You light up my life heart

Can you blame me? I haven't blogged in 20 days. December is the craziest month for doing anything let alone blogging. My family has been so patient, I hate shopping and they don't make me feel too guilty about not going all out in the gift department. I spent almost every waking moment at the Temple Visitors Center for 1 week and then only half a day for the second week while I set up nativities with 3 other women. We eat take out a lot during that time. It just seems like no matter what I plan I have to be willing to go with the flow. I'm so glad that I can do that and that my family does that too. This heart shaped light is a little trick that Samuel Jr. performed. He took a light that was one ridged shape and waved it in the air making a heart. Being able to go with the flow is really an act of love when it means that you flow with your family and friends and their needs.

Well Adjusted Heart

This morning as I was walking I found that the orthotic in my shoe was hurting my foot and that I really need to find a place to sit down and take care of it. As I was looking for a bench to sit on I also found this cute heart shaped leaf, it was from an olive tree that was very near the bench I found to sit on. I looked at the tree's other leaves and I could not find another heart shaped leaf. Something made it grow this way. As I took off my shoe to make the very slight adjustment I thought about that leaf. I made and adjustment to my orthotic, put my shoe back on and off I went. Everything was fine after that. It is just amazing how far just a little adjustment can go. It was just a little adjustment just a slight influence on the development of that leaf that turned it to love. We can be the same way, when any influence affects our existence for good or bad let it turn our hearts to love and everyone around us will benefit from the experience.Doesn't the thougth just make you happier!

Do You See What I See

Sometimes I wonder if people see the same things I see. I see hearts everywhere and now I am seeing happy faces. The other day I was walking with my friend Shelly as she gave me a ride to the Temple. We were walking up to the gate of the Temple when on the ground I saw this heart in the sidewalk. Shelly said oh that is a really good one so I knew that she too could see it clearly. The words in the title of this blog where used as a title to a song about the star that was the sign given in the heavens of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. Being able to have a spiritual eye or witness of him is more important to me than anything else that I could observe in life. I love seeing hearts but I believe that all things testify of Heavenly Father and of Jesus Christ and the love they have for us. Every little heart reminds me of this.

I lost my Grandma Heart

This is my cute little granddaughter Lacy Jo. The Jo part of her name she gets from me, proud grandma. My daughter Jenny sent me these pictures several days ago but I was having a hard time thinking of a message to go with the heart shaped stain on her shirt. Then just last Saturday Jenny and I went to a boutique to do some Christmas shopping along with her 3 children. I took Lacy by the hand and told her that she needed to stay with me so she wouldn't get lost and that I would be responsible for her. Well you know how things like that go. After entering the very crowded boutique Lacy quickly disappeared. It turns out that she went into each of the vender's rooms to ask if they had seen her Grandma because she was lost. When Jenny and I realized that Lacy was not with us we split up and went in different directions looking for her. I went outside and Jenny stayed in. After a while of not finding her I went back inside to find Lacy and a woman standing with Jenny but the extremely helpful women was not going to give Lacy up to Jenny. Jenny said you've go to hear this. The kind lady was calling out for Lacy's grandma when Jenny found them. Jenny said, "I am her mother" to which Lacy replied, "she's not my grandma." It cracked me up. In Lacy's mind she was not the problem she was not lost, her grandma was lost and Jenny was not the find she was looking for. When I finally showed up the helpful lady turned Lacy over to me and all was well. So how does that heart shaped stain fit into all of this? Well, I guess it really doesn't, I'm just glad that Jenny's reputation wasn't stained by her having to whip out her phone and show the lady pictures of Lacy to prove her ownership and then have the lady think Jenny was some crazy stalker taking pictures of random children claiming them to be her own. All's well that end well. Phew!

