Country Carousel

Hello friends! It's a big week for the bow business. We have a booth at the Country Carousel Boutique at Provo High School. Come visit us and get all the glorious bows/flowers and headbands your little heart desires. We also have some bracelets and discounted/discontinued headbands for sale. You can also check out my bow blog bellabambina2007.blogspot.com! The boutique runs from today (the 17th) through Friday (the 21st). Tonight the show opens at 4 and goes until 9. Tuesday through Friday it's open all day. Come and enjoy all the vendors and all the fun stuff they have to offer!

Premature Graduation

(Stupid blogger turned this picture sideways. I don't know why it does that or how to fix it. It looks like that says '89, but it's really '09).

This weekend has been a very exciting weekend for us here in the Hone home. Ryan got to walk for graduation on Friday. I feel like we have been waiting for this day to come for years. Well, we have been waiting for years. It was so worth it. It has been a lot of hard work, mostly Ryan doing the hard work, but worth it. Ryan actually has just one more semester and then he will actually be done with the nursing program at BYU. We were very surprised to see the pharmacist Ryan used to work with at Allen's, Jeff and his wife Jo. We are so glad they were able to make it to the graduation. It meant the world for us to have them there. After graduation we went to Carabba's for lunch. It was nice to have my entire Dunn side of the family there and then Ryan's mom, sister Kacy, brother Garrett, dad, and grandpa. Ryan gave me his stole of gratitude and of course I cried. After lunch I "kidnapped" Ryan. He had no idea where we were headed to. I made arrangements for Bella to go to the Mayor's house for the night. I tried really hard not to tell Ryan where we were going. He eventually figured it out once we hit Dear Creek that we were going to Park City for the night. Park City was cold and rainy. Not what I had hoped for, but still beautiful no less. Good job Ryan! I couldn't be more proud of you. Here's Ryan's best friend in the program, Jacob. I don't think Ryan could have done it without him. That's also Jacob's wife, Amber, making that ultra awesome face! Love you guys! And of course, I have to put one of Chloe on here. I couldn't believe she actually let me take her picture!

Thank you!

Dear Aunt Katie and Uncle Jesse,

It's Bella! I love, love, love my new nametag! Not only is it really super cute, mom and dad can now find me when I run away because they can hear my jingle. The purple color matches my collar just perfect. Thank you! Tell Lily we're totally BFF's now for life. I can't wait to play with her.

Lick lick,

Bella

Did you cherish today?

How fragile life, how certain death. We do not know when we will be required to leave this mortal existence. And so I ask, “What are we doing with today?” If we live only for tomorrow, we’ll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays. Have we been guilty of declaring, “I’ve been thinking about making some course corrections in my life. I plan to take the first step—tomorrow”? With such thinking, tomorrow is forever. Such tomorrows rarely come unless we do something about them today. --President Thomas S. Monson

I love this quote by President Monson. I think about it probably every single day. Every morning, after I have typed a few reports for work, I jump on the internet and go to the obituaries. Why, you ask? I absolutely love to read the tributes to a loved one, a remembrance of their life, a celebration of their journey. There's just something so inspiring about a life well-lived. I never become desensitized to it. I oftentimes see the lives that are cut too short and shed a tear for the family as though I can feel a little bit of their grief. Sounds depressing, but really, it is inspiring. It makes me ponder my life and think "what have I done to make the world a better place? What would my loved ones write in my obituary if I were to die today? Did I do my best? Have I done enough? What more can I do? Did I love enough? Did I cherish my relationships?" I am oftentimes reminded just how fragile our lives are. It happens all too often I see somebody I knew in the past that has moved on from this earthly existence.

I also like to read the obituaries because these are the people in my community. I work for some of the hospitals in our community and sometimes I will get the reports on these people. I get to hear about the last moments of their life. I love to put a face with the name, the story, the trauma, whatever it is they went through. I love to hear about their life, their family, their stories. I get a little glimpse into this human that was once just a name on a screen being dictated on by Dr. So-and-So. It makes my job real.

"And so I ask, “What are we doing with today?” If we live only for tomorrow, we’ll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays."