Disney Adventures

We had a great time in California last week. Kent was at a software conference at the Disneyland Hotel, hobnobbing with Mickey and Goofy. Jan got to play in the park with Melissa and Brad and the kids. We discovered that Susannah and Owen are roller coaster nuts! They LOVE roller coasters. Lydia prefers rides that are a little less exciting like the Story Book Land boat ride (I think she has a great future as an accountant). When Grandpa Kent finally was able to join the family at the park Wednesday night, Susannah and Owen dragged him onto a roller coaster, encouraging him to be brave. Lydia was frightened by the elevators at the hotel (she's definitely Grandpa's girl).

Our first night together, we thought we would try taking the family to Goofy's Kitchen, a restaurant right next to the hotel. There were lots of familys in there, so we figured it would be good. When I told them we had four adults and three children, they told me there would be no charge for the two-year-old. Then they told me that the cost of the buffet for four adults and two children would be $193! We decided instead to go back to our room and order a Pizza Hut delivery. Two large pizzas, delivered, cost us $34, saving us $160. Eating this way, we saved enough money over the next two days to pay for the trip!

It really was fun. There is nothing can compare to a four-year-old coming off a ride exclaiming, "That was the BEST RIDE EVER!" A great time was had by all. Can you believe it - dinner was going to be $193!

What do you know for certain?

Last week we were in Mesa, and we were reading a magazine of Grandma Hiatt's. I won't name the magazine, but it is named after a certain celebrity whose picture graces the cover of every issue (talk about self-absorbed!). Anyway, there was an article in which this celebrity mentioned being interviewed a few years ago when the interviewer asked her "What do you know for certain?" She said the question completely stumped her - she couldn't think of anything she knew for certain. It is probably not her fault; after all, she is a leader in a world that says that everything is relative and that certainty is a sign of closed mindedness. In this issue of her magazine, she asked several "important" people - other celebrities - to write a blurb on what they knew for certain. Most of the responses were pretty fluffy, like "I know I am a great athlete." Dull!

Here are some things I know for certain. I know that God lives. I know that He answers sincere prayers, for He has certainly answered mine. I know that He loves His children and gives them the experiences and the challenges they need for their growth and development. These experiences and challenges are not always what His children think they need, but they are what they need nonetheless.

I know that Jesus is the Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. No one I know has greater need for saving and redeeming than I do, and I am grateful for that saving grace. I know that the Savior restored the fulness of His gospel to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith, the great prophet of the restoration. I know that He continues to lead His church through living apostles and prophets. I had a powerful, sweet witness of President Hinckley's apostolic calling while on my mission, and I know that that same spirit of prophecy rests today on President Monson and the Twelve.

I know that repentance is the greatest gift we can receive from God. And I know that the key to real repentance is repenting not only of the sin, but repenting of the motivation for the sin. We must give up our unrighteous motivations to really ever come clean.

I know that the real key to happiness is obedience to the commandments of God. I know that He gave us the commandments not to keep us from having fun, but to clear the way to stay free from entanglements that prevent joy. I have had to learn this lesson way too many times, but I think I have finally learned it.

I know that I married a woman of incredible patience and faith, and that my life would be empty without her. She has been my closest friend in my life, and continues to be. Our marriage grows stronger and sweeter because of her. She has given me a family who I love more than I love life itself. I know now that little children are pure and sweet and should be loved more and scolded less. Sorry, kids, for taking so long to learn that one!

I know these things for certain. I feel sorry for people who cannot say they know anything for certain, no matter how rich or famous they are. I would not trade what I know for certain for wealth or fame, because the things I know give me strength and peace and comfort in this life, whatever it throws at me.

Since everyone seems to be tagging these days, I tag everyone who reads this blog to write what they know for certain.

Photo Tag?

OK, we will participate. Here is the fourth picture in our fourth photo pholder. It is Grandma holding Joshua in Rexburg in May 2007 - he was just a couple of weeks old.

