If a picture is worth a thousand words

Now that I'm getting a better handle on blogging I thought I'd update my web page. I love the calm colors of this page and I'm really excited that the journaling is on something other than white. yuck. How boring is that?! :)

I've been trying to look around for some pictures that I can put in my header and I've got it narrowed down to 5. In honor of this year's Presidental Election, I thought I'd let you vote on something that really counts. :) So I'm opening up the voting on which picture to use.

Option Number 1:

Something Scenic

(In this case, a pic I took of the City of Rocks)

Option Number 2:

Something Exotic

(FYI, this is Hawaii)

Option Number 3:
Something Self-Absorbed
(This portrait was taken by my two year "nephew")
Option Number 4:
Something Seasonal
(Black and White is suppose to be classy, right?)

Option Number 5:
Something Silly
(I call this one the perfect hostess!)

Now it's your turn! It's your chance for your voice to be heard! Pick up the phone and call now to pledge you money for your continued support. Opps, wrong dialogue. What I meant to say is please feel free to leave a comment with your vote. :)

When It Snows, It Pours

Lately I have been thinking about the changing of the seasons. There are such wonderful things about each of them. I love Christmas! It’s positively the best part of winter. The family gets together for our Family Christmas Party. There’s tons of food, silly skits, and hilarity. You like our shirts?

They are to ward off the ABCs (AKA the Aggravate Brown Clubs). The ABCs like to lie in wait in unseemly locations for road construction, extending hold times on phone calls, and placing objects in the dark when they weren’t there before.

Remember Spring? In January, winter feels long. In February, winter feels like an eternity. In March, winter feels like it’s going to last for age. And in April, winter is just being stubborn. Then spring comes. It reminds me of a poem I studied once by Robert Frost.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower

I love spring with it’s daffodils and warm weather. It even smells good. :) For the first time in months and months you can play outside in short sleeves. Like the time my nephew, Alex, invited us outside for a thrilling game of red light, green light. Do you like their faces?! We’re all pretty happy to having fun in the sun again.


Speaking of fun in the sun... aahhh. Summer. No more homework; no more books; no more [student’s] dirty looks. My brother and sister joke that one of their biggest weekend getaways for the summer is to Burley. And why not?! We’ve got water games in the backyard, water games in the front room, and best of all, water games at the Burley Swimming Pool compliments of Tricia.

He told us he didn't think we could hit him on the trampoline. He asked for it! I promise!

Playing What's My Color. Ian got his mom every time... it didn't really matter what color she picked. :)

During fall, I try to ignore the impending doom of short, cold, and slippery days. Instead, I think of the leaves changing colors,

the crunchy sprinkler mornings,

and the pretty fall decorations :).
Anyway, it was an attempt to enjoy the journey of Autumn. And then it snowed. Two feet. Helluu?, it's October! Here's a great picture of my house Saturday afternoon.

We usually get a first snow before Halloween, but it's usually only a skiff and it blows away within a couple of hours of landing. This snow storm last two days and snowed big fluffy flakes that came down straight (as opposed to the horizontal rain/ snow we get because of the wind). My home teacher shoveled our driveway (so nice!), and then I cleaned it up twice after that. Then I had to dig out my car.


Stupid snow. The nights have been cold, but the snow is still melting during the day. Maybe soon we'll be back to Fall again! I got a great picture yesterday afternoon of the falling autumn leaves landing on a snow bank. :)

I don't care who you are; that's funny!

Heroes

I've been having really a lot of fun with my blog! I find that I'm always thinking about something to work on next and I start writing them in my head while I'm driving or before I fall asleep. In fact, I went to Utah for a doctor's appointment and I was able to stop in at BYU campus and see a new display called "Educating the Soul: Our Zion Tradition of Learning and Faith," which also highlights influential BYU employees... like Grandpa Brown. Grandpa was already 80 years old when I was born and he lived to be 97 years old. I was lucky enough to know him, but I knew the older man. The one that trip you with his cane as you walked by and TOTALLY looked innocent afterward, the one that was as deaf as a stump and when he watched TV you could hear it down the block even though all the doors and windows were shut, the one that kept hard candy is his pocket and gave us piece when we came to visit. That was the man I knew, so I was really curious if it was just a reference to his wallet story told by President Wilkinson during opening devotional (and later quoted in conference) or if they talk about Grandpa too.

It was great to be back at BYU. I haven't been back since I graduated six years ago, so I only got lost twice and the landscape of the buildings have changed a bit (You can see two, count them TWO new buildings in this picture).

I found an article about the display on the BYU site, and here’s a link to the BYU Article. Basically, it’s an exhibit about the role of education as it’s developed over the years. Grandpa is highlighted in a section about the mentoring programs fostered at BYU. The presidents of BYU felt it was important that all staff and not just faculty were good role models and helpful to the students. The exhibit is in the new JFSB (Joseph F. Smith Building). It's a beautiful building with a glass front facade with a gorgeous spiral staircase leading up to the art gallery with a giant sky light.


Grandpa was one of six people honored for his positive influence over the students he worked with and students that he came in contact with. As you can see, he had a nice big display with a beautiful picture of him visiting with a student.



They shared four stories where he worked with students of BYU. I was really pleased with the display about him and wanted to share... well... with everyone... everywhere. :) I've heard of the wallet and the cigarette story before, but I'd never seen the letter from the student custodian , and the story of the Ten Dollars was new to me and chokes me up every time I read it because I can actually hear his voice in my mind.





I was telling a friend about the cool stuff about Grandpa like that he was born in the Mexican Colonies, he worked for Pancho Villa (who even had a nick name for him), he married an angel that he liked to call Sweetheart, he never held a church calling higher than a deacons quorum teacher, he was a custodian for most of his life, and yet he was influential enough in his own quiet and humble way that people of great standing and learning respected him. He was a common man that lived a celestial life every day. Grandma and Grandpa Brown were both that way. No wonder they are my heroes!