A LAST DAY FOR LISTS . . .

Heavenly Father grant me:

Wisdom
Strength
Patience
Joy in my trials
Compassion
A charitable heart
Forgiveness
Understanding
Gratitude
Strength in my convictions
A continuing testimony
Faith
Acceptance
Unwavering love
Peace
A place in thy kingdom

I REALLY DO LOVE SUNDAYS . . .

I love our ward. We have great teachers and the best Bishop ever!

I love the break from the rest of the week.

I love the Sundays when family members visit. It doesn't happen often enough.

I love this particular Sunday because Sydney's (boyfriend) Jason was baptized.

I love our church friends /family. They are truly supportive of us!

I love Jason's family and their united support for him.

I LOVE the gospel of Jesus Christ; and . . .

I love sharing it with Duncan, Sydney and members of our family.

I love each of you, too!!!

SATURDAYS are temple days...

I always wondered how Cathleen's parents could stand to "give up" their Saturday evenings to work in the temple. Saturdays, when families gather and all sorts of fun things were happening within their huge family, which also, is not unlike ours.

That is until we started serving in the Newport Beach, CA temple ourselves.

I guess each person has a different take on the temple - ours is of the more eternal nature, at our age.

All I know is that I feel GOOD when I enter the doors of the temple and I am uplifted in ways it's not easy to describe.

Today & tonight were no exception... serving in the temple really warms my heart!

SUNDAY IS A SPECIAL DAY FOR A BAPTISM...

This Sunday in particular, is a day always to be remembered,

Jason Tomasko's decision to enter the waters of baptism.

We hope he understands the commitments he is making, to take the name of Jesus Christ upon himself...

Sydney is beside herself with JOY,

Because for Sydney, Jason is a very unique and special boy!

Sunday, March 30th, RSM stake center, 5:30PM

All are welcome and most certainly invited . . .

THINGS i LOVE . . .

Duncan

California sunsets

ARTICHOKES

Grandkids HUGS!!

Noodles w/ butter

ANYTHING w/ butter

Clean, fresh smelling sheets

Grandsons & granddaughters

Warm, turquoise, ocean water

Meeting at Fuddrucker's on Friday nights

Maui w/ family

Sydney, Australia

Lifelong friends

Fresh salmon

Serving in the Newport Beach Temple

My children - all 8 of them

LIFE

The gospel of Jesus Christ

Marie Calander's pies

Lay's potato chips

BUTTERED Popcorn on Sunday nights

Lunch out with the 'girls'

A really GOOD book

The United States of America

Orange blossoms

CHERRY BLOSSOMS, TOO!

Blogging w/family ~ :~)

HAPPY "48TH" BIRTHDAY TO MY FIRSTBORN, WEBB

On this beautiful Monday morning I was reflecting how quickly the time has gone by since Webb was first born.

So many changes in so many ways! However, I would not change my life for anything.

I feel I am still learning the things the Lord put me on this earth to experience and with each decade I become a little wiser - and dumber at the same time.

The more I learn, the more I understand how little I really do know.

I do remember how utterly clean my two little boys needed to be . . . once dressed for an occasion they could not get get one speck of dirt anyplace on their bodies.

Debbie was even more challenging . . . she after all was a GIRL.

Entered Duncan and his four boys and all of that changed completely. Laundry was stacked so high I couldn't find my washing machine.

But like I said; I wouldn't change much about those incredible days for anything.

I'm thankful for 48 years of parenting no matter how difficult some of those times were. Congratulations, Webb, on being FIRST . . . someone had to do it, right?!!

I am grateful for the joy of that wonderful day so long ago. The true proof of a Heavenly FAther who loves each of us so very much...

HAPPY EASTER, ONE AND ALL!!

I am still trying to think of a way to present any of my many lists. You know, sorting them out in a way that makes sense and doesn't require any time...

Maybe tomorrow I'll actually do this, but I'm still trying to post some photos on my Photoshow.

Wherever does the time go?!!

Since we have been away we'd made no plans for Easter; I'm finding I can't seem to plan anything in advance nowadays...

However Denise came to the rescue and invited us to join her family celebration. They decorate the eggs and everything!!

I have a zillion filled Easter eggs - Seth & Denise are going to kill me! All chocolate for the most part (the kids will be overjoyed.)

I'm taking some to Heather's house, maybe more than half.

We all hope you all have a delightful day and wish we could be with everyone, like in the "good old days."

Happy Easter / Sabbath Day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALEKS!!!

I tried to leave a message for Aleks, but it didn't go through. Aleks, I hope your haircut is perfect and that everything about your day is perfect, too! I can't believe you are eleven years old. WOW!!

Please ask your mom or dad to advance you $30 for your birthday, okay? I am very late getting your card off to you :-( I hope that will add to anything extra you might like to have for your birthday.

We will be traveling to Utah on your birthday, but we will try to call before we leave. That means you won't be home, but we can leave our "message."

Happy Birthday, ALL DAY!! ENJOY!!

We love YOU!!!! P, G & S

This list thing is driving me crazy!!!

Tonight we set our clocks ahead one hour and I have used up any time I might have had for lists!! That requires a thought process that is not with me at midnight, that's for sure.

The truth is I'm not sure it's a process I have retained this late in my life.

My mind likes to wander on it's own and usually I forget all the wonderful discoveries I think I have implanted from my memory disk!

I know have some neat things to share about my parents, grandparents and greats grands, etc.! I've just kind of forgotten what kind of format I was planning to use.

Maybe tomorrow...you think?

For now it's time for bed.

I'm too tired to make my list tonight...

Although I know I promised a different kind of list about my most recent posterity I find I am too tired tonight to make a list that would make sense. Having had Heather and Sydney along with Steve and me, today, we did some shopping, had Heather's haircut, spent time with Seth, Denise and family along with Nicole, at Fuddruckers.

