I hope Tiffany's and Adam's baby doesn't look like these

http://uglyrenaissancebabies.tumblr.com/page/5

More Jim Cramer- About European credit

Here is part 2 of Jim Cramer's show on Mon. Nov. 28, 2011.

Jim Cramer compares the economy to gift wrap sales

Lets see if this works.  This is my first time to try to embed a video.

This is part 1 of 2.

Great results promised if we read Book of Mormon

This is a great promise!  I hope we are all doing this in our own homes.

“And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading in the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. “I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.” (Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1960, pp. 110–13.)

Economics explained with cows

SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away... TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income. SURREALISM You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons AN AMERICAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead. ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then buys your bull. A FRENCH & CANADIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide A GERMAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch. A RUSSIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. A SWISS CORPORATION You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them. A CHINESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation. AN INDIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You worship them. A BRITISH CORPORATION You have two cows. Both are mad. AN IRAQI CORPORATION Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of Democracy.... AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go to the pub for a few beers to celebrate. A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive. A GREEK CORPORATION You have two cows. You borrow against the cows from the Germans You kill the cows and make souvlaki You can’t pay the interest so the Germans lend you more money You still can’t pay the interest so the Germans lend you more money You wont’t pay the interest so the Germans lend you more money You can never pay the interest so the Germans lend you more money .....

What if the Constitution no longer applied?

Judge Napolitano on YouTube. 5 minutes long.

Listen to his questions, and count how many times you can answer "yes".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX41SkKN0tQ&feature=player_embedded#!

My mother: What an example to me

(I gave this testimony at church on Sept. 4, 2011, while my mother was visiting me.)

I want to bear my testimony about the importance of being an example, and the importance of motherhood. My mother is here today, and I want to tell you about her example to me. She went on a mission and got married in the temple, but my dad was never active in the church. She took her six children to church every Sunday without his help. A few years ago my mother visited our ward, when Sister Kennedy was in our ward.  Brother Kennedy was in the bishopric, and we were sitting behind Sister Kennedy and her children. During the meeting, my mother started crying, because watching Sister Kennedy  reminded my mother of all the times she had sat in church wrestling with children all alone without a husband too. After that, Tara started sitting with them to help with the children.

I remember my mother driving a long distance each Primary day, (which used to be on a Wednesday after school) to pick up a cross-eyed girl named Glinda from an inactive family, to take Glinda to Primary with us. Later in my life, I was in the Young Women's presidency, and I had to drive miles out of the way to give rides to two young women from a very poor family. My little kids in the car would complain about having to pick them up, but I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do, because I had seen my mother do it.

My mother always strikes up conversations with people on airplanes, and gives them a Book of Mormon or gets their address and sends the missionaries to them. She has courage to confront people who speak badly of our Church. When the OSU Cowboys were going to be in the Fiesta Bowl with BYU in the 1970's, a business in Stillwater, Oklahoma where we lived put up a sign on their marquee which said, “Persecute the Mormons.” My mother walked right in there and explained to them the history of persecutions that the Mormons had gone through, and asked them to take down the sign, and they did.

I have learned from her to have a year's supply of food, and to do genealogy. I've seen her pray and read scriptures on a daily basis. She was an early morning seminary teacher when I was in high school, and I saw the diligence with which she prepared her lessons. That prepared me to be able to be a seminary teacher for the past four years. Her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and her faith in God, and her gratitude for all her blessings are constant themes in her life.

I know that our examples are important, and that our actions affect our children and grandchildren. I am thankful for my mother's example to me.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Praying before scripture study, by Dallin H. Oaks

"It has always been my practice...that before I partake of food to nourish my body I bow my head and ask the Lord to bless that food.  I do the same before I partake of the spiritual food in the scriptures.  Before I begin to read the scriptures each day, I bow my head, and ask the Lord to bless me that I will have His Spirit to enlighten me on the meaning of what I am reading and to be with me throughout the day to help me make decisions, and to resist temptation.  I urge you to make that your practice."

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

("Welcome to Seminary", as quoted in Church News, week ending Sept. 10, 2011.)

Tiffany made this elephant

Tiffany's baby is due any day, and she found this pattern and wanted to make it.  She and I worked on it today and it turned out so cute!  (the pattern came from http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/cutting-corners/2011/11/22/layla-elephant-softie/)

Perseverance

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin:

I believe that perseverance is vital to success in any endeavor, whether spiritual or temporal, large or small, public or personal... All significant achievement results largely from perseverance."  Ensign, Nov. 1987, p. 9.

Five sentences

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.  

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.  

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.  

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. 

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

I have a new love

I learned how to do Family History Indexing at a class on Sunday night, and I am hooked!  I did it for four hours straight on Monday, and didn't even know I had spent that much time until I looked at the clock.

