I VOTED!

 I have been old enough to vote for 49 years now.  (That really ages me, doesn't it!) Every four years in America we have an election to see who the next President of the United States will be. I have voted each and every time! I consider it my civic duty to do so. I have also voted in all primary and almost all local elections.

This year, however, it didn't look like I would be able to vote in the general election for the next President of the U.S.  Even though I voted earlier this year in the primary election, my registration to make me eligible to vote mysteriously turned "inactive".  The only reason I happened to notice that is because Alan received his absentee ballot, but I didn't. Even Kyle, who hasn't lived in California for 14 years and who is registered and votes in Arizona, received a mail-in ballot. Hmmm.....I was scratching my head over that one. Why would both of them receive a ballot, but not me?

I found out that I could look online to check my registration status, which is what I did on the day of the deadline to do so. Low and behold, I discovered that I was no longer even a registered voter. Thank goodness I checked when I did! Thankfully, I was able to re-register. About a week later, I received my ballot in the mail and I cast my vote.

I can't tell you how excited I was that I got to let my voice be heard...not only for who I want to be the President, but also for other important offices and propositions. 

Now it's just a waiting game to see who will win the presidency next Tuesday, just four days from today. It will be either the incumbent Donald J. Trump or Joe Biden.

I feel that this is the most important election of my lifetime because our freedom and liberty are literally at stake. The constitution is "hanging by a thread" as was prophesied long ago. I will refrain from explaining all the political implications of what would happen depending on who gets elected. I don't want this to be a political post. I simply want to express my joy of being able to cast my vote and let my voice be heard.

I believe America to be the promised land. I'm so grateful that I was blessed to be born here. I am grateful for the freedoms that I have enjoyed in this land for the 67 years I have been blessed to live here. I don't take those freedoms for granted and want to do all in my power to preserve those freedoms. Without freedom, we have nothing! There would be no hope of living a fruitful and fulfilling life. 

Although wickedness abounds and civil unrest still creeps into the news almost on a daily basis, I love this beautiful country of mine.

Showing My Patriotism!

 I have always felt like I was a patriotic person, but with the great divide happening in our country right now, I feel like patriotism for our country is sliding a little. There are many citizens who want to "do away" with the old ways and reset the country onto a different path. I'm too patriotic to want to get on that bandwagon. 

I don't have a large flag to display in our yard, but I do have a portion of wall in the house that I decided to dedicate a patriotic theme to. After shopping at Hobby Lobby, this is what I ended up with...

I think it turned out pretty good...at least it's much better than an empty wall.

On the flag on the frame to the left, it says "four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." - Abraham Lincoln.

On the flag on the frame to the right, it says "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." - Thomas Jefferson

I believe that the founding of the United States of America was done through the power of God. He directed Columbus to this new land and He inspired the men who wrote the constitution. No other country was founded by God to give men so many liberties and freedoms. This is the promised land prophesied of in the scriptures. 

I'm so grateful that I was born in the USA. I'm grateful for the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of my own conscience. 

I love this country, but I hate to see the direction it is taking. I'm wondering how long we will be able to hold on to the freedoms that we currently enjoy. Hopefully, for at least as long as I'm alive. Without our freedoms, we will become countries like China, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. I certainly don't want that!

In God I Trust!!!

Sister's Retreat - Lancaster Portion

On Saturday morning, we drove over to Apollo Park for a nice morning walk. Gayle wasn't able to join us because of the extreme amount of sciatic pain she was experiencing.  

Later in the afternoon, we went swimming and had a bbq. The weather cooperated very well for us. The outdoor temps were in the high 80's, the pool temp was around 90 degrees, and there was no wind. Perfect conditions! We were able to eat outside, which is something we are seldom able to do because of the wind. I LOVED it! 

Afterwards, we went inside and played the "Beach Ball Game." It's a game I made up that we played about 7 years ago when we held the Burton Reunion at my house. It's a get-to-know-you game. I wrote a lot of questions on the ball. When the ball is tossed to you, you must answer the question that is underneath your right thumb. It was fun and we got to know a little bit more about each other.

Gayle was in so much pain with her sciatica problem that she couldn't even sit in the car for the ride home. In order to accommodate her, they made a bed for her in the car. I'm sure she would have preferred sitting, but she accepted her fate. The drive back home to Bountiful was broken up into two days by spending a night in St. George. That made things a little easier on Gayle.

A week later, Gayle is still in pain and had to get some subs to teach for her last week, but she is now on the mend. Sure glad I've never had sciatica problems along with all my back problems. I've been very blessed that way.

I love my sisters and cherish any amount of time I can spend with them and their husbands. Through our virtual "Come Follow Me" meetings each Sunday for the past several months, we have become even closer than we ever have before. That's a huge blessing in my life. God has been good to me!

Sister's Retreat - Riverside Portion

Every once in a while my sisters and I get together for a "sister's retreat." This time, our husbands were invited, which was cool. It took place in California since Jane and Ken are on their mission and are restricted on where they can go.

