Camping Trip to Jordanelle

Dale, Dan and I decided that we needed to do a mini camping trip. Dale rented a little trailer from the Guard and Dan slept in Dales Cabelas cot ten by the fire. The trailer was tiny however we had so much fun fishing, sitting around the camp fire talking and cooking great food. It was a fun relaxing time. We will have to do this yearly. The following pictures are of the inside of the trailer.

Like I said the trailer was really small... Dale decided that he would take naps in the little bunk above the bed. I tried however and it was just too tight. Don't understand how he slept there.

These are pictures from our campsite...it was beautiful and I was a sneezing fool.

These are of our boy Shadow, he had a great time, a little worried he would find a skunk but he didn't.

Oh My!!!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have posted anything on my blog. I have so much to tell you and pictures to post. I have this yummy soup recipee that I will be posting also. I just got a new lap top, faster and so I will be working my fingers to the bone this weekend to get everything entered...

Scary Dream

It's so unusual for me to dream and when I have dreams they are so vivid. Well last night I had another dream. Here is the setting....

Dale, Dan, I and another person which I could not identify went to a beach to boogy board or surf. It was an different type of beach, but it was fun. All of a sudden I look back at Dale standing on the beach and he is in full combat gear, including his armor. He was motioning me, with some urgency, to come in. I looked around for Dan and the other person and could not find them. I took a huge wave and came flying in to the beach. I began to run to Dale and he grabbed my hand and started running. I looked out to the beach one more time to check for Dan. I saw an island and a bunch of guys with 50 cals. They started shooting at us as we were running. Bullets were hitting Dales armor but they weren't hurting him... I woke up in a panic, checked to see if Dale was ok and looked at my cell phone and it said 3:30. I went and got a drink of water and tried to fall back to sleep... I was so scared. I am glad it was not real life.

My husband at work

This is a clip talking about soldier suicide... They are working hard at this subject, during this clip however, it shows dale and his buddies playing volleyball...enjoy
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=7790081

Temple Usher Experience

I had the most awesome experience yesterday. I was able to be an usher at the Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple. I arrived at the stake center behind the temple at 2pm. I had to take some leave for work, however we were told that we would be blessed for doing so. I walked into the chapel at the Stake center and I was greeted by the happiest group of people I have ever met. They gave me my number and a usher badge and told me to go find my number on these maps in the wall. I went to the map and was looking at this huge space and my number right in the center of it. One of the sisters told me I must have done something right because I was going to be in the celestial room. My heart soared and my eyes got teary. I have heard so much about the chandelier in there and I thought, oh good I have 4 or 5 hours of piece and looking at every inch of the room. I was not prepared for the intensive spiritual experience I had however. I started walking to the temple, not sure how to get to my station, I climbed stairs, went down stairs and looking at everything i could possibly do. It was beautiful. I finally arrived at the celestial room and my jaw dropped, air escaped me and I thought I was going to pass out. For some reason the spirit was just pounding in me (even though the temple has not been dedicated, I believe that heavenly father was there). I asked the current usher if there was anything I needed to do, received my instruction and was beaming from ear to ear. For about the first 1/2 hour, I am not sure if I saw one person, my head was cocked upward toward the star chandelier and the stars on the windows. (side thought: it cost over 250 thousand dollars, the chairs are back so when you sit you stare up) Then it happened... tears flowed... and flowed... Most of the night I had tears in my eyes. Not just me however... i had a little girl in a wheelchair, the minute she was rolled into the room, she told her mom that this is what heaven will be like when she gets there, she got the chills... tears again... I had non members ask me to bear my testimony on the celestial room and the temple, members that had not been through the temple ask what I do in there.. again tears...watery eyes... It was interesting that you could feel the spirit leave when people who didn't believe and didn't care or feel what most people felt walking into the room. It was lost and then once they left it was back again. All the little kids had to feel the carpet, I thought it was cute, the adults just asked me questions, not all I could answer. I remember a few people coming in and just wanted to stay there because they could feel something and they weren't members. I was asked several times what I did to get the celestial room to usher, my answer was .... I am feeling very blessed. Several times I had this intense smell of strong rosees. I asked if anyone could smell the roses and they told me they could not smell anything. I believe my mom was there (I always smell roses when she is near). I was happy to have her there for those moments she could. We were suppose to be quiet sentinels, however in this room it was hard to not share how I believed and I think that was why I was there. I just am so thankful I had this opportunity to share in this open house. My testimony of temples has been strengthened more than I can share. I love my heavenly father and am sure that this was an experience I needed to have. All I can say is...WOW!!!

