What Religion Am I?

Over the past three days I have had nearly 500 people trip across this blog.

When those stats showed up in my email this morning my jaw hit the floor. Holly Cow!

I don't really pay much attention to the stats, I just find them interesting, this morning I found them very interesting.

I'm not entirely sure what caused the surge of visitors to my blog. I'm sure it had something to do with Blogher adds and something to do with my post about Grandpa Wayne.

What really threw me was the "most searched," stat. Visitors were searching for my religion.

Which I thought was curious. So I went searching for my religion and found out that no where on this blog have I said what religion I am.

When I told my husband about the stats his first question was, "What kind of pictures did you post?" When I told my husband about the religion search he asked, "Are you hiding something?"

I'm not hiding anything so next time you search, "religion" it will come back with the following sentence. My religion is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or Mormon.

It has not been intentional that I have not spoke about my religion more like, "I am what I believe, I am what I am."

Being a member of my church is a big part of my life. I believe in the teachings of my church and I try to live the gospel the best I can. I do not always succeed. In fact I probably fall short more than I measure up. I struggle every day to do better, to be kinder, to live what I know.

Most of all I believe we are all children of God. He loves us equally and offers us more love than we can comprehend. I love blogging because when I sit down and share my life the ups the downs, the successes the losses, I feel like I am acknowledging what a wonderful gift this life is.

I guess more than anything this particular stat has taught me to share the gift of belief more. So I guess I will sign off with my most favorite sign off that I ever read.

Prayers and Hugs,

Krissi

Time Out!

I use to wonder why we couldn't have a time out button. A button we could push when life was out of control and we just needed a day or two off. No deadlines, no demands, just a time out.

Honestly, I still want a time out button I've just accepted that we don't get one. All though, I would be willing to pay a pretty penny to anyone who invented one.

Life keeps marching on and as sad as it is to say goodbye to a loved one the world does not stop and give you a time out. So unfair.

Here we are back into the thick of things with deadlines, school work, church callings, kids schedules, etc....

etc...

etc...

I'm not complaining. No, not me, not at all.

Goodbye

The sun is coming up and it is one of those times that pink wispy clouds, float across the sky, seemingly, chasing the night away and welcoming the day. It is going to be a beautiful fall day.

Today is also the funeral for my Grandpa Wayne. Grandpa Wayne came into my life almost 15 years ago. I was recently engaged and as it turns out so was my Grandma who had been a widow for more than 10 years. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this Wayne person, my memories of my grandpa were so strong in my heart, I wasn't sure that I wanted a Grandpa Wayne.

Well time passed and the more I saw my grandma and Grandpa Wayne I began to realize how lucky my grandma was. She found a person who loved to do the things she loved to do. They traveled together, taking trips all over the country and one or two out of the country. They went on cruises and for the first time in a very long time she had a golfing partner.

When she married Wayne he was not a member of our religion. However, not even a half a year in to the marriage he became a member. The transition was so smooth that I think he had always been a member. He was one of the kindest people you ever met. He didn't like my grandma gossiping or saying mean things. Even when she would get going, as you know us women are prone to do, he would cut her off and say something nice. Of course, this would make us all fill ashamed and want to be better.

Together grandma and Grandpa Wayne worked in the temple and did volunteer work. One of the places you could always find them was at the air force Museum. Wayne had been a fighter pilot in another life and he loved giving tours. He worked there almost until the end.

I had children and he welcomed them into his life with open arms. They traveled to California to help bless our babies. You never saw a grandpa who would chuckle and cuddle little ones like Grandpa Wayne. When we moved to Utah and were short on family grandma and grandpa would show up to programs and laugh and be the best grandparents. Afterward, big hugs for the kids and tell them they were the best ones. Grandpa was always smiling. He always admired my children and loved them as a grandpa should.

It was probably about 5 years ago that one of my children talking to Grandpa Wayne started the conversation by saying, “Wayne,” that I realized that my long habit of calling him Wayne had rubbed off on to them. That night when we came home I decided that if anyone deserved to be called grandpa it was Wayne. So to my family he became Grandpa Wayne.

It is sad that we have to say goodbye to Wayne today and I am blessed with a religion that has taught me that today is not goodbye forever. Today is a celebration of a wonderful person with a wonderful heart. I hope that I as I remember Grandpa Wayne I can be a better person and an example of the kindness he lived daily.

Goodbye Grandpa, say hi to everyone for me.

Need Me Some WWW

Did you know that author's have blogs? Did you know that FAMOUS authors have blogs? Did you know that they update their blogs? They are like real people who have typos and everything. Which is really awesome.

I'm acting like a nerd ain't I?

I can't help it. I'm really excited to find out that there are author's who have blogs. I haven't tracked down all my favorites yet but I have tracked down a couple. Such as Meg Cabot and Sarah Dessen. Who I love!

I'm sounding like a total stalker right now.

Well it is just one of those little things that makes me happy. Author's with blogs.

Moving on to the not so happy news. The radio stations that have always given me lots of holiday cheer are being total Scrooges this year. We are almost four days into November and they are NOT playing Christmas music. I was so confused and sad that I tracked down the website of one and they are only going to start playing Christmas music full time 100 hours before Christmas. WHAT???

HUMPH!!!

I need me some Christmas music people!

Thank goodness for Pandora Radio. If you haven't ever tried Pandora Radio you should. You get to make your own stations that play music you want to listen to. Awesome. My dependency on the Internet grows.

Need some author blogs go to the Internet.
Need some Christmas music go to the Internet.
Need some Nanny to come help me figure out the teenage thingy. Time to see what the Internet has on that subject.