JORY, the champion of the world.

How lucky can a guy be to live his whole life around and as the super friend of many. That is right, his sisters all love him, any female that meets him, instantly takes a liking and all mere acquaintances say he is a great guy. An up and coming school teacher and UTA bus driver are his current bragging rights.

Twenty three years ago this Sunday, April 27th, he will celebrate his birthday. A Saturday’s child he spent only twelve hours in the hospital when he first arrived. He returned to the hospital for his next stay just over two months ago. Luck is his best friend as he takes adventurous trips, jumps over & off of decks/trampolines and such, dives from super heights and is able to come out pretty much unhurt or recovers quickly.

Optimistic he is and that helps move him into great opportunities. Happy is his middle name which helps attract friends both male and female. A great and dedicated missionary he was as he connected with the Chilean people and hated to leave at the end of his mission. Jory is loyal as he supports and helps friends he has been with since grade school. A good example he has been to others as they have waivered and needed a guide to follow. WE love you Jory, keep up the good work.

Mauri, A Beauty to Rival Any Model

This week Mauri will turn 32 years old. What a wonderful woman, wife, mother, daughter and sister, she is. Not one to complain she has endured major health issues, but found the best solution to be relieved of them. She is a dependable person making it to work daily, caring for Aaron,Brayle and Hunter, fulfilling her assignments with the scouts regularly and so on.
I call her my beautiful daughter, because she is. She took the best looking genes from both Dad and I then perfected her makeup, a snappy hairstyle and good taste in clothes to complete a picture of beauty to rival any model.

This centennial baby was born, Thursday, April 22, at 7am weighing 7 1/2lbs. The doctor was Dallas Van Wagoner and her attending nurse was Mary Fitzgerald, who was my visiting teacher at the time. Mauri was a beautiful baby that was content when fed, loved attention and slept a lot, unlike her older sister.

As a child she took a lot of beatings from Jennifer but found a way to be heard. Temper tantrums became a norm when she wanted her way and wasn’t about to budge. She suffered many a cut, scrape and trouncing to rise above it all with her competitive nature. She walked, talked and rode a bike sooner than big sis did.

After starting school it was discovered she had a hearing problem, which was corrected with surgery at the Salt Lake Surgical Center by getting tubes. We called her x-ray ears after she recovered, because of her excellent hearing. She quickly made many girlfriends at school. Due to the fact there were eight boys her age in Primary, she hadn’t had many. Being a bright child, Mauri did very well in school and it also tamed her of the tantrums. A model student she was given the highest award in sixth grade, the Hope of America Award received by one boy and girl.

She loved to play tennis and lettered in it. Sewing, swimming, phoning friends and making caramel brownies were things she liked to do. She was the first one to sign up for family jobs and always completed them. It frustrated her that other siblings wouldn’t follow through with theirs. As a teen her goals were to attend EFY, go to college, achieve her YW medallion and a have temple marriage. She accomplished them all.

Boyfriends came, went and were illusive until Mauri decided to take shop in school.
Here she found many willing to help her with the projects she worked on. One young man, Aaron, bested the others becoming her first real boyfriend. Many dances and fun dates were enjoyed together. He was willing to take the challenge and join the Church to proclaim his love and devotion. Now here we are thirteen years later with happy, tough and memorable experiences along the way. Hunting, family and reading are her hobbies now. What a wonderful person she is. Thanks for being you, Mauri.

I finally did it

Guess what I finally got this thing going. It's a time for firsts, I finally applied for that job at Tooele Jr. High School. The first time I tried it didn't work so I had to do it all over again.
The kids only have like 25 days left of school, can you believe it? It's still snowing out side it can't be time for school to be out. This is going to be short so hopefully it really works correctly. Make sure you all pray for me to get the new job it will save me alot of gas and time. Love you all and we'll talk later!

Happy Birthday to Mauri

Who is My Naomi?

