Quotes of the Week

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."  

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

"You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt. Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth."  

-- William Purkey 

"A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble."  

-- Charles H. Spurgeon

Quotes of the Week

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."  

-- Mahatma Gandhi

"A friend who understands your tears is much more valuable than a lot of friends who only know your smile." 

 -- Sushan R Sharma  

"You must have long range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short range failures." 

 -- Charles C. Noble

"Don't stress about the closed doors behind you. New doors are opening if you keep moving forward." 

-- Thema Davis 

Hospital, Museum and a Snatching

Our little Spencer was referred to a surgeon at Primary Children's Hospital. To make the wait more enjoyable, the children looked for the whole alphabet hidden in the mural on the wall.

Caroline made herself right at home on the examining table. Would she have been as comfortable if it had been her waiting for the doctor, I wonder?

Spencer's expression shows how excited he was to be there. Imagine how thrilled he will be in a few weeks when he reports to the surgical center to have his hernia repaired.

A fun reward was in store for the children after the hospital visit. We hooked up with Sarah, Eli and Carson at the Children's Museum.

All the children had fun. Even Madison. This picture is deceiving. She was happy most of the time we were there.

We took her crying as a cue to make our way out of the museum. We stopped at the coin funnel where Caroline produced a few of the pennies she had found on the floor in the restroom.

The kids watched in rapt glee as the pennies made their journey from the top spinning around and around down into the funnel until they disappeared.

As we were leaving the museum, we had just gotten off the elevator when we saw a man standing waiting for the elevator. He was carrying a basket filled with some objects wrapped in cellophane.

When we passed by the man, as quick as a wink, Carson reached his little hand out and grabbed one of the objects from the basket. He was stealthy and quick and caught us all off guard.

Sarah instructed him to put the object back in the basket, but the man insisted Carson keep it. The other children immediately perked up and moved in on the man to get their treat as well. The girls and I think the man was just going to let only Carson have a treat. When the other three children surrounded the man, only then did he think to offer a treat to them as well.

Turns out it was a yummy, small ice cream sandwich. What a fun treat for the children who hadn't had lunch yet.

We kept laughing about the snatching and the end result for all the children. We adults were just wondering why we hadn't been offered a treat as well. There were certainly enough in the man's basket for all of us and then some. 

Hiking and Picnicking

The Young Women planned a combined activity with the Young Men to hike the Wild Rose Trail. Here some of us are at the look-out point where we could see out over all of North Salt Lake and Bountiful.

The next day I met the girls and the grandchildren at the Wild Rose Trailhead Park. The place where we hiked and took the picture of the YM and YW is on top of the mountain above Rebecca's head. That dark speck up there is the bench we were standing by to take the photo.

We ate our sack lunches and then Rebecca needed to leave to pick up Brooke at school on her early-out day.

Sarah, Eli, Carson and I headed off to hike the trail.

Carson had to stop at every single dandelion--and I mean every single one--to try and blow off or brush off all the seeds.

Eli took a moment to stop and enjoy the view.

Let's just say there is no picture of us at the top of the mountain sitting on the bench taking our picture proving we made it because we didn't make it. We didn't even make it halfway up. Carson got tired and wanted to be held. We turned around to walk back down the trail. Then Eli was trying to get me to carry him. How happy we were to spot the park and see our vehicles.

 Here's a picture of Eli showing me the plant he planted in pre-school.

One night I went to babysit Eli and Carson.

It turned out the popcorn and the movie kept them entertained the whole time.