First Day of Seminary

Today was my first day to teach seminary this school year. I am teaching "Book of Mormon", it is my 4th year to teach. I could have been teaching at the new Morrisville Ward building, which is only 1/2 mile from my house, but it isn't done yet, so I still have to drive 9 miles to the stake center every day until the new building is done. We hope that will only be a couple more weeks.

I have between 14-19 students, depending on absences. My class is mixed freshmen and sophomores, and Zac is one of my students.

Middle Class Version of Wayne's Dream House

Wayne is still writing. Amy loves her blog to have something every day. We're still looking at house plans and came across this beauty!

House plan 302-258. 815 square feet 1 bedroom 1 bathroom with 4 garage stalls

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There is even enough room for Amy this time! ;-)

More Severe Form of H1N1 reported

Remember the book review of "The Great Influenza" that I posted in March 2009? I quoted from that book that in 1918 and 1919 the second wave of the Spanish Flu virus was much more virulent than the first wave. People began dying in huge numbers from lung infections.

Well, the media has been reporting all summer that a new wave of the flu was going to hit this fall when all the kids went back to school. Today a news article made me very afraid. In this article, WHO Warns of Severe Form of H1N1 Virus,
Saturday, August 29, 2009, it says, "Doctors are reporting a severe form of H1N1 that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organization said Friday."

"Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients hospitalized with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need intensive care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems, WHO said in an update on the pandemic."


I personally do not think the media is paying enough attention to the possible virulence of the coming wave of the flu. I think they should be warning us about the possibilities of self-quarantining, or the possibilities that the food supply will be disrupted if the pandemic gets severe.

I think we all need to be prepared with food, supplies, etc. in case it gets as bad as 1918-1919. They had so many deaths and so much social disruption that businesses, church meetings, etc. were cancelled. It cannot hurt to be prepared.

You can go back and read more of my posts from March, but here are two paragraphs which I posted from the book "The Great Influenza" on March 19, 2009:

Why did so many people die so quickly? (In 1918-1919)

p. 249, 250-251 Viral pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) explains why so many died in a few days after getting sick. The immune system followed the virus into the lungs and there waged war...the capillaries dilated, pouring out fluid, every kind of white blood cell, antibodies,...into the lung...even more fluid poured into the lung..The cells that line the alveoli were damaged, if they survived the virus itself....More blood flooded the lungs. The body started producing fiberlike connective tissue. Areas of the lung became enmeshed in cell debris, fibrin, collagen, and other materials. Proteins and fluid filled the space between cells. (p. 373 "water-logged lungs")

What killed the others? (In 1918-1919)

p. 251, 257 Of those who did not die of ARDS, the majority died from bacterial pneumonias (normal bacteria from mouth is able to migrate down to lungs because influenza has damaged epithelial tissue in throat) .These were slower moving pneumonias caused by secondary invaders. Bacterial pneumonias developed a week, two weeks, three weeks after someone came down with influenza..Often influenza victims seemed to recover,...then suddenly collapsed again with bacterial pneumonia.

I wonder if this is what the FoxNews article was talking about, and if it is happening again just like in 1918-1919. There is no way to know, because there just isn't enough in-depth media coverage going on. I want to be a fly on the wall in the emergency room and Intensive Care Units, so I can hear if any of those doctors are seeing similarities.

Poor Version of Wayne's Dream House

This is Wayne writing. Amy & I were looking through house plans when we came across this plan:

House plan 124-796. 2280 square feet 0 bedroom 1 bathroom with 6 garage stalls

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We joked that, if I were a bachelor, this would be my dream home - 6 car garage & just enough space to live in. (The recreation room would be the living room and the hobby room would be the bedroom.) It reminds Amy of the magazine photos she posted on March 12th, 2009. That one would take millions to build. This one would be a bit more economical.

Best Portraits

Not the normal poses

She Ain't Heavy, She's Our Sister

Small World

We went to Richmond Friday for the open house that Janette's dad was hosting there. Before we went, Wayne's brother Mark went on Google Maps and looked up the house Wayne's family lived in when Wayne was in kindergarten. They only lived in Richmond that one year. Surprise! It was within a mile of Janette's dad's house.

So, when we drove up to Richmond, Wayne's mother, Mark, Wayne and I stopped to see their old house, and their old grade school, Pinchbeck Elementary. When we arrived at the open house and told them about it, we found out Janette's younger siblings had also gone to Pinchbeck Elementary. What a co-ink-ee-dink.