We are not tagging anyone!

Back by Popular Request

Have you ever noticed how, as people get older, they start sounding like Andy Rooney?

I have been thinking a lot about civilization and manners lately. Couldn’t say why, except that I have seen a great decline in basic civility – those rules which preserve civilization – in my lifetime. Here are some things I remember about the world when I was younger:

1. People used to dress in their best clothes to go shopping, even grocery shopping. No one would think of going to a store dressed in worn out jeans and a crumpled T-shirt, much less in a shirt that has profanities printed on it.

2. People used to dress in their best clothes to travel on airplanes or trains. No need to elaborate there, is there?

3. One never used to see or hear profanity in public, unless he or she were visiting a construction site or shipyard. And certain things were just not allowed on TV - not just bleeped out. People who could not control their tongues were simply not on the air.

The whole “in your face” attitude that began in earnest in the 60’s has nearly destroyed manners in our society. You see, manners are not just a matter of knowing what fork to use. Real manners or etiquette begins with knowing where you are in the world, and seeking to ease the experience for your fellow travelers. If we ask ourselves, “How does what I am doing affect the other people in this room? What can I do to help the other guy have a pleasant day?” we will find ourselves on the road to true civility.

A person with good manners listens to others who are talking with the aim of understanding the other person, not just waiting for a break to speak.

A person with good manners does not keep others waiting, because he knows that other people’s time is just as valuable as his own. If he is going to be late, he calls ahead to apologize and let people know.

A person with good manners – a civil person – dresses neatly because he thinks others do not want to see a slob. He eats carefully, slowly, taking small bites rather than wolfing down his food. He says “Please” and “Thank You” because he likes to hear those words himself, and because he has a genuine sense of gratitude for what others do.

A person with good manners smiles at people he meets because he knows that a smile creates an immediate feeling of being at ease with a stranger. I heard someone say once that whenever he meets someone new, he always says, “I am glad to meet you. I have heard so many nice things about you.” That is really civilized.

This is why we are told to always pass the salt and the pepper together. It is just an effort to ease the journey for our fellow human beings. Since a person who wants salt often wants pepper, too, keeping and passing them together prevents a person from having to ask two people for what he needs. Does that make sense?

I am not saying that we should be compulsively focused on what we are doing all the time; only that we should try to be on our best behavior and walk gently through this life, helping to ease the way for everyone else we meet. You will recall what the Savior said about losing our life in the service of others. If we will earnestly try to help and serve others, we will find others trying to help us in our journey, too.

RANDOM THINGS ABOUT MOM

I don't usually fill these out because I have a hard time thinking of anything random about me that you all don't already know. Oh well, Andrea tagged me and so I'll give it a try. By the way, I typed this all myself with no help from Kent!

1. My favorite movie all the time I was growing up was "Pollyanna." I loved that she went around her town trying to make everyone feel glad-even the major grouches. Then everyone in town loved her in return. I wanted to be just like her but that ended up being mostly in my dreams.

2. I love music but I can't listen to music and concentrate on anything else. Like right now Dad is playing the piano in the living room and I'm trying to type this silly thing and can't think at all. Music totally distracts me. I must have undiagnosed ADD.

3. I've always wanted to learn to scuba dive. Even when I was a kid I would swim around under water and see how long I could hold my breath pretending to be a mermaid. Boy! I wish I could swim under water now. When I've tried lately, my bouyant body will not let me stay under for more than ten seconds at a time.

4. I love getting cards that people write in. I have two boxes under my bed stuffed full of cards. So when I tell you that what you write in the cards you send to me is the best present, I really mean it.

5. My favorite cereal is Nabisco Shredded Wheat (lg biscuit) with green grapes. I also like Wheaties with fresh peaches, Cornflakes with bananas and Cheerios with strawberries. I just have to have those cereals with those fruits or I'm not happy.

