Tracie's World

I leave work a little later in the evening these days, and one of the highlights of my drive home is to see the autumn colors on the Wasatch mountains. At that time of day, the light is just beginning to dim, and it creates a beautiful warm glow on the mountains. Today in particular, they were quite breathtaking, and I had to do something creative to remember the experience. I don't usually consider myself very creative, but I felt a little inspired this evening, and so I present you with a haiku (it's easier than trying to paint or draw or get out a glue gun).  The mountains ablaze Glowing embers of autumn Setting me afire What do you think?

It was a special treat to be at the Jordan River temple yesterday, as I was invited to attend the sealing of my dear friends Joe and Carma to their baby daughter. They have two kids they've adopted, and they were already sealed to their son last year. And yesterday their eternal family became complete. Family sealings are always so touching, and such a testimony to how the Lord brings families together. The ceremony was beautiful, and the entire family looked great. I'm so glad I could witness it.

Friday evening was the company 5K, and most of my team and their families made the effort to participate. The weather was perfect, and the route took us through the neighborhoods around the main building. We ended up finishing in about 45 minutes. Here we all are at the Finish line (l to r: Dave, his daughter and son, Robin, me, Tiffany, her boyfriend Scott, Sudhir, Bindu, and their daughter Naomi) After the 5K, I decided I needed a post-race recovery meal, and got myself down to the local DQ for a pumpkin pie blizzard.

I've been thinking about some of the work that still needs to be done on the Holladay Inn, and some changes to make before the end of the year. So Friday, I had the glass company in to measure for replacing the remaining old windows. I should get the quote back this week, and hopefully in a couple of weeks, new windows in the downstairs bedrooms. At the same time, I've been thinking a lot about what rough shape the carpet is in. So Friday afternoon, I went down to RC Willey, and ordered carpet and laminate flooring. The laminate will replace the carpet in the dining room, and then the old carpet in the rest of the upstairs and on the stairs will be replaced. I probably could have got a better deal from another company, but RC Willey will also do the install, and move the furniture, and guarantee the job. So I went with the convenience and the guarantee. They'll be here next Saturday to measure, and schedule the install. Here are photos of the laminate I decided on, as w...

I had a thought while I was reading my Book of Mormon yesterday. I was reading in Alma 54, where Captain Moroni, and the Lamanite King Ammoron, a dissenter from the Nephites, are trying to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. For some reason I was struck by verse 4, where it refers to the "servant of Ammoron", who had delivered Ammoron's epistle to Moroni. I got to wondering about this servant, who he was, and why he might have been selected to deliver the message. And the thought occurred to me, almost as if I could see the scene playing out in my head, that this was a young man who was known to Moroni previously, and that he had at one time been a faithful follower of Christ, but that he'd been influenced by the flattering words of Ammoron and his brother Amalackiah, had dissented and eventually joined the Lamanites. He'd been selected to deliver the message because of his previous association with Moroni. Ammoron hoped to gain some intelligence, and get Moroni t...

I wanted to give a shout out this morning to Relief Society. This last Tuesday, I went to my first Relief Society activity in my new ward. It was at the home of one of the Presidency members, and we sat and had a lively discussion about all of the General Conference messages. It ended up being a great evening, and gave me an opportunity to meet many of the sisters. The nice sister who hosted also sent everyone home with a bag of orchard apples, which was an awesome fall treat.  I think it was a good first step to getting involved in the ward. 

Yesterday afternoon, Inge and I took a drive to see the fall leaves. It had been such a beautiful morning, but by the time we left, the weather had turned, and it ended up being a pretty blustery afternoon. But we we made the attempt anyway. Our first stop was Midway. We drove all around town, and quite a ways up in to Wasatch Mountain State Park.  Then it was on in to Heber City, making a quick stop at our favorite hole in the wall, Granny's Drive-In for a thick shake.  After leaving Granny's, we made our way back down the mountain by way of Provo Canyon, stopping off at a couple of pretty spots to get some photos, one of them being Bridal Veil Falls, which I hadn't seen since college.  We ended our day by stopping in at Ikea for some Swedish Meatballs (in my case it was the veggie "meat"balls with a sweet potato puree "gravy") and veggies from the cafeteria. Tasty!

Some friends and I went to the movie theater the other night for a live presentation of "Hamlet" from the London stage. It starred everyone's new favorite British man of the hour, Benedict Cumberbatch, so we were pretty excited to see it. It was great fun, although the most unique interpretation of the sweet prince that I've ever seen. And despite the 3 1/2 hour run time, we made it through, and I even managed to stay up past my normal bedtime. Hoorah!

