Leighton Meester ft Garrett Hedlund - Give In To Me w/lyrics on screen

Best Meal Ever. Truly. Ever.

Chilean Sea Bass over a bed of garden squash goodness

topped with rock shrimp & a heavenly butter sauce

that I wiped clean off the plate with those three tiny red russets.

I usually eat a meal within 10 minutes of receiving it, good or bad.

But this gift of flavor, texture & yumminess was strung out to 30,

would have been 40 if Paul would have kept his fork off my plate.

First time at Mustang, I must have another.

or should I?

would hate to ruin it.

Remember

Jackson played in his first varsity football game as a sophomore last Friday. He looked so big, so grown up. It reminds me of my sophomore year 25 years ago. I started varsity volleyball, I had my first boyfriend, I had lots of friends, I had my license, I was a happy, healthy teenager. All the things I wanted at that age, I had. Life was good, but I only now understand, that my life was GREAT. And this is why: I am member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I new it was good & true. I have goodly parents, who love me & siblings who look up to me, which I am ashamed that I didn't always set a good example for. I have grandparents who pray for me, love me & always told me how much the gospel of Jesus Christ meant to them. Jeannie Groberg was my Young Women's leader. She was awesome for always reminding me that I am a daughter of God who loves me. She never judged me. I am pretty confident that I had righteous friends who also prayed for me. I was blessed with a gift that made sports come easy so I could excel and learn how to work hard, be disciplined & work with others. I truly had it all and I am so grateful that at least now I fully Remember.

Dear sweet jacky boy, please remember how great your life is, and not just the little things. Remember the feeling you had when your father placed his hands on your head and gave you your first father's blessing. Remember the sweet spirit that filled the room as many righteous men placed their hands on your head to ordain you a priest so that you can stand in authority of Jesus Christ. Remember that your are loved by your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, by your parents and grandparents, and by so many others. Hold fast to what the scriptures have taught you. Remember where you came from, why you are here and where you are going. Remember whose name you take upon you and you will always have His spirit to be with you.

I love you.

I am not my age

PRACTICING ALOHA

A week in Maui, Hawaii for my 40th birthday & our 19th anniversary.

iCHOOSE joy

the theme for dani's first church girl's camp was ichoose. how lucky we are to choose what we do, when we do it, with whom we do it & where. reading the seven miracles that saved america & the seven tipping points that changed the world and watching the movie 17 miracles has reminded me how blessed am i to live at this time, in a country that allows us to have freedom and liberty. i am grateful for the people who have suffered & sacrificed, were valiant & strong, followed there hearts & God, so that i can experience this life with so much joy.

Syracuse, UT , visiting Kuku & Tutu Kane

Lake Powell, Page, AZ Pioneer Weekend

Draper Rodeo, Lander pulled $2 off CASH COW

cliff jumping at Starvation Resevoir, Fourth of July weekend with the Anderson's

Park City Stake girls camp in Woodland, UT, fireside & testimony night

Kaden was on my 21 day promise list (see previous post) and I have to think that it has a little something to do with him wanting to be baptized. It has also encouraged my baby sister to start taking her kids to church. Their journey begins. I am so very grateful. It reminds me of what Pres. Hinckley once said, "Convert a woman, convert generations."

21 day promise

We read from 3 Nephi 12:2-16, it is a discourse from Christ, to the Nephites, similar to the Sermon on the Mount. He speaks the Beatitudes. I was reminded....

"blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

I pray that one of the names, or maybe another person will be guided to learning about this gospel. I pray that we are worthy to find them.

Elder Robert E. Wells of the First Quorum of the Seventy and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a special promise to all members of the Church within the boundaries of the Utah Salt Lake City Mission. Their instructions were to create a list of your nonmember and less-active friends and include the list in your morning and evening family prayers. As you do this for 21 consecutive days, without missing a single prayer, the Lord promises that at least one of the names on your list, or perhaps someone else, will accept an invitation to hear the missionary lessons by the end of the 21 day period. We challenge you to give Heavenly Father’s promise a try, for He has declared, “I, the Lord, am bound when you do what I say; but when you do not what I say, ye have no promise” (D&C 82:10).

