Las Vegas Trip

We had a fun time last week, we went down to Las Vegas for the NAGGL convention for Brent's work.  Me, I went along for the fun.   AND it was fun!  Yes, of course, I rented a car to get me around and to go shopping and exploring.   We were way out west in Summerlin at the Red Rock Resort and Casino, pretty average posh, great bed and pillows.  That was about all that I really liked about this place.  Oh, and yes I did like that I could park near the entrance, glad for a handicapped sticker.  Wish it worked for our room.  It was 52, way down the corridor....two for the end, what a hike to get there and back.  Only one elevator and everything was miles away.
     I don't like buffets and they are Brent's heaven....do opposites really attract?   First night, Tuesday, we went to the Red Rock Kings Feast, it was completely forgettable, but I was soooo hungry. Brent loved it....  Next morning Brent was in the convention and I went exploring and shopping.   My little zoomer car zipped around pretty good and I found parts of LV I had never been to.    I don't like the strip, so stayed out west and found my kind of stores.  Did buy a few things, of course.
     Then headed back just in time to find Brent.  We decided to go the the Claim Jumper, only 2 miles away and I was pretty tired so glad it was close.  Punched in the address to my TomTom and it had a hard time finding it.  We got on the belt route and headed where it told us to go.....too funny, 8+ miles away and in the middle of almost no where, there we were and it wasn't the restaurant!  

     Well, from where we were, we could see the Rio and knew they had that great Seafood Buffet, yes I do like that one, so off we headed again.  After a couple of dead ends that we always hit when we come to the Rio from the south, we finally made it!  Famished and dinner was great and there were crab leg parts all over the floor, not just from us, but from everyone.  It looked like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman at the restaurant. It was a great time, always is when we get fed.
     Next day a bit of shopping, Fashion Show Mall, lasted about 1/2 hour, that was enough.  I wanted to see Bloomingdale's, when I got there it was just the home department.  Disappointing, so I 1left and headed over to the Nugget where we were going to stay that night.   Brent drove the company car, slow, slower, slowest  Prius to meet me there.  We had a great room, easy parking and felt like we were coming home.   We love the Golden Nugget and the Shark Tank swimming pool.   

     We had tickets that night to the Nationals of the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) and it was great fun!  Would love to go to more shows like this over and over again.
      After a great nights sleep we headed home.   We had to take the rental car back, first, then had a hearty healthy breakfast at McDonalds....got on the freeway driving north.  But, WAIT, there is the Las Vegas Speed Way and they had the National Drags going on!  Brent says do you want to go?  Me, I am always ready for more fun, but didn't say turn.   Somehow the car just turned onto the exit ramp and it just headed into the track!   What could we do?
      Tickets were reasonable and so many booths along the way.   Loved it.  The bleachers even had a back rail, who would have thunk?   Great time!  DRAGS ARE THE BEST!    You can't hardly believe how fast they go, they have really improved in the last 30 years.  Pro Stock cars, motorcycles and funny cars zooming by.  THEN the nitro smell and flames, the thundering shudder right through your whole entire body and the sounds so loud that earplugs and fingers can't protect your hearing.  But who cares?   What a great fun experience.  They are the BEST!
      We headed home, stopped in Mesquite for dinner, then to St George.  No room at the Inn, headed to Beaver for a room, but when we got there we were still awake and most important, alert!  So, off we headed to our very own comfortable bed.   Driving in the full moonlight was enchanting and beautiful.  We finally got home around 1:00 a.m. and  hit the sack.
      GOOD TIMES WITH MY BEST FRIEND! 

FOND MEMORIES... Looking back in the years to come

GRATITUDE and GIVING THANKS

         Brent and I were just talking about our move to SoCal when Roy was little (21 months) and Tommy was not quite born.   We moved to Huntington Beach for Brent's work and a better future.  We had some pretty rough times there, monetarily, but that time helped us grow and solidified our life together.    

         We have so many happy memories, joy in overcoming the hardships and fun in exploring new places and people.   I think out in the mission field, that area, was one of my favorite times in all the church wards we have been in.   

          Beautiful flowers, fruit orchards and the ocean.   Seemed like heaven in some ways.   Some of our hardest times, but we weathered the brown residue at the bottom of the bottle when I made powdered milk, 1001 ways to cook potatoes as a main dish, fragrant oranges and Brent bringing them home after he had been to help on the Church Farm.   

Learning about Christ-like love from the Armstrong's, our landlords who were of another religion.  Finding and making new friends and building a home in a 2 bedroom apartment. 

I think we can be very grateful we were not a pioneer, just think of the heavy, long dresses with all the petticoats….  I remember when all the homes didn't have dishwashers or the internet and computers.  

Back then our houses and cars didn’t have any air-conditioning. That really was not so long ago.  Hot, heavy, sweltering days where the ground burns right through your rubber thongs (flip-flops, now a days).  Long, hot nights just waiting for a breeze to come down from the canyons and cool us off.   Lots of evenings with the door and windows all open wide, trying to get a quiver of the tiniest waft of air to move that stifling, muggy air.  Shutting the windows early in the morning to help keep the cool air in as long as we could. 

We didn't use fast food as we do now, so cooking was just adding heat to the fire.   Taco casserole and Tamale pies, and cool cheesecakes were all good memories from that time.

Can you even imagine being a pioneer, on the plains, in the winter with a dugout in highest hump of the flat-lands for your protection or a house made out of dirt sod?    I used to read stories of the pioneers and could not even understand their courage, not to sure that I could do all that they did.  Freezing blizzards or heat and drought and still not much shelter, and self reliance, with hardships beyond measure.

