PHOTO CONTEST!

In case any of you hadn't noticed, I'm going to let you in on an observa- tion I have made...It has been years since I have seen a truly flattering picture of myself. One would think that with all those weddings last year, the Christmas and Easter celebrations, and the recent interest in posting pictures on blogs that someone could have captured some of my natural beauty and stunning good looks. Well, if such a photo exists, I haven't seen it.

So, at the risk of sounding vain, I am announcing a photo contest, and encouraging everyone to enter. I am requesting photos that actually make me look good...in the following categories:

1. With a smile on my face.

2. Of the slimming variety.

3. Capturing my good nature and personality.

4. With my entire family together in the same picture.

I will even be daring and add a final category...

5. Most original (please be nice).

The contest will go until I have found a winner in each category, or until my 80th birthday, whichever comes first. I will have to come up with some prizes, but they will not be of the monetary kind, because that seems too much like a bribe; entering this contest must come from your heart.

So, I look forward to hearing (and seeing) from you!

Random happenings in March

Mickala took a picture of our St. Patrick's Day dinner but she hasn't downloaded it from her phone to my computer, so I will have to wait to post that. We had the party early this year, so that Grandma and Grandpa Park could come.Jason and Sasha and TJ came, too. Last year, TJ was not too thrilled with the green dinner. We couldn't even coax him to eat his dad's deliciously famous dinner rolls. But this year, he was much more willing to try stuff. Unfortunately, the potatoes in my Irish stew were a little crunchy, but everyhting else was perfect, especially Jason's green dinner rolls. (Yum!)

As I said earlier, Mom and Dad came to see us after their visit to Denver. It was so nice to have them here for a few days. While they were here, mom got me hooked on American Idol. I had never watched it before, but now I have to tape it if I'm going to be gone! There is one young man (only 17!) from Utah who has a great chance of winning the contest, as well as a Mormon girl from Arizona (I think) so of course I am following this contest closely!

My next big project is our trip to Salt Lake for the annual easter egg hunt. We decided it was too cold and muddy in Vernal, so we're going to try the Wasatch front. The weather man promised sunshine. For the first time ever, all of us should be together, so I am really looking forward to this trip. Hopefully, there will be pictures to post when we get back.

Another favorite place in Jamaica: Negril

We were told that we had to make the day-long trip to Negril to watch the sunset. Our cab driver stopped at several places along the way, to show us interesting sights. This is Mike in front of an old, old cannon that was used to protect against foreign ships trying to come ashore many years ago. It reminded me of some places Vince took us to see in England.

This is a fully functioning high school. Mike took the picture to show Mickala.

We got to watch the cliff divers jumping into a very deep lagoon.
They would pass around a hat, for donations before one jumped.

Then, we ordered dinner and got to watch the most beautiful sunset in all the world.

Beautiful as they are, the pictures don't do it justice. Words can't describe it either. It was truly breath taking. Oh, and, while I am still learning, don't you think I am getting good at downloading pictures? I had two really great teachers. Thanks, Annie and Kristi.

Jamaica; Part 2

Okay, if I can master that incredibly difficult task of inserting the President Hinckley challenge into my blog, then surely I can manage adding pictures. I'm going to try it again. I'll start with pictures of our hotel. It was called the Royal Decamaron and the beach had the absolute most beautiful sand I have ever seen before.

This is a picture of the hotel staff getting ready for one of three weddings that took place while we were there. To give you an idea of how hard they worked to keep the sand clean, we actually saw them putting the sand through a very large sifter, to get rid of any debris.

This is the inside of our room. We were so lucky to get a ground floor room that opened right out to a small patio which led directly to the pools and beach.

One of my favorite places in Jamaica was this little cafe we stumbled on when we were out shopping. Cool Runnings was playing on a big screen tv and the food was delicious, although a bit too spicy for Mike.

After we ate, we asked our server to take a picture of us, standing in front of the original

bobsled! He was happy to oblige and afterwards, he told us to go ahead and climb inside!

So we did!

Okay, you cannot imagine the difficulty I am having uploading pictures. I am going to end this post and try again, later. Annie, I am still waiting for those instructions. (Or anyone else who dares try!)

President Hinckley's Challenge

You will notice that I have added myself to the long list of people accepting the President Hinckley Challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. When Aspen originally invited us to join her in this, I had decided not to take the challenge because this was my year to take the entire twelve months to savor each page and do some in-depth studying. However, I noticed that none of my other favorite bloggers have added their names or graphs to their blogs, thereby making Aspen a very lonely little scriptorian. So, I decided to throw all caution aside and toss my hat into the ring as well...with one tiny little adjustment for lost time. I am starting at the place I am actually at right now, and giving myself credit for already having read the first 100 pages. I don't think President Hinckley will mind. And, I am sure that Aspen will catch up with me quickly because she reads much faster than I do.

I would also like to add a personal story. I attended an Inservice meeting one night several years ago. That night we were given the assignment to read ten pages a day from the Book of Mormon. With 531 pages, we would complete the Book of Mormon in 53 days. Well, I had six children at home at the time and not a whole lot of extra time on my hands. I was really irritated with the instructor and believed that she had overstepped her authority. I fumed about it for a week and then, after talking to someone else who had attended the same meeting and gone home that night to begin, I somewhat ashamedly but still quite reluctantly began my own reading.

It changed my life forever.

You think you will have less time, but you find that you have more.

You think it will be tiresome, but it eventually becomes invigorating.

Avoiding sin becomes less of a challenge and obedience becomes more of a desire.

As a mother, one thing I did right (among the many mistakes) was to let my children see me reading the scriptures. In the mornings after we read and prayed as a family, there were many times when it was so hard to concentrate over their music, but I always felt it was important for them to see me read. And, once in awhile, a deeply profound bit of wisdom and understanding would open up to me; indeed, during the time I took that first reading assignment I went through one of the hardest mothering challenges of my life. (There have been so many of them that I'm not worried about embarassing any one child in particular!)

But the point I want to make is that the answer to that challenge came to me as I was studying the scriptures.

So, I'm on board with you, Aspen!