Vote!

Like the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I am not going to tell you who to vote for. I am going to tell you, as your mother, that you should vote.

The First Presidenc sent out a letter to be read to all of us. The letter was dated September 11, 2008.

"As citizens we have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. Participation in the political process affects our communities and nation today and in the future.

"Latter-day Saints as citizens are to seek out and then uphold leaders who will act with integrity and are wise, good, and honest. Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties.

"Therefore, in this election year, we urge you to register to vote, to study the issues and candidates carefully and prayerfully, and then to vote for and actively support those you believe will most nearly carry out your ideas of good government.

"The Church affirms its neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates. The Church also affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues.

"Sincerely yours,

"Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyring, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The First Presidency"

You all know that I am conservative but, as in the past, that has not stopped any of you from voting for the person you most want to see elected. Grandma Smith fought for women to have the vote and she always took her right seriously. She would tell her father, when he would give her voting advice, that it was her business. "It is nobody's business, but mine, how I vote when I go into the booth."

I agree!

It's a guy thing!

They had a motorcycle rally in Camdenton while we were there. Note the three guys circling the motorcycle? Yep, it is a guy thing.

We Camped in Rain!

It was Labor Day weekend. What did you think would happen? Of course it would rain. Especially since we went to Farron Reservoir. Everyone had a great time, however, because we had fun before the rain started. Of course, we had fun in the trailer after the rain started. The lake is a beautiful place even in the rain. The photos above show the view as we left on Monday. When we got down to the valley, and Nephi, it had not rained at all. 

The annual family camp had one tragedy--I lost the diamond out of my wedding ring. Unfortunately, I didn't miss it until suppertime. Then I washed my hands and noticed that it was missing. We looked and looked. Kimberly had the idea to look for it again after dark with flashlights. She said she thought that it had been missing that morning when we went down to Mayfield to church. So we were all hoping that it would shine when the light shown on the diamond. However, factoring in the rain, which had started falling in earnest, it was an impossible task. Everything glistened--even rocks. Jim, Shawn, LHT and a couple of the grandchildren devoted lots of time trying to help find it. Brigitta reminded us to pray but I was not supposed to find it, I assume. Jim did find someone else's small diamond that would fit on the side of a ring. Shawn put a large lamp inside his car, which we had driven to church, looking for the diamond and melted a bit of the door on the glove box. 

I melted Kim's garment bottoms in the oven. Yes, it is true. She had not brought enough pairs for the kinds of problems we had. So I hand-washed a pair and put them in the oven on low. Low was too high. Fortunately, I had a pair that I then washed out and towel dried to damp. Which is what I should have done with hers. 

Toren and Dane had a tussel in their new trailer and broke a spot. Shawn will have it fixed in no time once we gets a minute at home.

However, after talking about the negative things, it is also true that we had a lot of fun together. Fishing was great and we also had fun with Jim's 4-wheeler. It went up and down the canyon a bunch of times. Next year, however, we need to keep track of who actually got one turn and who did not.