Phillip and Julianna Iverson

Don't Worry; We're Still Alive

2012-01-08T01:56:00.000-08:00

(Warning, this one is a bit long...)

Yes, I do realize that it has been almost a month since I last blogged. We are still alive, the holiday season kept us VERY busy and try as I might, I could not manage to get on here.

December 15th

I received a new phone in the mail. I had gone to the store to look for one, mine wouldn't hold a charge, and found this cute little Blackberry Pearl for $149.

Some might be okay paying that much for a phone, but I am not. So I went home and did my research. I found the same phone for $0.01. That's right, a penny! It was refurbished, but I'm not picky. Phillip named her "Pearl."

December 16th

I was blessed to go out with some girl friends to a very yummy restaurant, Zesta Cucina. One of the lady's boss had given her a gift card for Christmas and she chose to share it with us. My favorite part was the gelato!

Christmas
Our first Christmas presents were from mom & dad Iverson and they made our tree look so pretty. My favorite part though was the stack of coupons!

By Christmas Day our tree was surrounded by way too many gifts. Santa was much too good to us this year. Especially to me. Phillip broke our self-imposed budget (I didn't get too upset) and bough me a Kindle. So now "Pearl" has a boyfriend, "Kindle."

He also gave me a variety of soaps from Simply McGhie Soaps (find her on: Facebook, Etsy and Blog). I know I am a bit biased, as she is one of my best friends, but this is the best soap in the world!!! A bar of Chocolate is in the shower and I love smelling it every morning.

Phillip and all of our family gave me a lot of other things including nearly a whole new closet of clothes. I am VERY blessed!
Not to be out done, I got crafty for Christmas. Phillip had asked for some covers for his scriptures...

...and a bag for his church things.

I've heard some jealous whispers about the scripture covers. I just may start making them on a more regular basis....
One of our favorite presents came from my big sister, Barb. It is a glass block with Christmas lights inside an a silhouette of the Nativity. So beautiful! We don't think this one is getting put away with the other Christmas decorations. It just may stay out year-round.

McGhie's
Another of our favorite presents came two days after Christmas. These three cutie:

and their parents came to visit us for about a week after Christmas. We loved having the McGhie's with us. We hadn't seen them since we moved (6 months (!!!)) and loved ever minute of it. We took them all over Zillah, getting all the photo-opps.

We took them to the best stores (this quote was in the Amish Connection).

And made them stay up late baking cookies and playing games with us. This apron was another Christmas sewing project.

We hope they had some fun and were very sad to go. Especially when they left their cold here. It is a good reminder of having them here though. ;)
Birthday
Again Phillip was way too good to me. He got me two books, a pastel set, a shirt and.........

a WHOLE BATCH of Orange Shaving Soap!!!!! If you can't read it, my face is all smiles just remember looking into this bag.

He took me to Olive Garden for a yummy dinner and then took me for lunch on Saturday at a new (to us) Mexican restaurant in Yakima. I feel VERY blessed!
Well, there are two more things to tell, but I am going to wait an go to bed.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Preparing for Christmas

2011-12-13T23:16:00.000-08:00

Phillip and I started shopping back at the first of September, so pretty much we're done. Some of the presents are being hand made though and those I am still working on. Phillip helped me with this one:

We saw the quote on a bag in Barnes & Nobel and I knew it would make a perfect bookmark.

The next present is 1/2 way done. We are having visitors two days after Christmas and this dress is for their little girl:

The skirt comes out to a full circle which should be lots of fun when she twirls. The second half of this project is a matching dress for her dolly. I don't know if you can tell, but the front of this dress closes with seven buttons. Seven! Before this dress I had never done a button hole the proper way. I don't know what I was doing, but I had never read the instructions. Anyway, I am very proud of those seven button holes!

There are two other projects in the works, but as they are for Phillip, I am choosing not to reveal them at this time.

The other night I went to the gas station and saw these trucks coming off of the freeway:

There was some kind of Christmas Parade just south of us and I guess the trucks came to Zillah to turn all their lights off. (Notice Santa's reindeer lit up on the hill).

Two Sunday's ago we had a program to help the Relief Society sisters be prepared for Christmas. I found this program by Judith Hoopes Hamilton: The Women Who Knew Jesus, added some hymns we had different sisters portray each part. It was a WONDERFUL experience. My new favorite character of the Nativity story is Elizabeth.
Well that's about it for now. Tomorrow our Christmas cards will (hopefully) go out in the mail and our second calendar goes to the printer. Christmas is just around the corner!!!

Catch Up

2011-11-29T00:42:00.001-08:00

It doesn't seem like that much has happened but for some reason I haven't been putting all of my fun things on here for everyone to read.

First Snow

A few weeks ago we had our first snow. I woke up, looked out the window and threw on some sweats so I could go outside. I felt like a little child.

Here is our back yard before:

And after:

And the front before:

And after:

The Saturday after, we woke up to a even more snow:

We went out and had a snow ball fight with the snow that was on the car. Can you tell we had the heater on more than our neighbor?
Savings
After a quick visit to Phillip's work, we headed to Safeway where we did some fun mixing of coupons and in-store savings.

We saved 46%. The total before savings was somewhere around $79 and after was $42. I don't claim to be an extrem couponer (you can watch them here), but I think this was a great deal. We also received $4 in coupons for our next trip! I don't buy things we will not use and I don't take everything off the shelf. Between that and a Winco Trip, my stockpile is full now.
After taking some tips from Shannon, I officially have a month of meals planned and will only need to grab some perishable items right before a few meals. This makes me a VERY happy camper!
Thanksgiving and Christmas
Phillip and I were able to spend Thanksgiving with the Ames' family here in our ward. We are thankful for all of our new friends and for the Ames' welcoming us into their home. Everything was yummy and the company was great.
We decided to brave the Target in Yakima at midnight that night. We spent $150 and saved $125!
The day after Thanksgiving, we decorated for Christmas.

Today

I spent the day making cookies. No pictures, sorry, but I went to a ward members home and made three different kinds. One resembled the "powder sugar" cookies, the second was like ginger snaps and the third rolled around cinnamon sugar, all spice, cloves and raisins. Very yummy and now I have a LARGE platter of cookies to share. Tomorrow we will be taking these out for some visits. :)
Well, I think that about catches us up for now. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Santa

2011-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

To lie or to kill your child's excitment? ...What a question.
This is something I have contemplated for awhile now. Obviously I have no children of my own to try this out on. I never believed in Santa; my family had Santa gifts, but I never believed for reasons my family had no control over. I do not feel that I was deprived by not believing and never had the disappointment of learning that Santa wasn't a real person. This makes me wonder why so many parents insist on telling this lie (along with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy).
Note, I am not judging how anyone is raising their children. I am just posing this as a thought.

Sunday Bread

2011-11-14T23:49:00.001-08:00

A little while ago a sister in our ward mentioned that she makes home made bread every Sunday for her family. Phillip looked at me with "puppy dog eyes" and I knew a new tradition was in the making. I have made bread now and again, usually when we have company, we have a bread maker that makes it nice and easy. I have now started trying out different recipes and making the dough into two loaves so we can have one and still have one to share with someone.
This week's bread was a plain white bread recipe and was VERY yummy with the Apple Butter from the last post.

Apples

2011-11-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

A few years ago my friend Nichole gave me a jar of her Carmel Apple Butter. It was SO delicious. My favorite use for it was to put it on vanilla ice cream. YUMMY!
Living in Washington, my natural thought is Washington Apples and a few weeks ago I asked Nichole for the recipe. She sent it to me (from here) and I promptly forgot about it until I was at Costco and saw the apple selection. I grabbed the apples and headed home to make it. I strongly suggest letting the crock pot do it's magic overnight. It is hard to wake up to the smell, but I imagine it would be even worse than smelling it the whole day.

The jars made their magical popping sound as soon as the 10 minutes on the steamer were done. I love that sound! There is nothing like making your own jars of food without all the preservatives and junk in them. Thank you to Tamera for letting me use your steamer!
A few weeks ago our Elder's Quorm had an activity also having to do with apples. The Kibbe's have an apple press. It makes the most WONDERFUL apple juice. It's like eating an apple, without all the effort.

Picture care of http://www.bestapples.com/index.aspx

Halloween

2011-11-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Friday night before Halloween, Tamera came over and we made home made Root Beer. It was a pretty easy recipe
You add some yeast (1/8-1/4 T) to warm water and let it sit for five minutes (until dissolved).

In a second bowl you add 1 Tablespoon Root Beer Extract to 2 cups of sugar and enough warm water to dissolve the sugar.

Add the two bowls together, stir and add enough water to bring it up to 12 cups.
Pour the liquid into clean plastic bottles (or glass, but that is harder to check the fermenting) and screw the lid on tightly.

Place the bottles in a room temperature area for 1-2 days.

Then you are supposed to move the bottles to a cool dark place for 1-2 weeks or until the bottles are hard.

This process only took a few days...I don't know if it was too warm in the house or too cold in the garage, but one of the bottles (the one on the right) exploded Sunday night. To stop the fermenting process, the bottles are placed into the fridge.
The result was sort of a weird taste...maybe it's the after flavor.

Friday night we had these super cute spiders delivered to us by some of our new friends:

Saturday night was our ward's Halloween Carnival and Trunk-or-Treat. The best part of Halloween, in my opinion, is dressing up. I had spent the week making my Colonial Halloween costume.

and spent an hour getting my hair curly.

On the other hand, Phillip's costume took maybe 10 minutes.

(kick me /sign included)

Yes, I was jealous.
I think it is sad we (in general, not us 2 Iverson's) spend so much effort on our costumes and only get to wear them for a few short hours. There should be a week of costume wearing time.

Anyway, I hope you all had a...

Happy Halloween!

Christmas Traditions

2011-10-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

Warning, this post is interactive!

Artwork by James Christensen

I was asked to share some of my Christmas traditions at our next Relief Society evening and it got me thinking about the many traditions from growing up as well as the new traditions of having my own family. What are your favorite (and least favorite) holiday traditions?

Anniversary Weekend Trip

2011-10-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

Every other year, Phillip and I trade off who plans what we will do for our anniversary (10/21). This year (#5) was my turn and I did a pretty good job keeping this year a secret from him.

I originally had planned on starting out at the Fresno temple (where we were married)

and then heading to Oakland and spending the night were we had a few hours to sleep before heading off to the airport. Then we moved and going to the Fresno temple wasn't so easy. So, as our honeymoon was in Seattle, I figured we could still do some reminiscing.

Phillip had a meeting Thursday in Tacoma and one on Friday in Seattle that really helped me disguise the plans. After the Tacoma meeting I directed the unknowing Phillip to IKEA to get some yummy cinnamon rolls and dinner.

Then we headed up to Seattle to stay at the Paramont Hotel.

We checked in and headed up to our top floor, corner room. We had a great view.

We walked down to Pikes Place Market which was closed for the night and took in the city for awhile. It's amazing how loud the city is compared to Zillah. We saw a protest and at least one person being arrested. Excitement was all around! Then we headed back up the hill and Phillip bought me a hot chocolate.

Friday morning he went off to his meeting and I was able to sleep in and watch a movie before checking out. I moved the car from the valet parking (thanks P's work!) to the lot across the street and then walked back downtown for a yummy burrito. Oh Chipotle, how I have missed thee!

Then I went back down to Pike's Place.

I got some Christmas presents and went to see the first Starbucks and this fun cheese shop. The picture isn't too great, but it was very fun to watch them make cheese.

On my way back up the hill I saw this wall of leaves and was reminded of the movie/short story by O. Henry "The Last Leaf." Fall has officially hit us.

I also saw the All Saints store with these lovely old sewing machines in the windows and drooled all over them.

When Phillip's meeting was over, it was time for more fun. I drove us up to the Space Needle area and we rode the ducks!

For those who don't know, it's a tour that goes from land to water.

We had a great tour guide who kept changing his hat as he told us all about Seattle

and made us yell things at the passing people

The tour took us past the house used in Sleepless in Seattle

Our group was pretty small, there was a lady from the Philippines with her friends and then 4 teenagers from China. I don't know if it was the language barrier, but our group didn't respond very much. I think Phillip had a good time though.

For our Honeymoon, Phillip had reserved us a room at a hotel in Bothell (just north of Seattle). I thought it would be fun to stay there again. I, unfortunately, didn't remember the right room, but we did end up with a bottle of wine from the hotel.

Of course we promptly took it back, but it was fun, none the less. It wasn't the same room, but the same layout was still there. It was nice to see the updates they had made.

We also had dinner at the Red Robin we had eaten at on our honeymoon.

On the way home the next afternoon I was again greeted by Autumn's vivid colors. I know they are just dying leaves but, it was a beautiful sight and a reminder that all things, like our marriage, only get better with age.

Two other quick things we did were: stopping at Krispy Kreme for some "Hot Now" donuts and stopping at a cute Fruit & Antiques store. My husband does the sweetest things for me!

Simply McGhie: A Giveaway As Promised

2011-10-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

SOOOOO wanting to win me some free soap! I know I've blogged about this soap before, but it is truly my favorite soap. I use her soap every day. My skin is very sensative and I've never had issues with it. The current bar in my shower is the Cocoa Butter and Poppy Seed, but they're all great!
So Nichole did this sample thing over the last few months and tried a bunch of different scents in her soap and now she's giving them away:

Simply McGhie: A Giveaway As Promised: I mentioned earlier that when my blog reached 50 followers I would do a surprise giveaway and here it is! Earlier today my blog reached 50 ...

Callings...again

2011-10-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Sadly, this was my last week in YW. I had a great time in there and love the Beehives. I was scared before going in, but they are so sweet and were so good to me.

Today I was offically sustained and set apart as the Relief Society 1st Counselor. Wish me luck! Guess I'm just moving up again. It will be great. We will miss the old RS President, Nancy, very much. She did a wonderful job, as well as her counselors.

I realized that I never talked about Phillip's calling. He is the Assistant Priest Quorum Advisor. Pretty much that means that he teaches the Priests and helps out the Young Men's President with whatever he needs.

Today Phillip also was offically given a second calling: he is a teacher in Elder's Quorum. (EQ doesn't really have an emblem...this was as close as I could get.) So he's busy teaching and I...well, I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, but it will be great!

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Grape Juice & Jelly

2011-10-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Grape Juice

In Madera (just north of Fresno), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a welfare farm, a grape vineyard. Members of the church go out and pick the grapes at the end of August (in 100°+ weather, turn them out onto papers and, two weeks later, return to pick up the raisins. The raisins are processed and shipped around the world to those in need. I remember going out from the time I was very little and for most of my life. We would always come home covered in dirt and sweat with pink/purple fingers and memories of these horrible jumping spiders. As much as there were bad memories, we always had a great time, literally, serving in the Lord's Vineyard. (read more here if you're interested)

Photo by Peter Evans 

When we moved up here, one of the first things we found out is that there is no welfare farm in the area. I figured my grape picking days were over...I was wrong! Tamera, one of our new friends, mentioned that she had a source for inexpensive Concord grapes. I was immediatly taken back to my childhood. I remember whenever I got sick, my mom would pull out a canning jar filled with grapes, drain out the sweet juice and give it to me. I don't ever remember drinking the juice any other time, or even ever liking grape juice, except when I was sick. So on Tuesday I went with Tamera, her friend Jen and Jen's daughter Katie out to the vineyard. Because the grapes aren't being made into raisins, the vineyard was a bit different for me. I also had to keep reminding myself I was just taking some for me, not picking the vines bare. I ended up with 30+ pounds of grapes in less than an hour. My fingers were still pink/purple and there were the same spiders, but thankfully the dirt and sweat didn't come with these grapes.

The next morning I loaded up all of my supplies and took them to Tamera's house.

We used two methods to make the juice.
Method one*: (the way I remember mom's juice)
      1 cup grapes
      1/4-1/3 cup sugar
      then fill with water up to 1/4" from the top of the jar

Then we steamed them (15 minutes once it steams) and they turned out SO pretty!!!

Prices:
      58.3¢ per bottle
        20¢/lb for the grapes
        plus a bag of sugar
I figure there's maybe 1 pound of grapes per jar and at the most we used 1/3 cup sugar that evens out to maybe 80¢ for a can of juice. Compare that to the stores prices, subtracting all the perservatives, and it's MORE than worth it. And next year when I won't have to buy bottles, just lids - we're talking maybe 35¢ per can. And aren't these jars so cute?!?!

*Walmart was out of quart jars so my recipes are pint size.

Method Two:
Tamera had a juicer. This has to be my favorite new discovery from the whole process. You dump the grapes (stems and everything) in and turn on the burner until it turns into juice. That's it! No sugar, no timing, no steaming or water bathing. The juice comes out piping hot so you just put the lid on and wait for it to pop. I didn't take any pictures of this beauty, but it has been added to my wish list.
I ended up with 24 pint and 3 quart jars (thanks Tamera) of juice. Unfortunatly, she told me I have to wait 2 months to drink these beauties!