Cross section of a Heart

When you look at the cross section of something you can really view it carefully. When I look at this heart, cut from the branch of a tree, I can tell, how old it is by the number of rings in it and that it has a small crack in it. My husband and I are like this slice right now. Our years together are in the numbers and we have a few cracks to prove it. Despite the gray hair and the wrinkles we really are not that bad off. I think of the book, “The Enchanted Cottage” and how the couple that lived there saw each other. They were far from perfect, but they saw each other as beautiful and perfect for each other. When the world looked at them they did not see them that way. I had a friend that said he had received some criticism for his relationship with his wife. His response was, “too bad, it works for us.” That is how I feel too, sometime no one else understand why and relationship might work just as long as it works, it's good.

Onion Heart

Personally, I love onions. Growing up I don't think I had a single meal without onions somewhere in the meal. My grandmother told me once, "It just wasn't dinner without onions." My mother was absolutely meticulous about cutting onions. When she would put them in potato salad she cut them so fine that every bite of salad was assured a wonderful, even, and generous amount of onion flavor. As a young single women it was so important to me to marry a man that liked onions that one time I made an entire meal with onions in every dish for a boy I was dating just to see how he would react. He was so polite but needless to say, I'm glad that I married the onion lover that I did. I had a friend once say if you are too busy doing other things and have neglected dinner, before your family gets home just cut up an onion and quickly get it frying, then when they walk in the door and smell the onion cooking they will think dinner is on it's way.

Olive Tree Hearts

It seems that the olive tree is the best at creating this phenomenon. Today it struck me, the Savior suffered for us in the Garden of Gethsemane. The garden was one of Olive trees. The greatest love and offering ever made for us was given in a Olive garden. So each time I see an Olive tree with the symbol of a heart I think I will always think of that great sacrifice.

Consumed Heart

This heart is just almost being consumed by it's surroundings. It is deep in the soil around it, it has little rocks on it's top and sides and even on one side they are creeping up to the point of almost over taking that side. I find that sometimes my life is the same way. I absolutely love my family and grand kids and I want them around me and hugging me and loving all over me. I want to do the same to them, but everyone once in a while I feel like I am being consumed. I guess we just have to be as solid as rock but also be willing to yield to the forces around us too. Being a parent and a grandparent "isn't easy but it is worth it." And that is what I said!

Paint Heart

So I'm painting my office. I am so excited! I just love it. My desire started a while back when Samuel kept turning his computer monitor away from the sun so he could see his screen. I knew it needed to be fixed but I wasn't sure what to do exactly. Well to make a long story short (it involves the need for new desks that could go onto a different wall, blah blah, blah) I won a beautiful painting on a cruise and I decided to use it as my color pallet to go with the new desk. The colors of the painting are very similar to my Latin Guest room and so our home office is now on it's way to becoming our second Latin room. I began painting today and as I was doing so I found that I had painted myself a heart in a corner. It was quite by accident and so I quickly located my camera and captured it. I love the deep slate blue color that we chose to paint the room. I love being creative and expressing my love for fun intense colors. I love that Samuel supports and trusts me and wants me to express myself. I love that we have been able to find such great deals to accomplish the things that we want to do. So today I would say that "Love" equals Thankful!

Thankful Heart

Thankfully it is only a small spot of a heart in this potato. I took this picture a couple of years ago while visiting Chantal's family for Thanksgiving. Our whole family packed up and went to San Diego so that we could all be together for Thanksgiving. Chantal was expecting Susan and was way too pregnant to travel. I loved that we were able to make the trip, I loved the weather, I loved the fantastic food, I loved the visit, I loved the extended family company, I love the little spot of love that that Thanksgiving experience has left in my heart. I look forward to this years Thanksgiving season and I am happy to give thanks again to my Heavenly Father who has made it all possible.

Scary Halloween Heart

Every year at Halloween I find something new that is Halloween scary. Each year we make potato soup for Halloween dinner and one year I made it with leaks, sweet potatoes and ham and it was a little scary. Another year Chamaine had to have surgery on her foot and it left a ghost shaped scar. I thought it was only fitting that this heart be posted today being that it looks like it has eyes and a nose and is coming out of the ground. Happy Halloween everyone! Gotta love a stumpy heart.

