QUOTE FOR TODAY

This week has been a bummer week and, as Taylor said, when he was about ten, "I hate bummers." So I'll leave you with a quote which brings me comfort this week.

"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."-- Carl Jung

I hope you do not have too much sadness and that your happy is in full swing. And I hope the turkey is waiting patiently in the freezer, that the pie recipe is dusted off and that you have some family to look forward to next week.

And get the sadness (and the bummers) over early so you can have some laughs.

Love,
Lynne

PS I liked this blog post today entitled, "How to find happiness."

I HAVE THE ATTENTION SPAN OF A GNAT

I am so frustrated with myself. I have the attention span of a gnat.

Today was Stace's class--her blog here--she gave great information. Valuable information. Information I need THIS VERY WEEK. You know what kept happening to me? My mind wandered. The first time was when I saw one of the women's bare feet and thought, Humm, I should invent some kind of bottom-of-the-foot scrubber for the shower where you could just squirt a little soap on it and rub your feet back and forth and voila, clean feet. And then I remembered that I can't invent that because someone already has. And then I tried to remember where I had seen it so I could go check it out because let's face it, at my age, scrubbing the feet is not always a pleasure, all the bending of the stiff body parts, etc.

When I "came to," Stace was finishing a statement which was sounding pretty much like exactly the information I needed this week. Something that would make my life so much better. Something that would help my family in times of stress. Like Today. But my empty head had been designing foot scrubbers that were already designed. I'm so happy that I waste my valuable time, like this, and miss the one thing that would be the cure all. This happens so often. sigh

So, once again, my gnat-ness has left me wanting. I'm calling it the empty-head-syndrome because I Googled images of gnats and I'm not admitting to anything that ugly. I borrowed the image from this blog. (She is a fabulous artist and so witty.) I guess I could call it "attention deficit" but where would I find such a swell drawing if I Googled that?

Please tell me you have the empty-head-syndrome too. I'd feel ever so much better.

DO YOU EVER THINK TOTALLY WEIRD THINGS THAT AREN'T EVEN REALISTIC?

Me to.

For instance: I take my photo card out of my real camera and put it in my old camera because my old camera has a program on the computer to read the card. (My computer has no more room to do anything and so I can't load the new program EVEN IF I KNEW HOW.)

So, every single time I pop the card out of either camera I see myself, doing this, in a gondola in Venice, Italy and the card popping right into the water. Every single time.

How totally unrealistic is that? I'd say stupid but I don't want to admit to stupid, unrealistic is bad enough.

WHAT I SEE WHILE I'M OUT AND ABOUT

This is what I see when I'm out and about, running errands. It's cold here, folks. Beautiful, but cold.

A BOOK OF THANKFUL'S

I teach my first Achievement Days class on Tuesday. The girls are ages eight through ten.

We are going to talk about Thanksgiving. I originally had "1,000 things our family is thankful for," on these little booklets but Phil said that 1,000 things was overwhelming. I wonder how many they will end up with.And now, once I have them all printed I spellchecked and it says, "End of sentence preposition (consider revising)" NOW it tells me. Or maybe I should say, NOW I decide to check.

What are you thankful for? Do you think you could be find one thousand things you are thankful for this month?

PS Phil is thankful for Costco chickens. Oh my.

CHOCOLATE MINT COOKIES

Here is the recipe for the Chocolate Mint Cookies I took to the Cookie Exchange.


Original version:

Easier version:Enjoy!

A NEW TREE ON THE BLOCK

Oh, you are all so darn smart. The Answer is: I had poured vanilla into French toast batter. Michael had the best imagination: a dinosaur eye! And Michael Creighton died! Oh, the nerve. I wanted more lovely dino tales.

This is a little pine tree at my friend Sarah's house. It is all decorated for Christmas. I can't decide if it's a PinAspen or a AsPine. What do you think?

On a final note. I made a wacko comment on a friend's blog the other night. I do that sometimes, usually because it's late at night and I have lost all sense of right and wrong. (That's why teenagers should be home by midnight!) Then I signed it "Anonymous." THE VERY NEXT DAY SHE MADE HER BLOG PRIVATE. Now, do I tell her the wacko (who was a redneck male) was me or do I not?

I already did. She says she forgives me. But....does she or does she not?

WHAT IS IT

A mystery.

What is this?

