Wednesday, February 29, 2012

SAD DAY


I have the most wonderful family. My sister, brother and mother all called me today to offer condolences on the death of my first crush. I LOVED Davy Jones from The Monkees. My closet door was covered with pictures of the beloved singer. (I wasn't allowed to put posters in my bedroom, but I could put them inside my walk-in closet.) He passed away today at age 66 from a heart attack. I am grieving and have taken the opportunity to play their CD all day. Like Davy, I believe that we should all daydream and believe in something. Rest in peace, Davy Jones.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Walking Man

My daughters and I just finished reading the most wonderful autobiographical novel EVER! We read "Walking Man" by Gary McCallister (aka. my dad) This book is not a complete history of my father's life. It is the story of his conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is full of spiritual thoughts he had as a child and in his teen years. It has questions and early memories of his growing up years. All the stories in the book are somewhat connected to his quest for learning the meaning of life.

My dad's gift of love has lead to many of our own thoughts and discussions about religion and what we believe. I'm soooooo grateful for his "novel." It has strengthened my own testimony to read my dad's conversion. It also helped strengthen by daughters' testimonies as well.

The girls are writing letters to the author to express their gratitude and to ask more questions about their grandfather's life. Key Lime Pie has even begun taking a family history class. She realized, through the book and talks by Elder Bednar, that she wanted to serve her ancestors by completing their temple work, etc. She's the youngest girl in the family history class, but she's loving it!

This book isn't available to purchase... yet. I hope dad will look into publishing it. I think it's a wonderful conversion story (it even has unusual religions, and a marvelous love story!)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

TAKE THE MOUNTAIN DOWN

For Christmas my father gave me an awesome DVD, Take the Mountain Down. We've watched it probably 100 times. Sometimes we just use it as background music as we work around the home. It really is a great story. My daughters can sing every song and quote every line from the show.

Take the Mountain Down is a retelling of the New Testament parable of the prodigal son, using country, bluegrass, and blues music. The retelling of this story is set in Kentucky (or at least, I like to think of it as Kentucky :-). The emphasis is on rejoicing over the finding of the lost sheep (the prodigals son/daughter).

The music is amazing! "A Woman Who Looks Like Me" makes me laugh. The acapella chorus "There Arose a Mighty Famine in the Land" gives me goosebumps. And the rousing "The Lost is Found" will have you singing along before too long. I don't actually have a favorite song. They are all awesome!

I hear that sometimes you can catch the performance of this show on BYU television. Or you can order a DVD at http://www.marvinpayne.com . I highly recommend it!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

VALENTINE'S DAY

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a WONDERFUL day! I love letting my family know how much I love them!

We began the day by giving our daughters giant reading pillows. The idea is that the girls can curl up with a good book and read - and after a good book, they can add the name of the book to the pillow itself. :-) They were pretty excited with their Valentine gift.

We also went to Gym Day and had a Valentine card exchange. You're never too old to enjoy cards with pics of the Jonas Brothers, Spongebob and cute dogs.... Kotten Kandy, Applesauce and Keylime Pie enjoyed the treats and decorating their cute bags.
I also made grand piano valentine cards for the Bettenhausens and Moores. I thought they turned out pretty cute.
We ended the evening with a triple date to the Cheesecake Factory. YUM! I enjoyed the company... And I adore my sweet husband! I'm truly blessed to have him as my eternal companion!My best friend, Amy, and her husband, Mark.My good friend, Brandi, and her husband, SydAnd this is my CUTE husband! I love this guy!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

CELLO WARS

I have always wanted to play the cello. Steven Sharp Nelson is one of my heroes. Love his music and talent!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

GUEST POST

I got to be a guest poster over at http://www.notesaboutmusicnotes.com/ ! Check it out! I love Lesa's spiritual/musical blog! And I was honored to write a post for her!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

SOMETIMES YA' GOTTA READ

My daughters read non-stop today...

SCRABBLE TILE CHARM BRACELETS

A friend of mine wanted to see the bracelets I helped my daughters make this summer. They have 8 charms, one for each value in the Young Women's program. We took the color of the value and found a flower to match. Then we typed the value to the picture and created the scrabble tile charms. The girls really like their bracelets.My bracelet is a tribute to my favorite books. I have a quote from the book on one side and the title and author on the back.We love wearing our jewelry and get great comments on them all the time. :-)