Grandma Ipson!

Last night Tom's grandma passed away! She went so quickly and peacefully! Grandpa was able to come take her by the hand! She will be truly missed! She was Tom's grandma, but I felt her love for me too and I always truly appreciated that! The thing that I loved the most, was no matter what things she forgot with the dementia problems she had, she always knew me and knew my name even though I haven't been in the family for long! Grandma was such a giving, sweet, woman with the most amazing sense of humor! I loved to hear her stories, especially about how she met grandpa! When I first met her, I didn't know what to call her, and Rula just didn't seem right or respectful but I just couldn't think of what else to call her. Grandma just kinda fit! It was never wierd or awkward. My parents even called her grandma! I think the biggest reason for this was because she was the picture perfect grandma. She loved everyone and always wants to make sure everyone is doing okay. She would always help prepare what she could for our meals. I love my grandma's and think they are amazing women and I put her right there with them! She is amazing! I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and know that I will be able to see her again and meet grandpa! She has been without him for over 26 years! That breaks my heart to think about! I can't imagine being without Tom for that long! I can imagine what a sweet reunion it was for them! I am so grateful to be sealed to her through my amazing husband! Families Can Be Together Forever! Thank you Grandma for all you have given me in the short time I've known you! I love you!

This is Grandma last Mother's Day in her home in Junction, UT.

I just have to add a little comment about the best mother-in-law EVER! This woman has shown me so much about selfless love and Christlike charity in all she does! She is such a strong person and loves people so much and loves helping people so much! I don't know how I got so lucky to marry into such an AMAZING family! The reason that I had to add my appreciation to her in my post is because she took care of Grandma for many years, since it wasn't safe for her to stay in her home alone! She made Grandma part of the family and served her with so much love!

Our Time With The Laubs

So, sorry it's taken me so long to write this! Last weekend we went to Travis and Bree's to visit and take the Bronco down. We were gonna sell the Bronco when we bought the new truck, but there are some things wrong with it and we didn't know if it would sell. We called the Junk Yard and they said they would only give us $125 for it! it's worth more than that to us so we decided to keep it! Tom's cousin Travis and his wife life in Southern Utah just off the Panguitch exit on a farm. Tom called and asked if we could keep it there if we payed them a little "rent". They told us we could keep it there "rent free". Bree is gonna use it as her farm vehicle so she can go help Travis! We are really excited that we get to keep it and that it will still be running and working. Plus a bonus to all of this, we got to hang out with two of our favorite people in the world. We love hanging out with Travis and Bree. We all get along so well! In about Nephi I realized that we had forgotten our camera. Luckily, Bree let us take pics on her camera then sent them to us! Thanks Bree! Well, Friday night we went out Bunny Hunting. Tristan came out and hung out that night and we had a great time! That's one of our favorite pasttimes! Bree and I got to sit in the car and just chat and Travis drove and Tom and Tristan were standing in the back of the truck shooting at all the little bunnies that they could find. Now in case you think this is cruel, it's really not! The only thing that they shoot is Jack Rabbits. These are rabbits that are infested with Maggots and very diseased! They eat the crop and spread disease around and so when we shoot them, we don't allow the disease to spread and we save the Laub's crop! So we all went to bed that night and both Travis and Bree had to work the next morning! Tom got to go help Travis fix a tractor and was loving every second of it! Tom loves working on the farm. It's relaxing to him in a way. He feels like good hard farm work is the purest kind of work you can do and it's so good for you! He loves helping his cousin out take a little bit of the load off him whenever he can. Tom and I got to go for a walk that morning and breathe that country air! It was AWESOME and so invigorating! We also took the Bronco out for it's first real test against the sagebrush! We could never take it out brush busting before because it was an important part of our transportation and if it broke down we would be in a real pickle! So, we gave it a run for it's money and it did great! We were having a blast! We also got to play with Tom's new toy. A Springfield Armory .45 ACP Pistol. I usually don't like big guns but this gun was very smooth shooting, and although it's loud it doesn't kick too bad! Then Tom and I went to town (Cedar City) to do some errands. We love being there! We want to move there someday! Someday meaning right now! If there were jobs there we would be moving this weekend! Then we went back to Buckhorn (The Laub's farm) and played the Wii, which we have never played! It was a lot of fun and we got some pretty funny pics! That night we took Travis and Bree to the Ninja. It's a Japanese Steakhouse in Cedar City! It was so yummy and so much fun! The only one that I have been to that is better than that was Beni Hana in Las Vegas! The show was great, watching our Chef cook! Then we went back to Buckhorn and watched a movie! We went to church the next morning and I got to see my great aunt and uncle who just happen to be in Travis and Bree's ward. That was a fun surprise! We hung out and left late that afternoon! Tom and Travis got to play Lego's together and had a good time! We didn't want to come home! We can't wait to get down there to visit again! Here's some of the pics of our Wii time!

