Nature really has some interesting sites that one can learn lessons from. As I was biking along I came across this tree growing on the side of the road. It was beautiful and green from the distance. As I rode closer to it I could see that its root system has been undermined by small borrowing animals, yet it was struggling to live.

The home of these small animals at the foot of this tree , I am sure is a great trial to the tree but it has not given up. In our lives we need to be like this tree and endure our struggles well, even when they seem over whelming.

In 2001 when the skate park in our community was very new, one of the boy scouts in the troop my sons belonged to, choose an Eagle Scout Project of putting in durable medal benches for spectators to sit on. The scouts worked hard. Time, money and materials were donated to this project. The community felt good about what was accomplished. While in high school, my sons enjoyed having this facility available to use. They spent many hours there with skateboards and/or rollerblades. They are grown now with families of their own.

Today while my husband and I were out biking, we decided to ride over to the skate park and have a look down memory lane. What we saw was very disappointing. It a few short years the skate park has become a site not welcoming. The messages are clearly written all over the cement. This is a place created for enjoyment of our youth. What is wrong? Why do some youth work hard to make a better place while other youth deface it?

For out 43 wedding anniversary my husband and I went and had our picture taken to use on our mission application. I ask our seven children to vote on the three pictures we liked best. The overwhelming consensus was not my choice but here is its.

In the evening we went out to eat at Lark Creek Restaurant. It was a gift to Terry when he retired from Del Monte. I had Wild Sockeye Salmon and Terry had Filet Mignon. It was a very fun evening.

Terry sent me this text for our anniversary. "Happy anniversary, forty three years of amazing wonderful joy and experiences together. I am filled with happy memories and great expectation every time I think you accepted my proposal in our youth. I love more deeply than I ever knew was possible." We had an amazing 43 years together and it just gets better.

Here are some pictures of my 2012 K-2 intensive class spring science project. Eleven of our twelve eggs flown from Arizona from my granddaughter hatched. We have usually had from 3 to 8 eggs hatch. You can see the six bantys (they are smaller) and five full size chicks.

I brought three chicks home. Two Sebright bantys and one that I hoped was a hen and Americana so that it might lay colored eggs. It sill appears to possibly be a hen but is probably a cross from the Buff Orrington/Americana. Time will tell.

They are my friends. They love to get out of their cage when I am in the yard working. The Sebight chicks is a good flyers so I have to clip some of the flight feathers on one wing to keep it in the yard.

One of the Sebright chicks drove back to Arizona with my granddaughter. I have enjoyed the other two pets. They will soon be laying eggs not crowing, I hope.

My Gardening Experience

When I was a young mother my husband and I listened to our prophet and we planted a garden. "We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities.” Spencer W. Kimball, ‘Family Preparedness,’ Ensign, May 1976, 124 A garden was work and not always as successful as we would have liked. For example I pulled the weeds more than once in Wisconsin because I used the Wyoming method I learned from my family of pulling up the weeds and laying them between the rows to die. To my amazement in Wisconsin they grew. I have learned over the years that by following the prophet admonition to have a garden there are benefits. Our family learned to enjoy many things made out of zucchini in the summer time. This past year in California my family has enjoyed winter squash most of the winter. We have many fruit trees in our yard which include oranges, lemons and grapefruit most of the year. We enjoy apples in the summer and fall as well as apricots, peaches and pears. We have two types of grape vines. We enjoy watching the birds in the almond tree. What a blessing. We also have a little garden spot for other produce. I have grown children today that are teaching their families about the benefits of a garden. I am grateful that I had the faith to follow the admonition of our prophet many years ago. It has benefited my family today. I know that we as a family received more benefits from our garden that the produce it provided for us. See the quote by Spencer W. Kimball, ‘Welfare Services: The Gospel in Action,’ Ensign, Nov 1977, 78. “I hope that we understand that, while having a garden, for instance, is often useful in reducing food costs and making available delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, it does much more than this. Who can gauge the value of that special chat between daughter and Dad as they weed or water the garden? How do we evaluate the good that comes from the obvious lessons of planting, cultivating, and the eternal law of the harvest? And how do we measure the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany successful canning? Yes, we are laying up resources in store, but perhaps the greater good is contained in the lessons of life we learn as we live providently and extend to our children their pioneer heritage.”