I know it sounds late but late but we are trying during these times to follow counsel. I know that our church has living apostles and prophets. here is something from more than 10 years ago by Presindent Hinckley.
Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.
So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.
We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.
I hope with all my heart that we shall never slip into a depression. I am a child of the Great Depression of the thirties. I finished the university in 1932, when unemployment in this area exceeded 33 percent.
My father was then president of the largest stake in the Church in this valley. It was before our present welfare program was established. He walked the floor worrying about his people. He and his associates established a great wood-chopping project designed to keep the home furnaces and stoves going and the people warm in the winter. They had no money with which to buy coal. Men who had been affluent were among those who chopped wood.
I repeat, I hope we will never again see such a depression. But I am troubled by the huge consumer installment debt which hangs over the people of the nation, including our own people. In March 1997 that debt totaled $1.2 trillion, which represented a 7 percent increase over the previous year.
In December of 1997, 55 to 60 million households in the United States carried credit card balances. These balances averaged more than $7,000 and cost $1,000 per year in interest and fees. Consumer debt as a percentage of disposable income rose from 16.3 percent in 1993 to 19.3 percent in 1996.
Everyone knows that every dollar borrowed carries with it the penalty of paying interest. When money cannot be repaid, then bankruptcy follows. There were 1,350,118 bankruptcies in the United States last year. This represented a 50 percent increase from 1992. In the second quarter of this year, nearly 362,000 persons filed for bankruptcy, a record number for a three-month period.
We are beguiled by seductive advertising. Television carries the enticing invitation to borrow up to 125 percent of the value of one’s home. But no mention is made of interest.
President J. Reuben Clark Jr., in the April 1938 general conference, said from this pulpit: “Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1938, 103).
I recognize that it may be necessary to borrow to get a home, of course. But let us buy a home that we can afford and thus ease the payments which will constantly hang over our heads without mercy or respite for as long as 30 years.
No one knows when emergencies will strike. I am somewhat familiar with the case of a man who was highly successful in his profession. He lived in comfort. He built a large home. Then one day he was suddenly involved in a serious accident. Instantly, without warning, he almost lost his life. He was left a cripple. Destroyed was his earning power. He faced huge medical bills. He had other payments to make. He was helpless before his creditors. One moment he was rich, the next he was broke.
Since the beginnings of the Church, the Lord has spoken on this matter of debt. To Martin Harris through revelation He said: “Pay the debt thou hast contracted with the printer. Release thyself from bondage” (D&C 19:35).
President Heber J. Grant spoke repeatedly on this matter from this pulpit. He said: “If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet” (Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham [1941], 111).
We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church. Self-reliance cannot obtain when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others.
In managing the affairs of the Church, we have tried to set an example. We have, as a matter of policy, stringently followed the practice of setting aside each year a percentage of the income of the Church against a possible day of need.
I am grateful to be able to say that the Church in all its operations, in all its undertakings, in all of its departments, is able to function without borrowed money. If we cannot get along, we will curtail our programs. We will shrink expenditures to fit the income. We will not borrow.
One of the happiest days in the life of President Joseph F. Smith was the day the Church paid off its long-standing indebtedness.
What a wonderful feeling it is to be free of debt, to have a little money against a day of emergency put away where it can be retrieved when necessary.
President Faust would not tell you this himself. Perhaps I can tell it, and he can take it out on me afterward. He had a mortgage on his home drawing 4 percent interest. Many people would have told him he was foolish to pay off that mortgage when it carried so low a rate of interest. But the first opportunity he had to acquire some means, he and his wife determined they would pay off their mortgage. He has been free of debt since that day. That’s why he wears a smile on his face, and that’s why he whistles while he works.
I urge you, brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.
This is a part of the temporal gospel in which we believe. May the Lord bless you, my beloved brethren, to set your houses in order. If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wives and children and peace in your hearts. That’s all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable.
As we work through tough times I hope that we all look to see how richly blessed we have been and will be in the comming years.

I am not sure how well it will work but I put a link to a site I use for Family history. It is in the upper right. Its One great family. I think it nice that they named it after us.
It takes you to the dash board of the site and there are some fun things you can do.
I am still trying to put a link that just goes to pedigree but I haven't had time yet.
let me know if it works for you. It does take a bit of time to fully load.