Answer tomorrow.

Tonight was our Relief Society's cookie exchange. I made the chocolate ones on the bottom row. They had to be baked and then topped with a mint candy. Supposedly it would melt and then you were supposed to swirl it around on top. I used Jr. Mints and they did not melt so they had to go back into the oven for two minutes. A lot of work when guess what? I could have opened a can of chocolate frosting or made some from scratch and it still would have been easier. I could have added a bit of mint extract, if I wanted the mint flavor. The cookie was very good. I'll put it on my cookbook blog in a day or two. The cutest ones were the turkey and the one next to mine, it is an acorn. It didn't photograph well. The same woman did both of them. Annette. She is Wonder Woman. And here is her post about them.

Every single cookie I have tasted so far has been a keeper.

And now, I hear them calling, "Yoo hoo! Come and get me."

Oh my.

A LITTLE KNOWN FACT

If you eat a carrot and a peanut butter cookie at the same time you can't tell you are eating a carrot and your cookie is chewy and crunchy, all at the same time.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE BIT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Phil and I were in Target the other day and guess what? It's beginning to look like Christmas. I see you holding your head in your hands. I nearly danced down the isle. I got so involved looking at all the finery that Phil lost me.

Now a question: Why does that dear man even have a phone if he's going to leave it in the car? Cell phones major purpose is to find the spouse at Costco and Target. And to call someone while they are driving. And to call the wrong person OR send text messages to the wrong person. Repeatedly. Like someone kept doing to me last week. (Bless his annoying little heart.)

I bought Christmas dishes for one of my daughter-in-laws for Christmas one year. Several years later I found more of them on ebay at only about four time the cost of buying them the first time. I won the bid and she was surprised. It was a good gift. I was a hero. I'm not a hero often so I particularly like this memory.

I wonder if anyone wants Christmas dishes for Christmas this year.

This is this year's patterns.

They only had a few of these so if you want some go get them soon.

All this Christmas stuff brought me... PS Maybe Jason and Elizabeth will surprise me tomorrow and exchange my regular dishes for the Christmas ones.

It's okay to serve Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas dishes, isn't it? Well, isn't it?

Please say yes.

THANK YOU, MY ANGELS

This is what downtown Provo usually looks like when I need a parking space. Okay, I've exaggerated a bit but parking spaces downtown are a scarce as hen's teeth.Today was a crazy day--a meeting all morning and when I got home I had twenty minutes to meet my sister and a friend for lunch. I had to go all the way downtown--ten minutes--buy a wet stone--five minutes (it should have been 1.5 minutes but the Chinese lady was having an argument with someone on the phone: "No, it is your fault," she kept saying. Finally she hung up on whoever it was because it was NOT her fault, that's for darn sure.)

I needed the wet stone because I was giving someone a Chinese chopper--also known as a cleaver (for those of you who are such sticklers about calling things what they really are)--for her birthday--I know--an odd present but if you put caramels with anything people think it's a good gift. Besides that everyone should have a wet stone. I love sharp knives! They slice your fingers with nice clean cut and everyone knows a band-aid on the fingers is a great sympathy getter. I'm for getting all the sympathy I can. And I love my Chinese chopper, and whatever I love everybody should love. Except for Phil. They should like Phil, and that's all. Unless it's the kids and then they can go ahead and love him.

Then I had to get to Chili's in Orem--ten more minutes--so before I left the driveway I said--to my angels-- "I need a parking space downtown, right next to Chow's!"

So, off I went, in a cloud of exhaust, and when I got downtown, every single bit of the block before Chao's and every single bit of Chao's block was packed full of cars except for a huge space, SIX FEET from Chao's front door. I didn't even have to back up to park.

I got to Chili's only two minutes late.

Thank you, my angels.

Have your angels done anything for you lately?

PS Wet stones at Chao's are only $1.15 but don't go for two weeks. I give a good knife, a breadboard and a wet stone for wedding gifts and I bought all the wet stones they had--they only had three as it was. I'm sure it wasn't the nice Chinese lady's fault that they only had three. It was that dufus-on-the-other-end-of-the-phone's fault.

1,000 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR

I was going to remember to do this: Give each of my children and their families a little book with the instruction to write 1,000 things they are thankful for at the beginning of this Thanksgiving month. I didn't remember. They have no little book from me.

