughs.

3.  She makes herself laugh

4.  She makes me laugh

5.  She has a mind of her own

6.  She lost her mind more than once but

     she always finds it. (what does this mean)

7. She has a very natural smile

8.  She can talk to a stranger and they will go away

    wanting to be her friend.

9.  She sang to me when we were dating. I think she was trying to seduce me.

10. She likes to be organized

11. She read to our boys every night.  For that I am forever grateful.

12. She doesn't stay mad at me for too long.

13. She has a strong testimony

14. She loves to go to the temple

15. She married me

16. She treats our boys good.

17. She went on a mission

18. She thinks education is important

19. She trusts me

20. She isn't as picky as I am

21. She is a good kisser

22. She is passionate about what she does or she doesn't do.

23. She is a missionary

24. She likes to have a good time.

25. She brings me rootbeer floats

26. She can say just the right thing...sometimes.

27. She always remembers my birthday.

28. She lets me be the man

29. She said yes.

30. She tried a Bobby Flay recipe and succeeded (took forever!)

31. She loves me

32. She's hot

33. She has smooth skin

34. She gives good talks

35. She has great facial expressions

36. All she needs is a camera to entertain herself (how true this is!)

37. She loves God more than she loves me

38. The boys love her

39. I love to listen to her sing, sing, sing

40. She is my chickeewowowow(the nickname Mike gave me when we were engaged)

41. She is my compliment

42. She is a covenant keeper

43. She expects the best from me.

44. She expects the best from the boys

45. She knows.

46. She has a good relationship with her family.

47. She likes my poems

48. She isn't hard to please.

Best birthday gift ever!

I love My Man!

It's great to be 48!

Today is a special day...it's my birthday!  That's right it's the day I came into this big wide wonderful world. And let me tell you it is great to be 48!

I have to say that I am so glad to be where I am today.  Life has turned out to be even better than I had hoped.
I have learned many life lessons that have proved to be worth learning.  And here are some of the most important ones...ready?  Here goes...

1.  There is never a problem to be solved that is more important than a person to be loved.
2.  Happiness is a choice.
3.  There are no accidents...
4.  Love is something you show
5.  Laughter is the best medicine ever
6.  Faith will take you as far as you want to go
7.  People are basically good so believe in them
8.  If you treat someone as though they are...they will become
9.  It's not what happens that matters, it's how we handle what happens that matters.
10.  Never give up....because you never know what's right around the corner
11.  There is someone who knows you better than you know yourself...its best to stay close to him;)
12.  People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
13.  You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat people they dont need.
14.  Nothing is as constant as change...so get used to it and learn to embrace it
15.  True joy is found in service to others
16.  True friendship is a treasure

Awesome Hawaiian Haystacks

"This is great for large groups.  Has an absolutely wonderful taste and easy to make.
Feeds a large family easily.

Ingredients

1/2 lb butter (1/2 lb optional)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 quarts milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cooked chicken breasts
pineapple tidbits
mandarin oranges chopped green onions
grated cheddar cheese
coconut
slivered almonds
chow mein noodles
cooked rice
celery

Here are all the ingredients I used besides the milk and flour.

Here is the sauce and chicken mixture.

Directions

1. Cook chicken and cut in to bite size pieces

2. Melt butter in large pan

3. Add flour, salt and milk

4. Stir well

5. Add 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup, can of mushrooms and chicken

6. Simmer

7. Cook rice with rice cooker, amount for number of people to feed.

8.  Layer on plate: Rice, Chow mein noodles, soup mixture, pineapple, cheese, celery

     green onions, coconut, almonds and soy sauce.

9. Use toppings to suit your taste.

Enjoy! 

It's a dirty Job!

This is one of my on -the -job weekly rituals, making cookies with the boys.

I let them add the ingredients as I meaure them out and then of course one licks the spatula and one get the mixer.  I know, I know, it's a dirty job...

Then the other day(on a rare sunny day) they wanted me to give them some water.  I figured they wanted a drink.  So, I gave them each a cup of water.  Then a little bit later they brought me a large bucket and asked me for some more water.  I asked why, and they said they wanted to make sand castles.  I told them, that we didnt have sand, we have dirt, and water would make mud. So, I refused.  Well, guess who lives next door?

Yep! Grandma!  Well, you know how they say "Grandma knows best"?  Well, in this case I find that extremely questionable.  I went outside a while later to find this!

So, after I scolded Grandma,:)...

she turned on the sprinklers and then I got to do this.

I know, I know, it's a dirty job....but somebody has to do it!

I love my job!  They are just too cute! 

It's like raising my boys all over again!