Fall Moments - Cherished Experiences~

I love the Autumn time. The Utah mountains are abounding in the rich colors of fall. We have been enjoying what is often referred to as an Indian Summer. The months of September and October were very busy ones for us. We had some delightful days with family. 
We were so blessed to have our  daughter,Jenni and son in law Michael here during the month of August. They left the 2nd of September. Here are some photos of our goodbyes. They were moving from Texas to Arizona and we were happy to have some time with them before they settled in their new area. I was sad to see them leave. We had such a good time with them all.

Upper left - Irene Thomas, Michael's Mom, Michael, Alyssa, Roger and our Jenni

Lower Left - Jenni, Michael and Alyssa

Upper right - Irene and LeAnn

Lower right - Irene, Michael, Alyssa, Jenni and Roger~

Here are our adorable grandchildren - Left picture - Emma, Alyssa and Benjamin. 

Upper right - Emma, Benjamin and Alyssa

Lower right - Alyssa and Benjamin~

On September 5th and 6th we had our 50th High School Reunion. Here are pictures of our ladies luncheon that I attended. There was around 40 High school friends there. We had so much fun catching up with one another. We talked, laughed, and reminisced the afternoon hours away.

On Sunday, September 7th we attended the Blessing of our newest Great Granddaughter, Myah. Our son Sean gave sweet Myah a lovely blessing. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch with the families. 

 Top picture Jessica with baby Myah, Jed with great granddaughters, Jadyn and Lilly -
Middle left -Grandparents, Sean, Mary and baby Myah -
Lower left - Baby Myah - Middle right - Great Grandparents, Roger, LeAnn with baby Myah
Lower left - little Myah - Lower right - Aunt Gillian, Great Grandmother LeAnn, Jessica with Myah, Grandmother, Mary and Great Grandmother, Virginia

 Top Photo -Jed, Jessica's parents, Carolyn and Kelly Giles and Jessica

Middle left - Jessica and Myah, Jed with Jadyn and Lilly

Middle right - Jadyn,  Aunt Gillian with Myah and Lilly

Lower left - Myah's Great Great Grandpa Calvin Giles with Myah

Lower right Myah's Grandparents, Carolyn and Kelly~

Next we started  attending the games that our grandchildren play in during the fall. 

Joseph our grandson playing Football on September 18th. Joseph plays wide receiver and punt returner and defensive back. He is an excellent player and has made touch downs during this season~

We had a fabulous time at the Birthday party for our youngest Great Grandson, Sagan. He turned two years old. He is just so adorable and we really enjoy being with him.

 Upper photo - Jacob, Dana with Sagan~

Middle left - Sagan - Lower left - Roger and Sagan

Middle right - the family - Lower right, LeAnn and Sagan~

 Upper left - Jacob and Mary - 2nd row left - Dana making the cake

3rd row left - Sean, our son and Roger - Lower left the birthday cake

Upper right - family picture - Lower right Jacob and Sagan~

Here is our Grandson Jonathan playing Soccer on September 25th. We had a hard time finding this place and missed a bit of the game. Jonathan was playing forward and he has some great footwork.

Our grandson Joseph's football game on October 1st. He is number 30.
 He played a great game and we are so impressed with his skills ~

October brought us to Idaho Falls for a quick vacation week. We arrived late on Monday, October 6th and stayed through the week. Our main purpose was to be with family and attend the football games of our grandchildren living in Sugar City, Idaho and Idaho Falls. 

We stayed near the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. There is a beautiful riverfront there. We enjoyed swimming and bike riding. 

Idaho Falls Temple ~

                           

 

Roger and I enjoying the falls~

Here is our grandson Ethan, number 82. We attended his game on October 8th. He is a linemen. Towards the end of this game he stripped the ball from a player and made a touchdown.
 It was an awesome moment. 

Our Grandson Austin was in this football game. He is number 55. 

We enjoyed this game on October 10th.

This was a fun game to watch. Austin plays lineman both offensive and defensive.

He is a very tough and an excellent player~

We went to a gun range and had a great time shooting various guns. Our son Travis has been in the Sheriff Department. He enjoys hunting with his sons and has worked hard to teach all of his children gun safety. We had great time with them all.
Here we are with Travis our son, Amanda, our daughter in law and their children.  

