Another Senior Picture Time

It's senior picture time again! For my boys, it's always been oh, no--do I have to do this? But this time around, I think it went so much better and was much more fun, especially for me. (But I don't think Jordan minded it, either.)

Holly took us to Duck Lake State Park and to some abandoned storefront that she loves and clicked away for about an hour and a half. I love the background effects in both of these.



I think it would be so awesome to be a photographer. It looks like a lot of fun. Holly seems to enjoy it so much she won't even let me pay her! So far, the girls seem to favor the close-up in blue, below. It brings out his beeee-utiful blue eyes.



Wow. I have another high school senior. That makes five senior picture photo shoots down, one more to go!

Summer's Over

The kids have been back to school now for a month. The leaves are turning and it's definitely getting colder and rainier. Oh, how I'm already missing summer!

We didn't have a very warm summer this year, didn't spend very many days and evenings at the lake. The only pictures I have are of Labor Day weekend when we took the grandchildren to Duck Lake channel, the perfect spot for little ones. The water was kind of chilly, but they had a wonderful time.



I sure wish I hadn't let the summer fly by so quickly without more pictures to document it. It's so beautiful here. We have so many beautiful natural resources. I love living in this area and just hope things start picking up here soon so we can stay!

General Conference

(My unfinished product)

Wow, I really enjoyed General Conference this weekend. Since I'm working on my Personal Progress now (yay for me!), I decided to do the project involving watching all sessions, taking notes, and making a Conference journal. I figured that if Jessica and I did this together, it would be fun! Unfortunately, she had so much going on yesterday she didn't get to watch the Saturday edition. And besides that, our power actually went out for about three hours in the afternoon, so I didn't get to listen to all of them, either. We will have to listen later or maybe just read the talks when they come out in the Ensign. I hope that still counts!

I've never really taken notes very seriously during Conference talks before. I found that it was both inspiring and frustrating. I got a lot more out of the parts I was able to scribble down, but I'm sure I missed a lot while doing said scribbling. Sure glad they will be out in print soon so I can see what I missed!

A few key points I jotted down:
* Sometimes the Lord reveals truths when we aren't seeking them. Strong emotions can overcome delicate promptings.~~Richard G. Scott
* The Savior is able and eager to forgive our sins.~~Neil L. Andersen
* Prayer is our personal key to heaven, and the lock is on our side of the veil.~~Boyd K. Packer
* Any believing Latter-day Saint is an optimist about what he/she may become.~~President Henry B. Eyring
* Hypocritical examples destroy credibility.~~H. David Burton
* Our Heavenly Father did not leave us alone in our time of probation.~~Ann M. Dibb
* Each of us can do something to help another. How often do we intend to be the one to help but day-to-day life gets in the way? Too often we are busy with what's really not important at all.~~President Thomas S. Monson
* Would Joseph and Hyrum have done what they did, knowing what would happen to them, their families, and their followers for some made-up book? For something that was not true? NO!~~Jeffrey R. Holland, whose testimony today of the Book of Mormon was one of the most awesome things I have ever heard.
* A call to the rising generation: Christ lives and is inviting you to follow him and he will make you fishers of men.~~Brent H. Nielsen
* Moral discipline must be learned at home. Children must be truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ while they are with us.

Of course there are many, many more, plus I'm sure I'll make more notes when I hear the talks that I missed. It's so great to have these two weekends a year to get to hear the words of our Prophet and the leaders of the Church. So much to learn! So much to work on!

Well Blow Me Down!

Wow, is it ever windy today! I wonder if there is an actual name for "fear of the wind." Breezaphobia? I don't know, but I definitely have it. It all started back in May of 1998 when we experienced the worst wind storms ever recorded here in West Michigan. In the dark of night, hurricane force 120 mph winds ripped through the Muskegon/Grand Haven/Spring Lake area. We lost power for several days.

We also had two vehicles totaled that were parked in our driveway, as several huge limbs dropped out of trees in our front yard. I have pictures somewhere of our big white van with the roof caved in and almost every window smashed out. We were picking glass out of our driveway and lawn for months after. The two houses directly behind ours lost every tree in their yards; 6 or 8 trees, if I remember.

No damage to our house, though. We were very lucky. I actually stood out in the pool room during all that wind, trying to watch what was happening in the dark. I still can't believe I was that stupid, that I didn't have my family huddled down in the basement where we would be safer. I stood there, listening to the tremendous "thud" sound as enormous oak trees went down, one after another. We walked around our neighborhood the next morning, and it looked like the pictures you see on TV after a tornado had touched down. Tornadoes were soon ruled out, though. Our storms were described as "straight-line windstorms". But just as potent.