The Fosters and Bleaks drove down here (to Lancaster) on a Thursday and stayed over night with Alan and I. We (all except Alan, who had to work) drove to Riverside the next morning to meet up with Jane and Ken and spend the day exploring the city. We were able to do some fun things.

First, we went to see the Orange groves at the California Citrus State Historic Park. They have a museum, but it was closed because of Covid. I forgot to even take pics of the orange trees!

We then went to lunch at a place called Tio's Tacos. It has to be the craziest place I've ever eaten. The whole  decor is artwork created basically out of "junk" like bottles, bottle caps, hub caps, license plates, water jugs, or any other kind of junk you can think of. It's a very eclectic, but fun place to eat.

This was a fun place to take a pic at Tio's Tacos!

Here we are (everyone except me) standing in line to order our food.

The food was delicious!

After lunch we went to the historic Mission Inn Hotel

 

I'm sitting in the President Taft Chair.

Our last stop was to the beautiful Fairmount Park. It was too hot to walk around it, so we drove around it instead.

Not sure what this tank is all about, but it was interesting to see at a park.

After this we had to head back to Jane & Ken's apartment to get ready for a special fireside that evening for all the senior couples in the mission. Ken arranged for Scott to present the fireside. He did a PowerPoint Presentation on the Rome temple that he was able to be the architect on plus the renovation plans for the Salt Lake Temple. He did a great job and I learned a lot.

We then left Riverside and drove to Lancaster for a couple more days of fun. 

Forty-Fifth Anniversary Celebration

 Although our 45th wedding anniversary isn't until December 27th, we decided to celebrate it early with a weekend get-away to Hermosa Beach. 

Having our anniversary two days after Christmas often makes it very difficult to celebrate. By that time, we have just given gifts to each other and we have over-eaten (usually) during the holidays so we don't necessarily want to give/get more gifts or go out to dinner. It's been a dilemma all these years.

Our solution this year was to celebrate in October instead of December. We had a very memorable get-away in spite of still having to wear masks and stay socially distant because of COVID-19. 

Our first stop was along the coast in Ventura. I love the California coastline - especially further north where they have magnificent cliffs.

Our next stop was the Venice Canals. We had heard about these canals in Venice but had never been there before. I'm so glad we went. I felt like I was in Venice Italy instead of Venice California. It would be an amazing place to live.

Our final destination was Hermosa Beach. We have visited Hermosa Beach many times. It might be our favorite beach in Southern California. Usually we stay at The Sea Sprite, but they have remodeled it and it is extremely expensive now so we opted to go up the street to a Quality Inn instead.

Here's a pic of the remodeled Sea Sprite. It used to be blue and white and the plaza pictured here used to be a pool. It looks a lot more modern now.

Some of the homes along the Strand were decorated for Halloween. This was my favorite with the skeletons decorated in swim wear and wearing covid masks. Haha!

Since most restaurants are still closed or open for outdoor dining only, we had to settle for a "non-romantic" Chipotle dinner. But that's ok. We are pretty simple folks.

We didn't give anniversary gifts to each other (since it wasn't really our anniversary nor did we have time to get gifts) but the best gift we give to each other is time together. We so love "hanging out" just the two of us. I'm glad I married my best friend and the love of my life. He has provided a good life for me these past 45 years. I feel so blessed and wouldn't change anything!

Service Opportunity

Because of Covid-19, it seems like opportunities for service are not as frequent as prior to the pandemic. However, today I was granted an opportunity to serve that I hadn't anticipated.

Alan reserved a Redbox movie at Stater Brothers and sent me to pick it up while he was finishing some cement work in our driveway. Normally, we get our movies from Walgreen's, but they didn't have the movie we wanted to see so that's why I ended up at Stater Bros. 

After getting the movie, since I was there anyway, I decided to pick up two items we needed. I soon found myself in the "Quick Check-out" line. The woman in front of me ran her card to pay for her items, but the card was rejected. She tried again, with the same result. Finally, the register clerk told her it was rejected and asked if she had a different way to pay. She didn't. She left her checked items in the cart and said she would be back to pay for them then she started walking toward the exit. I asked the clerk if I could pay for them instead of her having to come all the way back. He said "sure, if you want to." Another employee caught the lady's attention before she could exit while I paid for the groceries. She came back just in time for me to hand her the receipt for her groceries. It didn't amount to much, only about $35, but I felt good that I was able to help her out, and she was very appreciative of the kind gesture.

The clerks kept telling me how kind I was to do that for her and I said "what goes around comes around. People have been good to me." I wished them a good day and left with my two items.

I believe that there are no coincidences in our lives. God places us in the path of others in order to serve them and he places others in our path in order to serve us. Sometimes we give and sometimes we receive. With that said, I don't believe it was a coincidence that I had to go to Stater Brothers to pick up the movie. I also don't think it was a coincidence that I was behind that particular woman in the check-out line. God wanted me to bless her life t0day and in so doing, I felt blessed to have been able to serve her.

Christ said "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40)

The Sermon on the Mount

Being of service today was exactly what my soul needed!