My Life Stories

 I really am a meat and potatoes kind of person.  A really yummy steak would always be my go to.  I can't say I cook them well but the filet at Texas Roadhouse - I'm in heaven. Roast Beef, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls....so good.  Ray's mom had a roasting pan that she seared the roasts in and let them bake while we were at church.  Since I was often pregnant on our visits, I remember the frustration of not being able to eat my fill.  Oh how I loved Sunday dinners at George and Louise's.   The next best thing is a cold roast beef sandwich with a slice of Tillamook cheese and garden tomatoes.  Growing up, I honestly loved just about everything.  Squash & cooked onions were the only thing I really didn't like, though I would eat them.  I learned to love both as an adult.  A tomato sandwich from garden tomatoes is also a favorite.  Must be on white bread...homemade is the best, and mayo with salt and pepper.   I grew up breaking homemade bread into a glass of cold

 I'm not sure how to answer this.  I always love gifts that have a lot of love and thought in them.  Nothing fancy just something prepared just for me.  I remember being overwhelmed with emotion when Ray gave me a necklace with birthstones of all the children.  I nearly wore it out, wearing it everyday.  I lost it once at a hotel in Seattle.  The next Christmas there was a new once under the tree.  I wept when I opened it.   (I think it cast him $700 or more as each child had their birth gem,  He was careful to have it set on a nice chain.)

 My 20th birthday found me in my second year of college and first year of nursing school.  I had not been chosen for the dance team and no one was dating me.  I remember feeling rather fretful about both situations and knowing I could do very little to change either.  I cried in my pillow some days and wondered what was wrong with me.   My advice would be "don't fret, God has a grand plan for you, be patient and you will see miracles and goodness very soon." In the end,  the dance team leaders came and asked if I would come back as they had lost a dancer.  I was thrilled to do so. I was a quick learner and ended up dancing every other dance in a performance in Burley, Idaho.   Ray asked me out for the first time a month after my birthday.  Before the year was out I would be married and expecting our first child. 

 family, of course.  so setting that aside.... I love books .  I can't say I have a favorite but I love the smell and feel of reading from paper.   I have a hat of my dad's.  It used to smell like him but has long sense lost it's scent.  It is the only earthly possession I have of his.  It helps me feel close to him again.  I reminds me that someday I will get to hug him and listen to him and draw strength from his goodness.  The old upright grand piano my parents bought when I was 5 years old.  It reminds me of my mother's longing to play the piano.  She never learned.  But even in our poverty, she saw that all three of her daughters had lessons.  I remember longing for lessons and feeling impatient when Holly got to start.  In my mature years I look back with wonder on how my mother found teachers and hauled that piano from house to house.  After we were all gone, she decided she did not need the piano as there was no one to play and it took up a lot of room in her h

 Ireland Mediteranean Sea (Spanish coast and Israel coast) Pacific NW & Oregon Coast

 Lyman Salisbury Sister Montiereth Corvallis Stake RS Pres. Basin City Ward