What My Momma Gave Me!

Thanks to a good friend of my parents (Yep, Gayle thats you!!) who has a computer, they now have a way to read and keep up with my blog. My mom has gone crazy over this, since this is a way to see what we are up to, so far away. So I thought, since this is my Mom's new favorite thing, I should do a blog on her just in time for Mother's Day. I thought about things I wanted to say, and pictures I wanted to show. There was a million things to say, and a million pictures to show. So I narrowed it down to this...

Things my Mom gave to me...

She gave me life and love.



She surrounded me with people who love me.
(Great-Grandma Wallace, Grandma Lundberg, Grandpa Lundberg)

(My God-Parents, Uncle Bill and Auntie Linda)



(Aunts and Uncles everywhere, including adopted ones)

(Four generations: me, my mom, grandma, and great-grandma)

Mom gave me a love for animals at a young age.


She taught me how to have fun, and be silly (and my cousin Christina too).



Was a second mom to others.
(Me, Shana, and Melissa going to their 1995 Junior Prom)

And trusted us with things that were valuable to her (like her 1989 Volvo, for a night on the town!).
(We won't tell you how many guys we picked up that night... just kidding mom!)

Helped us through new beginnings.
(This was the first meal, at our new place, for our one year wedding anniversary)

Taught me to never stop learning.


Taught me to appreciate M*A*S*H, and I Love Lucy!


How to be stylish. Before the mom jeans and kitty sweat shirts, there was style ...who knew!




Now I will move on to my Mom's motivating advise and thoughts. I call them Mom-isims!

1. Smile, it increases your face value.

2. Smile while your on the phone, it comes though on the other end.
3. This one she took from the movie Steal Magnolias "The difference between us and the animal kingdom, is our ability to accessorize."

4. (And this one is my fav) You'll find love when you least expect it!

5. Honesty is the best policy.
(By the way this is one of my fav pics)

6. Always have a grocery list to shop with, and a menu for the week.



A couple of my Mom's favorite quotes from me....

1. I want to keesss you on your yips


2.Mom~"Hold on to your balloon Dayna, or it will fly away." Dayna~"That's OK mommy, Jesus will catch it!"


Everything Mom

How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor
To me, when I was a kid.
How did you do it all, Mom,
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.
I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I'd call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.


A Mother loves right from the start.
She holds her baby close to her heart.
The bond that grows will never falter.
Her love is so strong it will never alter.
A Mother gives never ending Love.
She never feels that she has given enough.
For you she will always do her best.
Constantly working, there's no time to rest.
A Mother is there when things go wrong.
A hug and a kiss to help us along.
Always there when we need her near.
Gently wipes our eyes when we shed a tear.
So on this day shower your Mother with Love.
Gifts and presents are nice but that is not enough.
Give your Mother a day to have some peace of mind.
Be gentle, be good, be helpful, be kind.
Happy Mothers Day.

One writer summed up our love for our mothers when he declared, “God could not be everywhere, and so He gave us mothers.” The influence of your mother will bless you throughout life.

~Mom, I hoped that you have enjoyed this blog dedicated to you today. This is just the tip of the ice berg of how much I love you, listen to you, respect you, and cherish you. Know that I love that your my mom and my friend.

Love,
Dayna, Brint, Misty & Timber

Men at Work!

So the other day Brint started up the lawn mower for the first time this year. He did a couple of swipes back and forth, and realized something wasn't right. It looked like the lawn had the mange, some parts were high, and some parts were almost down to the ground. Well, the belt had broke. So he got out his tools and went to work. By the time he was done, and a couple of store visits later, it was getting to late to mow. So Saturday he finally started her up. Things were going well, and I went back to folding clothes in our room.

An hour later (it take 1 1/2 hrs to mow our lawn), I noticed that I didn't hear the mower. I thought, "Oh no, something is wrong again." So I look out our upstairs window and saw this...

If you click on the pic you can see that there are some parts that are still tall, and the rest is cut very nicely. Now, Brint and I are soul mates, and have everything in common ....except when it come to cleaning and mowing the lawn. When I mow it's in straight lines up and down, or side to side.

Saturday I discovered he does the opposite, and his little next door buddy does the same. When they started up their engines, a few minutes later I looked out the window and saw kamikaze-Indy-style-go-cart racing. They were going back and forth, big and little circles, figure eights, and free-style formations. I just put my hand to my forehead, shook my head, and laughed. I wish I got that on video!

Some cool items!

So here are some random pics of items that I have unpacked from last week....

Now we have some tapestries (that reminds me of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he-he), I love it!! I wish I knew the story behind this. I know that my Uncle Bill and Walter have been to China, but they also lived in San Francisco that has a LOT of Chinese shops, sooo....



This is a pretty cool picture that will hang in Brint's library. The whole frame is an inlay of little tiny stones. The tile in the center is hand painted. This was obviously from one of his trips to the middle-east. I don't know which trip, or place it's from, but he's been to Egypt many times, and has been on boat trips down the Nile. *Click on the second pic to see it close up*


Had to show my little helper. She's a hard worker, inspects ALL the boxes inside and out, and tries to get into every pic I try to take.

Isn't she cute!!

Next I just about fell over, I was so excited. Let me paint a picture for you ...Picture it Sicily 1980... just kidding. That was from Golden Girls, do you know who always used that line in the show?? Getting off track again! One of the memories I have of my grandma cooking, before she had Alzheimer's, in her kitchen in Santa Rosa, was her orange/red Le Creuset French oven (or dutch oven) that I love. It looked something like this...

