Poem- Gordon B. Hinckley

Prophetic Passing

I imagine he's running to Marjorie now,
Yes, running, not waving his cane.
I see him embracing his father and mother
While they keep repeating his name.

I see him now meeting his forebears,
Brother Brigham and Joseph are there.
Sweet reunion of prophets, united by service
That only such noble men share.

I see him embraced by the Savior
While Father says, "Good and well done.
So faithful in stalwart endurance, I welcome
My noble, most excellent son."

I then hear the ripples of laughter
As he says the reception's just fine,
But he hopes that he'll get an assignment or two
Since there's no need to waste any time.

I can hear his clear voice in the stillness
At the close of this sweet Sabbath day,
Have faith and move forward ! there's work to be done.
President Hinckley would want it that way.

Anna M. Molgard
January 27, 2008

President Hinckley passes away tonight

While I was flying home from Denver tonight, President Hinckley passed away. He was 97. We got a text from Sean, from BYU, as we were driving back from the Cody airport tonight. Sean said he passed away around 7 p.m. We got Sean's text at about 8:30 p.m. Sean said news spread through BYU within 10 minutes of his passing. Karie (in Orem, UT) also called us while still driving home from the airport, and I ended up calling my Mom in California who had not heard yet, so the Mormon grapevine is alive and well.

I love President Hinckley. He did so much to advance the church around the world, increasing the missions, building more temples than ever before, and reaching out to the world. He was truly a prophet of God. He is now rejoined with his beloved wife. I'm sure that he is having a happy reunion with her... that puts a smile on my face, but I am sure as the church members learn about this news, there will be much sadness too. Gordon B. Hinckley will be missed, but will always be loved by many. I feel fortunate I was able to go to the Priesthood session of general conference with Sean last Oct. to hear him at his last conference.

Our thoughts and prayers will be with the Hinckley family and also with Thomas S. Monson and his family as he takes on his new responsibilities as prophet, seer and revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Alan Simpson

Well I was coming home tonight from my MGMA Leadership Conference in Denver tonight and got on the plane at about 6:10 p.m. I was in seat 2C. I helped this lady with her bags in the overhead (I have to admit, I helped because I didn't want her to smash the three carmel apples I bought at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in the airport). She sat down and I realized it was Ann Simpson! I knew that because she was sitting down next to Senator Alan Simpson, the former U.S. Senator from Wyoming. He was in seat 1C. He was reading the whole trip. I kept trying to see what it was, because he was saying he was flying home today from Washington DC. I just knew he was reading top secret materials. But my eyes are so bad anymore, I couldn't see anything! I wanted to ask him if he was sick of the phoney conservative McCain yet, and if he was proud that our state of Wyoming is supporting Romney..... but remember he was into his top secret documents so I left him alone.

I got a kick out of him when we landed. He took out his bank card and was using the ATM machine, just like us regular people. I wonder why that seemed strange to me. I guess he needed some fast cash. It was pretty cool.

The price for missionary work

Sean went to a dentist near BYU yesterday to get his dental check up so he can turn in his missionary papers next month. Well it appears he needs to fill 7 cavities and pull 4 wisdom teeth! This is a kid who has only had one cavity his whole life. The doc said some were not too bad and he would normally just keep an eye on them each visit, but since Sean would be gone in less than 6 months, he felt he should go ahead and take care of them now to avoid problems in the mission field. His wisdom teeth on the bottom are a little crooked. They almost were not bad enough to pull- he was told, but of course, the dentist wants to pull them. And since he wont have bottom wisdom teeth the dentist thinks we should pull the top ones too so when he choose they wont be hitting gum. Oh boy! How is he going to do all that work and still maintain going to class and such? Some people have told us that their kids bounce back the next day after pulling wisdom teeth. Lacey was out of school for a week when she had hers pulled. So what is your experience with this?

Well at least Sean had a nice trip to southern California last weekend to see all his grandparents. BYU had not classes on Monday, so we took advantage of that and sent Sean to Cali for a belated Christmas present for my mom and Page's parents. They won't have a lot of opportunity to spend time with Sean before his mission. Sean had a great trip and the grandparents had big smiles on their faces. We are glad he was able to spend time with them. However, Sean kept teasing us that it was a balmy 60 degrees there, while we were experiencing snow and 16 below zero temperatures.

I head out early tomorrow morning to Denver for a business conference. Will be back on Sunday.

