The only problem is that many of my pages are about the Vegas 2006 Girls' Getaway so I decided just to link each entry back to the original.
I knew this day would come... the day when we had to let President Hinckley go. But that doesn't always make the letting go any easier. How grateful I am for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! How grateful I am to know that we are led by His Prophet. How grateful I am to say that I knew and loved Gordon B. Hinckley.
No, I don't know him personally or have a daily interaction with him... but that is not important in my knowing with all my heart and soul that he was the Lord's prophet! He has made such a profound impact in my life.
The first strong impact President Hinckley had in my life came in the spring of 1993. He came to Los Angeles for an Area Conference. The Saturday night meeting was held in our Palmdale Stake Center. (In preparation for this meeting we got a whole new pulpit and A NEW ORGAN. Hooray, the old one was a nightmare to play!) Sunday's session was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was at this conference that President Hinckley challenged us all to read the Book of Mormon - 4 (four) times in the coming year.
This was a pivotal time in our lives. Our little children, Stuart, Camille and Spencer, were only 8 & 9. Stuart had already shown that he too had dyslexia like is Mama. We accepted President Hinckley's challenge. I made cool bookmarks, each with a different little DJ Inkers clipart to suit our individual personalities, to keep us on track for reading the Book of Mormon not once, but four times in the coming year. What a wonderful blessing in our lives! I can testify to the power of that great book and the blessings that come from following the Lord's Prophet. Through our daily reading together, not only did we reap the spiritual blessings, but there was a hidden blessing in that Stuart was able, at a very young age, to get a handle on coping with dyslexia. It made a world of difference for him!
The second pivotal moment came when President Hinckley spoke to the Relief Society in September 2000. He stated, "We--the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve--have taken the position, and I quote, that "the Church discourages tattoos. It also discourages the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes, although it takes no position on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings." " ( From Your Greatest Challenge, Mother ) I can still see his characteristic mannerism of waving his arm to emphasize each word (and for me there is a memory of him saying, "...one pair of earring, only one." but that doesn't appear in this text).
I had multiple earrings (as you can see in the 1999 photo with my friend Jaquelle). I was the YW President in my ward. These earrings defined who I was! I was hip... I was Joanie... JB! I am ashamed to admit that I didn't immediately take out my extra earrings. It took getting the November Ensign and reading that address again. I had to ask myself, "What has the Prophet asked me to do?"
With tears of sadness (hmmm... pride that I was losing this identity) and repentance (what took me so long?), I asked Camille, then 14, to help me get out the top hoop because I couldn't do it myself. I told her why I was taking out my top earrings. She said, "Mom what should I do?" (She too had top piercings). I told her we knew what the Prophet had asked, but it was her choice. Sweet, sweet girl... with no trouble at all she removed her earring as well.
Because I had set the example of cartilage piecing in our ward, I felt that it was my responsibility to share my experience with the YW and other members of our ward. I told them that I didn't think the Lord really cares how many earrings I have, but he does care about me being obedient to the counsels of his Prophet. I have since come to realize that that this was a line in the sand, so to speak. It was a dividing line between being obedient and drawing our selves away from worldly practices and joining in.
So much has already been said by so many writers who can express it so much better than me. But I loved him for his wit, his candor, his courage (He did not take counsel from his fears).
What a marvelous man... a man raised up by the Lord to carry out His great latter-day work here on the earth during this last dispensation. To use a quote I have heard about Joseph Smith, "I want to shout hooray that I ever knew such a man as Gordon Bintner Hinckley!)
President Hinckley "knighting" Pres. Eyring after his call to the First Presidency in Oct 2007
I am such a lucky girl to have such good friends!! (Isn't it about time for another girls' get together?)
I'm glad we all got the memo that this was PINK day!
This is the Saturday- Today- Start to Finish Challenge.
The trick? From start-to-finish (well, I'll let you have your photo taken and open, and your papers chosen and open), you've only got 30 minutes. :D I want you to get out your timer, and you can have your paper open and your photo all ready to go, and even have your font installed and ready to use, but from the Start of your layout to the Finish, challenge yourself to 30 minutes or less. P.S. This layout must be from scratch - no templates...
I find that since I am in MT and JS is in ET I get my emails about 11-12 at night. I thought I would just glance at it last night so I could gear up for today.
Well... this is where the OCD comes in. I HAD to do the LO right then! It was fun, but I don't like having to work within a 30 min time limit.
" It is only an addiction if you are trying to quit!"
I saw this quote on someone else's post for this assignment.
The challenge was this-
Challenge #1:
* Use at least two patterned papers from our new Carnival kit
* Use a photo that contains an area you've selectively recolored
* Use at least 4 photos on the layout
* Make the layout about yourself
* Use column journaling
* Install and stamp a new brush you've downloaded (try Googling "free photoshop
brushes", or pick some up from your favorite digi store).
* Round at least two corners of an element on your page using the corner rounder
eraser from Lesson 1
Challenging enough? If you're up for it, give it a try! :D
I am thoroughly enjoying this class!
One of the things I learned was how to use saturation/hue to make a sepia-tone photo and then add back in the color. I was very pleased with how easy it was. I just wish that Harley's tongue had shown up more.
But then I uploaded this photo of Spencer when he was 8 months old and I see how little Riley looks like his Mama too. He is so lucky to have two such good-looking parents... how could he not be cute?
The best part about scrapbooking is I have some of my favorite subjects to scrapbook about. Family is the greatest!
We have a whole herd of resident deer that live here with us on Spring Cove Drive (aka 975 South). They are very adept at adapting to all of us humans that have moved into their neighborhood. 
So yesterday I looked out my work room window and here they were by daylight. I sneaked outside with my camera to get some photographic evidence of their blatant activities.
I have to laugh just a little when I look across my front yard and see that they have worn a trough in the snow, their little highway to the ivy and treats beyond.
Sadly, this means that they will in all likelihood be back this spring to eat all of my tulips... oh well, isn't that what photographs are for?
I can't think of a more lovely place to live... so close to nature and more of God's little creatures.
After 10 months of grieving and healing over the loss of our Buddi we decided that we were ready for another dog. We've been looking for a dog for a couple of months now. We went and looked at a couple of American Cockers but things just didn't click. We even seriously considered a miniature Schnauzer, but decided against that as well. Buddi was just such a good little poster-child dog for American Cockers we decided we wanted to stick with that breed.
We are almost immediately drawn to the cage with Harley in it. The Lost Paws lady came and took him out on a leash so we could get better acquainted. I won't say it was love at first sight... but I knew immediately that this little boy needed to come home with us. He showed right away that he had some training and I had to ask myself again, "How did someone let this wonderful little dog get away from them?" 
Harley is parti-colored (in his case, brown, carmel and white) American Cocker. He, like Buddi, is small for his breed, only 18 pounds. He is longer legged and longer in the torso than Buddi and (sorry Buddi) smarter! We don't know how old he is. The LP people had him listed at 7-9 months, but his teeth had so much tartar build up that the Vet thinks is likely closer to 4 years.
and when it was bed time he went right into the crate when I tapped it and told him to go in. We have been on several walks (on our warmer days, you know, the ones in the 20's!!) and he walks quite well on the leash. He comes when called and let's see... loves to harass Simba. And Simba likes him just about as much as the last little interloper who decided to invade his territory!!
