Joanne Cowley Austin Linford

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday. I like to think of her as my mom (lucky me, to have two moms). From the moment we met, she has been loving and kind in every way. It is her nature to be that way, and I'm blessed to be a part of her life, so I feel that from her all the time.

I've been trying to narrow down all the things I love about Mom, and it's hard to make it brief. I've decided to share just a few things that are on the top of my list.

1. She is fun to be around. She likes to be involved - sitting and visiting, playing games, or whatever else is going on. She is an active participant.

2. She truly loves people, and getting to know people. Wherever she goes, she finds a connection with someone she knows. When Audrey started college she called one day and said, "I had a Grandma Jody day today." She proceeded to tell about meeting someone who knew someone she knew. That happens to Mom all the time.

3. She loves the gospel. She has a strong testimony, and shows it in word and action every day. I think four missions really proves it!

4. She is the best mother/grandmother you can imagine. She listens, only offers advice when asked for (and wise advice it is - I've asked many times and benefited from it), and keeps confidence. Each of her 8 children, 8 sons and daughters-in-law, and her 50-plus grandchildren can attest to this fact. And each of us knows she loves us.

I could go on forever, but I'll close with this. I love my mother-in-law, and would do anything for her. This says it best:
Ruth 1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go...thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.

Here's how it goes

Austin, while wearing my "gardening" hat: Grandma, shall we pull some weeds? (translation: Let's go outside )
Austin: Grandma, right here are some weeds to pull (creating a diversion)

Meanwhile Matthew gets straight to the work at handOnce Grandma is successfully diverted, wearing her own hat, Austin joins Matthew for the true mission - treats on the hammock. The treats are well over a year old, but it doesn't seem to bother them.
Maybe Grandma should take a page from their book!

Mike Chumley

My heart has been aching since I heard - Mike Chumley died. He was our friend, fellow church member, fellow stake choir member, and auto mechanic extraordinaire. Mike was always kind, gentle spoken, patient, with a fine sense of humor. I know about the patience and sense of humor, because he always cheerfully fixed our cars - never once openly rolling his eyes at our lack of car maintenance. He must have been one of the last truly honest mechanics left. When we took our jeep to him and said, "please make it safe - our children will be driving it far away at college", he did.

Grace, just as President Condie used to say, you are truly Amazing. We grieve with you, and extend our prayers for you, Marie, Jeffrey, and Rachel. May God bless you.

Youth Conference

Last weekend was our ward Youth Conference: 24 youths, 10 adults, and we all had a great time.

Thursday morning we met at 7 a.m., had a short devotional, then passed out muffins and juice to everyone. We loaded the cars and went south. Our first stop was at Cove Fort, where we had a brief tour of the place. It was quite interesting (although now I feel satisfied that I know all I need to about the place, and don't need to go back).
Following that we hopped back in the cars and drove to Southern Utah University in Cedar City, where we spent the rest of the time. The facilities were immaculate, and the food about par for a college cafeteria (at least it was all you could eat). We finished out Thursday playing some fun water games, having dinner, then going to the Shakespeare Festival and seeing the play Cyrano de Bergerac. The play was a full three hours - a little long for some of the kids, but the performances were outstanding.

Friday was a day spent on relationships with those around you. We had a few brief workshops, then did a Ropes Course, which was the hit of the weekend, I think. The only injury sustained on the ropes course was mine. I tripped over a cable as I was trying to take a picture. Way to go! I did scrape and bruise my shin, but the worst part was just the embarassment of tripping and falling. After lunch we did some service projects - yard work for some elderly residents. The kids worked really hard. We filled the back of two pick-up trucks with debris from our clean up. That night we went up the canyon to an old sheepherder's cabin. We had a dutch oven style dinner, a fabulous speaker, then a campfire where the youth had the opportunity to bear their testimonies. It was a tender meeting.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast then drove to Cedar Breaks Monument. We went to a couple of lookouts - stunning vistas - and our bishop gave some closing remarks. We drove home and collapsed. It was a wonderful event, and I'm so glad Ray and I got to go. We have great youths in our ward!

Boris goes incognito

Matthew loves Boris (he calls him "Bis"). He won't leave Boris alone, and follows Boris everywhere.




In an effort to save Boris from the incessant Matthew, we helped him go incognito:
It didn't work. Somehow Matthew still knows it's Boris.

There were four in the bed and the little one said, "Roll Over"

Boris the immovable cat, Ray, me, and the sprawling Matthew. He was crying at 1:00 a.m. and Ray brought him to bed with us. Now I know why we didn't do that with our own kids. Good thing he's so darn cute.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

I liked the book by the end, but no matter how good the end, it doesn't make up for the miserable, never-ending beginning. 110 pages is much too long to torture myself into reading. The only reason I kept going is because so many people have told me they love the book, and it is worth wading through the first part of the book to get to the end. I'm not sure I agree.