These condominiums in Spring Lake were toppled by the winds and later had to be torn down completely and rebuilt. I remember driving through this area a few days after the storms and thinking that it looked like a giant had stomped its way through here, leaving wreckage in its path.



The craziest thing was that it happened again in November of the same year. That time, we lost our power for eight days. And being November and being cold, it was much more miserable. That storm was great for our business, though, an auto body shop. November 1998 was a record month for us.

So now when I hear the wind howling and watch the trees bending and swaying beyond what seems possible, all those memories and fears come back to me. I'm afraid to go outside. I keep my eye on the skies at all times during daylight and don't sleep much during the night. I worry about my kids being at school. And I pray that it will stop. Very, very soon.

I just can't seem to get rolling on this idea of blogging. I read other people's blogs and envy how easily the words seem to flow. And the darling pictures! So I'm going to try to get more regular about posting at least some thoughts now and then.

Great news! After over 30 years' membership in the Church I have finally been given the opportunity to work with the Young Women. I am so excited! I've been wanting to be in Young Women ever since...well, ever since leaving Primary. I think we have a great group of YW in our ward, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better and maybe even offer them a little bit to help to get through this wonderful, fun, trying and sometimes difficult time in their lives.

Tonight Holly came and did a photo shoot for the girls. They seemed to have a lot of fun. Jessica and I had some mother/daughter pictures taken together, and I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Trials

I opened up my email earlier today and there was an email from one of the moms in the RMM group. This is what it said:

"Sisters, I just woke up and found my dear 18 year old in his bed and
he had just passed away. This is the one you dear sweet sisters have
prayed for in the past, Reid. I will write more later."

I've been haunted by this email all day.

Two others have written in the past few days about serious issues, one sister who was excommunicated a few years ago for unknown (to us) reasons and has been trying to stop smoking so she can be baptized again. She wrote of her inability to stop, her guilt, her depression and suicidal feelings, about being 150 pounds overweight.

Another asked for prayers as she and her family confront a son and try to get him to agree to enter an intense addiction recovery program. She says if he is not willing then it will be a "sad, sad situation for him". Sounds like the family has had it and will have to let go.

How can I complain so much about my temporal, earthly trials?

Wonderful YW

Tonight was the Young Women's broadcast. Well actually, the broadcast was in March, but our YW were on a temple trip and didn't get back in time for it. Our own viewing of the broadcast had been scheduled a couple different times, I think, but because of sickness and other conflicts, we didn't get to it until tonight.

The messages and the music were wonderful and made me wish--for the umpteenth time--that I had been a member of the Church as a Young Woman. And it makes me ever-so-grateful that my daughter IS a member of the Church as a Young Woman.

Not that I was a bad kid or anything. But the peace and the joy that knowing that I was a child of God would have brought and the love and support of the entire Young Women's organization and especially the local leaders would have made growing up sooooo much easier. Having the knowledge that Jessica has about her place in this world, of who she is and who she can become, and the guidelines to help her stay on the straight and narrow to return to her Heavenly Father--just a few of the many bounteous blessings that the Gospel brings to her at this time in her life.

And many kudos to our Young Women leaders for the beautiful set-up in the cultural hall after the broadcast. The refreshments were great, and the lighting effects were awesome! It's too bad that we all had to leave so soon after they put in so much work to make it so very special.

Overall, a very nice evening.

Two months later....

Yes, here it is almost two months after my last post. And all the things I said I was going to do way back then? Nothing. But at least here are a couple pictures of my newest "RM" anyway.

He was so tall and thin and lanky that I felt like I could almost get my arms around him twice!















Life with Jonathan home again is pretty fun most of the time, and I love having him home. He's got an amazing sense of humor and is always quick with a joke or wise-guy answer for you. What worries me is that I think he is getting a little too comfortable sitting here at home, trying to catch up on everything that he missed the two years he was gone. I'm hoping that now that he has caught up on The Office, House, 24, Heroes AND read the last Harry Potter book, he will start feeling the need to get out of the house and do something. He HAS filled out 5 or 6 job applications online, but it certainly doesn't help that jobs are so hard to come by these days. He needs to get back to school but also needs some bucks in the bank to do that. So it's kind of a vicious circle.

So that's where Jonathan is right now, kind of stuck. To turn one of his favorite sayings around and aim it back at him, Come on Jonathan--"Let's kick this pig in the rump" and get on with your life!!

Oh My Gosh!

Just a QUICK post!! Tomorrow my missionary comes home! Now that it's almost here, after waiting for two whole years, I can't believe that tomorrow is the day! Where did those two years go?

