Walked Today

Big Ball

My daughter saved up her babysitting money and bought this 72 inch beach ball. Summer is on its way.

It's sort of pumpkin- or egg-shaped-- bigger one direction than the other.

Learning Beyond the Textbook

I'm currently taking my final class for my undergraduate degree. It's a Student Development class where I am required to analyze and synthesize all the classes I've taken over the many years that I've been an undergraduate student. Fortunately, my current program required that I take notes about the things I learned from each of my classes while I've been in the program. As I was going through my notes, I remembered how the following experience changed my attitude and increased my tolerance. I'm grateful for the things I've learned over the years. I'm also grateful I'm almost done with my formal education.

I was in the middle of a year-long Independent Study course on usage. At the time, we had a gospel doctrine teacher in our ward, a bull rider from Carbon County, Utah, who didn't always use standard usage. At first, the way he spoke slightly bothered me. I was paying close attention to such things because of my class. One Sunday he said, "The Lord teaches in repetition, don't he?" Then I realized, it didn't matter how he spoke because of the Spirit that he carried with him. His words were powerful. It became easier for me to forgive and overlook his errors and to enjoy his lessons.

Other people were bothered by the words he used. One Sunday during his lesson about missionary work, in front of the Relief Society room full of people, a retired math teacher raised his hand and said, "You ain't gonna learn nobody nothin' 'till you learn good English." I was appalled. Immediately and humbly, our teacher replied, "You can if you teach by the Spirit." He continued the lesson with no further comment. I was very impressed by his response.

Some people are bothered by the mistakes of others. My usage class helped me decide there are no "right" or "wrong" ways of communicating, just different ways. Language is fluid and variable. The people we come into contact with influence the way we speak. Some people are preservationists of language. I respect them. I admire people who are capable of retaining large vocabularies and speaking correctly all the time. It is important to learn the standard. If you know the standard it makes it easier to communicate with and be respected by the educated world. I am not always careful with my own speech and writing. Perfection is less important to me than the message.

Reasons to Hope

It's easy to forget

There are happy possibilities.

Eclipse

 I think we enjoyed watching people viewing the solar eclipse this evening just as much as we enjoyed watching the eclipse. It was a fun, memorable evening.

Worth It

(Photo taken by my daughter on 5-11-12)

When I was twenty, I had a dream that I was holding onto the outside of this iron fence, looking in. Happy brides and grooms were getting their pictures taken on the temple grounds. I wanted to be like them, but I knew I couldn't because I wasn't worthy. I woke up feeling heartbroken, but grateful that I knew I could still change my life. I could take a different path where I could receive the blessings I wanted. I'm thankful to my parents for exemplifying those blessings. I will be forever grateful for the knowledge I have that with Heavenly Father's help and through Jesus Christ, change is possible. I also know that it is through the grace of God that I am continually supported and comforted during the process of life-long, ongoing change.

Secret Hike

  From a friend at work, my daughter found out about this wonderful hike that is less than ten minutes from our home, very near Mt. Olympus. Apparently, there is a waterfall at the top, but we didn't go that far. It was like walking into a fairy world-- so beautiful, with tons of butterflies, some wildflowers, and a stream. Yes, there were bugs and mice and a snake in the middle of the residential road on the way up to the trail head, but no other people. No dog mess like up Ferguson Canyon. Not much evidence of human presence. It's not a well-known hike. It's not in our hiking book or on any of the hikes you can easily find if you Google hiking in Utah. In fact, it might actually be private property. I need to do more research. So if you want to know where it is and what it's called, I'll have to e-mail you. It was a spontaneous and very fun thing to do and an absolutely perfect day to do it. Moments like these make me thankful for life and this earth. I continue to be surprised by and in awe of its beauty. 

Post 1: Super Moon

It was worth the time and the $40 gas to drive out to the Bonneville Salt Flats to see the rise of the super moon last night. My son's color-changing flying disc didn't stay red for long once sunset.  

Post 2: More Trees

I come from a family of artists. One of my artist siblings taught me how when something is more than one color and you can't decide what color to call it, squint your eyes and whatever color you see most is what you can call it. The tree in our front yard used to be white. And now it's light green.

On our way out to see the super moon last night at the Bonneville Salt Flats, we stopped at this tree sculpture. It is called "Metaphor: The Tree of Utah" by the artist Karl Momen from Sweden. I visited this over twenty years ago before it had a fence and barbed wire around it. Sometimes it's sad how the world changes.