Truth Be Told

After waking up on the morning of our 40th wedding anniversary (yesterday), I discovered this message Cheryl had left on our whiteboard.

This is mostly true. I think Alan wore his ring for almost a week before he started making excuses for not wearing one. He is definitely not a jewelry person. He claims that it is dangerous for dentists to wear a ring because of the possibility of it catching on the equipment he has to use while working. His other excuse is that he needs to wash his hands several times per day so having a ring on would be a nuisance. These claims might be somewhat true, but to me they are pretty lame excuses. I am sure there a lot of doctors and dentists who wear rings and it isn't a problem at all. 

To me, a ring is a symbol of our love and devotion to each other. Inside Alan's ring I had "with love, honor, and devotion" engraved prior to our marriage. I am devoted to Alan and our marriage and I love and honor him. Since a ring is round and goes on forever, it signifies that our love will be eternal. It thrills me to know that since we were sealed in the temple for time and eternity, our love truly is eternal and will last forever.  

Truth be told, I wish Alan would wear a ring. However, I do respect his desire not to if he feels so uncomfortable wearing one. After 40 years of not wearing a ring, I doubt he will ever change his mind and start wearing one. Our love and devotion to each other will continue to grow whether he has a ring on his finger or not. 

Fortieth Wedding Anniversary

Today marks 40 years since Alan and I were joined together as husband and wife in the Provo, Utah LDS Temple. It has been an honor and privilege to be married to such a wonderful man -- a man who: 1) is easy to live with (who actually cleans up after himself); 2) is a devoted husband; 3) is a dedicated father; 4) is an excellent provider; 5) is a great example of Christ-like living; 6) has the same religious beliefs as I do; 7) is stripped of pride; and 8) is good at giving counsel to me, to church members (as their Bishop in years past), and especially to our children as they have come to him for guidance throughout their lives. I couldn't ask for a better husband than Alan. I can't imagine life without him by my side. 

Our love has grown as we have worked together to raise four sons and one daughter. Parenthood is difficult, but when you have a good mate by your side, it becomes a much easier and more rewarding task. It is so nice to be able to share the load with someone you trust.

In only 10 more years, we can celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Now, that is a real milestone and I can't wait to celebrate it!

****************

Some interesting quotes on love:


“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”
– Mignon McLaughlin

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
– Lao Tzu

“Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.”
– Sam Levenson

“Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get–only with what you are expecting to give–which is everything.”
– Katharine Hepburn, Me: Stories of My Life

A Year Of Dates

Every year, Alan has a staff Christmas dinner where gifts are exchanged. This year, the staff gave us a gift that will last the whole year. They gave us a chest full of date nights and they called it "Year of Dates." 

 These are the rules associated with the gift:

We are really looking forward to starting our dates. Can't wait to see what we will be doing for our first date in January. In just 3 weeks we will know. We are not going to cheat by peeking early even though we are tempted to do so.

How do people come up with such amazing gift ideas? I wish I were a better gift giver. I usually strike out. I need lessons on gift giving or a personal assistant who can help.

Merry Christmas!

Our Memphis Thanksgiving

Kyle and Emily invited us to their house for Thanksgiving this year. We accepted their invitation and Cheryl joined us. We were there for four days (not counting travel days) and had a great time.

Day 1(Wednesday)

One of the first things Milo did when we got to their house was invite Grandpa to sit with him in a favorite spot. Doesn't that look comfortable?

Kyle had to work so we decided to drive across this bridge into Arkansas just so we could say that we had been in Arkansas. We then took the kids to a park in Memphis for some play time. I had been at this park before, but Alan and Cheryl hadn't.

There is a small man-made lake/pond adjacent to the playground. It was enjoyable to take a nice little stroll around it.

Day 2

(Thanksgiving Day)

Emily was creative and placed some nice decorations on our Thanksgiving table. 

 Milo was ready to eat before dinner was actually ready. Such a cutie! He ended up falling asleep in that chair before he even got to eat. 

