Looking back at my adventures in Utah

I had grand plans to regale everyone (all 5 of you who read my blog lol) with tales from my vacation. That did not happen as we see. When I got back home I got some news that sort of spun my head around. That news is still too fresh to write about it, and I am praying that all will be well in that department. I refuse to consider any alternatives.

So, about my vacation. I had a great time! My wonderful friends and I wandered all over Temple Square for 8-10 hours and I saw so many cool things. Our first stop was at the Salt Lake Temple and it is beautiful. We attended a session, and that was a tremendous start to the week. I am amazed at how the pioneers were able to design and build such a magnificent structure. And all the hand crafted elements. I could go on and on about the Temple, but I will spare us all. I have this thing about being in or on the grounds of a temple that just makes me not want to leave ever. Like how you feel when you come home.

Isn't this a pretty good picture taken with my little Sony something or other? What a pretty blue sky! It was a bit warm for my liking, but mercifully, most of the buildings were air conditioned. My friends, who just happened to the lovely and talented and long suffering missionaries that worked with me in Long Beach, showed me so many things, and I loved the day. I saw and learned so much I am still processing the experience.

I am so irritated. It has been so long since I uploaded pictures to my blog, I have forgotten how to do it so my photos show up in the proper order. So please bear with me.

The top photo is of "my" missionaries, the Andreasons. I just love them. What else is there to say? Except they deserve most of the credit for bringing me to the church. They are wonderful people!

The second photo is of the temple. I took over a hundred pictures that day. You will be greatly relieved, I'm sure, to learn that I have no plans to post them all in this post. I will spread them throughout the next two...NOT....

So, Tuesday we went to Provo to attend our first day of Education Week. Wow!! The campus is beautiful. And big. Very very big. I am so thankful for the vans they provided to transport older& handicapped people between locations. They sure saved my bacon! I was still stabilizing on my plethora of medications to manage the asthma I never knew I had until the week before my vacation (another very boring story so we won't go there)

I think I will review my notes from the many classes I attended before I share about those experiences. I taught the Relief Society lesson the day after I got back from my vacation, and I managed to slip a few stories from Education Week into my lesson. They were appropriate to the content, honest! And I think it made the discussion just a bit better.

I could write much more, and I probably will another time, but I am getting typists cramps in my fingers. OK, that really isn't true. I will close with a parting observation:

You can find the very best ice cream and cheese bites at the BYU Creamery. I'm just sayin'....

vet visit for the little naughty dogs

The little naughty dogs sense something is up.....they don't know it yet, but we are going to see Dr. Jackson for a review of vaccinations and what is needed before I take them to the Hillrose Pet Resort. Or is it the Rose Hill Pet Resort? I can never remember for sure. While mom is away the naughty dogs will be vacationing at the resort. I hope they forgive me.

Where does the time go?

I am on vacation--a well deserved vacation I might add. Today was my last day at that place that must not be named. When I return to work after my vacation, I will get to stay at my "home" branch, in my own cozy little office which I am going to paint blue when I get back. No more splitting my time between two branches. I will be settling back in to the job that I love, and resume working with my clients and when winter quarter comes around, I am hoping to be taking a class or two to ease back in to the college thing.....but I get ahead of myself.

I am going to Salt Lake City and then on to Provo for BYU Education Week. I get to spend time with the senior missionary couple who lured me into the church **smile** I am meeting them there and we will go sightseeing--I can't wait to see the Salt Lake City temple in person. Whee! A week with no thoughts about addiction, recovery or treatment. OK, I might have passing thoughts, but I will have so many other amazing things to think about.

I think it is very cool that I get to see the talks I always watch on BYUB.com (OK, not the exact same talks, but close) I hope I act like a grown up and not some star-struck adolescent groupie. Would it be bad form to request my favorite past talk from Mary Ellen Edmunds? Or S. Michael Wilcox? Or Brad Wilcox? Or Sheri Dew? Or Camille Fronk Olsen? There's more but I am running out of gas here.

Oh yeah, I have created another facebook page which I am using to stay in touch with my daughters & their families, and a limited number of others. Last time I tried facebook, I wasn't discriminating enough and some of the people that I agreed to be friends with were not behaving in a "G" rated way, so I canceled that page. Let's see how this will work this time. To be honest I am usually pretty overwhelmed and can't figure out all of the things that are going on at one time......It is much easier to maintain control of my blog....it doesn't move nearly as fast as facebook does.

By the way

I have been experimenting with a new blog design. I'm not quite satisfied yet, but it's fun playing around with the new features!

BYU here I come

No, I am not moving to Provo or Hawaii or Idaho.....I am taking a well-deserved vacation and going to Education Week. Oh my goodness! I just realized it's only two weeks away.

This vacation is my reward for being such a trooper these past 7 months. My special assignment is finished! I am returning to my "normal job" effective Monday 8.02.2010. Wheeeeeeeee!

Well, better get started packing.......

Something I want to share.....

This is from C.S. Lewis and I liked it a lot. It's fun to have a blog so I can write whatever I want. I really like getting to do what I want...but enough of that...on to the quote:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominally and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.

Isn't this cool?

I almost forgot

The reason I originally logged in here at the blog spot was to share an amazing experience I had this past week.

I was driving home from work--still no dart gun, still some bugs to work out--and I was on my least favorite part of the drive because there are so many members of the "Stupid Drivers Association of America" on that street. I was minding my own business, staying in my own lane (now there's an unusual concept in Seattle driving circles) when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a threatening movement. Upon closer inspection, I realized that a car in the next lane was headed straight for my driver's side door. Further, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to maneuver and avoid a collision. I yelled something impressive like "Ack!!" and steeled myself for the crash. It never came. It was like an angel got between my car and the driver without a brain, and there was no crash! I know some people are thinking "There she goes again with her exaggerations." But I know what I saw, and I know somehow the inevitable did not happen, and I know there was some divine intervention going on. What an amazing experience!

I learned something interesting about myself that day.....well, two things at least. One, I can pray pretty fast. Two, I will never be one of those embarrassingly stupid women in the scary movies who have that blood curdling high pitched scream. All I could muster was a loud "Ack!" No scream. Not even close. Can you just picture this....scary movie....monster/psychopath/dentist approaching the heroine and she stands in one spot, jumping in place screaming like a banshee.... now imagine me as the heroine....here comes the bad guy/thing/whatever...and the best I can do is yell "ACK!!"

It's just not the same.......