Memories of President Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckley, our beloved prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away this evening. He was an example of Christlike love and dedication and an inspiration to me.



I was privileged to shake his hand twice. I was in Bismarck, North Dakota for the dedication of the Bismarck temple. My mom and I were standing outside near the front entrance of the temple after a choir rehearsal when President Hinckley walked out unexpectedly. A small group of people quickly formed a circle around him and he graciously walked around the crowd shaking hands. He went all the way around and came back to my mom and me shaking our hands a second time before realizing that he had reached everyone in the group. He asked someone how far they had traveled to be at the temple. They responded 5 hours. I won't soon forget the concerned look on his face when he said, "that is still so very far." The love he had for the people and his desire to bring the blessings of the temple closer to each of us was unmistakable. To us having a temple in the middle of North Dakota was an absolute miracle and we couldn't have been more grateful to President Hinckley for it. I will miss President Hinckley, but it is wonderful to imagine him reunited with his sweetheart. God bless our Prophet dear.

And I call myself a musician...

I am thoroughly embarrassed to admit I did not know of Luciano Pavarotti's death until I heard him referred to as "the late Pavarotti" on a public radio program this weekend. What kind of musician am I that I didn't know that one of the greatest opera tenors in history had joined the choir of angels. The Maestro died of pancreatic cancer in September. I suppose I can blame it on the fact that I haven't had cable television for 2 years, but there is just no excuse for missing out on news that big. Especially when I have a family connection (sort of). My mother's first cousin, Cynthia Lawrence, is also an opera singer and performed many times with Pavarotti. She's one of my claims to fame.

So, to all of the musicians out there--I heartily apologize for my ignorance; and to anyone else who missed the news--head's up!

Flower Photo Shoot

One of my favorite things to take pictures of, apart from babies, nephews or nieces, are flowers. Here are a few photos to share with you.

The daisies were a gift from my sweet husband :)

This is Violet the 2nd. Vi the first hasn't bloomed since I sunburned her in the back seat of the car moving from DC to California. Vi has lots of healthy green foliage now, but she still hasn't bloomed. I saw this cutie at Home Depot and couldn't resist. That way they can be friends.

And this is my orchid. I got it from the interior landscaper at work when he was replacing the old orchids in our flower displays in the office. I took it home with some older blooms on it and expected that would be the end of it, but low and behold, she bloomed again! I was pretty excited. I thought orchids would be impossible to grow, and maybe I just got lucky, but I'm loving the flowers now!

Cheesecake

I made a cheesecake this week. It wasn't my first attempt, nor was it my best attempt, but my sister-in-law made me promise to blog it anyway. She blogged her "Noah's Ark bread."

Cheesecake is one of the easier things to do gluten-free. You can either do a crust-less cheesecake, or do what I did and use GF cookies (I found some gingersnaps at the grocery store) to make a cookie crumb crust. Most cheesecake recipes don't have flour in them, though some do and I have to watch out for that. We had cheesecake at our wedding reception - yummy!

This was a recipe I found on a fellow celiac's blog: http://glutenguide.blogspot.com/. I certainly didn't do her recipe justice here, but it was tasty enough to warrant another try in a month or two after we've burned off all these calories! It's hard for just the two of us to put away a whole cheesecake!

Merry Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful Christmas spent with family.

It's not Christmas without the family play-along. Too bad I didn't bring my flute on the plane. :(

PRESENT TIME!!

It only took my little nephew, Lee, a few gifts before he figured out the routine. Whenever he got clothes he would "try them on" by wrapping them around his neck. Adorable!

Rubber Band Gun fights during present opening is one of our funny family traditions. It started when Matthew and Dad made guns for everyone in the family, wrapped them and put them under the tree. When the box was opened, a spontaneous fight broke out. Now it happens every year with the same guns (but usually more ammo). We've been known to find rubber bands stuck in the Christmas decorations when we open them a year later.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas too, and that the true spirit of Christmas can stay with you all year. :)

Happy Anniversary

On December 22, we celebrated two years of marriage. We were able to take some time away from work and spent two relaxing, romantic and wonderful nights at a charming bed and breakfast in Midway, Utah. The weather was perfect. We had one gorgeous sunny but chilly day and another soft and cozy snowy day.


The Johnson Mill Bed and Breakfast



The view from our room's private balcony

Out snowshoeing around their 22 acre property



Winter Wonderland - frost on tree branches

I am so happy to have spent the last two years with the man of my dreams. He makes me laugh and cry (in a good way) and has taught me more than I could have imagined about life and being a better person. I love you, Doug!