What is up with this?????

What is up with this!!! I, or should I say we, Dr. Catherine Kipp and I are just flabbergasted that my hormones are worse, my thyroid is worse, etc is worse again, than ever!! My insulin resistance went up yet again, but a huge jump. She said it is all due to not absorbing or assimilating anything, what I did this last time actually caused me more trouble. So now I'm upping yet again the thyroid, changing bi-est progesterone stuff and getting ph strips to test my acidity!!

No wonder, I feel fatigued beyond description.

Oh well, who cares, right????

I'm just so grateful for class of fun students who take my mind off of it!!

One of those epiphanies!

This blog is a little on the serious side, a reflective side, one that is prompted through a sentence that stood out to me a month ago in a talk in our ward. This sentence spoke right to me, as loud and clear as anything, AND, has stuck with me. It is as if it was said a few moments ago, so I know where it came from and who it came from directly to me. This sentence is "Just because you believe something to be true, doesn't make it so!"
Now, maybe you are wondering what is it that made this so meaningful to me or an answer so to speak, well, I can't share that with you, only in cryptic terms. But over my life, there have been many friends close to me, right? Like all of us. But sometimes things or issues were grossly misinterpreted. Maybe about how things were said, or done, or whatever. I, would feel so bad about it, because it was never my intention or I was completely misunderstood or what have you. (This blog kind of goes along with my dd's experience with friends who misread things, or just do not understand!)

This is where I would get into trouble because I would try desperately to explain what I really mean't in all colors, shapes and forms. But that individual was stuck on believing what they wanted to believe. So it just made things worse me trying so hard to "fix" it. Because they had a problem that day or whenever, it was grossly misunderstood. So hence, the statement up above. This statement is just for me. "Just because you believe something is true, doesn't make it so" helps me to be fine with myself. Just let the other person go on doing whatever, but, myself? Well, I'm still okay with me. This is where I can get a great use of the atonement. Remember the peace which he can give through knowing all will be made right in the end. I just love that!

Tender Mercies of the Lord, AGAIN!!

Today, the Lord gave me many tender mercies, AGAIN!! I'm telling you, if ever you have any reason to feel down at all, He is aware and sends you these little tender mercies. So here are a few to mention in order:
1) One of my new instructors telling me what good things she has heard about my teaching etc. Thank you Allison!
2) Getting a phone call from Sophia (13 month old who plays with her mommies phone and my number is always the button she pushes) and she is really starting to talk A LOT!!! I love you Sophia.
3) A Beautiful "Happy Grandparents Day" Card from my two beautiful grandsons, that their mother,(who by the way, has always been very thoughtful) had them send. Thank-you Shana and boys!! I love you.
4) Going to lunch with my son, Nate, and having really good conversations on a spiritual level that gives me a feeling of connection! Thank you Nate for your time, I Love You!
5) Didn't sleep last night (hormones again) but I got to nap for 1/2 hour today! Thank You God for this.
And the Day isn't over! I know more is to come. That is the way it works! Tender Mercies. He is always giving them to us frequently during the day and I am so appreciative of them, because I need them and everyone else does too!
I hope you are getting as much as I am!

Home again, home again!

When we got up on Saturday morning and packed up, checked out and walked out onto the streets of New York City at 54th and 6th Ave, it was an astoundingly beautiful day!! After that heavy rain it had cleaned out every thing and the air was crisp and the sky as blue as in Utah!! It was a sight to behold! We really wanted to stay another day, but oh well, couldn't, had to catch a train into Long Island! It was fun though. With suitcases rolling behind us, we caught our last cab in NYC to Penn Station! Underground, again, we went and bought our tickets to Ronkonkama station. Isn't that the funniest word??? Ronkonkama!! No wonder those New Yorkers sound the way they do the words they have to say! It took about an hour and a half to get there, and to be honest that part of Long Island we saw wasn't the greatest, however, I know that there are beautiful parts of Long Island in the Hamptons, Coney Island and other places. But we didn't get to see that. We did pass through a town called Jamaica and guess what people live there??? You got it Jamaicans!! They are colorful people and we sat next to a few on the train who got off at that stop. (These were women who had the very curvaceous bootee) Hee hee. Anyhow, when we arrived it was very easy to find a cab and we got a hilarious one at that. First of all he didn't have any teeth left, but was such a happy soul!! He talked to us about being a truck driver all over the country and loved Salt Lake City. He wanted to go back. This was one of his comments that made us roar!! "You live in heaven, I live in hell!!" What a character.
So now we are at the Long Island ISLIP airport ready to get on a Southwest flight to Chicago Midway airport. We seem to have to wait a very long time that these airports but we found a little grill and ate lunch and then a nice bookstore where I bought a book, "The Diana Chronicles" which I have gotten into about Princess Diana.

When we hit Chicago, I'm telling you landing at the airport is the scariest part of our trip, they land fast and steep and then they bounce two or three times. Lara and I always held each other tight and then laugh to stay calm.

