Back at it...

Brittney and I began again with our early morning regimen. We are taking it slow and starting with the Wind Cave hike in the Ussery Mountains. It was so beautiful this morning. There were already tons of wildflowers blooming up there. It is going to be a spectacular spring with all the rain we have had.

It was so nice to be out in the fresh air this morning and clear the mind. It really made appreciate the splendor we have access to here in the Valley. For such a big city, we sure have a lot of nature to enjoy.

If you live here in the Valley, and you have never been to Ussery Mountain Park you should definitely give it a try. It is easy to access (North East Mesa) and there is hiking at every level. You would not find anything too difficult or extreme but it is still a good jaunt.

We Won The Lottery!!!!

The Lottery I won is actually costing me money but very exciting nonetheless. Jarrod, Brittney, Gladriel and I put in for the non-commercial Colorado River trip lottery. It is extremely hard to get and two of us were actually picked. This means in about a year and a half from now we will be rafting down the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. It is about a three week trip. So long vacation next year... However this is the trip of a lifetime!!

Had my cake and ate it too...

Well not really; I had Mint Brownie Trifle instead and it was fantastic. Last night Christi had several of our friends over for the most delicious dinner for my birthday. If I ever hear Christi say she is not a very good cook again I am going to hop on her scale and prove her wrong.
Wow, it is going to be a hard adjustment not be taken out to lunch and dinner ever day to celebrate. My birthday celebrations started about a week before my birthday and ended about a week after. Last night was so fun. It was great to spend the evening eating, drinking and being merry. The best part of the whole night was watching Christi lose at "Ticket to Ride". I was not playing but it is always great when Christi looses because she is always taking everyone else for a "ride". Just kidding Christi, I am always so happy for you when you win. :)

The Economics of Gold-Digging

Many of you may have seen this before. It has been circulated through email a couple of times, but I just got it again today and thought I would share it with any who may have missed it.

The Economics of Gold-Digging - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

Feels great to be forty!

Okay so I am not forty, but if I were you would think I looked great for forty wouldn't you? I thought maybe if I start celebrating my fortieth birthday now then it won't look so bad when it actually comes. :)

Tuesday night I had a great dinner out with Jayne and Christi, Wednesday night Arian and Christi came over for dinner and last night the "Old Landmark" gang went out on the town to celbrate mine and Marcie's birthday's. How wonderful to fill so much of my time with the company of great friends. It is worth having a birthday every year just to catch up with everyone.

Last night we had fabulous Thai food at Malee's on Main and then we walked around down town Scottsdale and enjoyed the Art Galleries. Hillary, Jen and I all decided we could easily reproduce some of the over-priced art we saw. So next "Mormon Monday" as Maribeth calls it, we are going to bring out skills and the extra junk we have lying around the house, slap it all together and sell for thoudands of dollars to those Snooty Scottsdale suckers.

I have been so blessed to have so many wonderful amazing people as a part of my life. What a wonderful gift you are all are to me!

Basketball, Basketball, Basketball...

First things first... Let me get my pride out of the way and declare that the object that was knocked down in my front yard two nights ago is in fact called a Basketball Goal. See the following link; http://overstocks.basketballgoalstore.com/?c=slamdunk&gclid=CL-X6t3a1ZECFQISYQodXVmLZA. Well maybe you don't even need to pull up the website, just note the name is Basketball Goal Store... Thank you very much Ashley and Kelly. Just so you know they do sell hoops as well which as far as I can tell is the top part of the goal.

Next, how about those suns?! Yes, I know we had a loss last night but overall played a great game. I am feeling like we are going to get ourselves a championship this year!! I know many of you have been skeptical about Shaq but I really think this is going to be just what we need to win this season. Now if we can just figure out how to either defend the Lakers or outscore them...

Go Suns!!!

Sun and Snow...

What a great combination; It was a wonderful weekend of Sun and Snow in Colorado! Amber, Tanner and I spent the weekend doing our favorite things skiing and eating! We spent our first day of skiing in Telluride. Amber had never been there and absolutely loved the atmosphere. Tanner loved it because they have a huge freestyle park and lots of half-pipe and jumps. The second day we skied in Durango. I love that place! They have great runs that are really long and a lot of variety. We just had a great trip overall. It could not have been a better way for Amber and I to celebrate both our Birthdays!

So last night I am in my kitchen making myself some green chili chicken noodle soup and I hear this huge crash in my garage. My heart started racing and I just knew someone was breaking into my house. so I ran out the front door and thought I could catch them from the front. I see that one of my neighbors is parked in the street with his truck and a huge trailer carrying a sand rail. Apparently there had been two cars on the truck but the second came flying off and ran right over my basketball goal and into my garage door. I just started laughing. Another neighbor came running over, as she had seen the whole thing. Eric, the owner of the cars, said his heart was pounding. He was so thankful no one was hurt and that it missed my car which was parked only a couple of inches away. When the basketball goal fell over it hit my roof and knocked off some roof tiles and then went crashing into the garage door creating only minimal damage. It was pretty funny really. Eric said he had just driven four hours home from the dunes on the freeway. What a miracle that it happened in our neighborhood and not on the freeway.