Activities Chairman

I received a new calling at church this morning. I am the Ward Activities Chairman. I think I am going to like this calling as long as it doesn't turn out I have to do all the setting up and cleaning up before and after every ward activity. They only expect one activity per quarter. That is only 4 a year! I think the members of our ward need more activities than that. Don't you? Well nothing is in the planning stages so I doubt I will throw together a Valentine's Dance or anything. But I could have some fun with St. Patrick's Day just around the corner. Anybody have any good Patty Day Activity ideas? I doubt we can serve green beer! Also I would love to hear about Ward Activities you have really enjoyed. Might give me some good ideas through out the year. Wish me luck!

USC knocks off UCLA

Way to go USC Trojans!. We upset our rival and 4th ranked team in the nation today 72-63. The sweet thing about it was that it was a UCLA home game. Poor Bruins!

I guess it's back to Politics

Well, Andy Roddick lost a close match in the 3rd round of the Australian. Seems like his opponent played the match of his life and beat Andy in the 5th set. Is it just me or does it seem this is always the story. Somebody plays beyond their abilities to beat Roddick. Oh well, I guess that was a short lived diversion from politics.

The news is already reporting a Romney landslide in Nevada today. But also downplaying it by saying he won 90% of the Mormon vote there. McCain was way back in 2nd place. I wonder if they will make a big issue that he (McCain) lost a neighboring state like they did when Mitt lost New Hampshire. But Mitt also won more Evangelical vote today in NV than Huckabee did! Mitt is not expected to do any better than 3rd or 4th in South Carolina today. Pundits will only focus on SC results today, is my hunch.... But Mitt is still leading in vote count and delegate count.

Well I guess I'm going to go clean the garage now. Happy Saturday!

Australian Open

The Australian Open is underway and like usual, I am backing Andy Roddick to win. He beat his first opponent (Dlouhy) on Monday 6-3,6-4, 7-5. There was some concern that Federer might be out because he has been battling food poisoning, but he was on fire during the first round too. Andy plays Berrer tomorrow (actually in about 2 hours). Good luck Andy!

With all the politics going on, I haven't followed the Australian Open too closely. Did you see the HUGE win for Romney in Michigan? I was very happy and hope he can gain some momentum out of it. One thing is for sure, this is a crazy contest, on both sides. Hate to see the Democrats using the race card against each other. Just as I have hated people using the religion card on the Republican side.

Hey Michigan, Vote for Mitt !!!

Michigan needs Mitt. Who else knows how to turn around things better than Mitt? Huckabee isn't going to put effort into Michigan's problems if he wins. Did you hear Huckabee is contacting every pastor in Michigan to get their parishioners to the polls? The memo says to go to all churches except for the Mormons and Catholics. Why is that? Because in Iowa, Mitt won every Catholic dominated county. And McCain has a lot of momentum from New Hampshire and like New Hampshire, Michigan's independents can vote in the Michigan primary, which tends to imply McCain is in the driver's seat in Michigan. But McCain already is writing off the auto industry saying it will never come back. His solution? Send all the auto workers to community college. Is there enough room for all of them? Can they take time to go to college and not provide for their families? The Romney's know and love Michigan. They will not let Michigan down. So go vote for Mitt!

Sean heading back to BYU

With Sean leaving back to Utah in a couple days we tried to get some family time in. On Friday night we drove up to Billings to watch a movie at the mall. After the movie, we stopped at IHOP for a bite to eat and to enjoy each other. Here is Lacey and Sean playing as we get back to the car to head back to Powell. Tomorrow we have a day in Cody planned at the museum, then Sean is off to Utah on Sunday to start a new semester at BYU on Monday.

It's nice to see the kids getting along....

Sean, posing with a moose outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody.
Page, Lacey, Sean and I spent some time at the museum. It is a wonderful place. They have 5 museums: natural history, buffalo bill history, Native American history, Western Art and Firearms. You should stop and see it if you ever get the chance.

After a day at the museum, we had dinner at the Irma in Cody

We got Sean to the airport with plenty of time to spare this morning.

There Sean goes, leaving Cody, WY, heading to SLC, UT. The flight was delayed about an hour and a half because the airport in SLC shut down due to poor weather. The skies were clear here in WY. He lands in SLC around 4 p.m. then shuttles down to BYU. Good luck this semester, Sean! We already miss you a lot!!!

Romney wins Wyoming

Today, we had our caucuses in Wyoming. Mitt Romney won almost all of Wyomings delegates. It was a landslide! He won 67% of the vote. No big evangelical base like in Iowa, and really not a big LDS base either. LDS is only 10% of WY population. Mitt did campaign a few times in Wyoming and I think that helped him a lot. Huckabee ignored us and didn't get a single delegate. Neither did McCain.