P.S. My cheeks are so sore from smiling. I could not keep from smiling, again it believe it was the spirit.

update

Wow, I can't believe how much time has gone by without me blogging. I will be updating with our fishing trip to Jordenell, watermelon, and so forth.

The Kiss

Dale has been gone for 2 weeks. Thursday I went to work and around 8 ish I began to get really sick, I got home around 9. I changed into jamies and went sound to sleep. I don't know how long I was asleep but in my sleep I heard shadow get all excite like someone was there in the room.... I didn't really worry about it because I felt safe. I was still asleep when someone gave me a kiss on my forhead. It was like someone was watching over me. It took me a about 10 mins to wake up enough to realize someone was there. I woke up and no one was in the house, and all the doors were locked with the deadbolts. No way no one could come in. I prayed for a while and felt very safe. Got back into bed and slept until 7 the next morning. My body must have needed the rest.

Bride and Groom Photos

So finally we get to the pictures of the bride and groom. Here are a few, I really don't have time to get them all on there and will add more when I have more time.

Great shots of my sister and the veil. They really make a great couple.

Random Wedding Day Photos

The one with the shoes I am going to blow up and put on my wall, a circle of family. Awesome!

Melissa was married in the St. George Temple, it was a great sealing and grateful to be there to see her and Carter get sealed. I gave my bro Mike my camera while I was in the temple. I told him to just have fun taking pictures. My how creative he was. The pictures above are of those pictures he took during the sealing. There are some great ones.

So the picture of me was coming out to rescue my camera, I then took some fun pictures of my nephew up high in the tree. Great Pictures.

The Wedding Morning

Whew! The veil is done and its time to prepare for the wedding day. Melissa started with a friend coming over to do her hair (extensions included) and professional makeup done. I have a few pictures of that morning.

so the picture below of Maren, she told me not to put it in my blog, but this is like my journal and I just had to have a picture of her for all posterity, she will thank me later.

The Veil

Melissa asked Maren and I to make her veil for her wedding. I have a lot of pictures to show the making of this veil, so this will be a long entry.

So this is what we started with. Plenty of veil material but not enough lace. Hum what should we do? Well Mar and I started experimenting and the following pictures are of those.

Mar and I tried to figure out which would make the prettiest veil without too much work. These are the pictures with our ideas.

We are not done yet, we decided how we wanted to build the thing, the following pictures are of that process...hum...

We are were now on our way, it was pinned and ready to be tried on. We are asking ourselves... Is this the ugliest veil ever, will I feel bad after all the time I spent on this thing if Melissa didn't wear it (the answer to that was a YEA!), and what was I thinking letting Mar talk me into doing this!!!

The following pictures are the pinned up veil.

If all else fails she can use it as a table cloth.

Sanjaya Dream

You know its really interesting when through the last 3 years of my life I had not dreamed once and now I am dreaming more and more. I had the craziest dream while I was in St. George. I dreamed that my sisters Maren, Melissa and I were on stage line dancing. Who comes up on stage with us but Sanjaya (will get proper spelling) and starts line dancing. Maren in my dream was in love with him and would hook her whole arm around him and he danced with us. People were in the audience and loving it. Melissa and I just sat and laughed at Maren with Sanjaya because he was soooo skinny. Hum... maybe I have watched too much of I am a celebrity, get me out.

Wedding Veil... a piece of work...or will be...

So, my sister Melissa is getting married. I am so happy for her and excited. I am flying down on Wednesday to St. George so that we can do nails and a pedicure. It will be a fun weekend and I will take lots of pictures. I volunteered to make her a veil. Wow! I must have lost my mind because I have never made a veil before. I finally have the fabric, but the lace...well... Melis has her very specific taste and she told me that if she didn't like it she would not wear it... so I didn't want to spend all this money and time and then have her not wear it. I called Maren my sister that also volunteered to help me in this endeavor. We decided that we will pick out the lace in st George on Wednesday and sew the day before the wedding. ARE WE CRAZY!!!! Yes. Thankfully, I am staying at my in-laws winter bungalow and we will have some quite time to do the best we can on the veil. I will be posting what the final product and the picture of mar and I crying if Melis does not like it. Lol!!!!!

hum... Rain...Rain...Rain

Well I was so excited for June, why you may ask. To ride my motorcycle what else. I have been able to ride it 2 days this spring. Not in June, Not in April, in March! I think this global warming is freezing me out! I love the rain, however I choose not to live inWashington for a reason. I didn't want to live with rain 24/7. Well that felt good to get it all out! Sorry guys but it just had to be said. I promise to catch up and let you know what life has been like for a while. Things are good, and I am excited for plans that we have coming up. I just had a moment to talk about this great rain.