I was browsing Twitter yesterday, and saw that the Tabernacle Choir (#MoTab) had posted that they would have a special guest for today's Music and the Spoken Word, the wonderful singer Sylvia McNair. You may recall me mentioning her after a concert appearance with them last winter. Needless to say, I was very excited, so I got around early this morning, and got myself downtown just in time to catch the program. And it was definitely worth the effort. The choir was in fine form as always, and Sylvia McNair sang a glorious version of "This Little Light of Mine", which to me seemed very inspired, considering I've been ponderizing that very topic this week. After a wonderful message from Brother Newell, the choir sang "My Favorite Things", and the final number was an absolutely fabulous version of "Climb Every Mountain" by Ms. McNair and the Choir. Of course, since you all know how I feel about "The Sound of Music", I felt as if the program...

Last evening, my friend Robin and I went along to my first Single Adult activity. For the uneducated, in the LDS church "Single Adult" means older than "Mid-Single Adult". In other words, because of my recent birthday, I've advanced past my mid-single-adultdom, into single-adultdom. Thankfully I had a friend with me, or I doubt I'd have gone on my own. As it was, we were the youngest ones there.  But it ended up being an ok time. The event was held up Millcreek Canyon, at a placed called Camp Tracy. The first blessing was when we walked in, and I was greeted by a sweet woman who I'd had the great pleasure of attending a Family Home Evening at her and her husband's home earlier in the summer. I'd had such a good time with them, and it was so nice to see her there, and her husband, and have them remember me. It really helped start the evening out right for me. After that, we had a nice catered BBQ dinner from Dicky's BBQ. And after dinner, ...

Went to the Jordan River temple late yesterday morning. Over the course of the session, and my time there, I had the opportunity to see true charity in action multiple times, as well as patient and cheerful endurance.  First was during the session I was in, where a severely disabled man was wheeled into the session by his family members. What I'm assuming were his brother and son-in-law tenderly dressed him in his temple clothing (he was unable to do this for himself) and watched over him throughout the session, and his wife even went over to him one time to shift him in his chair, and caress him. His comfort was their primary concern. At the end of the session, as I was about to pass through into the celestial room, the veil worker who was assisting me had severely malformed hands. Some of his fingers were fused together, and then forked at the top. They were more like claws than hands. Yet there he was serving in the temple, and doing it cheerfully. He had a glorious s...

This week, several friends from the Holladay Ward and I drove up to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the UofU to view their exhibition of British Landscapes. The paintings were on loan from a museum in Wales, and they were certainly a beautiful site to see. There were works by Constable, Gainsborough, Turner, and a host of others, with even a couple of Monet's thrown in for good measure. We chose this last Wednesday evening because the Museum is free on the first Wednesday of every month. Unfortunately, we arrived kind of late in the day, so we didn't have an awful lot of time to browse, and the gallery was packed with other visitors in our same boat. But it was a thrill to see works of some of the great British painters, and a fabulous evening with friends. One of my favorite's was this painting by Henry Clarence Whaite, called "The Penitent's Vision: The Shepherd's Dream". At the bottom, you see a shepherd, in a mountain glen, kneeling in prayer. At ...

This weekend was General Conference, and what a great weekend it was. The talks were fantastic, thought-provoking, and at times were answers to my personal prayers. It was doubly meaningful to be able to share it with my family via text message. We kept up a steady stream of messages through all of the Conference sessions, of the thoughts and things that impressed us, and I for one learned a lot. One talk that impressed us all this afternoon was where Brother Devin Durrant of the Sunday School Presidency challenged us all to "ponderize" a verse of scripture every week, the idea being that our thoughts will be elevated, and we'll be blessed with personal revelation. One of the things that was on my mind this morning, and come to find out on the mind of one of my teenage nieces, was reiterated by President Monson, and that was to "Let our light so shine", and to "Be an example of the believers". So to follow the prophet, as a family we decided that thi...

My favorite people from my mission in Mississippi were in town last weekend, and I was fortunate to be able to go to lunch with them while they were here. These fine folks fed me many times, encouraged me, and Sister Z would even cut my hair. They'd do anything for the missionaries, and made what was often a difficult mission experience bearable. It was great to be able to catch up with them, and reminded me of the scripture in Alma 17:2, "What added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord..."

Last Saturday evening was the General Women's Conference, which was a perfect kickoff for a week of preparations for General Conference. This year I got to go to a Stake Center and watch the meeting with Awesome Sister-in-law #1, and my cute niece, who turned 8 in May. It's not often that I get to watch the meeting with my family, so I was thrilled to be able to do that, and especially to be there with my niece. Their Stake held a Social beforehand, so we arrived a little early, and happened to sit with a Sister and 3 of her daughters. We got to visiting, and during the course of conversation, came to find out that she and I and our families both attended the same ward in Iowa 30 years before. What a blessed coincidence. It brought to mind great memories of a happy time. I always try to find meaning in coincidences like this, because I really believe it's not so much coincidence, as it's the Lord's hand bringing people together or back together. I usually...