La Caille Spring

This pic was taken by Michelle at La Caille- a beautiful restaurant with amazing grounds. We were there taking Caroline's wedding pictures and IT WAS COLD! But still a wonderful day. May 2011

A Time for Miracles

It's been so long since I posted. I was sending out some Happy New Year cards (late Christmas cards!) and directed them to the blog for our 2009 life. I never finished mailing cards- maybe I should make them Happy Spring cards now! I'm so bad!

Winter has been hard. We haven't had as much snow as usual- though it seems to be trying to make up for it now! I think it's been the lack of sunshine. I NEED sun.
And since we've been unemployed so long- this week marks a year from the date John was laid off- the sun is imperative to my sense of well-being! Most days I am just fine- like Will Rogers said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." And I like being happy and focused on happy, positive things.

I never have a bad DAY. I have rough MOMENTS in a day, but what a waste of a day to have it all be bad. Right this second....I'm weary. I'm a little teary. I'm worried. Yet, even in moments like these, some of these tears are acknowledging how blessed I am.

Life, in all ways but one, has continued wonderfully for us. Our home is filled with peace and love. Our lives are filled with love from family and friends. Our hearts are filled with love for each other and we are so very grateful for our blessings. It's humbling and wonderful to hear someone say,"We're praying for you."

I'm so thankful to hear those words because I know the power of faith and prayer. I know that we are being sustained by our Heavenly Father. We are His children and He loves us. Some have sent tokens of love and support- even the "widow's mite" has come our way. It's amazing to feel so loved.
This isn't our f
irst turn at being unemployed and in some ways it's been easy because we know how to do this! Yet, with our country and the world in economic trouble, it's different. And John's older. That concerns him more than me. I guess when I see him I'm looking at the 24 year old I married! But I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and I know that even with the lack of jobs He can create one for us. We only need one.

We pray about many things relating to this situation. One of those is whether or not we should move. Neither of us feels that we should at this time. We have gone to the scriptures, fasted and prayed and we feel we should stay here. Faith is what gets us through.

It's hard to think of the lesson to be learned when we've faced this before. And truly, the only thing I can think of besides our own personal spiritual growth, is that the world is headed for even more turbulent and trying times. We can see wickedness growing and flaunting it's power so openly. Because of the world our children, now adults, are living in and raising their own families in, I think this experience is for their benefit as much as our own.
We don't know the trials life will bring, but having a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ and having love for Him and each other, we will make it through triumphantly. And our posterity will witness that and draw strength from it. They are learning the power of prayer themselves as these little voices, from 7 to 3, pray aloud for "Papa John to find a job".

Miracles happen every day. While we're hoping for a job miracle, we have had miracles. Melanie had a lump under her arm at her cancer check and went to the oncologist for testing. It turned out that she's so slim it's just a lymph node~ When 3 months rolls around I start feeling a little nervous with her approaching checkup but this one ended beautifully. Still cancer free.
And Jill and Paul had their first infertility appointment in Arizona. After 3 years of trying for their first and now another 3 years of trying for their 2nd they were going in for help. Two days before Jill's appointment she recognized that she had been feeling funny and decided to take a pregnancy test. It was positive! Truly a BIG miracle!
I told John during those 2 weeks that if that was the only miracle for the week, we could wait another week for our job miracle.

We pray and beg and plead for a job. What we get is peace and love and comfort sufficient enough to be happy in the day, to look outward and serve others in their times of need, and to know that even if today isn't the day we find a job, it's been a day of miracles.

2009

Here is a little photo journey of our happy year. Enjoy!
Caroline has the honor of placing the angel on the tree this year.

Mama hangs the first ornament.

Caroline's first amazing pies for Thanksgiving- pecan and chocolate meringue. Wow!

We're missing Jill's family and Melanie's family, but enjoy our Thanksgiving day with Michelle and crew.

BYU beats Utah in overtime with an amazing touchdown pass. What a game! I started crying before regulation time ended and said to John that I just can't handle the stress in our life and this game too!!! Caroline and Melanie came and sat in front of us. What fun!

Caroline, visiting the Olympic Park in Park City. We watched bobsledders and then it really started snowing. Beautiful!

Porter joins the family February 17, a couple weeks early. Precious, precious baby.

John, Caroline, Jill and Paul at BYU Men's volleyball game.

Caroline, her roommate Lindsay and I went to Rascal Flatts. What a great concert!

Cooper and Will measure back to back. They are growing so fast!

Caroline running in the rain. We don't often get rain hard enough without thunder where we can run in it!