& Jelly

In the whole time I've known Phillip, I've never known him to use jam or jelly. In fact, I thought he didn't like it at all. When I told him I wanted to get grapes, he surprised me by asking if I would make Grape Jelly as well. I was floored but told him of course! (For those who don't know the difference between Jam and Jelly (I didn't) here's an explaination).
For the jelly I also added a 97¢ for a bottle (2 boxes) of pectin to 6 cups of (boiling) juice and then 5 cups of sugar and solidly boiled that for 1 minute. I could probably have added more but it set up and tasted good to me. It ended up filling 10 1/2 pint jars, so I think the extra sugar would've taken it up to 12 of the jars.
When I brought home (almost) all of the jars and took them to the pantry, I had to clear off a whole shelf to add all these prettys:

We will see if I can wait 2 months to drink these!

Widow's Tale

2011-10-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Phillip is gone until late Wednesday night and so I'm husband-less for the next few days and I thought it was time to update the blog.

September 23

Phillip had a work meeting in Ellensburg. As I had only driven through the town, I took him up on the chance to go for a road trip. While he was in his meeting I wandered around the town and saw some of the beautiful historic buildings.

and homes

and I found a quilt store! It's a beautiful little college town.

When I dropped Phillip off for his meeting, he mentioned maybe going to the temple in Seattle (Bellevue) afterwards so I found a Fred Meyer (nothing in my price range in those cute stores) to find some church clothes as I was just in jeans. I wandered for a few moments before finding the clearance was all down to 60% off! I found a skirt and shoes that would work with the top I was wearing and then found a cute dress with no price tag (and no similar dress to compare the price to). When I asked the associate, she went and found the cheapest dress on the rack and gave me that price! I ended up with a dress, skirt and shoes all at $11.96 each!

Then I headed back to the hospital to get Phillip from his meeting and we drove up to Seattle.

September 24

I watched the Relief Society broadcast at home. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk (here) about Forget-Me-Nots and was talking to Nichole about it after the broadcast. We both want to grow them now. Well, my sweet husband heard that and went to work on Monday and called all of the stores to see if he could have some delivered to me. Unfortunately he found out that they are not in season. So instead, today after taking him to the airport (he's in Chicago) this morning, I came home and received this delivery:

He is such a sweetie. The card says: "I miss you and I'll be home in 2 days. Love, your husband."

September 30

I went to the fair to help a friend work a booth for her children's school in the morning. We had planned to go to the Columbia River temple, but at 2 p.m. Phillip called and asked if I wanted to go down to Portland instead. I said: "Sure, why not?" So, 2 1/2 hours later we were on our way.
It was a beautiful drive along the Columbia River!

After the temple we went up to Vancover, WA to get some Krispy Kreme donuts for Saturday morning's General Conference (a family tradition for us). Then, on the way back, we stopped at Denny's to get some dinner. I asked for a water and the waitress showed up with a tiny glass. So I asked her for a larger glass (or multiple small glasses) and instead she just brought me a whole pitcher because "it would take me just as long." Where is customer service these days?!?!

RS Night

2011-09-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

So tonight was the Relief Society night for the month and we had a "Native Night." One of the features was a Hoop Dancer. VERY cool. For those who don't know, here's an example:

In other news, I've been getting free gas! Well, sort of. I've been doing Mystery Shopping at gas stations so I get to buy $5 of gas and they pay me back. LOVE IT! :)

Delivery

2011-09-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

So the other day I was doing something around the house and we had a knock on the door. I opened it to find this:

Grandma Syl had sent us a pretty house warming present! This is the first delivery I have ever had from a delivery person. Phillip has brought me lots of deliveries (which I love because I get to see him too), but this was a first for me. Fun to say the least!
Last week I was busy doing car things. My car finally has Washington plates and has two new tires!

I also spent this past week starting a new hobby. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings I am walking around the pond at Dinosaur Park in Granger with Megan.

Tim Be Told - Analyze

2011-09-06T01:06:00.000-07:00

I first saw this video about a year ago and it really touched me. Keep watching, you will love this too!

Sunday Sacrament Meeting

2011-08-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had a sacrament meeting that really touched me. One of the beehives gave a talk on choosing the right and then the adult speakers' topic was Adversity.
The first speaker was an older brother (70+) who isn't remembering everything. He had a great talk about his life, but the real testimony of the message came with how the talk was presented. Parts were repeated and he went over time. The bishop went up to him and tried to get him to end a few times before he finally did. Unfortunately there was a large portion of the ward who laughed at the situation, and not just under their breath laughs, but out right laughing. I admit, it could have been a bit silly, but it was very sad that so many thought it was OK to laugh at someones disabilities.
I guess it's a little more close to my heart as Alzheimer's runs in my family, but my heart broke for this brother. This was probably the last time he will give a talk at church and he didn't seem fazed by the laughter, but we may never know if that's because he was OK with it or if he was just hiding the pain of not remembering. Either way, the message of how to deal with adversity really touched me.
Then the congregation hymn really touched me. We sang Where Can I Turn for Peace?

Where can I turn for peace?

Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.
He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.

Memories

2011-08-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

I went to the Amish store yesterday with my parents and they have this jar of cream. When I opened the jar it filled me with memories of Grandpa's "Old Man's Salve". The stuff is potent and says on the jar it's not to be used for babies. You're supposed to put it on your chest when you're all congested and it clears you right up. (Like Vicks but 100 times stronger).

Then, I was putting in my entries for Nichole's Honey Tea Thyme Review and Giveaway and found another salve on Honey Tea Time's Etsy Page.

It doesn't look to have the same ingredients, but I'm really interested in this.

Anyway, here's the recipe for Old Man's Salve c/o my great grandmother's journal for anyone who's interested:

Old Man's Salve

1 lb white Vaseline or petroleum jelly

1 small inch square of para-wax

1 1/4 oz. menthol crystals

2 oz. eucalyptus oil

Melt Vaseline and para-wax, then add other ingredients. Mix well.

Put in small jars for use in colds, etc. in chest, inflamed parts.

Especially good for sinus infections.

This is too strong to use for babies.

Depending on how courageous I feel, maybe I'll whip some up for Christmas gifts....we'll see...

Beehives, Visitors and a New Blog!

2011-08-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I made these super cute beehive topped cupcakes for a back to school pep rally. I think they turned out SOOOO cute and they were way easy!

I just made yellow cake cupcakes and then made yellow jello frosting (1 package instant pudding mixed with 1-1/2 cups milk and then a container of cool whip). I took my frosting applicator and skipped the tip. I squirted some out until it made a big circle then made two smaller circles on top of that.

So then on Friday night after games with the Grigg's (well Saturday morning at 3 a.m.) we had three visitors arrive! My mom and dad and sister (Barb) came. Saturday I took Barb on a tour of the town.

Then we went to see The Help with mom. Yes, I've paid twice to see this movie. It is that good.

Yesterday morning I took Barb to the bus station in Yakima (it was a quick but good visit) and then went to church.

Today I did the same tour with mom and dad.

Tonight we got home and had homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls and then a fun family home evening.

Also in recent Iverson news: I have started a second blog. I know, I hardly update this one, but I did it anyway. It's mainly for my handouts and things I use for YW so I can reuse and others can steal my ideas. Here's the link: http://juliannashelps.blogspot.com/

The Help

2011-08-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went with some of the ladies from church to see The Help. I LOVED this movie. I laughed, I cried, it had everything that made a great movie. I've been told it was very true to the book. It's a great reminder of our sad history as well. There are a few occurances of brief language (some of which I felt was PERFECTLY placed), so if your ears are more gentle than mine you may want to skip it. I would suggest this movie to everyone!

A Picture Tour of Our New Home

2011-08-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our home!!!

I've been saying for awhile that I would post pictures of our new place with all of our stuff in it. I've been waiting for us to get the artwork on the walls and we finally have most of the rooms done so here we go.
Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride. :)

Front Room

Dining Room (art still finishing up)

We added this bench tonight. Here's my sweetie showing it off:

Kitchen

Laundry Room

Downstairs Bathroom

Going Upstairs

Upstairs

The Game Closet

Our Room (no art on the walls yet)

My favorite thing is our awesome closet

Guest Room/(Messy) Craft Room

Office/Library

And the upstairs bathroom

Garage

Today I put together these shelves and moved a some of our pantry out to the garage. I LOVE these shelves!!!

Soap

2011-08-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

I just used this soap from Simply McGhie Soaps and I have to say it is the best shave I have ever had! My legs are soooo smooth! LOVE IT!!! I absolutly LOVE Nichole's soaps! They are so wonderful!!!

Artwork continued

2011-08-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

Pastels
Charcoal

Baking, Crochetting and Sewing

2011-08-03T14:13:00.001-07:00

What I've been up to in my free time lately:

I made this outfit for me

Cake balls for my first Sunday teaching YW
And this outfit

Any takers? Pants size 6-12 months, socks are 0-3 months.

Seattle, Bainbridge and Rx Bandits

2011-07-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

My favorite band, Rx Bandits, is on their farewell tour and had a stop in Seattle so I decided it was time for a trip!
I went up north early on Wednesday the 27th. I took the ferry over from Seattle to Bainbridge.

It was a beautiful day (or what I consider beautiful). Clouds, Sun and cool weather. The port probably isn't very beautiful to anyone else, but this is one of my favorite parts of Seattle.
Going into Bainbridge
After seeing some old friends and wandering around Bainbridge, it was back across the ferry to Seattle to El Corazon. The two opening bands were fun. It got hot rather fast, but I stuck to my front-row spot and it paid off.

This was supposed to be a shot of their playlist. The print didn't turn out, but they played for almost two hours. VERY wonderful show!!!
I left for home about 11:30 and got home just before 2:30 a.m. It wasn't too bad actually.

New calling...part one, and coupons

2011-07-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

After my post last week someone (who shall remain nameless) said that they couldn't wait for me to get called and post what my new calling was since I take two months to post. Guess what, I'm back! :)
So my new calling is...

Yep, back in YW. And I am the new...

Beehive Advisor!
So, all you Gettysburg YW - I need to know what I did right and what I did wrong. And wish me luck!!!
I also have been sucked back into couponing. My mom's sending me her's for now since everything here is coupon skim and expensive. Thankfully we still have printers. I went shopping on Friday and got 50% off of one total and 25% off another. I love watching the totals go down! And saving money!
Part 2 (next week) will be Phillip's calling...stay tuned!

Zillah, Aspiring Artist and 2 Talks

2011-07-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last week for Family Home Evening, we wrote a few cards to people back in Fresno. The next day I walked down to our post office and took some shots on the way.

Zillah Post Office

Seventh-Day Church

A few months ago I mentioned to Phillip that though I don't consider myself a good artist, I do enjoy drawing. Phillip, having a great memory, surprised me with a sketch book before we moved. I told my mom the story and she handed down to me some of my Grandpa Mayhue's pencils and her set of chalk. For my first sketch, I used the Seventh-Day church and added some stained glass.

Sunflower (Sketch #2):

Next to the post office is this deserted old stone building:

I haven't been able to find any information on it, but it is pretty.

It's the sketch I'm working on now.

This is another church I might work on next.:

On the 17th, Phillip and I gave our first talks and I got a calling...details to come. :)
Here are my talks from when we left and when we got here. There is a bunch of mumbling and verbal filler that isn't here, but you'll get the gist of it.

052911
Br. Swann asked us to speak on one our favorite talks from General Conference. Being the rebellious person I am, I refused to narrow it down to just one and instead chose four.
I would like to start by paraphrasing President Eyring began his address at the Young Women’s Broadcast:
“My beloved (brothers and) sisters, you are the bright hope of the Lord’s Church. My purpose (today) is to help you believe that is so. If that belief can become a deep testimony from God, it will shape your daily and hourly choices. And then from what might appear to you to be small choices, the Lord will lead you to the happiness you want. Through your choices He will be able to bless countless others.
Your choice to be with us (today) is an example of choices that matter…Of all the other things you could have chosen to do, you chose to be with us. You did that because of your beliefs. You are a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You believe enough to come here…and have enough faith to hope that something you will hear or feel will move you toward a better life. You felt in your heart that following Jesus Christ was the way to greater happiness.
Now, you may not have recognized that as a conscious choice of any great importance. You may have felt drawn to be with us by friends or family. You may have simply responded to the kindness of someone who invited you to come. But even if you did not notice it, you felt at least a faint echo of the invitation of the Savior: “Come, follow me.” “
142 years ago, President Brigham Young formed what we now call the Young Women’s Organization because, he said, “There is need for the young daughters of Israel to get a living testimony of the truth.”
President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that a testimony “is a convincing knowledge given by revelation to [a person] who humbly seeks the truth.” He said of testimony and the Holy Ghost, who brings that revelation, “Its convincing power is so great that there can be no doubt left in the mind when the Spirit has spoken. It is the only way that a person can truly know that Jesus is the Christ and that his gospel is true.”
Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr taught us in General Conference who is entitled to receive a testimony. He said, “Everyone who is willing to pay the price—meaning keeping the commandments—may have a testimony. “Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear” (D&C 1:11). A fundamental reason for the Restoration of the gospel is so “every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world; that faith also might increase in the earth” (D&C 1:20–21).”
Everyone is entitled to receive revelation for themselves and we can receive that revelation thru promptings from the Holy Ghost. After we are baptized by one in authority, we are then able to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I once had the difference between the two explained to me this way: Imagine you are walking through a forest on a dark, stormy night. It is so dark outside that you cannot see your hand in front of your face. You may know where you need to go, but you cannot see the path in front of you. Every once in awhile, there is a flash of lightning that lights the path. You run a few steps ahead, but eventually the light goes away. Before we are baptized, we have short promptings from the Holy Ghost that tell us what we need to do. We might feel promptings to visit someone or a prompting that what we are hearing is true. But that feeling only lasts for a short time. After we are baptized, it is like we are given a flashlight to guide our way thru the storm.
President Eyring said “Testimony will come to you in pieces as parts of the whole truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ are confirmed. For instance, as you read and ponder the Book of Mormon, verses you have read before will appear new to you and bring new ideas. Your testimony will grow in breadth and in depth as the Holy Ghost confirms that they are true. Your living testimony will expand as you study, pray, and ponder in the scriptures.”
In Alma, 32 we read that our testimonies grow the same way a seed grows into a plant. Our testimonies must start with a “particle of faith” and a desire for it to grow. Once that seed is planted and growing, we must continue to nurture it. President Eyring said again, “Frequent and heartfelt prayers of faith are crucial and needed nutrients. Obedience to the truth you have received will keep the testimony alive and strengthen it. Obedience to the commandments is part of the nourishment you must provide for your testimony.
So, back to the analogy in the woods, the flashlight we are given has batteries that charge with shaking it. If we just use the flashlight and don’t shake it, eventually we will no longer have light. In the same way, if we don’t continue to pray and live obediently to the commandments, the strength of the power of the Holy Ghost will lessen in our lives. But, as we live righteously, we are charging our flashlights. And as we continue to follow the promptings we receive, our testimonies continue to grow until our faith becomes certain knowledge.
The Book of Mormon tells us how we can obtain the necessary revelation, and what are the fundamental steps to achieve: “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”
Having a testimony and continuing to live the gospel does not guarantee a life without trial. In fact, I believe that having a testimony and living the gospel guarantees that your life will have trials. Because of this, I would like to focus the rest of my time on the talks given by Paul V. Johnson and Kent F. Richards of the Seventy
Elder Johnson said, “Earth life includes tests, trials, and tribulations, and some of the trials we face in life can be excruciating. Whether it be illness, betrayal, temptations, loss of a loved one, natural disasters, or some other ordeal, affliction is part of our mortal experience. Many have wondered why we must face difficult challenges. We know that one reason is to provide a trial of our faith to see if we will do all the Lord has commanded. Fortunately this earth life is the perfect setting to face—and pass—these tests.
But these trials are not just to test us. They are vitally important to the process of putting on the divine nature. If we handle these afflictions properly, they will be consecrated for our gain.”
Elder Orson F. Whitney said: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. … All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable. … It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”
Phillip and I have been in this ward for 3 ½ years. During this time we have made many close friends and as many of you know, Phillip and I will be moving to Washington State in a week and a half. While this is nowhere close to the hardest trial we have had to face; leaving our home, family and friends will be a huge change for our family. Not to mention packing all of our stuff while we still have to manage to live in the home, this is still a trial. We love everyone here and I feel that I understand, in a VERY SMALL way, what the pioneers must have felt packing all of their belongings over and over again, leaving behind loved ones along the way. I know, our wagon is slightly larger than the pioneers had, we have the marvelous invention of Facebook that will allow us to keep in touch with all of you, and we will have a home waiting for us when we get there, but we will still miss all of your smiling faces. Without naming names, you have each made a huge impact on our lives and we will miss you.
Elder Richards said “I have pondered about the purpose of pain. None of us is immune from experiencing pain. I have seen people cope with it very differently. Some turn away from God in anger, and others allow their suffering to bring them closer to God.” …Much of our suffering is not necessarily our fault. Unexpected events, contradicting or disappointing circumstances, interrupting illness, and even death surround us and penetrate our mortal experience. Additionally, we may suffer afflictions because of the actions of others. Lehi noted that Jacob had “suffered … much sorrow, because of the rudeness of [his] brethren.” Opposition is part of Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. We all encounter enough to bring us to an awareness of our Father’s love and of our need for the Savior’s help.
“The Savior is not a silent observer. He Himself knows personally and infinitely the pain we face.”
Elder Johnson said, “In the midst of problems, it is nearly impossible to see that the coming blessings far outweigh the pain, humiliation, or heartbreak we may be experiencing at the time. “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” 13 The Apostle Paul taught, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 14 It is interesting that Paul uses the term “light affliction.” This comes from a person who was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and who experienced many other trials. 15 I doubt many of us would label our afflictions light. Yet in comparison to the blessings and growth we ultimately receive, both in this life and in eternity, our afflictions truly are light.”
2 Nephi 9:21 “He suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children.”
He is the one we can turn to in our pain
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” 6
Elder Richards said: “Sometimes in the depth of pain, we are tempted to ask, “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” 7 I testify the answer is yes, there is a physician. The Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all these conditions and purposes of mortality.”
Once, as a missionary, I suffered a nasty bike accident. Yes, Elder Julian, you are not the only one who has crashed a bike. While I was having my wounds bandaged, my companion said something that has always stuck with me. She said, Whenever we look at the scars we get, we should remember that the Greatest of us all had scars from His mission, and He CHOSE to keep them.”
Elder Johnson also said, “As the Savior’s mortal ministry came to a close, He experienced the most difficult trial of all time—the incredible suffering in Gethsemane and on Golgotha. This preceded the glorious Resurrection and the promise that all our suffering will someday be done away. His suffering was a prerequisite to the empty tomb that Easter morning and to our future immortality and eternal life.
Sometimes we want to have growth without challenges and to develop strength without any struggle. But growth cannot come by taking the easy way. We clearly understand that an athlete who resists rigorous training will never become a world-class athlete. We must be careful that we don’t resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature.
Not one of the trials and tribulations we face is beyond our limits, because we have access to help from the Lord. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. 16

