blessings...

On the weekend, my dear little sister and her sweet little daughters came to visit from BC. It was a whirlwind trip, even though they did end up staying one more night and day than originally planned. There's something so comforting about being with her- she's only about 21 months younger than I, so we really grew up close together, and sharing memories since we can remember anything. The layers of social habit and savvy just start melting away, and we can be our very barest selves. Just the real, un-armored, (disarm-ing?  :) women we've always been since we were little girls. Well, hopefully a more mature version of our original selves; we no longer play with mud and garden slugs... This weekend it was actually Dead Sea mud masks and books and free-flowing heartfelt conversation. Thank Heaven for a short but sweet visit with Sara.

All we can reach anyway! I am grateful today for the annual food drive our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) sponsors in our community. It was fun last night to get together with all the youth and put together fliers, food bags, and boxes for all the different families who will be picking them up and distributing them this evening in various parts of town etc. They are really good kids, and they were so willing to give their evening to do this work that will help others have enough to eat this fall... We had a few games and some good homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies at the end, but they didn't show up knowing that was in store. They just love getting together... I am pretty excited for Saturday morning when the real fun happens; we get to drive around the roads on our route collecting bags of food donations for the local food bank. What could feel better than helping make sure people will have enough to eat? Thank Heaven for this opportunity to...

This oldish Scottish man is my favorite living author... How many happy hours have I passed in the lives of his characters, enjoying their company and his storytelling? Countless. At least I haven't counted them. I have read and re-read the (12?) novels in his famous No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Sometimes an hour with Precious is just what I crave; the humanity and cleverness and quirky foibles blend seamlessly into a delightfully believable character who's become a friend- if one who doesn't know me or even really exist. Bibliophile problems. La's Orchestra Saves The World is a rare book which I read for the second time on a long drive from Arizona to Provo Utah just a few days after New Year's. Out Loud. I read it aloud to my family and our grown niece Maranda. Universally appreciated. Need I say more? Yes, I think I must tell that as we drove by Young Living lavender fields south of Provo, I was reading about La(vender), the main character, who grew l...

My days have so overflowed with blessings this summer that I scarcely take time to pause and share! The spring snows did all melt away of course, and our big vegetable garden ins thriving... thanks almost single-handedly to my industrious husband and his green thumbs. We have already begun to enjoy fresh beans, peas, carrots, baby potatoes, beets, cucumbers etc. And Kirby's talents don't stop there; he's already bottled up beet pickles and B.C. peaches! He's always been a culinary man, and enjoyed gardening. Now it's all highlighted by the fact that I am looking after 5-6 little ones for 9 hours a day, 5 days a week!! Fun work, but pretty full-time! Thank Heaven for my husband's help!

At the old family farmhouse on Coast Meridian Road, there was a huge weeping willow tree in the front yard. It was almost as big as the house, or so I remember it! It had plenty of water in the low wet ground, and was near a huge deep full ditch between the front yard and the road. Near the willow was an enormous holly tree, which seemed to tower around the height of the red farmhouse roof. I remember when Mom cut out a house for us in the middle branches; we liked playing in our secret holly house, although I clearly recall how sharp the prickly leaves were! Dad made us a great tire swing hung from the weeping willow- the kind that sits horizontally. It was so fun to play on... About 7 years ago he gave it to us to put in our own yard for Jack and Mary and Emma- the same one from when we were little on the farm! A couple of years ago when we were out at my sister's place in a lush BC mountain valley, Kirby and I bought a little willow tree in a yogurt container from someone at th...

In my dayhome I have two adorable little twin girls. They came to me in May after being at home with their loving parents, with supplemental care from a doting grandma, until the age of 2 1/2. They are easily the best examples I have met of true, unspoilt 'wide-eyed wonder'... Really, so precious. And their mom and grandma are English, so they have sweet little accents. They have each at times wrapped their little arms around my neck and said, ' Leah, I love you.' Utterly endearing.

All this summer I worked 9 hours a day, 5 days a week here at home looking after 5-6 little ones at a time. This is a lot of work, but it's work I really enjoy. My husband (a schoolteacher) and our three teenaged children were home a lot, and we had wonderful friends and family here visiting pretty well the whole time we were home! It was busy. Happy, but very busy! Then Kirby and I went away together for the last couple days of the long weekend. He had been saying for quite a while that we needed to do this; and suddenly the time was right. We drove to Waterton Saturday afternoon, and walked by the lake, the river, the waterfall, the shops... (Actually we walked right into some of the shops; an art gallery and some red ballet flats called so sweetly :) After a delicious dinner at 'Pizza of Waterton', we enjoyed the pool, hot tub, steam room, and sauna. RELAXING! On Sunday morning it was only a few steps next door to church! Monday morning we went to the temple in Cardst...