Upper left - Kason, Amanda with Haven, 

our youngest granddaughter and Karli

Lower left - Ryley

Upper right - my son Travis with LeAnn (me)

Lower right - my husband, Roger~

Upper left -  Ethan with Karli - Middle left - Amanda and Haven

Lower left - Austin - Upper right, Amanda - Lower right - Ethan with Layton~

Upper left - Roger - Middle left - LeAnn - 

Upper Right - Travis

Lower photo - Ethan~

We watched our Grandson, Christian play football on October 9th, Jr. Varsity game and and then again on Oct 10th, Varsity game. He plays offensive tackle. He is a really an excellent player in this position.
  We enjoyed both games. Christian is number 64~

We spent some enjoyable moments with James, our son and daughter in law, Amber with Christian, Taylor Jo and Averi - We took some camera pictures while with them. However, we recently got new I Phones and I forgot to get the pictures off my old phones. Therefore, I had to borrow a few from Amber's mother a good friend of mine with permission of course. So these are the most updated of them. 

Upper left - Averi, Taylor Jo and Amber - Middle left - Averi hanging out - Lower left - Taylor Jo.  -

 Upper right - Christian and our son James - Lower right - Christian~

Here is our grandson Ryley; number 82. He played a great game on Saturday, October 11th . He is a fourth grader and plays lineman. Their little team didn't win any games during the season. On this day they won and it was a great game to watch. They came together and played hard making passes and runs. The score was 40 - 18; just amazing. We were so excited for them all~ 

Our grandson Jeffery is playing in this Soccer game; first as a goalie and then a forward. 

He is an amazing player and very fun to watch.  He has made a number of goals this season. 
We attended this game on October 22nd. 

Next we celebrated our grandson Joshua's birthday on October 23rd. He turned 8 years old. In our faith turning eight is very significant. This is when they are baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is excited to be turning 8. Here are pictures of this awesome celebration.

Upper left - part of the family at this event - Middle left Joshua blowing out his birthday candles with his mother, Mary and grandmother, Virginia - Upper right - our grandsons, Jeffery and Joshua - 
Middle right another family picture -
Bottom photo is the waiters singing Happy Birthday to Joshua~

Upper picture - Joshua opening presents with Jeffery assisting~

Middle left - Joshua and Jeffery reading a card sent from our grandson, Jackson who is serving a mission in Nebraska - Middle right our Great Grandson, Sagan with Grandpa, Roger

Lower left - Grandma, LeAnn with Sagan - Joshua opening up presents. This was his Cub Scout shirt

We all had a great dinner and precious moments at this one~

Next on Saturday, October 25th we attended Joshua's soccer game. 

He is good little player too. He is number 1 ~

Here is our final game of the season. We attended our Grandson, 
Jonathan's soccer game on Saturday, October 25th - 
Jonathan plays mostly goalie and he stopped some great kicks in this game. 

As you can see we had some marvelous and cherished moments with our family. 
Families are forever and we love every minute we can spend with them. 

"Miracles Come By Faith And Action"~

Photo by Debbie @ It's All About Purple~

Recently, a daughter called to talk with me about a struggle she was having. After listening to her concerns, I felt impressed to share with her some of my thoughts regarding faith. Several years ago President Spencer W. Kimball wrote a book entitled: "Faith Precedes The Miracle". Since reading that book I have often pondered on the concepts he taught. I frequently reflect on the title "faith precedes the miracle" whenever I find myself in a difficult situation. There have been countless times when I have worked hard at exercising my faith in order to receive answers to prayer and and to seek blessings upon my family. Sometimes, blessings seem to come by prayer alone but more often they take additional effort. I find that Faith requires work. I have found that when you pray for a blessing you must then do your part in helping the blessing to come about. 

Within a few hours of that call from my daughter, I was reading a book and came across an enlightening story. I called her  back and shared it with her. My hope was that it would strengthen her and she would know exactly what she needed to do to get the help that she needed. 

The story is found in the book entitled: "Power From On High - Gaining Spiritual Strength" by C. Max Caldwell. Here is the story and a few of his thoughts:

"Many years ago, a bishop friend of mine took a group of Scouts on a camping trip to Yellowstone Park for several days. They traveled by canoes across a very large lake to get to their camp area on its far shore. After being there a few days, they heard a radio message warning campers of an early-season storm moving into the area. It would bring snow and cold temperatures. The Bishop decided they should cut their camping trip short and prepare to leave for home the next morning. However, by morning, the winds preceding the storm had already come and were creating very dangerous water conditions on the lake, especially for young boys in canoes.

The bishop delayed their departure, hoping the wind would calm down. He went into the woods two or three times to plead for the Lord to calm the winds. While pleading for this blessing, the bishop received a very distinct impression from the Lord. It was simply,"Bishop, what are you waiting for?"

