some happy thoughts for the day

HAPPINESS

"A good laugh is sunshine in the house." -- William Makepeace Thackeray"

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it." -- William Feather

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts…take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature."

-- Marcus Aurelius

"Will and I could hardly wait for the morning to come to get at something that interested us. That's happiness." -- Orville Wright

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.

--John Barrymore

"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
--Burton Hills

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
--Helen Keller

"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."
--Abraham Lincoln

"Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society."
--William Makepeace Thackeray

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up."
--Mark Twain

congrats

did you hear the news?

this darling girl is engaged to a sweet, handsome guy, named jason! i'm so happy for both of you...what a great couple you make...enjoy this time...love you...

it's birthday time

august is the end of my summer birthdays...they start in june with russ and kelly, then there is jeff, then we have willie and kerry in august...the rest of the family is scattered during the year...but for 6 weeks, we seem to have birthdays galore!

willie celebrated at our house with a little help from kate

so lucky me...this year willie and kelly and their 2 darling babies were here to celebrate his 28th birthday!! what fun...it's sad as your kids get older and you're not always with them for that special day...willie has always been a sweetheart...he is kind, generous, loving, fun, just an outstanding person...i so admire what he has grown up to be...what a lucky person i am to have him as my son.....

kerry had a barbecue and swim party with alot of her friends


yesterday, it was my baby's birthday...kerry turned 19!! how can that be? it seems like yesterday she was 5...we had a fun party with her friends, she went to the beach on a gorgeous day...it was a very nice day for her...and she deserves it...kerry is my buddy...she's been here, alone with me for many years...i love to be with kerry, she can make me laugh, i love to hear what she's thinking...she is so talented...she is artistic, crafty, fun to be around, a great friend, loyal, loving...i love to see how she has grown and changed...just this last year, being away in college, she has turned into a beautiful person....


russ was celebrating at machu picchu

in june we celebrated russ' 23rd birthday, it was a special birthday spent at machu picchu...the hotel even made him a cake...russ is the big strong silent type...but he can be very funny when he wants to be...he is so very kind...he doesn't like to hurt others...he is athletic, smart and very loving...he is hardworking, just graduated from the u of u...he is a good artist, loves fishing and many, many sports...

kel went to disneyland with her family

kelly turned the BIG 30 in june also....so, what does that make me? old! but, she's a very beautiful, classy 30 year old...she has accomplished so much in her life...she has always been a go getter...she has a million things going at once...she is also very talented with sewing, making quilts, art work, jewelry making...plus she is chasing her 2 darling boys...i'm amazed at all that she does...she gets more done in one day than i do in a month! she's a great entrepreneur and i know she will make her mark in the world...

jeff, kelly and kerry went to see coldplay for his day


jeff turned 33 in july..he is a great son in law...he is working hard at making his law firm a success...he is always learning new things..he loves sports, any and all...biking, snowboarding, surfing, whatever...he never stops moving, it seems...he loves music, plays different instruments, he is smart and fun to be around....plus, he shares those 2 cute boys...

so, as you see...i'm a very lucky mom, with a fantastic family! and that's only half of us!

A Grad!!!!

Guess what happened to this




guy today????

yup, he graduated from the university of utah!!!
i'm so proud of him...he's accomplished alot in the last 4 years!!!
way to go russ...i know that he will go on and have a great and wonderful life, because he is a hard worker and i know that he will do amazing things in the years to come.......love you....

pioneer children

pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked....do you think they really did? if so, they just went up in my estimation...i'm proud to say on this pioneer day...that i'm from pioneer stock...i can't imagine walking across the country like they did, pulling handcarts, having babies, just having little children along with them...it's an amazing thing what they did....i'm not sure that i could have made it...hopefully i would have...but, i'm proud of their persistence in getting to a place where they could live in peace...in my family we have other pioneers....tom was a pioneer, he was the first in his family to join the church...then we have jeff who is also a convert, being a pioneer in his family...moving to california with a month old baby made me feel like a pioneer....that was really hard for me...but, i lived through it and came to love where i live...pioneers come in all shapes and sizes...in all times...i am so grateful for the pioneers in my family...my sister wrote about one in this post....i'm grateful that they were strong enough to join the church and move away from their countries to be able to live the way they wanted to...pioneers in my family have made it easier for me to live my life...so on this day, i give thanks for all that you've done....

watch out indie!

there are alot of heroes out there this summer....batman, ironman, indiana jones...

well, i have someone that wants to take indiana's place...indiana gavin.....

he loves the movies and was playing 'indiana' tonight...

he found his great-great-grandpa's binoculars, compass and magnifying glass from

world war 1....he was carrying those around...

using his 'indiana noculars'...

checking everything out....

so watch out everyone...a new indie's around....

lemonade

here in the u.s. when we order lemonade...we get a drink made of lemons...it's usually a little bitter...made out of lemons and water and sugar...while on my travels of the last few weeks...i learned that lemonade everywhere else is made with.....LIMES! and it's delicious...alot of limes, water and sugar...it's not quite as bitter as our lemonade..and it's soooo good....sooo refreshing...a nice little change...so try it...you'll love it...

claustrophobia

claustrophobia...do you have it? i guess i do...and it comes out in the strangest of places...while on our trip i was having a facial...it was lovely...relaxing..perfect...then, she put a mask on my face and covered it with a fine cloth....immediately.....my heart was beating fast...i was nervous...i was panicking...i told the girl that i felt claustrophobic...she loosened the cloth a bit...and i was fine...what a creepy feeling...i have also had it when i have a body wrap...i haven't done that more than once....isn't it weird what problems our brain thinks up for us? what phobias do you have?

