"Expressing gratitude brings us humility. In a world where we have been given so much and might be severely tempted to pride, gratitude stands as a barrier, for one cannot fill pride and gratitude at the same time."

--S. Michael Wilcox, "Gratitude", January 2005 Ensign pg. 47

I bought this bouquet for myself yesterday...

after i learned i needed a new cast for 3 more weeks. Sunshine for my soul....

He was nice and clean...until Gramma Kim gave him...

A Nestle' Crunch Bar...which he happened to love. That's my puppy!

Baby Grant as a Dalmation Puppy...

Sean busy with the carving knife...

 

Happy Jack-O-Lanterns...

Royce's Birthday Party Tonight...

I'm an Autumn...what are you?

You Are Fall!

Thoughtful Expressive Creative Poetic Smart

What Season Are You?

Friday the 13th...on our very first real bus-ride fieldtrip!

Sean and his friend Kole...full of anticipation at the prospect of touring the Pumpkin Patch...

Off we go!

It started out to be such a nice day....

Is this not a happy sight!!? 

I want to live here

Even though this is the exact spot in which I tripped over a toy tractor and broke my ARM, I still think this pumpkin patch is such a beautiful place!

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....