Republican National Convention highlights

I am so completely jealous. My brother, Mike, figured out a way to get to the Republican National Convention in Tampa. What a cool experience to watch the first Mormon candidate nominated for President of the United States.

I loved Ann Romney's speech. If you haven't seen it yet, you've got to watch:



It was fun to see Mike get the chance to share information about our beliefs internationally because of Mitt Romney's nomination. My sister, Tami, was also interviewed. You can watch the clip here. In the article it mentions my sister, Tami, and their Family Home Evening.

While Mike was in Tampa for the convention, a radio station interviewed him about Mormonism.


One of my favorite lines was from vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan when he said:

"College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life."

Another favorite was one of Mitt Romney's:

"President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans...
And to heal the planet...
My promise is to help you and your family."

Love it! 

I am a Republican because I think local control is best. The Federal government needs to give as much control to the State government as possible. Then the State government needs to give as much control to the local municipalities as possible. 

I am a Republican because I believe that people who work hard should get to keep their money. Our welfare system is broken. "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." 

I am a Republican because I don't think the federal government should have its hand in everything. Free enterprise should drive the economy. 

I am so sick and tired of the entitlement mentality that many in this country have. They want the government to hand them everything without having to work for it. I am tired of my hard-earned money going to higher taxes to pay for people who don't want to work hard. It is unfair that my children and grandchildren will then have to pay for this debt-saddled society.

I am so proud of my friend, Mia Love, for the fabulous speech she gave at the convention. She summarizes many of my feelings about what this country should be:

Today I am extremely proud to be a Republican (and a Mormon)!!

Medical/wedding update

Here was the email my dad sent the other day:

"Lori and I visited with the doctor yesterday and because of the radiation treatment (don't know about chemo yet) we have postpone our Sept. 29 wedding plans.
Thanks for all your faith and prayers."

Sheesh! If one year ago someone would've told my dad that he would lose his wife in a car accident, start dating, fall in love with a woman from Nephi, get engaged, have his fiance diagnosed with cancer, and all the other things dad has had to deal with this year, I don't think he would have believed them. I can't believe how many crazy things can happen in one year. (That's not even saying anything about Mike's challenges this year.)

But luckily dad has much faith and he relies on the Lord to carry him through. He seems very positive and doesn't complain about the trials he must endure. (Some of which I haven't been able to mention on this blog because they have to do with other family members.)

I am trying to figure out what I want to do on Sept. 11 this year. That marks the one year anniversary of mom's death. It's funny because I went out this morning for a jog and the weather was a little cooler. I didn't realize that impending fall weather would be a trigger for me, but it totally is. I was reminded how the weather was through those hard few weeks after mom passed.

So what to do on Sept. 11?? Here are some of my thoughts: Go do sealings at the temple with any family and close friends who are interested, have anyone who wants to meet at mom's grave and bring a picnic dinner come and visit, stay home and clean my house from top to bottom all by myself (a clean house always reminds me of mom), or something else I haven't thought of. Any suggestions??

On mom's birthday a week later, we are going to have a pizza party at my dad's house with the kids and watch videos of mom and celebrate her life. At some point I'd love to listen to the funeral again - I haven't done that yet. 

Dad at the Temple

Since my dad is (hopefully) getting married soon, he will no longer be working in the Jordan River Temple on Thursdays as a temple worker.

One of my big regrets was not attending the temple on a Thursday night to see my mom there as a temple worker before she died. I did not want to have that same regret with my dad, so Matt, Tom, Tami and I went on a temple session when dad was conducting it last Thursday. Our friends, Ruth Ann and Gaylon came, too.

I got very emotional as I watched the other women working there, knowing that many of them were probably good friends with mom. My dad even pointed out a few people that she had a special fondness for.

Watching my dad serve in the temple and conduct a temple session was awesome! I am so proud of his worthiness and willingness to serve in the temple. He's a tremendous example to all of us!

Sweet, sweet Lori

My dad and Lori decided to get married on Sept. 29. That is, until they received some bad news a few weeks ago... Lori was diagnosed with breast cancer.

