9 Reasons I am the Luckiest Person in the World

I have been going to list the nine reasons I am luckiest person in the world for a while now. Here goes.

1. Carlye Anne - My oldest grandchild. She is smart, loves to read and tries hard to please. She is very beautiful

2. Marcus Andrew - He is my oldest grandson. He is smart, loves to read, and tries hard to please. He is a natural leader.

3. Nathanael Edmund - He is my third grandchild and the oldest son in his family. He is smart and loves to be outdoors. He is very quick to please and extremely loving. He loves music and is currently trying to learn how to play the guitar.

4. Isabella Lou - My second granddaughter and I share the same middle name. She is smart and like Nathanael will start kindergarten this year. She is the oldest in her family and is big helper to her mother. She currently loves bowling.

5. Anneke Susan - My third granddaughter and the oldest daughter in her family. Anneke is unique in so many ways. She is smart and loves to be read too. From the time Anneke could walk, Anneke has wanted to dance and leap. She is very feminine as all my granddaughters are and loves to wear dresses.

6. Noah Michael - Would it suffice to say Noah is Noah? How do you describe someone that is smarter than the rest of us and unwittingly outwits everyone at every turn? Noah is extremely bright, a natural leader and a clown. He has a natural charm that lets him get away with a lot!

7. Genavieve Lee - Evie seems to following in the same footsteps as Noah. She is outsmarting her parents and has a charm that says "I am too cute to be in trouble!" She is only 1 and knows how to manipulate already!

8. Caspian Luke - So far Luke is a Mama's boy - but then he isn't even a year old yet. He loves being around his brother and sister and has a beautiful smile.

9. Dutch Bailey - I haven't met Dutch personally yet but his mother claims he is a perfect baby. However next week I will see for myself and let everyone know. I am sure I will not be disappointed.

I am without a doubt the most fortunate person in the world. I have the greatest grandchildren that God has ever put on this earth. I am sure other grandparents might want to dispute the fact but it isn't up for debate. I am grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches eternal marriage and that I can look forward to the eternities with my grandchildren.

Ode to New Recliners

I had to write about the recliners again. I hadn't realized how much I missed the Living Room set we had in Ephraim. These are made by the same company and in the same fabric. If they still made the same color green I would have gotten that but the color green now is hideous. It looks like a nursing babies diaper! So we went with blue. When Dad and I sat in the chairs we immediately loved them but it wasn't until later that I realized why I gravitated to that particular chair. It suddenly conjured memories of your friends coming over to take naps on our couch. It brought back memories of our the family curled up together and lounging all over each other on the couch and loveseat. I know they are being used and loved still. Last Christmas the Bolton's told me how much the still loved that living room set. Pam reminded me yesterday how after Matt Hampton came over you would find a whole bunch a change in the cushions. Anyway, remember how wonderful our couches were and you will know how nice the new recliners are!

This and That

I know! It is about time I wrote again. But I am bound and determined to keep this blog upbeat and so I will wait as long as it takes.

Yesterday my sweetheart took me out and we replaced out couch with two recliners. We really didn't need a couch/hide-a-bed. We have yet to ever use the hide-a-bed. Recliners will be used daily- especially with my upcoming surgery. We can now both relax and enjoy a comfortable chair now. Besides whenever anyone comes over only two people sit on the couch anyway.

One of the things about women from New England that makes me laugh is the way they dress. They will be dressed in 'Daisy Duke' shorts with flipflops and wearing a long sleeved sweater or sweatshirt! It can be 85 degrees outside and that will be their attire. I just marvel. In the winter what will change for some of the women is the flip flops. They will go to hiking boots.

My niece, Sara was married in the San Antonio Temple on the 14th of August. I was sad to not be there. It was a very hard day for me. I just wanted to say how grateful I am for eternal families. I am so glad that I married Clyde for time and all eternity in the Manti Temple 35+ years. It has been an interesting and wonderful journey. I am glad we stuck it out. I am grateful for my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that we have a living prophet at the head of our Church guiding us. Most of all I know that our Savior died for our sins but lives again.

My Mother

All day long yesterday I was kind of in a blue funk. I really didn't know why but I was just a little depressed all day. I also kept thinking about my mother. Now I do think about Mom quite often but not like yesterday. Then last night in the middle of the night it hit me. Mom would have been 80 years old yesterday. I guess sub-consciously I was missing her on her birthday. The funny thing about the whole thing is that Clyde brought me flowers when he came home from work just out of the blue. We have a favorite quote from the movie 'Finding Forrester' that goes "An unexpected gift at and an unexpected time..." so whenever we do something like this that is what we quote. Clyde walked in the door last night quoting that with the flowers in his hand. That did lift my spirits immeasurably to receive such a beautiful bouquet of flowers. That is another plus of living here in Rhode Island. There are flowers sold everywhere from the street corners to the grocery stores and for a very reasonable price. This bouquet is in the largest vase I own and I know it didn't cost that much (Clyde loves me but he is not extravagant).

