Hopes and Dreams

I am speaking to a group of young single adults this weekend.  Ever since we were asked to speak (last Spring), I have been thinking of what my hopes and dreams were at your age and at their age.  I have even asked some of you what your hopes were.

We hope for good grades, a fun date, a loyal friend. We hope we can make the team or be chosen to participate.  We hope for a fun Christmas present or the chance to sleep late.

One of the things I hoped for as a little girl was a really cool pair of roller skates.  The "cool" roller skates had a key that went with them.  You would slip the skates on over your shoes and then using the key you would tighten the skates to hold on to your shoes and buckle the strap around your ankle. Then you would hang the key around your neck.

Roller skates from the 50's

You can see where the bottom of the skate adjusted to fit your shoe as well.  This is what I hoped for but it's not what I had.  The ones I had didn't have a key and fell off your foot easily.  The sad thing is that I don't remember asking my folks for the cool kind of skates, I just hoped it would happen.

If you hope for something, it dictates your actions and actions will lead to a fulfillment of your hopes. When a hope is realized, your confidence grows.  Hope is a noun and a verb!  To be continued...

Building Stamina - physical and spiritual

Elder Maynes talked in conference about building stamina....and how important physical and spiritual stamina are to our well-being.  Here are two examples for you:

James ordained a teacher by Kenny in the photo from L to R are Uncle Allen, Uncle Robb, Grandpa Jacobsen, Lou, James, Kenny, Melanie, Grandma Jacobsen and Aunt Amy Lou Bennett

New backyard bar for Julia prepping for the pole vault season. 

How many can she do?  What is her goal?

Beavers that have come my way....

            Caught in the headlights?

I have a little collection of beaver images.
The first one was used at the family reunion for light switches.
The beaver with a scar, did not have one when he arrived at my house.  He was on my magnetic board for a while and suffered a scratch.  Are there more beaver images out there that anyone would like to share?

A Beaver Bag

Three Cuties!

Rae's Art Beaver

Tennis Anyone?

Some action scenes of our teens that play tennis.  Sunny and Daisy played on their school teams this year.  Peter has been taking classes. James D....Are you playing too?

Sunny

Daisy

Peter

Meet the Carswells....

The Carswell Family in the Ballentine's front yard
From left to right:  James (9), Andrew, Sara, Sophia (12)

Andrew and Sara are both lawyers.  They live in Washington, D.C., but are Canadian citizens.

Andrew works for the International Red Cross and Sara has been working for a company called the Halo Trust that is helping to defuse land mines in countries that have been involved in war.

Trip to North Carolina

Grandpa and I will be traveling to North Carolina for a week.  Cousin Andrew will be baptized on September 7th.  We will also get to see Sara and Jaron's new home and have some rest and relaxation.

Your great aunt Gwen, my sister, has 2 children: Jane and Andrew.  Andrew and his wife Sara and their children Sophia and James will be coming from their home in the Washington, D.C. area to attend Andrew B's baptism. (There are lots of Sara's, Andrew's and James's in the family!!!).  I am very excited to visit with them.  I think it has been 10 years since I have seen Andrew.

We had a very nice hike and picnic with Daisy and Clara and their family on Labor day.  We went to Cascade Springs and it was beautiful.

Daisy and Clara with cascading water behind them!

Here is a question or two for each of you?  

Do you have an LDS account on-line? 

Do you know how to get one? 

Do you have a limited use temple recommend?

A Big Hug!!

At the family reunion we all sent a hug with a drawing of ourselves and good wishes to Adam.  It arrived in Italy and you can see that Adam is enjoying his big cinnamon roll hug.  Family is the best!

Are those Superman pajamas?