My poor dad has just had a very rough year. This was devastating news.

Because of insurance policies and whatnot, they realized they could not get married until she was well again, so we all crossed our fingers and said a lot of prayers that the cancer was minimal and easy to treat.

Last week she had surgery and things went very well. We will know more at the end of the week.

I had an interesting experience just a few hours before Lori was diagnosed. Ever since they postponed their original wedding date in July, my attitude about my dad remarrying has not been stellar. It's that whole thing of just wanting things to go back to how they were and not wanting to accept that my dad may be with someone else. I love Lori, but I just had a problem accepting it.

One morning I was getting ready for work and I heard my mom's voice in my head say, "Shame on you! Look how happy she makes him and how well she treats our grandkids." It was a little out of the blue because I wasn't really thinking about it, but it startled me and made me think.

I promptly repented for being so selfish and even sent Lori a text telling her how excited we were to have her in the family. It was a few hours later that we got the news that she did have cancer.

I had another interesting experience one night as I was falling asleep. I saw my mom and Lori meeting for the first time. My mom looked at her with so much gratefulness and gave her a big hug.

I have no doubt that my mom wants my dad to spend the rest of his mortal life with a companion. She does not want him to be alone, but wants him to be happy.

The other day I walked into my dad's family room and he and Lori were sitting on the couch with their computers, coordinating their schedules. I saw them together and realized that I could see them growing old together and what a great blessing Lori would be in our lives.

Of course I wish my mom was still here. I don't look at Lori as a replacement for my mom, but rather another addition to our family, much like when my siblings found companions to marry.

I am finally learning how to accept what has happened. I am still sad sometimes, but I know life must go on. The Lord wants us to be happy in this life and he is blessing us in many ways. Lori is definitely one of them.

Mom the Movie Director

For those of you who have lost loved ones, I'm sure you can relate with this...

I've found that once someone dies, we tend to put them on a pedestal and remember the good things about them, and forget most of the not-so-good things. I am actually relieved to realize this because if anything happens to me, I can hope my kids will remember that I made them laugh, helped them practice the piano/violin, and taught them to do chores every day. I hope they don't remember the times I raised my voice, was too lazy to make dinner, or was on my cell phone more than I should be.

I've found this to be true about my mom, too. I remember far more good and positive things about her than any negative.

Well, today my little bubble burst when I had a reminder of how she sometimes drove me nuts!

I was going through some old videos and watched Caleb's birth. Mom was always great to attend most my kids births (Aubree came too fast), and help video and take photos. The only problem was that she wanted to be a movie director instead of quietly filming the sacred moments when we met our children for the first time. In this particular video she was politely bossing Matt around. "Matt, kneel down so I can get you in this shot." "Do you want your fingers on your son's face?" "All I can see is you holding a big bundle of blankets. I can't see the baby."

Bless. Her. Heart.

She was just trying to make a great video for years of enjoyment. But as I watched it I had to turn it off because it was bugging me. I can't believe I am so irreverent to admit that my mom sometimes bugs me! Even still!

Anyway, I retold this story to my dad and bawled and laughed at the same time! Oh how I miss my crazy mom!!

Dad's House

I admit the past few months I have not been a very diligent blogger. In fact, I ran into a woman that I don't know well who told me she's a reader and that I needed to "get with it." LOL!

On that note, I thought I'd share my recent revelations about my dad's house...

In the past when I've gone into my dad's house, it's made me cry. It totally reminded me of my mom. The past few times when I've gone to dad's house, though, it feels likes it's just dad's house. Not mom's as much. I assume that's normal as time heals the pain.

In many ways having less sadness and pain is a relief. But sometimes I feel a little guilty - like I should be missing mom more and feeling sad.

And on we continue riding the merry-go-round of life...

Softball Game with Harmons

Last Monday employees from the Taylorsville Harmons did a service project cleaning up Vista Park. They ended the day with a softball game where they challenged Taylorsville City employees and contractors. (I work for Taylorsville.)

Thank goodness we had some off-duty firefighters who came to help field our softball team.