I have been thinking a lot how things have change. Mostly for the better but not always. I am glad for Ipods and cell phones but I also realize how I miss some things and as hard in my mind eye that I try to recall them they just aren't the same. Some things such as fashion I am glad does change. (watched a TV show and I am glad that shoulder pads have left from fashion and have remained on the football field where they belong).
I told some one the other day that I love my wife and she is my "E" ticket. I quickly realized that they had no Idea what an "E" ticket was. They were for the best ride at Disneyland. I happen to have some of these old booklets that would get you into the rides at Disneyland. It is funny to see how things change.
Adult admission was once $4.50, $4.00 for 12-17 and just $3.50 for those 3-11.
People at the end of the day when they new they weren't returning to the park would give there remaining tickets away. Those from the area collected them for there next visit. It was hard to ever find "e" tickets in these books as they were the more popular rides and attractions.
Here what I remember to be the order or value of tickets.
"A" ride on Main Street vehicles or on the King Arthur carrousel
"B" Main St. Cinema Fanatsyland's Alice in Wonderland ride or Casey Jr. Circus Train or the Swiss Family Tree House ( now Tarzan)
"C" tickets got you on Tomorrowland's Adventure through Inner Space or Autopia, Fantasyland's Dumbo' Flying Elephants, Mad Tea Party, Mr Toad wild ride, Peter Pan's Flight, And Snow White's Adventures(which they told you was Scary) or Frontierland's Shooting Gallery.
"D" was Main St. SF & D RR Trains through Grand Canyon and Primeval world ( Now Big Thunder Mountain) Tomorrowland's Flight to the Moon, Skyway to Tomorrowland, Storybook land canal boats and Frontierland's Sailing Ship Columbia, Mark Twains Steamboat, Tom Sawyer Island rafts which closed at dusk. Mine train thru Nature's Wonderland
"E" ticket got you rides on Tomorrowland's America sings, Monorail to to the Hotel and return,
Submarine Voyage(now Finding Nemo) Fantasyland's It's a Small World, Matterhorn Bobsleds,
Bear Country Jamboree, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise.
These also dollar values as well A & B were worth $.25 C was $.35 D was $.60 and E was $.95. They changed this I think in the Mid 70's were you had to buy full packs tickets.
Many of the rides are gone and good riddance some have evolved and many are new.
So you all know we don't live far from Disney or Knotts. If you are coming and want to drop by let us know if you don't mind the couches or floor. Since we only have one open room at present.
Enjoy the days that you live in as these are the days we are all given. Life happens so enjoy all of it.

I think I might have found where Kyle's pout came from but I might be wrong!

Well It not about Karina any more as the lead in sorry kiddo!

Today it should be all about Karina

Today is Karina's birthday. So it should be her day. We miss her lots and do feel very blessed to have her as one of our beautiful daughters.

To those of you who don't know Karina long, she is a very special person.

Karina has always seemed to make friends easy because she is has been a friend to many. As all children she came with her own unique personality and gifts. As her Dad some of them were more challenging than others.

Karina has always been self aware and has had goals that she has reached for and achieved. She has made me a better person a better dad and now that she is a mother a very very PLEASED father.

Karina please know that we have loved you from the fist time we held you and it is that love that with all the changes and moods and challenges that have kept us close even when the miles got long.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARINA we love you lots.

music with blogs

Does anybody even listen to the songs? I am thinking that even though there are a lot of songs nobody really listens to them. Please let me know if I should leave them.

OK. I said today would be busy and it was. I got up after sleeping in to 8. After a great breakfast I hit the day to do list. Christmas is finally over and I was able to take down the outside icicle lights. This is no small feet as they needed to get down before we were the last to have them up.

I was able to make the several trips up and down the ladder with out any disastrous results. This may have seemed like no great feat but the you don't know me and ladders. It not that I fall off them a lot, it is just that I usually end up doing something not intended. This time I didn't ruin the shingles or mess up any landscape. OK ,there was on nasty branch that had to go as no matter how I positioned the ladder it stuck me in the back. Task one complete.

Then it was down to the church for some membership cleaning of the building. It wasn't bad but somebody designed this building as if they designed mice mazes.

After that task it was off to the car wash. I know many people are fighting cold and snow this time of year but this last week we had temperatures in the 80's & 90's. This just bakes the dirty films on to the car. Oh for a little less heat.

We also went to check out a store Karina told us about. yes it was 50+ miles away but it would be worth that trip. Sure 50 miles on the 5 freeway is a trip in paradise. We did find some items that did make the trip worth while. We took the more scenic road back.

We also found a good frozen Yogurt place and it was very good. Then we check out another furniture store with what was supposed to be good deals as they we going out of business. Well their stuff was terrible so we bought nothing. We also had to go to a wedding reception but that didn't happen.

WE did get a few things done. So to has been a success.

Here is the picture we got for the front room.

Karina we think this looks great...Thanks.