Sean and Grant at the Pumpkin Patch

A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.

-- Unknown

my new hand pose...

lovely...very graceful at least...only 2 weeks and 5 days left to go! I can do this!

FRIDAY THE 13th...was my unlucky day....

i broke my left wrist...i picked out my cast yesterday...it's black in honor of the season...but mostly in expression of my mood! no bracelets for awhile....and i am sad................

The sky this morning.......

A balloon over my neighborhood this morning....

.....wishing I could have hitched a ride....

Fall flowers from my garden....

 

Me...on an average day...

Come said the wind to the leaves one day, Come o'er the meadows and we will play. Put on your dresses scarlet and gold, For summer is gone and the days grow cold. -

-- A Children's Song of the 1880's

"Some think it's holding on
that makes one strong; sometimes it's letting go."

~ Sylvia Robinson

Great is the road I climb, but the garland offered by an easier effort is not worth the gathering.

-- Sextus Propertius (50BC-16AD) Roman Poet

A mother should give her children a superabundance of enthusiasm,that after they have lost all they are sure to lose in mixing with the world, enough may still remain to prompt and support them through great actions.

-- Julius C. Hare (1795-1855) English Cleric

 

A Hansen Missionary returns today...

I love this picture of Robbie hugging his mom!!!! This is the son of Royce's cousin Mark. He just got home today from serving his mission in Brazil. 

 

Every problem has in it
the seeds of its own solution.If you don't have any problems,
you don't get any seeds.

-Norman Vincent Peale

We've all eaten a lot of cake this week in our family...time to give our "sweet tooths" a rest! (That shows how bad it's been around here...ME? RESTING MY SWEET TOOTH???)

Grant's 1st Birthday!

We celebrated another birthday today...and we had a hard time getting little Grant to open his presents. He turned his back on all the brightly wrapped gifts in exchange for some giggle time with Sean. Very sweet....he's a kid...and has his priorities in the right place. Who needs presents when one has a friend!!!?

Unexplained "goings on" in my backyard when "they" think I'm not watching...

I love that babies are so easily amused....

And, I just so happen to love this little guy more each day! It's wonderful being Grammie Kimmie. 

Happy Birthday To You......

We had a fun birthday party last Sunday for 2 of my favorite men...and, as you can see, we had quite a bit of great cake to celebrate with that night. Ryan and my father have been fishing buddies since Ryan was just a little 6 or 7 year old. It has been a wonderful thing watching their relationship grow through the years. Happy Birthday Ryan and Dad!!! 

A beautiful scripture explanation from Robin Groff's website today...

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot;then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it" If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.

-- Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish Writer

 

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart....

...and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths.....

Leslie and her friend Trisha at the Open House of the new Sacramento Temple yesterday....

The Big Day Arrives!!! (This past Monday)

6 years ago I was sent another little angel to love and care for...he has blessed my life more than any words I could ever write would express adequately. Still a "baby" to me, but looking much older each moment...he was anxious to get going that day and begin his new life as a Kindergarten Student. 

Sean (middle) right before he began to sob....

Poor little guy. He just started realizing what this whole school thing entailed I suppose - you know, leaving mom for half a day...EVERY day....and though I was a tad bit irritated, I was also happy to know that at least one of my children still feels like crying at the idea of being separated from me......sweet little boy! 

Character cannot be developed
in ease and quiet. Only through experience of
trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened,
ambition inspired, and success achieved.

-Helen Keller

Okay...So I'm obsessed with my Violets...!

  

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.

-- Lord Byron (1788-1824) English Poet

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

-- George Eliot (1819-1880) English Novelist

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.

-- T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American Poet

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.

-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish Playwright

My Sean...the champion swimmer....

Well...not yet...but maybe someday! Just knowing he's not afraid anymore is all that I care about!! Yay!

“A home without a grandmother is like an egg without salt.”

~Florence King

Great Quote for Today!

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.

-- Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990)

Beautiful...(another photo not taken by me)...

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost. The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king.

~Quote from "Return of the King" by Tolkien

Sean was sooo excited to do fireworks tonight...

Tonight's neighborhood fireworks show...

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival
and success of liberty."

~ John F Kennedy

Happy 4th of July!!!

America the Beautiful!!!

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,For amber waves of grain,For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!America! America! God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhoodFrom sea to shining sea.

Oh, beautiful for pilgrim feet,Whose stern, impassioned stress A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control,Thy liberty in law.

Oh, beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America!May God thy gold refine,Till all success be nobleness,And ev’ry gain divine.

Oh, beautiful for patriot dreamThat sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam,Undimmed by human tears!America! America! God shed his grace on thee,And crown thy good with brotherhoodFrom sea to shining sea.

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.

~John Wayne