Fire Pit

Walt's friend Jon gave him a big sheet of currugated metal to make a fire pit. Walt bought a pipe, cut it in half, screwed it onto the ends of the metal for support, put the whole thing on 4 cinder blocks, and Wahlah (sp?)! We have a portable fire pit (well, more of a fire platform). On Friday we put it on our back patio, built a fire on it, and watched a movie on our laptop in front of the fire. Now that's a hot date. :)

I'm trying to think of an alternative to candy to give out at Halloween this year. Has anyone tried giving out anything else or heard of other good ideas? I've thought about fun pencils, but that's all that has come to mind so far.

We Have Vacancy & 43 Things To Do On Sunday

My cousin Rachel and her husband Buddy just moved into their new apartment at Wymount by BYU. They'd been living with us for several weeks until their contract opened up. So once again, the Johnson Hotel has vacancy. Let us know if you want to come stay with us! :)

Walt was out of town all week, so I had a girls night with Sarah, my sister-in-law where we made fajitas and played Scrabble. Then I had a girls night with Sarah and my cousin Katie at Katie's apartment where we made pizza and watched Penelope. Fun! Walt came back late Friday, and boy was I glad to see him!

Thanks to all of you who contributed ideas about Sabbath activities. I've got quite a list now of activities for adults (and some for kids) that help keep the day holy. So in case anyone else wants ideas, here it is:

Read scriptures
Read church magazines
Prepare lessons (church, FHE, VT/HT)
Prepare talks
Listen to conference CDs
Watch church videos
Play appropriate songs on piano, other instruments
Sing church songs
Have gospel discussions
Take walks with family
Visit the sick
Do extraction work
Work on Personal Progress/Duty to God
Visiting/Home Teaching
Have couples over for dinner, singing, games
Write in Journal
Call family, friends
Write letters to missionaries, family
Attend block of church meetings
Attend other church meetings – presidency meetings, BYC, etc.
Attend Firesides
Learn to lead hymns
Read Sunday School/Priesthood/RS lesson readings
Family History Research
Take a drive up the canyon
Walk on the temple grounds
Fast
Pay tithing, fast offering
Update blog
Discuss what you learned in church
Listen to Music and the Spoken Word
Watch re-broadcasts of devotionals, etc. on KBYU
Label, organize family pictures
Have Companionship Inventory
Hold a Family Council
Write Thank You notes
Memorize scriptures, hymns, poems
Stay a little dressed up
Listen to hymns, classical music
Make a Treat and Take it to Someone
Take a nap
Organize church files – quotes, old talks, notes, etc.
Prepare future FHE materials/lessons

No Go

So we found out that our latest round of In Vitro did not work out. Sigh. We're not sure where we'll go from here. Still thinking about it. It was very disappointing, but I know things will work out somehow. I've got to just trust God on this one. Beth (my sister) told me that my nieces, Jocelyn-10 and Jessica-8, fasted for the first time a couple weeks ago, and they wanted to fast for us. That was such a sweet sacrifice that meant so much to us. We've really appreciated the support from all of you. It has been such a blessing.

Go Cougs!

Wow! We attended the BYU-UCLA football games yesterday, and WOW is the only word for it. UCLA couldn't seem to do anything right. It was uncanny. The final score was BYU - 59, UCLA -0. I felt sorry for the ROTC because every time there is a touchdown or field goal, they do as many pushups as we have points. So if I did the math right, they ended up doing 255 pushups. I can barely do 10!

Our tomatoes are coming on strong, and I'm not sure what to do with them all. If anyone has a good salsa or spaghetti sauce or tomato soup recipe, I'd love to collect some. Sometime I'll learn to can tomatoes as well, but I'm not quite comfortable trying that on my own yet.

Princess Day and Sunday Activities

We just returned from Boise again, where two blastocysts were transferred (implanted) into me. Blastocysts are more developed embryos with more cells. I am to be on bed rest for the next two days to give them a good chance to attach, so Walt has been so attentive and sweet, not letting me do hardly anything. He's cooking breakfast right now. I am allowed to sit on the couch or at the table, and I can shower (whew!). They call these two days of bed rest my "Princess Days". Luckily I only have to endure two days of it, but already I can tell that if this is what princesses do (or don't do), I want no part in it! :) There is a 60% chance that one of the blastocycsts will attach and result in a pregnancy, so we're praying hard.

So I'm compiling a list for my personal benefit of Sabbath appropriate activities that help keep a spirit of worship and reverence on Sunday. I've got most of the traditional things like write letters, write in your journal, study scriptures, etc. But I'd love more ideas. If anyone has ideas of activities they participate in on Sunday that help keep it a holy day, please let me know. I'm looking for ideas for adults, not necessarily for kids. I'll post the list in a week or so in case anyone else wants fresh ideas.

Equation for Love

In a recent email exchange between Walt and me, Walt wrote the following. I thought it was so cute and so Walt, I had to share it:

Well here is my love for you,

My love = love x infinity

Where love is the condition in which Walt’s heart is full or touched for Julie and infinity is 1/0. My love represents the total sum of love Walt feels for Julie. From this we can derive the following equation,

Julie = cute ^ (Infinity)

Where Julie is Walt’s wife. Cute is term of affection or endearment. Infinity is 1/0, or an non-measureable amount. This thesis is given as a technical guide for the geek to understand Walt’s love for Julie.

Walt