The Wizard Of Oz

I feel like the wizard of OZ. Funny thing is I just typed, "AZ" in stead of "OZ" so I guess that is more accurate. I just gave a tin man a heart! This is the water tower at the ASU East campus and normally he does not have a heart but I just couldn't resist giving him one. For the whole story you can go here. Everyone really does deserve a heart don't you think? (Thank you Courtney for the inspiration.)

Love Food Storage

My daughter Clarissa sent me this picture a couple of weeks ago. Last night she asked me if I blog all the pictures that people send me to which I said yes but that I have to get some inspiration first as to what I am going to write. Clarissa then proceeded to tell me the story behind the heart and I got inspired. She said she was on the phone with her sister Jenny and they were talking about what to make for dinner. Clarissa was low on money for the month so she was having to dip into her stored foods. Not looking forward to a canned dinner she grabbed a bottle of Alfredo and opened it. When she turned to lid over there it was, a heart. Just another reminder of the wisdom of storing foods. Clarissa said that her heart was touched by the reminder too and she was happy to be eating Alfredo for dinner that night.

Lovely Heart just the way you are (ftb)

This was to my husband: When we were dating you quoted a song to me that stated, “Lovely never never change, keep that breathless charm, won’t you please arrange it cause I love you just the way you are tonight. I felt like you not only liked the way I looked but acted too. I’ve thought over the years just how important it really should be to take care of myself and also to watch the way I was behaving. Sometimes I know my behavior has not been so ideal but you have always stuck with me, like the glue that is holding this fancy heart together, and it is for you that I have tried to take care of myself and surroundings so that you would always think of me as lovely. I thank you for all the tender care and kind words of encouragements and compliments that you have given me. Jonny Lingo would be proud of you!

Words to the song Lovely;

Some day, when I’m awfully low,When the world is cold,I will feel a glow just thinking of you...And the way you look tonight.Yes you’re lovely, with your smile so warm and your cheeks so soft,There is nothing for me but to love you,And the way you look tonight.With each word your tenderness grows,Tearing my fear apart...And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,It touches my foolish heart.Lovely ... never, ever change.Keep that breathless charm.Wont you please arrange it ? cause I love you ... just the way you look tonight.

Stained With Love

This is my sweet little name sake, Susan. She was eating a strawberry the other day when her mother noticed that she had stained her dress in a heart shape. Quickly Chantal, or Mommy, got her camera to capture the image forever. This stain reminds me of the poem about hand prints that children leave behind and then quickly they are gone. This is one of my favorite versions;

You always clean the fingerprints

I leave upon the wall.

I seem to make a mess of things

Because I am so small.

The years will pass so quickly

I'll soon be grown like you

And all my little fingerprints

Will surely fade from view.

So here's a special hand print

A memory that is true

So you'll recall the very day

I made this just for you!

Well it's not a hand print but to me it is even better. I love that her mother thought of me, I love strawberries, I love hearts even when they are stains but most of all I love the sweet little girl in the heart print dress with a heart shaped stain on her previously clean white jacket. Life just doesn't get better then this!

Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve

Have you heard the saying, "She wears her heart on her sleeve?" It originally referred to people who would wear an arm band showing their affiliation. Policemen, when a fellow officer dies, wear a black band on their arm. Ladies of the court in medieval times tied a piece of cloth around the arm of their favorite knight as a display of affection. When I think of the phrase I think of someone who shows their hurt feelings easily. Although I think it is important, at times, that others know if you are having a hard time so they can help or pray for you, I don't think it is wise to be too easily read. It seems to diminish the valid feelings of others. Everyone has trials in life, that is why we are here, to prove ourselves worthy to return to our perfect Father in Heaven, but we should not all advertise our trials. We cannot and should not wear our trials like badges of honor on our breast as does the military but we should all observe that everyone does have a trial that they too have endured. Like this cute puppy I recently came upon, he shares his heart naturally so be willing to share your heart everywhere you go just make sure it's natural.

