But it's comfortable!

Ah, the stories my armchair could tell!
 

It's five o'clock somewhere

For many elders, it was an exciting day when they were told that they needed to shave!
 

The craft of the deal

I've found that projects I work on to relax seem to be less restful to others in our home. Is that true for you?
 

Sketchbook: Memorial Day

When I was a kid, my dad would take me around the cemetery on Memorial Day and tell me all the stories of our ancestors who were buried there. Some of the stories were quite exciting, some seemed mundane. But I thought it was pretty cool how everyone had a story.

After my dad passed on, my uncle took on the task of sharing the stories from family history, and now he's gone, too. It makes me wish that I had paid more attention or recorded the stories somehow.

 

You're called to serve

It would have been cool to just lean out the window and teach a lesson.
 

Choose your tools wisely

I used fire to clear out a couple of fields when I was a deacon. It wasn’t intentional, though. 

The toes have it

And then she went, “Whee! Whee! Whee!” all the way home. 

Or maybe, “Waah! Waah! Waah!” Either could work. 

In our lovely desert

Pretty sure about 100% of missionaries can relate. 
 

Sketchbook: Heavy lifting

Not a bad seed for a gag, but it’s not quite there. It’ll work out. 
 

Neighborhood watch

The kids in our neighborhood always watched out for the missionaries, too. 
 

We are sewing, daily sewing

I honestly have never seen a real sewing kit in any missionary apartment. But I'm pretty certain that everyone's grandmother had one just like is on the table, including the little needle tomato!
 

One of those days

But how many times were they brought to the right floor?
 

Pushing the boundaries

When I was a kid growing up in the Salt Lake Valley, there was one thing I could never figure out. There were a lot of parents who wouldn't allow their kids to play with non-members — and then they expected those same kids to serve as full-time missionaries when they grew up.
 

Sketchbook: For those who don't know me

Sometimes these just drop into my lap. One of our youth speakers in church yesterday started his talk with these exact words. I thought they deserved to be memorialized.

The rest of his talk continued in the same vein — it was humorous, but also spiritual.

I loved what the next youth speaker said. She brushed back her hair, looked over at him and said, "I'm supposed to be the funny one!"

 

In the words of my mother…

Don’t you just hate it when your mom won’t even write your talk for you?!
 

A voice of warning

 

It's never too early to make plans for Mother's Day. 

You have been warned.

Final days

 

I haven’t been in school for a couple of decades now, and it doesn’t change. Deadlines for stories, reports and projects all seem to land at the same time. There may be a life lesson there somewhere, but I don’t know if I’m ready for it. 

Sketchbook: Save me

Missionaries meet people with all kinds of needs. 
 

The accident

Ever have those moments when you’re teaching a lesson and suddenly you get that overwhelming feeling that what you’re teaching is true?