Thoughts From a Frazzled Mind

I was sitting at practice for Symphonic Choir last night and as I was listening to the men rehearse their parts I was struck with a thought.  It would have been so great if BJ were here to sing with the choir.  BJ loved to sing and he would have enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the choir with me.  I remember one year he and I joined a patriotic choir for the July 4th celebration.  The accompanist and director were the same as for the Symphonic, Dave and Jana Willis.  We thoroughly enjoyed singing with such a good choir and accomplished leaders.  We didn't even mind getting up early, leaving our camping trip, so that we could perform at the morning celebration! One of my favorite memories of BJ is when he and I drove down to Salt Lake to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert.  BJ definitely shares my love of music, as do Shandra and Tasha. Once, BJ and I even sang a duet together for Sacrament Meeting. I was terrified, but so...

I have mentioned many times how much I enjoy working with our ward choir.  One reason that our choir is so great is because we have had the great opportunity to have Caryl Hepworth as our accompanist.  She is an extremely talented and educated lady.  Years ago when I was in high school Caryl was the accompanist for the high school choirs.  She understands music in a way that very few people do.  And she can play just about anything! I attribute most of my ability of leading the choir to Caryl and her comments and suggestions. I have leaned on her and learned a great deal about helping a choir sing to their best abilities. I have known for a long time that we were not going to be able to lean on Caryl indefinitely.  She has played the piano for many, many years and now has severe pain when she plays.  Today it is official, Caryl was released as the ward choir accompanist. I totally understand why she had to quit, but I don't like it one bit! ...

Saturday Kalel had his very first gymnastics meet.  It was in Farmington.  He competed in 3 events, power tumbling, trampoline, and double mini. I have to say that I was very impressed for his first meet! Here are some pictures: POWER TUMBLING: TRAMP: He ended up winning 2nd place for his age and experience (level 5) in all three events!  Not too bad!

Jodi's word for the year is  "NOW"  which is very similar to my word for this year which is "DO".  Lucky for me because she finds some of the most wonderful quotes that fit right into my need to remember to DO .  So, I copied these from her because I think they are great!

Kim and I were able to go on a rare date!  We started out with a session at the Brigham City Temple.  It is so nice to have a temple right here in town!  Unfortunately as we were getting ready to go I began to panic as I realized that I couldn't find my recommend!  That was so strange, because I always keep it in the same place.  After searching frantically, and praying for help, we decided to call the temple and see if by chance I had left it there the last time I went.  Sure enough, they had it there for me!  Whew!  What a relief! The session was very nice, and it was especially nice that Kim was there with me.  Of course, no date is complete without a trip to Walmart, so we headed there to pick up some sundry items that we just HAD to have! We finished of the date with a fun dinner at Peach City. It was so nice to spend some time with Kim.  We don't do it nearly enough!

New Year's resolution - now there is a phrase that rarely finds itself in my vocabulary, unless of course I am lamenting either the lack of resolution or the breakage of said resolution.  I never have been good at making or keeping resolutions, especially the last decade or so when I know that I am prone to experience severe bouts of depression during January-February.  There is nothing that increases depression like feeling like a failure for not keeping resolutions. Needless to say, New Year's goals and resolutions had not even entered my mind as 2015 began.  However, two of my favorite women (at separate times) gave me a suggestion that just may work for me.  Instead of setting specific goals for the year Marilyn and Jodi just came up with one word that they are going to focus on.  Jodi writes a great article about it in her blog  Beacon of Hope . When I asked Marilyn how she chose just one word out of so many, she wisely stated that it needs to ...

We are so fortunate to be associated with such a large circle of friends!  Many of which are now are serving in high church callings.  And to our good fortune, they seem to still like to hang out with the  heathen Olsens. On December 30 we had a game night some of our good friends.  Mont and Marilyn Parrish. Dave and Jodi Wilding, and Troy and Carol Herzog all joined Kim, Shandra, and I for a wild and crazy night of games. We played Taboo, of course. One of our favorites.  We first played guys against girls and the guys complained the whole time about the girls' ability to read each other's minds and get the answers right.  The girls won by a landslide the first game.  The second time we decided to have the girls and guys intermingle on the teams,  It was amazing to see that the score was much closer when the girls were helping the guys! We also played a hilarious game of the Wildings called "Telestrations".  With this ga...