Wow, at least I will be doing something righteous with my time on the computer instead of just wasting time.

Antithesis of a leader

 Here is Erskine Bowles on the crisis we're facing.

The economics is very clear. The politics, very difficult. I'll give you one little simple arithmetic example. If you take 100% of the revenue that came into the country last year, every single dime of it was consumed by our mandatory spending and interest on the debt. Mandatory spending in English is basically the entitlement programs, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. That means every single dollar we spent last year on these two wars, on national defense, homeland security, education, infrastructure, high value-added research—every single dollar was borrowed, and half of it was borrowed from foreign countries.

That's a formula for failure in anybody's book.

And this is not a problem that we can solely grow our way out of. You could have double-digit growth for decades and not solve this problem. It's not a problem that we can solely tax our way out of. And we can't simply cut our way out of it.

Read the rest of the article: http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2011/11/when-president-fails-to-lead.html 

Wayne to Wilderness First Aid training

I don't know when the Boy Scouts implemented a new requirement, but now the rule is that if the scouts go on an outing that is more than 30 minutes from medical professionals, a person has to be along who has the Wilderness First Aid certification.

Wayne is the scoutmaster now, so he went ahead and took the 2-day training on Saturday and Sunday.  It was in Winston-Salem, so we asked the Baughn's if he could stay overnight at their house Saturday night.  Sister Baughn was SO kind and hospitable, she made him a 5 course meal with fancy table settings and cloth napkins, etc.  Brother Baughn and Wayne had such fun talking for hours.  Wayne had such a wonderful time.  Those people are the salt of the earth.  (She used to be my visiting teacher when they lived here, they were in the temple presidency.)

I helped with the children while Janette and Rachel were making applesauce at my house on Saturday.  It was a good experience, they made about 44 bottles of applesauce out of 3 boxes of apples from the Farmer's Market.  (They would have made more, but unfortunately one whole pot of apples got burned, so that was sad.)  It made me feel like I could make applesauce in the future, because now I know how to do it.

"More Truth than Poetry" by Norma Shupe Clarkson, Part 3

Norma Shupe Clarkson Crandell wrote this humorous story of her life for a 1974 Clarkson Family Reunion.  The poor grammar is all a fake, she had lovely grammar and spelling.

Well, on with the story.  The people here in Mesa didn't expect to see us till we got here and most of the folks we didn't know looked like stangers.  One of our neighbors is near deaths door.  I do hope she gets through it alright.

I think we will stay here till we move or go somers else.  Some of the ground here is so hard you can't even raise an umbrella on it, but Grandpa and Grandma Shupe have a fine crop of potatoes, some the size of a hen egg, some the size of marbles and then lots of little bitsy ones.  Grandpa has some nice gubers too.  That's peanuts.

We always seem to raise a good crop of corn.  I think it will make about 4 gallons to the acre this year.  While we lived in New Mexico some worms got into our corn, but we just fished 'em out and drank it anyway.

We're about out of jelly now so quess we'll have to go on to Phoenix and get some of that traffic jam I hear them talkin' about.

We're learnin' about all this city stuff now.  We use shankses ponies to go most places, but last week I was feelin' quite  piert so I cranked up our Ford and drove it right down through the middle of town.  I sure wisht I hadn't when a cop on a motorcycle came whistling' up behind me and motioned me over to the curb right there by the First Ward Chapel.  I sat there with my heart in my throat waiting for him to come and tell me what I had done wrong.  I sure hadn't meant to break any of their city laws and ordinances.  It seemed most an hour when I see the funeral car movin' along and that cop never did come back so I just went on about my business.

Well now, I want to describe our house to you.  We live at 310 East First Street and have everything real modern.  We have a kitchen, a front room and 3 bedrooms, mind you.  There's another little room we didn't find till last week.  It has a thing in it that looks like what we used to water our horses in, only it's fancier.  Then there's another deal about 3 feet high with hot and cold water.  It ain't much good 'cause it has a hole in the bottom.  Then there's another thing over in the corner that you can put one foot in and wash it then move a lever and get clean water for the other foot.  It did have two lids on it till I took the solid one off, as I needed a board to roll out my pie crust on.  The other lid has a hole in it so we used it to frame Grandad's picture.  Everybody says it looks like he's settin' right there.

Aw shucks, I mustn't forget to write you the most important thing of all.  Joe and me were looking through the Monkey Ward's Wish Book and saw a picture of some of the cutest younguns; so we got to talkin' and decided we needed two more kids to make our family complete, so I just took my pencil in hand and made out the order right then.  Number 1 a baby girl, description--sweet and tiny and then, of course, the price.  Number 2. a baby boy- description- healthy, husky and happy, then the price.  I added up the total, "Yes, by skimping we can make it."  Well, do you know we got word the other day that we can expect the baby girl anyday now and I might add, we can hardly wait.  The letter did say there would be a delay in filling our order for a boy as the kind specified is out of stock at the present time because of a shortage of the special materials needed, yo know World War II shortages.  I'm sure he'll be worth waiting for.  