bahama mama

so, we left russ and whit in nyc, where they stayed an extra day or so...and we took off for the bahamas....paradise island to be exact...we are staying at the one and only ocean club...it's a really beautiful hotel...you might have seen it in 'casino royale', the last james bond...anyway...it's all about turqouise water, blue sky and palm trees, swaying in the breeze...in the afternoon some clouds may roll in...but, it's really beautiful...the babies are having fun with the pool...the cousins are now old enough to be playing together and want to be with each other...very fun..can be pretty noisy also...so for the next few days...this is where i'll be hanging...drinking my virgin strawberry daiquiris...having a massage or two...and enjoying the sun...don't worry, be happy!

bahamas

nyc

i love ny

we had a long holiday weekend in nyc...what a fun time...we arrived early thursday evening, went to our great hotel which had a fantastic view of central park....then we went over to serendipity, a fav, which turned out to be a 'no-go'...so across the street to a pizzaria and afterwards to dylan's candy shop where we found many old-time favorite candies..on friday july 4th we went to the yankees vs. red sox game...it was a fun way to celebrate...we saw jacoby ellsbury play, he is my foster sisters son...we were in the nose bleed section but it was fun to see, we also saw the field sweepers do the YMCA during the half time...at the 7th inning it started to rain so we left and went to our other favorite sport....shopping! that night we saw fireworks and walked to times square which is always fun and crazy...on saturday it was pouring, so with the help of big umbrellas we shopped the day away...it was alot of fun, we went into some favorite stores and found new ones also...that night we went to ' a little mermaid', everyone went but kelly k who stayed home with tommy and owen...the show was great...scenery and music were wonderful...gavin and kate seemed to love it...afterwards we finally made it to serendipity after an hour wait..so about 11:30 we sat down to eat...but, it was worth it...sunday we had to leave...russ and whit stayed a couple of extra days...what a fun way to spend time with my favorites...my family in the big apple!

more peru

hola

our villa
face mask

pisac, cows coming home
i feel like i've been gone forever...it's only been a week, but what a fantastic week...last sunday (early monday morning) russ and i landed in lima peru, then early at 5 am, we flew to cusco, drove for about 1 1/2 hours to our fantastic hotel which were villas that were out in the country...about 1/2 hour later the girls pulled up! yippee! it was so fun to see them...i can't believe the growth in them...this whole week kerry has been interpreting, guiding...it's been so much fun to watch them...so we went to lunch at the family that they were staying with...sort of quiet as we don't speak much espanol, and they don't speaka da english....then we took a bus to pisac...it was a crowded, crazy bus ride...pisac has a fun market to go see...then back to the villas where our maid cooked our dinner...that's a great life....it was really a long fun day...

family
tuesday we went back to cusco for the inte rime festival...an incan festival...fun to watch...we waited and waited for it to start, then went to lunch at a fun australian restaurant...

in cusco

wednesday we went to machu picchu to celebrate russie's birthday...we were supposed to leave on the 8 am train...only our driver didn't tell us we had to be a half hour early...he got us there right before the train was leaving, so we had to wait for the 10:30 train....finally got there...we went right up to m.p....it was amazing...way different than i thought it would be...what a fantastic, beautiful sight...what amazing people...our hoel was pretty cool...it was in the town of aguas caliente...a beautiful hotel...but, we had the CREEPIEST huge spider in the toilet area and then another in the toilet...about 2 inches long...and an inch wide...russ killed them...

m.p.

m.p.

scary spider

thursday took the train back to cusco...and spent the day there...it was really nice...sort of chilled that day...

friday...which was kelly's 30th...we took a really long, slow train ride...from 8 am until 5:30 pm...we went from cusco to puno...now this train never went more than about 50 miles per hour...it was really slow...but, we saw some pretty scenery, had dancers on the train in the native dress...it was ok...

at 14,172 ftbut, then we got to lake titicaca...which was the greatest...what a beautiful place...we went to our hotel which was out on the lake...very remote...the hotel just opened 3 weeks ago...pretty fun place...saturdy we had a great day of tours of tiqilla island, where we saw the island people...how they live, how they wash their clothes on the rocks...they have solar panels to get electricity...it's a pretty hard life...they showed us how they weave, make their hats etc...top of island

sacred spot

little doll

russ in a head dress

washing clothes

then, later in the afternoon we went to the uros islands which are made of reeds...our guide grew up on them and we went to his families island and met his family...talk about amazing...they live on these reed islands that float if they aren't anchored...it's really cool to see...

dress ups

floating reed islandsuros island

today we had to get up at 4 am to drive to the airport for our 8 am flight to lima...after 9we had a tour of lima...it's a big city...not really my favorite...but good to see...

lima
so, after this long, long travel log...what have i loved in peru?

the scenery is amazing...what a place...i andes are really neat...i really love to see the people in their native dress...it is amazing..machu picchu was fantastic...wow! and lake titicaca was just unreal...so high...12,000 feet...my breathing was rough! blue blue skies...once again...it's fantastic to be abel to travel and see another culture...fantastico....i need to speak better spanish!

whew!

it's over! and i think it turned out great...yesterday was a great day...we had a speaker about humaitarian service...then we did our big service project...it was so great..we had so much stuff for the kids to sort, package, they made alot of blankets...everyone was working...it really turned out well..fun to watch all the kids so busy...the next part of the project is to actually get it sent to malawi! then, we had a great testimony meeting...they are really strong kids...so, i'm off to my next adventure! PERU!