He knew what to do. He loaded the boys and their camp equipment into the canoes and pushed the canoes out into the wind-whipped water. As they left the safety of the shore, the wind ceased to blow, the air was still, and the water became calm. After crossing the lake and arriving safely on the other side, they all knelt to thank the Lord for His miraculous assistance. Each of them learned a valuable lesson. Through we trust in the Lord, He expects us to move ahead and take steps in the right direction before His blessing is bestowed. There wasn't any reason for the Lord to calm the wind on the lake while they were still sitting on the shore. The power from on high that controlled the elements was predicted on the faith and works of the petitioners. 

As I reflect on my own experiences with faith I  realize that miracles do come by faith accompanied by action. 

The Simple Woman's Daybook Entry - A Lovely Day~

For Today

October 16th - 2014

Stop by and visit other The Simple Woman's Day Book Entries here.

Outside my window....it is a very beautiful fall day. The fall colors are spectacular. The temperatures today are in the 60's. We are having a lovely Indian summer. 

I am thinking...It is time for blogging. I haven't read any blog posts for about a week and I am missing all of you that I follow. I am wondering how each of you are doing. I think of you as such good friends and so you are often in my daily thoughts. I will be reading your posts tomorrow.

I am thankful...that my husband and I were able to take a mini vacation to Idaho to have a couple of days together and then some time with family. We attended 5 football games in 4 days that our grandchildren were playing in. I will post some pictures later. It was fun to see them play; we have some talented football players. 

My Hubby and my Sammy

In the kitchen...I will be grilling Pork Chops and making a Salad dinner. No dessert for us tonight. My husband was recently diagnosed with Diabetes. It is not bad so we think it can be controlled by diet. It means of course giving up sugars as much as possible so I am learning how to cook in a different way. Thus far we have both lost some weight; which is a real bonus. I think we are going to do OK with it all. Of course, I haven't been able to give up chocolate; I don't think that will happen for me. I have cut back however; so that is good. 

I am wearing.....A pink tee shirt, light blue Levis, pink socks and black slippers.

I am creating...a mess right now. I have been trying to go through some old files that I haven't looked at for a very long time. I am trying to decide what to toss and what to keep. My files are a mess. Now that we have the computer I can look up subjects that I want to read and I don't need to put them in a file. I am sure there are priceless items in my files so I have to look at everything, which will probably take a year. 

I am going... with my husband to the temple tonight to do some temple work. I love going with him. It is always a sweet spiritual moment for us both. Wow, I just thought maybe I won't make a dinner I will have him take me to dinner at the temple. There is a Cafeteria there. Brilliant idea, I think!

I am wondering...how to organize my time. I think I am always trying to do this but I am not accomplishing very much. It seems like every time I have a plan something interrupts it. I then end up not finishing the project I am working on. I need to have better priorities but it isn't happening yet. If any of you out there have a good suggestion; let me know. My time management skills are the pits right now

I am reading...The Book of Mormon with the study guide This has been a slow go recently.

 I am also reading the Doctrine and Covenants. This book of scripture is revelations that were received by the Prophet Joseph Smith and other prophets in the Latter-days. 

It is one of my favorite book of scriptures and I haven't read it for a while. I am trying to read at least a section a day.

 I am finally in the 3rd book of the series; "Come To Zion - Fresh Courage Take" by Dean Hughes

 

This is an amazing book. I am astounded sometimes at what all of the early saints of our church went through for their beliefs. This book is centered around their time in Nauvoo when the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith were killed at Carthage Jail. After their martyrdom the lives of the people in Nauvoo were threatened and many of their homes were burned by mobs. Eventually they had to leave this beautiful city and temple that they had sacrificed to build and come west where they could live in peace. The story is sad but the saints of that day were so resilient, courageous, and stalwart in their faith. They have left a great legacy for us to follow. Their stories are truly inspirational.We have ancestors that lived at that time in Nauvoo. We visited Nauvoo a few years ago and reflected on the great sacrifices that they made for their faith. Times were difficult but they were blessed in miraculous way. These series of books have been such an eye opener to the lives of those blessed pioneers. I have shed many tears while reading this excellent series. 