Dream...

In the last couple of years I have dreamed very little. Now in the last several months. In this dream I saw my niece who has passed. She was playing with the most beautiful butterflies I have ever seen. Alissa, called for me and asked if I could come play with her. I told her I would love to and she ran too fast and I couldn't find her. I woke up screaming her name. I am just happy to have seen her even for just a minute.

Whoa!!

What a day. I sat up all night, no sleep! I went to work a little late but I got there. I had a full day of customers and of getting texts from Sue to see how dad is doing. He is able to move his toes and pick up his legs. It's pretty good for how massive of stroke he had. Dad is sad that he can't move his right side. Dale and I are going down this weekend, the rest of the family is going down in intervals. One day at a time. I am still very emotional about it, however deep in my soul I know everything is going to be ok or the best it can be.

Early morning phone calls

I really hate hearing my phone ringing early in the morning. I always know it is something bad. Today my melissa (sister) called me saying that dad had a stroke. He was being taken my ambulance to the hospital. He had a blood clot somewhere and that is why the stroke. It must have happened sometime last night and he didn't know. I called and was able to talk to Sue and to dad. He is paralyzed on his right side and is aware of who everyone is. I am so grateful for blessings. He was blessed to regain enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life. I am grateful to have him at least be able to speak and know everyone. If he is going to be in a wheelchair, its ok. I just don't want him to suffer. I will blog when I know more.

Swine Flu

I came home from work on Monday and felt like I was getting a cold. No problem, take some meds and go to bed early. I went to bed at 6pm. Zonked out cold. I woke up on Tuesday morning and wham.... I was dying and I had the flu not the cold. Dale asked for me to help him in the morning do somethings. I could barely function. I called in sick, not sure exactly what I said and told dale I was really sick. Around 11am I had thrown up three times and had a pretty high temp. I text dale and told him that I needed him to take me to the doctor. I called the doc and got a 5:45 appt. By the time Dale had gotten here, I turned really bad. I actually thought I had the swine flu. At the doctors office they all wore masks, I don't really remember much except for a few shots. They tested me for the swine flu. I don't have it, however I have similar to it. Whatever that means. I guess there is a side flu going on. Anyway, Dale tells me know he was so worried because my lips were black and bleeding (not sure what that is all about) and he freaked out. He stayed home with me the next day to make sure I did not get worse. You know through out my life I have gotten sick quite a bit. It is a gift, well something I was sent here to earth to endure I guess. There could have been worse things. However, there are times I would love to go through 5 years with out getting sick at all. I pray for 3 years sometimes. The doc told me I could not go back to work at all the whole week, so I have been recovering. It's Saturday and I am not fully recovered, I am week, tired and exhausted. I have been trying to go to sleep but the neighbors dog is barking like crazy and if I knew which dog it was, I would march over to their house. OK, enough of laboring on...

Cooking Blog... What was I thinking?

So for months now I have felt there was something that I could share out there. Finally it hit me. I should do a cooking blog. Wow! Now I warn you, I don't bake a lot of desserts, however I am going to start so that I can share with you. I love food you make that just hits the spot, good for the soul and that is really what I want to share through this blog. Cooking for the soul! I am going to have to make all of these recipes to just get pictures taken, so it may be some time there getting pictures, yet there are already some yummy recipes to amp up your day! I really love experimenting with food, so these reciepees are tried and true. I will give you the basics and then you can make the choices you want to make to add or change to this recipe.

Strange and Scarey

I looked through my blog and I have noticed I have written on some weird dreams. Well I didn't have a dream but a weird thing happen. Dale was out of town. It was shadow and I in bed. I heard Dan (brother in law who is living with us) come in around 11pm. I fell back to sleep. Around 2 ish I heard Shadow barking like he was really upset. I then realized he was standing over me just barking like crazy. I was laying on my side (when Dale leaves I always sleep on his side, weird I know) and as I turned over to my back I saw a black shadow, tall and with a hat on. I was startled and yet not that scared. As soon as I woke up Shadow jumped down and he was happy. I still looked outside, just to be careful and there was nothing. Now, I am not sure if it was someone visiting me or what, however, I don't want to have that happen again. I told my husband to hurry and come home. He showed up at 5am the next morning. Boy I love him!