Sometimes I still have it

Once upon a time, I was a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. Yes, Pat Sajak and Vanna White were on it then, but Pat Sajak was fairly new on the show. The night time version had just begun, and was only syndicated in a few markets around the states. Los Angeles was not one of those markets. Mostly what people still watched was the daytime version, where you won money, and spent it on lovely gifts like the ceramic dalmation that former host Chuck Woollery made fun of. No one took home cash - only prizes. In the daytime version if you kept winning, you could be on for up to three days.

Here's my experience in a nutshell (of course my nutshells are very large - if you want to see the relevance for all this in today's world, skip to the bottom). We lived in west Los Angeles at the time, and I watched daytime game shows like many women watch soap operas. My two favorites: Wheel of Fortune (WOF), and Jeopardy (note that these are the only two long-standing game shows still on the air). I was pretty good at WOF, and Ray convinced me to try out to be on the show. So I did. I had to go someplace in Burbank, I think. There were probably about 30 of us in the room. We had to take a written test that had several WOF type word puzzles on it - lots of blank spaces with a few letters shown in each phrase. We had five minutes to take the test. I think I only missed one (out of about 25). They asked all but three of us to leave, then we three played a little miniature game of WOF right there. They got all our info, and said they might be calling us (no guarantees, ever).

A few weeks later I was called, and went in again. This time there were 40 or 50 people in the room. I was not feeling well - strep throat - so I was kind of miserable the whole time. I tried to put on a happy face. They had everyone in the room go around and say what they did for a living. There were all kinds of exotic personalities. When my turn came, I said, "homemaker, mother of 2." Not so exciting. Then we all played WOF some more. Then they said they might be calling us (once again, no guarantees).

A couple of months went by. I actually saw some people on the show who had been there when I was trying out. Oh well, no guarantees, right? After about 3 months, I got a call. Could I be there for a taping the next week? Could I ever! Ray was out of town, so his sister Ann came along to keep me company. After signing my life away, I found out that they were taping a night time version of the show (they tape five shows in an evening). I was not happy. I wanted my shot at three days, not just one lousy day. Happy face time again. Then while I was waiting in the studio while they taped the first few shows, I was really dismayed. They had only weird prizes, not everyday practical things like washing machines. Bummer. I may have let slip a comment or two about that. The car they were giving away was some very expensive type, and all I could think was "we can never pay the insurance on that thing." They always have a couple of extra contestants on hand when they tape, in case something goes wrong with one. I became an extra that night. I never got to go on. They said they may be calling me (no guarantees). Once again I cursed my lack of ability to keep my mouth shut. They probably didn't want me on because I was complaining, and now I lost my shot at being a contestant.

Well, we all know I got on the show - they did call me back. And, it was my lucky day - a daytime show taping. Ray was in town so he could come. I won two days, so I was able to be on all three days. I didn't win a dime on the third day, but got lots of consolation prizes because of it (about a hundred cases of Top Ramen, to name just one). One of the days I did not guess the final puzzle. I think of it every time I eat "deviled eggs" to this day. I did guess the other one, although I don't remember what it was right now. I won almost $13,000 worth of prizes. A few interesting facts: 1. after the show you can refuse any prize you won that you don't want. 2. You are taxed on all your prizes that you do keep.

I had two favorite prizes. One was the trip to the Bahamas that I won on the first day. It was an exciting puzzle, because I kept just barely missing Bankrupt every time I spun. I wanted that trip so bad that I kept going as long as I could even though I knew the puzzle, so that I could win the trip. Ray almost had a heart attack watching. The other was two Rolex watches - one for me and one for Ray. That was from a gift certificate to Van Cleef & Arpels in Beverly Hills. I won that on the final puzzle on the second day.

Fast forward 24 years or so to this week. I record Jeopardy and WOF every night, then watch them while I am on the treadmill. This week I guessed two of the final puzzles. (When I was on the show they did not automatically give you RSTLN and E then let you guess three more consonants and a vowel. I just got to pick five consonants and one vowel.) Here are the two puzzles. I put a heart in for every blank letter, and of course the actual letter for the letters that were exposed. Answers will be posted in the comments.

One: (phrase)

♥ A ♥ S T - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Two: (person)

T R ♥ ♥ ♥ A

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Have fun solving! (Can you do it in 10 seconds or less?)

Sidenote: to be on a game show:
1. You have to be over 18 (the exception being special shows for kids)
2. You can not have been on this same game show before (the exception being a championship version where you are invited back)
3. You can only be on three game shows in your life.
At least those were the rules when I did it.