This cute lady in the yellow shirt is the Taylorsville Harmons store manager. Harmons had so many great employees and we enjoyed getting to know them better.

This was the Taylorsville City team. We had our firefighters, Mayor Wall, City Administrator John Inch Morgan, Councilmember Ernest Burgess, Judge Marsha Thomas, Pat Kimbrough, Don Adams and me.

Our fans included other employees and the Taylorsville HS cheerleaders.

Bob Harmon and his mom came to support their team.

When I was up to bat, I was surprised that I actually hit the ball. I was safe on first. When the next person hit, I quickly ran to second. They caught the pop fly and I couldn't figure out why they were also tagging first base. Then someone told me that if there's a pop fly I needed to stay on base. I felt bad that I caused an out. Ooops!

The Mayor had me as the second baseman. Big mistake. As you can see by looking at how I awkwardly tried to catch the ball that I am not good at softball. I decided to use my only good strategy... chat with the people from Harmons when they were on second base and try to distract them. :)

Harmons arranged for a petting zoo! My kids had fun riding on one of the horses, petting ducks, sheep, and other animals.

We all had fun eating delicious brauts made by Harmons! The Mayor was nice to buy everyone's dinner!

Team Taylorsville City won the softball game! But the real winners were the employees from the Taylorsville Harmons who did a great service in the park, and put on such a great event for us. They want to make it an annual event and our employees are thrilled! We had so much fun!!

FHE with the Mayalls

My dad served his mission in England about 42 years ago. When he was there, he met a man named Martin Mayall. He and his wife, Jean, were baptized by my dad. They had a baby boy and named him, "Kent," after my dad.

Last summer Kent Mayall and his family came to Utah for a vacation and stopped in to visit with us. My mom enjoyed having them all day one Sunday and then we had a get together with them the next night at the pool. 

Just a few weeks after the Mayalls left, we lost mom in the car accident. 

This past Monday night, Kent and Nicki and their four children, came to my dad's house for dinner, swimming, and visiting. 

It was so fun to see them and we spent much of the evening talking about mom, the accident, and the funeral. They looked through mom's "funeral book," and it was very therapeutic to reminisce and talk about things that happened that week. We took them across the street to mom's grave, too.

We were so touched as Kent and Nicki told us what an impact mom had on them. It meant a lot to us. My siblings, dad and I said afterwards that it was a fitting way to spend the evening, since we are coming up on the one year anniversary of mom's death.

We love the Mayall family and even though they live in England, we feel that they are close family friends. Their kids are adorable, too. Honestly, what is cuter than little kids with British accents??

Thank you, Mayalls, for spending time with us on your trip to the U.S.!!

Taylorsville Class of '92 Reunion

Last weekend I had my 20 year high school reunion. I was on the committee to help put it together, and was glad when it was over. :)

We had our reunion at the high school in the cafeteria. We gathered early to help set up.

At the reunion we had a table for those who had passed away since we graduated.

Our dinner was catered by R&R Barbecue. We had pulled pork sandwiches, their homemade bbq sauce, corn on the cob, coleslaw, baked beans and cookies.

It was so fun to see friends we haven't seen for a long time!

 Me and Tawnya Garrett Derrick. She was my roommate at Ricks and also my maid of honor at my wedding.

Me, Tami Goudy Gray, Adam Cherrington, Cathy Fox 

Chad Robinson, Heather Lambert Jensen, and me

After the reunion, several of us went to Leatherby's for a party after the party. (Chad and Heather Robinson, Chris and Allyson Jeppson, Lanette Miller Shepherd, Heather, me, and Michael Schefer.)

Matt was at scout camp and was SO BUMMED that he couldn't go. (Just kidding - he was pretty excited that he didn't have to go!)

Tyler Drives!

Monday my 16 year old got his driver's license! We were so excited for him!!

Later that night he said, "Mom, I just want to drive somewhere... by myself."

It was very unnerving to watch him pull out of our circle, in our new minivan, with no adult in the car. I kept checking the time to see how long he had been gone because he didn't have a phone with him. Luckily he made it back home safe and sound with a giant Iceberg shake!