Presidents' Day Weekend in Oceanside with David and Ricky!

Ricky and I left home at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning and arrived in Oceanside in the early afternoon. We waited all day for David, but he didn't get leave until about 6:30 p.m. So for Valentine's Day, David took us out for dinner! He was able to spend almost 24 hours with us, but needed to go back to his base at Onofrey. Tuesday he will be graduating and then we will take him right to the airport in San Diego where he will be leaving for Virginia! We will really miss him!

The Bountiful Temple is Quickly becoming one of my very favorite temples!

My friend, Holly, took me to the Bountiful Temple a few weeks ago and I've tried to go there almost every week now! It's beautiful and I love going there! It's not only nestled in the hills of Bountiful, but it also overlooks the Great Salt Lake. I think it's one of the most beautiful places on earth, and the peacefulness and serenity felt there is incredible!

My "25 Things About Me" from Facebook

I thought I'd post on here my 25 Things about Me since not all of you are on face book. I was invited by several friends to do it, and it was kind of fun, so here it is on my blog now:

1. I love life, no matter how difficult the challenges and adversity! I am so grateful to live on this earth at this time in history and to have all that I do have to help me reach my potential!

2. I love my family! I have 4 of the best kids any mother could ever have: Lisa who is a Russian Linguist in the US Army is 26 in a few weeks, Rob is 24 and lives at home, Ricky is 20 and is also at home, and David is 18 and is in the US Marine Corps!

3. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is my greatest blessing in life! I am so grateful for the atonement of the Savior and to know that it is all encompassing and that because of it, I can be made whole, sanctified, and receive all the blessings promised! His promises are sure!

4. I love learning! I love reading! I love being able to understand and expand my mind and understanding! In fact, if my house ever caught on fire, it would be my books and scrapbooks I would save above all my other possessions!

5. Friends are another wonderful part of my life and I feel that I have been given some pretty amazing friends that love and support me in so many ways! I know I wouldn't be who I am if it weren't for them. They have blessed my life in ways that I can't even begin to describe!!

6. I am almost half Hawaiian (3/8 to be exact) and I love having that as a heritage! I was raised in SLC and didn't know much about being Hawaiian until after my mission. Infact, I didn't even know my grandparents or relatives until then. I was able to go to BYU Hawaii and to also work at the Polynesian Cultural Center and get to know and understand my background and I know that Polynesians have such wonderful hearts filled with love and the Aloha Spirit

7. I teach school and love it! I love kids! I love instilling within them a love for learning! I love watching their eagerness and the light go on when they get something! I love reading book after book to them and teaching them to love that in their lives! I've taught 4/5 splits 3 years, 6th grade 2 years, 4th grade 12 years, 5th grade 5 years, and now I've been in 2nd grade 2 years! I've loved it all and have decided if you love teaching, it doesn't matter how old the kids are!

8. I love nature! I love God's creations and enjoy being out to see a new day dawn and a night time come to an end with a sky full of stars! I love mountains and oceans and trees and flowers and animals!

9. I love sweets, expecially chocolate!

10. I love music and am so grateful I can enjoy it in my life! I love playing and singing with my guitar! I love to sing hymns more than anything. I also love teaching my kids at school a lot of songs that we sing with the guitar!

11. Sundays are my favorite day! I love them and everything about them!

12. I'm a glass half full person and love to look on the bright side of life so that I can see all the good that comes to me!

13. Even though I went to BYU Hawaii, I'm a University of Utah graduate - so I'm a Ute fan and proud of it!

14. I used to work for the Genealogical Library when I first got out of High School and now I've finally become involved in family history! Luckily I am able to use the New Family Search and have been able to find many family members there!

15. I went on a mission to Portugal and was actually one of the first 10 sisteres called there! So, yes, I speak Portuguese! In fact, my great grandfather was from Portugal and then went to work in Hawaii in the sugar plantations - so I am a "Portaguee" Hawaiian!

16. Although I'm part Hawaiian, I'm also a descendant of the Mormon Pioneers through my dad's side. We have ancestors that came into Salt Lake in the 1st or 2nd company of pioneers!

17. My favorite tv show is "24", but now I also like that new show by the same producers called "Lie to Me". Even though I don't like the violence from 24, I like the fact that it's about patriotism and protecting our country.

