- PRAYER ROCKS

I'm your little prayer rock
and this is what I'll do...
Just put me on your pillow
until the day is through
Then turn back all the covers
and climb into your bed
WHACK! your little prayer rock
will hit you on the head
Then you will remember
as the day is through
To kneel and say your prayers
as you wanted to
And then when you are finished
just dump me on the floor
I'll stay throughout the night
to give you help once more
When you get up in the morning
CLUNK! I'll stub your toe
So you'll remember to say your
morning prayers before you go
Put me back upon your pillow
once your bed is made
And your clever little prayer rock
will continue in your aid
Because your Heavenly Father
cares and loves you so
He wants you to remember
to talk to Him, you know?

Author unknown

Kurt helped me paint rocks last night for Sharing Time in Primary today. I had walked down to the creek on our property to gather the river rocks by myself at dusk last night. When I had finished, I heard a noise and looked across the creek to see a big bobcat looking at me. We stared each other down for about 20 seconds and then he turned and walked away. I don't think I've ever hurried home as fast as I did last night!

Today I presented the Primary theme for September - Prayer. We made prayer rocks to help the kids remember to say their prayers in the morning and before they go to sleep.
They had such a fun time decorating their prayer rocks. I loved seeing their finished projects. One of the girls had written "prey" on her rock. One boy wrote - "Pray - or else!" on his.

Anjolina's prayer rock.

Nicholas's prayer rock.

Tanner's prayer rock.

Brooke's prayer rock.

Spencer's prayer rock.

- APPLE HILL

This afternoon Kurt and I drove to Apple Hill. It's about 10 or 15 minutes east of Placerville on Hwy. 50 in Camino. They are just gearing up for the apple/pumpkin/Christmas tree season. We love to go there to buy our produce. We picked up some apples and pluots at Boa Vista, our favorite orchard at Apple Hill.

Boa Vista is also famous for their fresh squeezed apple juice and apple cider. We like to watch the apple press in action.

I love the bakery at Boa Vista - especially the glazed apple donuts!

The frozen pies can't be beat either. I usually pick up 1 or 2 of these every year at Thanksgiving.

We had lunch (tri-tip sandwiches) while we were there. YUM!

The trees along the road were just loaded with apples.

The views were spectacular. Trees and vineyards as far as the eye can see.

We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!

- CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR GOES HOLLYWOOD

Today Kurt and I had our annual State Fair date at Cal Expo in Sacramento. The theme for the fair this year was everything Hollywood. It was 104 degrees when we arrived at 3:00. We stayed indoors looking at the exhibits/animals until it started to cool off.

Here I am in front of the Indiana Jones display, one of the many movie sets we saw.

This was El Dorado County's display.

I always have to check out the quilt exhibit. This particular quilt took first place and best of show. The hand quilting was unbelievable.

We sat outside for awhile and watched Stars of the Peking Acrobats. I'm pretty sure they had no bones. I've never seen anyone contort their bodies the way these peformers did!

Kurt loved the llamas this year. They were so cute.

This man owns a llama farm. He was telling us all about his llamas. We talked for quite awhile. I learned lots of new llama facts ;)

Texas long horns.

Another variety of long horn.

Of course we had to check out the livestock nursery. This cow is due to deliver on my birthday.

These babies were born yesterday. So sweet.

My favorites. Baby piglets born earlier in the day. Eleven in all.

Two baby goats born at the fair this week.

And then, there's the fair food. So disgustingly good. Kurt had a BBQ sandwich with fries.

I opted for the greasiest thing I could find - we were at the fair after all! Deep fried fish and zucchini. (This was mostly in response to a challenge from Tara ;)

Remember this group? "C'mon baby, do the locomotion....", "We're an American Band...we're comin' to your town.....", "Some kind of wonderful"? Well, we joined a couple thousand other 40/50 somethings and rocked out to the oldies. VERY FUN concert!

Tickets to the concert were free with the exception of reserved seating right in front of the stage. We paid the extra $15 each to sit close. Well worth not having to wait in line in the heat.

The five member band includes two of the originals, Don Brewer (drums and vocals) and Mel Schacher (bassist). They sounded every bit as good as they did in the 70's.

Our tradition, at the end of the night, is to have a waffle sundae. By the time we leave the fair, we are usually sick to our stomachs, but we'll never change the routine. It works for us!

- WHO IS SARAH PALIN?

