what are your divine qualities?

i taught a lesson on divine nature, today....
i really struggled with this lesson, because i was feeling a little less divine this week....
but, i put my nose to the grind and prepared a lesson even though i knew the lesson was more for me than it was for the girls.....
i hate when the lesson is for me.....
i really didn't want to learn from it, i wanted to wallow in my feelings....
so, here's what i learned....
i was sent to earth with divine qualities and now i need to develop them....
once developed (continuous process), use them for good and fulfill my mission that God has for me....
here are some scriptures that tell of divine qualities....
2 Peter 1; Alma 7:23-24; and D&C 121:45
divine qualities....
submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, patient, long-suffering, being temperate, diligent in keeping the commandments, grateful, faith, hope, charity, humble, virtuous
"and then ye will always abound in good works" when you have these things.

i think that i have some of these qualities.....
i am gentle, patient for the most part, faithful, charitable
i need to work on being more humble, grateful

the ways to work on these are....
be more apt to humble myself and not always have to have god humble me...
see the good in all things and recognize that they are from god....
"always return thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive"

i am grateful for my calling and for my family....
i am grateful for the gospel and the scriptures that guide and direct me...
i am grateful for the talents that i have and the ability to perform them and hopefully share them...
i am grateful for a kind and loving heavenly father....
i am grateful for good friends who love and accept me for who i am....
i am grateful for lessons that teach me the things i need to know and work on!

never mock...it will surely come back to you

so, the other day i was in the parking lot by smith's.....
i watched a guy back into a parking stall and proceed to hit a cement pole....
i sat in my car and kind of laughed....i have to admit.....
as i pulled into my parking stall, i noticed a grocery cart in front of the truck.....
i thought, "now don't hit this when you come out and drive away".....
i probably was only in the bike shop for less than 10 minutes.....
got in the truck.....
put it in drive......
hit the grocery cart, but didn't notice until.....
i heard the scraping of it on the ground......
oh, how blonde can i get?!.....

moral of the story.....
never mock someone, because it will come back to haunt you!

Life Centre Swimming Babes!

here "bobs" the old ladies who swim at 9:30 am master's swim group.....
denny came up with the idea of getting the old fashioned swim caps and marching out like a synchronized swimming team.....
sooooo, we did just that....check out the video.....


denny found these caps online and we decided that it would be great entertainment for dave ryland, who is our swim coach.....
his face was priceless when we marched out.....
sometimes we think we are so funny and sometimes that time is now! hahahaha

i tried to do my workout in my flower cap on.....
it may keep your head warm, but when you go under water, your head pops back up to the top...
kind of a funny feeling....
oh, we just think we are the funniest!

vicki linton, denny hitchcock, val christensen, me, cathy dover

oh the things old ladies do for kicks and giggles! :0)

the hills are alive with the sound of.....hiking

on labor day (sept. 6th) our family and some of ashley's roommates/friends went hiking up little cottonwood canyon.....
to be exact....we hiked up to lake mary and twin lake, which is up above brighton ski resort.....
it was a beautiful day!
i just love the mountains.....what an amazing creation God made us!
we had lunch at the lake, and then came down and walked around brighton yw girl's camp.....
here are a few highlights of our day.....

..

i am grateful for the beauties of the earth and a wonderful family!

and that my kids have great friends!

Always take your car keys with you.....

what an awesome day!

amy harmer, deanna smith, christina christopherson and myself took off to deer valley ski resort to ride out mountain bikes.....

amy asked me to drive the truck so we could leave it at the bottom (in park city) to shuttle back up to deer valley.....

so our adventure begins.......

what a beautiful ride!

(amy, deanna, christina) (looking down into park city)

we rode for about 1 1/2 hours on the mountain.....

i could do a ride like that every day if it were possible!.....

right after i took these pictures, we started to ride again......

i realized what i had done because we could see the truck from the viewpoint.......

so here's my blonde moment of the day......

i left my car keys in amy's car!

now, we can't use the truck to drive back up to deer valley.....

we have to take the shuttle bus, which is in park city almost to the top of main street......

we were trying to avoid the shuttle because the cars would have been faster.......ugh!

so much for saving time......

oh well, they now have a story to tell........

other than that, the ride was magnificent......

i did almost take out a couple of hikers on the way down......

that would have taken precedence over the car keys story.......haha

moral of the story......

have fun, enjoy the view, and always carry your car keys!

p.s. i need a mountain bike with front and back suspension!

midnight moon 5k run

rewind to august 27th/28th, 2010.....

it has been raining.....with thunder and lightning, too.......

the midnight moon 5k run at alta canyon rec. center starts at midnight.....

we carbo load at dinner with some yummy pizza.......

take a nap at 10 pm to have enough energy to run at midnight......

head over about 11:30 pm......

me, ashley, marlee redford, libby griffieon, and mark line up in the very front on the starting line......

kayla porter, dayne porter, and megan henry were there, also.......

the gun fires and we start off.......FAST!

we started out too fast and i thought......"there is no way i can keep this pace up going up the BIG hill"......

i didn't!

but, i didn't do too bad.....

i knew if i could just keep a decent pace on the hill i could relax a little at the top on the flat.....

half way through it started to sprinkle rain.....ah, that feels good....

i was doing great! i even thought, "i am going to get a time of 21 minutes"....
that's how good i felt!

well, i didn't get 21 minutes, but i put out a good time of 25:28 which was good enough to get me 2nd place in my age group!

marlee took 1st place in her age group!

she booked it up the hill and there was no way of catching her!

mark had a great race considering he had been sick wednesday and thursday!

with not much in him he did it under 30 mins.! good job!

ashley and libby met their goal of under 30 mins, also! way to go girls!

ashley, marlee, and libby

yeah, we did it!!

last year of public education....

Addison - first day of school - 8/31/10

i can't believe that school has started for both of my kids......
this will be ashley's junior year at byu......
and addison's senior year at jordan high......
hence, the last year of public education........

i am proud of them both!
ashley is a good student, a solid person, a spiritual giant
addison is a good student, a solid person, a spiritual giant
oh, wait, they can't be the same.....

so, senior year is supposed to be the fun, take easy classes year.....right?
not so much for addison......
he is working on getting the regent's scholarship, which means......
taking legit classes!
he has......ap english, ap stats, german 3, financial lit (concurrent - which is college level), marketing, us gov't, ceramics, foods, basketball, and seminary......
(i think i am missing some)
he doesn't have any of his good friends in his classes.......
his german 3 teacher used him as a object lesson by kicking him out of class the first day, swearing at him, and telling him that he would sign anything to get him out of his class! ugh!
not a good way to start the year off!
but on a good note.....he does like his ap stats teacher, seminary, ap english, and basketball....
so, half isn't bad.....
i am very proud of him for stepping up to the plate and taking these classes even though he is a lone fish in the big sea of fun classes......

i am proud of both of my kids!
they are hard workers, good friends, strong in the gospel, have a testimony, loving and caring, smart, fun to be with, cute, and down right good people!!!!

i have truly been blessed!