Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Young Women Fundraiser
Anybody out there in need of a fun, unique idea for a Christmas gift? Our Young Women in our church are selling puzzles for a fundraiser. Oh, these aren't your boring, everyday puzzles. These are puzzles containing an image YOU choose. Imagine your child putting together a puzzle that is a picture of himself/herself. The sky is the limit. You can buy puzzles of your family vacation, wedding announcements, invitation to a school dance, child's artwork. Go to BWYW.GoingToPieces.com and see how creative you can get.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Gosh, where has September gone? It's already the last day of September, and I'm just putting our Labor Day pictures on the blog!
We went hiking in the morning to Sunset Peak. Quinn and Zack decided to make a quick ski run.
Well, I guess that hike is just a memory now. My camera died after a few pictures. Grrrrr!! It was really beautiful. With all the rain this summer, there were wild flowers everywhere, even still in September.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Some Days my Job is just CREEPY
I am a court reporter by profession, and some days . . . well, some days I really hate my job. I reported some depositions recently that, after being subjected to hearing such ugliness for six hours, I literally cried all the way home. Now I am having to relive it as I proofread and prepare the transcripts. I just keep praying that I can get through the next couple days quickly and that this really UGLY testimony doesn't stick in my mind for very long.
There are people out there who profess to be LDS. They put on a front for people at work that they are good LDS people, they don't smoke, they don't drink, they don't tell off-color jokes, they don't do drugs, they don't look at porn, and they are faithful to their spouses. Yet when they are in their little group of other "pretend LDS" friends, they sink to the lowest levels imaginable. How do I know this? Their cell phones were subpoenaed. I guess people think they can say anything in a text message and do anything behind closed doors, and as long as they don't get caught and their parents don't know and their wives are unsuspicious and their children don't have an inkling of what rotten fathers they are, they can still pretend to be LDS and go on living their fake lives. Did you know that deleted text messages can be retrieved from your cell phone?
I'm telling you, these men were into everything, offensive language, marijuana, ecstasy, shrooms, acid, heroin, strip clubs, paying for lap dances, meeting up with hookers, every kind of filthiness you can imagine. This one guy's poor wife had sent him a text message saying, "When can we go to the temple together?" As if her husband is worthy to go to the temple. And to top it off, these guys had no remorse. They actually looked at each other and snickered during some of the testimony. Their favorite text message acronyms were LMAO or LMFAO. To quote the Apostle Paul, they had "their conscience seared with a hot iron." Their families would be SHATTERED if they knew what their husbands/fathers were up to. In reality, their families are already shattered, and they don't even know it yet.
These pretend LDS men are perfect examples of the scripture found in Alma 47:36: Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites--drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God.
It is interesting to me that a person, once having been a member of the church, after leaving the church, simply can't leave it ALONE. They have to kick at it and jab at it. They have to point at and mock the members. They have to take the Lord's name in vain. They have to look for every imperfection they can find with Joseph Smith, who was a prophet of God but yet was still a human being. They have to write anti-literature about it. They have to talk about it on radio talk shows. Kind of reminds me of Lehi's vision of the iron rod and the great and spacious building.
BUT as incomprehensible as it may seem, our Savior (and probably their mothers) still love these men and can still see the potential in them. The Savior sees the worth of every single soul as great. So while I sit there as an imperfect person, listening to this with my head down and hoping these guys one day get their come-uppens, the Savior holds his arms out to them, inviting them to come to him and be cleaned. That is amazing to me. I cannot comprehend such love, knowing the grief and agony he went through for them, and for each of us.
Yes, I am LDS, and while the members of the church are not perfect, the gospel of Jesus Christ is. I testify of it.
http://lds.org
There are people out there who profess to be LDS. They put on a front for people at work that they are good LDS people, they don't smoke, they don't drink, they don't tell off-color jokes, they don't do drugs, they don't look at porn, and they are faithful to their spouses. Yet when they are in their little group of other "pretend LDS" friends, they sink to the lowest levels imaginable. How do I know this? Their cell phones were subpoenaed. I guess people think they can say anything in a text message and do anything behind closed doors, and as long as they don't get caught and their parents don't know and their wives are unsuspicious and their children don't have an inkling of what rotten fathers they are, they can still pretend to be LDS and go on living their fake lives. Did you know that deleted text messages can be retrieved from your cell phone?