Adam's Website

Adam is a fantastic artist. I have kept meaning to put his website on here as a link. So here it is: http://clockworkangel.com/.

He was accepted into the prestigious Design School at NC State and has been working on his degree there for a few years. He is the most creative person I know. I love his sarcastic humor. Look through his website, his doodles are my favorite. And I think he is going to be a famous illustrator of children's books someday, along with his other money-making endeavors.

President Maxwell

My son Adam doodles wonderful doodles in church. A long time ago he was doodling while Pres. Maxwell was speaking, and this drawing was the result. You can see it on Adam's website
HERE. You need to scroll down about two-thirds and look at the drawing labelled 032.jpg .

Mesa Madrid Townhouses

The day before Seth's wedding, I took all six of my children and daughters-in-laws on a home tour of all the places I had lived in Mesa, and all the houses my mom had lived in Mesa. I lived in Mesa once in 6th grade, once in 7th grade, and once when I came home from college, and then once when I stayed with my mom for 6 weeks when Wayne was in an IBM class in Chicago. She also showed them the site of her first home when she was 11 in 1941, and three other houses she lived in later.

We got tired before I could take them to the Mesa Madrid townhouses. Just Isaac and I drove to this one.

Here are photos of the Mesa Madrid townhouses where we lived Jan-June 1971, when I was in the 6th grade. I was amazed that they still look like they are in very good shape.
I think ours is the one with the little roof over the door. But the roof must have been changed, because I know I climbed out on it once, and the current roof looks too little.

This is a view down the common area in the middle of all the townhouses. You can see the clubhouse at the far end. I spent every day playing pool in the clubhouse, or swimming at the swimming pool. I pretty much ran wild when we lived there.

I was sad to see they had removed the big climbing toy/ swingset/ play structure that used to be in the common area. I know I painted my name on the underside of it, "Amy Loves _____" (name I can't remember) and I wanted to see if the paint was still there.

All Eight Together

Our last family picture all together was in August 2001, just before Adam went on his mission. Adam's and Isaac's missions overlapped, then Isaac's and Seth's overlapped, then there was one year where we had no missionary but people were in different places, then Bryce went on his mission.

So on Aug. 13, 2009 we were finally in a room all together again. And then we had professional pictures taken at Seth's wedding, and I am hoping the family portrait turns out wonderfully.

Project Runway starts tonight!

I am so so excited! The new season of Project Runway airs tonight! I have been waiting for this for a whole year, I think. They have been in litigation and haven't been able to show it, and now they finally have it solved, and it will be on a new network (Not Bravo anymore, now its on Lifetime).

I absolutely love to watch the designers take a challenge and then buy the fabric and design and sew the clothing and then show them on a runway and get judged.

When I was in high school that is what I dreamed of doing. I sewed all my own clothes, and I always made up my own patterns or changed patterns in ridiculously difficult ways, I just had a drive to show myself what I could do with fabric. Too bad I have almost no pictures of the clothing I made back then, I certainly learned a lot by all the things I sewed.

Adventurous Me

At the Stewart Retreat in June, my sister Carla challenged us to do things we had never done before. She said we should say to ourselves, "I can change. I can be a new person."

So when we were in Mesa, after Seth's wedding, we went down the Salt River on inner tubes. And my sister Carla refused to go with us. So I made fun of her, because I was going tubing for the first time in my life and was very apprehensive, and I was doing it anyway because she told me to, but she wouldn't take her own advice. She said Adventure was at the bottom of her To Do List.

Well, it is definitely at the bottom of my To Do List also, but I did it anyway. And I am very proud of myself. All my children and my husband were completely shocked that I would go with them.

At first I had my legs hanging down through the middle of the tube, but then the current took me into tall river grass, and it totally creeped me out to have all the grass waving around my legs, so I had to get up on top of the tube. This was great, until we got into some very mild rapids, and stupid me didn't realize that rapids are caused by rocks, and my tailbone got whacked. I was in pain for two days, now the pain is pretty much gone.



This is at the very beginning of the river. I have a grocery sack with a HoneyBun and a water bottle and some sunscreen inside it, and for the whole trip I had to hold the bag because I had no way to attach it to the tube. If I ever go tubing again, I will bring a long rope.

This is me, my brother Jamey, Isaac, and Zac.

Wayne, Tiffany, and Adam.

Zac, Isaac, Bryce, and Adam.

So cute!

Just when Seth and Janette came out of the temple, my granddaughter Elizabeth ran up to them. I think this is the classic photo that you always see in bridal magazines---the beautiful bride bending down to greet the cute little girl.

