Doctrine & Covenants 19: 32

For this shall suffice for thy daily walk, even unto the end of thy life.

Best Things about Memorial Day Weekend

• delicious BBQ pork loin sandwich at Boston Blackies
• watermelon-strawberry frescas
• seeing U of Chicago campus
• the sass (don't take that out of context)
• walking along Lake Michigan
• being with T every single day =)

Chicago

In the sun, you are the white city.
Beaming and proud, hard in the heat; Sparkling in your ivories and greys.
Stone slabbed, white peaked, you are unrelenting.
But with the moon, you bend down unto the lake: warm, caressing.
Reflecting its tones, you are gleaming, glistening, blue.

Leaving late, late tonight, returning late, late Tuesday.
So much to love about Chicago :)

Isaiah 30:20

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

Quote of the Day

The eye, the ear, the hand, all the senses may be deceived, but the Spirit of God cannot be deceived; and when inspired with that Spirit, the whole man is filled with knowledge, he can see with a spiritual eye, and he knows that which is beyond the power of man to controvert.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 16:46

The Spirit Giveth Life by Loren C. Dunn

When I was younger, I lived to play basketball. It was on my mind constantly. I spent countless hours practicing. Gradually I began to go through the moves automatically, without thinking about them. Physically and mentally I had become conditioned to do certain things by instinct. I had practiced them until they became natural to me.

In like manner, we keep the commandments and teachings of the gospel in order to condition us spiritually. It is not a matter of how many laws we keep and how many we do not keep. We keep the commandments because they are the laws that govern the Spirit. The Spirit in turn will sanctify us, condition us spiritually, and eventually prepare us to live in the kingdom where God is.

Read the full talk here

Matthew 10:8

Freely ye have received, freely give.

Happy Birthday Brady!

iTunes Playlist

Secret Heart (Feist)
Air (Erin McKeown)
Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap)
With Arms Outstretched (Rilo Kiley)
California Stars (Billy Bragg & Wilco)
Out of the Woods (Nickel Creek)
A Comet Appears (The Shins)
Calendar Girl (Stars)
Eyes (Rogue Wave)

Abraham 2:12

Now, after the Lord had withdrawn from speaking to me, and withdrawn his face from me, I said in my heart: Thy servant has sought thee earnestly; now I have found thee;

Quote of the Day

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this. No more can I turn the leaves of this dear book that I loved, and vainly hope in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure, and other things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut with a spring, for ever and ever, when I had read but a page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality to me, or than I am to them?

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

My most recent play on scrabble

33 points. I dedicate this play to my pirate parents:
note: I played the y-a-r to form the 2 words

Dad's Life Lessons (Installment #2)

My brother-in-law ran in a half-marathon in Park City on Saturday. When my father inquired after his performance, he replied that he was very slow. It was at this point that I joined the conversation:

kt: "well, slow and steady wins the race!"
dad: "no, slow and steady does not win the race."
family laughs
dad: "well, it doesn't."

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me by Mary Oliver

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!
That’s what it said
as it dropped,
smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches
and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing
under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,
and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment
my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars
and the soft rain –
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.

Birthday Delights

Reija's Birthday (3/20):

MH's Birthday (3/23):

SS's Birthday (4/6):

JP's Birthday (4/11):

A Dream of Trees by Mary Oliver

There is a thing in me that dreamed of trees,
A quiet house, some green and modest acres
A little way from every troubling town,
A little way from factories, schools, laments.
I would have time, I thought, and time to spare,
With only streams and birds for company.
To build out of my life a few wild stanzas.
And then it came to me, that so was death,
A little way away from everywhere.

Doctrine & Covenants 110:9-10

Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house... And this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people.

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I have often thought how beautiful it is that any gift, ordinance, or blessing from God should be termed an "endowment." Financial endowments - often given to universities, museums, and other non-profit organizations - are substantial and great in that the interest generated from the gift is spent and consumed while the principal remains untouched (usually a portion of that interest is kept to grow the principal). It is a gift that grows and compounds over time and literally "keeps giving."

Doctrine & Covenants 103:36

All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith.

Emails from Mom

My friend Jocelyn just sent me my new favorite web site:

http://postcardsfromyomomma.com/

Here is my submission (hopefully we'll see it posted up there soon!):

Subject: Talk Like a Pirate Day

Yarrrrrr
Tomorrow be "Talk Like a Pirate Day," so shiver your timbers and avast, me hearties.

Mom aka "Cutthroat Mumsy"

04/09 Update: It got accepted! See here.

Of Cherry Blossoms and General Conference

I went to Washington, DC this weekend to visit Jocie, the cherry blossoms, and to listen to General Conference. It was lovely!

ps. Jocelyn had a new sidekick...


(I'm just saying...)