These are a few of my favorite things........

When the winds howl
When the kids scowl
When the temperature is bad
I simply remember some favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad!


So, a few favorite things..........


I love this picture of my dad. It was taken the day before he died and my little Luke just wanted to snuggle with his Grandpa Dave that day and Grandpa Dave was only too happy to oblige. But he had to tease Luke a little because that's what he always did. He poked and he teased and he was such fun and we loved him for it. May will always be a hard month as it reminds me just how much I miss having him around.




Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Women's President (in charge of organizing the programs for the teenage girls throughout the entire LDS church) visited our little ward in Idaho. What a great lady! She spent some time with our girls letting them know just how wonderful they are and she was powerful in what she said. I think every girl in that room felt she was important in the eyes of our Heavenly Father and I think they felt very loved. And I can't think of anything more important for girls to know when they are trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. It was a wonderful day. However, I felt a little guilty. You see, after Sister Dalton was finished speaking to all our girls she was going to stay in the class with the older girls. But we were having Beehive cake in our class and I didn't think it would hurt to invite her to join us for the last few minutes for cake! Well, she decided she'd simply join us for the entire lesson.....that I was teaching. So I felt a little nervous at first thinking I might not be all that prepared with my lesson, and then I felt a little guilty because the older girls weren't so happy I "stole" Sister Dalton from them. But in the end I think we all really had a fantastic experience. Sister Dalton was speaking that evening to a large group of youth and our girls were invited to sit on the front row. However, the younger girls, my Beehives, weren't able to attend her fireside so their one on one time was particularly special. I truly hope the experience was something the girls will always treasure. I know I will.



My cooking club. Truly a favorite thing. I was quite worried when we moved here that I would have a difficult time making new friends. I had heard about these Idahoans. I had heard they were kind of a closed bunch. But I met Wendy right off the bat and she as warm and inviting and fun as can be. And she started a cooking club. There are only eight of us (yes, we're quite exclusive!) and we meet once a month to share our culinary secrets and finest recipes and witty comments and clever conversation. I have come to really love these women! We all come from varied backgrounds with so many different interests and talents and we come together to eat. There is nothing better. Except maybe when we invited our husbands to a potluck dinner at Sheri's renovated barn. I felt like I was stepping out of the pages of Martha Stewart Living. Wendy called me the following day and wondered if I could have imagined something as delicious and grand and fantastic as our evening had been.....and it all happened in our little tundra town!


My little Irish dancer. Jane looks so pretty when she's dancing a jig and so happy.


Before our move to the tundra William never had time to consider participating in sports himself. He sacrificed a lot of time to coach the kids but that never left anytime for himself. But our move certainly has changed things a bit and now he doing things like sacrificing his toenail in the name of the game.


I love that my boys are best buddies and so creative and fun and active. This picture represents the United States in a heated race on the Olympic bobsled track. I'm sure you can see it when you look closely. It's Legos and basketball and baseball and sword fights and soccer and trampoline wars and wrestling matches all day long with these two and sometimes they slow down enough to acknowledge my existence with a "Hey Mom! Love you. I'm starving! What can I eat?"

And these are a few of my latest favorite things.