Midvale City Fire

I went with my two Allison's yesterday to the Midvale firestation. It was a blast! We had so much fun! Dave and Paul showed us around. We got to sit in the fire truck and the fire engine. They told me the difference something about one has a ladder and the other does not but I cannot remember which it is. Does the fire Engine have the ladder and the Fire Truck doesn't. Gosh I should pay more attention. I was so distracted by all of the new and shiny things I could look at!

They have a really nice fire house. Each person has their oun room!I always thought they shared a big room with lots of bunk beds and stuff! Their kitchen was really big with three refridgerators! I wonder how often the fridges are cleaned out. Maybe with so many mouths to feed left overs don't stay long! Just a thought.

Ok, I got side tracked, back to the tour. We then got to go in the abulance. This is Paul's home. In this picture, Allison is telling them about this really cool way of de-germing their rig. See the glazed over looks, that is what happens when Doctor Allison get very scientific in her explanations! She is one smart cookie! I didn'tstay in there long, it kinda freaked me out, you know there has been bodily fluids all over that space....yuck.... i kept my hands to myself and then washed and sanitized on the way out! Ok so after we played around, we got to try on the suits and all of the gear, it sure was heavy but so much fun! We had some time to just sit and talk with them. It amazes me that such ordinary people can do such extrodinary things. They save lives all the time. It is no big deal to them, it is just what they do! WOW!

So here is a short sideways video of me at the station. Thanks guys for all that you do. You truly are amazing! As we were leaving they got a call and had to go save more lives, one call at a time!

Fathers

Today is Father's Day!. I am so grateful for my "fathers". When I was young, I would always tell my mom happy father's day because I figured since she was raising us all by herself that she deserved the credit for bother Mother's and Father's Day, after all she had to fill both roles for a very longtime. Then when I was 13, I "got my dad". That is how I have always put it, God gave me a dad. I finally had one, I had waited and waited FOR EVER (it seemed) to get one. I do love my Daddio so very much he is such a special person!. For the last three years, I have actually though about my biological father on this day too. I think this is the first year that I am truly appreciative of him and his role in my life. As I grow older, I am learning how to have a relationship with him. He is a nice man and has been a wonderful and deep love for his family. There is great healing power in forgiveness. Which brings me to my Father in Heaven, the One True Father I have had all the days of my life. He is the ultimate Father! How important it is to have a Father who loves each and every one of us, even after all we do..... So to all you dads out there whether you are new or old, I solute you. If you ever need guidance, you only need to look to the Ultimate example, our Father in Heaven!

Saturday Adventures

I have been trying to find new and inexpensive ways to be more active. After all, I am in Utah with all of the Sun and Wonderful Climate. I should be outside more. I figure with the Sun shinning by 6am and not ending until 9pm, I should not waste my days in doors. So, I decided a couple weeks ago that Saturday would no longer be house cleaning and movie watching day. I know don't get all sad on me, remember, I still have Fridays off from work. So, now Saturdays are "get your butt moving day". The first Saturday adventure was rock climbing. It was fun, met some nice people, the views were so brilliant. After that I decided to do something for my furry friends. I did a Strut your mutt walk to support humane societies throughout Utah. It was great fun. I have to say though all of the dogs were well behaved but well, with dogs comes dog poo and the walk didn't start until 9:30am so it got hot and all of the poo .... well you smell the picture....
Ok so if you are looking at the dog picture ans thinking "Gosh Kathleen looks so amazing walking all of those dogs", that is not me, I only walked one dog and she was all I needed besides, I don't wear heals for a dog walk. I have also gone for long walks with my camera up the canyon. I will post some pictures soon. It amazes me that there really is still snow on the mountain tops not much but still... SNOW in JUNE? go figure. This weekend, I have signed up to go to girls camp to clean it and get it ready for the girls to have an enjoyable time. I gotta say, this get up and move Saturday thing isn't bad. I am meeting new people and may make a friend or two. So what are you all doing with your free time? How much fun are you having?

Spring Cleaning

I love spring time. All of the wonderful colors and smells. When I think of spring I like to thing about new beginnings. Everything seems to just come alive. During the spring what do we do, we spring clean our houses but do we spring clean our souls? How can we spring clean our soul? I think we need to take inventory of ourselves. Are we right with Heavenly Father? Are we doing the things He needs us to do? I can see things that I do that are right and things that are wrong. For me it very rarely is the BIG things in life, it is in the little day to day things that I need to focus on doing for my Father in Heaven. In taking inventory, I have come up with a list of actions I need to take or not take in order to be more on the straight and narrow path that leads back to my Heavenly Father. When I look at my list it seems long and a daunting task but I have come up with an idea, I am just doing one thing at a time. The scriptures tell us that we cannot walk faster than we can run and that there is order to all things. Same with my list, it will not be an overnight big WOW change like when I was baptised, well wait, it could be......... Anyway that must be something for me to ponder and pray about even more. Right now just know that I have made my list there by taking stock of me, the me I currently am, and the me Heavenly Father knows I can be. A word of caution at this point because we tend to be our worst judge and we need to look at ourselves exactly as Jesus would. That might be hard but here is how I did it, now I don't have all of the answers but I made my list and then I prayed about my list and asked Heavenly Father if it was true and if I did a fair job of self inventory. Now I can make little steps day by day to improve my walk with Christ. Like a rose bush, you don't get beautiful roses as soon as you plant the thing. No way, it takes time and diligent care to be given such beautiful works of art. We are the same, it takes a little watering and nourishing from the scriptures every day to help us grow, it takes time on our knees in humble prayer morning and night to prune the rough edges and the heal the broken pieces. Even if your rose's have been neglected, they can come back to bloom so wonderfully as can each and every one of us! Hang in everyone and try to enjoy the journey, I sure am trying!!