I would like to close with a song by Laura Story:

We pray for blessings, We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us, When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
And my talk from moving here:

071711
There are many warning signs and labels in the world today. Some warning labels, like you might find on a hair dryer, warn us of serious injury or even death. Signs found at a railroad crossing aren’t as specific, but we still know know, if the red lights are flashing, and the guard rails are up, that we should not try to cross the tracks.
In the same way, our Heavenly Father has given us warning signs. Some come in the way of impressions and some thru his servants, the prophets.
Joseph Fielding Smith, 10th President of the Church, gave this warning in 1953:
“We are living in a very troubled world, and I am going to talk plainly: we are living in a world that has discarded God or is rapidly doing so. We are living in a world where the Christian ministers of various denominations have been frightened by the philosophies of men and, therefore, because they lack the Spirit of the Lord, have tried to modify the scriptures, or the meaning of the scriptures, so that they can make them harmonize with the false theories so prevalent in the world today, theories which are in absolute conflict with divine revelation; and yet these people, afraid, dominated by the influence of false philosophy, are modifying the doctrines to make them conform to these theories and ideas which are godless in their foundation. We cannot afford to do that. …”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks said: As we look about us, we see many who are practicing deception. We hear of prominent officials who have lied about their secret acts. We learn of honored sports heroes who have lied about gambling on the outcome of their games or using drugs to enhance their performance. We see less well-known persons engaging in evil acts in secret they would never do in public. Perhaps they think no one will ever know. But God always knows. And He has repeatedly warned that the time will come when “[our] iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and [our] secret acts shall be revealed” (D&C 1:3)
In a world of so much deception and sin, how can we keep safe?
Elder Carlos E. Asay of the Seventy gave the following ideas:
“1. Avoid those who would tear down your faith. …
“2. Keep the commandments. …
“3. Follow the living prophets. …
“4. Do not contend or debate over points of doctrine. [See 3 Nephi 11:29.]
“5. Search the scriptures. …
“6. Do not be swayed or diverted from the mission of the Church. …
“7. Pray for your enemies. …
“8. Practice ‘pure religion.’ [See James 1:27 and Alma 1:30.] …
“9. Remember that there may be many questions for which we have no answers and that some things have to be accepted simply on faith”
Another way is to protect ourselves is by follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
Everyone is entitled to receive revelation for themselves and we can receive that revelation thru promptings from the Holy Ghost. After we are baptized by one in authority, we are then able to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I once had the difference between the two explained to me this way: Imagine you are walking through a forest on a dark, stormy night. It is so dark outside that you cannot see your hand in front of your face. You may know where you need to go, but you cannot see the path in front of you. Every once in awhile, there is a flash of lightning that lights the path. You run a few steps ahead, but eventually the light goes away. Before we are baptized, we have short promptings from the Holy Ghost that tell us what we need to do. We might feel promptings to visit someone or a prompting that what we are hearing is true. But that feeling only lasts for a short time. After we are baptized, it is like we are given a flashlight to guide our way thru the storm.
This morning we were able to witness Megan receiving this theoretical flashlight.
The flashlight we are given has batteries that charge with shaking it. If we just use the flashlight and don’t shake it, eventually we will no longer have light. In the same way, if we don’t continue to pray and live obediently to the commandments, the strength of the power of the Holy Ghost will lessen in our lives. But, as we live righteously, we are charging our flashlights. And as we continue to follow the promptings we receive, our testimonies continue to grow until our faith becomes certain knowledge.
Elder Neal Anderson shared the following:
““I’d like to tell you of an experience of a faithful Latter-day Saint who is a good friend of mine. I’ll refer to him only as “my friend” for reasons you will understand.
Working as a special agent for the FBI, my friend investigated organized crime groups transporting illegal drugs into the United States.
On one occasion, he and another agent approached an apartment where they believed a known drug dealer was distributing cocaine. My friend describes what happened:
“We knocked on the door of the drug dealer. The suspect opened the door, and upon seeing us, tried to block our view. But it was too late; we could see the cocaine on his table.
“A man and a woman who were at the table immediately began removing the cocaine. We had to prevent them from destroying the evidence, so I quickly pushed the drug suspect who was blocking the door to the side. As I pushed him, my eyes met his. Strangely, he did not appear angry or afraid. He was smiling at me.
“His eyes and disarming smile gave me the impression that he was harmless, so I quickly left him and started to move toward the table. The suspect was now behind me. At that instant, I had the distinct, powerful impression come into my mind: ‘Beware of the evil behind the smiling eyes.’
“I immediately turned back toward the suspect. His hand was in his large front pocket. Instinctively I grabbed his hand and pulled it from his pocket. Only then did I see, clutched in his hand, the semiautomatic pistol ready to fire. A flurry of activity followed, and I disarmed the man.”
Later, in another case, the drug dealer was convicted of murder and boasted that he would have also killed my friend had he not turned around at that very moment.”
We know that good comes from God; evil comes from the devil. They are not, however, equal forces that are fighting each other in the universe. At the head of all that is good is the Christ—He who is the Only Begotten of the Father, who created our world and numerous others. Our Redeemer is a resurrected and perfect being. I know He lives.
The devil, on the other hand, “persuadeth men to do evil.” “He [has] fallen from heaven … [has] become miserable forever,” and now works “that all men might be miserable like unto himself.” He is a liar and a loser.
The power of the Savior and the power of the devil are not truly comparable. On this planet, however, evil has been allowed a position of influence to give us the chance to choose between good and evil. The scripture says: “God gave unto man that he should act for himself. [And] man could not act for himself … [unless] he was enticed by … one or the other.”
The choice between good and evil is at the very heart of our experience on earth. In the final review of our lives, it will not really matter if we were rich or poor, if we were athletic or not, if we had friends or were often forgotten.
We can work, study, laugh and have fun, dance, sing, and enjoy many different experiences. These are a wonderful part of life, but they are not central to why we are here. The opportunity to choose good over evil is precisely why we are here.
Not one of us would say, “I want to choose evil.” We all want to choose the right. However, the choice of good over evil is not always easy, because evil frequently lurks behind smiling eyes. Listen to these warnings:
“Take heed … that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God.”
“Ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you.”
“Satan hath sought to deceive you, that he might overthrow you.”
The message is: Beware of the evil behind the smiling eyes!”
Joseph Fielding Smith said:
“but search the scriptures that you may not be deceived by false theories and practices and doctrines so prevalent in the world today. If you will do this, if you will have in your hearts the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord which every member of the Church has a right to have, the companionship of the Holy Ghost, you will not be led astray by the theories of men because the Spirit of the Lord will tell you they are false, and you will have the spirit of discernment that you may understand. …
Now, if you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will make you free. If your softball, your volleyball, your basketball, your foot racing, your dancing, your other entertainments are devoid of the Spirit of the Lord, they will be of no value to you. Let everything be done in the spirit of prayer and in faith. I think that is the case—maybe it is unnecessary for me to say it—but so let it be. Do everything with an eye single unto the glory of God, and let us teach to build up and strengthen ourselves and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Search the scriptures that you may not be deceived by false theories and practices and doctrines so prevalent in the world today.”
As we search the scriptures and go throughout life, we will face many challenges. Our Heavenly Father wants us to return to live with him, but we must keep His commandments and follow his warning signs to do so.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks said:
Satan’s methods of deception are enticing: music, movies and other media, and the glitter of a good time. When Satan’s lies succeed in deceiving us, we become vulnerable to his power. … Satan also seeks to deceive us about right and wrong and persuade us that there is no such thing as sin. This detour typically starts off with what seems to be only a small departure: “Just try it once. One beer or one cigarette or one porno movie won’t hurt.” What all of these departures have in common is that each of them is addictive. Addiction is a condition in which we surrender part of our power of choice. When we do that we give the devil power over us.
“Be not deceived,” the Apostle Paul taught. “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7–8).
Elder Oaks: “In other words, if we indulge in drugs or pornography or other evils that the Apostle called sowing to the flesh, eternal law dictates that we harvest corruption rather than life eternal. That is the justice of God, and mercy cannot rob justice. If an eternal law is broken, the punishment affixed to that law must be suffered. Some of this can be satisfied by the Savior’s Atonement, but the merciful cleansing of a soiled sinner comes only after repentance (see Alma 42:22–25), which for some sins is a prolonged and painful process. Otherwise, “he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption” (Alma 34:16).
Fortunately, repentance is possible. For the most serious sins we need to confess to our bishop and seek his loving help. For other sins it may be sufficient for us to confess to the Lord and to whomever we have wronged. Most lying is of this sort. If you have deceived someone, resolve now to stop carrying the burden. Make it right and get on with your life.”
Presiding Bishop H. David Burton taught: “One of [Satan’s] insidious strategies is to progressively soften our senses regarding what is right and wrong. Satan would have us convinced that it is fashionable to lie and cheat. He encourages us to view pornography by suggesting that it prepares us for the real world. He would have us believe that immorality is an attractive way of life and that obedience to the commandments of our Father in Heaven is old-fashioned. Satan constantly bombards us with deceptive propaganda desirably packaged and carefully disguised” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1993, 60; or Ensign, May 1993, 46).
President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught us in the April 1983 conference: “Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God. … We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see.”
Look for the warning labels, turn to the scriptures and to the words of the prophets, follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and I know that the Lord will bless your paths and help keep you safe.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Since Phillip had the day off, we started our 4th by heading into Yakima to see the new Transformers movie. Someone had warned us that there was huge nudity and so we shouldn't go see it...nothing stops us. After the movie, I asked Phillip where the nudity was, because I couldn't remember any. All we could come up with was a scene where a girl is wearing just a long shirt. Our review of the movie is: it's great!
So after the movie we came home and had dinner with the Daley's. Then we went home, had family home evening and Phillip surprised me by taking me down to Stewart Park (next to our place) to watch the fireworks.

The show didn't last too long, but it was very fun. We sat with the Grigg's and watched everyone else set off fireworks (much cheaper and just as fun! ;) ). The excitment of the night was a field that caught on fire. No worries though, everyone was fine.

Zillah Weeks 2-3

2011-07-02T23:52:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe but yes, we have now been here for more than three weeks. The time has flown by. We arrived here on Friday the 10th, unpacked for a week and then on Thursday the 16th, Phillip and I got a rental car and went right back down to Fresno.
June 23, 1961 my parents were married in the Salt Lake City Temple.
Since before January of this year, my sister and I have been planning a surprise 50th anniversary party for them. The party was planned and the invitations were out...and then Phillip and I decided to move to Washington. So we had done all of the sad good-byes while thinking "but we'll just be back next week...". It all turned out well. They were very surprised.
I stayed at the church building, finishing up the decorating while Barb went to pick up mom and dad to "take them to lunch" for their anniversary. We had a group of their friends and a nice pile of cards waiting for them. Thank you to all who helped, came and sent cards. A special thank you to Grandma Mayhue for the monetary support and assistance. Also a thank you to the McGhie's and Swann's for their help with the slide show and to the Dehmel's for letting us hide out at their house.
I forgot to take any pictures until everything was taken down and mom and dad finally got to stop and get something to eat.

The party started at 2 and ended about 4:15. Phillip and I went from the building back into the car and picked up Mom Iverson for the trip back. She volunteered to come up for a week and help us finish unpacking. We managed to get 99% of the things out of boxes and threw in a few fun trips. We went all over Yakima searching for bookcases (we needed two more for the office) and even took a day trip to Seattle.
Mom has a friend in the Seattle area so we met her for lunch at Chinook's At Salmon Bay. After lunch we went into the city and wandered around Pike's Place.

One of the stores had some things our nephew, Ian would LOVE!

After a fun-filled week, still minus two bookcases, I finally fell asleep sometime after 12:30 a.m. Friday morning and woke up by 3:30 to get Mom Iverson to the train station in the Tri-Cities area. After I dropped her off, I wandered from the train station (Pasco) to find the temple (Kennewick). I arrived shortly after sunrise.
I think these pictures actually turned out pretty well for taking them with my phone.

That same Friday night (after a nap for me) we were invited over to the home of a family from church, the Kibbe's. They have six kids and have started including us in their prayers to join the kid-friendly group. (We'll take any prayers people want to give!)
One of the two sight-seeing stops of Zillah is the God-Zillah. Phillip and I stopped on our first trip together to Zillah. I just found this picture and I think I never posted it before. The statue is at the "Church of God - Zillah."

This past week has been a blur. Phillip started working on June 20th. His birthday was Wednesday and the fun started that morning when I got to babysit for the Grigg's (3 kids). When Phillip got home that night, I had a scavenger hunt thru the house for him to find his presents and me (with a birthday hug and kiss). Then we went into Yakima for dinner (Red Robin), more presents (Borders) and dessert (Baskin Robins).
This Thursday we were invited to another home, the Daley's, who live around the corner from us. (They have 5 kids.)
Friday I went back into town and found some material for 2 skirts to make and (drumroll) decided on the Target bookcases! This morning we went to the temple, lunch (Applebee's) and to the Chocolate Emporium here in Zillah for a huge slice of chocolate dipped cheesecake for me and a scoop of home-made chocolate ice cream for Phillip. We came home and put the bookcases together and are finally done for the day.
Whew! What a crazy 2 weeks!

Little things from a little town

2011-06-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

We have been in Zillah for almost a week now and I thought it was time for some pictures.

Sunday was a hard day with lots of good-byes. We had some wonderful missionaries who served in our ward and they will truly be missed.

Monday night I was surprised by my friends Jeannie, Nichole, Allyson, Kathy, Coleen and my mom, and Phillip, with a mani-pedi-massage party. I will miss these fun times with the girls more than they will ever know.
Aside from people, I think the thing I will miss the most is our garden. A few short years ago I honestly believed I couldn't grow anything. Thanks to much patience and learning, on behalf of many, our spot of earth has changed my thinking.

All packed up and ready to go:

Crossing the Columbia River (Oregon/Washington border) And some Zilla info.:

For those who have said "Huh? Where?"