We already have their names picked out, do hope you like them.  They are Lynette Cecelia for a darling girl and Steven Gale for a wonderful boy. 

Well, I must close for now, feed the chickens and fetch in the eggs to go with our flapjacks in the morning.

If you have trouble readin' my writin' I'd advise you to make a copy and read your own.  With best regards, 

                               Norma

P.S. We would have sent you the money we owe you, but I already had this letter sealed before I thought about it.  We mailed Grandad's overcoat, Joe borrowed, but I cut the buttons off so it wouldn't weigh so much as postage is high.  You'll find them in the left side of the right hand pocket.

             So long for now and goodbye

(All foolishness aside this does have a lot of truth in it.  In fact more truth than poetry.) 

The end

"More Truth than Poetry" by Norma Shupe Clarkson, Part 2

Norma Shupe Clarkson Crandell wrote this humorous story of her life for a 1974 Clarkson Family Reunion.  The poor grammar is all a fake, she had lovely grammar and spelling.

Dale is an industrious sort of chap.  He is a lot of help to me milkin' the cows and such.  I had to turn the whole job over to him when the spotted cow kicked at me and I bumped the boil on my wrist.  Ohoooo, how that did hurt, but I recovered and was back on the job a week later when Buck (that's Dad's name for Dale) Buck began to feel bad.  The doctor gave me some medicine for him to take.  Doc said if he didn't get better he'd stay the same, but ya know, he got worse and we had to have his tonsilitis removed, and I fed him ice cream which he thought was great.

Now Sissie Boo, that's our Alice.  We call her Sissie Boo for short.  She is our sunshine and joy.  Well, she came down with the mumps the other day and now she has a swell time.  Her face is so cute and round as a ball with a pigtail hanging down on each side.  That's Alice Marie our fourth.

I must tell you about our baby, Joyce.  She is so sweet and does the funniest things.  Yesterday she swallowed a roll of film, but I don't think any thing has developed yet.  This is our Joyce Fay.  Alice calls her "Doydie".  She is learnin to talk a right smart, just like a grown up.  Before she was two she would say "Poor Bako boke ees ago," (Poor Break-o, broke his leg-o) talking about our race horse, The Break.  His leg was very bad so poor Joe had to lead him off in the woods and shoot him to get him out of his misery.  Made us all very sad.

Another bad thing happened..our dog just up and died.  He ate up our only tape measure and died by the inch, but Joe said he crawled under the bed and died by the foot.  Anyway we had to bury him and get on our way to Arizona now that the races at the State Fair was over. We went back to Carson to join with my family in celebrating Grandma and Grandpa Shupe's 50th wedding anniversary, which was October 1, 1941.  We enjoyed being back with uncles, aunts and cousins.

We finally got on our way and everything went fine until we got to the state line and, you know, they would not let us enter Arizona until they knew our life history from start to finish, and found out for sure we hadn't swiped that Chevy truck which we had bought with the money we sold our homestead for five years ago getting $3 an acre for the 640 acres.  Well, we couldn't find that title any wheres to prove the truck was really ours  We unpacked and dug and looked, but it was no place to be found.  Finally Joe gave up in disgust and went to sit in the truck cab and scratched his head to see if he could come up with any ideas. There right before his eyes was that precious bit of paper fasted around the steering rod where he had put it months before with his own two hands.  With a sigh of relief we were on our way again.

WE did make a quick trip.  It only took us from the time we left till we got here which was April 4th till October 7th. Only 6 months to make the trip of 450 miles with the truck pulling the 4 wheel trailer and our Model A Ford pulling a 2 wheel trailer.  Course we stopped off in Albuquerque quite a spell, as I said before.  Like I wrote you , we didn't know where we were headin' till we came to a cross roads near Tuscon and that truck took off to the right.  The Model A was so used to follerin' along by then that all I had to do was just sit there.  Now if you ever decide to come out west don't miss the trip 'cause it's the best part, but be sure to bring your chickens and cows to help out with the grub bill.

Oh, I forgot to tell you we decided to sell our biggest cow because he didn't give any milk.  

"More Truth than Poetry" by Norma Shupe Clarkson, Part 1

Norma Shupe Clarkson Crandell wrote this humorous story of her life for a 1974 Clarkson Family Reunion.  The poor grammar is all a fake, she had lovely grammar and spelling.

I was looking through some old letters the other day and found one addressed to Mr and Mrs Ira A. Clarkson, Liberal, Kansas.  I declare it does look like my writin';  It's kinda family history so if you kids will set a spell I'll read it to you.  It begins like 

this.