Friends

Once you make a true friend, they are you friend for life, no matter the time or distance. The last time I saw Lydia and her family, the children were so little. See just how little, This is a picture from one of my favorite days in Motown. The
weather was nice and the company was even nicer.

Now if we skip ahead a little bit, Amelia is now two and talking like a champ! Jacob is one and walking and singing ( jabbering) all the time!

These two kids are so cool! Amelia really loves her little brother. She shares her princess dolls with him and he shares his juice with her. You can tell that they really love each other very much. They should with their mom and dad who give them such a fantastic example of love to go by! Amelia has gotten good at blessing her food, she is a terrific little girl. I am so thankful that I have friends in the Gospel all over. I love them so very much!

Is This for Real?

Ok so Just a warning before one continues to read, I am a bit worked up about this topic, but am trying to keep the right attitude. Before i moved into this house that I am renting, I had a couple of pictures to go by and a good reference. Here is one such picture,cute right.

So I pay my rent, even paid for a month that I was still in WV to "hold" the place. I'm told that the house is older and that the range is a double oven but the bigger oven does not work. Hey no big deal, I am only one person and can use the small oven. Upon arrival, I find out that not all four of the burners work, Again whats the big deal as long as I have one of each sizes, I can work it out, after all,I am only one person and can cook one meal for the entire week. Long story short, only the two small burned work and one of them the coils only heat up on part of it. So, I have needed a new oven and stove before I moved into this place. Let me remember, when did I move in? The last weekend in September, that would be what, seven months ago, hmm..... Well I got so excited after months of asking and anticipating, imagine my surprise when I am told that on the 20th of this month I would be getting my "new" oven. My thoughts are of course over joyed, filling with all of the food I can prepare and thinking gosh I should just have a party and invite everyone to EAT! FUN! RIGHT? Noe imagine again me being filled with even more joy when I get this call Wednesday asking if the range can be installed on Friday, Sure i say, I'm a little busy and don't know if I can have all of the cabinets emptied by then but they say "no problem, we can empty them, we will be out of town and want you to have it." SAWEET is what I am thinking... Until....

SERIOUSLY!?

So let me put this picture into perspective. This new oven is in front of the old one, blocking the cabinets, gee what could be in there? Hmmm, baking dishes, hand mixer, all of my cereal is in the top cabinets. I've heard it said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Hmmm, what do I climb up to the cabinet and straddle the new and old range to get it at 4:30AM? Ok I have digressed too far. This range is almost in the middle of the kitchen? Is that practical? So I'm think gosh what is up? Maybe they got called out for something way important, maybe they left me a message or will be back tomorrow. I'll be giving them a call. I am finding that Tooele has it's own time frame, you see I am still negotiating with my Bishop as to who my home teachers are since I have never seen them. but that is a story for another day. What do you guys think? Am I being ungrateful? After all I do have a "new" range?

Where Does the time go?

I have such good ideas and intentions when it comes to blogging. It seems like all I have been able to do is work work work. Here is a sample of some handy work.

Ok so it hasn't been all work and no play.

But seriously things have been CRAZY. I am writing this because I need a little break from studying about toxic industrial chemical spills. I think my brain is mush! Oh well enough of a break, no rest for me. I hope everyone has ahappy Easter. After church I am having a group of friends over, I am making pot roast with EXTRA carrots!

18th Aniversary

Today is my mom and dad's 18th wedding anniversary. Ok so for all of you doing the math right now, they were married when I was 16. If my memory serves me right, they have known each other for almost 25 years.

As a "kid" I always knew they would eventually get married. I never had another thought about it, that was just the way life was to be, when two people love and admire each other as much as they do, in my mind it was only natural for them to get married. I guess they thought differently. They had this crazy idea that they would stay together until i left for college and then "go their separate ways", AS IF......

Today they are more in love than ever, just look at then, dear, and yes dear..... crazy kids! I love them both so dearly and wouldn't have it any other way!!! Mom and Dad Happy Anniversary!!! Here's to MANY MORE!!

My Daddio

The other day I was talking to my dad about my blog. He made the comment that he has never been mentioned. My first response was,"some memories are too precious to share.." He said, " nice try daughter but that only gets you one point out of the hole you still have 99 to go." My dad is one amazing guy. I know I am very lucky to be able to say that, not everyone can. And knowing my dad the way I do, he would not want me to ramble on about him and all the great things he does, because there really is truth in what I said, some memories are to precious to talk about. I know that none of us are perfect, we are all here on this earth to be tried and tested and to prove ourselves worthy. We are only worthy through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He suffered all of our sins, all of our disappointments and short comings in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He bled from every pore FOR US, then he was crucified and died FOR US, then He ascended into heaven where he sits on the right hand of God. This is the message my dad wants everyone to know and to accept into their hearts. One last thought, growing up my dad always introduced me to people as "his Pride and Joy", I know that is exactly the way our Heavenly Father would introduce each one of us.

Snowy Morning

I woke up this morning to the wonders of winter weather. This is one of the trees in my front yard. I love the way it looks in the snow, it is so brilliant. I love how peaceful the world (well my Small portion) looks all blanketed in the snow. It truly amazes me every time it snows.

One would think that after awhile of seeing all of the "white Stuff" that I would loose interest. It never stops to amaze me just how beautiful a snow covered tree is.... I really love the snow, the noises of all the cars becomes muffled by the snow on the roads. As I am typing this, the sun is starting to shine so brightly, the reflection is brilliant.