Some of the Beauty in Utah

I am loving my time here in Utah.

I have really been enjoying the weather in Utah. Check out these pictures. There is little commentary but the pictures need no intro, it is almost majestic!

It may get warm a couple of days but the evenings are so cool and the sun shines for so long! It has given me lots of opportunities to gallivant around and have some fun!

This is at the beginning of this way easy(1.5mile) hike to Donut falls. It was so green and beautiful. I went with two of my new girlfriends (Allison times 2), and we had a really enjoyable walk to the falls. We found a really cute circle of trees just tucked off from the trail. We had a nice time. Once we reached the falls, we got to run and jump and play! Let me tell you I was very glad I wore my Teva's because my feel got wet! And that water was so cold. There really is a difference in the temperature when it is snow run off, WOW,it was cold water!

I had a wonderful time. I have missed being outdoors. I am glad I can have such adventures while I am in Utah. I'm not sure where I will end up next so I am enjoying my time while i am here.

Eight Years Ago, Today!

There will not be any fancy pictures and words will probably be spelled wrong but I would be very ungrateful if I let this day pass by with out writing a few words.
On Aug 5th 2001, I was confirmed a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It has been one amazing Journey that I know will never end! I have travelled through dark and low valleys and have climbed high on the mountain tops. I am so grateful to my two missionaries who were obedient enough to follow a prompting from Heavenly Father to knock on my door. I hope I never forget the amazing wonder of that first meeting. I was reading a book and there was a knock at my door, I would not have normally answered it as it was dark outside, but I got up and looked out the door and saw this brilliant light around these two young men. I was so taken by the peace I felt before I even opened the door that I had decided "Whatever they were selling, I needed it!" Little did I know just how true that thought was, granted they were not selling anything but offering me the sweet peace and comfort that comes from knowing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.
It did not take me long to want to be baptized. I took the missionary discussions and was fortunate enough to have a missionary couple (the Gurrs) to help me with all of my questions as they lived in the apartment below me. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It contains the FULLNESS of God's teachings and HIS message of HOPE, of PEACE, of LOVE that HE offers to everyone living or dead! He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! HE is the Alpha and Omega. I love the Lord.
I am especially grateful for all those who have helped me along the way, who have been a strength too me, who have been there every step of the way. Heavenly Father really knows each of us individually. He knows exactly what we need and is always their for us! I thank Him for giving me such great family and friends. I know that He is not finished with me yet, I must endure it well to the end. I am glad that enduring it well involves so many wonderful people to meet and to love along the way. Thank you to everyone who has helped me. Thank You to our Father in Heaven for sending us his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, who suffered for each of us in the garden of Gethsemane and through his Infinite Atonement we can all return to live with our Father in Heaven someday!

Can't Get Enough

I just had to post more pics of my fav family:.... Kenton is such a special boy! He amazes me with most of the things he thinks about!

McKay is full of life! I love seeing the world through his eyes!

Jed is a really good daddy! He amazes me with the patience and love he shows his family all the time, no matter the situation! He has a very deep devotion to his family!

You just gotta love those smiles! Lynette is very lucky to be able to see those smiles everyday!

Holiday with Friends!

I went to Az the other week. I had the best time ever. How could I not, I got to see the best family in the world!! It had been almost a full year and gosh I was having withdraws. My 11 hour drive began way too early but hours later I was rewarded with a majestic sunrise.
I am not sure really how long the drive was, I stopped a couple times for gas, for the potty and for pictures.

There was this rest area that was really nice. The bathrooms were clean and there was this way cool purple cactus. out front.
Once I finally arrived in Phoenix, I met my favorite family at this kids museum. We had a fantastic time. There was this entire Legos land! There was this really big castle that had a thrown you could sit on and all these places to build your own lego creations. It was great fun watching Kenton and McKay and little Ellyeen play with the blocks. I did observe that all of the pink"girl" blocks were designed to make castles and princess stuff. Whats up with that?

Once we had all the fun we could, we headed back to Melissa's house. They have such a lovely home, so warm and inviting. I instantly felt at home, which is hard for me to do. We had so much fun. Kenton showed me how to play the Wii. Mckay and I played cars a lot and went swimming. Ellyeen let me hold her, eventually. I think the first time was pure desperation, she was on the floor bored of entertaining herself and I was better than the floor.
She eventually warmed up to me and everyone else. It was very nice to meet her, she is a beautiful little girl with a nice personality, she seems to really take everything in and just absorbs it all! See how interested in those sunglasses she is! Wow, just look at her, she is a cutie!

We had such a fabulous time, I LOVED, LOVED! every minute of my time. I sure am glad to have true friends.

Here are just some of my Fav Pics!

Hope everyone enjoys theses as much as me! Lynette Thanks for letting me share in some of your family vacation!

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?