For the Hall Reunion

the favor was the "Preserve your Family History" jars with the questions inside.  My goal has been to answer a question from it every few days.  I  haven't quite gotten to it, but my sister started doing it on her blog, and I have really enjoyed reading her entries.  Thanks for the encouragement, Charlene, and I'm challenging Tom to do it also.  He has been a real slacker on his blog.

Today's question:  "What things do you enjoy today that you enjoyed doing as a child?  Describe them then and now."

I know that I enjoyed baking way back in elementary school.  My girls just laugh when they read in my journal that I "Went to school, came home, made a cake."   Really, just about every day.  I think I have a blog post on that already.

What hasn't changed is that I still make a huge mess when I do it.  What has changed is that Mom isn't here to clean up after me.  She was really never a baker, other than her white cake with chocolate icing and her boiled raisin cake. So when I started being interested in it, she liked it so much that she told me that if I baked, she would clean up.   Unfortunately, I don't have a fairy godmother that does that for me now.

I loved collecting recipes, too.  In fact, what Gary gave me for Christmas when we were 15 were two cookbooks.   I'm sure his Mom had more to do with that than him, but somehow he knew I was interested.  They were both Betty Crocker Cake and Cookie Cookbooks.  In fact, if I weren't sitting comfortably in the recliner right now, I would go take a picture of them.

I loved to read, my favorites being Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys.  I've "graduated" from that to "The Cream Puff Murder," "Dying for Chocolate," "A is for Alibi,"and any other light and fluffy mystery.   And I do mean light and fluffy.  Ashton has observed this, and in a funny way asks me what "recipe" mystery I'm reading now.  But, hey, when I'm reading for pleasure, I don't want to get so involved with a character that I feel their emotions and take them upon me.

Well, this has taken me longer than I thought it would.  I guess there is something about asking a simple question that brings up random memories.

If you (whoever you are) are reading this, share your answer to that question.

I feel like I have been

living under a cloud for the last two weeks, and that it has now been lifted.  First of all:

My heart is healthy!

But, it is interesting to see where your mind goes when you worry that you may have a serious health issue with your heart.

It all started with my legs, feet, and joints swelling very quickly. My weight went up about 10 lbs in a few days (and it really hasn't come down), and I have felt short of breath.

After being worried about it, I went into the Dr.  He was a little concerned by what he was seeing, and sent me for a chest x-ray and blood test.  Those came back fine, but just to make sure, he sent me to do a treadmill stress test.  I couldn't pass the test because I couldn't keep going and get my heart rate above 185 (and I felt like I was going to die on the spot).  But I've never had good endurance, so that is nothing new.

So because that was inconclusive, they had me get an echocardiogram, which I did Thursday.  That came back showing that my heart was healthy.  Which is really good news, because anyone who knows the family, knows of our family history with heart disease.  I also appreciated having my nephew, Bryce (who does echocardiograms) giving me some personal attention.

I haven't started getting the bills yet, so along with the tests being unnecessary, I have no doubt it will also be expensive.   But it is very reassuring.   As for what the problem is, I'm actually wondering if I had an allergic reaction to something or had a spider bite (I had a rash also), as the swelling is going down slowly and I am having more energy.

Anyway, back to what you think about when you really face your mortality.

 My first thought was that I don't want to be the cause of anyone being sad. So when my time does come, don't be sad.  Just remember how blessed I've been.

Then I thought that I need to get my house in order and all my messes cleaned up. I don't want someone else to have to clean up my messes.

Then I thought of all that I would miss with those I love.  But I also know that I will still be able to be a part of that even when I am gone.

Then I thought that there are a lot of things I need and want to change about myself before I die.    So I'm glad I have some more time to work on those.

So there are no worries, it was just kind of a wake up call.  I didn't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, and I'm very glad it wasn't necessary.    Now I just need to make good on all the things I was hoping I had more time for.

Life is good.

Here is where we are tonight.

Up in the pressbox of the U of U.  

Timpview in the state tourney tonight. 

 Right now it is Roy 7 Timpview 0.  

We'll see how it ends.

Addendum:  Timpview came back and won 28 to 7.

It must be something about the nop notch stats people.

For a weekday

Relief Society last month, we were asked to donate a service or talent that we would be willing to share with a woman in the ward.  Some of the things donated were to go on a hike with someone to giving a voice lesson.  I didn't know what to donate, but decided to give a cupcake baking session where they would go home with 3 doz cupcakes.  My friend Karen picked that one up, and we had the session this week.

What I signed up for was a hug and a flower from this cute girl.  She and her Mom brought it over last week also.

Both were very "sweet" experiences.

If you have to go to the

dentist, you can't have a more beautiful view than this.

A few of the fun photos from my trip to Oregon