Finally getting into Salt Lake we got our luggage and drove our last leg home chatting about the things we really loved about our trip!! This trip was a dream come true. I recommend all Mothers and daughters to do some thing like this occasionally, it is very special!
We when arrived home we were greeted by Daisy and then the guys and the girls. It was nice!! We stayed up and talked about the trip until wee hours of the night with Joel and Mike (Mike had to get up early for Bishopric so he went to bed at a decent hour) But it was great!!!
Now back to real life!!
But, hey Lara, how about we begin dreaming of a trip to London next???

Our last Real Day, waaaaahhhh!

So our last real day in New York was one of getting in as much as we could for tomorrow we leave!! We left fairly early in the morning so we could get in breakfast, the Lincoln Center and an 11:00 Endowment session at the Manhattan Temple, which by the way, was nestled between two high rises and directly across from the Metropolitan Opera which has much meaning for me anyhow because of my mother. It was a very rainy day and everyone, I mean everyone, has an umbrella, makes it kind of hard getting around, we bump into each other, but, it is funny to see who is going to go high or low with the umbrella when passing someone, alot of someones actually. Anyhow, while crossing the street right at Broadway and Columbus, right in front of the temple with our nice dress clothes on, a person saw an opportunity to splah us really good!!! Remember I said it was raining, and when it rains it pours there. So needless to say we were drenched. When walking in the foyer of the temple building, there was a security guard there who asked us if that was us who got splashed. I asked him if it was on purpose and he said Oh Yes!! After a wonderful session in the Temple and funny, but a friend of mine and her family were there too at the same time, same session, across the continent and out of 17 of us Deenie Asay and her family and Lara and I were there. But it was a most beaautiful Temple, especially the Terrestrial room!! Gorgeous. You've got to go!!

Off to lunch next, a wonderful little Mexican Food restaurant nestled off to the side on Columbus!! And then to the museum of Natural History!! We only had an hour to spend there but it was interesting, alot of Aztec style goods and war materials. Also, space information, including how much you would weigh on Mars, Venus Jupiter etc. Wouldn't mind weighing in at 50 lbs. This museum was our least desired, so then we crossed right through Central Park on the roadway, about a mile or so to get to Central Park East and went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. They had a Roman and Greek Art showing and I loved that myself. They didn't have much by way of art of the greats, just paintings of the some of the greats that were owned by people.

We had gotten tickets that mornng for a musical "Curtains" with David Hyde Pierce, Frazier's brother in the show Frazier. It was pretty good. He was very good, but for me, I could have taken it or left it. I really wanted to see the revival of A Chorus Line but there was only partial view's left for half price.

We did have great seats though and the second half was good, I should say the first half wasn't as interesting to me. The acting was great, the dancing was good, I just want' crazy about the whole story.
These were our seats, can you tell how good they were? They were really good!

We walked in our Hotel about 11:30 at night and boy were we exhausted!! But what a great day, filled to the brim. I want to go back really bad. I love New York City!!

The Best Day!

New York, New York!!!!


Look, there is Good Morning America, Times Square!!
Walking with my daughter to Times Square!!
Rockefeller Center, you know where the Christmas Tree is and the Ice Skating is!!
Streets of New York City, down by the theatre district!

This day, Thursday, August 9, 2007 was perhaps one of my favorite days!! We started out by just going to Starbucks and getting fruit and a scone for breakfast! Then off on foot to try to get to the Empire State Building. We ended up taking the subway part of the way and then walking the rest and we had a bit of a wait in the normal line! Once up there it was all so worth it! We took in such beauty, we could see New Jersey, the Bronx and further to Connecticut!!
If you look really closely you can see the tall buildings at the far end of this photo, That is the financial district which is where the WTC's were. How sad that was! I felt really sad about it.

After coming out of the Empire State Building, I always enjoyed talking to the Beat Police and they let me take a picture of them, but Lara has that so look for that later.

Then off by cab to the Circle Line Cruises for a 3-hour cruise around Manhattan Island. That was phenomenal as well.We were able to see every neighborhood from uptown, midtown, downtown and financial district, plus Harlem, and Columbia University area!! It was fantastic!Look at how close we were to her!!! She was awe-inspiring!! She caused me to reflect of who I was, an American, with Liberty and Justice for all!!! She is so beautiful!
This shot is where the World Trade Centers once stood. Just look at the Green tops, domed and squared, they stood between those. This is now sacred ground. Maybe died there.

There is so much to share, but I won't bore you. After this cruise we hurried and got dinner in Greenwich Village and headed off to "Stomp" for our next theatre trip located across the street from NYU at the Orpheum Theatre. It was an interesting area, being a college area. Lots of young people foolin' around. But Stomp was to die for. 8 people using a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy, which initially was created in England in 1991. The funny dude, (Brad Holland) we met on the Subway going home and he was sweet and humble and was glad we really loved the show. Wow, they were so talented. Especially one, asian girl named Yako Miyamoto. Boy could she move, and strong!!!
We got out at 11:00 at night and headed to the subway home, felt very safe. But, maybe the was a special protective bubble we were given by Heaven who knows. We just felt safe.

Who is this?