The happy faces of those participating in the yummy feast.

Emily did a great job on the meal. Thank goodness she likes to cook. Thank you Emily!!!!!

At the end of the day, we piled in the cars and went to a park close by that had been decorated with holiday lights for the Christmas Season. You pay per car to drive through the park. They have you tune in to certain radio channels to hear the music that goes along with the light display.

Not great pictures. I mostly took videos because of the action involved with the lights and some displays were a distance away from our car.

Right outside the park there was a neighborhood that had decorated their homes to the nines. We were able to walk through there and bask in the joy of the season. Milo loved it! Clara was asleep. 

 Day 3 (Friday)

This turned out to be a fun day even though we had a few drizzles. We drove to a place called Velvet Cream. Anyone who is an ice cream lover (like Cheryl) would be in heaven here. They have every ice cream flavor/combination you could think of. There are 230 flavors available as you can see from the partial menu listed in the picture below. Unbelievable! 

In the afternoon, we went to Latimer Park to do a little fishing. "Little" is the operative word here as the fish are tiny. I caught the biggest and Alan caught the smallest. He didn't even know he had a fish on the line because it was so tiny. We were laughing. We usually caught a fish within 2 min. of dropping the line in the water, so that part was fun. No boring wait.

Kyle's second fish was so tiny that he was trying hard not to let me get a picture of it.

 That evening we were able to attend a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game. This was the first NBA game I have ever attended! We had a great time even though the Grizzlies lost. They played against the Atlanta Hawks.

Day 4 (Saturday)

Unfortunately, our last day for fun in Memphis was met with thunder storms. It literally did not stop raining all day. However, we weren't going to let that stop us from doing the things we had planned to do.  This happened to be the last weekend until spring for the Riverboat tour on the Mississippi. 

Fortunately, we were inside during the tour where we remained warm and dry.

The tour lasts about 2 hours and we were able to learn a lot about the city of Memphis as well as the Mississippi River. 

The last thing on our list was to go to "The Pyramid." This is where the Memphis Grizzlies used to play their basketball games before their new stadium was built.  It is now one of the biggest Bass Pro Shops in the country and even has a hotel inside. It was an amazing experience!

They have boats on water inside the pyramid so you can check out how they feel on the water before making your purchase. Many fish were swimming in that water.

They make you feel like you are in the great outdoors while you shop.

An awesome fish tank that the kids loved!

A view of the store below while riding in the elevator several stories up.

When you get to the top floor, they have a restaurant/bar with a huge fish tank. It was beautiful!

The highlight of being on the top level is that they have balconies outside that you can walk out onto so you can take in the view. Part of the foundation you step on is glass. Unfortunately, for us, the view wasn't as spectacular as it could have been simply because it was getting dark and it was still raining hard. Our visibility was poor, but you can see the bridge in the background that goes from Tennesses to Arkansas.

Day 5 (Sunday)

This was the day we had to say goodbye to family and rush to the airport to fly back home. I miss these two cute little munchkins. It was fun to get to know them better. It had been almost a year since we had seen them in person and Clara was only 3 months old at the time. They are two very precious grandchildren and we are so very pleased to have them in our family.

Becoming Published

About a year ago, from a suggestion from someone I don't even know (long story), I submitted a story I had written to the Ensign Magazine for possible publication. About three months later, I received an e-mail stating that they wanted to publish it in the "Latter-Day Saint Voices" section of the December 2015 issues of both the Ensign and Liahona magazines, assuming nothing more pressing came up. They had me sign a waiver and they also asked me to edit my story. After I re-submitted it, they further edited it, and then it was edited again by the final editor. For about nine months I have been waiting to see if it would actually be published. Well, it was! Here it is:

My Christmas Miracle

Joan Burton Stott, California, USA

During the fall of 1968, our bishop asked my parents if they would pledge money toward building the Provo Utah Temple. Wards don’t do that today, but it was common back then. My dad pledged U.S. $1,000. That might not seem like much money, but it was to us. My father was working two jobs to help support a son in college, a son on a mission, and five children at home.

When my father sat us down for family council and told us he had pledged $1,000 toward the temple, I remember thinking, “You might as well have pledged $1 million because both amounts are unreachable.” I couldn’t believe he had pledged that much, and we had less than four months to gather the funds.

We chose four ways to help raise money: we would forfeit gift giving that Christmas and donate the money we would have spent on gifts; my sisters and I would donate our babysitting money; my little brother would do odd jobs to earn money; and as a family we would go to a local farm, pick apples daily for a few weeks, and donate the earnings.

We gift wrapped a shoe box that would hold our deposits, added a picture of a temple and a picture of Jesus Christ, and placed the box on a small table. Excitement grew as our donations increased. Our focus switched from the presents we wanted to our gift for the Savior. I so appreciated the gift He had given God’s children—His life—that I wanted to give something back to Him.

Picking apples turned out to be the most difficult and satisfying way to earn money. It was draining, but we were strengthened and rewarded as we spent time together as a family. We began to be “knit together in unity and in love” (Mosiah 18:21).

As Christmas approached, I would peek into the donation box, but I was always disappointed. Despite our efforts, we were far from our goal.

I felt wonderful, though, about our decision to forfeit presents. I knew that our sacrifices were small, but I had faith that the Savior would be pleased.

One day my dad announced that we had reached our goal and that he had donated the money. I never found out how we raised the rest so quickly.

The fulfillment of Dad’s pledge that Christmas was miraculous. But for me, the real miracle was that through giving instead of receiving, I grew closer to the Savior. That was better than any Christmas gift I could have received. Seven years later the gift was returned to me as I knelt across an altar in the Provo Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity to my husband.

Being published was not really on my bucket list, but it is kind of cool that it happened. I never really thought that something I wrote would ever be published, but it was and I am pleased. I was a little disappointed that my story was the only one that didn't have art work to go along with it, but I guess that isn't all that important. I am just happy to be published. Hopefully my story can help others find more joy in Christmas and be more focused on Christ's gift to the world rather than the gifts we receive. 

I love the Savior and appreciate his great sacrifice for each one of us. He made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins and progress to the point of gaining exaltation. No greater gift has ever been given to mankind. I hope to never lose focus on that and I hope to live worthy of God's greatest blessings. 

Visiting Two Palms - Palm Springs and Palm Desert

A couple of weeks ago Alan and I met Cheryl and her boyfriend Parker for a Saturday get-away in Palm Desert and Palm Springs. For living so close to each other (less than 2 hours away), we don't get to see Cheryl as often as we would like, so it was fun to meet up with her and Parker. The weather was perfect, the company was perfect, and the day ended up perfect.

We met in Palm Desert at the Living Desert Zoo.  It is a combination of desert zoo animals and desert botanical garden. It is fairly small so it wasn't difficult to see everything we wanted to see in just a few hours.

Petting a large lizzard

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

 I love giraffes

This isn't a very good photo of it, but there was an awesome miniature train track - the biggest I have ever seen. It went on and on. This is just a small portion of it.

We wanted to ride a camel, but it wasn't available for another couple of weeks. Bummer! That is something I have always wanted to do.

A couple of examples of desert plants

After we saw everything we wanted to at The Living Desert, we drove to Palm Springs where we rode an aerial tram up to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. It is the largest rotating aerial tram in the world. I was surprised at the speed of the tram and how quickly we were able to reach the top which is 8500 feet above the desert floor. The cool thing about the rotating tram is that only the floor of the tram rotates. This gives everyone a 360 degree view of the area as you travel up the mountain. Everyone gets a chance to see where we are going and where we have been. Very innovative!

 The Aerial Tram approaching the top.

Although it was about 80 degrees on the valley floor that day, it was cold up on top of that mountain. You can see Palm Springs in the background.

A little Father/Daughter time while on a hike

All in all, it turned out to be a very fun day. It had been a long time since we had been to that area of California and it was fun to revisit it.