You know you've entered town when you see this sign (don't blink or you'll miss Zillah):
Phillip and I had an exciting trip in town today to the library. It is between the town's one bank and the Police Station. All three are pictured below. The library is about the size of our old garage, but has a nice collection. I can't complain when it's close enough to walk and free.
And here are a few shots of our new church building:

I have to say that I am feeling a bit like a missionary. Every morning we rush out to the mail box to see if there are any goodies for us. Wednesday holds the extra excitment of the circulars. This is an extra help for us as we are still learning where all of the cheap groceries are. Today the RS president told us about a place that supplies restaurants but sells to plain old people like us. I know where I'm heading next! :)
For anyone who wants to fill our mailbox's tummy with fun-ness and love, our new address is: 104 Fletcher Lane #B, Zillah, WA 98953.

Tomorrow, Thursday, is garbage day. Who knows what fun and excitment this will hold for our family. We may need to take a nap to calm down from it all.

Spam

2011-06-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

I am becoming more and more irritated with this thing called Spam.
Yesterday I went to take my mom to lunch for her birthday (Chevy's with mommy is always fun!).

I still get random mail to her house sometimes and opened one envelope that had no return address. I open it to find a letter and a check in the amount of $3,500. The letter says I won $50,500. Sounds exciting right? I read the whole letter multiple times and it was pretty convincing. You just deposit the check and call the guy to get the rest. Ya, this was an attack from the spam bunny.
Someone hacked Chase's system and now I get 2-3 emails every day from "DHL", "UPS", "USPS", etc. saying they have information on my package. No mail for me.
Today I got an email from someone saying "Please find some minutes to visit my site! It’ very important for me!."
This is becoming ridiculous! And now there is spam on blogs?! Crazy.
I blog stalk people, that's fine. I don't mind people reading my blog, but really? Is it really necessary to comment strings of links that will cause all my friends to get viruses? No thank you.
Comment moderation is a must!

Side note: This makes me think of how Satan keeps pushing more and more to get into people. He attacks from all directions. Don't let him in, not even once! Don't fall for his spam!

Moving to Zillah

2011-05-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

After many prayers, fasting and blessings, Phillip has accepted a position with a new job in Zillah Washington. This last weekend we flew up and picked out our new home. We will be living in these condos on Fletcher Lane. We're the middle condo here:
We will have three bedrooms upstairs:

And our living area downstairs:
There is a 1/2 bath downstairs and a full upstairs:

We are a bit scared to be completely on our own and slightly overwhelmed with the many things we have to pack up, but we are very excited for a new opportunity.
Zillah will be a huge slow down from the hustle and bustle of Fresno. It has between 2-3,000 people, no stop lights, one gas station and a grocery store where you have to check the expiration dates.
We will miss all of our friends and family here in Fresno, but know you are always in our thoughts and prayers!!!

Tears ahead

2011-03-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

I heard this song the other day when we were driving somewhere and started crying right away. The lyrics are so perfect!

"What if your blessings come through raindrops? What if your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you’re near?
What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?"

Whitney!

2011-03-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

How could I forget Whitney in my list?! You moved, but will forever be in my heart as well. Congrats and we miss you!

Changes in the Wind

2011-03-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, after two plus years in Young Womens, the time has come for a change. Our dear RS president, Wendy Kellogg, has health issues requiring her release and Beth Swann has been put in as the new Relief Society President. Judy Plata has been put in as first counselor and I am the new second counselor, and Kathleen Revoir is the secretary.

It's exciting and sad at the same time. I have loved serving with the YW and many wonderful women over the past two plus years. I cannot say enough to thank Delight, Nichole, Jennifer, Lauren, Anna, Allyson and Crissy (I feel I'm missing someone). I sincerly could not have handled it without you all. We have made so many wonderful memories together. Your friendship and love is limitless. Thank you is not enough, there needs to be some better word I can use.

There isn't a new YW president yet, so for the time being I am serving two callings. I am so thankful for Allyson and Crissy stepping up and taking charge on Sundays so I can be in two places at once. I'm happy that I still get to spend Wednesday nights with you and the YW! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And my dear YW. I am so thankful for all of you. Your friendship and love means the world to me. I truly see all of you as daughters, sisters and friends. You have each changed my life. I know we will still see each other, but a part of my heart will always be across the hall in with you. Heavenly Father loves each of you. Remember that. Don't let Satan get you down or let you start thinking that you are not good enough. You are princesses, daughters of a King, THE King of all. He loves you. I have felt that so strongly. Thank you for your shining example and always being there for me. I love every one of you dearly and will always be there for you if you need to talk, cry, laugh or just have a Wii night. :)

My Best Friend

2011-03-11T16:23:00.000-08:00

Making his home with the lonely
Spending his days witht he poor
Bringing hope their hearts
Giving man a new start with his cure
But not all would recieve of his offereing
Some even planned his decease
And yet he couldn't forsake
Those whose lives he might save
So he refused to leave

Never a better hero
Never a truer name
Hoping to save us
By taking our pain in his hands
Never a greater compassion
Never a wasted day
Not one regret
True to the end
There was never a better way

Now, he knew his life would be shortened
But never murmured a word of complaint
He had in mind a much greater design
And it helped him through the pain
He gave man power to take him
Knowing his death would bring life
And it was no surprise
There was love in his eyes when he died

Never a better hero
Never a truer name
Hoping to save us
By taking our pain in his hands
Never a greater compassion
Never a wasted day
Not one regret
True to the end
There was never a better way

But death was not the end
For he would live again

Never a better hero
Never a truer name
Hoping to save us
By taking our pain in his hands
Never a greater compassion
Never a wasted day
Not one regret
True to the end
There was never a better way

All that he did
Gollow and live
There'll be never a better way

Thank you Kenneth Cope for these wonderful lyrics and Melissa Bird for saying something that made this song pop into my head!

At this moment I am...

2011-01-27T21:44:00.000-08:00

...sitting on that chaize lounge chair in the corner. This is the life!
Phillip and I are spending two nights in Indian Wells (Palm Springs) at the Esmeralda Reniassance Resort enjoying a long weekend off. Thank you FSH for sending Phil to this conference so I can have a vacation! :)
Tomorrow we're stopping by the Newport Beach LDS Temple

and IKEA on the way home. What a great vacation!!!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T18:08:00.001-08:00

I know this is a little late, and I know I haven't blogged in FOREVER, but Phillip and I had the opportunity to speak 2 Sundays ago and I thought I would share my talk here since many of my favorite people were not there to hear it. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and doesn't get too stressed about the holidays!!!

This Thursday we will have the opportunity to celebrate a day that Erma Bombeck described as: “…a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?”
The first thoughts of many when I say the word “Thanksgiving” have to do with food, football and family…and of course the huge pain we have after we enjoy all of those things. When we are surrounded by these creature comforts, it is very easy to reflect on our many blessings. For many, however, it is not so easy to continue to reflect on those blessings.
Alma 34:38 tells us to “live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which (God) doth bestow upon you.”
Pres Monson has said: “This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help.
“We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”
How can we live in thanksgiving daily and have an attitude of gratitude? Hymn 241 reads: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. … So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged; God is over all. Count your many blessings; angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.”
True to the Faith says this about Gratitude:
“Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.
The Lord has promised, "He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious" (D&C 78:19). Gratitude is an uplifting, exalting attitude. People are generally happier when they have gratitude in their hearts. We cannot be bitter, resentful, or mean-spirited when we are grateful.
We should be thankful for the wonderful blessings that are ours and for the tremendous opportunities we have. We can be thankful to our parents, family, friends, and teachers. We should express appreciation to everyone who has assisted us in any way.
We should thank our Heavenly Father for His goodness to us by acknowledging His hand in all things, thanking Him for all that He gives us, keeping His commandments, and serving others. We should especially thank Him for His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, for the Savior's great example, for His teachings, for His outreaching hand to lift and help, for His infinite Atonement.”
In researching for this talk, I googled “Attitude of Gratitude” and came up with 374,000 pages. One of these was a website called iamthankful.com. Their founder said “Of course it’s easy to feel thankful when things go smoothly and life just handed you a blessing, but faced with our daily challenges, we don’t know how on Earth we can feel grateful in the midst of debt, depression and complete overwhelm. It literally comes down to practice. Very few people go to the gym simply to be able to bench press 100 lbs, but rather to have energy and muscle strength to pick up the kids and the groceries, do the yard work and maybe not suck wind after climbing two flights of stairs.
“Practicing Gratitude is the workout for our soul: repeated awareness shifts towards the blessings of our lives enable us to not dwell on how someone has done us wrong or how life has supposedly handed us the shorter end of the stick. If you can condition yourself to look at the brighter side of life, it will only get brighter - especially while things don’t go your way!
“So, make Gratitude your daily practice so that you will have the thankfulness muscle that lets you see the light no matter what life hands you. Today is the best time to start flexing that muscle!”
Being able to truly express gratitude requires you to shift your focus away from the things that are negative and toward those things that you feel thankful for.
President Faust said: “A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being. But there is a truism associated with all types of human strength: “Use it or lose it.” When not used, muscles weaken, skills deteriorate, and faith disappears.
Many of us tend to focus on what we don't have. We think we don't have enough money, we don't have enough time, we don't have whatever it is we are looking for and so on; and we ignore those amazing things we do have. The more we can step back and examine what we already experience that's valuable to us, the more we can focus on gratitude and the more we can accelerate our own inner healing as a result.
Here's a list of some of the things for which you may find plenty of gratitude:
• Your health. Even if it isn't perfect, you may be thankful for the health you have.
• Your family.
• Your freedoms
• Your intelligence, consciousness and awareness.
• Your memories!
• Sunshine and nature -- the great outdoors.
• Food and seeds, some of the many remarkable gifts from Mother Nature.
• Your job, business or career which provides the income you need.
• Your inquisitiveness and desire to learn new things.
• The gospel.
• Your pets / animal companions.
We have so much to be grateful for. I could probably stand here for hours listing all that I have. And while Phillip might be grateful for that, I know he has many wonderful words to share with us and so I am going to limit my list this morning to 5.
My Mom
A few weeks ago in a lesson in YW, Sister Jensen described me as “optimistic.” I had never thought of myself as being optimistic before, but as I went home and thought about it, I realized that if I am optimistic, I learned to be so from my Mother. My mom has had her share of trials, as we all do, but the one thing I remember about growing up is that no matter what issues our family was having, I could go to mom and she would make it better. I’m sure this started when I was little and would bring my boo-boo’s for her to kiss and magically they’d be all better. As I grew, my boo-boo’s evolved into larger pains, and my mom was always there with open arms, ready to do anything within her power to make the pain go away. Thank you, mom, for teaching me to “stand with those in need of comfort.”
Sister Bateman
A man named Oscar Benson had a hobby of interviewing men on death row in various prisons throughout the country. He once reported that 125 of these men had said they had never known a decent man. I don’t know the total of how many he interviewed, but to think that 125 men never knew anyone they could consider decent is heartbreaking and makes me ever thankful for the people around me who strive to live their lives to reflect the light of Christ.
One of those people is Heather Bateman nee Mason. Sister Bateman was my first missionary companion and in the 3 months I had with her, we had plenty of ups and downs. I was a new missionary, without my mommy, getting used to living with someone 24/7 and was dealing with the recent death of my elder brother. I slid into clinical depression and had days when I am sure I was the least easiest person to work with. In the middle of this, I remember one day when we were driving somewhere and she stopped in the middle of the road and said “Wow! Look!”
As I look at the road in front of us and could see nothing but falling blossoms. I remember it looked like it was snowing, there were so many of them. We stopped right there on the side of the road and thanked our Heavenly Father for the blessing of being able to witness such a beautiful sight.
I vowed that day to slow down and smell the roses…even if they were falling from the trees.
Pam Keyes
A few years later I found myself living near Seattle in the guest room of the Keyes’ family. Pam and Greg had three grown sons who were home the first weekend I was there. Every time there was a family prayer to be said, I was impressed to seen one of the boys rush to volunteer to pray. A few days later I learned that the boys were really rushing so that mom wouldn’t be praying. You see, Pam gives LONG prayers. The scriptures tell us of prayers that lasted all day and all night, well the boys seemed to feel that her prayers lasted just that long, if not longer. As the boys went back to school, I had many opportunities to listen to these LONG prayers. And as I did, I didn’t hear the minutes flying by, but I did hear her heart being poured out to a loving heavenly father. She prayed as we sometimes hear little children praying for their cat and dog and spoon and moon. Her prayers weren’t that simple, but it was true gratitude for everything she had in her life. As I listened to Pam pray, I learned to look closer at everything around me. I found my prayers changing and focusing more on the many blessings my Heavenly Father saw fit to give me. I learned to be thankful for things I once saw as challenges and trials.
Phillip
About another year later I found myself in a classroom with a dashingly handsome institute teacher who I now happen to be married to. Phillip challenged us to give a prayer of only thanks, no requests, during the next week. As I prepared to do so, I thought over the many blessings the Lord had given me and as I knelt in prayer, I remember being brought to tears at the love of a Heavenly Father who has given me so much, including a wonderful husband who every day gives me reason to be thankful.
Savior
Finally—even supremely—I want to tell of my gratitude for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His glorious gospel provides answers to life’s greatest questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where does my spirit go when I die? His calles missionaries bring to those who live in darkness the light of the gospel.
To quote President Monson: Only He stood alone. Some Apostles doubted; one betrayed Him. The Roman soldiers pierced His side. The angry mob took His life. There yet rings from Golgotha’s hill His compassionate words, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34.)
Earlier, He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Luke 9:58.) “No room in the inn” was not a singular expression of rejection—just the first. Yet He invites you and me to host Him. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20.)”
Who was this Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief? Who is this King of glory, this Lord of hosts?
He is MY Master.
He is MY Savior.
He is the Son of God.
He is the author of salvation.
He died for me. I know that is true. What great cost was paid so I could might have eternal life, I may never know. But I do know that he paid it willingly and freely. I know He loves me and as my Older Brother He gave me this glorious earth and everything on it. What more reason could I need to give thanks to him this Thanksgiving season and every day.
I encourage you all to go home and count your many blessings and give thanks to the Lord for every one.
I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is here on the earth today and that He wants us to return to live with Him.
I know that as we strive to keep his commandments and live worthy of Him, His atonement will make the difference for what we lack.

Love it!!!

2010-06-29T08:12:00.001-07:00

I love smart people

2010-06-28T14:56:00.001-07:00

Certain people should not be allowed to reproduce...just saying.

Smorgasbord

2010-06-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't know had to spell that and looked it up. Thank you Google!
Here's some pictures I finally uploaded from my phone:
Back when I was in high school I used to stay with my sisters family for a month, or so, in the summer. One year we decided to dye (temporarily) my hair hot pink, dress me in all black (including VERY dark makeup) and give me fake tattoos before I jumped on the plane to come home.
Let's just say it didn't go over well. If my dad had been alone picking me up at the airport, I would've been left there.
So, my niece and nephews have heard this story over and over. 2 of them have wanted to do something equally as drastic. This is what happens when you leave your kid with Aunt Juli for a few days:

The best part was when we had to go through Walmart with his hair like this and everyone thought he was my kid. Ah, the fun times I have with my family!!!

I've had a creative bug lately and made this dress for Nichole's 2 year old daughter:

And this one is for a co-worker's daughter:

And last, but not least, a few weeks ago our YW went on a "Virtue Hike" for mutual. Really it wasn't a hike, more of a brisk walk with little stops on the way. We learned about virtue and the blessings it brings to our lives. At the end we all signed a banner pledging to "Return to Virtue". Sorry for the low quality of the pictures, it was just after sunset.

They're baaaaack!

2010-06-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well world, The Iverson's are back into the world of blogging.
And this little guy is what made it happen:

Thank you Cricket! Comcast, among others, wanted to give us internet...but we didn't like their prices. Where we live is technically in the county, not city so our technological resources are limited aparently.

That doesn't stop us from having fun though. So, now we've got interent at home (or wherever we want to take it.

Today we also were joined by this fellow:

Isn't he pretty? He's still in his box until we get this guy at the end of the month:
Thank you Grandmas and all others who have given us gift cards and/or cash the past few years, this is where it's all going. :)

Anyway, that's about it for us for now. Time to get off the computer and let Phillip have a chance.

It's nice to be back!

Random thought

2010-06-02T13:27:00.001-07:00

Without going into the politics of it, I heard today that someone is "Pro Family".
I feel it very sad that even needs to be said. But it is also a good reminder.
Satan is miserable and wants us to be miserable too. He knows our progression will be stopped if he can destroy the family. God's plan includes families!
Fight for what's right!

BOM Sampler

2010-05-14T10:53:00.001-07:00

I came across this verse today and it really struck me:
5 But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord.

Life is tough...we've still been blessed.
Thank you all for always being there for me/us.

