HAPPPY BIRTHDAY!

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. I'll not reveal how old he is, but he hasn't turned 60 yet. To celebrate, I'm going to embarrass him by posting some crazy pictures I've taken of him.

Bubbles

at the Foutz Family Reunion

 

silly daddy!

 

cookout at Sugarloaf Mountain, AZ

April Conference 2011

Water day!


Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather! I hope your day is memorable.

 

A POCKET FULL OF GOLD

As most of you know, my husband and I are on our mission now. The year before our decision to serve was full of trials and hardship. The time since our decision to serve has been exciting, fun, and full of new possibilities.

What's it like to sell your home and most of its contents to serve the Lord? Let me share this cute story to help me explain:

There was once this rich man. He had spent his life acquiring wealth, and he was very good at it. One night, while he was in his office going over his finances and feeling rather pleased, and angel came to him. "The time is at hand for you to meet your eternal reward. Prepare yourself wisely."

"I'm not going to go," said the wealthy man, "unless I can take my wealth with me. It's who I am. It's what It's been the focus of my whole life."

"You will die when it is your time," said the angel, "and you’re not allowed to take anything with you.”

But the wealthy man had great bargaining skills, and finally the angel relented. “You can take one suitcase,” he said, “but that’s all.”

The wealthy man rubbed his hands together with glee. He would rock heaven with his wealth. Perhaps even Kind Midas would be jealous of what he had accumulated. But how could he get it all to heaven?

He decided that if he transferred his wealth into gold, he could make the most of his small suitcase, so he set about having his wealth condensed into gold brick.

Finally the time of his death arrived. He found his suitcase and lugged it to the pearly gates. Here he met St. Peter. He saw the suitcase and said, “You’re not allowed to bring anything from your life on earth. That has to stay.”

The wealthy man said, “No, no, no. It’s okay. I have special permission.”

St Peter decided he’d better inspect the suitcase before he allowed it through, so he opened the bag. Upon seeing the gold brick, he exclaimed, “Pavement? You were allowed to bring anything you wanted into heaven, and you brought pavement?”

Some of our things were particularly hard to part with, but in the end, it’s all just stuff. The things that are important on earth aren’t the same things that are important eternally.

Moroni lived in a cave. Moses grew up in a palace and ended up wandering in the desert for 40 years. We won't be gone that long. In the mean time, we're hoping to fill our suitcase with something more than pavement. Haha.

WILD ABOUT ANIMALS

Did you ever want to stand next to a mountain lion? What would he do? What would you? In this zoo, we had that opportunity.

I felt sorry for many of the animals in this zoo, as many of them seemed stir crazy. This mountain lion was one of them. He/she paced back and forth.


Did you ever see a giraffe and wish you could slide down its neck? Not to land on the fence, of course, but on a pillow of mulch.

 

In this zoo, you can.

 

Did you ever wish  you could live underground with the groundhogs in a labyrinth of tunnels? This zoo found the answer.

 

Who is the animal on display?

 

Did you ever pretend you were a butterfly?

 

 

Or wish you could swim like a jellyfish?

 

 

Zoos around the world find answers to all of our youthful aspirations, trying each day to help us appreciate the wild animals that share this planet with us. If you can, visit your local zoo soon.

 

 

BOMBING MEMORIAL IN OKLAHOMA CITY

As part of our travels, I wanted to stop by the memorial garden in Oklahoma City. It was worth it to spend a moment thinking of the precious nature of life, and how quickly things can change.

 

 

The chair memorials are arranged in rows specifying the floors of the building. There is a name on each chair and they are arranged according to the floor that person was on at the time of the bombing.

This building was adjacent to the building bombed.

It was a very sobering and reverent tour.