Happy Birthday Jare=bear!!!

I can't believe how fast time goes by.......24 years.  Incredible.  This is also how I see Jaron.  The cute little kid running around constantly talking.

Jaron and Emily

Jaron, Nathan and Steve

Happy Birthday Jaron.  I am so, so proud of you!!  You bring so much happiness into my life!!!  I love you Sweetboy and have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Birthday Darrell, Dad, Grandpa........

Yesterday we went up to Salt Lake to celebrate Darrell's 80th birthday. His birthday is really monday but we thought since Klint, Mary-Jo and their family were there, it would be fun to celebrate it.

We took Darrell and Dyann out to dinner at Spaghetti Factory.  Emily and Kiera love hanging out together......great cousins!

After dinner we went back to their place and Darrell open his many presents.....oils, brushes, canvases, easel and more.  He's ready to paint.

We had cake.  Just ask Steve....it was the best cake he's ever had.  And it was really, really good!!

Happy early birthday Darrell!!

Love this!

This blog was written by Jana Riess and I think it's great!!

http://www.religionnews.com/blogs/jana-riess/everything-i-need-to-know-about-hospitality-i-learned-from-molly-weasley

Everything I Need to Know About Hospitality, I Learned from Molly Weasley

"The first time we meet Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter books, she welcomes the stranger. At King's Cross Station, she patiently teaches Harry the trick of finding Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, not because she knows he's famous -- she has no idea who the scrawny boy before her might be -- but simply because the very core of her person is suffused with hospitality.

And when, later in the scene, she does discover his identity, her immediate thought is not that he is famous but that he is alone in the world and needs a little mothering. She cautions her daughter that Harry won't want to be gawked at like some creature in the zoo.

A few months later, she sends Harry a homemade Weasley sweater for the holidays, much to Ron's chagrin. But to Harry, who has never received a Christmas present, the hand-knitted sweater signals belonging. It brings a message: You are part of us now.

As I explore our spiritual practice of hospitality throughout September, I keep circling back to Molly as the hospitable person I want to become. She's not a perfect person by any means; she has a fierce temper, succumbs to a dubious Author Crush, and has lousy taste in music. But she is always, always one who welcomes the stranger. In Book 2, when Harry visits the Weasley family, Molly immediately treats him like one of her own children. He's given a little extra food to fatten him up, but he's also allowed to go out and de-gnome the garden, doing household chores like everybody else.

She regards him as both special and not special, which is just about right, I think. One trick of hospitality is treating people not as you would want to be treated yourself, but as theywant to be treated, which is usually much harder.

Treating people like we would wish to be treated ourselves is great in theory, but in practice it can be an extension of our own ego and selfishness. Molly and Harry butt heads a few times in the later books over his growing adolescent need for independence, but she ultimately respects his need to not be, quite literally, mollycoddled.

It's not just Harry who benefits from Molly's open-handed generosity. The Weasley home is a safehouse for all sorts of flawed humans (Mundungus Fletcher, anyone?), not to mention assorted creatures that others might censure, such as werewolves. Molly feeds everyone her famed cooking, despite the fact that it's not like her family is drowning in cash. The Weasleys are perpetually short of money with their own large family, but you never see either Molly or Arthur turning guests away because they're poor. She refuses to accept Harry's Triwizard Tournament prize money when he attempts to press it on her, even though a thousand galleons would go far to alleviate her own family's poverty.

Molly's no saint, except when she is; her fierce love for her own family extends outward to create an entire community with bonds of love. Until the end of the seventh book, we only see her magical power in terms of housewifely arts -- she can make potatoes jump out of their jackets (please, please teach me how to do that) and knitting needles clack amongst themselves. But in the Battle of Hogwarts, we get a glimpse of a different, powerful Molly Weasley -- a strength that has informed her character all along, but is galvanized into action when her daughter is attacked. "Not my daughter, you bitch!" Molly hurls, singlehandedly dueling Bellatrix Lestrange to the death in order to protect the Weasley family.

But that's just it. Molly's protectiveness has never been reserved just for her own seven children. From that cocoon it has ever extended outward to include the stranger and build community. In a fantastic twist of irony, the woman who is best known for welcoming the stranger kills the woman whose very name means "the stranger"; Bellatrix has spent a lifetime as the anti-Molly, and she is about to pay.

And so it is that Molly Weasley, housewife, deals the penultimate death blow to the Death Eaters.

Her hospitality helps save the world."

Thanks Jana for the great insight.  :)

Happy Birthday Timothy

Happy 28th Birthday Timothy. This is how I see him.....

And this is how he really looks.

I love you Sweetboy and I'm so proud of you!!  Have fun today!!!!

4 grandkids + a dog

I needed to do and update on the grandkids. I have to say that I have to sweetest and most adorable grandkids in the world. I love them all!!!

 Kingston

 Darci and Mika

 Kingston

 Darci and Mika

 Maddox and Asher

 Asher

 Maddox

Christopher and Maddox

Weight training

Today while doing my weight training I did a lot of thinking.  For one is this political election.  I watched some of the RNC and most of the DNC so far.  There are a lot of great speeches and some not so great.  Lots of lies and truths but that's politics.  But what really got me mad and sad are how the people treat each other.....on both sides.  Living in a republican state I guess I see more of it towards the minorities.....the democrats......myself.  A few years ago on a sunday at church, I was told I was going to hell cuz I was voting democrat.  Wow......that really brought the spirit in.  Recently I was  told that I wasn't on the "Lord side".  Since when was there a "Lord side?"  I thought the church was neutral in this.  I don't remember it being a commandment or on any temple recommend interview.  I want to make it clear though that it's not everyone or all the republicans I know.  The majority of them are very, very nice and I don't think politics would get between us.  There are just a few that like to let me know what they think of my views......oh well.
Then I got to thinking about a recent death in our ward of our bishop from a sudden heart attack.  He was 55 years old and in great shape.  A great man who did so much service in the ward and with the YM.  He was the YM president when Christopher, Jaron and Nathan were in.  They have great stories about the high adventures they went on with him.  Theres just not a nicer guy.  I see the strength of their family and the love that is surrounding them from family, friends and ward members.  A community of support.  I know it will be hard for them and trying to adjust with him not physically here but I hope the family always knows we are here for them.  So, what is really important?  Is this political stuff?  Maybe for our country and how we want to live on this earth but not for eternity.  I think (me included) get so caught up in all this "crap" that we forget what really matters.......love thy neighbor......no matter what they believe, color of skin, religion, what they wear, etc.  In the end it's how we treat others and how we serve God that will matter.

Old pictures

 I came across some old pictures while I was tearing through the house looking for stuff.  They brought back a flood of memories.  The top one is of Jaron and Christopher when we lived in Durham, NC

 Here's Timothy but I'm not sure if we lived in NC yet.  I'm thinking not yet and the picture below is my Grandad and Grandma Awbrey with Timothy and Christopher right before we moved to NC.

 Jaron when we lived in Raleigh, NC

 The top pic. is Nathan when we lived in Raleigh.....in the George apartments.  Ugh!

 Timothy and Christopher above and then Christopher below.  We lived in Carrboro, NC.

 Timothy with his Teddy-Chapel Hill, NC

 Christopher and Jaron above and Timothy below- Raleigh, NC

 Visiting Grandma and Grandad before we moved to NC.

Lots of memories!!!!