Clingy

2010-02-23T11:28:00.001-08:00

Hello, my name is Julianna, and I don't know how to let things go.
There is an event coming up in YW. The event planning has been given to one of the young women to plan for a Personal Progress project.
Whenever I talk to said young woman, I hear "Yes, I need to do that." However, to my knowledge, almost nothing has been done. It has been very hard for me to just let this go, but I feel I have done a good job doing so...until Sunday.
Someone "in authority" ...encouraged... me to not let the girls be in charge of large things like this event. I have since taken the "encouragement" and come up with a back-up plan. I have a program, movie, speakers and musical numbers ready. All parties involved know that they are just-in-case.
I don't feel I should have to have this.
I did one of these events as one of my projects. When I left the extra sheet music at home for a special musical number, no one was there with extra music covering my back side. I made it work. The responsibility was mine and mine alone.
I feel there is too much coddling of the youth these days.
"(The youth) have been born at this time for a sacred and glorious purpose. It is not by chance that you have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the fullness of times. Your birth at this particular time was foreordained in the eternities.
"You are to be the royal army of the Lord in the last days. You are “youth of the noble birthright.” (Hymns, 1985, no. 255.) " -Pres. Benson
How can the youth be expected to be in an army if they are never asked to take responsibility for their actions. If we come behind them and cover up all of their mistakes, how will they ever learn?
"How will they learn, unless we teach them so?"

Note: This is just a rant...no feelings are meant to be hurt, no names were put in this for that purpose.

Side note: Tara, our thoughts and prayers are with you. We hope your health is restored quickly!!!

"Stay out of it, Nick Lachey"

2010-01-21T16:04:00.001-08:00

All political views aside, I'm getting really annoyed with the random people who, because of their popularity, are going to Haiti.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that people are going and helping. But if you're just going to shake hands (cough, stare at the mess), get your butt out of the way and let the people who know what they're doing do their work.
Thank you.

Disclaimer: This message has nothing to do with Nick Lachey.

Side Note: I had the most fabulous lunch care of my husband today. I am a very lucky, very spoiled woman.

Catching up: October 2009

2010-01-15T10:18:00.001-08:00

When I was growing up I remember October being dreadfully long. There were no birthdays or anything to split up the monotany. It took FOREEEEEEVER for Halloween to arrive.
So when we were looking at wedding dates I remember saying: Oh, October would be great because then there will be something to do that month. Well, October was crazy busy!!
Before we were married Phillip had never been to the state of Nevada. With his new job at Fresno Surgical Hospital he has been sent TWICE!

We started off the month with a trip to Reno for the National Administration of Medical Staff Services conference. We drove up and stayed in a beautiful room on the 18th floor of the Grand Sierra Resort. Our room wasn't quite this fab, but pretty dang close:

Phillip spent the days in classes while I got to spend it doing whatever I wanted. We were able to have dinner with the Moore's and I made a trip to a quilt shop (more on that later) called Going Batty. This is what heaven looks like:

We also visited one of the malls in the area where Phillip practically shoved me into the lions, er bears den. I own 2 Build-a-Bear's but have never been inside. Phil decided it was time to "de-flower" me. There was no one else in the shop and so I was attacked by 3 eager employees. 30 minutes later Phillip had a new puppy named "Pipsqueak."
On the way home from Reno we picked up my niece and nephew, Joylin and Ian. The two of them got to spend two whole days with Uncle Phil while Aunt Juli was at work. We had a great time spoiling them. Joylin now owns her first sewing machine and Ian as a Build-A-Bear (again care of Uncle Phil).
Back in May I received an email informing me that RENT would be preforming in San Francisco. Since it was my year to plan our anniversary (we swap years), and the show was the weekend before the 21st, I went for it. Phillip and I went and stayed with our friends Bob & Laurie and then went into the city Saturday afternoon.

For our anniversary, Phillip gave me roses, a sweatshirt I had mentioned once I wanted, the DVD of the last RENT performance and a ring we had seen at a shop in the hotel in Reno. I was more than spoiled!
I have such a wonderful husband. I love him more than words can express.

She still lives

2010-01-14T17:30:00.001-08:00

Here are some thoughts for today:
Just for today, I will accept myself as I am and
allow my real personality to just be.
Just for today, I will listen to my intuition about
what I really want in life. I will be OK with what I
want. I will not compare myself to others.
Just for today, I will adjust myself to what it is. I
will face reality. I will have the courage to change
what I can, and accept those things I cannot
change.
Just for today, I will release judgments of others
since I do not walk in their shoes.
Just for today, I will focus on living through this
day only, and not worry about overcoming all my
problems at once.
Just for today, I will choose to be happy. Abraham
Lincoln said, "Most folks are about as happy as
they make up their minds to be." He was right. I
will replace depressing thoughts with happy
thoughts.

Glee makes me smile!

2009-09-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Where in the world are the Iversons?!

2009-09-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

I know I know! so work figured out that blogger wasn't blocked. -oops!
And we don't have net at home , so were on hiatus.
Luckily . not much has happened.
I did get a new phone (LG Insight) for $1O refurb and am loving it! At least when the writing on the screen is working with, not against me.
So, hi to all.
We now return you to your previously scheduled bloy.

Young Whippersnappers!

2009-08-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

You have been forewarned.
This one has been building for awhile...and it's very random.
Know, first off, that this is aimed at no one who reads this. If you are feeling like maybe it's aimed at you, it's not. Maybe there is something I'm ranting about that you do, but I do not know that you do it, so please don't feel bad!
Mostly it comes down to this: When did people stop teaching/learning manners?
Common courtesy people! Seriously, I know people have "pet peeves", but this is not about my peeves (though some are here). This is about a whole generation of people who are learning that it doesn't matter to think about someone else before yourself! I know there are some who are still being taught correctly, but that number is getting too small!

When you see me with my turn signal on, trying to get into your lane, do something! I don't care if you speed up so I go behind you, just get out of my way!!!

If you have an appointment, call to confirm! I read something aimed towards investigators that said: "(The Missionaries) will likely be a bit hesitant to call you up the night before to confirm an appointment, because they are afraid that you would use that as an opportunity to cancel. They will be thrilled if you give them a call and let them know that you remember them and will be there."
Yes, this poor brother actually said the missionaries are afraid of calling people. I don't like using the phone, but I know how to call and confirm an appointment. The rule in our house has always been: If they don't confirm, they don't eat. It may sound a little harsh, but how hard is it to confirm a meal people!? I did it every day on my mission. If you want to eat, make sure the members know you're coming over.
This one is specifically bothering me today because we are supposed to have the missionaries over for dinner tonight. Phillip also was possibly going with them to an appointment. Yes, the responsibility also lies with us, but they have not called. We've had to cancel before because the missionaries just assumed we would be feeding them at 5. I don't get home until 5:30...you do the math.

Expecting tips - "Back in my day..."
You shouldn't be getting a 15% (or more) tip just because you stand there. In the state of California you are getting at least minimum wage already.
Make sure my drink is full, actually bring the food to me and remember what I asked for.
Treat me like a human being...then we'll talk percentages.

Cell phone manners. Okay, cell phones are relativly new and I'll give you the time you need to figure out the manners for them. But there are some REALLY obvious times when your cell should be off (turn it to vibrate and check it if you need to).
Oprah had a guest who related this story:
Audience member Nancy says she got a rude awakening in the last place any woman would expect -- at the gynecologist. "I was at my gynecologist's office and I put my legs in the stirrups, totally exposed," she says. "His cell phone went off and he answered it. It was not an urgent conversation, and it went on for seven to 10 minutes."
Nancy says she was so shocked she couldn't even say anything! "I never went back," she says.
Call in to work if you're sick
don't answer the phone: "huh?" when you're calling a business! (Just had that one happen)
if it's not yours, don't eat it. Seriously people! I work in an office of 50 some-odd people (ATTORNEY'S ETC!) and there is a food thief!
Walk on your own lawn!!! and play in your own trees! We have a couple of kids (and adults) who think that our yard is for them to walk/drive/play all over. I REALLY want the sprinklers to turn on from inside...or set on a motion sensor!!!! Oooooo! Now I'm thinking...........

Okay, I think I'm done...for now. If you made it this far, you're awesome! Thanks for listening! Your turn. What irks you?

Confession time

2009-08-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

So I follow all these blogs that are supposed to help me save money. There's:

Mr. Cheap Stuff,
,
and Moms by Heart.

And every day I scroll through their new posts and actually read about 1/2 of them. Of course I skip the items we would never buy and things that don't really apply right now. Don't worry, I did get the sippy cups from Juicy Juice for later...or now. ;)

"The first step is admitting you have a problem."
(no one ever tells you what the 2nd step is)

So I read all these things and never do anything with them! I'm like the couponer who cuts all the coupons out and saves them only to throw them away 2 months after they expire (yes, I do that too). If something is completely free and I can just go to some website and put in my info, I'll sign up and get it. But for me the whole printing out the coupon, going to the store I'd never go to otherwise and annoying the people behind me while I search for the stupid coupon...it's just too much.
I didn't even get my free pastry from Starbucks because I left the coupon at work. And the ones you have to buy online...well, I probably wouldn't have bought the item anyway, then I have to find my debit card...etc etc etc.
I know, I'm just lazy!
Don't get me wrong, I love getting all the free stuff. I told Phillip the other night that my favorite part is when all these things show up in the mail. "It's like Christmas!"
So today I took a step to overcome this problem. Yesterday I saw this post by Moms By Heart"$80 of makeup for $10 shipped. Yes, my heart skipped a beat. I don't wear anything besides my foundation, eyeliner and mascara most of the time, but I have drawers of the stuff (well, just on really big drawer). When I do go through my drawer for some special event, I can take hours getting it to look just right! That being said, I am cheap when it comes to buying the stuff. I've used the same tube of my "good mascara" for more than a year because I bought the cheap Wet-n-Wild kind last time and it doesn't work and I'm too cheap to go buy another good one when I've still got the Wet-N-Wild one.
So remember all this information when I tell you I finally read the whole post this morning. By this time the words "UPDATE: SHIPPING NO LONGER FREE - DEAD DEAL." had been added to the post. So now there's no way it's going to be a deal anymore and this is worth wasting my time browsing. (Yes, something like that actually ran through my head. Maybe I've got an addiction to NOT saving money, Melissa Earl come save me!!!)
So I go to the website for ELF (Eyes Lips & Face) and browse. I find some DANG CHEAP makeup (like $1 for most of the items!!!) and in the back of my head I hear a voice that says "just because the shipping's not free doesn't mean their studio stuff (mostly $3 each) isn't still 75% off!"
Long story short...er...you know what I mean; for a total of $21.45, including tax ($0) and shipping ($6.95) I'm getting all of this:

lipgloss x2 (I got one free for referring a friend)
Eyeshadow Applicators (you can never have enough!)
eyeliner & shadow stick
waterproof lengthening & volumizing mascara (bye-bye wet-n-wild)
lip liner & blending brush
concealer pencil & brush (this one just looks cool!)
Butter Cream single eyeshadow
Get The Look which contains:
-Drama Eye Shadow,
-Black Earth & Water Mascara
-Eye Liner in Black
-Smudge Brush
-Eye Lash Curler
and the Mini Makeup Collection which includes:
-9 eyeshadow shades
-1 cream eyeshadow shade
-1 blush
-1 bronzer
-10 lip gloss shades
-1 brow powder
-1 eye liner pencil
-1 dual ended eyeshadow appliacator and brush
-1 face brush
-1 lip brush

Yes, I'm stoked! And of course I want you to be too! Here's the 75% off code: WWYB75S. Remember it's only on their studio stuff.
AND A "$20 order qualifies you for a free 1 year subscription to Marie Claire, which you can opt to take in the form of a $10 rebate instead! Just be sure to click on the MORE INFO button near the magazine description and print out the rebate form." (For those mathematically challenged, that would make my order only $11.45)

I am going to need tissue this weekend

2009-08-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may or may not know, I (Phillip writing by the way which I know is a shock for all of you, but I am writing in part to expound upon something written here once uopon a time) am a huge cryer at movies.
Lest you think it is just romantic movies or really powerful dramas - it's virtually everything. I have cried in comedies like "Liar, Liar" or Disney -- which brings me to the subject of the post.
This weekend ABC Family will be airing three Disney movies in a row on their channel - "Hercules," "Aladdin," and "Pinocchio.' I am not a huge fan of Pinnochio but absolutely enjoy the other two.
As a matter of fact "Hercules" is one of my three favorite Disney movies ever. Every disney movie has its morals that it tries to teach - which 99% of the time I am okay with. But, "Hercules" for me is one of the better. It teaches about Greek mythology which is so over-looked in our culture the real basis for modern story-telling and flawed characters in literature - Oedipus anyone?. It also teaches about someone growing into themselves and becoming who they are and what they are meant to be - sound like the gospel to anyone. The movie also shows the value of a work ethic as Hercules became who he was through dedicated effort on a regular consistent basis - nothing like working hard for what you get in life. Throughout the film as well there are some real solid examples of using one's free agency and learning to deal with the results (both good and bad) of exercising that agency.
For me one of the other things about the movie that I enjoy is the fact that it doesn't teach little girls to be the helpless damsel in distress who must be rescued from the big strong prince. I know fairy tales have their value in societ, but as a person with a Women's Studies minor (another story for a much different time), I can see how easily fairy tales and stories of a similar nature can pre-dispose a female to feeling disempowered or subjugated to a male throughout their lifetime. I certainly can't think of anybody who feels that they would want their daughter to feel that they are a helpless damsel in distress their whole life, but that could happen if there isn't enough exposure to strong women in film.
That being said, I air a personal beef about emotional/sensitive men. We exist and don't want to be thought of any lesser for sharing our emotions. I have pains (albeit different than a woman) about not being a father, yet I rarely if ever receive consolation from anyone about teh matter (not asking for it now - just making an observation is all). My wife is great at acknowledging my pain and frustrations, but she has come to know I am a sensitive man. Why does society at large think that men are emotionless creatures.
Okay rant over. Disney = great fun times. While I am not a fan of everything they do, I still find it a fun and entertaining way to teach a value/moral and then reinforce it with discussion and further study in the home.
So, if you have survived this post of mine I truly hope you can enjoy the Disney marathon this weekend. I will, but my tear ducts - that's a different story

Flashback...er...sort of

2009-08-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what you would look like with the hairstyles of ages past?
I stumbeled on this website called yearbookyourself.com and this is what I came up with:
1988

1982(the year I was born)

1970

1960

1954

Fun times...

It's been awhile...

2009-08-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

...since I was THIS excited about a movie coming out.

I forgot this was coming out!
Where the Wild Things Are was one of my favorite books as a child. I think I even had a copy signed by Maurice Sendaks. I remember having a stuffed Max in his monster suit.
And, to top it off, the trailer looks great! (I hate when Hollywood ruins a great book) If they do this great with the movie, It'll be fantastic!

I'll keep my fingers crossed!

On a side note, I just finished reading "My Sister's Keeper." Has anyone read it? Seen the movie? I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know how close it is to the book. I hated the twist at the very end of the book! I should not be crying in the break room at work!

For the husbands

2009-08-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

There are many pains and joys that come with pregnancy and infertility. Unfortunately, in both circumstances, the husband can be left out.
"The wife is the one who gains all the weight and goes through the pain of delivery." "The wife is the one who goes through all the tests and has her heart broken every month."
There are support groups for women with PCOS. Infertility support groups for women. Mommy-and-me groups. The men are shoved to the side and told that showing emotion is bad. That they should just be a support to their wives and get over it.
For the men dealing with the pains of life, I have two words for you: "Jesus wept."

Please don't let the world get to you. Take comfort in the fact that the Greatest of us all cried when the world seemed too much to bear.
To my own dear sweetheart, I know my hormones are whack-o and I don't always say it, but than you for being there for me. You are my constant guiding light and support. Thank you for helping me through the rough patches!