We all felt really beat, except for Sydney! She is like the Every Ready bunny - she never runs out of steam. We've had a good visit - Heather , Steve and I, and mostly have turned Steve over to Nicole for the weekend.

I have come to realize that nothing feels so comfortable as spending time with your sibling(s) ~ even when the bonds have not been held very close for some time. I am grateful that Steve felt the need to come visit Heather and his his CA family and I know Nicole feels the same way.

I hadn't thought so much about it since Steve and Margaret moved to Florida, but I am surely glad to have had this "threesome" time together. Though you won't read this blog, "Thanks, Steve, I love you..."

I am NOT a crossword puzzle whiz!!

Last night, while thumbing through the newspaper my brother, Steve, aka as "Unc" asked if he could take the cartoon section of the newspaper. My first impression was that he loved the "real life" cartoons (that are "somewhat" my obsession) for their wisdom and resemblances to true life experiences.

Alas, no, he was wanting the crossword puzzle to sharpen his mind and in doing so he reflected of the line of the crossword puzzle fanciers (family members) that have gone before us this past 100 plus years...

This in turn caused me to reflect upon these most recent ancestors and the type of lists I could share on their behalf.

Tomorrow I will undertake this challenge to bring them just a little bit to life, using a format underwritten by me.

Living in near paradise

Today was a perfect day to be spent out in the sun. Instead I, Joyce, had MY head in Heather's closet all afternoon. She still has a full closet, BUT most of the clothes are in her size and the dust bunnies under her "hope chest" have been conquered.

Thanks to the UNC we managed to toss away a lot of Heather's junk and pack up many of her stuffed animals and dolls. Next step is to load them into my car so we can create more chaos around here!

As for the fridge - I think we were sidetracked by American Idol and decided that it's not that bad after all.

Did I mention that Unc Steve is a very easy guest; he's a lot like Grandma Brown that way. Tomorrow we hit the big times at Target!! Heather is beside herself with joy at spending time with her brother and she nearly knocked me over, getting to him!!

The "UNC" is back in CA ...

This is a nice treat for me; my brother is here to visit for a few days. Those of you having brothers living nearby - or sisters for that matter - know that spending time with a sibling feels like the most familiar thing in the world.

Even though Steve is going to celebrate his 60th birthday this year, he will always be MY baby brother. First he came in and quickly informed me he would be happy to help me clean my refridgerator ... smells yukky according to him! But first we are going to clean out Heather's room which he knows is piled high with stuffed animals, DOLLS and clothes. Wait until he sees her closet shelf filled with puzzles.

I guess it's the "pack rat" instincts in our family that will quickly drive him mad. Duncan is thrilled to have someone agree with him; a lot of things around here must go!!

March 3rd... money in the bank day!!!

Since January 1st (although never as a New Year's goal) I have made it a point not to use my Visa or the AmEx card, until they are pretty much paid off...
It doesn't seem to matter that I stayed home every day so I could manage to not out spend the money I have available to me through the end of the month. In January it was kind of easy... only 3 birthdays - and the after Christmas blah's had set in anyway.

February is a short month; only 28 days usually, but of course this year was Leap Year and so it seemed like the 3rd would never arrive. Usually I can coax some extra money out of Duncan, (if necessary) but this time I had to borrow from Sydney - heaven forbid!

Perhaps it's because there were 3 babies born in February (at church) and 5 birthdays in the space of 8 days. Whatever the reason I almost ran out of $$ days before the new month!

I hate to run out of cash more than anything; but my credit card has to be paid, as does the tithing & fast offerings each month.

SO - I went shopping with gift certificates Duncan gave me (for my birthday) to my favorite shop. I did find a few things I needed and it gave me a real lift as well. I entered a contest to win a $50 gift certificate and guess what - I won!!

So... what do you think... just maybe this getting out of recent debt thing will pay off in the long run for me.

Fast Sunday fats . . .

Today was fast Sunday - the first Sunday of the month! As usual I made popcorn for the Ruffners and we had additional company as well. I put over 2 sticks of butter on the popcorn which in real measurements is 1/2 a lb!!! I am a butter freak and I'm sure you could NEVER tell.

I am supposed to think about LISTS...but where would I start? I have lots of lists around my house with only 1/2 the things crossed off; probably because I put that list down somewhere and never came upon it again!

I think lists are the sign of an organized mind and mine is chaotic!!

The "LISTS" of March just flew out the window...

Okay you "guys"~ no fair ... I haven't the slightest idea what Memes are, even though they have been thoroughly explained. I admit it - I still live in the 1990's and before.

So let me continue my 70's stories for just a little while longer.

We had a big old yellow Ford van with seats for 100 (slightly exaggerating of course) and all I did was taxi people around, all over southern CA. Now that is NO lie, but now I'm digressing myself.

One afternoon, when we lived on Via Viajante, in old El Toro, (which was then at the end of nowhere, believe it or not), I was dropping off kids here and there and one in particular, Kevin, desperately wanted to escape the house and tour the old K-Mart, right in the heart of town... By himself!

I dropped him off with the promise of stopping for him on the way home from picking up others along the route. Now I'm sure you can guess the rest. It was before the time of cell phones and Kevin was penniless. I did my pick ups, forgetting only one stop...

As we were getting ready for dinner someone asked where Kevin was. I, too, began to wonder why he wasn't hanging out in the kitchen, impatiently awaiting dinner, with the rest of the gang.

Finally the phone rang and guess who was calling. Imagine how upset he was that he had to bum money from a complete stranger only to find out that his parent-driver had completely forgotten she had even dropped him off...

I'm still not sure I ever lived that one down.