Inspiration

Because I've found some unusual energy for this time of night, due to the rare Diet Coke I drank today, I would like to post a picture of someone who inspires me. As much as I hate to override the Hinckley photo (it makes me smile when I see it), since I recently printed this photo to display in my house, I thought it would be nice to post it here.
This is my Great-Grandmother, Thurza Tingey Adams. She was born in the Bountiful area to a polygamist wife who was left to raise her and her brother alone when spouses were forced to no longer support their multiple wives. She married John Q. Adams and with him served several missions to the Samoan Islands as he was mission president. She suffered back pain and a surgery that left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheel chair for the rest of her life and yet still served another mission with her husband in Samoa. Her oldest daughter, Maurine passed away at the age of 12 years old. Her other children accompanied she and her husband on their missions. Her youngest daughter, Faelela, is my Grandmother. This photo was taken of Thurza while on one of her earlier missions to Samoa. Here she is taking the temperature of one of the missionaries. She is the ultimate example of selfless service to me. I cherish the photos I have of her on the islands. Each one reminds me of the sacrifices she made. She is a humble, sweet, charitable woman. Even though she died before I was born, I still feel her influence. She has been a comfort to my Mom especially. She was a master seamstress and cook. She never failed to let those around her know how much she loved them. Her favorite hymn was "Come, Come Ye Saints". Whenever I hear that song, I think of her and the pioneer heritage she passed on to me. All of Thurza's children have passed away except for my Grandma. I know the reunion of the Adams family will come soon. I hope Thurza knows of what an inspiration she is to me.

John & Thurza 1919

Samoan Mission Home/site of Samoan Temple

Hinckley thoughts

When I went to bed last night, I noticed my "journal" laying on the night stand and I really felt that I should write my impressions or thoughts on President Hinckley's passing. I remembered that now I have a blog and since then, I haven't written in my journal as much. If that is the case and this has become my journal, then certainly I should add my thoughts here.
I felt prompted last night to devote seminary to our prophet this morning. I scrapped my lesson plan for today and spent some time putting together a few thoughts and dug out the biography movie on him. Starting with a sweet opening hymn and prayer we then spent the entire class time remembering his wonderful life. This man has been the only prophet that most of my students have ever known. He has left an eternal impression on them and they will miss him. We talked about how wonderful it is and how happy he must be to reunited with his wife and loved ones. How he has finally been able to sit and commune with Brother Joseph and the other noble prophets of all time. I'm sure he was overwhelmed with the reunion with our Savior and has been embraced and welcomed home by Him. He is the ultimate example of enduring faithfully....97 years. We also talked about how the priesthood keys have not been taken from the earth with his passing. That the Quorum of the Twelve now hold those keys and will ordain a new prophet of the church soon and what a great comfort that is. What an amazing priviledge and blessing to see be able to witness and bear testimony ourselves of this wonderful process.
We ended seminary today with another hymn and sweet prayer. As I watched the kids leave and manifest their love for this beloved man, I was touched at how much I know our Savior loves them. He provided this man to lead and guide us at this moment in time for very specific purposes, which he fulfilled. He will always be my kids' prophet.
God be with you till we meet again, President Hinckley

Blame it on the moon

What is it? Was it the full moon this week? I don't know. Uggg...winter blahs...
Pretty much when I think I'm the only one that's barely making it, I find that everyone is in the same boat. The only thing I can think of to blame for all this the full moon. At least it makes me feel better having something to blame.
For all of you who know what I mean...and I'm sure there are more then I know...
Hang in there...it will get better. I know it will. It has to. Just like winter doesn't last forever and though there may be more storms ahead, this too shall pass.

Brigham's Spider Plant

So, this tiny offshoot spider plant is a descendant of Brigham Young's spider plant brought across the plains. When he traveled to Utah from Nauvoo, he brought it along. My pal Val, was brave enough to ask if she could have an offshoot from the orginal plant in the Lion House before she moved here. So, she brought her plant back across the plains to live here in Missouri. As it grows and produces offshoots, she generously gives them away. So Brigham's plant continues to live on and grow all over the country. I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty neat. When my guy starts producing offshoots, start looking forward to receiving them!

