Frank's Letter July 29, 2009

Read Frank's letter here!

Happy Birthday, Dilbert!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. You're like a good piece of cheese. You get better every day.

I love you, I love you, I love YOU!

Katie

My sister Katie has been battling brain cancer and it's effects for nearly 16 years. Over the last year she had suffered a stroke and had been going downhill for some time. Over the course of the last week she had fallen a number of times, to the point where my sister, her care-giver, had made her wear a bike helmet.

Yesterday Katie was sitting at the kitchen table while my sister went to fix her 1 year-old's hair. Janis heard the crash and found Katie behind the table. She had fallen and hit her head on the windowsill so hard, she cracked the tile. She was unresponsive so Janis called 911. They took her to the U, but she never regained consciousness. The doctors said she had excessive swelling on the brain, but it wasn't caused by the fall. Rather, the fall was a result of the swelling.

She had a living will that stipulated she not receive any life-saving measures, although there was nothing that could have been done anyway. We all gathered and with my parents on speaker phone from Spain, she was given a blessing. She passed peacefully at 8 p.m.

My parents are being released from their mission and they'll be home Tuesday. We are planning the funeral for Friday. As I sat there, watching her transition from this world to the next, I kept thinking how grateful I am for eternal families and the blessings of the temple.

Frank's Letter July 22, 2009

Read Frank's latest letter here!

Old Pictures

I was going through some picture files today and I came across some photos saginaw_annie took for a school assignment. She had to take some pictures using the bulb setting on the camera. She held the shutter open while the models took their position. Then I shined the flashlight on them. While the shutter was still open, I turned off the flashlight and they took a new position. I then turned the flashlight back on. Then Annie let the shutter close. Here are two of the pictures we took using this method... The first I call The Competitive Spirit. The second she called Sisterly Love.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

On Friday I took the girls to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. I learned from the movie they showed before the open house that the word oquirrh was an Indian word meaning light. Oquirrh Mountains were perhaps named because of the way the morning light hits them.



It was a much different experience than when we went to the Draper Temple Open House in January.

First, it was WAY more crowded, and thus far less reverent. We were shoulder to shoulder, the whole way through the temple. It was so crowded that they didn't let us stop as we made our way from room to room. But it is a lovely place and the spirit there is strong. I keep stressing to my children what a blessing it is to be able to have so many temples so close and to not get jaded to the experience because we've had TWO open houses in less than a year. This really is a rare opportunity.




I mention the crowding not to complain about it, but rather to remark that the temple is full, a very good thing. It is wonderful that at 10:30 in the morning on a Friday, there were enough people interested in seeing the temple that it was full to capacity.

Incredible Pasta Salad

Try this INCREDIBLE PASTA SALAD. It is the best recipe. Let me know what you think of it!