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain announced today that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be his running mate, making her the first woman ever to serve on a Republican presidential ticket. Like a lot of people, I had never heard of her, so I did some research this morning. This is what I've learned so far:

* 44 years old. Born in 1964 in Idaho; Shortly afterward, her family moved to Alaska where her
parents taught school in Skagway.
* Gained statewide recognition as point guard on her high school's state championship basketball
team
* Was the 1984 runner-up in the Miss Alaska Pageant
* Attended the University of Idaho, receiving a bachelor of science degree in communications-
journalism in 1987. Before her political career, she worked in media and the utility industry.
* Former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska
* First woman Governor of Alaska - elected in 2006
* Married to Todd Palin, has 5 children, including a 4-month-old baby with down syndrome
* Her oldest son enlisted in the army on September 11, 2007
* She loves hunting, ice fishing and snowmobiling
* Ultra conservative
* Supports capital punishment
* Strongly opposed to same sex marriage and abortion
* Lifetime member of the NRA

- KATHY'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

My co-worker Kathy will be 60-years-old on Saturday. She's an RDA in our office and has worked for Dr. Kiholm for years. We celebrated her birthday all day today. I brought her flowers this morning and Peggy brought her miniature roses.

Shandra, our other dental assistant made an Italian Cream Cake for the party.

We "manipulated" the schedule with fake patients and surprised Kathy by taking her to Lil' Jonnie D Carlo's for a longer than usual lunch. The food was incredible. We laughed a lot and took a lot of pictures. (It's a pretty dark restaurant so the photos aren't the greatest). We gave her a Macy's gift card and a gift certificate to The Sequoia Restaurant.

Here's the whole gang (minus me, the photographer).

Lil' Jonnie himself came out and sang happy birthday in Italian to Kathy. He had the most amazing voice. Kathy turned about 10 shades of red before he was finished!

The whole paper bag thing was inspired by the birthday card Dr. Kiholm gave Kathy. We asked her to close her eyes while we put them on. I'm sure everyone in the restaurant thought we were insane! It was SO much fun.

Here's Kathy fanning the smoke after she blew out the candles on one of the yummiest cakes I've ever tasted! Great job Shandra!

Here we all are, leaving the restaurant. We sure got some weird looks from passersby! I don't think Kathy will forget this unusual birthday celebration anytime soon!
Happy 60th Birthday Kathy!!!!

- YES ON PROPOSITION 8

Just wanted to share a video that I thought was very informative regarding Proposition 8. This is exactly why I'll be voting YES on Proposition 8 in November! Please take the time to click on the link below to watch this. It's a little lengthy, but well worth the time.

http://www.afa.net/prop8video/index.html

- DOWN TO THE LAST PEACH!

I had such a fun time canning peaches after work tonight. I had taken one box of peaches to work to share with my co-workers, so I only had about 50 lbs. to can. I ended up doing 14 quarts in jars and 4 quarts in freezer containers (for pies). I sliced some and left some in halves. I used light syrup - 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water. As I sit here typing this, I can hear the ping of the lids sealing in the kitchen. I LOVE that sound! I really should do more canning - I forget how much I love it!

Kurt got home just in time to help me put the last of the peaches in freezer containers. He helped me clean up my mess too! We don't have a single peach left! Woooo Hooooo!!! (Sorry Tyler!)

- I'M FEELING PEACHY!!!

When Tara called last night to say her in-laws had some peaches for me, I assumed she meant a dozen or so. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the Ditlevsen's and Carol showed me the 3 boxes she'd saved for me! There are almost 75 lbs. of peaches here! I stopped at the store and bought canning lids and came home and washed jars and rings and am all geared up to can/freeze peaches tomorrow night after work! My house smells divine and I had the most delicious bowl of peaches and cream for dinner tonight! Thanks SO much Carol and Cal! Wish me luck - it's been awhile since I've done any canning.

- YOUTH FIRESIDE

Tonight we had a Youth Fireside at our house regarding Proposition 8. Jeff Rush and Bishop Anderson spoke. 16 youth and 9 adult leaders attended. The youth had a lot of questions and comments and everyone left with a better understanding of how we can do our part to support this proposition.

We ended the night with brownies ala mode and Ana Mackey beating every one of the boys at arm wrestling. GO ANA!!!

- GOODBYE NATHAN

Nathan Mackey leaves for the Missionary Training Center on Tuesday. He spoke in Sacrament Meeting this morning. Alyssa and Tyler and their friends Kate and Alax came to hear him speak. Nathan will be in the MTC for 3 weeks before he goes to the Marshall Islands. He received a letter from his Mission President saying that he'll be learning one of several languages spoken in that mission when he arrives there. We sure will miss him but look forward to hearing about his experiences in the Marshall Islands.

- PROPOSITION 8

This morning Kurt and I went and walked precincts in support of Prop 8. We canvassed 2 neighborhoods and talked with voters about this important issue on the November ballot. We were surprised how many people were uninformed but encouraged that there were so many supporters out there. We did this in Tracy in 2000 for Prop 22 so we had some idea of what to expect. It was a really good experience for us.

We met at Grandpa's Pharmacy and received a short orientation, a list of voters and our "VOTE 2008" badges. We were out knocking on doors by 9:30 a.m.