And the winner is ... Don Ho!

Tonight we had a gathering at Bryce and Kelly's house. Last night Bob and I ran into Doug & Grace at the Stake Christmas presentation and they mentioned they were going to dress in something special...hello, I thought maybe a Christmas sweater with appliques! Oh no, they came in with their Hawaiian clothing, a ukelele, and they sang "The Hawaiian Christmas Song!" I believe that at the end of the clip Phyllis was exclaiming, "Where is our brother?"

So let's talk about Doug for a moment and maybe in about 3 words..."Thank you Grace!" They are obviously happy, in love, and having a great time together. We love you!

About the night:

Traditionally Aunt Estella would have an adult party at her house a few weeks before Christmas and always on a Monday night. At her funeral, Roland mentioned that we needed to have this party again. For whatever reason, my family was always invited to their "Party". So this year Phyl and I spearheaded the gathering in honor of us and our mothers.

Here are some photo's of the fun...

Roland and Nancy share some gossip.

Diane and Roland - she even stayed out late after hours.

The best part of the night was NO ONE CAN SEE WITHOUT GLASSES!

This really makes playing Catch Phrase a whole lotta' fun.

There were four people sharing one pair of glasses...

Bryce and Kelly

Phyl and Darol

Dad, Pat & Nancy

By the way, doesn't Roland look a lot like Uncle Bob?

It was fun, Doug and Grace have set a new standard,

and maybe the rest of us should just revisit our standards!

One hour church and go home...

Yesterday we sat down in Sacrament Meeting, the Bishop stood up to start the meeting and the lights went out. It was rather dark in the room, but he told us that the meeting would proceed. Talk about quiet! The little ones were awesome and Bob and I think that the lights might need to be turned off more often.

Anyway, as the meeting progressed it was difficult to hear much of anything from the pulpit. I sat there looking at the speakers wondering how we would ever hear their message. Sometimes that might be a blessing, but today was different. The speakers were a new family in our ward, and Sister Marriott has ALS, Lou Gherig's Disease. I knew that there was no way that we would hear her. So, during the sacrament I leaned over to Bob and told him to go and get the Karaoke Machine with his/my generators so we could hear her message. Of course he and Chad jumped up and went home to get the "toys".

I knew that Sister Marriott would have a great message for us. When you have a terminal disease, you have a greater perspective on life. Well, the equipment with a light too, was set up just as it was her turn. Her message was this...

She explained her disease and how it had become a blessing for her. About one year ago she was in a restroom conversing with a woman. The woman finally asked her is she had a stroke. Sister Marriott explained what she had and continued to tell her this was a blessing in her life. She told her that her relationship with our Heavenly Father was so much greater now that just one year ago. Also, she explained that if someone was to trade her a long healthy life in exchange for her relationship with Him, she would choose the illness and keep her growing faith and testimony.

Many of us joke that we "hope to make it to the Celestial Kingdom", but she added that we need to be serious and say "when I make it there" and live our lives in such a way to attain it.

She added that we have a loving Heavenly Father who forgives us, and we can all have a new start. Start now!

In the end she thanked us for our kindness and that she would be seeing our ancestors much sooner than we would. She offered to us that she would be talking to them and telling them stories about each of us and the kind things we do.

After her, for whatever reason, the light was turned off and her husband spoke. He was less audible, but it didn't matter...she was our message.

This sweet woman gave me a lot to think about. I have watched several relatives die of this nasty disease and I have yet to think of it as a blessing. It is all about positive thinking, perspective, and making the most out of each day.

We were all sent home after this, the lights turned on ten minutes after most had left the building, I overheard one young adult say that she didn't want to leave this feeling behind...