Coinky-dink

2009-07-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last night Phillip and I were wandering the aisles at Costco and saw some mattress pads. We've been dream shopping for beds for awhile now, but a new mattress pad would help in the mean time. Anyway, I logged on this morning and saw this blog from Melissa. I'm WAY excited and want to win! Is there a way to fold the corner of a blog? :)

Select Comfort In Balance Mattress Topper Review and Giveaway
Tuesday, July 28, 2009Posted by Melissa
I am so excited to have the chance to review and do a giveaway for this product. It was such a blessing for us to have this item, so I am excited to share all the wonderful things about it with you.When I was contacted about the Select Comfort In Balance Mattress Topper. I wasn't the only one in my family excited. My husband was even more excited about it. He is extremely sensitive to heat. He gets hot easily and it doesn't matter that we have had the air on 80 the whole summer, his body hasn't adjusted and he still gets hot. So when I told him we were going to be able to review a product that goes on the bed and helps to disperse the heat so you can sleep better, he was so excited and couldn't wait to get it.
The In Balance Mattress Topper is made OUTLAST fabric technology. This fabric is specially designed to reduce the ups and downs in temperature that causes hot spots and cold spots on your bed and cause you to have a restless nights sleep. It is hypo-allergenic and anti-fungal. They have a variety of sizes as well. These aren't just for queen or king beds!!!So here is all the wonderful things I have to say about it. First off, I have never slept better on our bed! We have an older mattress. It was given to us used when we got married 4 years ago. We got a memory foam mattress pad for it just after we were married to try to help us sleep a bit better on it. It was ok. My husband loved it at first, but when summer came and it was over 100 degrees outside every day and he was roasting at night. This mattress cover really did what it said. It helped to take a lot of the heat away and we don't have any hot spots on our bed. Because we don't have the hot spots we don't roll around at night trying to find the coolest spot on the bed. Even if for some reason we wake up at night, it is never hot and we never wake because our bodies are to hot. We don't even push each other off the bed out of the way to get the cool spot on the bed.Second, It upheld to the no AC test. The power went out one night due to the intense heat outside. We were just getting ready for bed when it happened. We were both so worried about sleeping with no air or fans or anything to move the air around. We went to bed and 5 hours later we were woken by the lights coming on when the power came back on! That is right, we didn't wake up once! both of us were actually shocked that it worked that well. Third it actually made our sheets fit the bed better. When you put it on your bed it goes over the top of your regular mattress pad. It has really heavy duty elastic that secures it under the bed. Because of the extra pad we had on our bed the sheets would fit funny. After putting that on and it pulling everything tight, our sheets fit better and we are able to not have a bunched up sheet on our bed in the middle of the night.All in all we have no bad things to say about The In Balance Mattress Topper. In fact, my husband now wants to get the pillow cases and sheets that are made of this fabric too. The bed is never hot and is so comfortable now. I can't suggest this enough. And just a little point of information, they are on sale right now. so if you want one if you don't win the one I have to giveaway, now is the time to get it it!Now on to the giveaway!!!!Select Comfort has graciously agreed to giveaway an In Balance Mattress Topper to one of my readers! Here is how you can enter.
1) Leave a comment with your name and email to subscribe to the Select Comfort newsletter which has great sleep tips and info about there sales! ( can unsubscribe at any time)
For additional entries
2) Go to the Select Comfort site HERE and take a look at all their In Balance Products. Then come back and tell me which one is your favorite and why.
3) Subscribe for an email update or become a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me you did with your name and email or blog address. If you already have done this, let me know. ( you get an entry too!)
4)Blog or tweet about this give away. When you blog or tweet about it come back here and leave a comment with a link to your blog post or letting me know you tweeted about it and your twitter address.
5) Grab My button and post it on your blog, Follow Me on Facebook, or Follow me on Twitter. After you have grabbed it or followed, leave me a comment telling me you did. Be sure to leave the link to your blog or twitter in the comments. if you already have my button just let me know.
I will leave the giveaway open until Monday, August 3rd at 11:59 pm EST.
I will then use random.org to pick a winner!!!!!!

And good luck to you too!

Too much fun last night....

2009-07-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

For Megan: Nickelodeon Gak Nickelodeon/Mattel's most popular compound; the idea was taken from the Nicklodeon show Double Dare. The original edition was manufactured in 1992, and then re-issued in 1994 for the Nickelodeon Deluxe Gift Set which included 1 canister of Nickelodeon Gak and 2 canisters of Nickelodeon Floam. It was marketed on the fact that, unlike most of the compounds, it made a "fart" noise when squeezed into its clear, star-shaped container. -Wikipedia

And for those who thought I was making it up: HOMEMADE SAND
4 cups dried, used coffee grounds
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
Directions
Dry the grounds in the sun or your oven on low heat. Make extremely sure they are dry, or they will mold.
Stir all ingredients together, and there you go!

Just remember, everything was made for a purpose! God made coffee beans for a reason. Maybe that reason is to make sand!
I'm sure you've got neighbors who make and drink coffee. Just ask them for their grounds - I'm sure it will lead to an interesting missionary opportunity! You could also try some without the grounds and see how it turns out. It wouldn't have the same texture or color, but still might work.

Back from the doctor

2009-07-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

I still love my doctor. The office is a house that has been converted and the whole place is all about comfort. Every time I go in Dr. Kopacz always makes sure my questions are answered. I never feel like just another patient. Maybe it's because my GP is always rushing through that I notice it more.
Anyway, everything is still looking hopeful. I didn't quite make it to my 10 lb loss mark, but she's happy with what I have lost. The Metformin is doing it's job, so she's upped my dose. I get to go in for blood work again (yuck!) and go back in 2 months...or when I get pregnant. :)

PCOS Special

2009-07-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

FoxLA did a 2-night special on PCOS.

And here's part 2:

Congrats and thanks to Erlinda and Stacy for having the strength to share their stories. These two women put their lives out there, trying to help others realize they don't need to hide.

Thanks to Monika for sharing this. "I never cease to be amazed at the unsympathetic, uninformed, and even abusive things that are said to "cysters" that is intended to be advice, but only leaves the women feeling even more hopeless." I think this is true for anyone. Why do we feel it necessary to bring down the people around us?

Thank you to FoxLA for doing this report and hopefully shedding some light in some very dark corners. Especially in an area that is so focused on the outer image!

Most importantly, thank you to all of you who are constantly by my side and supporting me.
Dr. appointment #3 is next Thursday. Cross your fingers!!!

Phillip's babies

2009-07-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

We had the missionaries over for dinner last night (always a treat) and in the midst of the evening Phillip reminded me that I had not announced the arrival of our other new child.
That's right! Our family now has a sno-cone machine! Thanks to Target and their wonderful sale items!!!
Phillip also has a new phone (Happy 4th of July) that he enjoys quite a bit.

A new family member and the weekend

2009-07-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

Really, I suppose these should be two separate blogs, but I'm going to combine them. I'll try to keep it short.
First of all, last night we had a new member join our family...

That's right. We are now the proud parents of a Wii! I've been saving since Christmas last and Phillip let me use a little extra from our account.
It took abt 3 hours to get everything put together because I kept putting the cords for the DVD in the wrong slots and the entertainment center was on top of the power strip, but everything is up and going now!

Second on my list of thoughts is the recent holiday. Our 4th was a little on the quiet side (until the neighbors set off the millions of fireworks in the street) and it allowed me time to reflect on the freedoms we have and 4th of July's past.

I am so grateful to live in a country where we can worship as we please, where we can talk to (or ignore) whomever we want and where I could find such a wonderful husband.
I'm grateful for fantastic friends and fun times and fond memories. July 4th, Christmas and Valentine's Day bring bitter sweet memories to me. 2 of my best friends and I each lost siblings on or near these holidays. These deaths have bonded the 3 of us through thick and thin. We don't often speak for very long on those dates, but our thoughts are always with each other. I've also gained a much stronger friendship with three others because of these events.
I know the Lord watches over all of us.
I hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Happy early 4th and late Canada Day to all

2009-07-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

I Love to See the Temple...

2009-07-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last night was our ward temple youth baptism night. Unfortunately (for them) we had 0 youth show up. Nichole and myself along with our husbands, and 2 other adults in our ward, were able to be the proxy. It was the first time that I have done names for my own family members that I researched. Nichole had some of her own family names as well. It always amazes me how strong the spirit is in the temple. Those individuals are there!
As sad as it was that no youth showed, it was such a great experience. Thank you to all those who came and helped!
Special thanks to my husband for being the proxy for the male members of my family and baptized me for the females. Some of these individuals had been waiting since 1600 to have their work done! What a great way to help those who can't help themselves.

THANK YOU!!!

Forgiveness

2009-06-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

My lesson this upcoming Sunday is on Forgiveness. The story below is from Corrie ten Boom and is related in the manual and I just had to share it. Warning: It's a tearjerker.

It was in a church in Munich that I saw him—a balding, heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.
It was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown. ‘When we confess our sins,’ I said, ‘God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. …’
The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. There were never questions after a talk in Germany in 1947. People stood up in silence, in silence collected their wraps, in silence left the room.
And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were!
[Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.]
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: ‘A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!’
And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course—how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?
But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
‘You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,’ he was saying, ‘I was a guard there.’ No, he did not remember me.
‘But since that time,’ he went on, ‘I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein,’ again the hand came out—’will you forgive me?’
And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven—and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place—could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it—I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. ‘If you do not forgive men their trespasses,’ Jesus says, ‘neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.’
I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. ‘… Help!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’
For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then.

What great strength! I know I will learn so much more from this lesson than I will be able to relate to the YW! I'm grateful for a Lord who knows what I need most!

A real man

2009-06-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

I am grateful to have a "real man" in my life. He sacrifices so much for me.
Thank you for always being by my side!
Happy belated Father's Day to the man who raised me and the many others who have given me an example of what to look for in a husband.
Happy early birthday and late father's day to the love of my life and the father of my home. Because of you, my life is so much better than I ever dreamed it could be.

Sister Iverson Rocks!

2009-06-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have to sneak on here and post this, because as those of you who know Julianna know, she would never brag about herself so here goes.....

Last week, if she says she was busy, that would be an understatement. She was out every night of the week doing something different each time and in many cases either magnifying a calling, serving others, or just being a friend to those who needed it at that time. Not once in that whole week did she ever complain - she simply knew that it all needed to be done so she did it.

She has made home life easier for both of us, by now assigning out the chores. This not only helps with the division of labor, but allows us the opportunity to pick the chores we like (straightening front room) and generally speaking avoid the ones we dislike (toilets). These have been posted on our fridge as a reminder. She doesn't harp on me about my chores, just silently reminds me that they need to be done by doing her own.

Sunday was Break the Fast. Husband gut here did not sleep well all weekend due to an incredibly injured knee that didn't allow me to put any pressure on it (I slept MAYBE six hours between Thursday night and Sunday afternoon). When I crashed, those of you at the Bishop's house truly heard it, I crashed and loudly. I heard stories and jokes were told. My wife loved me enough though to let me sleep and just deal with hearing the jokes herself. (I feel ashamed that she took the brunt of the comments on my behalf and I did nothing to stop them - the whole being asleep thing stopped me.)

This week has been almost as busy for her already and yet she keeps a smile on and continues to go and do. Whether it be Mutual, Camp Meetings, or going to the temple with me since I am in the Bishopric and it is a Bishopric night, my loving and devoted wife continues to give of herself selflessly.

Julianna is my rock and my strength for whom I can always turn for support. She gives me love and support, even in those times when I probably don't deserve it. She is a great daughter and wonderful daughter-in-law. She is an example to the youth she serves and the youth I serve (yes, she gets up and goes to seminary from time to time to support me and help encourage the youth). She makes our house a home. She inspires and motivates me. She is a dedicated employee. Most importantly Julianna Lin Iverson is indeed my best friend.

Some of you might think this post a bit "cheesy," but I would like to disagree. I love my wife and want her to know how much I appreciate all that she does for me and others. She gives and loves and so seldomly thinks of herself.

When was the last time any of you stopped to thank the individuals in your life for all that they do. We often complain about what people don't do - but how often do we thank for what they do?

Updates

2009-06-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I didn't think there was much to update on until I started drafting this. Aparently we've been busy!
First of all I want to thank everyone for a great evening last night! One of the activities the girls REALLY wanted to do this year was to go roller skating. Thanks to a generous budget, and a small amount of girls, we were able to take them! There is a rink literally around the corner from our building. We invited the ward to join us (on their own dime) and actually had a great turn out! Thanks to everyone who joined us!!!

Monday was my mommy's birthday! Happy Birthday Mommy!!! Phil and I went over and had dinner with them. The other day I got an email informing me that RENT is going to San Francisco. (wait it gets better) Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp are preforming! (wait it gets better) And I'm going!!!!!!!!!!! (Sometimes it DOES pay to be on everyone's mailing lists.)

Okay, maybe that's not so exciting to you, but I'm thrilled! Phillip agreed to go with me for our "anniversary trip" this year. AND we're going with Bob and Laurie Garff, two of my favorite people!Okay, now I'm done being excited about that for a moment. Last Saturday we had a camp meeting. I'm going to camp this year! I'm going up Thursday thru Saturday and get to be with Holly and work on the Crafts.

Also in YW news, we have a secretary now!!! Lauren Baker has joined the crew. She also works at InSight and convince Phillip and me that we needed to go in and get our eyes checked. Yay for eye insurance!

Our final new news is (drumroll please):

We have a new car!!! Well, it's used new, but new enough. Saturday we spent 4 plus hours at CarMax with Mister and Shannon. Phillip had it narrowed down before we went in, but I wanted to make sure and we went thru the lot. We have a 2007 Ford Focus, grey, 11.5K miles. It doesn't have a name yet (unless Phil named it already). Suggestions?

A diagnosis

2009-05-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

As of today I am officially diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). I've got a great doctor
I'm starting Metformin
And I get to lose 10-15 lbs in the next 2 months!

In other news:
Thanks Nichole for the yummy strawberry jam the elves left on the porch the other night!

Congrats Tara & Derek!!!

2009-05-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Daelyn Brielle Larsen was born on May 13th 2009 (her Daddy's - I'm seeing a trend here). She weighed 7 lbs, 7oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.

While the cat's away...

2009-05-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the gems I came home to from WC:
Phillip put up the 2nd shelf between our pictures in the front room and hid the hammer from sight. It may seem little, but it meant a lot to me.

He even added this little gem (sorry it's blurry).
In the back hallway he added our engagement photo and wedding announcment to the wall.
And he made the bed for me! Here's puppy all tuckered out from the trip:

Congrats McGees!!!

2009-05-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

Oliver Ray McGee born May 7, 2009 (on his daddy's birthday) 6 lbs, 1 oz, 18 inches.

Utah

2009-05-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, since the last blog was getting really long, I figured I'd break it up into 3 parts. 1 was Women's Conference, 2 is Utah Post-WC and 3 is the time at home. So, after conference on Friday we met up with my boosom buddy, Esche McGee and her family, husband James and kidos Cameron and Aurora. At the time she was 35 (or so) weeks prego. We went to this yummy burger place called 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. We took some pics, as it was the first time I've seen her pregnant, but unfortunatly (as you can tell), they didn't turn out.

Saturday I went shopping and then wandering with my mom. This is a picture from our Ogden wanderings. It's funny to me because I call gas stations "Stop and Rob"s.
Barbie stayed home with Grandma (she was the good grandaughter) and made these cute hats.
Puppy was trying to figure out what I was doing...I was going to make a baby blanket for baby Oliver Ray McGee, until he came early...now I'm not sure. :)
Mommy at Grandma's house:
Puppy exploring Uncle Mike's back yard and making friends:

Uncle Mike, Aunt Barbara, Raligh (sp), Jason, Logan, Lu
Tiffany, Lilly, Payton, Brian, Parker, Tawnya and Tony
The final luggage count:
On the way home:

Back at Barbs
Trying to get out of the car to get home at last:

The stash of goodies:
My favorite find was this shot glass to add to my collection:

Women's Conference

2009-05-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

I've only been home for a week and a half...it's time to blog! It's long, and you probably don't care about most of it, but at least it's colorful!
Remeber this commercial?

