More April Birthdays

April is a busy month for birthdays in our family. The middle of the month brings my daughter in-law, Lindsay's birthday. She is married to my oldest son, Matt. Boy did he do well! She is beautiful to look at. She is a fabulous mother. She is a valiant member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is a great daughter. (I was always nervous to talk to my mother in-law about day to day stuff but it doesn't seem to bother her, for which I am extremely grateful.) I couldn't have arranged a better marriage than the one Matt did for himself. The newest thing I really appreciate about Lindsay is her support of Matt in realizing a dream that he has had since he was a little boy. He has always wanted to fly and become an astronaut. In fact, his old bedroom still has a space shuttle mural on the wall. When he was three or four he told me he would take me for a ride in the space shuttle someday. Well, he didn't become an astronaut but he is a pilot. He took me for my promised ride in an airplane when we visited in March. He sacrificed a lot of sleeping time to be in the air. But he couldn't have done it without Lindsay's support. Thank you Lindsay, for taking care of my son and letting him realize a life long dream. Happy birthday to wonderful addition to our family!

For her birthday Matt arranged to have the airplane and they flew over the Grand Canyon and up to St. George for a well deserved getaway.

Blog gap

Well, my blog looks like my journal. Lots of big gaps. Oh well there have lots of things keeping me busy. My biggest block of time goes to my service commitments. First of all, to my church calling as Young Women's President. We do many fun things together but it takes a lot of time to research activities, plan them and then carry out the plans. Every once in a while I have the opportunity to teach them on Sunday. That is a huge deal to me. I taught a room full of beautiful young women last week about The House of Israel. I spent hours preparing for the lesson. I learned a great deal and my testimony that Heavenly Father loves me increased. Tuesday night we weeded together at the Sandy Vegetable Project and then went out for Slurpees. I LOVE every single second I get to be with them!

My next block of time goes to maintaining my home. We did some major remodeling starting two years ago and we have never finished. Currently I am working on doing deep cleaning, de-junking and organizing. That is a slow process -- especially when you come across something that reminds you of days gone by or pulls at your heart strings. I worked all day in my basement. I filled up six boxes for Deseret Industries. Some of it was hard to let go. I decided that if I hadn't read the books in the last ten years they were going to another home. But then I started opening them up. When I found a handwritten note or an autographed copy I couldn't part with it. I even found books that my Young Women leaders had given me throught the years with sweet notes on the inside. I parted with my old LPs that I received starting back in Junior High. Do you know that Cat Stevens has beautiful eyes? I thought of the nights I spent listening to America, The Moody Blues, the Carpenters, Chicago and wishing for a date to prom. Then there was all of the other outdated technological stuff like cassette tapes and floppy disks. They all went into recycling. And what about handmade pottery items and pencil cans given to me years ago on Mother's Day? How can I part with those? It is a work in progress but I do have a lot of empty shelves tonight. Soon I will start stripping wallpaper and painting. We paid for the carpet a year ago so it is way past time to be done.

And of course, there is my family with whom I love to spend time! I have a lot to say about them and it is coming up. But now I am off to check on the score of the Jazz vs. Lakers game and then into bed.