Strengthens my testimony...

While the latest count is over 58,000 people killed by the earthquakes and tsunami that took place Sunday in the Indian Ocean, I was amazed to hear that all of the LDS missionaries are safe and accounted for! Reports are still coming in, however so far there is also no news of any LDS members dying either. I expect that may not stay true as the week continues. I wish it would.


The whole thing is very sad. I hate seeing the numbers rise. What a horrible thing to witness and experience. So many lives lost. Everyone who has been affected is in our prayers. It seems so little to do, but we know that prayers can bring miracles. And the One we pray to can do all things. We trust Him.

If you are interested in reading a little about what the church is doing to help, click here.

Was it worth it? You be the judge.

Ryan and I watched some video he took from his 12 mile hike yesterday up Mt. Defiance. He also took some pictures with the digital camera. I took some more pictures from the video, there are some beautiful scenes!


There are 22 pictures total in the "Ryan hikes Mt Defiance" album on our Photobucket account. I am only posting a few here, but I strongly encourage you to visit the link and see the others as well. Many of the pictures are definitely postcard worthy!

Some are not titled yet because I do not remember which mountain it is (As he could see all four of the major surrounding mountains from the top of Mt. Defiance!), I will update them as soon as Ryan can help me identify each of them.

This is one of the pictures untitled, if I had to guess I would say Mt. Adams, but I may be wrong. Terrific shot though, don't you think?



Here is Mt. Hood, which Ryan could only see once he reached the top of Mt. Defiance:



Here is a very cool picture. You must look very close (In fact, it may be best to view it at the Photobucket site where you can pull the picture up and view it larger.), but you can see three mountains here. From left to right, you see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams. Of the three, Mt. Adams is easiest to spot on the right. Mt. St. Helens is trying to hide behind the trees at the left of the picture (right above the smaller snow topped tree in the front of the picture). Mt. Rainier is far off in the distance and is hardest to spot. Look below the branch in the center of the picture, see the dark hills? Just to the right of those hills is a shadow that almost looks to be another cloud, only above not below...that's Rainier.



Here is a beautifully framed picture of Mt. Adams:



And one looking down from the mountain to the Gorge:



As I looked at these pictures and watched the video of Ryan's hike, I felt so grateful that he went. How else would I have seen these wonderful images? It was bitterly cold on top of that mountain and Ryan guesses that the trail may not be open in just another week or so due to the snow which is quickly accumalating there. For those who brave it, like Ryan, what a splendid reward to see the beauty of the earth, and especially the beauty of the NorthWest.

Thank you Ryan!!! :kiss:

Mount Defiance

The name alone would intimidate me. But Ryan took it as a challenge. So this morning he headed out to conquer it.


I just heard from him and he is safely back to his car and on his way home. It wasn't supposed to take quite this long, but at least he's done now.

Ryan loves hiking. He wants to do some really big, long hikes. Ones that will take him a few days, which scares me. But so far he has survived and he does love it so much. At least today's hike will satisfy him for a couple weeks. :lol:

We had a very nice Christmas.

Christmas Eve, Ryan ended up working most the day. :sad: The original plan was for him NOT to work, but he got called in with some problem with a tool. At least it was Christmas Eve and not Christmas day!


He made it home in time for us to have our traditional "First Christmas" dinner. That was good. We shared our testimonies and talked about the first Christmas and why its important to us.

Christmas morning Cadi woke up at about 7:45...not bad. We got lots of good stuff from Santa. :grin: Cadi got plenty of movies, a new Princess calendar for her room, a Barbie doll in a Barbie convertable car, lots of books, a couple puzzles, and fun stuff in her stocking. One of her stocking stuffers was a "I am a Child of God" necklace with her birthstone on it. She loved it and wore it all day.

Of course, Santa also brought Ryan and I "The Return of the King"!!! YAY! And a few other things.:thumb:

We had breakfast then opened gifts. Acadia loved all her presents, especially a Love-A-Lot CareBear and a Cabbage Patch Kid. Ryan and I collectively got many "Lord of the Rings" things. A couple of games, music CD's, and...I got the piano music to all three movies!!! I am so happy! I love the music from those movies!

