Ramblings

Okay, just doing some journaling... some catch up... LOTS of pics (so if you are not interested, lol, that is totally fine!)

Derek & Brittany, Devin & Diana, and Blake are all in Tucson for the summer. The boys are installing security systems and the girls are working at a BBQ restaurant. Here are a few pictures I have snagged from their blogs and their face book accounts. I guess I should tell you that my son Devin is WAY into herps! He and Jeff are the original herpers! They just started a blog with pictures of the herps they catch this summer. Dallin does a little herping too! A boy on the golf course last week saw a snake and freaked, he yelled SNAKE! Dallin went RUNNING over there and saw that it was just a garter snake, picked it up and carried it off into the brush and let it go. The boys were all freaking out, asking how he knew it was not poisonous and stuff, LOL... but if Devin is your brother, you know these things! Devin, the herper and his cute assistant, Diana!
Yep, that is a rattlesnake! Here is a pic of Devin "catching it"
Then they caught a gila monster, and yes they too are poisionous!
Everyone deserves a little ice cream, after all, Arizona IS hot! AND, she IS a great assistant! (And a great sport!)
They also went to the fair!

Dallin was invited to the Cheer Banquet... waiting for his ride... and TELLING me I do not need to take pictures ALL the time... one day they WILL thank me! °Ü° Dallin and Farryn
Dallin and Kaitlin
"THE GROUP" These 5 kids have done everything together since middle school... it is actually going to be hard seeing them graduate and head off in different directions! I love you all! You are like my own! Ricky, Farryn, Aimee, Kaitlin, Dallin

Now... a little golf! Dallin's team took league again this year, Congratulations guys! Adding up the score...
Dallin and his dad!
So, now I have to tell you a funny story. (Although, it is one of those, "You had to be there" stories!) THANK goodness Dallin did NOT see this happen!!! Anyway, Kaitlin came to watch the match and so THREE of us were squeezed into the cart. I was driving (I LOVE to drive the cart, and yeah... so, sometimes I go up and down the hills at a NOT SO GOOD ANGLE) Well, you might have guessed by now... we were going (at a bad angle and a little TOO fast) down a hill, I got nervous and instead of using the brake to slow down I turned up the hill well, yeah, I fell OUT of the cart and rolled down the hill!!! WHEN I stopped rolling, I turned to look up at the cart and Kaitlin was rolling down the hill!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! We were laughing our heads off!!! We couldn't even get up, we just laid there LAUGHING! (Brad, being the guy that he is... was a tad bit embarrassed and just slid over, took the wheel, and continued on to watch the match!!!) SO, while Kaitlin and I laid there on the ground laughing our heads off, one of the coaches came over and asked us if we were okay!!! LOL!!! He said he didn’t see the whole thing, but when he looked over he just saw hair going everywhere, LOL!!! We had a fun, fun day!!!

Here is a cute picture of our little Chad boy... gotta love this sweet guy!


BLAKE. We need pictures of you!!! Miss you... Love you...

Tree of Life part 2

In 1 Nephi 14:18-27, Lehi tells us that John will write and tell us more... therefore we get more info in Revelations...

Okay, hope this helps with the questions that were asked...

In Rev. 22:2, the tree of life is said to have twelve branches with "twelve manner of fruits," evidently representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Its leaves are "for the healing of the nations," reminding us of God's promise that the nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham's seed (Gen. 12:3;22:18). Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah (john A. Tvedtnes), FARMS Review of Books, vol. 2 (1990), p.179

The FN to the 12 tribes is this:
Cf. the parable of the twelve olive trees in D&C 101:44-45.

This is what the student manual says:
Revelation 22:2,14
After the Fall of Adam and Eve, the way to the tree of life was closed so that they would have a time to repent, be tested, and in all ways prepare themselves to partake of this great blessing (see Alma 12:22–26; 42:2–5; Moses 4:31). John saw that the fruit of the tree of life was available to all in the celestial world. Having the tree of life available shows that all of the effects of the Fall have been overcome in this place. The Tree of Life New Testament Student Study Guide, p. 178

Ridges says the fruit is the benefits of living the gospel and the healing is what the gospel can do for nations

