similar genes?

When Clyde came back from visiting the triplets and KC and Emily, he wanted to find his baby pictures. There are not very many. But here is the one he thinks looks a bit like Bennett, both at age one:

Bennett

Clyde

Bennett again

What do you think?

forging on

I just came across this great photo of my dad, taken a few years ago when he was sometimes at his house and occasionally cooking. (Thanks Carrie) He may have been making candied yams for Thanksgiving, I am not sure. But I LOVE that this photo shows his determination even in his wobbly 90+ years. Hanging on the paper towel holder (cardboard roll), standing on a 10 inch stool! And true to life there is Jean in the background ready to catch him if he falls and yet letting him proceed in his determination! I think the Lord is like that - very aware of our precarious steps, hoping we will succeed, and yet ready to help us not fall completely.
Enos James Carlson is about to turn 95 years old on June 2nd. What a great guy. Talk about enduring. He has done it.

It all started with a shovel

It's Memorial Day weekend. We did not get caught in the parking lot of I-15 on Friday. We heard it was awful. We chose to stay in Provo. Saturday was cool and cloudy but no rain for most of the day. This was the day we tackled the HUGE bare spot in the north corner of our front yard. It used to house a plum tree, but the tree fell over a few years ago after it could not get enough sun while being shaded more each year by the neighbor's very large pine tree. I have planted a few things over the years and only a few have survived since the soil is so very hard and pure clay. The Bishops Weed grew too well and took over the space and was very aggressive. It took two years of Roundup and lots of shovel work to hopefully get it out completely. There is one small Hosta and a large mound of Snow on the Mountain that come back faithfully every year.
This was the day to do something. We had purchased a few good looking bushes the week before - not enough, but a start.
I started first by overturning shovelfuls of dirt. There were a LOT of med size rocks in the area by the neighbor. fun. I was not sure I would ever make a dent in the huge area that need to be dug up and composted. After an hour, Clyde joined in the fun of digging in the dirt. Michelle joined us and then Nicole arrived from her hike up to the Y. We resurrected the original plan to build a terraced area under the pine tree which meant the design had to be laid out, staked, and even roped off with decorative ribbon! Then the calculations, the selection of the terrace bricks, and two drivers (CRV and Ciscos jeep) off to purchases the bricks. Michelle and Clyde will have lots of back aches to remind them of all their heavy labors today! 54 bricks total. By the time they arrived, Cisco and Casey also arrived back home after a soccer game. More helpers! Clyde was thrilled to supervise while everyone else lifted bricks and smoothed dirt. Of course Clyde brought out the level, to make sure the bricks were laid evenly.
When we were about done planting the last bush, Nicole said "Uh oh, I think I hit something important." Turns out there was a sprinkler buried in the dirt right in the spot we planned to plant a bush! It seems our lawn has been receding over the years but the sprinkler stayed where it was and got buried with dirt. New plan - make that sprinkler have a tall extension to spray over the bushes - Clyde is not about to move it 14" to the edged of the grass!
With all those helpers we made short work of the terrace shape and got 5 bushes planted as well.
Lots of lifting, shoveling, digging, hauling, smoothing, sweating, and hard hard labor.
Hooray!!
Merry Memorial. Sorry backs.
photos for you:

Looks like it's almost fun, right?

In this picture, I wanted to show the beautiful design of the terrace area, not the faces of the workers. Oops.

And the happy crew is just about done!! Yay!

In a few days we will get a load of dirt, buy some shade plants and bark mulch and maybe there will be one more photo. It makes me so happy to look at this now. Such an improvement.
Thanks everyone!!

Waiting on the Lord

I read this post today on a blog I sometimes follow.
Loved it.
I need to ponder more on this thought and scripture.
I especially loved the quote from Elder Christofferson.

My father - remembered # 4

This is one of my favorites:

Sept. 1993

Bishop Enos J. Carlson became my bishop shortly after my wife, Mary and I moved to Denver in 1951. He had been acting as bishop for sometime and called me to be his ward financial clerk. I was very inexperienced in financial accounting and was determined to do the very best job possible. I felt honored to be trusted in the accounting of Church funds which I felt to be a sacred trust. Each Sunday, in the Bishop’s office, the contribution envelopes were opened by a member of the bishopric and verified.

The financial clerk would then credit the contributor’s account properly, count the funds and prepare them for deposit by a bishopric member. Each Sunday the books were balanced and each month a financial report was prepared, copies of which were sent to the Stake and Church Headquarters. Several times a year the Stake would send in an Auditor. The Auditor and the financial clerk would sit down together and check the books to verify that all was balanced and correct. On the very first audit, the auditor, filling out his balance sheet, said, “You are $3.82 short.”

I was devastated! My honesty and integrity were being questioned! I looked over a Bishop Carlson, sitting behind his desk, fully expecting that he would have to call the police or excommunicate me. I thought, “This is the end!”

Bishop Carlson, barely looking up said, “Just go over it again. You will find it.” For me, the heavens opened. The sun was shining. From that moment on, Bishop Carlson has been my HERO. I doubt that anyone will ever know how important his trust and faith were to me at that time. The Auditor subsequently found the error. Nothing was missing. That incident was a valuable lesson to me. Thank you, Bishop Carlson, for being a great Bishop and a great man. Thank you, we love you and Sister Carlson,

Keith & Mary Harris

My father - remembered # 3

9-1993 Jim & Jennie are so dear to us all, an example of faith in the gospel “over the long haul.” I {Marj} especially liked Jim’s encouragement of me in my Russian studies. It got to where I could read & write it passably, & he spoke & understood it more than passably. So-I guess in this case 2 Americans=1good Russian! I’ve enjoyed his little impromptu clarinet solos for me. I enjoyed in years past Jennie’s Spiritual Living lesson in Relief Society. Her sincerity led me to believe she has lived the points she taught us. And her candy! Well, we won’t even go into that. I put on inches just thinking of that lovely stuff.

Love,

Marj Crawell

My Father remembered # 2

In a few days I will be visiting my father for his 95th birthday. Here is another comment from my parent's 50th wedding anniversary book:

1993 The importance of doing Temple work for our ancestors was re-affirmed recently while Jim was running a Temple Ready disk at the Aurora Family History Center. A power failure occurred which turned off all the computers in the center except the one Jim had been running for almost 2 hours, he was able to complete his submission disk. All power failures experienced since then have caused all of the computers to fail. Congratulations Jim & Jennie. Keep up on all the things you do.

Warm Regards,

Keith & Kris Richins