The baby might be thankful for his Binky and his mom. One of the kids might be thankful that one day she will get horse riding lessons--thankful things can be anticipated. Mom might be thankful for the children's bedtime. Dad might be thankful for week-ends. The list could go on and on.

Here are a few of things I'm thankful for today (not the biggies, but the odd, little ones):

I'm Thankful...

1. ...that I have a friend good enough to tell me a secret and know I won't tell.
2. ...for bathrooms--flushing toilets. How did Grandma do it, traipsing to the outhouse?
3. ...for Costco. Actually, that one would be Phil's.
4. ...for the seasons. Even the winter one with ice and snow.
5. ...for best friends who know we don't need to talk every day or we can talk every day, sometimes several times, or email instead.
6. ...old best friends can go without communication for months and start up as if we only talked yesterday.
7. ...for movies. I love movies even though I seldom go. Gotta love Red Box.
8. ...for geraniums. They remind me of Italy which reminds me of grandma's with maybe whiskery chins. Grandma's in black dresses, braiding garlic--which I did once, on the lawn swings in honor of the Italian women in black dresses. But I didn't wear the black dress or have the whiskery chin. Thank goodness.
9. ...for the furnace and the fireplace insert. Mmm, heat whenever I want it.
10. ...that I won't live forever.
11. ...that I had a childhood that was just interesting enough but not too interesting.
12. ...for Indian Summer. Today was glorious.
13. ...for grass. I love the feel of it under my feet.
14. ...for hope. There was a time I didn't believe in hope.
15. ...for this computer, even with all it's problems. I love it. Thank you Trent for building us a computer which has never crashed. It's hiccuped and it is slower than molasses but I love it. Yes I do.
16. ...for screen doors.
17. ...for tomatoes. I have a batch in the dehydrator right now. Michelle will get some Sovory Italina Tomatoes for her LATE birthday.
18. ...for legs. I saw a woman today whose legs didn't work well enough for her to walk the isles of the store.
19. ...for the ability to write what my imagination dreams up.
20. ...for calendars that tell me when I forgot someones birthday because I forgot to look at it. And while we're at it I'm thankful for grandchildren who want lunch and a movie instead of "stuff." I owe a couple of them lunch and a movie which I hope to be able to do soon.
21. ...for tweezers. See #8.
22. ...bed. Where I'm going now. After I read my scriptures and write in my pathetic journal. And brush my teeth and clean my face and go to the bathroom--which I don't have to go outside in the cold dark night to go to.

What are you thankful for today? The little things. The simple ones.

PS 23 ...for spellcheck.

KRAMER GETS A BATH

This is how it all began. Kramer loving the back yard. Phil and Elizabeth cleaning up. It was too tempting.

Get me outta here!

Right after that he tumbled head over paws; Elizabeth caught him before he hit the halfway mark.

But, all that outdoor fun meant Kramer eventually needed a bath.

What's that water on for? Is it just for entertainment? Huh, huh? Just for show? That's it isn't it? Just for fun. I'm not goin' under that waterfall, am I?

This is not entertaining.

Every part is attended to. It's a bum deal for sure.

Feel better now? I don't know if he does or not, but he smells better.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

"Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell." Anonymous.

I'M GLAD HALLOWEEN COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR

Where are the days when little girls wanted to be a princess and little boys wanted to be a ninja?

This little boy was once a clown. This little girl was once a princess and wore a pink prom dress. She wore that dress so often that she wore it out. She even wore it to wade in rain puddles with yellow rain boots. And look at them now.It's enough to give a person nightmares. I hope Phil doesn't mind me sleeping with the light on.

MADE SALSA TODAY

I made 13 pints of salsa today. I have five boxes of tomatoes--in various stages of ripening--on the kitchen floor. I want to have none. But I want the product they will produce so I am trying to be patient and work hard. And it was hard work! Maybe it would be more accurate to say it was tedious, long work. But the salsa looks wonderful and tastes pretty good. No photos because I'm too tired to download all the stuff that's still in the camera.

But, hey, I finally blogged. Go forth and do the same. You know who you are.

DO YOU REMEMBER JUMP ROPE RHYMES?

This is the one I remember the best:

Not last night but the night before,
A Pickle and a pear came a knocking at my door.
I went downstairs to let them in,

They hit me over the head with a rolling pin.