Love among the Weeds (ftb)

Is it even possible? Yes it is and it happens all the time. Sometimes when we are faced with adversity we find the place that our true loyalties really lay. I remember when I was so sick with kidney stones I thought that I was going to die. I said to my husband we need to get along better with each other. I felt like we just weren’t showing all the love we could and I wanted to do better. Whenever we are faced with adversity the things that are the most precious to us become even more precious. We guard them a little more closely, we hold them a little tighter, we watch a little more carefully, and we spend a little more time enjoying them. Even with the weeds sometimes a flower appears.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

This pretty little daisy bush is planted in an ideal place for blooming. It is enhancing the beauty of all the other flowers and even the rock in it's proximity. Sometimes we may be planted in a less than ideal place but we can enhance all around us by blooming where we are. It is up to us to bloom and grow no matter where we may find ourselves. We can brighten our surroundings by our presence and we can cheer all those around us by our attitude. Blooming in Love for the place we are in when we are in it is the ideal.

Fancy Action

My daughter Chantal sent me this picture of her daughter standing by a heart shaped stump. The first thing I thought was, "That is some fancy growing action on that heart sister." Can you just imagine what that tree must have gone through to grow into this amazing shape? It's scalloped edge is so fancy and the turns and splits coming off the center add to the intricate details. It is such a fun heart. I hope that tree had a good life. I am still enjoying the mark it left behind.

Phoenix Metro Fall

Last week I posted a blog about why I love Ames Iowa on my personal blog. It was really mostly about the beautiful fall weather so I was thinking I should write the things I love about living in the Phoenix Metro Area and how I know that the season will be changing. I was only going to post on my personal blog and then today as I was walking I spotted this heart shape in the freshly sprouted winter lawn of a neighbor yard. So this is it... In the Phx. area of Arizona you know it is fall when everyone scalps their lawn so they can plant winter rye. We know cooler weather is just around the corner when the sweet smell of freshly spread manure fills the air. And then of course it is also the time Halloween decorations make an appearance, don't mind the 102 degree temperature on October 18th it really will cool off. It's a time to be careful of all things spooky but most of all be sure to spread your seeds evenly or you will end up with a heart shape brown patch right in the middle of your lawn. I could think of worse things!

It's Just A Rubber Band

So it's just a rubber band, but not just any rubber band. It's the rubber band that I put around my plastic box that holds my make-up when I am traveling. The rubber band acts as an extra measure of safety to keep the box from popping open and thus keeps my makeup from spilling. Rubber bands are so useful. They can do so many jobs. They stretch to accommodate things much bigger then they are. The can conform to just about any odd shape. They can be strong when needed or even just strong enough to break when too much pressure is applied. They are made to do many tasks not just one particular one and they do them all very well. I think I would do well to be like this rubber band and do my many jobs with a little added measure of love.

I Love To Go To Church

I found this tree with it's heart in Kanab Utah. The tree was one of several that line the street in front of an LDS church. They had recently been trimmed and the result was a wonderful heart. When I saw it I thought, "Oh I love going to church." There is so much love at church. Sometimes we get miss directed and we either don't feel loved or we don't behave ourselves in a loving manner but regardless of what happens there is always love there. Churches of all religions should be sanctuaries where love can be felt and received.

In Opposition We Can Grow Love

I just love this little bush. It is in the middle of a very busy street getting whipped back and forth as the cars and trucks speed by but it has done an awesome job growing into a little showing of love. Can you imagine the constant opposition that it is bombarded with daily all day long and yet somehow it has managed to come out looking like a heart. That is what opposition is for, the more we endure the stronger we become and in those experiences comes our true character. We can grow stronger and rely more on our Heavenly Father or we can wither and die without him. WE choose.