                                              310 East First Street

                                              Mesa, Arizona

                                              March 15, 1942

Dear Folks,

As I have time 'cause I ain't so busy, I'll drop you a few lines or so to tell you some of the up to date news which is six months old.  We are as well as can be expected for the shape we're in.  I'm feelen' fine but Aunt Millie is dead, hope you are the same.

I 'spose you'll want to hear about us moving from New Mexico way out west to Arizona.  We never started movin' until we left and didn't know where we were goin' till we got here.  Well first, we got to Albuquerque and unloaded our horses, our cows and our chickens, and yes, our pet rabbits too 'cause we planned to stay for a while as Joe had to rustle some frijolly beans and sow belly to fill 6 holler stomachs (guess it was 8 countin' us all).  He also had to get The Break and Indian Boy ready for the races in the fall.  They are our horses, you know.

We found a perty place to pitch camp with grean grass all about.  It was springtime and when the wind wasn't blowin' a gale it was rainin' cats and dogs.  The 4 older kids walked up the railroad track to school countin' the ties as they went.  Joe did some buildin' and plastering of houses while I tended the younguns.

Our Barbara June is getting to be quite an attraction of a young lady and does she ever like to primp?  Christine Elizabeth (Teen as her Daddy calls her) likes to look at herself in the mirror, too, so it's lucky we have a little lookin'glass in the cab of the truck and in the car so they could each have a mirror to see to pretty up themselves.  June got outta sorts with me one day because I hadn't told her about finger nail polish, which was all the go with the younger set.  Well, how could I when I had'nt heared of such a thing myself?  Both the girls are so good to help me though.

Christine worked hard to develop her musical talent.  She had to roll back the tarp off the piano to practice.  You see the piano was on the back of our four wheel trailer with all our other belongins.  You could hear her melodians strains of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" all over the country side as she counted out the time.

Dale and Dean with the short handled shovel came in handy.  You know those boys are smart to be so young.  They had a bright idea as how to keep the milk cool and the butter from melting.  Would you know they burried a box in the wet sand by the Rio Grande River.  We would jar up the food and it worked real fine.  In fact it was the best refrigerator we'd ever owned, but one night the river over flowed it's banks and almost took the truck and us with it.  It would have, too, if Joe hadn't beat it to the move and drove it out to higher ground.  Next morning Dean did some diving and rescued that precious butter I had churned for hours to make.  That Dizzie Dean is quite a boy for a seven year old.  Our little family is our pride and joy, you know.

Barnhardt ceases operations, says financial market is corrupt

Whatever you think about this, SHE believes it, and closed down her whole futures business because of it.

Here are excerpts, go to her website to see the rest of the article.  http://barnhardt.biz/

BCM HAS CEASED OPERATIONS (PART 1)
POSTED BY ANN BARNHARDT - NOVEMBER 17, AD 2011 10:27 AM MST

Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,

It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. ........

The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. ....

The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves.

 Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.

Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. .....

......I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses.

 I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.....

And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. ......

Olive Wixom 1929 to 1937 Moving around a lot

Oct --- 1929- Robert was born...

March 19, 1930:  Earl was going to college and trying to make some money doing art work at school etc. We managed to get by. The folks had a cow and would send us milk every day....

One day I had a nickel and I debated whether to buy a head of lettuce or a Milky Way bar. I was so hungry for candy that the bar won out. I made it last for a week. It was so good.

Sept. 12, 1930 We came back to Logan, Utah and I went to work at the Bluebird Cafe. I was dipping chocolates. Earl came home and started to school again.

Jan. 21, 1931 I was laid off...We are in a depression. (They are living with Earl's parents.)

Feb. 9. 1931 The lunch counter in the Stockton Christensen store had been closed for quite a while so with the urging of Carnell (Earl's brother) I went up and talked to them about letting me open it up for them. I must have been sorta desperate or I would never had the courage to do it. They hired me and said go ahead. ...What a challenge. No one will ever know what I went through those first few days. It was a wonderful experience and it all turned out fine. I was lucky to be able to do it with the depression on so bad.....And having the folks (Earl's parents) tend the children I didn't have to worry about that.

1933 Spring. We moved up to Astel's apartment and Vonda tended our children. It was hard but we felt the folks had had us long enough.

Aug. 1 1933- I left the store...I wanted to go to Burley for a vacation so I went knowing I could get on someplace. We stayed 3 weeks then came back and stayed at Wixom's for 2 weeks til I could get going on a job. Started at the Bluebird (in Logan, Utah) and moved up to Mason's house in the front of it. Gibbon's family were in the other side of it.Lola tended the children and I started to work as soon as school started...Earl went to Burley again to work in the harvest.