I remember always seeing that on her stove top, and my grandpa would use it a lot too when he lived with us years later. I wish I had that amazing piece. I have always wanted to by some Le Creuset pieces, but they were pricy and I can't choose a color. Anyway, I opened a box of kitchen items, and I found this...


I know it's silly, but it made me jump up and down with excitement. I even text Brint at work, and he was excited too. Now I have to find ways to use it. Yippeeeeee!!

Next, I LOVE these dragonfly dishes. I love the design, and the deep green. They are new pieces from World Market, but they look old fashion. Love it!!


Then, I found a couple of more larger pieces of my Great-grandma's China. The first piece is a serving platter.

The second piece is a soup terrine. Sooo pretty!


Next is one of Brint's favorite items. It's a collection of four plates that has Independence Hall on them, plus they are pretty blue and white. Brint want's to hang at least one of the dishes in his library. Probably next to his painting of Thomas Jefferson.


I think that's enough for today, as you know there is so much more to come. Thanks for reading, and hope that you enjoyed the pieces too!! Next, something Holy....

My heart goes pitter-pat!

So last weekend President Obama and his beautiful wife, Michelle, vacationed in my neck of the woods. No that wasn't the part that made my heart go pitter-pat. They went to 12 Bones and had yummy BBQ, hiked on the Blue Ridge Parkway, he golfed, they played tennis, had dinner at The Corner Kitchen in Biltmore Village, stayed in the Grove Park Inn, and met with Billy Graham. It was pretty neat having him here. The town was all a buzz. Although I never saw him, there was evidence of him everywhere. No, that did make the heart go pitter-pat either. There were HUGE CNN satellite trucks, reporters hopping in and out of tour busses, fighter jets flying back and forth ALL weekend (ok, that did make my heart go a little pitter-pat), plus a LARGE surveillance jet way up high (smile your on camera), and sirens blaring back and forth in downtown (for his motorcade).

I had told my coworkers that I wish I could have taken Friday off, just to see Air Force One fly in. You know me and planes! I've see Air Force One once in California, when Pres. Bush flew in. I saw the underbelly fly over my house. So being a good girl, I didn't call in ( I was very tempted though), but my friend did have the day off. She was able to go to the airport after he had landed, got pics of the plane, and the best part, pics of the flight crew. Super cool... here are the pics!




This is what made my heart go pitter-pat. Oh, plus these pics from another friend, Tipton, who has a friend that works at the airport. He got these AMAZING pics of Marine One. I would give anything to see that big bird.


Anyway, when I saw the pic of the flight crew ...THAT made my heart go pitter-pat. Besides the obvious that they are some good lookin' all American Air Force guys, but I think they are the luckiest people ever. How amazing would it be to fly THE President of the United States of America all over the world, in one of the safest and kick ...uhh... butt plane ever! When I look at the pic of them I just think of all the possibilities and opportunities they've had. I would, if possible, do that job for free!

The Little China That Could!

Ahhh!! Today I am a happy girl. I FINALLY opened the box of china that belonged to my great-grandma, Lucy Pereria Wallace. She is my Portuguese side of my family. She was born and raised in Hawaii, and her family worked in the sugar cain fields. Here is one of many pictures of her that I love. I didn't realize how much I looked like her till I saw this picture of her when she was a young woman. What do you think??

Wish I had her dress!

Any-whoo, back to the blog. Here are her dishes. They are Fukagawa (wow, be careful saying that one quickly) China, from the Arita province of Japan. I read that they actually get the clay from that town. Here are the pics, click on them to get a closer look. I think they explain themselves.

Should we be paying attention?

Ok, so there has been earthquakes, a bunch of them. A bunch of them in places that normally never have them. Ok, that got my attention and I found it fascinating. Now this volcano eruption in Iceland, wait isn't that a contradiction?? Fire and ice? They do make for some amazing photo's.


Pretty amazing right? Uhhhh ....untill I saw this....

Go ahead, click on the pic above. Look at it closer, I dare ya. That's right it's a lightning storm coming from a volcano cloud. From a volcano that has not erupted in "THOUSANDS OF YEARS". Got that right off the NatGeo web site. Uhhh, should we be paying attention people?? Doesn't this pic look a little biblical to you?? It does to me, snap goes my eyelids right open. How's that song go ..."Suddenly I see"!

I'm not saying we are going down tomorrow, but maybe this is what it means in the Bible when it says "Prepare ye, Prepare ye!".
The Lord said "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear". "Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh". This made me think of the talk given by Dahlin H. Oaks of the twelve apostles. Here is my favorite excerpt from that...

"We can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us. A parable that contains an important and challenging teaching on this subject is the parable of the ten virgins. Of this parable, the Lord said, “And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins” (D&C 45:56).

Given in the 25th chapter of Matthew, this parable contrasts the circumstances of the five foolish and the five wise virgins. All ten were invited to the wedding feast, but only half of them were prepared with oil in their lamps when the bridegroom came. The five who were prepared went into the marriage feast, and the door was shut. The five who had delayed their preparations came late. The door had been closed, and the Lord denied them entrance, saying, “I know you not” (Matt. 25:12). “Watch therefore,” the Savior concluded, “for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 25:13).

The arithmetic of this parable is chilling. The ten virgins obviously represent members of Christ’s Church, for all were invited to the wedding feast and all knew what was required to be admitted when the bridegroom came. But only half were ready when he came.

Modern revelation contains this teaching, spoken by the Lord to the early leaders of the Church:

“And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.

“For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes. …

“And … the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

“And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.

“And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (D&C 88:88–92)."~~~

I will still stop to smell the roses, and enjoy my beautiful spring day. This won't put me under a rock thinking the world is going to end, and we shall all parish. Instead I am happy and joyful that I know that my oil lamp is full, and I am prepared!