God bless America,God Bless the AZ Cardinals and God bless wonderful friends!

January 20, 2009 - Washington D.C.

Today was the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of Americac. Our country is the greatest! Whether you voted for President Obama or not, it is amazing that our country's presidential transition is so smooth and peaceful! I personally did not vote for Obama. I have strong reservations as to what he will do as president and also be ABLE to do. He sounded truly inspirational today. Words. Powerful words! But, unfortunately, in many years of life, I have come to have little faith in polititian's words. They are worth about as much as a penny. Although, even pennies are worth a little bit. I don't think I would pick up off the ground, words spoken from most polititians.
I truly hope I am wrong this time. It will be in the actions that will count. So, on this celebratory day, and one so many in this country are praising as one of the greatest, again, I hope I am wrong, and that our 44th president will be trustworthy, as to what he has, and will say to carry out. IF it benefits the country. Some of the things he has said he will do, I, of course, do not agree with and hope he really won't, or can't. But, in respect for the man and his office, I wish him the best, and will pray for him and our country. It is the greatest country on earth, still, and I have hope it will stay that way.

YOu may not agree with me, but I always liked Pres. Bush!





GO ARIZONA CARDINALS!! SUPER BOWL-TAKE IT ALL THE WAY!

Pretty Patty!

shiningly lovely Shannon

Stunning Susan and tantalizingly sexy Tricia!

The neatest thing happened to me on Sunday.!

Yes, the cardinals won their conference championship. BUT, that is not the great-EST thing that occurred for me! How could anything be better than that?
Well, let me explain.
Sam and I were sitting downstairs watching the game. There was about 2 minutes left in the game. If any of you were watching, you KNOW how exciting and tense of a time that was for the cards! And those who were cheering for them!! So out of the blue, the doorbell rings!

Sam and I looked at each other, and I said something to the effect of, "who the heck could THAT be???" (note there was a bit of irritation in my voice!). So I let Sam get up and go upstairs to answer it. (He did pause it so he wouldn't miss out on any of it!). So I'm sitting there wondering who it is, and I hear a voice that I think sounds pretty darn like my good buddy, Susan Gratil. My initial reaction is, "what the heck? What is Susan doing here in the middle of the big game? She is usually a big die hard sports fan. Much more than I ever have been!!

Then I hear a couple of other voices. Taylor comes down and says he thinks it is Tricia Brown, and Patty Cox. Now each one of these gals are my very close friends, at least I think so, but they don't necessarily run around together too often, that I know of. At least not all three of them at the same time!

So my curiosity is peaked! Enough to get me out of that comfy couch and to go upstairs to see for myself???
No sirree!!! So I sit there trying to figure it out by voices!
Finally, when they are about to the stairs, I figure I"d better get off my duff and go talk to them. EVEN if the cards game IS in the last 1 1/2 minutes or so!!

Well, you guessed it. There all three of them were. And Patty had a phone in her hand, speaker phone on, and our dear friend Shannon Ostler, who lives in St. George now, speaking on the other end!! (Rebecca Crozier was in on the whole thing but was out of town at that time! Sorry, I couldn't find a pic of her anywhere!!) They didn't leave me in suspense for long, and revealed their intended purpose.

A get together/par-tay in honor of me--to present me with a beautiful painting by Del Parson! It was to show their love for me and their sweet thoughtfulness in honor, really, of my little grandson, Miles. As you can see in the picture, it is of Jesus Christ holding a little baby. He even looks like a boy baby. It is a very powerful painting, I think, and one that I had never seen before. I will always treasure it. But more importantly, I will always treasure these 5 ladies who have been such good friends for an awful long time and who knew that a simple, yet profound painting would move me beyond tears.

Thank you ladies. You truly are my friends and my sisters!!

I love you guys!

PS. They were very happy to go downstairs and watch the last minute or so of the game, and were just as excited as I was to see our dear ole AZ cardinals win!! We laughed, we cried, we screamed!!

It was a grand ole time!!!