1934 Spring- Moved ...behind the library building at the college, we lived in a tent that had a floor and boards built up around the sides. We had a very enjoyable summer...I learned to play bridge. (Note from Amy: Olive played bridge every week with her bridge club the whole time I knew her.) I was working at the Bluebird.

1934 Fall- Moved into the basement of Cardon's house with Buckley's living on the ground floor...Mother came down and stayed 4 months.

Spring 1935 Earl was laid off....Earl got his job teaching at the Indian School in Fort Hall.

Fall 1935- We moved to 691 East Center, in a house.

July 15, 1936 Earl...went to Driggs, Idaho to pick peas. Came back sometime in August.

Oct. 1, 1936 We moved upstairs in the same house that Dick and Carrie were living in.

June 1937- We moved up over Linford's Upholstering Shop where Earl was working. We were planning to buy a home but Earl got a contract to teach school in Freedom, Wyoming.

We bought our first electric refrigerator. It was a G.E with the round motor on top. It was so good to use the rest of the summer. When we left we sold it to Dulcie because they didn't have electricity out in Freedom.

Earl and I and the kids took our stoves over to Freedom in a trailer. We had bought a kitchen one and a nice brown Heatrola. The kitchen stove was a cute little green and white enamel.

This picture was taken around 1977, and shows Olive's daughter-in-law LaRue on the left and granddaughter Mitzi on the right.  Olive's daughter Carol had installed the old stove in her party room above the barn, and used it there for many years, until they remodeled the barn into a large beautiful home.

"In My Seat"

Here is the story of Sept. 11, 2001 told by the pilot who was supposed to fly American flight 11, but didn't.

Good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLj4akmncsA&feature=player_embedded#!

New entertainment center

The house looks so much better with the new paint and carpet.  It makes us keep buying things to finish off the rooms.

We bought an entertainment center for our living room on Saturday from craigslist, I am SO THANKFUL to Isaac, Adam, and Seth for their help in getting it loaded and unloaded.  It was really heavy!

Zac's friend Tatiana just left.  She is a really cute girl and we enjoyed having her visit.  Although I ate too many homemade chocolate sandwich cookies and pumpkin bread and banana bread while she was here.


Things are looking bleak for the EU and also for the US.  Also, here's a report that the Chinese have started their own central bank, so eventually they won't have to deal with dollars anymore.  (Can you say "Bye bye, dollar as the reserve currency"?)
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/economic-collapse-we’re-soaking-in-it_11142011

My Relief Society Lesson on "Signs of the Second Coming"

I was a substitute Relief Society teacher today in my ward.

Relief Society Lesson 43, “Signs of the Second Coming”, a little from Lesson 44, “The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus has told us that certain signs and events will warn us when the time of His Second Coming is near.

I gave the analogy of Google Maps. We can print out the list of directions. Some say “go 82 feet” and some say “go 160 miles” before looking for the next signpost or turn. We cannot see by looking at the list of directions because the words show no sense of scale.

Conversely, if we only print out the map, there could be 10 turns at the beginning, and then a long stretch of 160 miles where we look for the signpost of where to turn but there is nothing. Suddenly we get to the next signpost, and we need to make 5 turns quickly.

We could wake up as a passenger in a car, and have no idea where along the 160 mile stretch we are. Unless we see the signposts we have no idea how much farther we have to go.

I said that this is like the signs of the Second Coming. We don't know the scale between the signs, or how long we have to wait before the next one, or if many signs will happen close together soon. We have to be ready spiritually and temporally at all times.

Before the Savior comes, there will be great trials and calamities.

Heavenly Father wants us to be prepare for these troubles.

Heavenly Father expects us to be spiritually ready.

All faithful followers of Christ will know what the signs are and will be watching for them. D&C 45:39. D&C 39:23. If we are obedient and faithful, we will study scriptures and know of the signs.

Not all events preceding the Second Coming are dreadful. Many will bring joy.

For what purpose does the Lord give us these signs? He gives these signs to help us. First, our Heavenly Father wants us to be prepared for these troubles. Second, he also expects us to be spiritually ready when the Savior comes in his glory.

Some signs have already happened:

The restoration of the gospel.

The coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

The coming of Elijah. He appeared in the Kirtland Temple in April 1836.

People of Judah have returned to Jerusalem.

Some signs are occurring already or have started. (We can be certain that these calamities will become more severe before the Lord comes.)

Wickedness, war, and turmoil.

Waves of sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

Earthquakes, disease, famines, great storms, lightnings, thunder.

The gospel preached to all the world. (More needs to be done.) The manual says “Before the Second Coming and during the Millenium, the Lord will provide ways to bring the truth to all nations.”

The Lamanites will become a great people.

False prophets.