My Little Valentines

Yesterday I had my primary class over for a little valentine party. We decorated heart shaped cupcakes and made cards for each childs parents for valentine's Day. It was so fun! They are just absolutley adorable, as you can see. It was great to see how creative they were with their cupcakes and the cards. I loved seeing how each of them was wither so concerned with making enough cupcakes for each member in their family or about eating them themselves. It was hilarious to see how they would adorn their cupcakes. Quite frankly most of them did not look to edible after all the extras were added but they seemed to think they were perfect and that is what counts. I sure love these little four year olds! It is kind of the best of both worlds; I get to have all this fun with these great kids and then I can send them home for all the work. Who knew life could be this perfect!

Happy Birthday Susan!

Today is Susan's birthday. As you can see she is still young and beautiful! I met Susan almost nine years ago when I began my career with Landmark. We became fast friends through our shared love of sarcasm and intellectual wit. Although, we know who is really the funniest between us, there have been a few times I have let her think she got the better of me. The one thing we can always agree on is that we are definitely funnier than everyone else in the room. Susan was the assistant to the V.P. of Sales and Marketing and I was working in the Home Essentials Division. Two years later I was managing the division and Susan wanted to do something different she came to work with me in Home Essentials and eventually took over for me when I moved to the executive suite. When we worked together some of the guys at work thought it was funny that we were such good friends because we were so different. They would tease that we were like day and night; I was day and Susan was night. :)
She is one of the most talented, intelligent and truly magnificent people I know! (And yes gentlemen she is single) Susan is the kind of friend everyone needs to have. She has been encouraging and supportive through every triumph and every difficulty. I know if ever I need ANYTHING she is there in a heartbeat. Love you Susan and here’s to another great year!

My parents came out to visit this weekend and we had a blast. We began our time together with a bang by attending the Suns game! My friends Jeremiah and Jayne were being honored at center court by Banner Hospitals as The Family of The Year. I have attached picture of them and their sweet quadruplets on the jumbotron.

It was a great game (we won of course!) and my Mom and Dad really enjoyed their very first NBA game. I have also attached some pictures of my friends Ryan and Bryan who are obviously democrats from Vermont
Okay maybe I am just a little bitter that Ryan chose to sit in those seats with Bryan and not me!!! Do you see how close they are to Grant Hill… Oh, excuse me while I daydream!!!

Saturday I drug my parents out to the Ussery Mountains to hike. Dad and I hiked up to the Wind Cave while Mom walked around in the park and visited with people and worked on a crossword puzzle. It was an absolutely beautiful day!! Late that afternoon we decide to go see The Bucket List. I did not know much about it and thought it was a comedy but it is serious. It was really good except that the language is really bad, well for me anyway.

My parents brought my birthday gift which I am VERY excited about! They got me a Cricut! I have already created tons of fun projects for my primary kids and anticipate a lot more! LOVE IT!! Thanks again Mom and Dad!! You are awesome!Love YouThen of all the wonderful things, Christi invited me over late last evening for an early birthday! I could have died when I opened my present and saw not just any camera but a PINK camera. Christi, you know me so well!! I am so excited to have a brand new Kodak easyshare 8MP. AWESOME and just in time for my trip to Colorado… Thanks CeeCee!!! Love you tons!!!

Happy Birthday John!

It seems at least half the people I know have a birthday in February. Okay Maybe not half but several. So happy birthday to all of my February friends. Who are obviously superior beings becuase of the February birthday! :) Okay so maybe mine is in Feb. too...
Today is my friend and co-worker John's birthday and so I snaped this candid this morning to capture his youth, while he still has some! Happy Birthday John!!!

For The Girls!

Okay, I am generally really picky about the small amount of makeup I wear. A little Mack powder and eyes, Clinique lip gloss and a touch of perscriptives bronzer. A couple of weeks ago my friend Connie told me that her sister-in-law had ordered make-up from this place that sell everything for $1. No, that is not a typo! One Dollar make-up, girls! you can check it out at www.eyeslipsface.com. I thought "Why not" I might as well give it a shot to see if it is good stuff. Well my order came in two days ago and so far I have been pleasantly surprised. I can onlyb vouch for the lips gloss and nail polish but I really like both. And what I like even more than that is that I got 13 items for the price of 1 clinique lipgloss. Crazy!!! Oh, and shipping was only a $1!

Today Is My Masterpiece

I saw this quote this morning and it got me thinking about making the most of everyday."[Joseph Smith] was a young man, then a poor farm boy with very little education. He had nothing. His parents had nothing. He lived in a rural community, scarcely recognized outside its borders. And yet the angel [Moroni] said to him that 'he was a messenger sent from the presence of God . . . ; that God had a work for [Joseph] to do; and that [his] name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people' (Joseph Smith--History 1:33).
"How could such a thing be? Joseph must have wondered. He must have been absolutely stunned.
"And yet it has all come to
pass. And far greater will yet come to pass."

