HISTORY MADE TODAY.

History was made today. The 44th President of the United States was put into office today. What makes this situation history making is this: He is our first African American elected into this position. I wouldn't have mentioned this subject had it not been a historical day. It needs to be remembered.
If he is able to accomplish his campaign promises, maybe the world will be better. I truly don't think any President is able to accomplish all of their campaign promises -because of the system. He cannot make choices by himself. I have mixed emotions about him being into office.

THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS VIDEO.

I thought you might enjoy this video. Yes, I know it's late. (It takes me sometime to view e-mails that I know are going to take extra time. This video takes over 5 minutes. I just got around to it today.
Check out this web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxKas2Mcjg4 It's a good message for everyone-no matter what time of the year it is.
Diane

EVENING PICTURE OF TWIN FALLS TEMPLE

I thought you might enjoy this picture. It was taken on Christmas Eve, 2008. It was just starting to snow.
This is my favorite place. I substitute often. My regular shift is Friday mid shift-during the day.
I have sub. on every day except Tuesday. I have sub. on Saturday early morning shift and soon Thursday early morning shift-6:00a.m. I have sub. on Friday late shift-to closing. I have sub. on Wednesday & Thursday mid shift.
The Counselors wife says she's going to put a bed in the Temple for me.

NEW LOOK

Well, I guess you can see that I have a new look. I'm not satisfied with this. I'm still looking for the perfect one. This one will do until, I find the perfect one -and also smart enough to get it. I'm not as talented as Lyndsay is and take elements from others to make one.
Today, Rick surprised me by helping to put up all of the outside Christmas lights. That usually ends up being only my job. My body is so wore out anymore, it's geting very hard to do the "physical" stuff. I'm just about to the point of not putting them up very much longer. However, if Rick helps, then I will continue to put them up each year and enjoy them. THANKS RICK FOR THE EFFORT TODAY!

Christmas Lights from our house and Chocolate Pie Recipe

Some Christmas sights from our house for your enjoyment.



Our candy canes are actually red this year. We also have a flood light on the manger-so you can see them better. This year, we also don't have the extra lights in the trees.

Here's my traditional Chocolate Cream Pie recipe-improved thru the years.

2 or 3 pkgs. of 8 oz. cream cheese 1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar 2-3 lg. tubs of Cool Whip
1 cup cocoa powder 3 teaspoons of vanilla
6-10 cooked pie crusts. Grated semi-sweet chocolate chips or candy bar

Combine cream cheese, sugar, & vanilla in lg. mixing bowl. Add cocoa alternately with milk, beating until smooth. Gradually add & fold in Cool Whip until well combined. Pour or scoop into pie shells quickly. The more cream cheese you use, the quicker it sets up. However, I prefer the more cream cheese. Garnish with grated semi-sweet chocolate chips. Freeze until ready to serve. (Stephanie prefers to let it thaw a little before serving.) Depending on how full you make the pies, you may or may not have leftover filling. If you do, just freeze it-for more pies later.

Our Christmas traditions: peanut clusters and my chocolate cream pie.

SOME FAMILY PICTURES & CATCHING UP.

Well, it's been quite awhile since I posted anything new. I finshed work in mid-October. Life is really busy. I'm trying to get ready for the holidays now. I'm going to post some pictures and let you catch up with our family.

Tyler, "Bekha", & Jacob
These are Heather's kids. Tyler is 10 years old. He loves riding our 4 wheeler and his own motorcycle. He's in the 6th grade and was in football this fall. He is Bonka's guy. "Bekha" is 8 years old. She has enjoyed dancing the last few years. She's pretty good at it. She's a "girly" girl. Howeve, she surprised me. This next summer, she wants to play baseball. Jacob is 6 years old. He's quite mischievious. He's grandma's guy.

Stephanie's kids, Arianna, "Mady", & "Kenna"
The group picture of Stephanie's kids was taken in the summer sometime. Traci, Jacob, Kari, Arianna, "Kenna" & "Mady". They don't get many times when all of the kids are there at the same time. Arianna is in the 8th grade. This is her first day of school picture. She's had another knee surgery. This was her good knee. She's doing good. This is "Mady's" first day of school picture also. Don't you just love her smile? She was asked to participate in a drug-free "to do" for the whole state of Idaho. She was the only one asked out of her school. The governor spoke at this function. I didn't get to watch her, because it was a Friday. Rick went with his parents. They said the audience loved her the best. Maybe, that's because she had her talk mostly memorized and her great smile. "Kenna" and daddy are going to her first day of school also (Pre-school) . She is pretty independent and starting to be quite the shatter box. The problem is that I can't understand everything she says. She calls us sometimes, just to talk.