Some observations about Iowa: in Iowa, in the non-evangelical counties, Mitt won the vote 2-1. So he is still getting a lot of support despite how the media is painting things. But clearly, Huckabee had the evangelical vote in Iowa. We can all agree with that, right?. Good for him. Now lets hope Mitt can turn it around in New Hampshire. I'm glad my state (YEAH WYOMING!) is backing Romney. Romney even though he came in second in Iowa, and if he comes in second in New Hampshire, he is still racking up delegates and probably will be leading the delegate count at that time. Keep an eye on the delegate count... that's what wins you the nomination.

What I loved most about Iowa was the defeat of Hillary to Obama. Was that sweet or what?

Rose Bowl Champions

USC beat Illinois today in the Rose Bowl. We won big 49-17. 49 points ties for the most points scored in the Rose Bowl. It never even got close except when IL made a TD in the 3rd quarter to pull to within 11 points. I think USC is the best team in the country at the moment. The team is finally healthy and looks like a championship team.

Well, I eat, sleep and drink USC football. Now the season is over and I have to find other things to do with my time now. I am happy how USC finished their season with a bang.

New Year's Eve and Day were enjoyable. I made tacos for New Year's Eve and we played some games and watched movies. This morning I made the kid's favorite, "Piggy Pudding" It is a Paula Deen recipe with cornbread, apples and sausage. I also put on a big pot of black eyed peas with ham. It is a family tradition. I have been eating black eyed peas all my life, every New Year's Day. It is supposed to give you good luck throughout the rest of the year. I do it to keep the tradition alive.

I got up early to watch the Rose Parade too. Everybody was asleep, but this is another tradition that I cannot break. Besides, I had to watch the USC Trojan Marching Band march down Colorado Blvd.

Fight On, Trojans!

7 Random Things

Ok, I have been tagged by Candace and Jenn

So here are seven random things about me:

1. I am a twin. Yep, I have a twin brother. He is a great guy and I miss him. We haven't seen too much of each other for the last 8 years after I moved away from California. He has yet to come out to visit. I have been back to CA several times. Let's go fishing, Pat!

2. I am learning the bagpipes! I go up to Billings once a week for free lessons. Once I am good enough, I can join the bagpipe band and perform with them. Yes, I get to wear a kilt. And yes, I do know what goes or does not go under a kilt.

3. I have run in a 10k race before. Always wanted to do it and got in shape and ran in the Long Beach Grand Prix 10k run. Ok, I was in my 20's at the time, but I felt it was a great victory for me, especially since I have always battled my weight my adult life.

4. I love to stop at historical markers. I have the urge to stop at every one. I usually stop now only if I am alone in the car. My family wants to kill me when I do that. But when we are driving somewhere, I think the journey is just as fun as the destination. One of the coolest markers I've seen is the spot where Bonnie and Clyde were shot dead in Louisiana.

5. I have seen and touched all the oceans around the USA. Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. In fact I have been in 33 states. I only have 17 more to go. AL, AK, CT, GA, HI, IN, KY, ME, MA, NC, ND, NH, OH, RI, SC, VT, and WV. I will be in MA in March, so one more down
soon. Also been in 3 different countries: Canada, Mexico and Spain.

6. I've been skinny dipping before. Yep, there were lots of fish traumatized on the Colorado River. We had a cabin on the River and I would spend all my summers down there growing up. Still one of my favorites spots on earth.

7. I have been married to Page for almost 24 years. First real girlfriend I ever had and only girl I kissed more than twice, and only kissed three of them. Third time was the charm. 3 is our special number. We were sealed in sealing room #3 in the Los Angeles Temple. She is a great wife and mother to our children. She wants to go to Hawaii for our 25th. Hmmmm, that would mean one more state......

ok- I'm supposed to tag 7 more people. I think most that I know have already been tagged, so if you are reading this and want to be tagged, I tag YOU!

Merry Christmas

Christmas was a blur just like this photo! I have gained a new found appreciation for all those homemakers that put together Christmas for their families every year. Page wasn't able to do too much with her surgery last Thursday. Yesterday, I went and bought the fixins for the Christmas dinner and breakfast before the stores closed at 6 p.m. Last night, took the kids to dinner (see prior post), wrap gift, stuff stockings, bake pumpkin pie, fall into bed at 1:30 a.m.

This morning, get up early and prepare a Christmas breakfast (see photo below). Clean up, open presents, clean up wrapping paper, then must go take a nap for a couple hours.

