Sunday, November 30, 2008

TODAY'S CHUCKLE

Thursday, November 27, 2008

ONE MORE RIVERWALK PIC

Thanksgiving Colors

The Riverwalk Thanksgiving 2008

Sunday, October 26, 2008

OUR TX GIRLS AT ZACH'S BAPTISM!

Jeff Henry- my 1st cousin

Just found my Mom's Brother Harry's son, Jeff, (my cousin) after some long searching. Uncle Harry spoke at Mom's funeral in 1999. He died November 30, 2005.

Jeff & Kerry Henry

Go to jk_1.jpg to see my first cousin... at his retirement celebration. He was a Lt. Col. in the USAF and flew, I think, an A-3.

Then check out the touching pictures. I am very moved by jk_127 to jk_132.jpg and jk_201.jpg

Pappy & Grandma Lenhard adored this man. I lost contact with him...actually we have NEVER met. And I hardly remember his 2 sisters, MaryLu and Susan. They are in the pictures (I think).

My Aunt Janet is also in the pictures...the sweet white-haired lady.

I will be contacting him asap!

DAD

Saturday, October 25, 2008

ZACH WAS BAPTIZED TODAY!



McKay, Jackson, Finley (in babyseat), Maddison, Rylie, Zach, Leah and Anden!















Wednesday, October 22, 2008

HAPPY TX CAMPERS


Bethanne's Remarkable Blog - Stretchmarks





"We've all been instructed to "teach the children" and that's what I love to do. I do not profess to be an expert on Early Childhood Education. I am just a mom who is blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her kids. I love learning and I do my best to get my own children excited about learning too. And I have A LOT of ideas. This blog is my chance to share my ideas and resources with you - things that have worked with my own children and my Sunbeams class. That's all. Enjoy!"

Bethanne's new blog for teaching children....check it out!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

THE TEXANS!





THE WATCHMANS

BEAR LAKE CLIMBERS!








NOAH AND MALLORY AND KENNEDY



KANZLERS



I AM A TEDSTER, TOO!





In addition to being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a hubby, a dad, a Grandpa, Father-in-law, an uncle, cousin and teacher... I want you to know that I enjoy my affiliation with TED!

Hasn't cost a dime. Not even a penny. Imagine that!

I don't always agree... and often fail to appreciate what's being expressed. (Not unlike a 25-year friendship with Hugh Nibley's works- to grasp what's he's saying, I have to dig a little deeper and ponder, ponder, and relate!)

I know. I know. In six months I may be on to another idea-rich source. For now, TED is like my old friends, inviting and interesting.

What is TED you ask? Consider the following from their website:

"The goal of the foundation is to foster the spread of great ideas. It aims to provide a platform for the world's smartest thinkers, greatest visionaries and most-inspiring teachers, so that millions of people can gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea. Consider:

  • An idea can be created out of nothing except an inspired imagination.
  • An idea weighs nothing.
  • It can be transferred across the world at the speed of light for virtually zero cost.
  • And yet an idea, when received by a prepared mind, can have extraordinary impact.
  • It can reshape that mind's view of the world.
  • It can dramatically alter the behavior of the mind's owner.
  • It can cause the mind to pass on the idea to others."
Yep. That's a brief summary. If you find yourself captured by a TED presentation, please let me hear about it. I may have missed it!

Today I miss Nala





I know I have this linked elsewhere on my blog but I want to post it right here, today, so you can't miss it! Whenever I watch it I smile like a little pre-schooler having another very good day! (Yes, I ignore the thoughts about bein' a boozer, etc.)

What a happy little song!

Bow wow wow, good dog!!!




Sunday, October 19, 2008

BEAR LAKE COUSINS 2008

Digital Cameras Fun
Sketch your photos at dumpr.net

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

BACK IN FOCUS---PAY ATTENTION! The gates of attention allow very few things to come in."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (pronounced "CHICK-sent-me-high-ee"), has spent a lifetime considering ways to transform a random walk into an exhilarating chase... through the use of "flow"... a finely tuned sense of rhythm, involvement, and anticipation... a state of "intense emotional involvement" and timelessness that comes from immersive and challenging activities...

It is so obvious that I need to transform this blog (and my life) into more than a random walk in and out of my LightCache...

In FLOW we are "...completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost. "

[An activity]..."that promotes flow is like a gourmet meal. You start off with the appetizers, move on to the salads and entrées, and build toward dessert. Unfortunately, most [activities] are built like a cafeteria. You pick whatever you want. That sounds good at first, but soon it doesn't matter what you choose to do. Everything is bland and the same. [Activity] designers assume that the visitor already knows what to choose. That's not true. People [become involved] hoping to be led somewhere, hoping for a payoff."

Goals transform a random walk into a chase. You need clear goals that fit into a hierarchy, with little goals that build toward more meaningful, higher-level goals. Here you are, tracking the footprints of some animal you haven't seen. That's exhilarating. Then there's the question of feedback. Most [activities] don't very much care what you do. It would be much better if they said: "You've made some interesting choices" or "You're developing a knowledge of Picasso." There's also the ability to challenge. Competition is an easy way to get into flow."

"Actually, [in flow] people are probably more critical. A flow experience has got to be challenging. Anything that is not up to par is going to be irritating or ignored. "

On creativity: "Realize that change and downtime are important. I found that if a painter relates to objects only through vision, his work is much less original than a painter who walks up to the object, smells it, throws it in the air, and manipulates it. The variety of sensory inputs allows you to create a visual image that has all kinds of dimensions bubbling up inside it. We are still a multimedia organism. If we want to push the envelope of complexity further, we have to use all of our devices for accessing information - not all of which are rational."

"It's true that some kids who have grown up on only television fare have ridiculously short attention spans. One problem television poses is that it doesn't provide children with the physical evidence of cause and effect. In olden times, if you didn't get up and out of bed at 5 a.m. to milk the cows, you knew those cows would soon start screaming. What you did had consequences. Now children are passive observers of information without any responsibility.

On the interactivity of the Net recapturing part of that cause and effect:
"...to the extent that you have to play by the rules and each move has a consequence. Still, it is a symbolic causal system, like playing chess, and it may present too narrow a set of consequences. Playing chess is not the whole world, and there are chess champions - like Bobby Fischer - who are absolute babies in terms of operating in society."

On the Internet's ability to be a tool for advancing the evolutionary goal of a more complex consciousness:
"The Net allows the easy exchange of information and the communication of values. But I'm still fighting the notion that the Net is really going to result in a more complex vision of reality."

"When things become too easy, they also end up becoming more sloppy. In the Middle Ages, for example, people were willing to walk from Stockholm to Munich to meet somebody who had something important to say. They listened and thought seriously about what they heard. Now, communication is instantaneous. I'm afraid after a while we may not pay much attention to it. The gates of attention allow very few things to come in."



Monday, September 29, 2008

WONDERFUL PIC OF 1st Grandchild MADDISON!


Taken by her Mom, Amy.

A real keeper, kiddo. (Maddison and the pic!)

So hard to believe she's about in YW!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fell in love with Linda near here


Fell in love with Linda on the banks of New River near Blacksburg, Virginia summer 1970.