Beneath the Wraps

  We had made arrangements for Ryan (aka Tony) to come pick us up from the bus depot.   He met us at 6:15 in the morning and took us to my sisters house where we would sleep – or attempt to anyway.   We were introduced to the family dogs Sadie and Donny.   Gary was asleep on the couch where we’d be sleeping – or trying to and Jerry asked if we would give him permission to use us in a youtube video.   He then taught us a geography game which I had assumed he wanted us to play while filming for the youtube video.   But that is a far as it got.   Perhaps we weren’t worthy subjects for his channel?           For the most part we spent time with Ryan and his family while Ryan was off and before the kids had to go back to school.   We played games with them and then Ryan took us all to Dee’s for dinner.   After he brought us back to my sister’s house, we played games with her family.   Playing gam...

            I went to Church by myself last week.   Jenna had opted to go with Roland to pick up Randy and his family at the airport.   Roland and I had picked up a van the day before.   We had also borrowed a playpen for the baby to sleep in.   I am happy I was there for sacrament meeting.   Bonnie’s doctor and his wife were the speakers.   We hadn’t seen Dr. Nay at Church since COVID began.   He still had a mask on his face which made me feel guilty that I wasn’t wearing mine (as masks are now optional at Church) Sister Nay talked about taking upon His name and comparing simple reminders to power bars or power bites.   Reading the scriptures would be a power bar, performing service, being kind . . . Though I have put Sister Nay on possibly a higher pedestal than perhaps she would place herself, it made me realize that even those that seem to be natural at taking upon His name and wouldn’t need power bars do...

            I believe it was Corey’s senior year in high school when the student directory came out.   On the cover was an art student’s work depicting the mascot and school spirit.   He had signed his artwork “Zion” as he had with many (if not all) of his other pieces.   It wasn’t meant to stand out as the main theme of his drawing but rather blend into the design.   However an instructor who was anti-religion especially anti-LDS had discovered the “hidden” Zion and made such a great fuss over it that it drew much more attention to the drawing and the word than was intended.               It’s quite a small example of how even negative criticism can be used to boost something positive.   Take the Lincoln Project ( here ) for instance, a group of former Republicans no longer affiliated with the party either by choice or perhaps they were asked to leave.   Each m...

         Four grandchildren were added to George and Peggy Bird‘s list of grandchildren in 1998.   I believe all four were in September.   Three biological and my niece who was an honorary member as Ellen and Kimball did not have cousins on either side of the family before Candy was born.   I think she was the eldest of the four cousins. I know she was the largest.           Before Christmas, Birds had held their annual Christmas pageant.   Ellen reluctantly played Mary (as the only two other girls at the time were babies) and held one of the twins in her arms.   He was wailing.   I remember someone saying that Baby Jesus wasn’t being very reverent.     Sarah Fitch - LDS clipart           Corey and I had to excuse ourselves from the pageant as we had another commitment – I don’t even remember what.   Whatever it was...

           I don’t know how often the boys went to Arizona to visit Roland’s sister, Jean before I joined the family.   I know Biff had lived with her for a while – perhaps a couple of years.   He had returned to live with Roland shortly before I met them all. I remember driving to Tucson with Roland to pick the boys up three times after summer was over.   The first time we had gone all the way to Tucson to get them.   The second time we met them in Panquitch, Utah, believing it was a half-way point.   The third time was further down south at Glen Canyon Dam.    We toured the facility before we parted ways and made observations on how much both Tony and Randy had grown.             Biff asked, “What about me?   Haven’t I grown?” His hair was like a small “Sideshow Bob” afro.   He was taller due to his hair.   But once he got it cut, he’d be...

            There are definitely many values that our parents instilled in us, but the three I would pick to answer this question would be prayer, family and service. Prayer           From an early age, we learned that we could communicate to our Heavenly Father through prayer.   We were taught not only to ask for things but to thank God as well for the many blessings that we had.   And there truly were many.   Mom and dad were able to help us understand what the blessings were.   Especially dad.   He had tremendous faith and find the blessings where we could not such as in car failure or his swelled foot ( here )and in his final years could see the blessings with his deteriorating health.                     I remember on several occasions seeing my dad kneeling in front of the gre...

            In November of 2016, I felt impressed to write a talk about Mother's Day.  I started my research and played around with different ideas.  May came and went and I wasn't asked to talk.  In fact, there was little mention about it even being Mother's Day.  The first speaker truly loves Mother's Day and I th i nk must have desired for a Mother's Day program.  She expressed her gratitude for Mother's Day and then went into her talk which had nothing to do with Mother's Day at all.             Perhaps the Bishop had changed the theme to spare the feelings of oh, so many who despise the holidays as it may trigger reminders of estranged relationships, imperfect relationships, non-existing relationships, or discomfort.   I realize that not everybody loves Mother's Day.   I know of several women who refuse to attend meetings on that day because of painful rem...

            The class I am currently taking is a social studies class which was not part of the curriculum I had pulled from the 2016 student catalog.   Apparently, it's one that has recently been introduced into the system.   Many of the other students whose names I see are ones that I recognize from several classes before.                            Most of the videos I have been watching are ones I can relate to the class - well sort of.   I have actually used one as a reference already.   Friendship Field is a story that takes place in Idaho.   Three sisters are obligated to work the farm as the youngest sister, Iris who goes by Ira, enjoys he last summer of "freedom" as she will be obligated to work the following year.   Meanwhile, a family from Mexico, hard on their ...

                I don't know how old the "Feature Films for Families" is.   The earliest date I can find for my research is 1991.   But it seems like my mom purchased films through the company long before then.   Perhaps I am mixed up with my memory thinking that Kayla and Corey were still in elementary school, but maybe it was 1991 and the children were Ellen and Kimball.                                 I remember "Banjo, the Woodpile Cat" which I believed was an original of the FFFF company as the story takes place in Payson, Utah before Banjo runs away to Salt Lake City.   According to Wikipedia ( here ), the release date was December 21, 1979.   It makes more sense that FFFF got its start in the 70s rather than in the 90'...

                It's been a year since Jeanie passed - not that I dwell on dates when people died.   Her mom does.   She's always posting the birthdays and death dates of those who have passed on.   Some days are better for her than others.   I think some days may be worse for her than they were for Jeanie.   I can't say for certain since most of the correspondence I've had with them has been through facebook.   I didn't even have that with Jeanie those times that she not only unfriended me but blocked me as well.   Apparently, it was the medication disrupting her otherwise rational mind.   It not only shattered her own emotions, but I had allowed myself to become upset as well.   I may never know the entire scheme of things; I did learn so much more about her at her funeral than I had ever known about her before.         ...