Sunshine Sentiments: June 2018

Monday, June 18, 2018

MY HEROES!

Fathers are the biggest source of strength for a child. Dads are all powerful, super smart, and the most important person in the family. They are honest, spiritual leaders, experienced, and always have our best interest at heart. Is it any wonder that my heroes are my husband and my dad?! I'm super glad we get to celebrate our fathers once a year.... It should be daily!
Scott

Cute Man!

His Gnome Garden makes me smile!

And he loved getting 4 gnomes for Father's Day!

Katia and I made this delicious berry trifle!

I've never made one before... but Scott wanted one for Dad's Day!

This man is my rock! He is a kind, laid-back, patient man who takes care of me and our daughters with love, laughter and a spiritual strength! I'm truly blessed that he is mine for eternity!
Dad

GJ and I gave my dad a home-made guitar strap...

GJ is super talented with leather!

We also had a DVD made of a video my cousin made in the 80s about my grandpa Mac.

This great man taught me to think for myself. He taught me the basics of testimony and to love creating things (esp. music). Through his example: I learned hard work and the importance of reading good books. He did all this and more with love, quiet strength and patience. (I think the men in my life need a lot of patience... just to deal with me!) He is the "perfect" father! And I'm truly grateful that families are forever so that I can be associated with my dad for eternity!
Happy Father's Day!

I also finished reading A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry today. I really enjoy her style of writing and the William Monk, detective character! Hester Latterly, the nurse, is awesome too! I don't think I'd be a good detective though.... I just can't figure out who-done-it until after it's completely clear. I'm always surprised!
Anne's insights into human psychology are perceptive and thoughtful. The story line was engaging from start to finish. I like her books. (At least, the two I've read so far.)

Oh... and Kiara and Cody are babysitting for this cute little boy! Great practice! 😉

She is in her element!

Even Cody thinks he's precious!

BTW - I will be missing in action for the next couple of weeks.... We are headed to Germany to visit our foreign daughter! But don't worry, I'll blog LOTS when I get back from Europe.

Monday, June 11, 2018

A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

This week we have celebrated birthdays and graduations and kidnapping... It's been a full, busy, happy week! I'm glad I got to live it!
Kotten Kandy graduated from seminary on Sunday. I am so proud of her! She is simply amazing!

Katia was blessed with 3 amazing teachers during her seminary years!

All of them were at the graduation, so I snagged a picture!

She has often told me how much she loves and admires these 3 teachers!

I'm grateful for all of them!

This is the entire stake group of seminary graduates!

These guys have spent the last 8 years together!

Asher, Dallin, Katia and Alana

Dallin and Alana also had all 3 teachers!

These kids are blessed with great role models!

We celebrated all of the June birthdays this evening. Scott turned 45. Mark turned 44. Amy is 41. And Kotten Kandy (aka. Katia) is now 18! (She actually turns 18 in 2 weeks... but she's now officially 18 in my book!)

These are some of my bestest friends in the whole wide world!

I'm blessed to celebrate with all of them!

We BBQed ribs and hot dogs. YUM!

Scott is my rock!

I love him more than I can adequately communicate in words!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

You are truly wonderful!

Mark keeps us laughing!

He's genuine and a great friend!

So glad he brought his family to Shelbyville 8 years ago!

I couldn't navigate life without Amy!

She is my confidant, my cheer leader and my problem solver!

As Anne of Green Gables would say, "We are kindred spirits!"

I LOVE that I am able to call my baby girl one of my best friends!

She has turned into an amazing young lady!

I'm super proud of her!

I made two cakes to celebrate: Mississippi Mud Cake and Better Than S*x Cake

Scott has always wanted a Jurassic Park shirt...

And he loves his gnomes!

I was excited to get another silly t-shirt for Mark's growing collection!

And Katia was super excited to give her "Uncle" Mark lots of gummi candy!

Now Amy can read Peace Like a River!

And Katia wanted to keep her reading too... with Just 2 Seconds!

Katia was super excited to get the DVD: A Knight's Tale!

Her new celebrity crush is Heath Ledger!

Chris Prat is her other celebrity crush!

So she had to get a "talking" action figure!

I got to kidnap Apple Pie last week. We had so much fun! We went to Wendy's for lunch. Then we went shopping. And we topped our outing off with DQ! (He loved his new basketball, cute wolf stuffed animal and water-gun!)

This is my cute niece! I got her the hat for her birthday! I love this sweet girl!

Here are a few more pictures I actually kinda like from our trip to Thanksgiving Point:

I LOVE that my mom and sister are my BFFs too!

Kiara loves taking pictures of flowers (just like her mother!) And she sends me pictures! I love it!

I love teaching Raisin about selfies! She's "my" girl!

We've had a lot of rain lately. Check out our flooding river on our walk:

Jelly Bean and Raisin sport blue tongue disease:

Life is good!

Monday, June 4, 2018

SO MANY BOOKS... SO LITTLE TIME

For starters - I would not recommend reading Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson unless you have read the first two Stormlight books. It is not a stand alone book....
And another thing - I usually really enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books... but this one was not one of my favorites. My problem was Lift, the main character. I felt that this book was a chore to read because of her. Lift is young and immature. Her "awesomeness" drives me crazy. And I don't like her selfishness and impulsiveness.
Brandon Sanderson is an amazing writer. I just didn't like Lift very much.

Every now and then, I love a good, who-done-it mystery. My dad recommended Anne Perry's The Face of a Stranger: The First William Monk Novel. I had a hard time putting it down once I started it. This is a great historical mystery. The writing is excellent. I enjoyed the Victorian England setting. And I really enjoyed the detective, William Monk, who looses his memory and has to pull himself together to return to work. No one is aware of his memory loss. I was struck by the many layers of Monk's personality, as he discovers that he is a gifted investigator with high aspirations.
This character-driven mystery is definitely a fun read. And I believe anyone who reads it will have trouble putting it down until the story is finished.

Spellbinding is how I would describe Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. My dad tends to recommend great books. And this is no exception.
Peace Like a River is a very unique story, told from the perspective of a 14 year old asthmatic boy, Reuben. There are miracles throughout this book, as well as adventure and loving family relationships. The writing style is lyrical. The characters are well developed, and the overall narrative really worked! I LOVED this book. It's a haunting story that is begging for me to re-read it. This book gets two big thumbs up from me! And I'll be recommending it to anyone who will listen. It's on my favorite books list!