Memorial Day 2010

Sunset Memorial Hills
















Dad's Grave

















The Mormon section statue.
















Dad's grave on Memorial Day.








Sunset Memorial Hills Entrance.

Inside the Salt Lake City Temple

This is a miniature replica of the Salt Lake City Temple. It's exactly how it looks inside and if you've ever been in there, you know how amazing that is, because of all the details! This is such a step forward for the church. Outsiders have always said "it's so secret", we always respond with, "it's sacred". While it's true that the ceremonies are sacred, everyone can now see what it looks like inside! We can put to rest all that God Makers crap about us having sex on the altar while our family looks on when we get married, or worse- murder!

It's beautiful in there!

Seeking The Fountain of All Righteousness!

Did you know that the whole purpose of Ether Chapter 12 which is about faith can be found in the last verse?

And now, I would commend you to ^aseek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth ^brecord of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.

Usually it's verse 27 that everyone discusses about having weaknesses to be made strong, but I now really like verse 28:

Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that ^afaith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all ^brighteousness.

I love that! FAITH, HOPE and ChARITY BRING ME TO THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS! I sure want to be at that fountain, to be where everything that comes from me is good!

Ether 2:5 also spoke to me today in Book of Mormon class.

And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should ^ago forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a ^bcloud, and gave ^cdirections whither they should travel.

The italicized and bold words were what taught me today. How often do we find ourselves in a place where we have never been before. I don't just mean physically, but perhaps spiritually or emotionally. In this verse the cloud is a good thing- it means that God is there, talking to the Jaredites, taking care of them, leading them, as he did the children of Israel in Moses day. But don't we also feel that some times we live in a cloud? Maybe it's a dark cloud and we can't see past it and don't know where we are because we have never been there before. When are lives are like that it's so good to know how to handle it. The answer is given in Ether chapter 12. Faith, Hope and Charity!

Elder Scott in the Nov 1989 Ensign entitled "Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer" uses the words "spiritual law" twice, both times describing how Nephi handled going to get the brass plates. I LOVE NEPHI! He is my scriptural hero! But using spiritual law in challenging times if often difficult. We often turn to the law of Moses, or our own natural man, which includes feelings of frustrations, anger, anxiety and leads to less than righteous actions that are definitely not spiritual.

What the Holy Ghost taught me today during class was that when we are in a land where we have never been and there is cloud cover, we can use spiritual laws, like faith, hope, charity and seeking Christ and that will bring us to the fountain of all righteousness(who is Christ).

That's what I'm going to be trying!

Mothers Day

My mom on Mothers day and the new rug we got for the living room.






































Jason and I made her a dinner of steak and potatoes, salad
and brownies for dessert. I'm trying to pick up the hot
potatoes with salad tongues. As you can see some landed
on the table not the plate. I always like to get a laugh from
my mom and me trying to do most things with food can be
pretty funny!

Drag Racing at Pacific Raceways

Last Saturday I saw Jason race his motorcycle for the first time. We had just driven down to Portland to pick up his bike after having it "race ready". I had never been to one of these, and it was pretty cool.



















Jason is lining up getting ready to race. He's the one on the right with the blue bike. A Kawasaki ZX 1400- which means it goes really fast- up to 200 miles an hour and weights almost 600 lbs. Oct 08 the bike did a wheel hop and when the back tire touched the ground it flipped all the way over on top of him and landed right on his chest. He took a deep breathe, rolled over and stood up. Everyone said he should be dead. He's not afraid of anything, except not living the commandments.


















Here he is next in line ready to go. I took a video of the whole race with our new camera, but I haven't figured how to down load that yet.


















Along with motorcycles there are many different kinds of cars racing! Check a few of these out!

Check out this Hummer! It has a hydrolic lift kit so it can raise up and down.















There are literally rows and rows of trailers and campers with people that make this a life style. People bring dogs, babies, lawn chairs and sit out and eat and talk. It's fun!



















Ever see a car pop a wheelie? This was at the start of this guys' race!


















This guy had the whole front off of his car!


















Crazy stuff! This is called a bar bike. It has wheelie bars that stick off the back of it.



















I saw this souped up Model T race and an old 1950's station wagon too.
It's VERY LOUD there. Most have ear plugs in or ear muffs- not the fuzzy kind!


















The race is just 1/4 of a mile long and at the end each side as a score board with the time and how fast they were going.


















The racing goes on for hours. Lots of waiting. Here's what it looks like in the dark. Picture is complete with smoke from heating their tires up so they can get better traction.

What's great is that although this is a competition, the people are not competitive and very friendly. Jason is friends with those he races with. One man was 69 years old and another was still in his 20's. I sat next to the younger man's wife and friends. They brought chicken wings and pasta salad and shared.


















Here's the 2 of us during a fun night! You can see how much weight the 2 of us have gained together. Jason is up to 244 and Me????? - well, wouldn't you like to know?

The Power of Women

Mothers

"In a poignant exchange with God, Adam states that he will call the woman Eve. And why does he call her Eve? 'Because she [is] the mother of all living.' (Genesis 3:20; Moses 4:26.) ...Eve was given the identity of 'the mother of all living' --years, decades, perhaps centuries before she ever bore a child.

It would appear that her motherhood preceded her maternity,

just as surely as the perfection of the Garden preceded the struggles of mortality. I believe mother is one of those very carefully chosen words, one of those rich words--with meaning after meaning after meaning. We must not, at all costs, let that word divide us.

I believe with all my heart that it is first and foremost a statement about our nature, not a head count of our children.

...some women give birth and raise children but never 'mother' them. Others, whom I love with all my heart, 'mother' all their lives but have never given birth. And all of us are Eve's daughters, whether we are married or single, maternal or barren. We are created in the image of the Gods to become gods and goddesses."

-Patricia Holland

(Ensign, October 1987, pp. 32-33)