In case you didn't know, Janette has an identical twin sister named Amanda (who is also married to a North Carolina man, isn't that great?). When I was at Janette's mother's house, Amanda was standing near me, and she said, "I haven't introduced myself yet" and it totally shocked me because I thought I was standing next to Janette. I took this snapshot of the portrait they had on their mantle, so you can see how much Amanda and Janette look alike.

High Jumping

When we came out of the temple on Friday, it was around 104 degrees in Mesa. We took a bunch of wedding photos of the families, and it was very very hot.

However, Seth and Janette had been smart, and hired a photographer to take all their bride and groom photos on the temple grounds the day before, Thursday morning at 6 a.m.

This photo was displayed at their wedding luncheon, taken by their photographer. I love it. (I took a snapshot of it, my snapshot is not great quality.)

Seth and Janette, Married!

SETH IS MARRIED!!!!!!

Here are Seth and Janette as they came out of the Mesa Temple after their wedding Friday. (Click on the photos to make them larger.) It was a beautiful wedding ceremony. Then they had a luncheon at the Landmark Restaurant in Mesa.










(Right) After feeding each other cake.

(Below) Off to their honeymoon! They are in a timeshare somewhere in Arizona, then they are going to Salt Lake City to attend Erik's temple wedding on Aug. 20. Then they will go to a reception in Richmond on Aug. 21, and then one here on Aug. 22.

Seth's Wedding Day

Today Seth is marrying Janette in the Mesa Temple. We'll post photos soon.

Flying to Arizona

Our whole family is flying to Arizona this morning for Seth's wedding tomorrow in the Mesa Temple. This will be the first airplane flight that Tara can remember, and the first airplane flight Zac has ever had.

Father's Day Dinner

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this photo on here. Better late than never.

Tiffany and Rachel and Tara made Wayne a delicious Father's Day dinner at Tiffany and Adam's townhouse. (I'm sorry I never got a photo of Tiffany or Adam that day.) I was really impressed with the beautiful table setting, Tiffany loves pretty dishes and tablecloths and I am trying to learn from her to have more "hostess skills".

Tiffany and Adam also have carpentry skills. They installed the built in cabinets along the end of their living room/dining room, and did the tile on top of the counter. AND they built the lovely wooden dining table (which is under the tablecloth) together in a woodworking class.

Stewart Retreat #6

Before we went on the retreat with my siblings in June, Carla had us take some online quizzes which showed our talents and interests. She had lists of words prepared for us, and we made these cute posters with all the words on them. I am supposed to look at it every day and remember all my skills and what a great person I am.

Isaac's and Rachel's Anniversary

Four years ago, Aug. 2005, Isaac married Rachel in the Raleigh, NC temple, and they had their reception in Raleigh. I didn't have a blog then, so I will share some photos now. They are a wonderful couple, and now have two little children.

(Seth isn't in the family photo because he was still on his mission to Curitiba, Brazil.)

Knee Surgery 1986

Patti's knee is injured so we haven't been able to walk once a week. (I miss her!) She is having knee surgery on Tuesday.

I had that same surgery in 1986, after I went skiing on New Year's Day and my bindings didn't release and my ski twisted all the way around. I got to go down the mountain in a Ski Patrol sled. After my surgery on Jan. 28 I came out of general anesthesia and saw all the nurses gathered around the TV because the Challenger had just exploded in midair.

When I came home from the hospital, I was on crutches for about three weeks. People helped me but for the most part every day I was on my own. Adam was 3 1/2, Isaac was 2, and Seth was seven months old. Of course I couldn't carry Seth, so I would go on crutches into their room, pick Seth up out of his crib, and put him on a blanket on the floor. Then Adam would pull the blanket and Seth into the living room. Fun times.

$18 haircut and stuff

(1) Anne told me about a good haircut she got from Jacquetta at the salon in the new SuperWalmart by my house. So I went over there and got a fabulous haircut for only $18! (It isn't a new hairstyle, I just needed it put back to where it was 2 months ago. And she did it even better than it was originally.) I am just sick that for years I've been paying probably $40 a time to get my hair cut, switching hairstylists several times trying to find a good one, and now I've found one for so little money. Hooray!

(2) So, Paula Abdul is out and Victoria Beckham is in. I watched "American Idol" religiously for the second and third seasons, but haven't watched it since Sanjaya was on (he made me barf.) Maybe I've got to watch it a few times just out of curiosity to see how Posh does as a judge.