We did get some things that weren't "Lord of the Rings" related. Everything was very nice.

After watching "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement", we went over to the Flakes for the rest of the day. We had fun visiting with everyone. We had a gift exchange there, where they gave us too much! Acadia got some really cute things. She got a Hello Kitty nail polish kit, a Safari toy set and some puzzle books. Ryan got a laser level tool thing. (I don't remember what it was called, but he played with the laser alot last night!:lol:) I got a candle/fountain and a cookbook from Kris's ward. We also got a game and some smoked cheese. I told you they gave us too much!

After exchanging gifts we ate dinner. It was delicious! And then we watched a movie, "Napoleon Dynamite" which was...ok. It had a couple funny parts. It was clean. It just was not exciting. We were glad to see it though, because we were wanting to rent it. Now we won't! :lol:

Last of all was dessert time! :lick: Red raspberry pie, pecan pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Did I mention :lick:?

We got home a little later than I planned, but thats okay.

Now it's Sunday morning. Ryan is already at the church building. He didn't know when his meetings would start so he took headed over early. He is substitute teaching in Elders Quorum today and he'll just prepare the lesson until his meetings with the Bishopric start.

In the meantime, I need to get things ready here. Tonight is dinner with the missionaries and Williams. We still haven't put all our gifts away. And I need to cook up some pasta to add to the sauce I made Friday night. Spaghetti Diablo! :lick:

Then I get to get myself and Cadi ready for church by myself...better get used to it. So what am I doing here, I gotta go!

When I think of Christ

I wasn't there in Bethlehem
To see the Baby fair.
I wasn't with the Wise Men
So I didn't travel there.
But I can tell you when I think of Christ
I know that He is there,
Watching me and hoping I'll return to Him someday.

I wasn't with the shepherds
When they found the Baby dear.
I didn't hear the angels sing,
"Rejoice, be of good cheer."
But I can tell you when I think of Christ
I know that He is there,
Watching me and hoping I'll return to Him someday.

-Martha H. Rallison, age 11
Salt Lake City, Utah

*Found in the December 2004 "Friend", p. 32

It's Christmas Eve!

YAY!!!


All the preparations lead up to these next two days! (Actually, 3 for us this year. We have the missionaries and our good friends, the Williams coming for dinner after church on Sunday. The dinner isn't fancy - Spaghetti Diablo [they requested it], but we are doing it up all nice with my new holiday dishes and everything!)

I think one of the best things I did this year was to clean the house really well before we left for Idaho. When we got back, there was unpacking, laundry, shopping, wrapping, etc to do and it was nice that the house has been clean during all of it and I have little to clean today.

Of course, Ryan still has to put our bathroom back together! :lol:

So all the little last minute stuff will take place today and then tonight we begin to celebrate! We will continue our holiday tradition of having the "First Christmas" dinner tonight. Ryan's brother and his family sent us some Hickory Farms meats, cheeses, and such which will be perfect!

Tomorrow we plan on going to Flakes (sometime in the afternoon) where we will also see Mike, Debi and Grandpa Johnston. That will be nice. We are hoping to swing by the Williams afterwards to share a little something with them.

Last night in Cadi's prayer, she said "Thank you for letting tomorrow be Christmas Eve. Help us to remember the true meaning of Christmas; that Jesus was born."

She is such a good girl! She has faithfully attended to all our advent calendars/countdowns. And she has thoughtfully chosen gifts for Ryan and I this year. I was very impressed with her ideas, all things that we would be interested in. Of course, I don't know what she got me, but she told me some of the things she thought about that she didn't get. She really thought about things I like and wanted to get something I would enjoy. This is a step up from last years gift! :lol: Not that it was bad, but it was definitely something more on her level!  lol

Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You've kissed the face of god

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rules the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the great I Am!

---

Beautiful song!