6. I'm super analytical. I'm really good at games where I can take my time and think about each move to make such as: Mastermind and Scrabble. I'm not so good at games where you have to think and move really fast like: Nertz or Boggle. I think I drive people crazy when they play games with me, but I have improved in sportsmanship since getting older.

7. My favorite kind of movies are the really quirky, funny ones like "Waking Ned Divine","A Pyromaniacs Love Story" and "So I Married an Ax Murderer". I even like "Napoleon Dynamite". I hate, hate, hate scary movies. My big brother and I use to watch scary movies on Saturday afternoons after which he would chase me around the house pretending to be a monster. Then that same night I would have awful nightmares.

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

Well, General Conference just ended, Jan is in the kitchen singing "How Great Thou Art" and making an apple pie, and life is good. I have thought many times over the last two days of Conference as I listened to all the mentions of hard times and adversity, how richly blessed my life has been. Times are a little hard right now, and may get a lot harder before they get easier, but life is good.

I was thinking of the hard times my parents have lived through. They were young during the Great Depression and didn't realize they were poor because everyone they knew was poor, too. Then there was the horror of WWII. The US fought for several years before the war started turning in our favor. Millions were killed in that war. My father returned from the war and married, and I was born only 5 1/2 years after the end of the war, and just after the outbreak of the Korean war.

I remember as a little child, watching the news and wondering if we were going to be attacked with atomic weapons. We used to do A-Bomb drills in grade school; just like a fire drill but you didn't get to go outside. I remember thinking the world could end any day.

After my mission we married and almost immediately the Arab oil embargo started. We used to go get in line at the gas station at 5:30 in the morning to have a chance to get gasoline for our cars. Those were hard times in my young life.

When I got out of grad school, Pres. Carter was President, mortgage interest rates were between 12% and 16%, inflation was running at about 20%, and unemployment was at an all time high in my lifetime. Those were hard times, trying to make a living as a young marriage counselor and make a house payment on a new home (it cost $70,000 with a 12.5% mortgage).

Life has easy times; life has hard times. We can never rely on the world's solutions to the world's problems to be very effective. We know what the constant truth is, and if we hold fast to that, come what may, we can make it through. The important thing in this life is not what becomes of us, it is what we become. How greatful we are to know what we know and to know that this will all work out for the best in the end. We have read the book, and the ending is a happy one.

Tagged! (revised)

I got tagged by Andrea (thanks a LOT!)so now I have to write 7 random things about myself. Here goes (man, I hate these things):

1. I am a co-holder of the AZ state record for TP'ing houses. One night in my Senior year at Westwood High, my friends and I TP'd 45 houses in ONE NIGHT! We selected houses at random all over Mesa, and left little signs that said, "Congratulations. You have been TP'd by the Four-Eyed Gang" (that was the name of our nerd group).

2. I have always secretly wished that I had been a band teacher. Just the thought of all those beginning clarinet and saxophone players!

3. If I could only listen to one kind of music for the rest of my life, I would choose - no, I couldn't choose one. I would rather listen to no music than only one kind. Well, maybe sacred choral music. Or perhaps smooth jazz. Or Chicago. Or if I could listen to Jan sing, that would definitely do!

4. I still think "Take the Money and Run" is one of the funniest movies ever made. I'll bet I have seen it 20 times, and it still makes me laugh. My favorite TV show as a kid was Adventures in Paradise. Now my favorite show is Jeopardy.

5. I used to feel like a real failure as a missionary, but my brother told me to get over it, and pronounced me happy. So now I no longer feel like a failure.

6. I really have missed my grandparents as an adult, especially my grandfathers. I felt so close to Grandpa Hamblin, and I felt cheated when he died while I was on my mission. I don't know if he ever knew how much he meant to me.

7. Heaven to me would be being locked in a room with all my grandkids for a week!

I tag whoever had the guts to read all the way through this rambling. Man, I hate these things! I also hate those emails that ask your favorite color, what you are wearing, the last time you cried, etc, etc, ad nauseum. There - I got it off my chest, and I feel so much better.