This one I made up for Hillary when she was ten:

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary Snyder.

Went to bed with her hair on fire.

Woke in the morning with coal black hair,

Ashes, ashes, everywhere.

(I have no idea why I pictured my little girl with her hair was on fire--she had lovely dark brown hair but certainly not on fire and not black.)

And this one was for Bentley:

Bentley Snyder, our baby in blue.

He's a year and a half old, he's not quite new.

He stands on the table and throws off the food.

We're not really sure but we think it's rude.

What jump rope rhymes do you remember?

LIKE I NEED TO FOLLOW MORE BLOGS

Tonight I went blog hopping. One blog leads to another. You read someones comment and decide to see their blog and then you see who they are following and pretty soon, you are following them too.

Why is this? I have enough distractions in my life.

I think I need an enema.

Whoa, did I really say that? I shouldn't blog this late at night.

MEDITATION AND MINKEY

I didn't get enough sleep last night so I decided to see if Wayne Dyer was right--see the end of yesterday's post--that when you meditate it is worth several hours of sleep. I was deep into meditation when "Yowl, yowl, yowl," that was Minkey standing in the doorway. Who knows what he wanted? He finally went away. In five minutes he was back, "yowlyowlyoowwwll."

sigh.

Even with the interruptions the meditation was good. I felt refreshed and I'm still up. Sadly, I'm still up. In two minutes it will be midnight. If Minkey realized it was almost the witching hour he would be yowling again. He never misses an opportunity to be annoying.

If anyone in Utah Valley wants to learn how to meditate call Harmony House in Orem, Utah. 801-434-8800. 1145 East 800 North, Orem, Utah (It's the basement office.) The office looks like a house, it's on the north side of the street. They will teach you for free. Even if you have an annoying cat in the house.

PS They are teaching a class tomorrow night, Thursday, October 22 at 7:00. So worth it.

PPS Stop by my house first and get your free cat (just in timefor Halloween). A bargain you shouldn't pass up.

MEDITATION

Phil and I went to a meditation class today and here are a few things I learned.

People who have a lot of pain are gifted. They are just using it backwards. My knees are gifted and they bend the wrong way, I guess. But this is a concept I'm going to think about.

People with anxiety have a HUGE POTENTIAL to feel a lot of peace. How about that, those of you who are stressed? this was very comforting to me. Peace. What more could we ask. Well, okay, money would be nice, but peace sounds pretty good at the moment.

Meditation teaches people to go into a relaxed state of awareness. Example: Driving and passing your exit and not realizing it until ten miles down the road. Ever done that?

With deeper relaxation and mediation you can learn how to make better choices.

Meditation will help you get better sleep.

People who can concentrate well can meditate well. Hum. Phil and Elizabeth talk to me and I say, "What?" It drives them crazy because they think I'm either deaf or don't listen to them. But I am thinking of something else or I am watching TV and the rest of the world is non-existent. My sister Pat could do this and I think she practically walked on water so I'm in good company. Maybe it's in the genes. So if your family asks if you are deaf just say you are a good concentrator and you would be a good meditator and get rid of bad choices, and pain and anxiety and let them scratch their heads.

A relaxed state makes concentration more focused--like a magnifying glass does, focusing the rays of the son on one spot.

Mediation helps you get out of self destructive state so you can make better choices. Did I already say that?

In our busy world we are so often in high gear that we need mediation to allow ourselves to focus and relax.

In voice mediation--like listening to a tape or even a live voice--you hear what you need to hear, even if you stop listening to the voice. Trust yourself.

That's it. The class was great and I had a lovely meditative experience, even a spiritual one, with my mom and two dad's showing up. I think they have been with me and with Elizabeth a lot in the last couple of weeks. It's been very comforting.

Oh, one more thing. Wayne Dyer wakes up at some horrible hour every morning--like 3:17 or some such time--and he gets up and stays up. He meditates later in the day and says that a meditaion is equal to several hours of sleep.

APPLE OATMEAL CRISP

Made this yesterday. It was very good. I forgot to take a picture of it before we gobbled it all up so I had to have another spoonful to photograph. Poor me, having to eat another spoonful.

Recipe here.

MARY POPPINS WAS A CANNIBAL

When one of my granddaughters was four years old she loved to sing. One day her mom was listening to her and did a double take. This is what she heard:

"A spoonful of sugar makes the Mexican go down, Mexican go down, Mexican go down.