Well, Phillip gave me a puppy full of love from him to take on the trip. I don't even remember when I gave him the puppy, but he's kept our family company for awhile now. The best part was I didn't have to buy puppy a ticket and I still got Phillip's love for the whole trip!
Here's Puppy all ready to go:
My parents and I left on Tuesday night after work and I drove to my sister(Barb)'s house in Elk Grove. Puppy and I got the couch.
The next morning dad drove us to the airport. Puppy made it thru security just fine. Mom on the other hand got stopped because she put her boarding pass back in her bag. Some people's mothers! :)

We got final boarding calls on the flight and of course, mom had found a bookstore. Barb got in line (and refused to be photographed) while I got to go hunt for mom.
I found her, there was actually 1 person behind us in line and we headed off for Utah! Here's puppy waving bye-bye to Sacramento:
And arriving in Salt Lake (watch the luggage grow!):
Grandma and Aunt Barbara (yes, there are two Barbaras) picked us up from the airport and took us to their place. Thanks for the ride!
Grandma loaned us her car. Thanks Grandma!!!
No puppy, you can't ride on top!
We left Grandma & Uncle Mike & Aunt Barbara's house in Layton and drove to the fabulous Lehi Days Inn. It's got a fridge, microwave and comfy beds - that makes it fabulous in my book!
Food for the day was provided, in part, by Sconecutter and Taco Time. Two places we think Fresno doesn't have but needs.
Favorite line of the night: With big boobs comes big responsibility.
Of course, since Wal-Mart is NOT a store we have here, we had to visit the Utah Wal-mart multiple times. On one of the trips we ended up with matching shirts and sweatshirts for Thursday. (Mom and Barb had not packed coats and if they were going to match, I wanted to too!)
Privledge of being the photographer is I don't have to be in the pictures! You can't tell very well, but the shirts are lavendar and the sweatshirts are a deep purple.
This is my mom and her cousin LeAnn. The two of them are abt 4 months apart. They started our Women's Conference tradition. LeAnn picked us up Thursday so we could use her pass to get great parking. Thanks LeAnn!
The opening session was fantastic! I've got it DVR'd if you wanna check it out. We usually skip one session to have lunch and do some shopping. Thursday it was the first session. We went over to the Wilkinson Center and I added my new Women's Conference bag to the mix.
The classes I went to were Heart Disease: The Number One Killer of Women in the United States by Carole Lewis, Elizabeth Dayton and “Rejoicing in Hope; Patient in Tribulation; Continuing Instant in Prayer”: Infertility and Adoption by Michelle Powell, Susan Steffen. I picked up some very interesting numbers and information in both classes. The sister sitting behind me in the 2nd class was the mother to 6 adopted children. What an angel!
The closing session on Thursday was by Sis. Olson and was good. Not my favorite, but still wonderful.
After waiting a bit to get out of the parking lot, we went back to the hotel and crashed. Here's Puppy examining my findings from the day:
One of the many treats from WC is the BYU Mint Brownies. Puppy tried to get into mine, but I caught him in time!
Friday we were more prepared...at least in clothing. We realized last year that in the midst of 18,000 plus women, it helps to find each other if you match. People see you looking lost and say "Your twin just went that way." I took the inititive and made us these matching shirts ($6 plus the cost of the iron on transfer paper)

The front has the WC Logo and on the back I put "09" and our last names - jersey style. (Rare shot of me)
Friday we met up with LeAnn and her daughter Linda (yes, another Linda). Thanks Linda for the picture and thanks Shane for watching Emilie and Maren so we could hang out!
Friday night we weren't going to be staying at the hotel, so we were all packed up. I let puppy sneak into WC.

Satan, of course, knows how spiritually potent the knowledge of our divine
identity is. He hates women of the noble birthright. He hates us because he is
almost out of time, while we are en route to everlasting glory. He hates us
because of the influence we have on husbands and children, family and friends,
the Church and even the world. It is no secret to him that we are the Lord's
secret weapon. -Sheri Dew WC 2001

A view of abt 1/4 of the Marriot Center filling up with our warrior women:
It's hard to belive in such a crowd, but we literally ran into my cousins, Andrea Browning and Chrsitine Burnett! What a great place to be together as a family!!!
Friday sessions were so touching. The first class I went to was Preventing “Emotional Homelessness” by Creating a Christ-Centered Home by Marilyn Bailey, Denise Demers. Powerful!!! We had lunch in the middle and I caught some of “True, Enduring Happiness”: Centering Our Lives on Christ by Bonnie Sellers Hammond, F. Melvin Hammond and all of “Stand in Awe, . . . and Be Still”: Spiritual Receptiveness by Susan Jones, Barbara Thompson. Sister Thompson is hilarious! We were able to hear from L. Tom Perry and his wife. (Note to self, if Phillip ever becomes a general authority, SERIOUSLY consider going into hiding!) We had a surprise visit from Russell M. Nelson as well! The spirit was SO STRONG at the end I didn't want to leave.
Even though some of the presenters weren't saying words I needed to hear, the spirit was conveying SO MUCH to me. I came home with a renewed strength and stronger testimony of my Savior's love for me and each one of us. He knows what we're going through. He gives us trials for our benifit and even when the road seems darkest, there is still a light at the end of the tunnell. As strong as the spirit was there, I knew it was only strengthened by the thousands of faithful women surrounding me. It's so easy to live the gospel when you're in the temple. It's so easy to do what is right when you're surrounded by those who are on the same fight as you. The fight we have is not fought on a battlefield with guns and cannons, but in our daily deeds with our words and actions. We don't fight with fellow warriors side-by-side, but all alone. That is when we are tested most. Let us all fight In the Strength of the Lord. This is what I learned from WC.

Beware of those who profess Christ while spewing subtle anti-Christ statements. Anyone who professes to believe in Jesus Christ but denies His divinity, no matter how many good deeds they have done, is anti-Christ. Anyone who shifts our focus away from making and keeping covenants is a servant of Satan. Anything that keeps us out of the temple or threatens the family is the work of Satan-Sheri Dew WC 2008

Come join fight with us next year!!! April 29th and 30th!

"The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden"

2009-05-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

I figured it was time to share some updates on the "garden" (a.k.a. some planter boxes and a spot of earth in our back yard). Some things have flourished...others have not. Disclaimer: this was BEFORE watering. They look much better afterwards.

Here's the Onions. They look okay to me - though I'm not sure how they're supposed to look.

This is the before shot of the tomatoes (far) and one of the bell peppers (we planted two, but you can only see one in the front).

This one's a little over exposed, but the tomatoes are growing well. There's one long skinny tomato right in the center of the picture.

The bell peppers are another story. unlike the others, this box didn't get it's plugs pulled. I kept watering it, just like Teacher Nichole told me to...but the boxes are higher than I can see, so I didn't notice the ever growing water level until it was too late. Here's one of the plants:

And here's the other one, the one you could see in the before picture. I call it my sad little twig.

Zucchini is the one I've been amazed with. Before: (I swear it looked like this when I left for Women's Conference)

And Here's what it looked like when I got home. Notice how much of the dirt it's taken over:

All in all, I think it's pretty good for a first garden.

Little things bug me...

2009-05-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

They do. I shouldn't let them, but they bug me.
This is just a vent, nothing more. If you're feeling offended, please don't be. I hold no hard feelings toward anyone. This isn't pointed at anyone and if your feelings are different, that's great! I rejoice in our differences of opinion!
One of the little things that bugs me is Mother's Day in the church. This has nothing to do with me being or not being a mother, nor is it meant to insult any of the wonderful, hard-working mothers out there. My issue here is plainly how we treat it within the church.
Every Mother's Day something is handed out to the "adult women" or "women 18 and up". I know, "we all have the potential to become mothers" and "we are all mothers in our own way" (these things are said every year). That being said, it is Mother's Day, not Mothers' Day, not Women's Day (March 8) or Groundhog Day. (I complained about that one too, maybe I just have an issue with holidays in general.)

In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.
"She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world." (emphasis added)

Mother's Day is a day set aside to celebrate the women who raised (and are still raising) us as well as the women who gave birth to us. For some of us this is the same person, for some it is not. Yes, all of the women in the world are wonderful. Yes, different people can be our "mothers" at different times and in different ways. Every woman (and man) influences every person around them, whether they want to or not. I'm not saying that women aren't great or that we shouldn't tell women that we appreciate how they mold and influence our lives.
What I am saying is: I do not feel that gifts should be given to all of the women at church. I don't believe gifts should be given at all, from the church. I feel that this is yet another holiday that has gone too commercialized and we look for the easiest way to get out of doing something about it.
Go up to Sister Jones and tell her you love her singing.
Go to Sister Smith and thank her for helping you with your children when your husband is on the stand.
Bishops, if you really want to thank the women, stand at the back doors as we exit and tell us what you're thankful for.
I loved my gift from my loving husband who calls me the "mother of the house" and "mother in training". I love, even more, that he took the time to tell me why he was giving a gift to someone who hasn't born children on Mother's Day. (BTW he got me a spoon full of sugar to keep me from being lonely while he's gone this week)

Okay, I hope that all made sense. I'm done ranting now, so I'll conclude with something I read on bycommonconsent.com/ today. I felt it emphasizes my feelings of Mother's Day being commercialized within the church when we can read this and answer without a second thought to what he's talking about.

Post-Mother’s Day Meeting Debrief May 11, 2009 — Scott B
A few simple questions for consideration and discussion regarding your ward’s Mother’s Day festivities:
1. Priesthood Choir or Primary Choir?
2. Flowers or Cookies?
3. Oh, My Father, or Love at Home?
4. Old People or Young People?
5. Spiritual Feast or Cringe-Fest?

For fun, go ahead and let me know your answers!

National Day of Prayer

2009-05-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

It intrigues me that there is a national day of prayer. I have been taught to "pray always" and "keep a prayer in my heart"; yet there is a day set aside to be for prayer. It makes me think of the wonderful founding fathers who had such faith in an unwavering, loving, trusting God.
c/o Bible Dictionary:

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7: 7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

You would think (or I would, at least) that there is lots of praying going on, on our "National Day of Prayer" and yet our President is signing a proclamation...not offering a prayer. Things like this confuse me. These things also help me understand my Jehovah's Witness Friends who do not celebrate certain pagan holidays.
c/o MSN:
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is marking today's National Day of Prayer -- but not publicly.
The president has signed a proclamation about the day in private. There'll be no public ceremony involving prominent clerics, lawmakers or prayers, as there was when George W. Bush was in the White House.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says it's not that Obama thinks the observance was getting politicized, as some critics charge. Aides say he's merely returning to the practice that prevailed before Bush took office -- of signing and issuing a proclamation.
Gibbs says Obama is well aware of the role prayer plays in the lives of Americans -- because he begins each day in private worship.

I have said quite a few extra prayers today (not realizing it was prayer day) for some personal struggles. My name was placed on the temple prayer roll as well. I have felt the loving arms of my Father in Heaven and seen his many blessings this day. I hope you can see the same.
c/o lds.org:

We are all children of God. He loves us and knows our needs, and He wants us to communicate with Him through prayer. We should pray to Him and no one else. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded, "Ye must always pray unto the Father in my name" (3 Nephi 18:19). As we make a habit of approaching God in prayer, we will come to know Him and draw ever nearer to Him. Our desires will become more like His. We will be able to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that He is ready to give if we will but ask in faith.

I'm baaaaaack

2009-05-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

Women's Conference was FABULOUS!!!! I took plenty of pictures and notes, so be prepared...that one is in the works.
For now I wanted to pay tribute to our young women (and Delight and Nichole who took care of them without me). They have given up a night of fun mutual to spend tonight helping our ward help others!
Today is our Ward Temple Day. Formerly known as Ward Temple Night, it has evolved from a specific session to any time in the whole day. This helps some of the elderly members of our ward be able to attend.
So the young women have volunteered to babysit for tonight! Remember our ward is really tiny so our 4 young women will be contacting Beth, Melissa and Melissa today to make the arrangements to watch their 5 little sweeties. What a great way to participate in a blessed event!

Pig Flu

2009-04-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

In light of the "swine flu" I thought I'd share a funny for you all to laugh at while I'm gone.

And a video to check out if you need to learn how to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds. This could be helpful for those of you with kids who like to unfold everything you've just spent hours folding.
Have a great weekend all!

Women's Conference or Bust!

2009-04-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Rachel, Janice and the many others like myself are getting all packed up and ready to go to Women's Conference! Though I am said to be leaving my hubby, I am excited for the spiritual fill. L. Tom Perry will be the concluding speaker! It's a great feeling to be surrounded by 20,000 women, fellow warriors, who all feel the same way you do.
See you all there! And if you're not going this year, let's get you on the train for next year! :)

Happy birth, and death, day to The Bard

2009-04-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

I remember always liking things that were deemed "hard to understand." Isiah was, for a long time, my favorite book of scripture. I don't remember the first time I heard of or read Shakespeare, but I have had a long-time love for his words.

"According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564. It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary amount of time to wait before baptizing a newborn. Shakespeare's date of death is conclusively known, however: it was April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old and had retired to Stratford three years before." - History.com

BTW the History channel as well as history.com are new highs on my favorites lists. Yay for learning!

Iverson Update

2009-04-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted.

Today I found an article and it made me think of Lilly and General Conference weekend. As mentioned before, Nichole brought the kids over on Saturday and we planted some veggies.
During the day Lilly had quite the assortment of things to taste. She found the ashes from our last BBQ as well as some dirt.
Tripping and getting a face full of dirt. Chewing a little grass. Eating a couple of dandelions. This is all normal stuff for kids. "Dirt and grass are usually not a problem," says Smith. "There are some plants that can cause local irritation; there are others that can be outright poisonous. But most yard plants are safe. When in doubt, call the Poison Control Center for advice." An exception would be if the lawn has been treated with pesticides. Be sure to check, because a lawn where pesticides have been applied could poison your child, and have also been linked to the later development of illnesses including Parkinson's.

Thankfully all is okay.

In other news: ask Phillip about his job. And in 1 week I'm leaving for Women's Conference!!! I'm STOKED!

This year it's my mom, sister and me as usual. My mom's cousin, LeAnn Isom and her daughter, Linda Sorensen will be joining us as well. A few years ago, while mom was on the mission, Linda and LeAnn came with Barb and myself and we had a fabulous time. It's fun getting to know these relatives we never see. Linda hasn't been able to come since then because she's been adding little ones to her family, but we're glad she's coming, if only for one day.

For those feeling alone

2009-04-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before the talk by Elder Holland being my favorite. As I listened to the talk I thought of the blog I posted last week and of the many struggling, feeling alone. Yesterday in my email I received the following article c/o ldsliving.com:

A short Easter video from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints quickly spread over the weekend to become the top “viral” video on the Internet, according to the Viral Video Chart.
The four-and-a- half-minute video was extracted from an address delivered by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, at the faith’s general conference on April 4–5, in which he spoke of the final moments in the life of Jesus Christ and talked directly to those who feel alone or abandoned.
The video was placed Friday evening on LDS.org, the Church’s Web site designed primarily for its own members, and simultaneously linked to the “Mormon Messages” channel on YouTube.
Traffic began to build immediately. Mormons spontaneously posted the YouTube video on Facebook, discussed it on Twitter and sent it by e-mail to thousands of others, including their friends. By Saturday, the number of views passed 100,000 and kept climbing. By Sunday, it was noted as the number 1 video in the Internet “nonprofit” category in Brazil, India and other countries.
On Monday morning, views had reached close to a quarter million and reached the top of the Viral Video Chart, which identifies the most popular “viral” videos — those that spread rapidly due to public dissemination.
Church spokesperson Kim Farah said that the reaction to the video seemed to reflect a “perfect alignment” of factors — a powerful Christ-centered message in language that is familiar and understood by everyone, the topicality of Easter, the use of the short video format that is most popular on the Internet, and the enthusiasm of Latter-day Saints to share their faith.
Other videos on Mormon Messages have been watched hundreds of thousands of times since the channel was recently launched to complement two other official Church channels: LDS Public Affairs and Mormon New Era Messages. The Mormon Messages YouTube channel features uplifting videos that explain and share doctrines of the Church.
Church leaders in recent months have encouraged Church members to engage in conversations about the Church on the Internet rather than let mass media stories define their faith.
At the general conference early this month, many Mormons used Twitter, the popular microblogging Web site, to share their favorite quotes or thoughts from the conference. The topic of general conference was the top discussion on Twitter for much of the weekend.

Happy Belated Easter to All!

Mode of Transportation

2009-04-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's been around us since Thanksgiving has probably heard our moaning about Phillip's red beauty: (no this isn't his...it just looks like it)

Don't get me wrong. I feel completly blessed to live in a day and age when we can own two vehicles, much less have any vehicle. That being said, Phillip's car has been sick since Thanksgiving weekend and we've been down to one car on-and-off since. At the first I was more willing to get up at O'dark thirty to get ready for work hours before I had to be there. I have gotten more and more grumpy since then. Poor Phillip has lived with my moaning for quite awhile.
Many people said "Well, just get a new one." We had just finished paying off Phillip's car, so technically we should be fine to just buy a new one, however I've been reluctant to do so. My car is almost paid off and I'd like to try to get out of debt as the Prophet has asked us to. I'd at least like to get one of our "debt" items paid off before we add on a new car (and the insurance rates that come with it).
Well, my car is almost paid off now and I'm sure you can imagine our excitment when on the news this morning they announced GM is recalling some of their cars, Phillips being one of them. Of course it wasn't exciting to hear that his car REALLY could have blown up, but we were already imagining the pretty recall check we would have to put as a down payment on the new dcar.

Yeah, that only lasted so long. Then we read the fine print and realized that they "will remove the spark plug wire retention channel at the front of engine and install two new spark plug wire retainers. The quick fix is free. "
Oh well, it's just another reason for us to get rid of the red beauty and get Phillip a new car. I'm voting on a Jeep Cherokee (one of the nicer ones) since that's what he wants. Really we want something with low mileage, not so high price and okay to great mileage...and of course enough room for the family to come.
What's everyone's votes on cars?

Playing Catchup

2009-04-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

I finally got some pictures downloaded off the camera and onto here.

