an update.....

I finished my '6' doll for Chase and got it in the mail today.....


I hope he likes it and it's what he wanted. I had a good time making him and trying to figure out how to make it.
Today we packed all of Sarah's belongings into a u-haul trailer and tomorrow we set off for Provo, UT. We got her a new checking account, and she's ready to embark on her new adventure. I'm sad and happy at the same time, I know she will be happy and meet lots of friends and have a great time, but I'm always happiest when my kids are safe at home.

But I can't hang onto her forever.....I must cut my apron strings.

Funny... she was going to get married next weekend, and now she's off on her own and doing her own thing. I hope she finds what she's looking for, and accomplishes all that she wants to do. Sarah, I know you can do it!
We get to go to the Sat. afternoon conference session too, I hope we have good experiences there .... I can't wait to here what the talks will be about. I will post about our moving adventure when we get back........

It really is Spring.....

This moring we woke up to snow and wind and cold!! Brrrr..... but by this afternoon even if the wind is still blowing and it's chilly, the snow all melted. Yay!!
Sunday was the first day of Spring, and to prove it, there was a little robin out by our pine tree in the back yard!!

you have to look really close ... but he is there.
Jim's birthday was on Monday the 21st!! I now have 1 month to call him 'my old man' until I turn the same age as him. :o) I made him a cheesecake for his birthday, and we had mom and dad over on Sunday evening to share it with us. I have this candle that you can turn on and it plays Happy Birthday which we all try to sing along with, and then it's tradition to take a picture of the Birthday Person blowing out the candle.... well Jim thought he'd be funny and blow the candle out really quick before I could get a picture... he thought it was really funny.. hahaha.


Sorry these pictures weren't very good of him, but he was laughing really hard and made it hard to get a good picture. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR!
The cheesecake was yummo!
On Monday which was his actual birthday, I grilled some ribeye steaks, and we finished off the cheesecake. Then I proceeded to get sicker... :o( My cold held off until I taught my relief society lesson, and monday evening I got pretty bad, and didn't go to work today.
I hope I feel better tomorrow! I'm supposed to have a scone night with my past YW leaders..... we will see what happens.

my week................

This past week has been pretty good. I get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, and then relax. The last week I've been trying to create a '6' doll for my nephew Chase. This is what '6' looks like.
It's from the Tim Burton movie "9". Juli said that's his new favorite movie and he asked her to make him one. She said she couldn't but if anyone could , Aunt Di-di could. Goodness!!! I was up for the challenge but not sure if I could come through for him!! I had a few mistakes getting started but so far, I think I've got him pretty good, at least Chase thinks so from the pictures I 've sent him of it.

These are what I've come up with so far....

I still have his arms, hands and feet to do.... but so far so good I think.

I also had to teach Relief Society this week. Sometimes I just think of teaching in there and get soooo overwhelmed!! I can't teach Relief Society!!! But then I calm myself down and just concentrate on the lesson, and don't think about being up in front of all those ladies I admire and know so much more than I do. So far, I've done okay. Things usually come together if I pray, and study my lesson ahead of time. This last week my lesson was on service.


I love the gospel and what happiness it brings in our lives. I know we are here to help each other, and support each other, so we can make it through this life and end up where we want to be. I think the lessons I teach are more for me than anyone. My sister, Marilyn, gave me a book called "Flowers from our Garden" it has thousands of quotes by LDS women, she thought I could use it when I taught in YW's but I never did, but now its so helpful for my Relief Society lessons!!! I loved this quote I found in it on Service, by Linda Bentley Johnson......
"When I don't receive that warm glow of service, I try to remember that I don't give service so I can feel like a good person. I try to do good because it is the right thing to do and because Jesus has asked us to help each other.... In my journal I copied these words that I refer to often: "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car wearing fancy clothes, my hair perrfectly done, and with long manicured nails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to Scout camp. I want there to be grass stains on my shoes from mowing another sister's lawn. I want there to be a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want there to be a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want there to be children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know that I was really here and that I really loved!"