Some signs are still in the future:

A great hailstorm will destroy the crops of the earth. Hailstones weigh one talent (75.6 lbs) each.

A great burning mountain cast into the sea, a third of the creatures in the sea die

A third of men die..

Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot of men for 3 ½ years.

Two witnesses will serve in Jerusalem for 3 ½ years, then will be killed, then resurrected.

Battle of Armageddon.

Waters will flow out from under the Jerusalem temple, healing the Dead Sea.

Building of the New Jerusalem.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

The return of the Lost Ten Tribes and their records.

144,000 missionaries sent out.

The great and abominable church shall be cast down.

Righteous shall be gathered to Zion, the only people who will not be at war with one another.

Great earthquakes, mountains made low,earth reel to and fro as a drunken man.

Oceans will be driven back into north countries, and the islands shall become one land.

Earth will be like as it was in the days before it was divided.

Missionaries called home.

Sun darkened, moon as blood, stars hurled down.

A great sign shall appear in heaven, and all people shall see it together.

Two points to remember as we watch the signs occuring in our lifetimes:

The Lord keeps his promises. As we see the desolating calamities, we need to remember that he has promised they will happen. We should remember that he will also keep all of his comforting promises.

“Be not troubled, for, when all these things (the signs) shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled.” D&C 45:35.

The Lord is just. He will judge his people. Righteousness will be rewarded. Wickedness will be punished.

How can we remain calm and at peace even when some of the signs are terrifying and dreadful?

We can look to the prophet for guidance and follow his counsel. We can live worthy to have the Holy Ghost guide us. We can look forward to the Savior's coming with happiness and not with fear.

Bruce R. McConkie said:

“We do not know when the calamities and troubles of the last days will fall upon any of us as individuals or upon bodies of the Saints. The Lord deliberately withholds from us the day and hour of his coming and of the tribulations which shall precede it---all as part of the testing and probationary experiences of mortality. He simply tells us to watch and be ready.

We can rest assured that if we have done all in our power to prepare for whatever lies ahead, he will then help us with whatever else we need.

We do not say that all of the Saints will be spared and saved from the coming day of desolation. But we do say there is no promise of safety and no promise of security except for those who love the Lord and who are seeking to do all that he commands..

And so we raise the warning voice and say: Take heed, prepare; watch and be ready. There is no security in any course except the course of obedience and conformity and righteousness.”

Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign May 1979, p. 93 “Stand Independent of all other creatures”

Obituary of M.E. "Hap" Stewart

Hap and Vinnie Stewart, taken when they were in their forties or fifties.

Obituary printed in Cleveland American, Cleveland, Oklahoma, Nov. 1, 1995

Marion Everett “Hap” Stewart, 89, passed away in his sleep on Saturday, October 28, 1995 at his home in Mesa, Arizona where he had lived for the past 13 years. Funeral services will be held in Mesa, Arizona on Wednesday, Nov. 1 with graveside services held in Snowflake, Arizona where he will be buried next to his wife, Vinnie Gardner Stewart.

Most people will remember “Hap” for his love of team roping in which he was very active until he quit roping at the age of 80. He was most well known for riding “Paint”, a flashy red and white pinto horse, for several years. He won countless rodeos and large jackpot team ropings. He was particularly proud of the five times he won the large team roping in Prescott, Arizona for people 65 years and older in the 15 years he attended.

Stewart was born in Wyoming on December 4, 1905, to James Walter and Willie Mae Stewart. He lived as a child in several locations from Wyoming to western Oklahoma. He left Mountain View, Oklahoma when he was 15 and worked at construction jobs, as a rough stock rider for Montana Belles Wild West Show and as a cowboy for the Hash Knife Ranch in northern Arizona. While there he met his wife of 65 years, Vinnie Gardner of Snowflake, Arizona.

After marriage he quit cowboying and worked as a farmer, as a mechanic, and as a blacksmith. He started a construction company and built stock ponds on the Navajo Reservation from 1940 to 1945. He then started logging timber near Winslow, Arizona from 1945 to 1950. In 1950 he had saved enough money to return to his real passion, ranching, and bought a ranch near Dewey, Oklahoma.

In 1956 he saw a need for a rock quarry in the Bartlesville, Oklahoma area and started a rock crushing business, M.E. Stewart and Sons Rock Products. The company grew and prospered under his leadership and in 1967 the company expanded into the Pawnee, Oklahoma area.

The ranch near Dewey was sold to the Mullendores in 1965 and Stewart moved to a large home on Hog Shooter Creek east of Bartlesville where he lived until 1970. He then moved to his home on Highway 64 west of Cleveland, Oklahoma where he lived until 1982 when he moved to Mesa.

He is survived by two sons, Marion Everett Stewart, Jr. of Mesa and James Franklin “Lin” Stewart of Jennings. He had 11 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

This obituary is being printed as submitted at the family's request and is paid for by the family.

