Who says I don't have compassion?

Recently Larry and I have spent a good amount of time talking and joking about compassion, and maybe my lack of it. I wonder how much compassion a person should have. Is there some kind of a “compassionometer” that we need to be living up to? I understand that I tend not to show compassion as much as many people, especially if compassion is measured by flowery verbage. Don’t get me wrong. I can tear up with the best of them when I hear a story that tugs at my heartstrings. (In fact, for about 35 years my eyes were moist more than they were dry.) I fear I have taught my daughters through my example in this area of non-compassion. I know some of my sons-in-law complain about their respective wives not showing a high level of compassion. Just this week Larry stubbed his toe before he went to work. He hobbled to the sofa, sat there while vocally reaffirming how much pain he was in. Finally he motioned to me with his hand and said, “Come here and give me a hug. I need some compassion.” You guessed it, I just stood there watching him try and figure out what to do with the pain. In my head I was probably thinking something like this: “Well, get your shoes and socks on. You’ll be late for work. And besides, I need to start my WiiFit exercising.” Or maybe, "If you had had your shoes and socks on this wouldn't have happened." In other words, buck up and deal with it. I hope those who know me well do see the compassion and sympathy that I show. And just for the record, Larry tells me I am very compassionate. But we have sure had some good laughs over this topic.

Summer's coming to an end...

As usual, I have kept very busy this past month. I took a trip to Ogden to attend workshops for my part time job mentoring new teachers in the district. I may be a little crazy but I really enjoy the interaction with those teachers who are just starting their careers. I remember how frustrating it was for me when I first started teaching so anything I can do to ease their lives a little should be a good thing. I met with all six of the teachers I have been given this year and will meet with them each month when I am back in Ogden. This will give me an opportunity to visit my family while there too.
On a different note, I have finished yet another of my many projects in our house in Vegas. I made valances for the family room windows and updated the fireplace decor. I was pleased with how they turned out. Here are some pictures.


Now, on to the next project. I think painting a bedroom in on the docket since we started taking down the wallpaper border yesterday. Thanks Larry for allowing me to keep working on things in the house. I have to have something to work on.

Summertime, Parties and Family....

Wow! What a busy summer this has been. I have had visitors from Ogden (Michelle, Jeff, Carlee, Kory and Maggie) in June. In July, Spencer came to visit for a week. We had a good time, swimming, shopping, swimming, go cart racing and then swimming some more. Thanks to those who braved the heat and gave me something to do while you were here. (I would have had to look for a big project around the house if you hadn't come to visit.) I flew back to Utah with Spencer and spent a few days there before Larry and Jack joined me on Tuesday, July 22. That week was full of family get-togethers-- first with the Bruce family on the 24th after the parade and then with the Nelson family on the 25th. What fun it was to get together with these good families and visit with each other. I have been so blessed with the love of great families in my life. On Saturday night, my children got together in the name of my upcoming birthday to celebrate by eating great food from Maddox and ice cream cake roll. Sunday afternoon, Larry, Jack and I loaded up the car and headed back to Las Vegas.
Upon arriving, we were greeted by the Sims family (Michelle, Mike and children, and of course Mandy). They had arrived in Vegas on Friday. It has been fun for me to get to know them a little better. While they have been here, the other families that live here in Vegas have also been here so cousins could play together and adults could visit. Which brings me to yesterday. It was my birthday (I know how old I am but I'm pretty sure my Wii Fit thinks I am somewhere between 35 and 40 so I think I will go with that age). Thank you to all my kids who spoiled me last week with a reservation to BYU Education Week and a new set of scriptures. Thanks to Larry for giving me opportunity to shop and/or visit a spa in the near future. And thanks to Larry's kids for making it special for me even though I am away from my family. We had Chicago Style pizza (thanks Michelle, Steve, and Kevin), and a delightful chocolate chip bundt cake from Everything Bundt Cake.

It was SOOOOOO good. Now as I said a few minutes ago, I have been blessed with the love of great families (my own and the Bruce's) and the addition of the Pierce family in my life has been a blessing as well. I hope that will continue for many years to come. Thanks to all my family members for making my life so complete.

IT'S HOT! REALLY HOT!

Wow! It has been a while since my last blog. I have kept pretty busy and haven't found time to blog. That combined with the fact that I often think my blogs seem pretty mundane have kept me from updating for awhile.

