Barb's Blessings . . . Counting them one by one.

Sticky Buns. (Pecans, brown sugar and karo syrup.) Yum. (Note to self: Don't use a spring form release pan to bake them in. The sticky stuff leaked out and burned on the bottom of my oven and filled the kitchen with smoke. Thank goodness for a self cleaning oven.) Cinnamon rolls for the purists in the family. Our friends the Sparkuhls gave us some home smoked sausage and Canadian Bacon, brown eggs and biscuits for Christmas breakfast. It was sooooooooooooo yummy. Thanks Sparkuhls and thanks to the pig who gave his all. The breakfast bounty: Scrambled eggs, hash browns, smoked sausage and Canadian bacon and a sticky bun. The carnage. The aftermath. There was just the three of us this morning so we decided to make breakfast our big meal of the day. The Sparkuhls gave us some wonderful home smoked sausage and Canadian bacon and some brown eggs and biscuits. I made the traditional cinnamon rolls and one pan of sticky buns. I used to make cinnamon rolls for half the world ever...

Family Room entertainment center Lights on the slider in the family room. The living room. The Nativity in the entry way. Where the deer and the antelope play. It looks better from a distance. The walkway to the front door From the street On the right side of the yard below One of the speakers in church today said that she suffered from a holiday disease. She called it " Deckthehallitis " I think I have it too.

I had an appointment to go Visiting Teaching tonight at 6:30 and then we had to be at the church for tithing settlement at 7:35. Rachel's car broke down today so she drove our van to work at the hospital and I had to drive it home so I could take Kent to tithing settlement. So I traded keys and cars with her and went out into the farthest parking lot where she had parked it to see if I could locate the car. I tried the alarm but I was never close enough to it to set it off. I wandered around the parking lot for 20 minutes (now it's 5:45) and finally found it. I got home by 6:05, got Kent ready to leave and quickly wrapped a gift for the sister I visit. Kent decided to come with me so I could drop him off at the church on the way so he wouldn't be late for tithing settlement. But . . . we were hungry. I grabbed something to drink at the house and headed for Little Caesar's (it's on the way) to get some Italian Cheese Bread. So I parked the car in front of the store a...

Every Sunday morning while I get ready for church, I listen to the same CD. It's a John Canaan CD entitled "Where Can I Turn For Peace." It's an almost perfect album. Every song brings comfort. No matter how tired I am or how challenging my weekend or my week may have been, I never fail to be strengthened and reassured by the words of the first hymn -- for which the album is named. You can listen to it here (by the Mo-Tabs). Where Can I turn for peace, Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole. When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice, I draw myself apart, searching my soul Where, when my aching grows, Where when I languish, Where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand He, only One. He answers privately, Reaches my reaching, In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. ...

Go here for enlightenment. This is a wonderful talk given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf at a CES fireside in November. "The Reflection in the Water." Thanks to my cousin Nadine for directing me to it.

Virginia Smith and Elden Smith (CEO of Fleetwood) The Friday before Thanksgiving I went to a retirement luncheon for my co-worker of 18 years at Fleetwood. There were only about 30 people left at the old corporate headquarters where I worked for almost 24 years. As of December 1 most of them are gone. Virginia was the administrative secretary to the CEO for nearly 40 years. She was in her early 20s when she started at Fleetwood and quickly rose to the top. She was the most amazing person I have ever worked with. She was a consummate professional. I never saw her lose her temper or say or do anything inappropriate even once during those 18 years. She understood every facet of the business. She started in operations those many years ago and it just seemed like she could have built a unit from the ground up. It wasn't enough to just look at them and know whether you were looking at a Southwind or a Bounder or a Prowler or a Regal. She could tell you where they were built and what feat...

I have been asked to speak today on Enduring Life’s Challenges with Joy. Brothers and sisters, I laid awake half the night after being given this assignment, and I came to two conclusions. First, life is not easy. And second, it is a bit like being a quarter back in a football game. Honestly I don’t know anything about the game of football except that really big men line up on opposite sides of a line and try to hurt each other while they carry or throw an odd shaped ball. The opposition seems large and foreboding. In life they are lined up against us in the form of too little time, personal weaknesses, loss of financial security, illness, sorrow, etc. The line defending us includes, loving families if we are lucky, a community of saints who become like family, principles of the gospel like tithing and prayer, and service opportunities like visiting teaching and temple attendance. Add to those the supernal gift of the Holy Ghost and a playbook we call the scri...

Me holding Liliana in the hospital Last Sunday we attended the Orangecrest Ward Sacrament Meeting to see our soul granddaughter, Liliana Milsa Merrill blessed by her daddy, David. She is a precious little thing and we love being her soul grandparents. Thanks, J'lene, for sharing her with us. David gave her a beautiful blessing. Surrounding that little girl were at least 10 worthy priesthood holders adding their strength and priesthood power to the blessing of that little baby girl. She won't remember her blessing but those wonderful righteous men will continue to bless her life with their love and influence. Maybe I will have a chance to hold her on my lap someday and tell her how the priesthood has blessed her life even before her birth and certainly at that moment when she was surrounded by worthy men whose hands held her suspended in a circle of priesthood power and love. In Sacrament meeting today a newly ordained 16 year old priest in our ward blessed the sacrament fo...

I don't mean to sound un-American, especially on September 11, but am I the only one who thinks baseball season lasts forever. I just heard a commercial for major league baseball that said something like "it is a game that brings us entertainment and pure joy. . ." Pure joy???? Good grief. When I was a kid we had this giant old radio in a huge cabinet with a 78 rpm record changer in the bottom of it. It sat right in the middle of the house and seemed to only have one volume -- loud. My dad was a died in the wool Dodger fan (until the Angels came to Anaheim). Vince Skully was in the background -- or the foreground, depending on where you were in the house -- pretty much all summer long. When the Angels came to Anaheim he split his time between the two. They were in different leagues so there was rarely a day without a baseball game. You could hear that radio from any place in the house or yard, probably anywhere in the neighborhood. How is it I never became a base...

My best friend and college roommate, Cathy, left today after a four day visit. The house feels a little empty like when the kids leave home for the first time. The weekend has been full of memories both old and new. The only thing we forgot to do was take pictures. This is the only one I could find with her in it (second from left in pink). Cathy (Hale) Dick lived with my family for several months after we graduated from high school. She was a recent convert -- tender in the faith -- and we spent those formative first years of college and young adult life joined at the hip. We both worked at Sears, me in the Women's department and her in linens. We double dated, also dated some of the same guys and got married within a few months of each other. Our favorites dates were the two of us with one guy, Steve Christensen. The three of us did Disneyland and the Hollywood Premier of Camelot. We nearly ruined Steve's jacket crying our eyes out on his shoulders at the ...

There's just the two of us. Our relationship didn't have the greatest of beginnings. After all, I was the princess for more than three perfect years and then HE showed up. Geez, what's a girl to do. I picked on him and tried to convince him that I was the boss for a few years but before long he was bigger than me. They made me ride him to school on the back of my bike until he was as big as the bike. He wasn't old enough to ride his own bike to school and I didn't want to walk with him (I guess). So in 2nd grade they sent him to private school for a year because the private school had a bus that would pick him up everyday. My mom said it gave him a great start and that's why he always did so well in school -- better than me. I liked that better than having to admit I wasn't as smart as him or I was a lazier student, both of which were probably true. There were moments of sibling synergy but mostly we barely tolerated each other until I was old enough to reco...