They say the first thing to go is the memory

I know that a lot of folks who check this blog regularly are young.  You know who you are.  I want you to watch this carefully and laugh long and hard over it.  Then just you wait.  Your time is coming.

To those of you who have reached a point in your life where this already applies to you, laugh long and hard over this because as it really happens it's not as funny.

Hey! This isn't what I signed on for!

Bob retired from the Air Force in 1997.  AND in 2006.

He also returned to active duty in the Air Force in 2001.  AND again in 2010.  (Do you see a pattern developing here?)  I don't know how many times it takes to get it right, but this better be the time.  He has a three year contract that will put him pretty dang close to that 30 year mark for retirement pay (75% of what he is making right now for the rest of his life).

He put on his flight suit May 24, and on July 10 was handed a short-notice deployment, leaving in one week.  That's today.  He'll spend 120 days - get ready - in Florida supporting air operations for the oil spill clean up. Affectionately referred to as Tyndallistan.

It's embarrassing to even call it a deployment after watching the gut-wrenching deployments that the Army does - 15 months, to Iraq & Afghanistan after only being home 12 months since the last one.   I promise not to whine and moan.  And I won't brag about going to visit him for three weeks in August.

I salute you Army wives.  You know who you are:  Lesa, whose husband just returned; Rachel whose husband just returned; Sara whose husband just returned; Donna whose husband just returned and who had a baby while he was gone (!!); and all the Baumholder women whose husbands will soon be leaving for six weeks of training followed by 12 months in Afghanistan.  I salute you.

Pimp My Ride

The Aral (gas) station in our town frequently gives out freebies when you purchase an Autowasche (car wash). Ice scrapers, water bottles, sponges..... I was so excited this time we ran the car through because the give-a-way was German flags, the kind you hook on the car and they flap in the breeze as you drive. I have ALWAYS wanted some of these. Seriously! And now that Germany has made it to the final four in FIFA competition, not only did I want them, but I needed them.

Deutschland! Deutschland! Deutschland!!

Mary Petzold Going Viral

My Mother-in-law, Mary Petzold, as seen recently on YouTube. She's 82 years old. Amazing woman.

Blankets

Last fall I went along on one of Bob's planning conferences.  The Army post there had an excellent craft store that a friend, also with her husband at the same conference, convinced me to go see.  I got enthused!  I used to crochet blankets all the time and it had been years since I'd made one, and right then and there decided to make another one.

I bought a pattern book and materials and this was the end result.  Not bad for a "first" try.  It will always be ours, however, because it's shape is a little off.  Someday I'll try the pattern again and get it right, but for a "first" try I was just too impatient to count 180 stitches each row.

And then I got validation.  Early this year in a sacrament meeting talk someone said that we should always be creating something and that if it gave us pleasure we should invest in it and nurture it.  So I bought some more yarn and made another blanket.

Feeling somewhat the expert, I next picked an adorable pattern that I thought I would do for my sister's first baby, due about the time as my new grandson.  Well you know what they say about new construction of houses?  How you should allow 25% more money and time?  Well it applied to this project, and by the time I was done with it, I hated it.  I was never so glad to clear up that one square meter of space in my sitting room, and get it mailed.

Noah's Ark

Elephant and Camel

              

 The rat-opotamus 

Sheep and Giraffe

Somewhere, over a rainbow......

Star

.....two by two......

My next project is all one color, less complicated and works quickly.  I'll keep you posted.

              

Another Year Older

Today, June 12, is my birthday.  I'm not going to confess the years.  You are all clever enough to do the math and come up with that number on your own.

My daughter-in-law Lindsay is a great shopper and gift giver.  I love the card she sent yesterday and thought I'd share it with you.

Do you know people that have the same birthday as you?  I have always thought it interesting that I can name four people that I share June12 with (and I have this nagging feeling that there is someone I'm forgetting - sorry, whoever you are).

Happy birthday, birthday buddies Melissa Zollinger, ME!!, Stacey Score, Kacie Holdaway, and Mo Ray.

The Scriptures

At the end of each seminary year I ask students to write a little something about their favorite scriptures.

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Katelyn Abbott

Helaman 5:12  And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over  you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

“I need to build my foundation strong.  I don’t want to let Satan be able to beat me down.”

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Meagan Decker

  Mosiah 13:3 Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time.

“Because this scripture is like amazing in helping to give guidance to keeping the standards.”

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Forest Andersen

  Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

“It shows that the word of God can be as powerful as any weapon.”

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Mo Ray

  Jacob 6:12  O be wise; what can I say more?

“What more could you say than to be wise?”

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Stephanie English

  Mosiah 13:3  Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time.

“(1) You can say it any time.  (2) Abinadi told his whole reason for being there.”

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Desiree Andersen

  2 Nephi 1:15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

  

“This is my favorite scripture because it explains to me how much the Savior truly loves us.”

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