June 1, 2014  Day 17

Today I am thinking of and so Happy for the Family I belong to.  It is my sister Camille's birthday today.  In our family with all 15 kids it turns out that there are pairs in 10 yr increments--Camille is my 10 yr.  That means that I can always remember her birthday and her age because it is just as mine only 10 years older.  I admire this sister of mine so much.  She lives a very busy often difficult life and she is always happy.  Her spirit is unconquerable.  She can always find something to be positive about.  I want to be like her when I grow up.  Also every Fast Sunday our family fasts together for those in our family and also circle of friends that are in need of special blessings.  We get together on a conference call the Sat. morning before Fast Sunday and we visit together and share for about an hour.  It is a blessing to have so many people that love, care and pray for each other.  My parents were amazing people and they have left an equally amazing legacy.  I am so very blessed to be a part of this great family.

Evan L. and Marylene Dastrup

May 31, 2014  Day 16

Larson's are here.  Uncle Bill Larson had meeting this week in Scottsdale and so Paula and some of the kids came this weekend to pick him up and to spend some time with us.  We rode the horse.  We rode the tandem bike and the golf cart.  We had BBQ with Kathi Hammond and sons and also James Messina--he is living here in AZ for a couple of months.  All in all it has been a great day.  They will have to leave tomorrow after church but even for a day it is great to have them come.  We are able to forget life for a little while and "play" with them.  We all need to relax and unwind sometimes and we like to do it together.  Of course we did have to discuss business--the progress of and current state of our herd.  We love them and it makes us very Happy to spend time with them.

May 30, 2014  Day 15

Today my son Caylon turned 24.  It was 24 years ago that we added another son to our family and it was 24 years ago we learned that he had Strep B, a blood infection.  They took him away from the delivery room before I could even see him.  His breathing was not right.  They started antibiotics immediately, even before the culture would come back in 48 hours.  We were warned that this could be very serious; another baby, six months earlier, had died.  After 10 extra days in the hospital and 3 more days of treatment at home with a home nurse service, he was fine.  He was born at 6 lbs 14.5 oz and even with the infection never lost any weight.  He started to thrive then and has been doing it now for 24 years.  We love this son.  He marches to the beat of his own drum..always has and probably always will but he is a great man.  He married last year and we are so glad to have Vanessa now in our family too.  We knew then that this son of our was here for a purpose and we are blessed to be his parents.

May 29, 2014 Day 14

Another Bargain day.  I was picking up a few things at Wal-Mart and noticed an ad for boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $.98 cents per lb.  That is incredible.  I bought what I could and now I am cooking, freezing and bottling chicken.  It is so easy to just get a jar of chicken to make enchiladas, chicken BBQ sandwich, chicken salad sandwich, pasta, soup...you name it. (my kids used to say it looks like a bad science experiment--but they love it when I send it away to college with them!)
 Also I love to have already cooked chicken in the freezer for super fast suppers.  I am always HAPPY when I find a great bargain.

May 28, 2014  Day 13

I MADE IT !!!!  I had a goal to loose 30 lbs.  I was struggling a little with the fact that I was turning 50.  For over a year now I have been on a Medifast program.  I was to the point that nothing was fitting, I was feeling very sluggish, and I figured to "age gracefully" I needed to drop a few lbs.  I started in Sept. of 2012.  I wasn't as disciplined as I could have been. But  by last July (2013) I had lost 25 pounds and decided to just go on maintenance.  However, in the back of my mind, I really wanted to get to the original goal.  So at my final weigh in today...exactly 30 lbs lost and 49 1/4 inches.   YEAH !!
So on the way home I decided to go celebrate with new "skinny" clothes.
I was first going to make a stop at Savers to find some picture frames.  While I was there I decided to just see if I could find a cute outfit. ( I shop at Savers and Goodwill quite often for this and that---especially jeans for the kids.  All of my kids are good with shopping thrift stores because that was a regular in our life.)
Anyway...not only did I make my weight goal but I scored a great bargain on clothes--- I am so HAPPY !

2 skirts (size 8)  and 3 jeans, 1 purse and 1 picture frame
less than $40--AWESOME !

May 27, 2014  Day 12

Sometimes when I am out and about, I like to stop and get a cold drink.  Chet always stops to get a soda.  I go into the convenience store and stand there and stare at the drink fountain...inevitably there is nothing that I want to drink.  They will have a dozen or more choices and still I am not interested in any of them.  The problem lies in the fact that the choices are full sugar, cola or caffeinated. Would it be so hard to offer one other low sugar, non-cola, caffeine-free option?  Is there no one else in this world that feels the same way I do???     Well...
Chet passed along my frustration to the manager of our corner store and low and behold...
SoBe Lean on tap.  Hallelujah.
So I went in for a soda and found out that I am not alone in my obsession.  They started with it on one tap with a hand written label. Now it has the commercial label and it is on both drinking fountains.
This makes me HAPPY !!!

May 26, 2014  Day 11

Today is Memorial Day.  We began the day at the San Diego Temple and then I finished the day at the Gilbert Temple (working).  We had a great day today serving God as we went to the Temple, spending time with family and also remembering the significance of this day.  Another Great day to be Happy in.
 I was raised by a father who's motto was God, Family, Country--in that order.
He taught us a great love for our country.  We know that he was proud to have served during WWII.
Today I appreciate him and all others who have served our great country.  It is a blessing to have a free country where we can worship as we choose and there are many who work, fight and even die that we might have that privilege.

God Bless America