I am so glad that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful that I am sealed to my parents. I do have an incredible mother, who overcame many great obstacles in her life because of her illnesses. When our daughters' were little she was a fantastic grandmother to them and I have always been grateful that she had the health then to spoil her granddaughters. The last few years of her life were not that great but she has more than made up for that now. I know what she watches over her great-grandchildren and is their guardian angel. Too many 'spooky' coincidences have happened with our grandchildren that have her mark all over them. She is here and taking care of her family still. I am blessed to have her help since I cannot be there.

When Life Gets In the Way

I was scolded the other day because it has been so long since I wrote anything. The reason I haven't written is because I haven't had much that was happy to write about. This morning I decided that I would just have to make it happy no matter what. My life is not that dismal. The problem is that the mundane things keep getting in the way.

Last week we had a funeral and Clyde has had so many problems as bishop that for several days his gout was so bad he was limping. On Monday his gout flared up to the point he had to come home from work. He literally slept all day. I had the stomach flu and I think he had a touch of it too. Wednesday we were involved with the funeral all day until 4:30. Then my Achievement Girls came to the Church. We were going to wash the nursery toys in a baby pool outside so the girls were to come in their play clothes. We ended up with a really bad thunderstorm so we did genealogy instead inside and then played Webkinz. I will have to do the nursery toy activity later. Have I said how cute these girls are?! I love them so much. They make me laugh so hard. They try so hard to do what is right and that makes my job even easier.

Yesterday our surrogate grandson, Joshua Halverson was ordained a deacon. He has been so excited about this that he has been counting down the days since January 1. It was a special blessing but then that is no surprise. He is an amazing young man. I would not be surprised to see him sitting in the front of the Conference Center someday in some capacity. He is an amazing individual.

So amazingly wonderful things have happened to balance out the sad (of which I only mentioned the flu! The funeral was blessing to the woman who died). We are blessed to have the gospel in our lives and know that Jesus is the Christ. How lucky am I to have my amazing family?!

Newport Ward

The good thing about living in Rhode Island is we live in great ward. I have lived in very few wards as friendly as this one or as solicitous. People truly care and watch over each other. I love that about the ward members here. In fact I am probably the slacker in the bunch (which is not a very good pronouncement from the bishop's wife). I used to hate Sundays. When our daughters were growing up and especially when they are little and I had to get them ready to go to Church all by myself - Sundays were my least favorite day of the week. It has only been in the last few years that I have gotten over that. In fact these are the reasons I like Sundays and especially Sundays in Newport.
1. Because Bishopric meeting is at 7:20 a.m we are in the building by 7:15. It gives me time to do genealogy and get things ready for the Sabbath (like the calendar on the bulletin board and sometimes clean up the kitchen) before Church starts (at 9:30).
2. We are the only ward that meets in our building so we don't have to worry about hurrying out afterwards. If something is left on my desk in the family history center it will be there on Wednesday when I come in to open the library in the evening.
3. I love feeding the military students every week. I must admit I felt a bit angry when the bishopric before this current one took it from my hands solely and made it a Relief Society activity. I loved doing it all on my own. However when I started doing it there were 6 students. Yesterday we fed 22. It does become a bit of a burden when you are doing that week after week. And it is a blessing to those that do help.
4. Since I have not been able to get around for the last few months I am astonished at the number of people that have offered to get me to appointments and take me places. It hasn't been just to be nice. The offers have come repeatedly from the same people. I have been amazed.
5. Our Sacrament Meetings are very spiritual and it isn't the same people speaking every week. Our bishopric goes out of its way to make sure that everyone gets a turn speaking - even the military students that are here for a few months. Our pool is not very big and so pretty much every one gets a chance at some point to speak while they are here no matter how short their time. Two weeks ago the inactive son of the Second Counselor in the bishopric spoke and did an amazing job. He has been to Church for 3 weeks now

These are just a few of the reasons I love this ward and why it makes living here in Rhode Island a wonderful experience. In truth the only downer to being here is the family members are so far away. It does help that the Davis Family is now an easy day's drive. For that I am grateful.