Get up at 3 p.m. Put ham in the oven. Cook for 3 hours, basting it with cola (tried something new), make cherry/orange glaze, glaze ham last half hours. In the mean time, make homemade apple sauce (thanks Sean for peeling all those apples for me!), make funeral potatoes, make apple cider green beans, set table (thanks Lacey for helping!), stuff celery and put olives in glass platter (which I forgot to serve at dinner- as they sat in the refrigerator), pour the sparkling cider, set out the rolls, and we are good to go.

Dinner was delicious, and it was nice to have us all sit together at the table. Lacey's friend Stephen also was at our table tonight. Then it was time to clean the kitchen (lots of cleaning along the way too), and then watch a couple Indiana Jones movies. I had a slice of chocolate silk pie and Sean had the pumpkin. So much of the holidays is surrounded by food! That's the real hard part. It took over 3 hours to get everything ready, and then another hour to clean it all up. Is it worth it? Oh yeah. It is so good to have the whole family together for Christmas. We also got to talk to family back in California on the phone today.

So how was your Christmas? Hope it was a Merry one!

Christmas breakfast featured a Christmas Fritata, Orange Julius, bacon, sausage and cinnamon rolls.

Santa thought Lacey was a good girl this year.

Santa thought Sean was a good boy this year too

Count Down to Christmas

I took Lacey and Sean over to Cody tonight for a Christmas Eve dinner at the Rib and Chop House. We love the Rib and Chop in Livingston, so we thought we would try the one in Cody. Same menu and just as delicious! Page is still not feeling well so she wanted to stay home in bed. Hope she feels better for Christmas tomorrow.

It was snowing in Cody. So we got to see some of the white stuff for Christmas.

Sean and Lacey were having a little fun drawing on the dinner table.

Here is a picture of the Crazy Mountains as we are leaving Livingston.

Page, Sean and I went to Livingston last weekend. Sant is leaving for Germany in the Air Force on Wed. so Sean wanted to see him. This also gave us an opportunity to go to church at the Livingston Ward. It was good to see old friends. I also loved singing the Christmas hymns in Sacrament Meeting. We headed back a little earlier than expected because Page was feeling really ill. She had hand surgery on Thursday and we may have pushed a little to hard, having her come on the trip. Thanks Jenn for the nice room and letting us have a late departure. Hope you didn't get in too much trouble....

Sean finally made it

See that little storm over the Dakotas? Well it was over Utah and Wyoming last night, right when Sean was heading back home from his semester at BYU. He left campus at 6 pm last night to get to the SLC airport before his 9:10 p.m. flight. We thought he had plenty of time. Well the snow slowed down traffice up to SLC and it took him 2 hours. Still enough time.... then flights began to be delayed because of the storm. His 9:10 got bumped to 10:15. He called us that he was boarding. At 11:15 p..m. I head to Cody. Clear skys in Powell.... 20 miles away it's a major snow storm hitting Cody. I slowly work my way to the airport and they tell me the flight just left SLC. It wont be in Cody until 12:30 a.m. this morning. That's if they are allowed to land!. Oh great. So I slowly work my way to WalMart to do some quick shopping along with only three other cars in the WalMart parking lot. I get back to the airport about 12:30 a.m. and the lights are turned on the runway (good sign) and their is a plow on the runway, clearing it. About 10 mintues later the plane lands. Hurray! So Sean made it to Cody two hours late. But he made it!

Page had surgery yesterday too on her hand. They fixed her carpal tunnel and also found a torn ligament in her thumb pad, so they fixed that too. She is going to be miserable for about 2 weeks. We are trying to keep her comfortable and help her out anyway we can.

The move happened last Saturday. We are in the new house. It is great. I have unpacked so many boxes.... Also got the Christmas tree and decorations up. We put the ornaments on the tree tonight.... on Dec. 21st! This is the latest ever for us. Might be making a trip up to Livingston tomorrow too, have to play it by ear, depends on how Page is feeling.

BYU winter dance

Got t his picture of Sean and his friend Natalie. She is in Sean's ward at BYU. They went to the winter dance together last week and had a good time. Nice how the tie matches the dress!

Sean comes home on Thursday night. We are so excited. Now he just has to get through the next four days of finals. Good luck Sean. Study like crazy!

Worst than water boarding?

