Following Blogs

I'm really going to try writing on my blog every week. One thing I do every day is read the blogs of my friends. I don't always comment, but when I have time I try to say something.

Many of my friends tell about some book they have just finished reading. If you're looking for some good stories this is one way to really find out what the book is about. Several of my friends post contests on their blogs. Last year I won some great books and even some music, and I've alread won a book this year.

If you are looking for some good blogs to read go down to My Blogging Friends and click on them. I think you'll be glad you did.

Maybe you have a favorite blog that I haven't listed. If so, please comment and leave the link for me.

A Blog Award

It's always fun to be recognized. Yesterday, my fabulous friend Rachelle gave me this award. You can find her at http://rachellewrites.blogspot.com/ Rachelle's a great writer, and I'm lucky to have her as a friend. She's always there cheering me on and watching out for me. Rachelle has two fantastic books coming out this year - Lost Children: Coping with Miscarriage and also a romantic mystery, Wrong Number. I'm read the second one and can tell you it is a great story, and one you will not want to miss.

Now, I now have the honor of passing on this award to others in accordance with the following rules: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award on to up to 15 other blogs that you enjoy. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. I enjoy reading many blogs each day. Unfortunately, Rachelle gave this award to several of my friends whose blogs I already read each day, but I'll see how many more I can come up with. Here they are - Joyce DiPastena, Doug Johnston, Daron Fraley, and Karlene.

A Holiday

Yeah, that's my excuse - I took a holiday. A day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observation is warranted. It was a leave of absence. One that I decalred.

It wasn't a planned one and it wasn't any time off from work. The only reason I can give is - I was just plain lazy and didn't take the time to write anything to post here.

I wish I could say that I've been busy. That isn't even my excuse. I've actually been extremely lazy and didn't want to do anything more than was required. I probably spent more hours sitting in front of the television than I had in an entire year. Those who know me are aware I hate the TV. My favorite place to be is in front of my computer writing.

Does this mean I'm back? I hope so, but only time will tell.

Happy New Year

I'm sorry that I've been neglecting my blog page. It's hard to blog when you are never near a computer long enough to get your thoughts flowing. I know it's a poor excuse, but my husband was in the hospital for six days and that really took a hunk of time out of each day. He is home, and doing fairly well.

My wish for the New Year for each of you, including myself, is a wonderful year full of great adventures, and lots of success in whatever you do. Good health the entire year for you and your entire family.

Important People – Part II

In my area many years ago, it was popular in the church to attend musical firesides with well-known artist. Most the youth and young single adults spent Sunday evenings traveling from one stake to another listening to the beautiful music, testimonies, and life experiences of these famous LDS singers. With my young teenagers, I attended many of these gatherings.

Through this and other experiences, I have met many important people. Some of them I met because I was in charge of finding people to speak at stake firesides. I worry about leaving some of them out because I haven’t always kept a great journal. Sometimes my life has been so busy I hardly had time to live it, and although I love writing, I didn’t always write about the things I was doing.

One of the most memorable firesides for the youth in our stake was the time they were able to perform with Michael Webb at his studio, in a play, Marvelous Light. We live on the west side of town and don’t always have all the updated equipment necessary to put on such a performance. Our lighting was bad and we had no microphones for such a production. Still this was going to be a fun experience. After all, Michael Webb was going to come and sing with them.

This was on April 18, 1993. Some of the young people had speaking parts, and some sang solos, or duets, or participated in a choir. For weeks, they attended all of the rehearsals. The stake president didn’t want me to take them out of the area to perform. It didn’t matter that some of their parents were driving them and I had permission slips signed by all of their parents. I thought I might lose my membership over this experience, but I fought tooth and nail for this once in a lifetime opportunity for them. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that the performance was spectacular.

On October 20, 1996, Chris Heimberdinger, the author of the Tennis Shoes Adventure series as well as many other books for youth and adults spoke at a stake fireside. Besides being an impressive fireside speaker, he is also a remarkable teacher. I took a novel writing class from him in September 1998, and appreciate the fantastic help given to me in that class.

I was certainly surprised that a man as important as Michael Ballam, would consider coming to our stake. We were not disappointed as he told stories about his family, the gospel and shared his beautiful voice with us.

My stake was especially blessed the evening that we were fortunate enough to have Lloyd D. Newell of The Spoken Word speak to us on February 16, 1997. His life experiences and stories about the choir were great.

The artist, Chad Hawkins, came to our stake on March 16, 1997, to speak about his talent and show us some of his beautiful temple pictures with the hidden images. He began his series of temple artwork in 1989, at the age of seventeen, to support his eventual two-year mission in Frankfurt, Germany, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When he returned from his mission in 1993, he continued with his artwork. Since hearing him speak he has gone on to publish a book, The First 100 Temples. He has also done work for the governor, the legislature, and the University of Utah. I cherish the artwork in my home done by Chad Hawkins.

The list of people I’ve met goes on and on, but I know I’ll leave many of them out. Here is a short list – John Bytheway, Roger Hoffman, Janice Kapp Perry, Steven Kapp Perry, Joyce Quinn (actress in Legacy), Barbara Smith (former R.S. pres), Michael Stewart, Brenton Yorgason, and Margaret Young.

Rachelle's Contest

The Bead Princess giveaway entry period is from December 10th until Tuesday December 15th at 11:59pm. You can enter it if you want, but I intend to win because the 15th is my birthday and I love these watchlets.
To be fair I guess I have to tell you where to go to enter this great giveaway.

For the Bead Princess giveaway go to my sidebar under blogging friends and click on Rachelle's Writing Spot.

Book Launch

Cindy and Nichole's book launch last night was fantastic. I have no idea how many books they sold, but it was lots. There were people there continually from 6 pm until almost 9 pm. It you didn't show up, you missed a good time.