Travis and Tom Bowling!

Bree was pretty excited she got such a clear pic of the TV! This is Tom's Mii character "Duck"!

Travis, Tom and DJ

Bree and I watchin our men!
Our Boys playing baseball!

Bree and I bowling!

Now we're golfing!

We had so much fun! Thanks for the good time! Can't wait to come down again!

One of those days!

Today I am having one of those days. I am sad and I don't know why. I feel like I am not doing things right. I don't feel like a very great housekeeper, cook, money handler or wife to tell you the truth! None of this is because of anything Tom has said. Actually just the opposite! He is constantly supporting me and trying to lift me up, but I am so hard on myself! Sometimes I feel so lazy! I don't try to be but I always feel so tired! I have talked to the doctor about this and she said I need to work on getting more sleep. We only get maybe 6 to 6 1/2 hours a night and I realize that's not enough so I am trying to do better. I had the day off today and I have felt so lazy. I slept in then got up and started the laundry and have cleaned up a bit, but I just don't feel like it's enough. I know that in a couple of hours this will all blow over until the next time I decide to be hard on myself, but I just feel like crap and like I am not doing enough. I wonder if I will even make a good mom when the time comes. That thought alone scares me to death! If I can't even take care of myself and my husband how can I take care of someone who depends on me for everything? Am I the only one who ever feels like this?

This is Appalling! Let's do something about it!

Today I received an email that hit a few nerves. I know I sent it as an email to some of you but for those of you I don't have an email for I will share this through this post. On HBO on Sunday March 15 they will be showing a Mock Temple ceremony on the show Big Love. This show is about polygamy. Anyways this show will be showing the Celestial Room, and a few other rooms that are very sacred to those of us who have been sealed in the temple or who do endowments. There are a few websites that I want you all to look up. This is serious. If you get the TV Guide you will find and very sacred picture of a woman in her temple clothing. HBO hired a excommunicated member of the church to help with the rooms, clothing and even the convenants we make in the temple. Please spead the word and stand up for what you believe. There is a picture that is on the TV Guide magazine that I do not think needs to be passed around, but it is a woman in her sacred temple clothing. This is out for everyone to see!

Please consider writing to HBO. I just did.

This is pretty appalling: On Sunday March 15th, the HBO how Big Love is showing an episode containing an excommunication as well as temple ceremonies. They hired an ex-member to help create the ceremony, rooms, and clothing. HBO is owned by Time Warner. Send your emails, snail mails, phone calls, to both companies to show HBO that we won't stand for the use of things we consider sacred on their show Big Love, which is using a replica of an endowment room and celestial room to show what happens in the ceremonies there! Just keep it within Church standards please!

HBO is owned by Time Warner:
Time Warner Inc.
One Time Warner Center
New York, NY10019-8016212.484.8000
http://www.hbo.com/apps/submitinfo/contactus/submit.do?title=GeneralInformation&questiontype=generalInformation&questiontype=general

This link allows you to respond and specifically shows "Big Love" as the subject instead of "General Information".http://www.hbo.com/apps/submitinfo/contactus/submit.do?title=Big%20Love&questiontype=biglove

If you would like to protest, I recommend complaining to both HBO and the FCC:

Here are two things your want to RESPECTFULLY say in your own words to HBO:

-I believe it is wrong for HBO to publicly air portions of sacred ceremonies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without permission from the church and based on information given you by someone who has left the church and may harbor bad feelings toward the church and wish to do it harm.

AND THE BIG ONE THAT WILL ALWAYS GET THEIR ATTENTION:- If you air such an episode, I will cancel my subscription to all HBO channels (if you have them), and will not purchase HBO DVDs or any other HBO entertainment products or packages ever again. Furthermore, I will encourage my friends and associates to do likewise.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO:The FCC is the government agency that regulates all broadcast and cable television. File a complaint expressing your shock and dismay at HBO treating the sacred ceremonies of any religion with such mockery and disregard, and that it is shoddy work hiring excommunicated members/enemies of church and giving them a public pulpit to hurt the church.

