Everyone should laugh more

This has been a great weekend. October has many birthdays in our family. Thursday we were able to celebrate Carl's birthday at the cemetery with flowers, balloons and a pizza party. Friday we all met at Stacie's house to celebrated birthdays for Stacie (Oct. 2), Carlee (Oct. 16) and Maggie (Oct 6). It is Larry's birthday Tuesday but he wasn't there to celebrate.
Saturday I was able to watch conference before I left to come back to Las Vegas. I was very enthused about Elder Worthlin's talk on finding opportunities to laugh more. I was interested in this talk because in the last nearly 2 years, Larry and I have found many things to laugh about. In fact, sometimes we can hardly catch our breath we are laughing so hard.
Well, today we had the opportunity to laugh again. I even had tears rolling down my face. If you have read Larry's blog, you know he had a bit of an accident today. He fell in the pool. Yes, you heard me. He fell in the pool. Now the pool has been part of his back yard for nearly 15 years. You would think he would know where it juts out for the steps. Not so. We were pulling the pool cover on when he stepped backwards and found nothing but water to put his foot on. As he said, the water parted and he fell in. When I turned to see what was happening I saw his arms were flailing and heard an awkward sound coming from his mouth (not sure if it was a screech or a loud ARGGG). Then he went under. When he popped up I really wasn't sure what to expect. Would he be angry? Was he alright? (Look at me trying to be compassionate.) I was relieved to see him laughing. And then he said it was cold water. I know this unexpected dive took him by surprise but he was certainly good humored about it. We (Jeff, Jack, Larry and I) have laughed all afternoon about it. I'm sure that is one of those things that will keep us laughing for a good long time. I really wish it had somehow been recorded for America's Funniest Home Video's but you will all have to tune in and watch it on the Heaven Video when we all get there.

EEEEEK!!!!

Last night I had been out with my girls and the rest of the Bruce female relatives enjoying dinner and the Women's Conference. After the event was over, I returned home, opened my garage door and pulled in. I grabbed my purse, opened my door, exited, took a step backwards to check the back seat and that's when I screeched. EEEEEEK! Only two inches from my foot was a SNAKE. I leaped from that spot in the garage to the step into the house in just a couple steps, alerting my Keri and Michelle of the impending danger.
Upon closer inspection (I hope you have a visual of three adult women slowly walking along the side of the car to see if the snake was moving), we discovered that the said snake was indeed... dead. Evidently I had run over the slippery little thing when I pulled out of the garage some five hours earlier. How did the thing get in my garage? Did he not know that at least half the people in my family have an extreme dislike for snakes? Oh, and the snake was only about a foot long, but a snake nonetheless.


Thanks to Michelle for providing the picture. She is always so prepared.

Technilogically Challenged!

I'm venting! Can I just say how much I hate being challenged in the photo/computer area? Why is it that my children can download pictures and send them to Costco or Walmart to be printed and I just don't get it. I have been trying for over an hour to get some downloaded pictures of Larry and I off to Costco. For some reason, I just can't figure out where the pictures are that I supposedly downloaded to my desktop. I could have driven clear across town and inserted my flash drive into the machine and had them printed in this amount of time. Oh, maybe not. I DID take the flash drive into Costco a couple days ago and the pictures wouldn't show up on the screen. All my pictures from Scandinavia were there but not the ones I need to get prints of. Hmmmm. I don't feel any smarter about computers and getting pictures printed having vented than I did five minutes ago. I guess I'll turn the computer off and do something that I know I can do.

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.