We cannot always tell which items are literal and which are figurative. That is, we do not always know when the scriptures are giving us symbolic imagery or when they provide a record of literal events. We know, for example, that there was an Adam and an Eve, that there was a Garden of Eden, and that the Fall was an actual historical event. But what of the "rib story?" Was Eve really created from Adam's rib, or is the scripture pointing to a greater doctrinal reality? And what of the trees in the garden and the fruit? Elder McConkie has written: "As to the fall, the scriptures set forth that there were in the Garden of Eden two trees. One was the tree of life, which figuratively refers to eternal life; the other was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which figuratively refers to how and why and in what manner mortality and all that appertains to it came into being. . . . Eve partook without full understanding [see 1 Timothy 2:14]; Adam partook knowing that unless he did so, he and Eve could not have children and fulfill the commandment they had received to multiply and replenish the earth." In short, to say that Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit is to say that they "complied with whatever the law was that brought mortality into being." Robert L. Millet, The Power of the Word: Saving Doctrines from the Book of Mormon, p.652.

Imagery, too, helps teach memorably and vividly the covenants of the Lord. Repeated references to literal or figurative images such as trees (especially the tree of life), water, dust, light, and fire confirm the purpose and power of covenants. The Book of Mormon, Designed for Our Day, FARMS Review of Books, vol. 2 (1990), p.14

Tree of Life...

Did YOU know that the Tree of Life bares 12 DIFFERENT fruits?
Did you know that the leaves are used for healing?

Revelations 22:2
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations?

Mortality

The course and the training program will be unique to each of us!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today is my sweet mom's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! I wish I was there to celebrate with you! But, know that I am thinking of you all day long... you were/are/and always will be THE BEST MOM EVER!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!! I LOVE YOU!!! This is a cute picture of my mom and dad the day they got married!!! They were both raised in good old Texas! My mom and dad have 2 children, me and my brother. They have 9 grandchildren, 2 that are married... no great grandchildren YET... Here is the WHOLE group.
They live in Utah now. My mom loves it there. She is closer to the grandchildren and she loves being close to BYU, my mom and dad have really enjoyed going to Education Week there and all the other wonderful things they offer. They served in the temple there... and my mom worked in the genealogy library and my dad at the cannery. Utah has been good to them! We love having them closer to us... LOVE Texas but a LONG ways to drive, we can do Utah MUCH quicker! Mom worked and retired from Southwestern Bell where she had many dear friends! She has a sister that lives just about 15 or so miles away, they have lots of fun together! You should see them laugh! Mom and Aunt Sue!
Here we are under the big tree that they sit under often, mostly in the summer! Mom loves being outside, I called yesterday and she was out weeding... speaking of... she LOVES pansies! Mom, if I were there today I would plant you some pansies ALL over your front yard and then I would take you to Cafe Rio, oh, wait. THAT is MY favorite place, oops. I would take you to Chuck-A-Rama and then of course we would have to do a little shopping!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!!!

Addicted!

Omigosh, okay, so I am trying to drop a few LB's before summer REALLY sets in!!! So, I have been looking for "healthy choices". I don't know if YOU have an El Pollo Loco in YOUR town, but if you do you NEED to try the 99 cent Loco Salad and get the 69 cent chicken taco, dump the chicken from your taco into your salad, add some house salsa and their YUMMY spicy avacado dressing!!! YUM!!! TO DIE FOR!!!

There are songs in everyone...God can hear all of them. ~ Emma Smith

The Gossard's Came to Town!

It was Spring Break in Utah this past week and so my SIL and her family came to town! It was fun, we had a great time! On Thursday we let our boys miss school and go with their cousins to Magic Mountain!
Chad got his picture taken with the Joker, looks like he doesn't like that Batman cape Chad has on, hahahaha!

Then on Friday we went to the Rainbow outlet and got new flip flops and then pedicures. On Saturday we went to the Orange County Swap Meet (if you have NEVER been, you must add this to your to do list, there are 1100 vendors!) Then we went to Laguna Beach and got new toe rings...
Pedicures, new flip flops, and toe rings, what more could a girl want? A purse you say? Well, they got that at the swap meet so... ALL needs were met! °Ü°
Then we met the guys at the beach!



Uncle Greg went with the kids to the tide pools and they found some star fish!




Does your family hide from you when you take pictures???
Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Greg...

I LOVE the beach!!! There is no better place on Earth! The sun on your face... the breeze in your hair... the sound of the waves... the sand between your toes... HEAVEN!