Colby Roberson

My mom's great great nephew passed away Monday night in a car accident. When you come from a small town where all your family lives, you are blessed to have and know A LOT of cousins. As I've been away from home now going on 7 years , I remember Colby as the little boy in the third grade class I tutored. With his strawberry blonde hair, he was always up to mischief...so this story is a little unbelievable for me even though I've kept up with his goings on through family, but our prayers are with Lance, Ronnie, Sharon and the rest of the family. This is just a reminder to me of how short our time is here. We never know what day is our last and it motivates me to make sure I'm treating others with kindness, wether it could be their last memory of me or mine of them. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of eternal families and that there is so much more than our lives here on Earth.
I share this not to look for sympathy, for there are those whose grief is a million times that of mine, but as a reminder of how precious our lives are and what's really important...especially at this holiday season.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/dclassifieds?Dato=20081217&Kategori=OBITUARY&Class=30&Type=CAT30200&Lopenr=812000177&Selected=2

Young Women in Excellence

Last night was Gainesville 3rd Ward's Young Women in Excellence program. All of the YW and their families are invited as well as ward and stake leaders. Normally this is an opportunity for the YW to showcase their personal progress goals and projects. We decided to make our program a project. It was a whole musical production and the girls were amazing! We have very talented YW in our ward, almost all of them sang solos. I'm so proud of their hard work and the inspiration they are to me. It's so fascinating to be serving in the YW's program when I feel like it wasn't all that long ago I was there myself. It's good though because the things they are going through are still fresh in my memory and I feel like I have so much hope to give them.
The theme was "Steadfast and Immovable" with winter decorations. We had hot chocolate and refreshments (Thanks Amy for that!) and it was delicious! The Spirit was felt so strong and I know by the end of the night there wasn't a dry eye in the room because of our amazement at these YW.

Reflections on Marriage #3

Marriage is such an exciting thing. You make a committment to be with the love of your life FOREVER! You love your spouse so much, you still get excited when they call and they'll always be hotter than Brad Pitt...so tell me this....Why is that we (wives) are so SCARED of them??? Maybe it's just the thought of disappointing them or letting them down. For example, during the month of December I am no longer working (it's complicated- I start school in January), so I'm spending a lot of time at home getting things done I wouldn't normally...scrubbing base boards with toothbrushes, reorganizing the pantry, and other important tasks. Apparently I don't do well unsupervised for this many hours a day. It's like every day I fear Craig coming home and the trouble I will be in for whatever problem I've created that day.
Problem 1.
My point of view: I've been feeding a stray cat. I wanted it to come on the back porch and have a play date with Mia.
Craig's point of view: This cat isn't going to leave now. You can't let it around Mia, you don't know if it had diseases and Mia could get sick! oops.
Problem 2.
As I was elipticalizing (excercising on an eliptical machine) yesterday somehow I wedged the TV remote with the eliptical in such a way that it shattered into many pieces. As many of you out there may understand a TV remote is an important possession to a man. Miraculously I put it back together, sort of. It works anyways. So last night when Craig gets in bed I ask, "What happened to your remote?" He hadn't notice it's rugged appearance and the crack down the middle. I could've got away with that one...if I could keep from laughing.
Problem 3.
Today Mia spilled Dr. Pepper on the computer keyboard. Simple mistake, except that not too long ago she spilled water on my cell phone and we had to replace it. Luckily, I can't really reach Craig during the day so I run my ideas off others. Trevor gave me the good advice of using a hair dryer. Blaine gave me the good advice of not continuing with my plan of also pouring water over the keyboard to get rid of the stickiness.
Problem 4.
I'm not supposed to do certain things while I'm hear alone -like climb up into the attic. Well I did it, how would he ever know? Well, let me tell you how he'll know. I can get the ladder down into the attic, but I can't put it back up so when he pulls into the garage here in an hour or so he'll know.
These are just a few problems I've encountered in the past 48 hours. As you can tell I live in fear each day of when my husband comes home and I get caught in all my guilt.
So, my question is this...Why do we fear our husbands? Shouldn't they come home and just be happy to see us? All forgiving of any innocent wrongs?

I would like to end with this disclosure....my husband does not beat me, please don't worry! Although, he does say I exagerate a bit...

Josh and Kendra's visit

Another fun event I forgot to post....Josh and his girlfriend Kendra (who we love!) came out to visit a couple of weeks ago. They're South Carolina fans so we took them to the SC vs UF game. AND we introduced them to pokey stix (Thanks Jeff, Amy and Ashley for introducing US to pokey stix). We had lots of fun and can't wait to see them again!

Pretty in Pink

I forgot to post a picture of my new laptop...did I mention it was pink??! I think I've fallen in love with a computer. What is it about the color pink? I walk through store and if something is pink I want it, even if I don't know what it is or what it does. Pink looks good on everything.

CONGRATULATIONS JEFF!

Jeff found out today that he got into dental school and will be starting August 2009, we are so so so excited for him! Congratulations Jeff and Amy, we love you guys!