"Just a spoonful of sugar makes the Mexican go down, in the most delightful way."

And now you know the little known secret: Mary Poppins was a Cannibal.

THE CAT EATING PUMPKIN

Oh, lookie, the Great Pumpkin is back. I'll just smell him to make sure he's the real thing.I better smell everything, while I'm at it.Hey, did anyone over there see when the great pumpkin came back?

He brought Ghostie with him. I don't much like Ghostie, he's a cheerful sot, way too cheerful and stands way too tall. He annoys me in a ghostly, cheerful, tall, sort of way.Kramer, are you down there? The Great Pumpkin came back along with annoying Ghostie but you are not invited to the party. Ha! That's how much you know. I am the party. I am a party animal. You are just a squinty, annoying cat. I will not even look at you until you apologize for wearing my handsome, manly devil costume. See me ignoring you? See? Well, all-rightie-then, if you're going to be that way, see if I care. I'll just see what is in the pumpkin.

Oof! It's kind of a tight fit, but I can do it because I'm pretty. Not squinty! Pretty. And pretty darn flexible, too.

And then I turn around a few times and then some more. Aah! This is the perfect spot Until she starts to snore. It echoes. An echoing-snoring-cat-in-a-pumpkin is not any one's idea of great Halloween fun.

A snoring, Halloween-pumpkin-cat is enough to give Kramer the evil eye.

It's all fun and games around here.

BEWARE OF THE RED DEVIL

"My human put me in this disgusting costume and, if you don't mind, I don't want you looking at me." "Did you hear me? I said DON'T LOOK AT ME."

"Wait. Is that the doorbell. I have ta go now and defend the house from evil doorbell ringers. Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark."

"It was a false alarm. The doorbell was on some stupid TV show. And look at that fool, Pika who got tricked into wearing the costume. Hahahahahaha. I look manly. I look brave. She looks silly. She looks squinty. She needs to give that costume back."

"Wait! Is that the doorbell. Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark."

MY FAVORITE GARAGE SALE

For those wanting to know how to make Annette's apron click here.

For those wanting to know the web site for the garage sale people click here.

Here are a few photos of the garage sale on Canyon Road in Provo, Utah. Next one scheduled for April or May. When I am notified or when I see their sign I'll let you know. If you are really interested go the first day as the good stuff goes fast!

You know how I love chairs. This was a sweet one and following are two pressed back chairs--they didn't photograph as cute as they are.
This was my favorite item there. Actually, there were two of them. They were seven feet, six inches tall! They were sold the morning of the first day. Naturally. Many people are there the minute the garage sale opens the first day. Hillary needs a mirror but this one was gone by Saturday. There were several children's tables. So cute. So sold.On Thursday I took Pam. On Friday I took Cindy. On Saturday I took Hillary and Shan. Next time I will notify my whole ward as I'm the Relief Society communications person and this is communication they need, don't you think?

THE RULES SHOULD BE CHANGED FOR SHOPPING

Today I went shopping with Hillary and Shan. Shan and another one of her their friends are going to New York later in the month for fun and frolicking, theatre and sight seeing. Shan was trying to find cute clothes and she did. We started a bit after 10:00 and got home a bit after 7:00, and we only came home then because we were half dead. I told Phil we only went to four stores and his eyes nearly rolled out of his head.

"It took you nine hours to shop four stores?" he said.

"We ate lunch," I said. "And we went to that garage sale." (Photo's posted tomorrow of the garage sale you should not miss the next time it happens--which will be in April. I will remind you.)

Phil was not impressed.

His idea would be to breeze in, select something in an appropriate size and color, try it on (maybe or maybe just look at the size and know it would fit w/out trying it on). He would then buy it and go home.

Girls don't do that. There has to be much discussion as to why or why not this or that item is suitable or not.

There has to be trying it on ONE MORE TIME and parading it to the critical audience, who practically clap and cheer.

One sweater had to be discussed a dozen times at least. That one was bought. Another sweater had to be discussed two dozen times. That one still resides in the store. Shan should have bought it, she really should have. There is no clapping and cheering over that decision. She should go back, buy it and then there will be clapping and cheering.

