Happy Graduation Day Steven!

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A Quiet Weekend

Just a few things going on from Friday to Sunday, instead of so many. District Tennis, Cheerleader tryouts, 8th grade dance, Election training, Father-son campout golf tournament, Emily's 14th birthday, Senior Prom, Stake Conference, Steven ordained an Elder. The sun is shining, and I finally planted a flower outside that I was given at school for teacher appreciation week. It's just one little flower, but it's the first Saturday in a long time that I've had time to do such a thing. Emily is napping, the boys are golfing, Steven is on his day-date, Caley is over at the Porter house doing Prom Hair, and the world is very quiet right now.

P.S. Emily made the cheerleading team, Adam surprised us showing up from Utah to golf with his dad and Thomas, and Steven just left for his limo ride with his prom date, Emily (not his sister.)

I love to see the

Temple. I'm going there someday...tomorrow! With beautiful bride-to-be Marisa. I like lists, here's one:

Adam, Idaho Falls Temple, July 2000 prior to his mission to Carlsbad
Thomas, Idaho Falls Temple, February 2005 prior to his mission to Budapest
Caley, Ogden Temple, July 2007 prior to her marriage to Thomas
Veronica, Idaho Falls Temple, October 2008 prior to her marriage to Kyle
Marisa, Provo Temple, April 2010 prior to her marriage to Doug

And in 2 months it will be the 30th anniversary of

Me, Cardston Temple, June 1980 prior to my marriage to Kerry.

My whole family, Cardston Temple, April 1966, to be sealed to my parents and siblings. There were Lego's in the nursery, and angels, as I recall.

Jellybean

It's hard to choose a new layout, when there are so many! But when I saw this one, I knew I just had to have it. Lynne always called me Ronna Maureenie Jelly Beanie. So there you go, and it's a week til Easter too.

Thanks to Caley and Emily for talking me through the new blogger dashboard.

Did you know that Emily has already (as of yesterday) set out the Easter Baskets with names on them for everyone she believes will be here on Easter, including her brother in law to be Doug (Happy birthday today!)Marisa, Steven, and Caley and Thomas. She figures since they will be down for Marisa's bridal shower, they will have to stop by.

So jellybeans for everyone! We have baskets for Adam, Veronica & Kyle, we'll hang onto those until they get here later in April. Because April is a great month:

Two graduations - Provo and Rexburg, two birthdays - Steven's 18th and Caley's 23rd, one wedding, one bridal shower...holy guacamole...it's going to be a fun month!

Keeping Sheep

Keeping Sheep
Lynne Perry Christofferson

I have a little flock of sheep, and they are mine to tend and keep,
And I must guard them every day for little sheep when left alone will lose their way.
So many voices say to me “A sheepfold is no place to be. Your time in there is dull and slow, and lambs leave very little room for you to grow.”
Oh if I ever start to stray, deceived by thoughts of greener pastures, Remind me Lord that keeping sheep will lead to happier ever afters.

Oh surely there will come a day when all the lambs have left my side and I am free to roam about and go exploring other meadows green and wide. Yet something whispers in my heart that when my sheep have left this pen I’ll long to stroke their little heads, to draw them close to me and have them young again.

So while they are still in my care, I pray that I will clearly see these little lambs within my fold are tender gifts a loving Father has given me.

Sounds of Sunday

I played this song a couple of weeks ago to accompany Debbie Peterson in Sacrament meeting. I hadn't heard it for a long time, it's really a sweet song. Today in church I found out that our neighbor Sharon Thulin passed away last night. Kerry often mowed their field behind our backyard. She was a nice lady, who always called me "Kid" and was very complimentary about anything we did, even riding our bikes as a family past her house. She will be missed.

30 years ago tonight...

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kerry wrote me a song, and played it for me on his guitar, and then he proposed to me. This took place at my apartment, which was then Reams, now "The Colony" in Provo. And so it seemed logical that we should call our parents and let them know the good news...even though it was somewhere in the 11 pm to midnight range. We called the Parks first, since they were in a later time zone, then we called the Rankins. And they had never met Kerry before. Goodness, what were we thinking?

All's well that ends well, and 30 years later, I can still remember the song which started "Dear Ronna, here's a valentine I wrote it just for you..."

Things are different now...Marisa and Doug just got engaged but we've already met and spent time with Doug here and in St. George, already have seen lots of photos as we've been facebook friends for months. With cell phones and the internet, people's parents need never be a stranger to their daughter's new fiancee ever again!

I'm excited for another wedding, another chance to go to the Temple with a child of mine, and another glimpse of heaven. Congratulations to Marisa and Doug, thanks for not calling us at midnight (although we would usually be awake as tonight with 3 of Emily's friends here for a midnight french fry-fest Monday Holiday sleepover.)