I LOVE MOWING!!

I LOVE mowing- CRAZY I know!!

Mowing really is such a mindless task-
all you have to do is cut in even straight lines.

Our rider died on us last year so we have to push mow our 1.8 acres.

It takes about 4 hours to complete the task.

Why would I love THAT??

Because it's therapy for me.

It's uninterupted time for me to think about
and ponder lifes BIG mysteries.

(The kids won't bother you
in fear of being asked to take over the project)

This past Saturday I had one of those opportunities
to have my therapy time.

As I was mowing
I was thinking about the confernce talks from the week before.

What a wonderful blessing

it is to listen to and recieve council
from living Prophets and Apostles!!

The talk I was thinking about in particular this day
was a talk from President Monson about judging others.

I've always been one that forgiveness comes easily for me.

And I truely try not to judge others
because I know I'm FAR from perfect

and I don't want others to pre-judge me.

We never know what another person really is going through,

not even our closest/bestest friends...
mine being my Amazing Husband,

we don't really KNOW-so we can't judge.

So WHY did this talk pop into my head?

I guess Heavenly Father knew I had a lesson to learn!!

Well...I ALMOST always forgive.

You mess with my family-you mess with me!!

I didn't "think" I was judging this particular person,

and I didn't "feel" outward anger toward this particular person,

but...I must have...unconsiously.

Because a particular situation popped into my mind.

And I listened and learned from the Spirit.

What did I learn?

That sometimes we can't control the bad things
that happen in our lives.

That we can't control how we are raised.

And that we ALL want and NEED to be loved and accepted...

and NOT judged
(especially for those things we are not in control of).

So I plead for forgiveness. (From this particular person),

and you don't even know who you are-but I do.
I don't judge you for your past-but for your present
which is caused by your uncontrolled past.
But...I judge No More!

So now that I've been taught,

I will work on loving you and accepting you for who you are...

A Child of God.

Mowing truely IS theraputic!!

I'm thankful for being taught this lesson!!

Life can be Crazy busy at times!!
These past two months in a nut-shell:

Planning a Wedding
On June 18th Adam asked Brittany to be his wife. The date was set for August 20th, 2010.
That gave us 2 months to plan, over the phone no less, since she lives in Idaho. So there were many phone calls and emails going over the wire. She did a great job planning and letting us know her hearts desire.

Blessings
We were truly blessed in the financial aspect concerning Brittany's wedding. We had great friends helping us out with the cake and pictures. Decorations were all bought at either 50% off or we borrowed items from friends and family. Brittany bought her dress from a great website. The dress was custom made, and only cost $197 plus sh&h. A friend of B & A took the pictures for the announcements, so the bulk of the announcement costs were the stamps-they were more than the announcements themselves!! Every time we turned around there were more blessings coming. Even during their honeymoon, the Hotel upgraded their room, at no extra costs when they found out that B & A just got married!!

A Beautiful Event
Brittany and Adam chose to be married for all Time and Eternity in the Nauvoo Illinois Temple. The temple overlooks the Mississippi River, and the view was breathtaking as you stepped out of the temple. Brittany makes a beautiful bride!! Her dress was beautiful, her hair was done beautifully by a dear friend, Kim Moss, and her flowers, roses and lilies, were beautiful. Her colors were crimson red and white with a touch of black. Adam makes a handsome groom, he wore a black tux with a crimson rose boutonniere. They truly look good together!!

The reception was the next evening in our backyard, lights lined the patio with red and white oriental lanterns hanging off of them. Music played in the background. We had a dance at the reception, starting out with B & A doing a Salsa Dance, as that was one of their favorite dates while they were dating. We had two long white canopies with tables topped with flowers and tea lights. The arbor was lined with lights and toole. The refreshments were wedding cake and strawberry cooler punch, and fruit platters with a chocolate fountain. Simple but nice.
It truly was a lovely evening!!

Other events during the summer
Vic and the YM leaders took Cody and the young men from our church on a High Adventure to Colorado to do some whitewater rafting. They had an awesome time!! They rafted for two days, down the Royal Gorge, and did some site seeing another day.

We stayed extra busy with our garden this summer. We doubled the size this year so we can do some canning. We have/had onions, beets, radishes, lettuce, spinach, 4 type of peppers, cucumbers, corn, green beans, cantaloupe, okra, and 14 tomato plants.

All three kids, Amber, Cody and Shelby participated in the community parades this summer. Edgerton had 'Frontier Days' in June and Amber and Cody were in the band. Then in the beginning of August, Gardner sponsers the County Fair, and they had a parade. Again Amber and Cody played in the band, and Shelby is a cheerleader this fall for her middle school, so she too was in the parade. It was fun seeing them all participate, but really wierd to go to a parade without children tagging along!!!

We lost our beloved Molly to the extreme heat this summer. We are still so sad. She was our sweet little dog of 4 years. Our pets become human-like and are totally a part of the family.

We also found 3 kittens under our porch in June. One of them was so sick, we tried to bottle feed it and help it survive, but it didn't make it. The other two were nice and healthy. It's fun watching them explore and play. We are guessing they are probably about 8 or 9 weeks now. We found a home for one, and still looking for another home for the last one.

We try to spend as much time as we can with our sweet little granddaughter Jaedyn. She is the joy of our life. There's nothing like being a 'Nana & Pappy'!!!!

Exciting Days!!!

Love is in the air and my family is growing!!
Brittany called me last night with the news of her engagement to Adam. I'm so happy for them!! Brit really seems happy and that makes my heart smile. They have chosen to go to the Nauvoo Temple on August 20th, 2010. It's such a beautiful temple. And Brit was able to watch it being built, went to the open house, and if I remember right she went to the dedication as well. It's definitely a special place for our family. And now to be sealed to her sweetheart for eternity...
Definitely EXCITING Days!!

All New to This

I love reading blogs! For months I've been going to Selena's blog and reading some of her favorite blogs. So when Selena set one up for her little family, I immediately wanted to do one as well. The problem is, is that I'm quite computer illiterate!



Thank goodness for patient children that are willing to teach their old parents new tricks! We've been working on setting this blog up for about two weeks, and now I 'think' we're on our way!! I still have alot to learn though. I still need to learn how to post pictures and such, but in time it will come.



So keep checking us out and watch as I learn!! Happy blogging!!