This is our lonely little tree. It looks prettier now with blossoms, leaves and the little flowers in the bottom gorowning.

Walmart had some pretty pansies for $2/6 so we decided to add these pretty little things to our front yard. Also notice the hose. It's my favorite part of all we've done so far!The front planter box area before we planted...

...during (check out that hottie with the muscles!)... and after...

If you'll recall, around Christmas time we had an elf infestation. One of the elves brought us a mop. This is Mr. Mop before his first use:

and after:

Two of my co-workers, Nicci and Jen...actually Jen doesn't work with me anymore, but this is when she did. This was Valentine's Day when she got pretty flowers from her sweetie. She smiled like this the whole day:

Nicci is pregnant and so I decided to make baby Addison a baby blanket:

Okay, I guess that's it for now. Happy hump day everyone! It's almost Easter!

What a great weekend!

2009-04-06T10:27:00.001-07:00

It's always great to hear from the Prophet.
My favorite part of conference is the sustaining. I love being united with millions of saints in sustaining the Prophet every 6 months. This conference, with the passing of Elder Wirthlin we were able to have a second, special sustaining. Saturday Elder Neil Linden Andersen, was named the newest apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Nichole, Lilly and Kyle came over for Saturday's sessions. (Bryce had to work) Between the Saturday sessions we headed to the back yard and planted :

tomatoes, bell peppers (red and green),

onions

and zucchini.

Sunday my parents came over for the morning session and Music and the Spoken Word.
We also had breakfast between sessions with my yummy (dad's) biscuits and (mom's) gravy.
If you missed conference, I would suggest starting with Elder Holland's talk on not being alone. (Check here for an editorial of it) I can't wait for the talks to be available online!!!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Here's Kyle playing with the slinky after we planted. Can you tell he got into the water?

You are loved

2009-04-03T12:41:00.001-07:00

I just read this article by Tamara A. Ilich. The article was in the Ensign in 2000. I have no idea who she is, but as I read my mind went to some of my dearest friends, some of who are struggling with infertility.

"I realized I believed my long unanswered prayers for a baby meant that I was not loved. This realization brought me once again to my knees. ...What I asked was simply, “Do you love me?”
As soon as I uttered that question, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love, joy, and peace. Like Alma, I had been in the “gall of bitterness,” but “I could remember my pains no more.” Indeed, “my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!” (Alma 36:18–20).
From that moment, I began to better understand the Atonement. In Gethsemane our Savior took upon Himself the pains, sicknesses, and infirmities of His people so that He would know how to succor them according to their infirmities (see Heb. 4:15; Alma 7:11–12). He sweat great drops of blood as He suffered for all of the afflictions that result from living in a telestial world. Before this answer to prayer, I understood that He did what He did for the world. Now, I understood that His sufferings were also for me.
I knew that because of the Atonement, the Savior understood the nuances of my pain. Because He knew my experience, I did not have to feel alone. My understanding of the Atonement and of the Savior’s love for me were forever changed. Now I have hope. I have joy.
...I do not know if our home will be blessed with more children, but one thing I do know:
I am loved, and my Savior knows me by name. ... "

We all have our individual struggles. They are put there to stretch and strengthen us. Yes, I hate hearing "it'll happen in the Lord's time" as much as you, but no matter what are struggles are, the Lord loves us. He tries us to help us grow. If we hold fast to the promises he has made to us and obey the commandments, we will be blessed, no matter what.
Whoever you are, whatever you're going through, I testify that the Lord loves YOU. God so loved YOU that he sent his Son for YOU. If you were the only person who needed it, He still would have died for you. I know that with every fiber of my being. His arms are open waiting for you, I plead for you to run to Him.

Friday Fun Time

2009-04-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

I think it's time for a little fun. A couple of posts ago I mentioned Robot Chicken. This is their version of the Diary of Anne Frank:

Hope it makes you smile. Happy Friday everyone!

Yes, yes

2009-04-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

APRIL FOOLS
No baby coming...yet.

2009-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Redbox in a blog

2009-03-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This blog is a commercial shamelessly promoting small screen technology. What can I say, it's what's roaming through my head. I really don't spend my life watching TV, but these are some of the fun things I have found:
For those of you who don't know, there is this marvelous thing called Redbox. You get to "rent" movies for $1/day without having to interact with 16 year olds. You can find it at your local grocery store or, if you live in St. George, at Rachel's house! :)
Phillip stumbled on the Redbox blog which gives out free movie codes on Wednesdays for the month of March, and I've found it interesting to get "the know" on some of the movies coming out on DVD.
Apparently I didn't get to the theaters enough to see the preview for this movie before.

It looks like it could be rather fun, however according to the blog "Labor Pains, isn't even going to appear in theaters; it will premiere on the ABC Family cable channel in July and then be available as a DVD afterward."
ABC Family has become one of my new favorite channels. The Secret life of the American Teenager is my new teen drama.

While it is a show about a pregnant teenager, it shows that there are consequences for every action. Life isn't all pink bunnies and flowers when you do whatever you want and (my favorite line from the end of every episode) "teenage pregnancy is 100% preventable".
They're also making a TV series based off of 10 Things I Hate About You (my favorite movie), so that could have something to do with my newly acquired love for the channel.
Then, the other day Phillip wasn't home for some reason and I was channel flipping...well, I was looking through the guide - much easier than flipping and without all the annoying breaks in sound. Anyway I stumbled on this show on Discover Health (I didn't even know we got the channel). I don't even remember what the show was but it was followed up with "Deliver Me" this show about these 3 OBGYN's and their practice down in L.A.

I got sucked into the show, specifically one story line about this little baby who was going to be born with part of his intestines outside of his body. The whole show is building up to it: Will the baby be okay? How long will the surgeries last? Will the baby get to go home before the dad goes back to Iraq? Well, of course, like all good shows, it ends with a cliffhanger. I was so frustrated that I got so sucked in and didn't know the ending! Aparently in my frustration I set the series (or at least another episode) to record. Yesterday I finally got to see the ending. Of course the episode left another cliffhanger but at least this time I was prepared.
Okay, I think that's the end of this commercial break. We now return you to your previously scheduled programing.

Hockey?!

2009-03-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Ask and ye shall receive???

A KSEE 24 article published today that there is a new Fresno hockey team coming our way! The Fresno Monsters sounds to be a Junior (HS students) Hockey Team (no ECHL here) but it's still hockey that's not a million miles/hours away! Don't forget most of the Falcons were barely out of HS themselves.
You can even house one or more of the players! Do that and you get in free to all of the games!
Games are supposed to start in September. Per Mike Scott's Blog "There's going to be a news conference Monday morning at 10:30, when we'll get the OFFICIAL word about the new team."
Okay, that's all I could find. Wow, that's a bunch of links!

100

2009-03-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

It must be something in the water...

We're all turning 100! 100 posts that is.
Between the Moore's and the Birds it's just the cool thing to do.
Here's my attempt at the 100 things that make me happy/facts about me/us:

1. My name is Julianna Lin Iverson
2. I was born January 4, 1982
3. I am married to Phillip Joseph Iverson. He has made me the luckiest woman ever!
4. We were married on 21 October, 2006, the happiest day of my life thus far.
5. I have 4 nieces (Kailee, Joylin, Victoria and ) who are adorable beyond measure.
6. I have 4 nephews (Jared, Caden, Samuel and Ian) who give the best hugs.
7. I have parents who love me and gave me unmeasurable trust in all I did.
8. I have the best big brother ever whos love is felt from unmeasurable distances..
9. I also have the best big sister ever who isn’t so far away
10. I have in-laws who I actually get along with and who accept me for who I am
11. I have 2 sisters-in-law and 2 brothers-in-law who all have the ability to make me laugh.
12. We have a beautiful home to live in.
13. We have a supporting ward.
14. We have great friends.
15. We have the gospel.
16. We are lucky enough to have a temple in the city we live.

17. Though it can be trying at times, I love working with the young women.
18. I have 2 wonderful counselors who I can trust with anything.
19. We both have jobs. A huge privilege in this day and age!
20. We have both sets of parents living.
21. We have 3 special grandmothers with us.
22. We are married for time and all eternity, not just until death do us part.
23. We were both able to serve missions
24. I have played the piano since I was 5 (ish) but took a break for a couple years and lost the talent - it’s true what they say!
25. I absolutely love music. Almost any kind.
26. I have a new favorite song each week. This week it’s the cuppycake song:

27. I love the rain. People said serving in WA would kill that - it didn’t.
28. I know that God lives and that he loves me enough to make it known to me.
29. My favorite color is black because it is the absence of all color.
30. My favorite animal is the zebra.
31. I could not come up with all 50 states if my life depended on it.
32. I have been in 4 countries.
33. I have lived in 2 states.
34. In my whole life I have only lived in 3 homes. (Not counting the mission)
35. I am learning ASL.
36. I enjoy quilting and crocheting.
37. I am afraid of heights, small spaces and clowns.
38. I would love to skydive or bungee jump, but someone would have to push me.
39. I have visited 11 states.
40. My fist memory is of a snowflake with one of those buildings on the “mall” in DC in the background. (I was 2 or 3 when we went there) - Haven't been back since.
41. I went the Hawaii when I was abt 5 and have 2 memories of it.
42. I went to Mexico when I was little but don’t remember a moment of it.
43. I absolutely love Magic Mountain and could spend forever there.
44. I have been to Disneyland twice (once when I was little and then again when I was 13) and could go the rest of my life without it.
45. My favorite movie is 10 Things I Hate About You.
46. I love playing board, card, etc games.
47. I have cheated to let the other person win multiple times. Just ask Phillip!
48. In Kindergarten my teacher dubbed me “The Mother Teresa”.
49. I was in the newspaper in Kindergarten.
50. I love teaching.
51. I love kids.
52. I love reading, though it seems there is never enough time to do so.
53. My favorite scripture is 1 Peter 5:6-7:

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

54. Phillip’s favorite is in Alma 29...the one about wanting to be an angel.
55. I'm grateful that this is more than 1/2 over!
56. I was in drama for 2 years and loved it.
57. I love fruits and vegetables...well, most of them.
58. I had 3 grandpas but only vaguely remember one.
59. I went snowboarding once and loved it...even if I wasn't very good.
60. I am largely jealous of just about everyone who reads this.
61. I had surgery on my left leg when I was in elementary school to remove a mole they thought might be cancerous. So I have a scar and cannot feel part of my leg...and it turned out to not be cancer.
62. I hate shoes.
63. I love socks.
64. I had my first pedicure at the age of 22 and still freak out the first time they touch my feet. Feet are gross! (But I love pedicures)
65. I cannot do, nor have I ever done, a cartwheel.
66. In elementary school I was the jump rope queen.
67. I love hockey and was heartbroken when the Falcons went bankrupt.

68. My sniffer works really well.
69. I hate shopping...did I already put that?
70. I would rather watch movies than TV. I hate commercials and flipping channels.
71. I love the mountains and the ocean and cities.
72. I am usually late or right on time. It's a bad trait.
73. Large dogs scare me.
74. I love little dogs.
75. When I was younger I was pretending to swim in the front room. I had on swim flippers and my nightgown. My head crashed into the TV and I got 7 stitches.
76. I hate mushrooms, they're slimy.
77. I have always wanted a 2 story house with a laundry chute, a pool and a trampoline.
78. I appreciate people who understand when I don't want to attend another baby shower.
79. I have only gotten one ticket (knocking on wood) and when we went to take care of it, they said that it was never turned in!
80. I have had 5 people I call the "best friends" of my life: Phillip, Nichole, Hillary, Esche and Laura. Laura is the only one I have lost contact with.
81. For at least 10 years I have wanted to own a new and used bookstore.
82. I doubt anyone is reading this far into the list. (I wouldn't)
83. I was going to be named Pamela - thank you Grandma for saving me!
84. If I was a boy, I would've been named David.
85. I am a new fan of Robot Chicken.

86. I like Google.
87. I love my husband very much.
88. I have always wanted to own a truck, though I probably never will.
89. My senior year, instead of reading just the assigned parts of the Old Testament, my friends and I read the whole thing. It tends to be my favorite book of scripture.
90. I hate snakes and needles.
91. I took 1 1/2 yr or French and 2 years of Spanish. The second year of Spanish I finally learned what the previous 3 years had been trying to teach me.
92. During my sophomore year my friend and I boycotted desks in our history class. The teacher thought it was great and let us do it for the rest of the year.
93. I am a very lucky person.
94. Phillip Joseph Iverson is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
95. I am loved beyond measure.
96. I went to Australia when I was 14.
97. I appreciate people who understand me and validate my feelings.
98. I love my eyes - just wish they could see better
99. My hair and I have come to an understanding.
100. Sorry Leah and Melissa, I really do have the best husband ever! :)

Why we do what we do

2009-03-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

WARNING: RANDOM THOUGHT AHEAD
In mission prep one Sunday our Stake President, Pres. Mortensen, was the "instructor". He related a parable of a jewel collector. He spent a large portion of his life and money searching for the perfect pearl. The man wanted to display the pearl so he had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line it with blue velvet. The box still was not magnificent enough for such a wonderful pearl so he covered the box with jewels.

The man put his pearl on display so others could share his treasure and watched as people came to see it. Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the pearl.
President Mortensen related this to the church and encouraged each of us to teach the people we come in contact with about the "pearl" and not the "box". We don't go to church for mutual or enrichment night or ward activities. We don't go for the lessons or even the friendships. We don't even go to hear the talks. We go to church for one reason: to partake of the sacrament.

And they (the church) did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. Moroni 6:6

Yes, those other things are great and they are there for a reason, but I can't count the number of times people have guilted me for not attending a ward activity or enrichment and completely skipped the fact I wasn't at church.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be a guilt trip or a sacrament talk - it's just my random thinking. I don't even know that it all makes sense, but it's what I've been thinking about lately. I hope you all appreciate the time the sacrament gives us to think and reflect on our Savior. For one moment we are all equally clean and pure. It's a great time to be alive!

Superwoman

2009-03-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

Titus 2:3-5
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient
to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

This is a really good chapter. It's short (you can read it in under 2 minutes) and gives a lot of direction and things to think about. I stumbled on it today and thought "how appropriate."
This is exactly what we (the YW leaders as well as the everyday woman) have been asked to do. At times it seems like there are so many "Thou shalt not"s that the list gets overwhelming. ("Are we writing in our journals? Is our garden planted? Have we read the scriptures today as a family, companionship and individuals? Have we prayed today as a family, companionship and individually? etc, etc, etc")
We feel that we need to be Superwoman/wife/mom, when in reality the list is so short: Are we "teachers of good things"? I have to say that the women (and men) I know and am surrounded by are definitely teachers of good things and already supermen and women.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

PS - Happy St Patty's Day!

Brian Regan makes me laugh

2009-03-13T17:15:00.001-07:00

Love Letter to My Wife

2009-03-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Just perfect for me
Unequaled by any other woman (sorry mom)
Loving at all times
Infinitely more capable than me
Able to love me at my worst
Never gives up
Needs - knows and meets mine
Amazingly wonderful

Iverson, Mrs - Made me the luckiest groom

Lives to serve and give of self
Over and above in exceeding expectations
Valiant and strong in faith and testimony
Energizes me with her sheer presence

Youthful, energetic and full of life
One with me in our marriage and future
Undeniably the best and most beautiful woman ever!

all-better day

2009-03-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

"Our company may be a totem pole. We may be the bottom of the totem pole, but if you keep shooting at the bottom, eventually everything above will topple over." That's my favorite quote for today.
After a bad day on Tuesday and a not so good day yesterday, two people have helped to make today my "all better" day.
My husband is so wonderful. He listens when I whine and cry and always knows what to do to make it all better. He gives the worlds greatest hugs.
Even though he wasn't feeling well, last night when he went to the store he picked up some beautiful orange roses for me. It was while I was asleep, so he cut them and put them in vases and made them look so pretty. It was a wonderful surprise to wake up to.

The second person who made today "all better" day is Nichole. Last nights mutual was a little...frustrating. I felt I was doing what I was prompted to, but things still didn't turn out all pink bunnies and butterflies. With a few small words, Nichole validated my frustration. It may seem little, but knowing that someone else feels the same means a lot to me.

Texting Basket

2009-03-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

You may recall this blog about our texting issue at Mutual. At Bishop Dehmel's suggestion we went with the "basket" idea.

I was rather nervous about it at first. I had found out that the YM were having the same issue, so I got the YM pres in on it as well. On Wednesday I walked in, grabbed the basket and threw my phone in. I turned to the YM pres, Bishop and 1st Counselor who also added theirs to the basket. (Whew the easy part is over...now what?)
Surprisingly we had very little argument from the boys and slightly little more from the girls. They weren't too happy about the idea but gave in.
One week down...we'll see how next week goes.