Hault! The World is Spinning!!!

The one thing I am grateful for is my ears to hear... my husbands words... birds chirping... my dog barking! So why am I complaining about them. Wait... I know why.. because when my vertigo comes full force, I want to crawl away and sleep. I hate missing days at work due to illness.... however when it comes to the world in a continual spin, I cannot even drive. I feel so mad, yet what can I do. So today I have stayed at home, medicated myself and slept all day. I still feel a little weird because my ears are hurting however it is not going to stop me from going to work tomorrow. Too much to do... too little time to do it.

Missionary Home

My sister returned from her mission for the LDS Church last week. It is great to hear her stories and see her pictures. She serve in the Peoria, Illinois Mission. Her last month I believe was spent in Carthage and Nauvoo area. I so hope that someday I can go back there with her for her to give me the tour. I am so proud of Melissa and love her so much.

Are you kiddding...2 months???

I cannot believe that 2 months have gone by and I have not updated my blog. So much has gone on that it will take me a while to catch up. Some of the things that have happened was surgery, birthdays, my sister coming home from her mission, Garretson Bed and Breakfast and tons more. I will try and catch up when I can. I am so excited to share with all of you the exciting things that have happened in our life. I can only say I am so grateful for my many blessings that I have recieved and happy to have my heavenly father carrying me over those rough times.

Happy Birthday Ty!

Today would have been my nephew's 16th birthday. We celebrated his birthday by going to the cemetery and having people talk about him and then we wrote on balloons and let them loose. It was freezing and snowy, however it was a great memorial for him. He was the cutest and smartest little boy. He was always happy and never seemed to be down. I would say a animal and he would tell me where it lives, how fast and if it was poisoness right off the bat. He had a great life ahead of him however Heavenly Father choose to have him and Alissa with him during this time. I have never been more grateful for the gospel than I am now. It is so nice that I know he is up in heaven and I look forward to greeting him when it comes my time.

Thumbkin

I have never realized how important my thumb it. I started a list of what you use your thumb for. These are just a few: typing, opening a jar, opening makeup cases, holding a cell phone, moving your mouse on the computer, carrying your grocery bags, etc. I could go on and on and you would probably think...hum.. has Debbie gone crazy? Is she infatuated with thumbs? The answer is no!!! I happen to have a cyst that is on my thumb joint. Strangest thing I have ever had. For the last 3 months I have dealt with it and thought I could live with it for a while, however this last week it has actually dislocated my thumb and now it feels like I have broke my thumb and have shooting pains up my arm. I called the doctor and asked about the intense pain and they told me that of course you are going to have that intense paid. It is attached to your nerve and tendon. Oh ok! The nerve....hum... interesting fact! The thumb actually has the nerve that affects your whole arm. No wonder it hurts this bad. I actually am having surgery to remove it on March 11th. I won't be put under, however I am hoping that I am not awake for it also. I will be giving little updates to let you know the process. Like you would be waiting with baited breath. LOL!!

Smile.... your eyes are closed...and closed... hum

So during Christmas day I tried to take a picture of my cute husband, however no matter what happened, his eyes were closed. I laughed so hard looking at these, I just wanted to share them.

So these are looking really horrible. Not his best, however because of his poor sensitive eyes, he just can't keep them open when the flash went off. LOL!

Snow for Christmas in St. George

Happy Holidays from the Mower, Garretson and Stevens family in St. George!

Dale and I like to go to St. George for Christmas for 2 reasons. Main reason is family Dad & Sue, however we also were hoping to be able to enjoy warmer weather. Here in Salt Lake we were freezing and excited for a warmer climate to hopefully ride our motorcycles. Well, neither happened. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with family. Maren and Mikey came down to spend Christmas with us. Dad and Sue had the house decorate beautifully and the Christmas spirit was abound.

Christmas Day Photos of Dad, Sue, Maren, Mikey, Dale and I. December 25, 2008

It was a chance of a lifetime that it actually snows on Christmas Day in St. George. Dale and I decided to go for a drive and take some pictures of the snow on the beautiful red rock. Our tradition is that we go climb on the red rock and take our family pictures and have a great afternoon, however it was freezing and snowing, so it didn't happen this year. The first 2 pictures are where we usually climb and take pictures. It's the first time in almost 18 years I have ever seen snow on these rocks.



This was amazing because I love Snow Canyon, I had to take a few pictures.