To File a complaint with the FCC go to:http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

-Choose "Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues" and then click "NEXT."

-Choose "Broadcast programs showing obscene, profane, and/or indecent material" then click "NEXT."

- Click on "ONLINE FORM" Fill out the form with your complaint and submit.

PLEASE STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE!!!!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has also commented on this very beautifully and respectfully! Please read!

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma

Patience!

I have been thinking a lot about that word lately and what it means, not only in general, but to me in my life specifically! I definitely know that it is one thing that I don't have very much of and the Lord has been trying to teach me my whole life! Many times when I have had blessings they have told me to be patient! What I want and desire will eventually happen, but I need to learn patience! I have a lot going on in my life right now that I should be worried about, but I am not! I just have this simple faith and peace and reassurance that everything will work out and it will be great! I feel truly blessed! Although I can't see what's going to happen, I know something is going to happen that will be good for me and my family! It seems, however, that if I am a little unsure about something, or if I am wanting, desiring, or craving something so bad my heart hurts, it doesn't come quite as quickly as I thought it would. It is these times when I am making the most important decisions in my life that I get impatient! I think the Lord is asking me to just rely on Him! Submit my will to His. I don't know why I can't learn to do that, because I know that the results will be great, but it's so hard for me! Every time that I am patient, the Lord always comes through for me! I don't want to just force myself though, I want to be cheerfully patient! I have to keep reminding myself that I have already had multiple reassurances that I am blessed, and the Lord will continue to bless me, and the things I am praying for will happen, just not yet! I have to keep reminding myself multiple times a day that He knows all! He will not let anything happen in my life that I can't handle, but I need to let Him take the reins! In order for me to be truly happy, I need to do it His way! Sometimes I have a hard time understanding that if it is such a righteous desire, why is it so hard to make it come to pass. I have to tell myself that just because it's not happening, doesn't mean I am doing something wrong, or that the Lord is upset with me, or that it is not a righteous desire! I have felt His love so strong for me, especially lately, and I know that these feelings and impressions I am having are real and coming from Him. I just need to do it on His time and I will be more happy and full of joy than I can even imagine at this point in my life! I know I would not enjoy the bliss without the trial first! This is a shortcoming I have that I hope my husband, family, friends, and more importantly the Lord knows I am constantly battling with, but I am trying to overcome! I found a scripture tonight in Mosiah 24:15 that has really touched my heart. It says, "...the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

I know this is long and I am sorry, but I mostly wrote it for myself! As kind of a journal, if you will! I need to be able to come back and remember what I am feeling right now when I am having another time because it is bound to happen, but I am really trying!

Cute Little Keegin John Bryant

My cousin and her husband had their baby Tuesday morning! He is so cute! It didn't even come close to helping with the baby hunger! It was a lot of fun cause I got to go out Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to visit and help where I could! I was so grateful Tiff let me help her out! She had a C-Section and was pretty sore! She was doing great yesterday though and had gotten up quite a bit! Keegin is eating really well, and both mom and baby are learning a lot! She gets to go home from the hospital on Saturday and I bet their other little boy is ready for them to come home, although he has probably loved being with Nana and Papa! Here is cute little Keegin! Yup, can't wait till it's my turn!How can you look at that cute face and all that hair and not just melt!

Joe and Libby's Wedding and My Mom's Birthday!

So it's been a while and so much has happened! A couple of weeks ago we took Tom's family with us to stay at my parents house because Tom's cousin was being sealed in the Las Vegas Temple! It was so much fun! The ceremony was beautiful! The couple looked so happy!

Then we got to go to lunch with my parents! It was my mom's birthday! We went to a really yummy mexican resaurant and when I asked the hostest what they did for people's birthdays and they said that they gave the person a churro and sang to them and if the were over 21 they gave them a shot of tequilla. Well, we just took the churro and singing! It was funny, they put sombrarro's on both of my parents! It was so much fun to just be with them! That night we went to the reception and the next morning we went to church with my parents before going home! As the closing prayer ended my mom annd I were both bawling and just gave each other a hug! I didn't want to leave! It was a nice ride back to SLC, but Tom and I were ready to be home when we got here! It was a great trip and we were so grateful to be able to go down!