~EXtra EXtra read all about it~

Cory Horton turns 30!

I can't believe that 17 yr old I knew is now 30! When did that time go by? ....

Thanks Cory for all you do to take good care of your family! The journey you've made thus far in your life should make you proud. I'm so grateful that your life was spared a few months ago in Cancun. I'm grateful for the love you and Jennifer have. Thank you for holding FHE, Family Prayer, serving in your ward and setting a good example for your children.

I don't know anyone else who likes to eat pickles, or anything else while taking a nice hot bath
or when he gets laughing really hard, goes into pantomime mode! I don't know anyone else except my sons who go completely nuts when BYU plays! Thanks for all the "fixing stuff" you
do for our family~~

Many many happy returns of this day!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ~ love ya

Jen

Just got home from a great weekend road trip with my two oldest grandsons .... will share more later with pictures.............

But after talking with Jen & reading Cory's sweet post on her blog, my heart is just breaking. How I wish all of the faith and prayers going up for her could prevent this sadness. I know so many people love Jenny! She's a very special young woman to our family.

I'm your mom and you are my daughter, how I wish I could take this hurt from you. You know what I mean because you are a mom and you have a daughter.

I love you, honey.

~A Day in the Life of a Mother~

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; They don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils Are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, Filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough Doesn't come out of carpets.
Real Mothers don't want to know what The vacuum just sucked up...
Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
And get their answer when a little Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'
Real Mothers know that a child's growth
Is not measured by height or years or grade....
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother.....

The Images of Mother:
4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!
8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn’t know everything!
14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn’t have a clue. .
16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's so five minutes ago.
18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!
35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, Because that is the doorway to her heart, The place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she Shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

~Ground Hog Day~

I know a lot of people didn't like the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, but I loved it! He stayed until he got it right ~ just like we all are doing in our own lives, I think........

Every time I hear Sonny & Cher lament "I got you Babe"..........I start laughing, but really that is why we are here, trying to help each other right? ~ I got you Babe, ...I got your back....I got your blindside....!

Ok, book of the month is another re-read ( I promise I'll get a new book for March ) but this is a winner!!! Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. My old copy is well marked in yellow highlighter. This read will be in pink~~ Here are just a few favorite quotes to wet your appetite:

"Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive."

"When a man is getting better he understand more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less."

"Love in this second sense - love as distinct from "being in love" - is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other at those moments when they do not like each other. "

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, or spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

"Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance."

Just a sampling of this amazing author's insight. There are two men that I am excited to meet and talk to some day. The Apostle Paul of Tarsus and C. S. Lewis. I love they way they write and the use of words to express what is in their hearts.

Let's all read more during Punxsutawney Phil's six more weeks of winter prediction!

~My Toyota's owie is all fixed~

Thank you kids for fixing the owie on my little Yaris. I just love this car! It is so wonderful to have a dependable running car to drive me all over the place! ( smile ) I think I will always want to drive a Toyota, I just trust'em!

I'm re-reading a wonderful book by the Prophet of my youth, David O' McKay, "Pathways to Happiness" When a Prophet speaks, it doesn't matter if He is Nephi, Alma, Moses, President Monson or President McKay - they speak with power & wisdom!! He says we all trade something and gain something with Life's gains and losses. Life is structured that way. We gain wisdom as we grow older but lose the strength of youth. We gain perspective on eternal life when we lose someone to death. .....

I'm resolving to reading one GREAT BOOK each month this year! That should help limit TV time! well except for Biggest Loser, an occasional American Idol and Kel & Stacey insist I catch up on HERO?!

I'll be reporting in on the next book for February and sending inspiring platitudes out blog-wise.

~A Grateful Heart~

I'm sure Jen will blog about their experience this past week in Cancun. But in a nutshell, She and Cory nearly lost their lives in an undercurrent pulling them out to sea. The story will bring goosebumps as she tells of their ordeal. As a family, we know there is a Heavenly Father who has all power. We know He hears and answers prayers and He sent "Angels" to help them survive last Sunday!!

It is a story that will be in our family's hearts for years to come. Their children, when faced with adversity can know that their parents' faith was strengthened and that the power of Jesus Christ is always stronger than that of Lucifer's.

The words to express gratitude to our Father in Heaven for watching over them is completely inadequate! The way we live our lives every day is the only way we can truly show Him how very thankful we are!

~patience is a virtue?~

You only like physical therapists on your way out of their office! About half way through the "nazi torture" I was having my arm put through by my P.T. I realized he was none other than Shalene Wells Hawks, husband, Bob~. He is a very nice guy until he starts that stretching, it may be called passive, where he does all the work while I concentrate on not resisting, but let me tell you, there is nothing passive about taking this poor shoulder which has been insulted surgically and putting my arm high above my head where the pain meter is off the chart!

"oh you're doing great" says he, gasping for air....."really?" says I...

At last one more session comes to an end with a wonderful ice bag strapped for 15 minutes to "cool off" that 59 year old joint!

Well, I'm learning how to do many things with one hand, some necessities really were made for two, (use your imagination).....but I am grateful that I will have a few more days of recovery before Bob and I go another round!! Life is never dull~~