I'm telling you, these men were into everything, offensive language, marijuana, ecstasy, shrooms, acid, heroin, strip clubs, paying for lap dances, meeting up with hookers, every kind of filthiness you can imagine. This one guy's poor wife had sent him a text message saying, "When can we go to the temple together?" As if her husband is worthy to go to the temple. And to top it off, these guys had no remorse. They actually looked at each other and snickered during some of the testimony. Their favorite text message acronyms were LMAO or LMFAO. To quote the Apostle Paul, they had "their conscience seared with a hot iron." Their families would be SHATTERED if they knew what their husbands/fathers were up to. In reality, their families are already shattered, and they don't even know it yet.
These pretend LDS men are perfect examples of the scripture found in Alma 47:36: Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites--drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God.
It is interesting to me that a person, once having been a member of the church, after leaving the church, simply can't leave it ALONE. They have to kick at it and jab at it. They have to point at and mock the members. They have to take the Lord's name in vain. They have to look for every imperfection they can find with Joseph Smith, who was a prophet of God but yet was still a human being. They have to write anti-literature about it. They have to talk about it on radio talk shows. Kind of reminds me of Lehi's vision of the iron rod and the great and spacious building.
BUT as incomprehensible as it may seem, our Savior (and probably their mothers) still love these men and can still see the potential in them. The Savior sees the worth of every single soul as great. So while I sit there as an imperfect person, listening to this with my head down and hoping these guys one day get their come-uppens, the Savior holds his arms out to them, inviting them to come to him and be cleaned. That is amazing to me. I cannot comprehend such love, knowing the grief and agony he went through for them, and for each of us.
Yes, I am LDS, and while the members of the church are not perfect, the gospel of Jesus Christ is. I testify of it.
http://lds.org
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Vacation 2011 (First half) The Key Hole and The Subway
Zion National Park was our destination for the first part of our family vacation. Bruce, Janet, and Molly joined our family for vacation this summer. Bruce agreed to take us on some spectacular hikes through some slot canyons, and we were not disappointed. It's interesting that people from all over the world come to see what we've got in our own backyard. Be sure to watch the clips at the end of this post to get a better idea of our adventure.
Here we are strapped into our harnesses for Day 1 hike, The Keyhole. We're an adventurous family, and adventure is what we got.
We were in water much of the time for this hike. It was like ice. Hard to imagine we were hot before entering this slot canyon.
Michael stood at the bottom of this repel to help as we came down. The water was cold, and he got really chilled.
My 14-year-old swimmer. That's where he got those muscles.
I couldn't take many pictures. Too hard to keep my camera dry. We were down in the slot canyon for a couple hours. Oh, did the sun feel good when we emerged.
Alex had blue lips and couldn't stop shivering.
Hike No. 2, The Subway. This is a world-class hike. Only 50 hikers a day are allowed. Each of us took shifts waiting in line all night to make sure we got tickets. We started hiking about 8:00 a.m. and finished about 5:00 p.m.
Taking a picture of Bruce taking a picture of me.
Steep drop to enter the slot canyon.
This gives you an idea of why this hike is called "The Subway."
Little poliwog/tadpoles were swimming all over.
Here we are strapped into our harnesses for Day 1 hike, The Keyhole. We're an adventurous family, and adventure is what we got.
We were in water much of the time for this hike. It was like ice. Hard to imagine we were hot before entering this slot canyon.
Michael stood at the bottom of this repel to help as we came down. The water was cold, and he got really chilled.
My 14-year-old swimmer. That's where he got those muscles.
I couldn't take many pictures. Too hard to keep my camera dry. We were down in the slot canyon for a couple hours. Oh, did the sun feel good when we emerged.
Alex had blue lips and couldn't stop shivering.
Hike No. 2, The Subway. This is a world-class hike. Only 50 hikers a day are allowed. Each of us took shifts waiting in line all night to make sure we got tickets. We started hiking about 8:00 a.m. and finished about 5:00 p.m.
Taking a picture of Bruce taking a picture of me.
Steep drop to enter the slot canyon.
This gives you an idea of why this hike is called "The Subway."
Little poliwog/tadpoles were swimming all over.
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