And all of the sudden this morning I felt like I want everything to be perfect for him when he gets home. Not that there's much that I can do at this point, but I've been going ga-ga around here today, trying to get the house clean and the laundry done and his new room all ready for him. A clean room with an old computer and an old TV and new sheets on his bed is about the best I'm going to be able to do.

I only have pictures on my computer from the past year, but I'll have to find some older ones and post a picture of him from the beginning of his mission and then one from the end. I love pictures. And I'll have so much scrapbooking to do of his mission! I'm looking into digiscrapping, hoping it may be quicker and easier than the old-fashioned way. Doesn't seem like it could be too hard. We'll see.

More after tomorrow!!

Christmas! 2008

Christmas tree hunting at the tree farm in Montague

Jake and Marie and the girls came home to Michigan for Christmas!

Isabelle, 4; Nicolette, 2; Emmeline, 6 months






















Our traditional Christmas Eve picture in front of the living room fireplace includes all kids who are home and usually includes any pets we can corral


I love this one!

Jasper Ray

On Thursday, December 4th, 2008, Jasper Ray Viraldo was born to Jeff and Elaine. Their firstborn, our first grandson. Born a month early via c-section due to Elaine's diabetes, Jasper weighed in at 9lbs., 3 oz., with lots of fluffy black hair and his proud daddy's nose. Mommy came through it all with flying colors and did a great job.

By the time they were ready to leave the hospital on Monday, little Jasper had gone from 9 lbs., 3 oz. down to 7 lbs., 13 oz. But after a bit of a slow start, he has gotten used to being here and is happy and putting weight back on.

Happy 30th!

Well, one of the important events that I haven't posted on yet was the fact that John and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary last week, January 12th. Thirty years is practically a lifetime, I'm told.

I was in Grand Rapids on that day, babysitting for my new little grandson, Jasper (oh, goodness--another important thing that happened during my hiatus). Jeff and Elaine bought us a balloon bouquet and gave us a nice card. But on top of that, Jeff and John had conspired and made reservations at a wonderful restaurant in Grand Rapids called The Melting Pot. Jeff and Elaine had been there and told me about it, and it was really somewhere I wanted to go some day. So my thoughtful son passed on that information, and it was a deal! And for helping them out and taking care of the baby during the next few weeks, they also furnished us with a gift card that went a long way to help pay for the occasion.

The menu called it "The Big Night Out", a four-course fondue dinner. First course, chunks of bread, raw veggies, and Granny Smith apples dunked in the cheeses of our choice, melted in a pot right there at our table. Second course, a cobb salad--the only part of the dinner that wasn't fondue. Third course, of course, was the main course--about 6 different types of meat and a bowl of vegetables to skewer and cook in our choice of flavored oil. Many different sauces were arranged on the table to use, but of course we quickly forgot which one went with what.

And then to top all that off, the last course was the chocolate fondue! They had many options, but we went with dark chocolate with pecans. There were bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, brownies, rice krispie treats, angel food and cheesecake a-plenty to drown in the wonderful hot chocolate. My favorite course, of course!

We asked our waitress to take our picture, and then we took a few ourselves. Little did we know that we both still had remnants of chocolate on our lips for later!

Happy 30 years with hopefully many more to come!

Where did the time go...and other ramblings

Wow--last published on October 13th? Holy cow. That was AGES ago! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's have all gone by with nary a word from me. Do I try to make them up or just pretend they never happened this year?

So, I'm sitting here finishing up a transcript and smelling dinner being fixed in the kitchen by my husband of now 30 years. The kids are both out of the house right now; it's just the two of us. Mmmm, smells good. So he finishes cooking, gathers up the plate(s) of food, and proceeds to walk past me in the living room and goes into the bedroom to eat while he watches TV! Why does no one in this house ever think of making dinner for ME?

There is excitement in the air around here, for it's only 25 more days until our Jonathan returns home from his mission. He will have been gone for 2 years and 5 days--735 days total.

I've had a couple dreams about his homecoming lately, and the one I had last night was verrrrry strange. It was almost time to go to the airport, but we hadn't checked the video camera to see if it was charged or even still working, for that matter. We also had no balloons or signs to hold! Oh, he was going to feel very cheated. As we went into the airport, out came Jonathan with some other people, and he was wearing the clothes of a "hippie" of the 1960s. He motioned to us that we should pretend not to know him. The next thing I knew he was in his regular clothes and we're welcoming him home. But he wouldn't even hug me. I was so sad. Must have been because we didn't have those balloons and signs.

So, I guess last night's dream was a warning to me. Make sure that camera battery is charged, buy balloons, and make posters in plenty of time to get to the airport!

I guess I'd better get busy and post about some of those other things I mentioned earlier. This isn't really that hard!