New Beginnings

Talk about time flying. Rocquel will be moving into the Young Woman's program this year which means that she is a, well, a Young Woman :) The program has a tradition of welcoming the new girls with an evening called New Beginnings. This is where the new girls are given information on what YW's is about and what to expect. Mercedes gave a brief talk on Roci; who she is and her likes and dislikes.
I could tell Roci was nervous, but deep down she is so excited to be moving out of Primary. She's at that age where she feels like she's too old for some things and frustrated that she is still treated like a 'little kid' although there is a part of her that still craves it. I remember those feelings all too well.
Mercedes is plugging along with her Personal Progress and has almost completed the requirements in order to receive her YW medallion. Personal Progress is a series of projects and challenges that require many hours of service projects and scripture study and I'm proud to say that Mercedes has worked very hard to complete it. She has always had that innate drive to do whatever she sets her mind to.
Congratulations Rocola and I'm so happy Mercy will still be there to show you the ropes and watch over you. I am also thankful that you have these programs. I know they will make a huge difference in your lives.

Here's a group picture of the Young Women's class... they are gorgeous!

This is Sister Hatch, the YW Leader, with the Bishop and Miss Rocola

I guess the bishop decided he needed to do some bench pressing although his form is a little weak... :)


Congratulations Roci and be sure to watch your sister. She does love you!

First day

Aalyia and Kaleigh moved into Senior Primary and were fortunate enough to have their teacher, Sister Hale, move up with them. This year is their baptism year and they are excited!



This is Caleb's first big day in Primary. He is beaming just like the Sunbeam he is!

Life is beautiful...

May we remember to just be...






These are the moments I'm thankful for. They remind me that things are the way we perceive them. Happy or sad, we make our reality. These kids are in the moment enjoying all life has to offer them; just having fun. No regrets and no worries for the future. They are happy because they choose to be.
Thank God for these tender reminders of love, life and blessings we don't deserve but are given freely.

Time for change... I think

I am not fond of change unless I'm in control of it. I need to want it, not feel like I'm being forced into it.
Recently my Sony 200 disc CD changer died. It happened Christmas day. I've had it for about 15 years and it's been my little jukebox. I called a repair shop and it will cost $50 to look at it. The money will go toward the repair... if it can be fixed. The gentleman may not even be able to get parts for it and if he does, it may not be worth the cost. I found another CD changer, 300 disc, for $200. As I stared at the box in the aisle of Best Buy, I thought back to vinyl records and 8-tracks. When cassette tapes became popular, I was hestitant. I loved my records. I love the couple of seconds right before the song comes on where it makes the static/crunchy sound. It reminded me of home and evenings of listening to the latest records with my cousins. As my friends embraced the tape cassette, I became envious. The tapes were small and easy to carry around. The best part was that you could record your own favorite music on a blank tape and have your favorites all in one place! I eventually converted. When CD's became the 'in' thing, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to carry around some disc you had to be so careful with. My friend in high school, Tita, was one of the first in our group I remember having a CD walkman. Everyone was in awe and obsessed about the quality; how clear it was and of course, how cool it looked! It wasn't until I was married (yikes!) that I converted to CD's. That took about 7 years:) Heck, since I'm confessing, our first DVD player was given to us by the Butters' because they were upgrading and were shocked that we were still embracing our VHS tapes. That, my friends, was only a few years ago!
Now I find myself agonizing over the decision to convert to, ahem, digital. Bobby has been telling me to buy an ipod and just put all our music on it. Then we could buy a receiver, or should I say, a docking station, and that can be our new 'jukebox'. For $249, we could have 40,000 songs at our disposal.
It's small enough to fit into my hand which means we can take it anywhere we'd like.
My daughter, Mercedes and my sister, pitched in to get me an ipod shuffle for Christmas. I must say I wasn't expecting this at all. I was so grateful for their generosity. It sat on my desk for a while and just last night I took it out of the packaging to charge it. I have to download the itunes program on my computer so it can reformat my music library off Windows media player. I have been fighting this and I'm not so sure why. The shuffle is smaller than a half dollar and will store about 400 songs. That is mind boggling to me. I had Mercedes hook it up to their computer but apparently the itunes program is dated and needs to be upgraded. Why am I hesitating? I guess part of it is being able to say goodbye to my past; to acknowledge that there are better things. I guess it is also admitting that I'm getting old... YUCK.
I keep looking at my little shuffle and I know I will love it. Mostly, I think, because my daughter and sister gave it to me... and probably because it's so easy to carry around and because it will be amazing to have so many commercial free hours of music :-)
I should just embrace it and enjoy it while it's here. Even though I can't imagine what else could be invented, I'm sure there is something all ready out there waiting to take the place of this little shuffle... UGGGH!