(3) One of Bryce's best friends here, David R., has swine flu. Bryce has hung out with him many times since Bryce has been home. I am praying none of us get sick and miss the wedding.

(4) I bought the "LDS Soft Rock Scripture Mastery Songs" CD and have been listening to it over and over and over and over and over. I think it is helping me memorize the 25 scripture mastery verses from the Book of Mormon, which I have to teach to my students in seminary, but it is also making my family hate me. I am trying to have the music on only when they are out of the room.

Two Cumorahs post #2

Then Wayne and I discussed the statements of Brigham Young and others, who taught that Joseph Smith returned the golden plates to the Hill Cumorah (probably Hill Cumorah #2), and that Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith went inside a room containing wagonloads of records. Wayne looked it up online and there are at least 10 recorded versions of this story. (Click HERE to see the articles on the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship website. )

So what I am wondering is---why did the Lord move all those records from where Mormon hid them in HC#1 to HC#2? That must have been a difficult thing for Moroni to move all those many records during his thirty-six years of wandering around alone. Unless the Lord did it through some supernatural means.

ANYWAY, I'm not going to teach that in seminary anyway, because there is too much other stuff to teach. But it is fun to think about. And I really really want to have all those records translated and be able to read them someday.

Two Cumorahs post #1

Wayne and I got talking Monday night about the current and recent studies going on by LDS scholars. We realized that up through our teenage years we were taught that the Book of Mormon covered all of North and South America. I think it wasn't until the 1980's that the scholars started showing that the Book of Mormon most likely covered only a very limited geographical area in central America.

Also, I remember when a Gospel Doctrine teacher in the early 1990's taught us about the "Two Hill Cumorahs" theory, how I was so mad that I went home and read in detail every single thing I could get my hands on about the Hill Cumorah, and came to the conclusion that he was probably correct. All the current LDS scholars are pretty much convinced that the original Hill Cumorah, where the Nephites were exterminated, was in Central America, and the Hill Cumorah in New York state was a second Cumorah where the records were placed later. (Click HERE to read an article about that on the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship website.)

(to be continued)

Can't wait to teach the Book of Mormon

I am getting very excited to teach the Book of Mormon in early morning seminary this year. I love the Book of Mormon! I had to teach the Doctrine and Covenants, Old Testament, and New Testament for the past three years just so I could teach the Book of Mormon this year. I know that if they had asked me to teach the Book of Mormon my first year, I probably would have not taught three more years after that. But I had to do those three years to get to this year---its going to be AWESOME!

I have been enjoying rereading all the books and Ensign articles I have collected since I was a teenager, I have loved to learn and study about the Book of Mormon for many many years.

Wayne's Obsession

Wayne watched two documentary series by Ewan McGregor, "The Long Way Round" and "The Long Way Down". Both showed Ewan and his friend riding motorcycles. In one, they rode all the way around the world (with a short plane ride), and in the other they rode from the northern tip of Scotland to the southern tip of Africa.

Now Wayne is obsessed with doing a similar trip, but in a convertible. He wants to take 3 months off of work in 2011 and go all the way around the United States and across Canada, camping all the way. I am fine with him doing it but I won't go with him. He says I can fly in to several of the cities and meet him.

Its funny how excited he is about his plans. This is not something I would be excited about at all.

Click HERE to read about the show in Wikipedia.

Lyric's Book

My good friend Lyric Kinard has written a quilting book, and it is coming out in October. She and I used to go to the MidAtlantic Quilt Festival together every year, and we would dream about someday becoming big time national quilting teachers. Then we both reached our goals of being professionals in our field, but now I'm pretty much on sabbatical and she is still racing full speed ahead. She is really talented and has such drive and ambition, I am very proud to know her.

Click HERE to see her website, with an ad for her book.

Cumorah Slide Show

A newspaper photographer took photos of our scene at Cumorah one day while we were rehearsing it. Click HERE to see a slide show of the whole boat scene, with all the people I was with. Sadly, the photographer completely missed taking any pictures of me.

The Old Ice Chest

Wayne's dad passed away about six years ago, so in the past few years his mom has been trying to clean out some things from her house. Wayne and his brother Mark have made two trips to Washington state to help her and to bring back keepsakes.

This is one of the items that Wayne was most excited to inherit. It is their family's old ice chest from when he was a kid. He remembers camping all over the nation. And as they travelled, his parents would pull this ice chest out of the car and they would eat their meals from it.

It no longer works as an ice chest, but Wayne packed it with a lot of our non-refrigerated food while we were in Cumorah, and we just used it as a storage box.