Christmas with the Harts

When we went to Utah over Christmas, I brought my big camera. It stayed in it's bag the entire time we were there. Sometimes it's just a pain to get out. My Mom took a ton of pictures and I just got some of them on cd last week. So, now I have some pictures to post. We were supposed to get into Utah on Christmas Day at 3:00 in the afternoon. With flight delays and weather, we didn't get there until almost midnight. We drove straight up to Solitude that night and went right to bed. The next morning we got up and drove down to my sister's house. My parents and Alexis were there and we spent the day with them. We took the kids to Build a Bear at Gateway and ate our way through the mall (Ben's cookies are the best!). We came down from Solitude every day and spent time with family or friends. We were able to see Brooke and Taylor, the Morgans, Boyd's parents & grandparents, Pete & Suzanne and even a brief visit with Laura, Brian and their kids. The whole trip ended up being completely different then we had orginally planned. We spent most of our time in the valley rather than up on the mountain. It was frigid while we were there and though there was a ton of snow it wasn't very enjoyable to ski with it being so cold. Plus, there was so much opportunity to see family and we really couldn't pass up that chance. We did get some skiing in. We tried to ski every day until lunch before we would come down. Some days that only meant a couple of runs. But when it's in the single digits, you get cold pretty fast.
The trip was really great and we really enjoyed seeing everyone. I'm still recovering from the amount of food I ate!
I brought Melanie "Toilart". I know everyone was jealous.

We spent a lot of time playing concentration with the girls. Brynn wins every time.

Our Build a Bear loot...

Uncle Boyd giving everyone a ride...

Alas, no pictures of skiing. It was too cold and I wasn't about to take my gloves off to take some pictures!! Maybe next time!

Mission Accomplished

We're back from our adventure in Chicago. I ended up letting Chloe and Hunter wake Bridger up on monday and tell her she was going to Hannah Montana in Chicago. She was pretty surprised. I didn't tell her that the other part of that surprise was that her friend Baylee Thorne was going though so when we got to the airport she was so excited to see that she was coming. With plane problems we ended up taking a later flight then we anticipated so by the time we got to Chicago we had our driver take us straight to the hotel to check in and then out to dinner at the Rosebud (soooo good!). We then went to the concert...a sea of high pitched screaming 5-13 year old girls! Crazy sound that makes. Jonas brothers weren't there but we saw Ally & AJ...I prefered that anyway. They were really good! Then we saw Hannah Montana and Mylie Cyrus of course! For those who don't know, they are both the same girl (duh). She did a great job and you should have seen the total delight on Bridger and Baylee's faces. We got some photos but we only had our little cameras that don't have the best zoom or flash. The great thing about going to a concert like that too, is that it was done by 9:30pm. It's a school night for those little kids and that way they aren't up until midnight. Although I'm pretty sure a lot of excited little girls had a hard time sleeping that night. Not me. I sunk right down into my pillows with Bridger and we both passed out.
The next morning Baylee and Kim left early. Bridger and I slept in and then spent a couple of hours walking up and down the "Magnificent Mile", Michigan Ave. We had fun shopping and chatting about clothes and chocolate. I'm so grateful that I was able to spend this time with her. I would really like to have the opportunity to do it again with the other girls.

In the Limo from the airport

Baylee and Bridger
So in the end my mission of surprise was accomplished and I think it's safe to say that it was a trip Bridger will never forget.

Letting you in on a secret...

Tomorrow I'm taking Bridger to Chicago to watch Hannah Montana in concert! She doesn't know it yet. I'm going to get her up to get ready and instead of taking her to school, take her to the airport! Thanks to Doug and whoever else for the tickets! She has been ticked at me for 2 months because I didn't take her to see Miley when she was here in KC, so when these tickets became available I was pretty excited. I hope I don't forget my camera! It's killing me not to tell her and I only have about 14 hours left to keep the secret...don't tell!

What's in a name?

Is is possible that your name defines who you are? Kristin posted a name definition website on her blog and I thought it was interesting so I checked it out. I guess I kind of agree with most of what the definition of "Cheryl" was but then...would I just agree with anything that was written? I don't know but it was kind of fun.

Heres what Cheryl Means:

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily.
You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind.
A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable.

You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.
Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.
Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.
You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.
You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is

While I agree with a lot of the definition, I highlighted a couple of things that I thought really felt like me. I don't agree that my name defines me and I'm not really sure how reliable the website was but if nothing else it was entertaining!
www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/

Bridger's Motto

So...while we're driving down the mountain one day this week, Bridger, out of the blue tells us her motto.
"Everyone needs five more minutes."
"What??"
"Everyone needs five more minutes. Thats my motto."
"Why??"
"Cause everyone always needs five more minutes."
"Okay, so that's your motto?"
"yep."
She also thinks that we should have 52 hours in a day...I say take that one up with Heavenly Father.

My motto is from the Beatles with a slight change: "Tomorrow may rain so, I'll follow the "Son".

Looking for Cathers

I see you've posted on my blog but I can't find you! If you read this...leave me an email or something!
Are you still in Tremonton?