So WHO is this????????? Our little Sophia Blake Naauilii Neves!!

So our first day walking the streets of New York were exciting to say the least!! First, we slept through a tornado that hit Brooklyn and ripped up many trees and destroyed some neighborhoods, and then there was 3 inches of rain dropped in just an hour. It was crazy to wake up to that!
So off we went, first order of things was to eat breakfast, so we walked along 5th Avenue and turned on about 51st and found a cute little cafe! We ordered what we thought would be a small breakfast, oatmeal, eggs and toast. It was humongous to say the least!! We could have shared it!! (So from then on we talked about sharing things. ) Needless to say, we were completely full for the entire day until dinner!! But it was delicious! The cafe was an Indian one!
Boy, were we excited to go to the Museum of Modern Art! MoMa is what it is called. Here is a picture of looking outside from the main level! Once inside we were enthralled with the art! The picture below and to the right is done by a Romanian, Dan Perjovschi "What happened to us?",who painted an entire wall to the ceiling consisting
of issues of the day, it was quite interesting to see his perspective concerning the American life at this time.
This is the painting we really wanted to see!! "A Starry Night" by Van Gogh!! Everyone was crowded around this one!! It was beautiful to see! Look at those colors, just spectacular!!This museum was truly a treat! We loved it immensely!
Okay, so now the THEATRE we so looked forward to and it was the show "WICKED!" Oh, oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh, what can I say? It was astonishing, astounding, superb and all that!!! So the cast is shown below with the exception of Galinda was played by an understudy, whom by the way, was everything we could have wanted!! YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE THIS! The rest of the day was spent seeing Rockefeller Center, going to Saks Fifth Avenue and dying at the prices and really seeing nothing that impressed us at all!! But it was a good experience.
We were very tired so after we ate at TGIFriday's we went looking around some more. We got home around 9:00 p.m. and ordered the movie "Music and Lyrics" and laughed at that and then fell asleep excited for the next day!!

Click photo to enlarge test All photos ©Joan Marcus

Wow, it's about time I learned this, huh??

So take a look at this!! I did it!!! Thanks Lara!! This is looking over to the Bronx and East River as we are on top of The Empire State Building!!! Tell you more in the next blog. This is a picture post learning blog!! Hee Hee.

New York City, Here We Are!!

Wow!! Where has all this time gone???? Here it is August 14th and life is just whirling, whirling by and by!!! Well, I'm back, getting ready for the insanity of school and classes among my normal daily activities. It is amazing how we fill up our lives the older we get!! However, two dreams in the desiring and the planning have come to fruition this summer and they are 1) Church History trip with my darling husband, and 2) A New York City Trip with my darling daughter! I think I will write first about New York City because it is so fresh in my mind!! Then I'll go back and finish the Church History trip!!
(I still have to learn how to post pictures, that is the next order of business) New York City was glorious, so I will write about each day!!!

Tuesday, August 7th!

We both were so excited for this day. We left at 7:30 a.m. for the airport, leaving our car parked in long term. Off we went by shuttle to the terminal, checking in baggage at United, which now costs 2.00 per bag plus gratuity, but it sure beats standing in lines. Then up to security. Security was fast and quick this time with no events, thank goodness, have had a few, mind you. Then off to our gate to wait for the call. We had assigned seats for once and at 11:00 a.m. off we flew to New York via Chicago, Ohare airport.

We landed around 3:00 p.m. Chicago time, with a layover of a hour and a half. This layover turned into a 3 hour layover due to weather in New York City. This was a long one. But we walked all over the airport and then sat down to eat at Chili's. There was this one Jumbo Jet that was parked by us that was so fascinating, it was a double decker going to Israel and I really wanted to get on it and scout around!! Oh well.

Finally after changing gates three times, (You had to pay attention to the loud speaker because they were always changing it) we were finally getting on. Off we went to La Guardia in New York. Lara and I had much to talk about, so chatter was our name, I love that about us!! We can chatter and then we can be quiet, it is so great having a daughter like her, one who is understanding of others and always gives others the benefit of the doubt!! Everyone needs Lara for a friend, she can teach them so much about acceptance.

Well, finally we landed at La Guardia at 10:00 p.m. Picked up our luggage and then to the shuttle to our Hotel. I found the African Americans in the service jobs were so kind and FUNNY all of the time. At least for us!! We were so glad to see the night lights everywhere!! There was even a red heart on the Empire State Building. No, just kidding!!! But Times Square was brilliant as we went through a portion of it to our Hotel. Finally, we got off at the Port Authority and took a cab to the Hotel located about 10 blocks further! Then we were there!! Wow, were we happy to be finally there!! It was about 11:00 p.m. now and we were famished. No Hotel food was available without paying an arm and a leg, so we walked down the street a few blocks and found a Greek food vendor. We got some chicken, rice and zyros and took it back and ate and watched the news. Boy was that food HOT, I couldn't eat but a little bit, shoot, it taught me though, don't ask for a little hot sauce on it!!! Sleepy by time now, for tomorrow was our first day of exciting fun, sightseeing and THEATRE!!