• Take a few days to become spiritually ready.
• Begin by fasting for the people on your list.
• Pray morning and night to ask your Heavenly Father to help you find nonmember and less-active families and individuals who are prepared to listen to the missionary discussions in your home.
• Read from the Book of Mormon every day.
• Be especially obedient to Heavenly Father’s commandments during the 21 days.
• Think about and do things that will help you be more in tune with the Holy Spirit.
• Show love to everyone you meet, especially each other.
  Think about Nephi, who had no idea how to get the brass plates from Laban. The Lord directed him and showed him how. The Lord will open the way for you to find someone prepared to listen to the message of the Restoration.

Thank you Clayton

I read a powerful testimony tonight.

It touched my heart, brought me to tears and filled my soul with the truth of this gospel that has become a very big part of my life.

My last post was when I took out my endowment five and half months ago.

For the last five months I have had the desire to be a better journal keeper and well, I have not done so well. So, tonight I begin to be better. And not at just this, but so much more.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2011/0314/features-clayton-christensen-health-care-cancer-survivor.html

This is an Forbes magazine article quoted from in our stake conference today worth reading about Clayton Christensen, 58, a Harvard Business professor and one of the most influential business theorists of the last 50 years. Cayton Christensen beat a heart attack, advanced-stage cancer and a stroke in three years. Here's what he learned about life, death and fixing the health care system.

Enjoy, Valine

(the article Why I Belong and Why I Believe (pdf) at the bottom of this short biography is also worth reading.

Biography

Clayton M. Christensen is the architect of and the world’s foremost authority on disruptive innovation, a framework which describes the process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves ‘up market’, eventually displacing established competitors. Consistently acknowledged in rankings and surveys as one of the world’s leading thinkers on innovation, Christensen is widely sought after as a speaker, advisor and board member. His research has been applied to national economies, start-up and Fortune 50 companies, as well as to early and late stage investing.

His seminal book The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), which first outlined his disruptive innovation frameworks, received the Global Business Book Award for the Best Business Book of the Year in 1997, was a New York Times bestseller, has been translated into over 10 languages, and is sold in over 25 countries. He is also a four-time recipient of the McKinsey Award for the Harvard Business Reviews’s best article and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.

Christensen has recently focused his innovation lens on two of our most vexing social issues, education and health care. Disrupting Class which looks at the root causes of why schools struggle and offers solutions was named one of the "10 Best Innovation and Design Books in 2008” byBusinessWeek and the best Human Capital book of the year in the Strategy + Business Best Books of 2008. The Innovator's Prescription (2009) examines how to fix the problems facing healthcare. So as to further examine and apply his frameworks to the social sector, Christensen founded Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank, in 2008.

An advisor to numerous countries and companies, including the government of Singapore, he is currently a board member at India’s Tata Consultancy Services (NYSE: TCS), Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC), W.R. Hambrecht, and Vanu. Christensen also applies his frameworks via management consultancy Innosight which he co-founded in 2000, and Rose Park Advisors, an investment firm he founded in 2007.

Christensen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. He graduated with highest honors in economics from Brigham Young University in 1975. Later, he received an M.Phil. in applied econometrics and the economics of less-developed countries from Oxford University in 1977, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School in 1979, graduating as a George F. Baker Scholar. In 1982-1983 he was a White House fellow, serving as an assistant to U.S. Transportation Secretaries Drew Lewis and Elizabeth Dole. In 1992, he was awarded a DBA from the Harvard Business School, receiving the Best Dissertation Award from the Institute of Management Sciences for his doctoral thesis on technology development in the disk drive industry. He is currently the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School.

Professor Christensen is committed to both community and church. In addition to his stint as a White House Fellow, he was an elected member of the Belmont Town Council for 8 years, and has served the Boy Scouts of America for 25 years as a scoutmaster, cub master, den leader and troop and pack committee chairman. He also worked as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Republic of Korea from 1971 to 1973, speaks fluent Korean, and is currently a leader in his church. He and his wife Christine live in Belmont, MA. They are the parents of five children, and have three grandchildren.

Why I Belong and Why I Believe (pdf)

For an extended biography, see Clayton M. Christensen.