Let me begin with the statement that it is REALLY HOT here in Vegas. Last week Michelle, Jeff, Carlee, Kory and Maggie came to stay with us. We kept pretty busy trying different places to eat and shopping at the outlets (at least the girls. The boys went golfing that day). We all really noticed the heat while walking from casino to casino taking in the themes (where was the breeze that was supposed to blow mist from the Bellagio Fountains?). Thank goodness for the swimming pool to cool down in after our sightseeing. With all of the activities we had planned, Maggie was such a great little vacationer. I hardly knew she was with us.

Here's a GREAT BIG THANKS to those who braved the heat and planned a vacation here. We certainly enjoyed the company--and so did Jack. He gets pretty bored listening to Larry's humor (OK, mine too). And now I have a visit from Spencer to look forward to. If anyone has any input as to what fun things I can do with him while in Vegas, let me know. I'm making a list.

Visiting Family and Making Memories.....

This week has been so nice. I came back to Ogden last week and spent Memorial Day here, had a cookout with the family and celebrated May and June birthdays with them. On Thursday Larry made the drive here to be with us for the weekend. We have had so much fun. We visited Pop's Malt Shop, took my mom to dinner for her birthday, spent time with all of my children, and each of the grandchildren (Hannah, G, and Dylan even spent the night on Friday). Wii Sports was part of our exercise regimen and provided many hours of fun for the family. Thanks to the Boyles! I was also able to attend Maddie's dance recital. What a beautiful little dancer she is becoming. Thanks for inviting me, Maddie. Today we were able to be in attendance at, and participate in, Ellisyn's blessing. What a neat experience that was. Brett did a wonderful job, leaving Ellisyn a big responsibility to be the person that Heavenly Father sent her to become.
Tomorrow morning, very early, Larry and I will be heading back to Vegas to get some very pressing work done in our house there. We have three bedrooms to get in order, i.e. walls and mop boards washed, carpets cleaned, beds moved around and possibly a bedroom painted. Next week Larry is heading to Hawaii to bring his dad back for a couple months. We need to get a room ready for him and since Carlee, Kory, Maggie, Michelle, and Jeff will be coming to visit on the 24th of June, we will need to get the two extra bedrooms upstairs ready for them. I think I always have a plan and things on my list to get accomplished. Oh, and next Thursday I will be coming back to Ogden for a few days while Larry goes to pick up his dad. Does life ever slow down? I hope not. I think I would get bored.

Here's how I spend my days....

I thought I would bring you up to date on the remodeling that we have been doing here in the Las Vegas house. After about a month, we are getting most things back to normal. Carpet was laid on Monday and since then we have been working to get things put back. We still need to hang the pictures, replace the mop boards in the bathroom and find a home for some miscellaneous things. It looks SO nice. Hopefully before I leave for Ogden on Saturday we can have it done and done.

Bedroom/computer
Closet

Now, as I mentioned, I will be traveling to Ogden again this Saturday. Life doesn't seem to slow down for me at all. There are lots of birthdays in the family that we will be celebrating and, of course, Memorial Day. I will be there for eight or nine days and Larry will be joining my next Thursday. I hope to get some yard work done as well as party with the kids and visit parents. It is always hard to uproot and break my schedule every two or three weeks but well worth it. I get to see my children and most importantly, my nine adorable grandchildren. I also love just being home where everything is so familiar and I know where everything is (I am getting to know Las Vegas pretty well though, at least the West end, oh, and, McCarren Airport).
When I get back to Vegas? Yes, you guessed it. I will be starting on another room. We have company coming in June and I need to get three bedrooms ready for that.

Update on the Updating........

In my last blog I mentioned the fact that Larry and I are remodeling the master bedroom and master bathroom. This week we painted the rooms a very warm taupe color. I really love it. However, we are now trying to match tile for the bathroom floor and carpet for the bedroom to the paint. We have finally decided on the tile. Not the one we originally thought we wanted. Now we are facing the carpet dilemma. We have had no less than seven samples of carpet here in the last week and still can't decide. Tonight we were in a local furniture/carpet store and I had about ten samples laying out on the floor with the tile sample and a large size paint sample. Some pieces of carpet seem too dark, others too pink and yet others too yellow. (Side note: the salesman said that watching me decide on a carpet color was more entertaining than gambling.) Did we choose the right paint color? I think we are down to two samples to choose from. We have to make a decision by Saturday so it can be ordered. I will be happy to have the bedroom put back together again. As much work as it has been (and we still have the very big job of tiling to go), I look forward to the next project.