One of most fun times as a child was playing “going across the plains” as pioneers in the “Olden Times”  Lots of fun back then, even lots of western shows, Wagon Train, Rawhide (Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates-my favorite), Bonanza, Fury and so many more.   Idyllic stories of times gone by.  Looking back with perspective tends to leave us with golden memories, but the living through those trials isn’t easy and was the true test.  I guess our times are no different, we all face challenges, just different ones in this day and age.   We are all the pioneers in our own life.

I love living in our times with all the modern technology, improvements to living and the conveniences of our time, right now.   

Just me thinking and reminiscing of times gone by and a happy heart for all those whom came before us, looking ahead, working hard for a better life.   And all those who kept, as my Dad used to say, "Improving on the stock".  

Blessings

Bobby Jo, a very special person, a friend from Jr High and High School is sick, going through cancer treatments.  I love her blogs and am grateful for her strength and her deep convictions.   I know she will fight the best of wars on her enemy and with our Lord's help.

She tops her blog with words from one of my favorite LDS hymns, Count Your Blessings, pg 241.  

I believe this is as true now as it was when it was written all those years ago.

"Count your many Blessings; Angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your Journey’s end."

Lest we never forget, from where all our blessing come from.

My Saddest Heart

Sometimes you just can't wrap your mind around things that naturally happen in our world, like earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and tragic fires. But it is even more unbelievable when something happens that one person purposely caused.  Josh how could you?

The one thing that is impossible to still believe is Josh Powell killing his innocent little boys, and even more unimaginable is how he did it.

How could a father do this? He was really a monster. His thoughts probably were that if he could not control his boys, no one would. Such a horrific,
selfish action.

There's a commandment of "Thou Shalt Not Kill.", but also to compound on his sins there's a scripture in Matthew 18:6 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Josh took his own pitiful life, so the sea is not an option, but I think that the eternities he has chosen to be thrown out in outer darkness is even more sad.

Our Heavenly Father tells us not to judge others, so I will try to forgive Josh, or at least not think of this sadness as best I can. I believe that ALL the atrocities and unfairness in life will be handled by the only One who can really make those decisions.

I think that Josh learned many of his terrible bad habits, selfishness, arrogance and who knows what else from his father. He is also responsible in some great part. But as stated above, the Lord will take care of him, too.

I believe he first took his wife's life, then broke all hearts when he took the sweet lives of his beautiful, innocent boys.

The only solace that I can take from this is that now Susan can raise her boys in Paradise.

I didn't know this family personally, but through all the press and news, I feel like I do somehow. I hate the exploiting of their stories, but without this news I would never have known this tragic story of real people, of a real family gone. I wish this had only been a story of fiction that I could real, not real life events.

Happy heaven to those three lost ones, who died way too early. My heartfelt prayers and thought go to them, their loved ones and friends.

*Wear blue in honor of Braden and Charlie for Blue Saturday, February 11.

Just Thinking

Just thinking....More truths I know:

I am a child of God and we all are children of God. How lucky we are!

We need to think deeply about who we are and why we are and what we want to be; having no restrictions.

Love the Season you are in; yearly and in your life. There is beauty in everything all around you.

Be grateful, nothing more needs to be said.

Do those things you love to do, but do the other things that you have to do, both should make you satisfied and someday happier and content. It is important to have control over one's life. It is a daily challenge.

There is a big difference between wants and needs.

No one should be powerless in their own life. It is the good choices that we make each day that frees us.

I do believe in "Love at first sight.", because I have experienced this with my Sweetheart, Brent.

I am so blessed, because once upon a time, but not very often in this world, in a very ordinary life, love has given me a true eternal fairytale.





Friends are an important sweetness in your life. Handle with love and care.

We have been taught that Love is the answer in almost all questions.

Some True Tenants I have Learned From Life

My resolution in 2012 is to share some of my own personal beliefs. I will add more later, but here are some of them now... my 'Maryisms' or Mary's Bible:

- It doesn't really matter what happens to you, it is HOW you handle it that ultimately, truly mattters.

- I think we should all do good and be good with no expectations from anyone, ever. The best reward is the feeling of joy in your own soul.

- It is always better to smile than any other option.

- This one I learned early in life, be honest and don't lie, life is just simple, then.

- True love from a good man, conquers all. (I will always love you Brent, eternally everlasting.)

- I was taught true unselfishness from my dear husband.

- A nice word to others goes along ways to your own personal joy.

- Will it matter in 20 years? If not, is it worth the fight? This is a good means to help draw the lines on ideas or things that are worth fighting for.

- Self worth comes from the unselfish love and happiness you can give to others.


- Grandkids may be even better than your own children, and that is pretty hard to beat.

- I tell my grand children that "I love them forever and ever, plus a day, no matter what!" I make them repeat that back to me so they will always have that truth inside of their hearts

- Hugs and kisses are an essential part of life. They help us grow, they are free to give and they are equally good for the giver and the receiver.

- Sunrise and sunsets may be the best parts of a beautiful day.

- Just do it, do it right, do it right now. My Mom always said "How come he can find the time to do it the second time, when he didn't take the time and do it right the first time?"

- Find the beauty in everyday simple things, they create lasting pleasure.

- Love of critters gives so much more love in return. Our pets are important to how we view life ,they need our care and they love us just like we are.

- One from favorites is take from Mary Englebreight:
No matter where you go, there you are.

- I am grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and yes, I am a Mormon.
And to the WORLD: We base our religion on Jesus Christ, I cannot understand why some people say and think I do not believe in Jesus Christ. This is a beautiful sculpture that resides on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.