18. Which leads me to sharing that I am very Patriotic!!! I love US History and have such a strong appreciation and love for our Founding Fathers and those early Patriots!! I've even been able to visit many historical sites from our History, especially from the Revlolutinary War and the Civil War and Washington DC and Boston!

19. I love traveling and learning aout other cultures! I've lived in Hawaii, Portugal, and Brazil. When I got married , we went to live in Sao Paulo for 2 years. I've also been to France and Italy and love Paris and Venice!

20. I love being a mother!

21. I love riding my bike when the weather is beautiful! It's a cruiser and has a big wire basket in the front of it!

22. I was a Daddy's girl all my life until I lost my dad 4 years when he was killed in an automobile accident coming up for my son's farewell. I miss him like crazy!

23. I love technology and feel like I'm pretty computer savvy! I'm here on facebook and I have 2 blogs and I do all kinds of things with photos, powerpoints, movies, publisher, etc.!

24. I have 2 older brothers and 1 sister and we are all a year apart. I was never alone in school because I always had a brother 1 grade ahead of me and a sister one grade behind me!

25. I was the Sr. Class Secretary at Brighton High Class of 74 and get to plan our reunions. In fact #35 is supposed to be this year Uh, oh - Gotta get going!

Happy New Year!

I loved this so much I just had to put it on my blog. It's from a friend of mine:

2009 Contract
After serious & cautious consideration......your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2009
It was a very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!!!
My Wish for You in 2009:
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address!
In simple words ............ May 2009 be the best year of your life!!!

Love Makes a Family! We Are Family!

One of our fun Christmas activities was to take pictures together! They're crazy - but we made memories for years to come!

David Graduates from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego!

David graduated December 12th from MCRD! He entered boot camp on September 15th and we are so proud of him for his accomplishments! We all went down to San Diego to celebrate with him and to spend Family Day and his Graduation Day together! Now I can say that I offically have 2 of my 4 children in the Military! Lisa is in the Army and David is now a Marine! A mother couldn't be prouder of her kids, than I am of mine!




Not only did Ricky, Rob, Ren, and me go down, but so did Micah, my brother Bob, along with his son, Nathan and his wife Rachel and their little girl, Savannah! We had quite a little group there for David! We are so proud of him! He looks great and he's happy!

Happy Thanksgiving! Be Grateful for all that is yours!

(Image courtesy Thanksgiving Corner, FREE Thanksgiving wallpapers are available here as well as Christmas wallpapers.)

There are so many things I'm Thankful for! One thing I like to do every year is to make a list of all of the things I can think of that I'm grateful for, and see how many I can get. It's not hard to get over a hundred! Maybe we should all do that so we really see how much we have!

Someone once said that the more gratitude a person has, the more unselfish, thoughtful and kind they are. They can be seen doing those quiet good deeds for others that are never known by others. They are those good people who have learned to love their neighbors as themselves! I hope that's the kind of person I'm becoming!

My New Passion!!

This is what I love doing in my spare time!
I was able to learn the New Family Search
through a friend and I have been spending
3-4 nights during the week searching for and
double checking completed work for my
ancestors! I love it! I think I've caught the
Spirit of Elijah and the importance of
linking families together!

The Hawaiian Royal Canoe in 2008

This was me 31 years ago on the Hawaiian Royal Canoe as the Queen!

Not much has changed from 28 years ago has it?! This picture to the right was just taken (Oct. 2008). I was a little surprised to see that the Polynesian Cultural Center had a lot of the same types of dances and costumes at the Canoe Pageant and the Night Show. I guess culture doesn't change, so of course there wouldn't need to be changes! I sure felt like I had gone back in time 30 years while I was there! Thanks to a thoughtful friend for the tickets and the company!

Just Joan just in Hawaii! Alooooooha!!!

Blessings come in many different ways! One of the most recent in my life was being able to spend a week in Hawaii relaxing, getting in touch with my roots, and doing family history and temple work! I was able to stay with a dear friend, Lani Gilbreath, who is gracious, sweet, and selfless! What a week! I will never forget the overwhelming feelings of love and service as I was able to link some of my generations of family together and do work for them - work that they couldn't do for themselves!

I was also able to visit my old stomping grounds: BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center! What feelings of nostalgia, as I looked back and reminisced about my time as a student there and working at PCC so I could learn about my Hawaiian heritage! I really believe that our connections with those who have gone before us is much stronger than we can ever understand! I have truly felt the Spirit of Elijah this past week and am so grateful that I listened and followed those promptings to go there!