Happy Birthday Mother

Today is the anniversary of my mother's birth and so I wanted to include a few unique pictures of my mother's hands and the hands of my father and sisters. Several years ago my niece wanted to take pictures of Mother's hands. She was doing a project for her Young Women in Excellence award. I can't remember if I took the pictures or if she did or maybe one of my girls took the pictures but they turned out beautiful. Mother's hands were truly worn out in service for everyone around her. It was common knowledge in our home that Mother could not make a meal without cutting or burning her hands. We always had a beautiful clean home and I watched my mother serve others religiously. As a young girl I would sit next to her in church and keep myself entertained for quite a while playing with her hands. The skin was loose and I could make it stand up and keep it's shape in peaks as I would pinch and pull it. Mother also had arthritis and her knuckles were swollen and painful but the area of her finger that wore her wedding band was still long and thin. I could tell that her hands had been beautiful in her youth. Mother never liked her hands but I loved them. I knew her hands were the way they were because she loved me too. Only a short time after taking the pictures of her hands my mother passed away very unexpectedly during a surgery. My sisters, father and myself were taken in to see her after her death. All I wanted to see were her hands. She didn't look like herself but her hands were unmistakable. Before her surgery she had to take off her wedding ring. She really didn't want to remove it but she handed it to me and I placed it on my pinkie finger as it was the only place it fit. Just before we buried our mother my father lovingly place the ring back on her finger. I'm not sure when I took the rest of these pictures, I just know that I took them. The picture of my mother's hand was so precious to me that I also wanted pictures of my father's and sister's hands. I now have them framed with captions displayed in my home. I love my family and I am honored to be an eternal member of it. ( I had not noticed it before but my father's hands form an upside down heart.)

Sweet Love

I just think this is the funniest darn thing. Samuel and I had taken a trip two weeks ago to Oak Creek, Flagstaff and Kanab. I wrote a few time about that trip. Well anyway we found so many hearts on our journey. On the last day of our trip we were in Kanab and the inn where we stayed provided a complimentary breakfast. They had a few donuts, fruit, and drinks in the lobby of their office for the guests to enjoy. Samuel went to the office by himself to get us something to eat and came back with a great big smile and this fantastic heart shaped donut. It cracked me up. I said, you are kidding me do they have a entire box of heart shaped donuts? Samuel said no, go look, so I took my camera to document the phenomena. Sure enough not one other heart shaped donut. And as you can see we were not the first ones there. I asked the clerk if there had been more heart shaped donuts to which he said no. You know sometimes Love just shows up in some fun places and is just there to get a smile out of us. What a Sweet Heart of Love. (You too Samuel!)

Love Warms My Heart

Mmmmm nothing is better on a cold fall morning then a nice hot drink that fills your chest and tummy with warmth. Just holding a hot cup in your hands and breathing in the vapors of the anticipated drink begins the experience. It makes my mind and body relax and I want to feel the warmth all around me. So it is with Love. Warming, enveloping, relaxing. (Thank you Clarissa Jo for the picture)

Turned Just A Little, It Looks Like Love

You know sometimes a hearts is obvious, sometimes they are obscure and sometimes it all about how you look at things to see the love. This potato chip just needed turned a little this way to see the love. There are times when we really have to look this way or that to see all the love around us. Sometimes we may even need to stand on our head if that's what it takes to see the love that is right in front of us. (Thank you Shay Lola for the picture.)

That Love Is So Obvious

Friday night date. Samuel and I went to get cookies and ice cream. We were taking our time when a man and his little girl came up behind us. I suggested that they go ahead and order as it always take my husband a minimum of 20 questions to make up his mind. The man asked for a chocolate chip cookie and as the clerk took the cookie out of the case I noticed that it had a heart shaped chip in it. I squealed, "oh no not that one" the customer that I had been so considerate of just moments earlier looked at me then I said "no really it's OK-- can I just take a picture of it." He said yes and I asked him if he could see why I would want a picture he said, "it looks like a pretty good cookie." It does look like a pretty good cookie, I had a similar one it was great! Don't you think when someone brings you a plate of freshly baked cookies, WOW, they must love me, or appreciate me or want to cheer me up. And does it work? YES! That brand of kindness is so obvious and I love it.

