Time Passages

I have not been very good about writing lately and I feel bad about that. I thought with seminary over my life would be simpler, but at least so far, it has not. We have been busy with some very good things though. On Friday afternoon my husband and I traveled with my son and his wife to the little town of Snowflake, Arizona to attend the wedding of my son's best friend. It was fun to get away for the night and to visit with Ryan and Kali. And of course, it was great to be at Aaron's wedding. We have watched Aaron grow up, go on his mission and now be married in the temple to his sweet wife. It is fun to see those we have known so long move forward in their lives, marking off different passages of time--HS graduation, mission, marriage . . .

Snowflake Temple

I had never been to Snowflake before and I was a bit surprised at how small the town was. When you stand at the front door of the temple and look out, all you see is desert. Still, it was a nice, quiet little town and the temple was gorgeous. Inside, behind the front desk were some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen.

Following the wedding and a luncheon in Pinetop, we drove [quickly] back to Phoenix to attend the baptism of a lady my husband works with and her two children. About two years ago Wes and his business partner gave the woman a Book of Mormon. Over the course of time she and her family have come to know for themselves that the Book of Mormon is true and were eager to enter into the covenant of baptism. It was such a wonderful experience to be there and witness the event. Attending both a sealing in the temple for all eternity and a baptism made for a very memorable day.

On Sunday we had seminary graduation. My daughter, Kathryn was one of the speakers and spoke on teacher appreciation. I guess they felt she was qualified to speak on the topic since she not only attended seminary, but also has lived most of her life with a seminary teacher. She did a great job and I was very proud of her.

Another great moment of the evening for me was when I was visiting with a friend afterwards and noticed five of my seminary boys gathered together and standing a few feet away, waiting to tell me goodbye. My heart just swelled with love for them and their goodness.

Since then life has been a series of hectic errands trying to get ready for upcoming events. And of course I am still on my diet. So far I have eaten a lot of this:

And this:


But what I would like to eat is this:

But I am holding strong! And I only have three more pounds to go to weigh what I weighed before teaching seminary this year. (That will be a good starting place for additional weight loss during the summer)

Thanks mostly to my good friend Susan who is my walking partner and a great motivator,

My daughter Kristen who has taken over cooking dinner so I don't have to make my family one meal and eat another,

And all my kids who, when I say, "That looks good" to a food item they are eating that is not on my diet, respond with , "It isn't. It is really terrible. You would hate it."

It is always nice to have support in hard things! That helps so much to bring . . . joy to my journey!