Beneath the Wraps

             Jenna took the college placement test – more for practice than for placement.   But ever since she has been receiving brochures from different colleges and is a bit fed up with the amount of mail she’s been getting.   Yesterday she received a piece of mail that wasn’t college related and thus felt very excited about it.             One of the YW leaders had contacted us by phone, and another had sent the mail which contained a brief note, a word search puzzle, a recipe for something called tail mix bites and a coloring page.             Jenna handed me the word search while she worked on the coloring page.   It was quite a challenging puzzle with 900 letters.   Who does that?             Most puzzles are less than 250 letters.   I ne...

          Yesterday morning I took a shower and then got dressed for church – although I knew I wouldn’t be leaving the house. I wanted our Sunday to be a lot more spiritual than it was.   Both Jenna and I had listened to different “Come Follow Me” programs – but from different rooms.   Roland was watching cowboys or some movie or something not spiritually themed.           Roland got on Jenna’s case about something which triggered thoughts of my youth and how my mom had always been getting on Corey’s case about something – every Sunday.   I would stay in my room until if was time to go.   I hated Sundays.           I attempted a “testimony-online” and though I had received some likes (which is truly not what I was after) only one other sister had joined me for written testimony.   Later, in the afternoon, when I had ...

20 years ago I was still living with my mom in Midvale.   I was serving as the young women’s secretary in my ward.   The following year I had signed a contract to purchase a house.   We moved Roland and the boys in on March 17 – which happens to be my brother’s birthday.   Patrick had helped us to move in.   I remember painting rocks and Patrick’s youngest daughter thinking Roland was a funny man. Three years later I was pregnant with Jenna.   The ward had thrown a baby shower on March 27 – my other brother’s birthday.   Jenna was born the following week.   5 years ago I had started packing to take a trip to Oregon during spring break.   We started looking at houses (see here ).   We moved into a rental.   Less than a year later we closed on a house in Tri City.   Three years ago today, Jenna and I took pictures as we visited downtown Myrtle Creek in this post. Last year I was still in school.   I had just star...

Today I took a walk - not to Millsite.  Not up the street.  The only place I walked was around the house.  My walk in nature (LOL) .  It's a pretty pathetic post folks.  But then so is our yard. backyard near the shed the back side of our house the hill (not much of a yard) this snowball bush has definitely seen better days looks like the remains of a campground firepit where we had our greenhouse before the snow storm ruined it last year taken May 2017 I don't know why these remainders haven't made it to the garbage can.  I'm certain it's rotted now shelves could still be useful grass has gotten high and needs to be mowed trench - or part of it https://beneaththewraps.blogspot.com/2019/08/changing-yard.html reminder of the pepper plants?   find it interesting what fall lies beneath; for the most part it does feel like autumn decayed trees lying on the ground it does ge...

For my post today I would like to share this special message presented by David Butler and Emily Freeman.  I think it applies to more than just full time but all of us as well.  I hope they don't mind my sharing on my blog video: handout: Enjoy

I remember last general conference when it was announced that our upcoming conference would be like no other.  Many had speculated change in doctrine.  I don’t know of anyone who would have guessed that most of us would be in quarantine due to a pandemic.  My brother, Corey, is an introvert and has been enjoying his time at home – possibly too much if there is such thing.  I think our parents must have taught us to always make the best of a situation and to look for gratitude.  Because we have. Recently Corey shared what I consider an epistle.  This he shared on facebook, and I am sharing many of his thoughts on this blog post as it mirrors a lot of my own gratitude as we experience this weirdness. Although we know that not everybody has these things, we are both grateful for electricity, running water, for the ability to communicate electronically and by phone.  We are grateful for the time that we have to focus on unfinished projects, me...

          I remember my dad always salting his food when I was younger.   At times it seemed he was over-salting.             I remember one time he had asked for some popcorn.   Patrick and I put some in a bowl and added what we believed to be a generous amount of salt.   When we went into his room to see how he liked the popcorn, he said it could use more salt.   Patrick and I both dropped our mouths in disbelief.   So his next batch got an almost equal salt/popcorn ratio.   He said it was perfect.   Are you kidding me?   If I ever used salt on anything, it definitely NEEDED it.   I hate the taste of salt.           Now that I am older – even older than my dad – I find myself using salt more and more as I believe all my food is bland – and maybe it is.   Or maybe my lack of ...

Can't you feel this going on in your own life right now?

        I believe it was February 10 I had taken a personal day to be with my group of friends that I’ve been hanging out with for the last two or three years after the pool and once a month when the pool is closed.   We enjoy going to Soco and visiting outdoors but when it has gotten colder, we have gone to Good Dogs.   Our meetings have usually gone for less than two hours, but on the 10 th we were there for over three.         Sue got in trouble – first with the owner as she had parked her car in front and it should be reserved for other customers.   Apparently her husband was not all that thrilled she had been gone so long.   They put me in charge of this month.   We were supposed to meet at lunch at a nearby place which offers Mexican food.   I thought this week would be good as I would be off during spring break.   We had no clue than that spring break would turn out not...

           Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have always been referred to as “a strange and peculiar people”. Perhaps one reason is because many members will spend time getting high on life instead of drugs.   We march to the beat of a different drummer in many minds – and while there are many who may find us odd, there are just as many who may admire us because of our values and being able to face challenges with a different perspective.           I remember both Corey and Joh were present when my youngest son got married.  As they waited for us on the outside and walked around temple square (I guess) Joh had many questions and would ask Corey – who by then had not been a member on record due to his excommunication (see here )  It was then that Corey understood why members are often called “a strange and peculiar people”.       ...