I love that last part..... I love the whole thing, but I do want the Lord to know that I was really here on this earth he created and that I really did love! I do love my life and the people in it and I just hope they know that. Life is good, no matter what challenges we have in it, whether it's a little challenge, like creating a doll for a cute little nephew, or a bigger challenge like teaching a Relief Society lesson for a lot of ladies who are really your friends. I just hope I can keep sharing with them the things the Lord wants me too.
Life is good. :o)

A funny incident.....

Has anyone been feeling bummed lately??? Is it just me?? I have felt so bummed, not really depressed, but just blah, maybe it's because I miss the sunshine, maybe it's because I want spring to hurry and get here, but I have had no energy. I haven't wanted to do anything... not even cook. And then when I do, who wants to do the dishes?? not me!! Ugh! I've tried exercising and got myself entangled in a good book and walked for 45 minutes last night, and 40 again tonight, and it's helped a little, but I was still feeling blah.
Then tonight, a horrible storm came up, wind and driving rain, and yes I think I even heard thunder. Jim had taken the garbage can out to the street because it's our garbage pickup day tomorrow and you never know when the garbage truck is going to come by, sometimes early early, and sometimes not until 3 in the afternoon. Sarah had come home from seeing a friend, and then decided to take an old movie down to my parents to watch with them. I always have to wave goodbye to whom ever leaves our house while I look out the window... did you ever see the movie "Ever after" where Cinderella runs out to wave to her dad as he rides his horse down the lane, and she says "its tradition" and runs out to wave goodbye waiting for him to look back, well, that's kind of how I feel, so I had to peek out the window and wave good-bye to Sarah as she drove away. And that's when I noticed the garbage can lid had blown open. Do you think I could just let it go?? I tried, I finished watching the kick off of American Idol and tried to ignore the flapping garbage can lid.... but no....
After American Idol was over, I grabbed my gray hooded sweatshirt and put on my Black slipper shoes, you know the kind that look like slippers but are really shoes?? And I still had my exercise sweatshorts on (am I painting a good picture yet??) and was going out to brave the storm to save my garbage from flying all over the neighborhood.
As I shut the door behind me I noticed a milk jug out in the middle of the lawn, and thought.. "well, I'm out here I might as well pick that up too". So off I went, sprinting across the grass, grabbed the milk carton then turned to run to the garbage can. Well I miss judged where I was and caught one foot on one of the railroad ties that line our driveway, and lost a shoe, and almost fell, so I started flapping my arms like a bird trying to take flight and then proceeded to lose my other slipper shoe and landed with both feet in a big puddle. Then I waddled over to where the garbage can was and it had completely blown over, so I picked that up and chased garbage around a bit but managed to get everything back into the can and pick up the can. I couldn't see my shoes cuz it was dark (thank heavens or the neighbors would have thougth I'd lost my mind) So I ran back inside to get a flashlight. Once inside Jim looked at me with a 'what are you doing??? and never mind I don't want to know' kind of look. And I tried to tell him what an adventure I'd been on, and all of sudden I just broke out into hysterical laughter!! I laughed so hard and kept thinking of what I must of looked like out there flapping my arms half bent over... like a gray goose flying south for the winter, and I proceeded to laugh so hard I had tears streaming down my face.... Have you ever seen "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks in it?? you know the part where the Bath tub falls through the floor and he laughs uncontrollably for 5 minutes?? Well... that was me.
Anyway, after I calmed down, Jim (who had not even cracked a smile yet) looked at me and said, "you know, after all these years, I've never known the railroad ties to move"......which made me laugh even more... and NO he didn't even laugh at all. So I calmed down. Got a flash light ... went out again and found my shoes, and grabbed the garbage can to bring back to the side of the house so it wouldn't blow away. Then calmly came inside, hung up my sweatshirt, and did the dinner dishes.
While I was doing them you know what I discovered??? I felt better. I felt happy, I was no longer bummed!! So I had to come and blog and share my little incident. I hope it made someone smile, and maybe even laugh, if not, I hope I will look back and read it again and smile again. And next time when I'm feeling bummed I hope I can laugh, and laugh good and hard till I have tears coming down my face, even if it is laughing at myself, who else better is there to laugh at besides me... and sometimes laughter IS the best medicine. :o)