Iowa Heart Center

The Iowa Heart Center has this wonderful neon heart shining in the huge window at the front of their building. On the side of the building is a sign reading "Iowa Heart Center." For me Iowa's heart center is in Ames but it's on Arthur Circle where my daughter Charmaine lives with her husband and 2 little boys. I love the memory of that big glowing heart in the cold Iowa night. It warms my heart. (by the way it is supposed to snow tonight)

Fall Of Love

I just love fall weather, maybe even more than spring. The colors of orange, red and yellow are so intense. The crisp fall weather is the perfect time for soups and homemade bread. And the best of all, you know when Halloween comes that Christmas is right around the corner. This little heart shaped leaf is just around the corner from the fulfilment of it's life. It will have fulfilled the measure of it's creation and as in nature, born witness of Gods existence.

Remembering Me Kind Of Love

Don't you just love it when you realize that someone is thinking of you fondly. I do. In this picture is my grandniece and her friend. They found this heart shaped rock, got together, took a picture, and send it to me. That was so sweet. They are sweeties for sure. I just love it that these two little girls were able to spy some love and then send it on. Good job! The girls are, Megan and my grandniece Laura. So cute.

Born under the symbol of Love

This is a birth mark on a young woman that I met today. I was in an anatomy lab observing. All the students were gloved so they could cleanly dissect a poor unfortunate animal. As usually happens each student found the grosser the hands the more the face itches. One particular young woman would raise her arm to rub her face with the back of her wrist and as she did this I noticed that she had a heart shaped spot on her arm. Others at the table asked her what had happened and she informed us that it was a birth mark. I said, "you were born under the symbol of love." "Children are an heritage of the Lord"* and have the right to be loved. This young woman is so lucky to carry this reminder with her throughout her life. I hope that she knows that she is love.

*Psalms 127:3

Love Islands In The Stream

Two Love Islands one stream. What more can I say?

The Biggest Love

Get ready for a slight lecture. Samuel and I were in Northern AZ and Southern UT Friday and Saturday of this last week. We had such a wonderful time, we really took our time and stopped several times to take pictures, relax and eat. One stop was at Navajo bridge on the way to Lee's Ferry. We got to the middle of the bridge and found that people were bungee jumping. As the jumper went off he didn't really seem that excited to go, but he went anyway. Then, well you know the rest. They pulled him back up and all was well. The fun lasted only a minute but cost hundreds and could have even cost more.

I did enjoy watching the jumper and I am so glad that he was safely back on the bridge. When we left, Samuel said that he had a surprise for me but he didn't know if it would materialize. What? Materialize? Well I was intrigued. We turned down the road that goes to Lee's Ferry and came to an incredible field of huge boulders that had fallen from the cliffs above millennia ago I'm sure. Samuel's surprise was this huge heart shaped boulder that he had spied years ago while on a trip with the young men in our church. It is incredible and huge and so perfectly shaped and he remembered right where it was from seeing it 10 or 15 years ago. WOW I love it! Samuel and I were the only ones looking at this wonder. " Right around the corner is "Balancing Rock." Lots of people where there marveling at it. I began to think how often we are the same way. Jumping off of bridges, teetering on the edge when the great big love of our Savior is right there for everyone but everyone is distracted by thrills. The Savior's love is really all around us-- we just need to decide to look for it and recognize it. "I feel my Savior's Love in all the World around Me."*

*Words from LDS Children's song.

Conference Love

I just love General Conference. As I was listening to President Monson speak of acts of love and service I ran to get my camera to capture the image of the heart shaped leaves on the plant behind him. It doesn't matter if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or not the messages of General Conference are wonderful. If you would like to hear President Monson's talk you can go here.