Joseph Smith could have concerned himself with his lack of education or his meager life circumstances. He could have said "I will get to the work the Lord has asked me to do in this life when my circumstances are better or after I have finished my education or..." But he didn't, he just did exactly as the Lord asked him to do and thankfully fulfilled his mission here.

We too have the opportunity everyday to fulfill our mission for that day and that moment. I was reminded today by Steve Chandler, of the great basketball coach John Wooden who said, "Make each day your masterpiece." That's different than focusing the whole year on one big game; or shooting for some future achievement... Very different. And Wooden won more national championships than any college basketball coach in history. How? …By not focusing on championships. An average Wednesday afternoon practice center in the gym in torn tee shirts was every bit as important a day as the day they played the national championship.

We can all make each day a prized day and relish in even the smallest achievements and learn from the biggest defeats.

Deal or No Deal??!!

Although I have never seen an entire episode of Deal or No Deal; I am promoting tonight’s special show. Not only do they have 10 one million dollar cases on tonight’s show but they also have a friend of mine picking them. My friend Becky Metheny was their pick to be the special contestant for tonight’s show! Exciting stuff!!! So if you have a chance; be sure to tune in and cheer Becky on. I expect her to be really fun to watch because she is a kick and full of energy. I think it starts at 8:30 and goes to 10:00 or 10:30 tonight.

GOOD LUCK BECKY!!

Favorite Quotes by President Gordon B. Hinckley

I could not let this day pass without a personal tribute to our beloved President Gordon B. Hinckley. He had such an extraordinary ability to help each of us see our indiviudal value in the sight of the Lord while inspiring us to be better. These are some of my favorite quotes of inspiration.

“My plea to each of you is that we constantly take the position that every one of us can do better than we are doing. We are in a constant search for excellence. That search must be continuous and never ending. It must be consuming and unrelenting….”

“The time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a season to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth, and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those in distress and to those who are wandering in darkness and pain. It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another in all of our relationships. In other words, to become more Christlike."

“This church does not belong to its President. Its head is the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name each of us has taken upon ourselves. We are all in this great endeavor together. We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory.... Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere. No calling in this church is small or of little consequence.”

"I urge our people everywhere, with all of the persuasiveness of which I am capable, to live worthy to hold a temple recommend, to secure one and regard it as a precious asset, and to make a greater effort to go to the house of the Lord and partake of the spirit and the blessings to be had therein. I am satisfied that every man or woman who goes to the temple in a spirit of sincerity and faith leaves the house of the Lord a better man or woman. There is need for constant improvement in all of our lives. There is need occasionally to leave the noise and the tumult of the world and step within the walls of a sacred house of God, there to feel His spirit in an environment of holiness and peace."

"Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier."

“The Church is the great teacher and builder of values. Its precepts are designed to lead men and women along the way of immortality and eternal life, to make their lives more complete, more rich and happy while moving through this vale of tears, and in preparing them for the beauties and wonders of that

“We do not succeed, I believe, until the Spirit of the Lord reaches down into the heart of the people and touches them with that conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten in the flesh, He who gave His life for each of us.

“If there be any within the sound of my voice who have harbored grudges, who have let hatred develop in their hearts one toward another, I ask you to make the effort to turn around. Hatred always fails and bitterness always destroys, but “charity never faileth.””

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

President Hinckley, you will be greatly missed, but we will move forward in faith and strength and continue in your example to face everyday with thanks in our hearts and a zeal for life; striving each day to do better than the day before.

Testing my resolve...

Now that it is the first day of the SECOND month of the year (where has the time gone???) I have decided I need to review that long list of resolutions and see where I stand. Amazingly I am doing pretty well. One of the things I have noticed about myself as I get a little older is that I am smarter about the goals I set and how I set them.In my ambitious youth I would set goals that would be near impossible to achieve but thinking that I could do it anyway... :) Now I am more pragmatic in my goal setting. It is amazing how much easier the elephant is to eat one bite at a time. I still have big dreams and ambitions, but now I plan step by step how to achieve and use my small slips as learning edges. I am better able to turn my mistakes into progress and use it as motivation for change.

Planning is everything. Instead of just setting my sights on grandiose achievements, I plan steps toward progress and hope I live long enough to fulfill those ultimate goals. :)As I have reviewed my goals for 2008, I feel pleased with the progress I have made so far. I definitely have not reached the highest level of achievement for every goal but I have seen progress in all areas and have learned some lessons through failures. Overall it is another step in the journey and I am enjoying every minute even the difficult steps and missteps. I am learning more and more how to laugh at myself and use my many mistakes in life to build character.

So, if you are feeling down about not perfectly keeping that diet or struggling to get to the gym or buying that new pair of jeans when you vowed to save every penny... just take a look at your overall progress and feel satisfied that you are taking baby steps toward your ultimate goals. Everything does not have to be done TODAY! Look at yourself as a whole person and not on the level of each goal. You are growing, you are learning and you are becoming a newer and better person through every teeny tiny baby step. Don't forget to measure your progress by where you are and not the distant future. Our life is only this moment right now. Who knows what will happen tomorrow so take in every exhilarating minute of today and cherish it, even if it is painful!