Talk in Church

I had to give a talk in church today about the influence of music in our individual lives and in the church.

Music has always been a very important part of my life and I know what a great influence it can be.

Not only did I have to direct the music for Sacrament Meeting and give a talk, they asked me at the last minute to direct the music for the kids in primary. It was a busy day for me! But I like to be of service and use my talents. :)

If anyone cares to read what I had to say in my talk, click on the link below. I hope it works, I have never tried to do anything like that before. I think it will just open a link to a Google Document page that has my talk.

Click to download

Summer Days

The last few days here have been so nice. It hasn't been too humid and the temperature has been just nice, so we have been spending a lot of time outside.

We have been visiting neighbors (which we hardly see when we are all inside enjoying our AC), coloring on the driveway with chalk, running through the sprinklers, eating Popsicles, jumping on our neighbor's tramp, and today we went to a lake to swim.

All the things summer should be full of.

Pumpkin Update

Before our last trip, I thought our pumpkin was getting really big. Now it is HUGE.

I posted this picture before, but just to give some perspective.
BEFORE
And AFTER
I had to stand to the side because it wouldn't all fit. It has gone all the way behind and past my rose bush. This picture was a few days ago, and it has grown even more since then. It has tons of flowers on it and we will probably pick off all but a few. Anyone experienced with that? Does it matter which flowers we keep? How many? We planted this a little early, so we will probably have to carve jack-o-lanterns in September, but, oh well! As long as we get a pumpkin or two I will be very happy. The 2 carrots and one wimpy pea plant that are left in the rest of the garden aren't too exciting, so we have to get excited over the pumpkin.

Random Fun Stuff

This movie is cool. Very creative, and I'm sure took way too much time.

I ran across this new Mormon satire blog. Seriously, so funny. Don't read it if you can't laugh at yourself.

Some of these little tests are fun every once in a while.

Created by OnePlusYou

This was mostly based on a guess of how much food storage we have. I really have no idea how much it would all weigh, but I guessed 500 lbs. I pretty sure what we have would be hard to live off for a year.
It reminds me, though, of something funny someone said in a talk in church about food storage. He said all of us have our years food storage. If all we have is a few cans of tuna, and we have to for some reason live off our food storage, those few cans are what are going to have to last for a year!

Created by OnePlusYou

Vacation

We are back from a wonderful vacation visiting family. We had a fun time swimming, boating, playing games, and visiting and laughing with each other. We watched a fun parade and got to see an awesome fireworks show in Idaho Falls (which according to this link, is #2 in the country) to celebrate Independence Day. Here is what they say about it:

"Hosted by The Melaleuca Foundation, the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration takes place on the Greenbelt in Idaho Falls each year. This incredible event starts with a buffet dinner (approximately $22 per ticket) and is followed by a performance by the Idaho Falls Symphony Orchestra. The fireworks display itself is known as the largest display west of the Mississippi River, and rightly so! The pyrotechnic show is coordinated by computers to make sure that each firework shot is in tune with the popular patriotic music that is blasted during the event."

My dad, a couple of my brothers and I played with the Symphony. We have all done it before. They always play the same cheesy patriotic music, but it is fun. And it ensures us a great seat for the fireworks.

It was a great vacation, but I really should avoid flying in my first trimester of pregnancy.

When I was pregnant with my first, I threw up for the first time while on an airplane. We had a really rough flight coming from Utah into Texas. Even my husband was checking to make sure there was a barf bag. We didn't have a very long layover in Texas, just enough time to hurry and get some food. Then the flight out took forever. We waited for probably more than an hour taxiing around before we could take off. Then we couldn't land when we got to Baltimore because of bad weather. We couldn't just circle around in the air there because of all the gas we had burned before taking off, so we had to fly up to Philadelphia to refuel. We headed right back to Baltimore a few hours late, had a pretty rough ride, and I just lost it. Not a fun experience. Then we had to drive home (we lived in Richmond at the time, about a 3? hour drive).

So this trip, I was very lucky to have a good flight on the way out to Utah (even though my luggage got eaten), because my husband was not with me. It would have been a nightmare if I had to take care of my son and my sick self.

The ride home was not so great. The flight to Atlanta was fine, but from there up to NC, was not so great. We were an hour late boarding our flight because it was late coming in, which meant my son fell asleep before we got on the airplane. I was grateful he fell asleep, but it made it so he was not only awake for the flight, but a little hyper, which meant I had to try to entertain him the whole time, even when I was half asleep. What was supposed to be only about an hour and a half flight, was nearly twice that long. We got stuck in line waiting to take off for nearly an hour (sound familiar?) and then coming into NC, we had to circle for a bit because of bad weather (more familiar?), and had a terribly bumpy landing. A few big swooping drops, and I just could not keep my lunch. Fortunately, my husband was there to help me out, unfortunately there were NO barf bags in any of the THREE seats we were in. We had to sacrifice a ziploc bag of treats that was almost gone. I was so grateful my husband was there to take care of all our stuff and our son while I got off quickly and went to the bathroom to clean up.

It is good to be home. It is so nice to be in my own bed and to sleep in. My son has still been on Mountain time (2 hours behind) so has slept late the last two mornings. After two really close together vacations, it will be nice to stay home for a while. Hopefully I will be around blogging more frequently, after I catch up on my blog reading!

Beware of the Airline Baggage Monster

I've always wondered what they do to your bags after you check them in at the airport. Now I wonder even more. Do they have a giant monster back there somewhere that tries to eat the bags?

The good news is the airport gave us a new bag, and a $1oo airline voucher for both me and my son. I guess $200 is worth a broken CD, a riped sweater, a crushed tub of lotion, and some mess and hassle.

Sharing the Love

Speaking of Summer, she gifted me with this nice award, which has a lovely history behind it.

The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

I want to pass this along to all you wonderful bloggers who happen to read this post. That means you are reading my blog, and I really appreciate that!