I am hoping...to be able to do some family history research tomorrow; at least that is the plan. I have found several histories of my ancestors on Family Search so it has been exciting to read them. I marvel at their faith and the many miracles that occurred in their lives.  It has given me strength to face some of the obstacles in my own life. I have often used the mantra if my great great grandparents can do what they had to do; I can too. Go to the Family Search site and look up some of your ancestors and perhaps you will find a story or two. 
I am looking forward to.......less stressful days; if that is possible. It seems like that time is speeding by and I am actually accomplishing less. How did I ever raise 6 children; it's a wonderment to me.
I am learning trying to learn...believe it or not Spanish. My husband and I have decided to try and learn Spanish. Not only will it be good to stimulate our brains therefore possibly preventing or at least slowing down future dementia. We bought the Rosetta Stone course, so I will keep you posted on how I am doing. My biggest problem is that I don't know how to pronounce many English words so Spanish will be a challenge for me. 
Around the house...I have been cleaning it. I worked on the downstairs today and the upstairs tomorrow. I have had a sweet neighbor girl help me for a while due to back problems. I am now taking on the care of my home without help. My sweet husband does help me when he can. I need to do fall cleaning so that is in the plan also.  

I am pondering...how to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. You would think that one can just do it. However, it seems like each night we just never seem to get to bed until at least 11 pm. My husband get's up at 7 am for work and I am grateful he works at home. I then struggle to get up around 8 am. I need an extra hour in my day and it will only happen if I can just manage to get to bed at 10 pm. and then get up earlier. I will let you know when and if I accomplish that goal. 
A favorite quote……

One of my favorite things... is to talk on the phone with my friends. However, with emails, texting, Facebook and etc.; that doesn't happen very often. I think that is kind of sad. I really am worried about how our grandchildren are going to learn to have a real face to face conversation. Most of their parents now request that they not use media when we are visiting so that we can actually have a good verbal visit with them. It has been sweet to just relax and enjoy our grandchildren without them holding their phones and texting friends. 

A few plans for this week: To the temple tonight - Family History work tomorrow - To bed early for the temple on Friday - To our temple shift on Saturday and possibly a movie in the afternoon. We want to see the movie; "Meet The Mormons" and/or "16 Stones". We are looking forward to viewing both these two movies. "Meet The Mormon" actually was # 10 over the opening weekend; which was awesome. It would be so wonderful if those of other faiths would see this movie and realize that we truly are Christians.

A peek into one of my days from this week... 

Another Grandson's football game on Tuesday~

"Meet The Mormons" A Movie~

I am a Mormon. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A brief history of the church can be found here. The Church was restored and organized on April 6th 1830. You can read about the restored church here.
In the beginning days of the church there was great opposition and persecution. Today we still have some persecution but more misunderstandings of what we believe and who as a people we really are. Many do not think we are Christians. The church has recently made a film entitled; "Meet The Mormons" to clarify who we are. All proceeds from this movie will be given to the Red Cross organization. If it comes in your area take some time and find out more about the Mormons. The stories are about a few Mormon families throughout the world.


Just wanted all of you who follow my blog to know that I am presently in Idaho visiting with our two sons and their families. We are having a good time attending 4 football games of our grandchildren. I will be blogging more about these family events later.
 I am trying to pop in and out to read your posts. You are all dear friends so if I miss any; it is because I am on family time. Hugs to all!

Come Listen; Feel The Spirit and Receive Answers To Your Prayers~

I really love fall. There is a unique feeling that comes into my heart and soul when the weather changes and the beautiful fall colors roll into view. It is also a very special time of year for the sweet opportunity of a weekend of messages given at our Semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
After the two day conference that is held twice a year; I spend time reading the Conference messages over. I always find answers to prayers, guidance for my life, and uplifting thoughts to help me when dealing with the struggles of life. 
We believe in a modern day Prophet like the Prophets of old. Here is the Prophet.

Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; 

Thomas S. Monson

 We also have 12 Apostles just like in the time when the Savior was here on earth.

The Twelve Apostles~

 During this coming weekend we will have the opportunity to hear from our Prophet as well as members of the quorum of 12 Apostles, as they deliver powerful messages for our time. Like Peter, James and John, who led the Church after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have a modern First Presidency.

First Counselor, Henry B. Eyring - President, Thomas S. Monson  -

 2nd Counselor, Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I am very excited to listen to their messages. My prayer is that no matter your faith that you might take a moment and listen to our Prophet. We believe he is a Prophet for the world. 
Topics will include: Our Heavenly Father, Our Savior, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Eternal Life, the Holy Ghost, the Restoration of the Gospel, Service, Love, Kindness, and many other timely subjects.
You can find the information for viewing this conference here. 
LDS Church Shares facts about conferences here.
You can find You Tube videos of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir here.
Find out more about Living Prophets and Apostles of our day here. 

" Listen to a Prophets Voice" by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir~

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