O Canada

As I've been watching the Vancouver Olympics I've realized that I have a lot more ties to Canada than I thought I did.

This is a picture of me when I was about 2-3 years old. It was taken for my uncle Rod who was serving an LDS mission in Canada at the time.

Ross's dad also served his mission in Canada!

But the Canadian tie that is nearest to my heart is my Great Grandma Harmon (my maternal grandmother's mom). She was born in the Ontario area of Canada, but moved to the states when she was about 2 years old. Her mother was an American citizen, but her father and his family lived in Canada.

My Great Grandma was an amazing woman! And since I can claim some Canadian heritage through her, I have a soft spot for the Canadian athletes in these winter games. Good luck Canada!

Olympic Fever!

I'll admit it, I'm an "Olympics Junkie." I love watching the Olympics - summer or winter, I don't care. I'll watch as much as I can whenever I can. And the Vancouver 2010 games have been no exception. And since I've been fighting a nasty cold since the day of the opening ceremonies, this has given me even more opportunites to tune in while I've been at home resting.

It may sound silly, but I actually got a bit emotional as the opening ceremonies were starting. In the opening shot they had a snowboarder boarding down from a mountain peak and as he was getting closer to the bottom, they were naming all the years and cities of previous winter games. And as they started getting closer to "2002 Salt Lake City" I started to get teary-eyed remembering how amazing it was to have such an awesome event hosted by my own home city. I just wish that I would have taken better advantage of having the Olympics right there in my own backyard and would have made a better effort to attend more of the events.

I think there's something awe inspiring and almost magical about the Olympics. I love watching these athletes from all over the world come together and compete for a chance at a gold medal not only for themselves, but for their beloved country also. It's not like watching the overpaid professional athletes you see all too often. These are hard working individuals who have sacrificed so much and trained so hard to get to this level of competition; each with their own inspirational story of how they got there. I love seeing the athletes' expressions of pure joy and elation as they realize that their dream of gold has come true. And I feel bad for them when they realize their hopes are crushed in just a fraction of a second. I'm exacted to watch even more incredible footage and see more memorable moments made as the Olympics continue for the next week and a half.

Ross Has a New Calling

This past weekend turned out to be a rather eventful one for our family, especially for Ross. On Sunday he was sustained and set apart as the new Elders Quorum President for our ward. Intially this came as quite a shock to him and a roller coaster of emotions soon followed. But he has since calmed down and is ready to go to work in this new capacity. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I think he will do a GREAT job!

Interesting Experience...

I had the interesting experience of doing something this weekend that I've never done before...attending the funeral of someone I did not know. The father of a family from back in Oregon where Ross grew up passed away last week. The couple had moved to our area within the last 10 years or so to be closer to their children and grandchildren. So the funeral and burial were near by.

The reason I found this experience so interesting is because even though I did not know this man I was still able to feel the Spirit touch me as I attended his funeral. I guess this doesn't really come as that big of a surprise to me. That is one of the great things about an LDS funeral - that you can feel the Spirit no matter who's life you are celebrating.

As his family told stories about him and what he taught them about life and the gospel, I found myself thinking of the many great men in my life that have also taught me through their examples and their testimonies of the gospel. It also reminded me of the things that I want to make sure I teach my children and most importantly make sure they understand that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel.

In any case, I was glad I was able to support Ross and attend this funeral with him. I may not have known this man before, but I feel like I know him a little better now and that his life has touched mine even after his passing.

Volleyball Season is Here!

January is typically an uneventful time for me. The holidays are over. It always seems cold and dark outside. And there isn't much to do on the weekends...until the BYU men's volleyball season begins!

I LOVE going to the men's volleyball games at BYU. And I've converted Ross to liking it too. BYU usually has a really good team and it is fun to see their amazing skills and quick reflexes as they pound, block and dig up the ball.

This past weekend was their home opener games. So we went on Saturday night. We got tickets with one of my Beehives and her dad. So it was fun to sit next to them and so see her get excited about the game also. BYU won pretty easily in three games. It is always a lot more fun to watch when BYU wins!

We also went to the men's basketball game against Colorado State earlier that day. That game turned out to be a blow out. BYU won by 44 points. But the best part the game was the half time show by Jean's Golden Girls. This is a local dance group consisting of women anywhere from 50 to 93 years old. The oldest one at 93 years old did a crowd rousing solo complete with Rockette style kicks and ending in the splits! She was great to watch. I doubt I'll have that much pep and spunk when I reach 93.

Another fun part of that game was running into my aunt and uncle who had come down to Provo for the basketball and volleyball games. So we all went together to get something to eat between games. It was a lot of fun to visit with them.

20 Weeks!!!

For those who might be mildly curious, this is what I look like at 20 weeks pregnant. Please keep in mind that the camera adds 10 pounds! I can definitely tell that I'm getting bigger, but I really don't think I'm this big yet.

This is an exciting process for us and I can't believe that we've made it half way there already. It is an amazing miracle to me. I'm excited for the baby to get big enough for Ross to be able to feel her moving around.

Plumbing Problems

Earlier this week, the part of our toilet that hooks the chain to the plug in the tank broke. So the handle couldn't flush the toilet at all. (Fortunately we have two bathrooms.) So being the frugal homeowners that we are, we decided to fix it ourselves. We found the part we needed at Wal-Mart for only a couple dollars and figured out how to install it without too much trouble. Ross was the hard working plumber and I was the supervising foreman. Between the two of us, we got it fixed and it works great now!