This was taken the first part of November. They are Stephanie's step-kids. Traci, Kari, & Jacob. Kari also had a knee surgery. She is doing very well and is a sophmore in High School. Traci is in volleyball and is trying our for the "Jump" acting production that goes on every year for the kids in Magic Valley. She was in it once before. Jacob just continues to get taller.

Heather & Stephanie's brother and his wife (Andy & Stacy) came down for an early Thanksgiving visit. They were here for almost a week. We were invited to a family gathering to spend some time with them. They're a cute couple. They live in California. Andy is in a band. He is the lead singer. Both of them work for her relatives in construction.

Well, I've been substituting in the Temple on a pretty regular basis-besides my own shift. I substiture on Friday evenings after working all day on Friday. I substitute on Thursday days also. That's fun, but time consuming.

There is a chance that Rick may get to work at the Recommend Desk soon. He's on the list 2 times and the guy in charge of recruiting others works on my shift. My friend visited with the President of theTemple about getting Rick on. The President said that Rick needs to make an effort to go to the Temple on a regular basis. That's how they pick the new ones. We did go to the Temple this last week. An older couple in our ward that has been married for 30 years were sealed. Rick was his escort. That's the first time I got Rick to the Temple in almost 2 years. His depression has gotten extremely worse in the last 2 years. It's hard to get him out of the house anymore. If he gets to work at the Recommend desk, that would be such a great "lift" to both of us.

I just got put into the Primary Presidency. I've been the President once before. I've been the 1st Counselor twice and the Secretary once. This time, I am the 2nd Counselor. I'm a little intimidated. I've never been over the older kids. I'm not real excited about being in charge of the scouts. I keep reminding myself what the Temple President says: "Those that are called, become qualified." I guess that's what Heavenly Father wants me to do. I conducted the opening exercises yesterday-our first day. Luckily, I don't have to to Sharing Time until the first Sunday in December. Maybe by then, I'll feel more comfortable in this new calling.

SOME CATCHING UP.

Well it's been at least 3 weeks since I've added anything. That's because I'm working Seneca (Green Giant). I work 6 days a week 10-12 hours a day. The 7th day of the week, I serve at the Temple. Not much time to do anything else. When I get done with work, I'll try to post some pictures.
It's so-o- o nice to be serving in the Temple again. Mostly, I have been serving in Iniatory. That is where my heart is. I hope to be able to at least experience the other assignments since it's a brand new Temple. I will in time. It's nice not traveling 2 hours to the Temple and 2 hours to drive back home. The Temple has been full most of the time since it opened. It has even added extra chairs for the sessions for the first 3 months. Most of them have also been full. That's great.
All of my grandkids have started school. Stephanie's oldest (Mike's oldest) is in high school. Stephanie's oldest of her own should be in high school except she was held back one year because of her having a knee surgery. Stephanie's youngest-Kennedi started pre-school this year. The rest of Stephanie's kids are stretched out in between the ones that I mentioned. Heather's oldest-Tyler is in the 6th grade this year and had his first football game this last Saturday. Heather's youngest -Jacob started 1st grade this year. I guess with all of my grandkids in school, that makes me getting old.
Rick is always fighting his depression-(our whole married life). At times it gets slightly better. That always helps.
We've taken our 4 wheelers out 4 times this summer. We're getting better an learning how to steer them. They are still harder to steer than out motorcycles were. It's been fun doing something.
Talk to you later. 4:30 a.m. comes early.

TEMPLE YOUTH CELEBRATION & TEMPLE DEDICATION.

Last night was the Youth Cultural Celebration for the Temple. It was held at the fairgrounds and also broadcast to all of the Stake Centers. Most people were not invited to go to the fairgrounds. We had to watch it at the Stake Center. In a way, it was better, because we got to see President Monson a lot closer than the people in the bleachers. He rode into the area on a golf cart and had his only daughter with him. He visited with the youth as he was walking on stage. The sound wasn't turned on yet, so we couldn't hear what he was saying. There was a temporary stand with a podium set up for him. Since it was temporary, because he would be in the bleachers later, he was facing the sun. He had been setting down and put a pair of sun glasses on. When he got up to speak, he forgot about the sunglasses. I guess he realized that he still had them on and didn't know what to do. Leave it to him to do something cute. He took them off and put them on Elder Brent Nielson. Elder Nielson kept the sunglasses on until President Monson finished talking. When President Monson went into the bleachers, he took time to shake the hand of each Stake President and their wives.
The celebration was about the history of Idaho and the cultures of the people that came to Idaho. It lasted about 1 & 1/2 hours. They did a good job. One sad note about the event. The man in charge of this had cancer. He was in remission when he was first asked to be in charge of the event. He passed away on the 21st. (That is Rick's birthday and also President Monson's birthday.) He was able to see the kids perform in their dress rehearsalbefore he died.
I don't know about any of you that don't live in our area and what you got to see for the Temple dedication. But in our area, we were assigned 2 times to watch it-either 9:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. I had Rick get tickets to the 2:00 session in case I got to work, I could get in a half day at least. I don't know if the 9:00 a.m. actually showed the cornerstone ceremony or not. (When I've watched other dedications-they have.) Well, the 2:00 session did not show the cornerstone ceremony. I was a little bummed about that. Then I looked at the Times News on line. They have a short video of the cornerstone ceremony. If you didn't get to see it when you watched the dedication-click on the Times News link that I have on my blog.
This coming Friday-the 29th of August is my first time for serving in the Temple ! I'm excited.