I'm right in the middle of torture. Packing the house for an 8 a.m. move tomorrow and we are not anywhere near ready. It snowed this morning too. We got to get everything over to the new house, clean up the old house, unpack boxes at the new house before Thursday (when Page has surgery and Sean comes home from BYU), and get Christmas tree, decorations up before Sean gets home. I'm not a happy camper.

HuckaBOMB

See the bomb Huckabee laid at Romney's feet? He was talking to a reporter for an article in NY Times Magazine that will be published on Sunday. At the end of the interview in hushed tones, he asks the reporter (all innocently) "is it true that Mormons believe Jesus and the Devil are brothers?". Why would he ask a reporter that? He didn't want to plant that image in the minds of the evangelicals of Iowa did he? Of course not! He says he doesn't want to bring religion into the race. Isn't it interesting that he doesn't have a problem letting people know he is an ordained Baptist minister? And he says he knows nothing about the LDS church. I lived in the south, every Baptist I knew heard anti-mormon sermons given from their pulpit. Interesting he knows nothing about Mormons.
The LDS church came out with a statement that Huckabee mis-represented the LDS belief of the nature of the savior and the devil. What else is new? I was glad to hear the church say that this is a tactic used by people who want to slam the Church. YES! I guess this is backfiring on old Huck. After the Republican debate in Iowa today he tells CNN that he went up to Romney and apologized. Of course Romney accepted.
Interesting that he couldn't wait to report to the press that he apologized. Shouldn't Romney be the one to tell the press that? And if he was so sorry, why didn't he apologize on camera when he had the chance in his closing statement? I have lost all respect for Huckabee. I wonder when he talks to that reporter again if he is going to whisper "Did the Jews really kill Jesus?" or "is it true Catholics pray to the virgin Mary?"
Well, a focus group said Romney looked the most presidential and won the debate. Let's see if that has any impact on the polls. I know I am helping contribute to the religion debate with this blog entry, but wouldn't it be nice to choose a candidate based on their views, character and plan for the country?

Christmas "tagged"

Thanks for the tag, Karie. I will go ahead and tag: Jenn, Candace and Jamie

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Wrapping paper. I love opening up a wrapped gift. I usually stick something in a gift bag though, because it is a lot easier. I can make the tissue stick out of it really fancy. Somebody showed me how to do it.

2. Real tree or artificial?

Artificial! You can put it up early and take it down late and never have to worry about watering it or vacuuming up needles. I also think they look so real now too. Just doesn't have the pine smell- so go buy pinesol and spray it.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Between the Friday after Thanksgiving and the first few days of December. Except for this year because we are moving on the 15th. How fun for us!

4. When do you take the tree down?

When we get around to it. We've had it up until Feb. before, but that was only one time. It'susually down the first week of Jan.

5. Do you like eggnog?

I love it! I am usually the only one to drink it, so I have it all to myself. This year I bought some Cinnamon Eggnog and lacey loves it, so now I have competition over the eggnog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

Fishing tackle box full of lures. I knew my Dad picked it out for me, so it really made an impact on me.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

Yes, but I want a better one. I do have a nice porcelin Mary and Jospeph with baby Jesus, but it is not a complete nativity. I have also been hunting for year for the three kings riding camels, but haven't seen anything I like. I have become obsessed in finding them.

8. Hardest person to buy for?

My boss- usually some type of snack basket.

9. Easiest person to buy for?

Lacey- she usually has a long list

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Not really a gift, but worse Christmas was 1984. My sister, Connie, was killed in a car accident a week before Christmas, and it was Page and my first Christmas together and should have been special. The world stopped for us.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Mail! email? are you kidding? We also put together a Christmas poem every year. Still got to do that this year.....

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

It's a Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas ?

Day after Thanksgiving, then it trickles during Dec. then full speed Christmas Eve

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

No, but did recycle Wedding gift way back when. We got like 12 Woks, what were we going to do with all of them?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

All the sweets! Not good for me, but I love it.

16. Clear lights or colored on the trees?

We have clear lights already on the fake tree. But Page loves color too, so we add bunches of colored lights to it.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

Hand down, it is "The First Noel". I always get teary eyed too when I sing it. The spirit overcomes me with that song for some reason.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

We stay home, but I would love to travel to California to see family.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?

No

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Star. We looked for one for years but never could decide, so no star on tree, but it should have one. We have had this red ribbon bow thingy that Page likes that has been our tree topper, but we really do need a star!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Christmas Eve is not Christmas! Page and kids can't get that through their brain. We have let them open PJs the night before.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

It's a pretty amazing time of year. Maybe having to scrape ice off your windshield to get to work.

23. What I love most about Christmas?

Making people happy