Bearing Testimony

I am thankful today for the ability to attend fast and testimony meeting. A wonderful sister in our ward stood up and talked about sharing what is in your heart. And thanks to her comment, I could not stay in my seat. I *really* didn't want to go up there. I really didn't want make that walk up there and take on those steps with everyone watching. And try to speak without stuttering in front of all those people. Ugh.
(Saturday was a REALLY good day. I had all the stength I needed to clean up my room, do some laundry, shower, shave my legs, and wash/condition my hair, and made dinner without too much struggle. It was AMAZING. Then I woke up this morning with heaviness in my right side, weakness and just generally feeling exhausted. I really didn't feel up to life today...)

But the Spirit would not leave me alone.

Jes was a sweetheart, and walked me up to the front. I am not 100% sure what I said, I was concentrating too hard on making sure I used small words so I wouldn't stumble. LOL So I thought, for my family's sake, I would share my testimony here. :)

I know that my Father in Heaven loves me.
I know that I have a Savior, even Jesus Christ.
I know that I am an eternal being having a mortal experience. This physical body that I have is NOT who I am. My spirit and my body are not the same thing, yet. Someday they will be, but for now they are not.
I am a Child of God.
He is aware of me in all things.
This life I am living is not completely real. This mortal life is not real. We all come from a holier sphere, and THAT is our reality. That is what is real.
Life is short.
Each day needs to be enjoyed like a breath. When you are concencrating on breathing, you can't focus on the last breath you took, and you can't worry about the next breath you take. The only thing you should be aware of the breath you are taking. And ENJOY the gift of that opportunity.
And to love your family... time is precious. And this is the time to prepare to be together forever. I am not doing this for me alone... I am living this life the best that I can for my family.
I want to be with them forever... and I know that I can be.
Each day is a gift and a chance to grow and improve and learn more about who I am and why am here.
And what a blessing and gift that is...

Sunrise in New York City

I used to think my passion of nature was sunsets...

After this spectacular view as we rode the Air Train from JFK to the Long Island Railroad I am not so sure it is not a dead on tie! WOW! What a sunrise!!

Patty's Daughter and boyfriend

It made me so happy!

God truly is the best painter there is!

In the concourse of Penn Station after our ride on the Long Island Railroad

Welcome to the streets of New York City!

What a beautiful day!!!!!!!!

We arrived in Penn Station near Madison Square Gardens about 7 am-ish. We found our hotel a block or so away from the station (which BTW the blocks are more like 4-5 of our blocks! LOL) and we asked if we could drop off our backpacks. Because Patty was a Flight Crew person from Jet Blue they let us actually check in! And they sent us to go have breakfast...even though we would get the buffet breakfast the next morning for free too! It was perfect! (yeah! for small blessings! one less cost for my trip!)

We dropped off our stuff, ate breakfast and then the young'uns headed out to explore! I took this picture of Patty's stuff...mostly because the poor girl had packed a baglike backpack with a pull tie on top...no pockets... and it was NOT user friendly! Every time she needed anything she practically had to unpack the entire thing! It was hoot! We giggled a lot about her bag!

We older less spry adventurers headed up to the room after breakfast! LOL! If we were going to be given a chance to rest before playing we were going to take it! And since neither of us could sleep on the plane (unlike the young'uns) we crashed for 4 hours! *blush* Yes. You read that right. I flew to New York to take a nap! *grin* GO ME!

We got up about 11:30am (NY time) and called the temple to see if we could come, and if we could come in street clothes.

Of course they said yes... in fact she practically begged us to come! So off we headed... onto the streets of New York City in warmer clothes than church clothes... and down into the subways below!! What an adventure!

Finding Joy in the Journey...

Tasty Happiness

Hi! So... my friend Amy and I have this thing with sharing great recipes. I don't know! We just love good food that makes us happy! We like making things up and re-visiting old family favorites! So, since she is so far away we thought with a blog we could both author we could share our recipe's and it would be the best and most oragnized... plus we get to play with our other passion which is taking pictures! *grin*

...and since I know, if you are ANYTHING like me and can always use new recipes, I thought someone out there might enjoy it. It is still a work in progress...so put it on your fav's list and check back often! *grin*

http://tastyhappiness.blogspot.com/

Thanks Amy for starting this for us! I am really excited to have it all in one place! Now... I need your french bread recipe! LOL

Arizona Desert - On Our Way Home...

Ahh.... the cutest landscape of all! :)

Arizona Beauty & Tastiness

We were blessed to visit Arizona when many of the flowering things were in bloom! I got many more photos now to put in my guest bathroom of "Flowers in the Places we have been". It was so fun!

I loved the deep rich colors I could find!

These were so bright that even on a cloudy day they still were a little "strong" to take a picture of!

There were flowering trees and cactus!

The kids loved these ones! They said they were Sponge Bob Cactus!

Seeing my favorite cactus in bloom was a real treat as well!

And speaking of treats... here is Jess with one of *his* favorite parts of visiting Tucson! Eegees! It's a frozen drink unlike anything we have at home... and OH! is it good!! :)

My 1st Photo Shoot

These are just a few of the couple hundred photos I took at my first hired gig. I left out my favorites with kids in them because, well, they aren't my kids...LOL! These kids were AMAZING though! I kept getting drawn into the music and distrated from taking photos! *grin* It was fun! And for not *really* knowing all the ins and outs of my camera or ever taken a class... I was pleased with most of them.