Our last day serving at the Temple Open House and other information about the Temple.

We served our last day at the Open House on Friday the 8th of August. Elder Nielson said that we're averaging between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors a day. Fridays and Saturdays are averaging between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors. As of 7:00 a.m. that morning, there have been 295 self-referrals to the church. That's pretty exciting. He didn't have any neat stories to share this time. (Some of the neat stories will be written down and put into the cornerstone-to be opened in 100 years from now.)
Both of the other times, we were able to serve in the Temple for at least part of the time. This time, Rick served in the Temple, but I volunteered to serve in the Stake Center. ( I was directing traffic flow in the chapel. We were so busy for about 2 1/2 hours, that even the choir seats were full besides the chapel being full. Everyone came at once and had to go on a first come basis.)
I was aware of 2 situations that I know happened because Heavenly Father wanted them to happen. There was a small group of people that had at least one Japenese with them. They wanted someone to translate for him. One of our security people from our Stake that was assigned to work - just happened to have gone to Japan on his mission. He was their translator. Another incident like that: A small group came in that had a deaf person. He wanted someone that could sign for him. I told them that I would find out if we had someone. Sure enough, we did. The wife of our 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency knew how to sign. She was actually one of our tour guides. We had to do a little switching around of people, but she ended up being their translator. Heavenly Father makes things happen in such a natural way, that many people don't realize that He has a hand in all things-but I know He wanted these people to be there when we could best serve them.
We were only assigned to work the early morning shift. That's all Rick served. When it got time for my replacement to come, not many people showed up. I volunteered to work a double shift-after we got some food for Rick. It's a good thing that I did go back. Almost all of the ushers that were assigned to the early morning shift (in the Stake House) ended up staying for all or most of the next shift. At first, the afternoon wasn't as busy as the morning. It ended up being almost as busy for about an 1 1/2 hours. I caught a ride home with someone from our Ward.
My girlfriend is in the choir that sings for the dedication. She gets to see the Prophet. She is allowed to take her family. Both Rick & I told her that we thought we were part of her family-so she should invite us also. I don't think she's falling for that line.
I can hardly wait for the Temple to be open. My first day of serving is Friday, August 29th.
There's some confusion about the times that people can go. At first, we were told that it was by appointment only. I don't think that's right-but I'm not sure. Now, my understanding is that appointments are taken for the 1:30 session only. All other sessions, they will reserve 10 seats for out of town patrons. The rest of the room is filled by first come-first serve. The sessions will be every 2 hours, iniatory will be every 2 hours also. If needed afterwards, the sessions will be every hour instead of every 2 hours. The sessions start at 7:30 a.m. except on Wednesdays. That day, they will start at 5:30 a.m. The last session starts at 7 :30 p.m.
Baptism sessions: Weekdays will be at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and also 1:30 p.m.

4 wheeling adventure

We took our 4 wheelers out for the first "real" ride. We've taken them out for a few short rides before. We went up to the South Hills (near Hansen). We went on the back side from the Rogerson area. We had never seen that area before. We're always looking for new scenery. We went up the back side of Deadline Ridge near Fawn Springs. WE ADVICE YOU NOT TO TAKE THIS AREA - UNLESS YOU ARE VERY EXPERIENCED IN DRIVING! This was the worst road we've ever been on. It was very steep and also very rocky. Really, the road was full of 2-3-4 foot boulders all over. We figured it would be just a little ways. No, it went on for quite a ways. Of course, once you've started up one of these areas, there's no turning around. You just have to keep going. Everytime we thought we were to the top of it, it got worse and more steep. A few times we thought we were going to tip over. Thank Heavens for experience in driving. However, we're still learning on the 4 wheelers. They steer a lot different than motorcycles do. Motorcycles are easier to steer. Needless, to say, we went down the hill the other direction.
Even though the road was terribly rough (part of it), we still enjoyed the day. It slightly rained on us. That's kind of nice. We've been rained on (or snowed on) so often, that we've come to expect it. It was good to take advantage of one of my last free days before work starts again.