(Amy's note: This obituary was written by Larry Stewart, grandson.)

Pumpkin Cake Balls

Maybe everyone has eaten these before, but I just discovered them.  Here is the recipe I got:

Mix one box of Spice Cake mix with one 15 oz. can pumpkin.  Don't add any other ingredients.  Bake it in a 9x13 cake pan until it is done (about 25 minutes.)

Then crumble the cake all into crumbs.  I did it with an electric mixer.  My recipe said to mix in 1 can of cream cheese frosting.  That was too much, it made it too mushy.  I would add in 1/2 a can of cream cheese frosting next time.

Then roll it into little balls and refrigerate.
Next, dip the chilled balls into melted white chocolate or melted almond bark using a toothpick.  They are so delicious!

Veteran's Day

“A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America', for an amount of up to and including their life.” Unknown

Thanksgiving craft for FHE

I saw this at one of my friend's houses.  They wrote what they were thankful for on paper leaves.

2 missionaries killed in hit and run in Texas

From lds.org today:

http://newsroom.lds.org/article/church-statement-regarding-missionary-deaths-in-texas
"Two missionaries were killed and another was injured when a vehicle struck all three while they were riding their bikes in Donna, Texas Tuesday evening. Elder Trevor Reinhold Strong, 21, of Taylorsville, Utah and Elder Derek Jason Walker, 20, of Fairfield, Idaho were killed. Elder Zachary Todd Harris, 19, of Huntsville, Alabama was rushed to a nearby medical center, but has now been released from the hospital."



A related story:

Here is another story from Texas about missionaries on bikes being purposefully sideswiped by a car, written Oct. 21, 2011 (I have no idea if these were in the same mission as the deceased missionaries):
http://texastrayners.blogspot.com/2011/10/angels-are-on-our-side.html.

"When the driver had both elders in his view in the front right side of his truck, he accelerated. He picked up Elder Smith (still on his bike) and carried him on the grill of the truck about 50 feet. The initial impact slammed Elder Smith's helmeted head against the hood of the truck. When the truck stopped and Elder Smith came down, the truck ran over his bike and (miraculously!) only Elder Smith's foot was still caught with the bike.  Somehow, Elder Smith was able to fall backward to keep most of his body from being run over, but by doing so, his head took another blow against the pavement. The truck sped away."




This makes me sick that in two separate instances, it looks like people are purposefully trying to injure or kill Mormon missionaries.

Go and See the International Quilt Market on a DIFFERENT blog

Okay, now I have a serious case of inferiority complex.  Rachel just sent me this link

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2011/11/fall-2011-quilt-market-recap-houston.html

and this woman showed TONS of photos of the Houston International Quilt Market.   (By the way, I absolutely adored the fabric and the booths.  Thanks, Rachel.)

It made me realize how little and wimpy my blog is.  Sorry!!!!  I apologize for its boringness and insignificance.  Now that I see how other bloggers do it, I should be shamed out of existence.  But I'm not gonna be.

Lyolya and her brother Robert

I am guessing Lyolya is around 5-7 and Robert is around 3-5 years old.

Olive Wixom's story: Lyolya's first years

Earl and Olive Wixom.   I don't know what year this was taken.

Olive Nunn Wixom life story- 1927 birth of Lyolya

----, 1927- Our baby girl, Lyolya Ruth, was born. We had a hard time to choose a name, good enough for her. I was reading a book at the time. It was War and Peace by Tolstoy, and found the name Lyolya, and thought it looked so pretty written and we decided on that and Ruth, after my sister, for a middle name.

Nov. 15, 1928- We went to San Francisco on the bus. They lost one of our suitcases off the top. They gave us $25 insurance but that didn't add up to half of what it was worth....We stayed at a hotel the first night. The next morning as we were eating breakfast we got a paper and looked for jobs. Earl saw where they needed chocolate dippers at The Wilson's Candy factory, so we went over and I applied for the job and they told me to come the next A.M. We found an apartment and moved our things in pretty good.

Earl got a job in the Heintz Kaufman Company, finishing radio cabinets, so we put Lyolya in the Cannon Kipp Nursery. It was very nice for her for they had trained nurses to take care of them. She was then 9 months old and in order for me to leave her there I had to wean her. She drank from a cup all the time and everyone there just loved her. She learned to walk there around in her play pen. We took her there in the A.M. And picked her up at 5 p.m. There was always a fog in at both times of the day that we had to have her out. She caught cold and couldn't get over it.

About the 1^st of January 1929, it turned to asthma. We had the doctor and he gave us some medicine but said she would probably not get over it as long as she stayed there where it was so damp. We thought if Earl's folks would come down and stay awhile and we could keep her home we would stay longer, so we called the folks but they couldn't say for sure.