The majority should rule when it comes to shopping. The person paying should not be able to overrule the majority because the majority is pretty much always right. And since the majority was Hillary and me, I know the majority was right. I'm pretty sure that is a valid argument . Then the cute brown sweater would be where it belongs, in Shan's closet.

THE SCRUBBIE TACOS

These are scrubbies, made of nylon net. Well, they are sort of scrubbies. They are supposed to look more like the one at the bottom, right, only they should look better. But, because I am a novice-scrubbie-maker they look like taco's. I think my personal history class is going to get these failures. I'm nice like that, giving my failures away to my friends.

The scrubbies do work, cleaning sinks in a jiffy and if my friends get hungry while cleaning they can just add meat, lettuce, cheese and salsa. Sour cream if they are feeling skinny.

When eating one of my taco-scrubbies you don't have to brush your teeth. They clean while you eat. Maybe Taco Bell should add these babies to their menu. I'm going send them my marketing plan. When you order at the drive up window just ask for self-tooth-cleaning tacos.

This is going to make me rich, I just know it.

THE SOCK ARSENAL

This is one of our grandboys. He has a dart gun. His brother's had dart guns, too. They were having a war here Saturday night. They played outside with the other grandkids--eleven of them--until after dark. He was very careful to round up his darts and have them handy. He is a Mini James Bond. Mini James has all the latest equipment. This is the Sock Arsenal. It's very high tech.
The Sock Arsenal is so much more advanced that all that hoopla that the real James Bond has to carry. Below: Complicated. Cumbersome. Dangerous. Costly. Above: Simple. Inexpensive. And if the darts don't go off unexpectedly, safe.

JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM

Yesterday and today is the Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) General Conference. We get broadcasts two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, with talks from our Prophet and General Authorities. They are filmed in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and broadcast to TV stations and Stake Centers all over the world. They are translated into 92 languages so Latter Day Saints all over the world can listen in their own languages.

Yesterday, when President Uchtdorf spoke, he mentioned that he loves the song "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam." This is probably the first Primary song the three-year-old children learn. (I tried to download a video of the song but my skills as a computer competent person are nonexistent.)

The thought immediately came to me that Jesus wants me to be happy--to shine, so to speak--in my life, in my trials, in my encounters with others. I do not shine in my trials. I am not happy in my trials. I am "heavy laden," and "My hands hang down." I sigh. I weep. I want to run away--once I even wrote a story about running away to Texas and described what I would do there. Occasionally, not often, but occasionally, I am even angry. But mostly I worry. Is that a trait of women? Worry? I don't want to worry, I want to have faith.

I am really going to work on my attitude as I feel this was inspiration, sent for me. Jesus wants me to be his sunbeam. Jesus doesn't want me to be his gloomy, doubting, depressed, angry, upset, weeping, horrible person with my feet dragging in the sand and my head hanging down.

Will you help me? Will you be my confidantes? My fellow blooggers who show me by your faith that I can have faith too? I read you blogs and am strengthened as I see you fighting your battles with faith--as I watch you having integrity and courage. We are all in this together, we are all connected.

"I love you and you love me." the next line is, "We are a happy family." As a church, we believe we are all one family. God's children. We are all brothers and sisters.

So, with God as my Father and Jesus as my Savior and with your help, maybe I can become more of a sunbeam. I will hold your hands and be strengthened and sustained.

COUPLE NUMBER TWO--WHY SHE CHOSE ONE MAN OVER THE OTHER

She was dating two men at once. Both were nice. Both were funny. Both were handsome. Both had ambition. One brought her flowers. That seems like a good thing, right? He brought them to her in a rusty bucket, filled with water. She was not impressed. She married the other one.

The man she married really loved education, got his Ph.D., worked at both Harvard and BYU. The man with the rusty bucket really loved flowers and started his own nursery.

COUPLE NUMBER ONE: THE BEGINNING.

They've been married for a long time now and have seven kids. This is how it started.


They were in a Young Adult ward at a midweek activity . It was the first time they had met. When it was time to go home she said to him, "Do you need a ride home?"

"I'd love a ride home," he said.

They chatted on the way. He thought she was cute. She must have liked him too because when she dropped him off at his apartment and he asked her for a date she accepted.

He watched her as she drove off and then started the long walk back to the church because he hadn't really needed a ride home at all. His car was the only one left in the parking lot when he got there.

PS This is NOT our story. I'll post it someday.