This week is (or would have been) Grandma Genevieve’s 97th birthday, April 15. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother-in-law. Yes, sometimes (okay too many times) I complained about how she did this or that. For the most part she really was the one I looked up to and turned to for help. All I had to say was ‘Boy, I could sure use this or that’ and believe you me, it was done. None of my daughters or son-in-law can even hope for that kind of speed or dependability.
Did I appreciate the time she bought five dresses at the DI and overhauled them so Jennifer could have clothes to wear? No, I complained they looked like a fifty year old should wear them.

Did I thank her for tending, you those years I had the LiL Wooden Things shop in WVC. Or the time Dad & I went to Texas for a week while she nurtured you through the chicken pox. Not enough thanks for those days & nights I spent finding myself while she so unselfishly served with open arms to tend, feed, cloth, teach and love you.

How I loved this woman and looked up to her. Every Sunday when I do my RS President job, I put on the tan skirt she gave me (packaged from a mail order service, that I hated when I got it) but now use it faithfully, praying I can be as good of a president as she was.

I see her in Jennifer as she serves in her ward activities calling and doing community service. I find her in the drive that Mauri has to be dependable to her employer and never complain. Alicia has those organizational skills from her that I long to achieve. Breann doesn’t give up in the face of adversity with her nose to the grindstone. Jory is the great school teacher that she was as she earned and paid for every single son to serve the Lord. Dad is the most trusting, best worker and giving person that exists thanks to her.

This is why when I read the words of Ruth many years ago, she became my Naomi. ‘Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee. For wither thou goest I will go, and wither thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God.’ Please know I loved her very much and will always treasure her gifts through you.

JOY...How to Make It Last

I am a cronic happy person. What a blessing to only be down one day per month or so. This lesson was given in RS this week and I wanted to share it with you. It is so easy to beat up on ourselves and take credit for the great things we do. Remember these eight ideas next time you are tempted to be down or belittle yourself. Because you are all great and wonderful adults and children of ours.
2Nephi 2:25 “Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have JOY.”

1 Share Positive Feelings: Sharing happy memories & experiences with others helps to prolong the joy.

2 Build Memories by Seizing the Moment: Take mental photographs of memorable moments that you can draw on later.

3 Compare Downward: Think how things could be or used to be worse. Comparing upward makes us feel deprived, comparing downward can heighten enjoyment.

4 Congratulate Yourself: Take pride in accomplishments. Acknowledge what you did do and congratulate yourself. Tell yourself & others what you did do right.

5 Fine-Tune Your Senses: Concentrate on stimuli that will heighten your enjoyment.

6 Say Thank You: D&C 7:19. Cultivate an “attitude of gratitude”. Saying “thank you” deepens our happiness by making us more aware of it.

7 Fake It..Till You Make It: Put on a happy face- even if you don’t feel like it—induces greater happiness.

8 Looking Forward To That Day: Alma 4:14. Retaining a remission of their sins being filled with great joy because of the resurrection and deliverance of Jesus Christ from death.

May these ideas help you to feel ‘Joy’ and make it last.

Hey so I am alive and kicking!!

Yes I am alive and I am sorry it has taken me so long to write on this thing but here I am. Yes it is almost one in the morning but this is the only time I think about doing things like this. I just got done with this ridiculous assignment that is do in the morning and I am very interested in seeing what is going to happen in class tomorrow. Everyone in my class is very frustrated with this teacher because she is very unclear with what she want then she wants it all done when we don't know what she wants. I will let her know how I feel and I'm sure the class will too. It should be fun. So I'm back to work and enjoying that there is a man from Mexico that I enjoy talking to in Spanish that rides mt bus. I am starting to see how much work I have this summer so that I can be ready to teach school but I am going to learn a lot and have fun cause that is what I do best. As you can tell one thing I need to learn is how not to write run on sentences ha ha. well that is all I have for now so I hope to hear from you all soon.