We were both making good money and didn't want to go back to Burley Idaho where we couldn't even get a job maybe.

Before we could get word back from them Lyolya got worse, so we just wrapped her in her blankets and took the first train home (to Idaho). (Earl's brother) Ken was living just down the hall from us and working in a hat factory. We hated to leave him. We got on the train and before we had gone very far Lyolya seemed to get better and before we got to Salt Lake she was running up and down the aisles. When we got to Burley to our surprise they told us that the folks had left that day so we must have passed them on the way. They got (to San Francisco) and stayed in our apartment and visited Ken for a few days and then came on back to Burley.

The winter in Burley was one of the worst they had ever had. We were snowed in for several days. Even the mail couldn't get through. We worried about being snowed in with Lyolya but she got along fine. We were so thankful we left when we did for her sake.

Olive Wixom's life story: Porcupine Pie

From Olive Nunn Wixom's life story, from her diary April 10, 1917.

Elbert took up a homestead out in Fall Creek Basin so we all packed up and went out there, about 35 miles east of Idaho Falls, Idaho. So I didn't pass the seventh grade and had to take it the next year. We met the Poulter family (Olive's sister Ruth later married Orla Poulter.)....Orla and Ray were over to our house a lot as was Virgie and Mert. We all palled together and became lifelong friends.....

We stayed out on the dry farm all summer and had a very enjoyable time. Frances (Olive's sister) and I would roam over the hills. We would have to be careful not to go where there were range cattle. I lived in constant fear of them. The bulls would beller and paw the ground.

We lived in a tent and had a wonderful spring close by. Wild strawberries for the picking, also gooseberries and mushrooms as big as a dinner plate by the gunny sacks full right off the range hills, and Mother knew how to fix them really good. She would soak them in salt water over night then fry them in butter the next morning.

We had ice cream on the 4^th of July. We went up in the mountains close by for snow to freeze it with.

There were three families going to have a potluck dinner and they asked Mother to make a chicken pie. When we went up for the snow we took our dog along and on the way he chased a porcupine and the poor dog had quills all over his nose. Albert shot the porcupine.

We got the snow and hurried back to the tent. They pulled the quills out of the dog's nose with pliers and the dog felt good in a day or two.

Mother had a few hens but they were all laying so Mother made good use of the porcupine. She made her chicken pie out of it. Everyone at the dinner thought it was the best chicken pie they had ever eaten.

But Mother thought it was too good (of a secret) to keep, so she told them after they were all through eating. We all lived through it so I guess it's all right to eat porcupine.

My brother felt the earthquake

Oklahoma has had some earthquakes and many aftershocks in the last couple of days, very uncharacteristic of that state.  I had to call my brother Larry to see if he had felt it, and sure enough, he had.  His daughter Ali said she felt it a lot because she was laying in her bed and it really shook.

Carrot Pants

I grew these in my garden.  I am awesome.

"My Little Pony": I am speechless.

Guys liking "My Little Pony"?  I do not have a clue what is going on here.  I am wishing this was a joke.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203707504577012141105109140.html?mod=ITP_AHED#printMode

SNL skit "Don't Buy Stuff"

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

I could have written a book by that name.

New Paint and Carpet!

Too bad we can't just keep the rooms empty, it makes them look so clean.

My ward building when I was a child

Bartlesville Ward.  This was the first church I remember attending.

When my parents first moved near Dewey, Oklahoma, on "the Ranch", the church was just meeting in a rented building, but later this church was built.  My dad donated the rock for the parking lots.  The church was one story in the front, but the back wing had a lower floor for the scouts and relief society, and an upper floor for Sunday School classrooms.

Phillips Petroleum was the largest employer in Bartlesville, and there were many strong LDS people who had moved there to work at Phillips.

When I was a child, we lived five miles out on Nowata Road outside of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and my mother would drive into church for Sunday School in the morning, and again to Sacrament meeting in the afternoon.  She had Relief Society on Tuesday mornings here, and we had Primary on Wednesday afternoons.  (The consolidated 3-hour block schedule started the year Wayne and I were married, 1980.) Cheryl went to Mutual on Wednesday nights and to early morning seminary here too. (We moved away to Cleveland, Oklahoma before the rest of us got that old.)

I remember being forgotten at church at least one time.  Mother had driven home with the other kids and had accidentally left me behind.  I was playing on the front lawn of the church with some other kids when she returned.

Another time, I remember being very naughty at church, and all the way home my mom said she was going to spank me as soon as we got home.  I ran in to the kitchen and put a plate down my underpants, thinking she wouldn't notice and it would protect me from the spanking.  I have no idea what happened after that.  (If one of my children had done that, I probably would have been laughing too hard to spank them.)