Where is Joan Sutherland?

I do love attending our sweet Spanish ward.  But trying to listen in meetings spoken in a language I can't understand sometimes takes too much concentration for me to maintain--and my mind wanders.  One of the simple pleasures I enjoy at our ward is a game I call. "find the opera singer."

Some woman in our ward has a beautiful opera soprano voice.  We have a large ward, and she does not always sing loudly.  But we can definitely hear her on high notes in certain hymns.  For instance, in the hymn--"I Stand All Amazed" you can always hear her voice during the chorus, "Oh it is wonderful, that He should care for me, enough to die for me.  Oh it is wonderful!  Wonderful to me!"
Today we sang "God be with you till we meet again."  We could hear her beautiful voice on the high notes of the chorus.  Of course all of these hymns are sung in Spanish.

So Bryce and I try to discreetly look around toward where we think we hear her.  We are starting to know our ward members much better, so it is possible that we already know her.  The easy way to identify her would be to ask someone.  But what would be the fun in that?  I find myself looking forward to the hymns each week.  Not just to listen for our mystery opera singer, but also because most of the members of our ward sing with gusto.  Even those who can't even carry a tune.  I love that enthusiasm!  But I especially love listening carefully for her voice and smiling with pleasure when I can hear it through the congregation.  When I finally discover who the singer is, I will still enjoy listening to her--but right now the mystery adds to my pleasure!

Crepes!

I have been on a crepe obsession lately.  I have always loved crepes, but after helping with a wedding shower where we served crepes, I realized I wanted to start making them at home.

 

 

I bought an inexpensive crepe pan from Amazon.

 

I found a basic crepe recipe that I like.

 

 

I love cream cheese, so I made a mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar and whipped topping.  Bryce and the kids like to use nutella for their spread.

 

Peaches, strawberries and bananas are my favorite fruits to use, but I have also used mango and anything that sounds good at the time.

 

 Everyone puts together their own.

 

 

 

Roll it up, add whipped cream.

 

Enjoy!

Wedding Joy!

Caroline is so busy with PA school, that if I wait for her to choose and provide wedding photos, it may be next year before I have photos to publish.  So I am proceeding with the photos that I have.  August 10th was a day of joy for me.  Caroline was married to Jordan Carlson and we spent the day celebrating with family and friends. 

 

 

They look very happy.

 

I am happy.  And grateful.

Reflections on BYU

Last year, Bryce and I traveled to South Bend, Indiana to attend the BYU/Notre Dame football game.  That campus was an experience.  I loved the tradition and beauty that surround the entire University.  One of my thoughts as I sat in their football stadium was this--BYU could learn a few things from Notre Dame.

The players attend mass before the game.  Religious announcements were made right along with football related announcements.  I was actually surprised at how much religion was incorporated into the whole experience.  And they were not in the least embarrassed about it.

Now I do not think Catholic students are more religious than LDS students.  Not at all.  And maybe if I were not a Mormon attending a BYU football game, I would notice more religion than I do.  But I was happy Saturday night when President Uchtdorf walked around the stadium waving at the students amid their enthusiastic cheers.  He was greeted like a rock star. As he should be.

A wonderful reminder of the reason that BYU exists at all. 

If you are feeling cynical...

If you are feeling a bit cynical about life and people in particular, I suggest that you attend a college graduation ceremony.  On Friday, Aug. 16 Dallin graduated from BYU--College of Fine Arts with a degree in Film.  I know that I walked away from the ceremony feeling more optimistic and positive.  The speakers contributed to my uplift with their humble recitation of great accomplishments.  But the atmosphere in general was an atmosphere of joy at reaching an important goal.  And in the case of Dallin (and probably many others), this goal was only achieved at a great cost of time, effort, money and perseverance. 

 

I don't feel that life's problems are any less complex, but I do feel encouraged by the talented people who are leaving the BYU class of 2013 to confront those problems! 

 

 



Late Sunday Nights

Every Sunday night I stay up late because Kate's e-mail doesn't come until 11:00 pm.  Then I have to read the family e-mail several times and she usually sends me a personal note that I have to read several times.  Then I have to sit for a moment and ponder.  I don't know why I have to do that, but I do.  She is 14 hours ahead, so she is not writing her e-mail until 3:00 in the afternoon.  Before she lived in this apartment, we got it at 8:30 pm.  But until that changes, I just plan on going to bed at midnight every Sunday night.

Summer Projects

 

 

 

Front Porch:  I cleaned my white, rusted porch rail and painted

it a glossy black.  Prepping took most of the time, of course. 

Then I added chairs and bought a new patriotic door hanging. 

And a new door mat.

 



Mailbox:  First I scrubbed and sanded off the old numbers and paint.  

Then I painted it a glossy white and added vinyl mountains and numbers.

 



 

Our flowers are especially beautiful this year!

 

 

Added a "State of Utah" flag to my collection to celebrate Pioneer Day and the "Days of 47!"

 

I love summer projects!