Family water fun- tubing the Logan River in August. L-R back row: Caroline, Jill, Michelle, Brian, me, Greg, Melanie holding Porter. Kids- Caroline and Elizabeth (Michelle and Brian's, Maya, (Jill and Paul's), and Will (Melanie and Greg's). Paul was in North and South Carolina for work. Cooper and Isabelle were with a babysitter. John took the picture. A very fun weekend!

John and me enjoying beautiful American Fork Canyon in September. 31 years of happiness.

Our scrub oak tree is the first to burst into color each fall. It's beautiful.

Will (Melanie's) and me on my 52nd birthday (Halloween). Whose smile is the biggest?!

Thanksgiving 2009. John and me and lots of delicious food.

John and Porter (Melanie's). Just chillin'.

Jill, Mama and me at the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple. Beautiful place.

Many of you know the challenges we've faced this year. Melanie's melanoma while pregnant, resulting in 5 surgeries, Jill and Paul moving to Arizona, Michelle and Brian moving to Logan, John getting laid off. All of these challenges are also filled with blessings: being able to serve Melanie and her family, witnessing the power of prayers by so many friends, families, and strangers for her, helping the kids move and knowing they are doing the right thing for their families, being able to visit them, Caroline finding a great job for the summer providing her with tuition this year while we're unemployed, having John home to help and to be with.

So many wonderful things in our lives, there's just nothing to complain about.

With Christmas in 3 days, we send our love and wishes for a wonderful Christmas filled with love and memories and thoughts of family. We know that families are the greatest joys on earth and we can take that joy with us to the next life because of the Saviour's love for us. Because of our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness, families can be together forever. There's no greater joy for me than this. Merry Christmas.

Leavin on a jet plane

My Mama just flew out to visit for the holidays~ hooray! We're flying to Arizona Wednesday to visit Jill and Maya. I helped move them down there at the end of October, so it's been 5 1/2 weeks since I've seen them and I can't wait! A very nice bonus is that I'll be leaving weather in the 20's to go to weather in the 60's~yee hah!!!

Fall 2009

One of the advantages of being unemployed is the time John and I get to spend together. This fall has been the best ever because we've been able to go in the mountains for drives and hikes and really relax and breathe in the beauty of autumn. Here are a few pictures of Fall 2009. Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

I just returned from Charleston, South Carolina after 3 wonderful weeks. August may not be the best time to visit because of the humidity, but it all felt great to me. As long as I got to the air conditioning or shady side of the street quickly! It was such a fun trip. John came for 2 weeks and Caroline for 1. We went to the beach multiple times and hit all the traditional favorites- the Market, Market Street Sweets for pralines, Waterfront Park, Farmer's Market for breakfast, Sunrise Park, the new pier at Mt. Pleasant. We ran the Cooper River Bridge and tried to run to the top to look down on a container ship coming through. We didn't make it- it was so fast! But when we looked at the bow of the ship we could see a dolphin jumping the wake at the front over and over again! It was so cool!

One day when we went to Sunrise Park we saw 10 dolphins and at least 7 the next time! One was especially playful and we saw his flippers every time he surfaced. Some were babies. The bigger, older ones were "scouts", swimming a little ahead and a little to the side, leading the way and making sure it was safe.

We had some good rain- every afternoon and a night or 2 the first week and only a couple times after that.

There was the Hassell/Tison Reunion the first Saturday and it was nice seeing family. We had a fun visit at Mama's after the reunion with 2nd cousin, Keith Waters, his wife Becky, and 2 of their daughters and a granddaughter. We laughed alot- that was the best.

We ate at all the faves- Bessinger's, California Dreamin', and S&S. Atlanta Bread Company fell from grace, but new places Camille's and Mc something or nother, took it's place well.

We cooked and cooked and gained weight. Worth it.

Mama, John and I went to Biltmore~ that was a highlight! What a beautiful place! And a love story! Then we drove along the Blue Ridge- gorgeous! It's been too long since I've seen them.

This needs to be part one, because there's so much more. Here are a few pics to spread the joy!

Then we came home to beautiful Utah. Dry air, blue skies, big mountains, apples on our trees. How can paradise be in two places?

Summer time

It's August and I wish the summer was just starting. It's goes so quickly and even though I am SO in love with fall, winter quickly follows. So I like to savor summer while anticipating fall. I'm in Charleston now and loving it, but wanted to throw in a couple pics from a hike John, Caroline and I took 2 weeks ago. We hiked in Big Cottonwood Canyon to Dog Lake. It was a wonderful hike with beautiful wildflowers, some taller than I! There was a small pond at the end. Along the way a breeze would catch us and cool us off. It was glorious!