The blogging has been slow as of late, and it will probably get slower. Why, you ask? Currently we are in Ashton, ID. People in Ashton don't have time to blog, they have GRASS! Why would you blog when you and your kids could be sitting on GRASS, running IN GRASS, looking AT GRASS. A funny thing happens when you have lived in Southern Nevada for 7 years, South East Idaho suddenly becomes Ireland and all you can see is GREEN!
This is a picture from my front room window. (They have trees too!) Do you see that street light hidden among the trees. I have literally spent days of my life staring at that light. During the winter, when night fell, the street light would either lay perfectly still, revealing just how cold it was outside, or it would unveil the snow falling. And depending upon the amount of flakes and the angle at which they fell, I knew exactly how much faith I could place behind my nightly prayer that tomorrow would be a SNOW DAY (no school).
This is THE PINE TREE that stands in front of the house and blocks everything west of the house from view. It was planted in the year 1973, the year my parents moved into this house. At the time it stood 3 feet tall. it grew as we grew. Each year on the 1st day of school we would take a picture in front of it. When we came home from killing gophers mom and dad would meet us in the shade with a treat and GRAPE kool-aid. The Christensen boys would then proceed to fall fast asleep. Before its height outgrew our decorating skills, we would string lights on it each Christmas. And at night, if the branches were coated in snow and drooping slightly, and I squinted my eyes just right, it was a Christmas miracle. It think it is quite possibly the most perfect tree in existence. I think my mom thinks so too. Yesterday she told Jared that we were to "tear the house down before we cut that pine tree down."
Now here is an interesting picture. It is taken from the kitchen window. If you look far in the distance, you can see the Ashton Hill. I love the ASHTON HILL! However, in this picture you can barely see it. If you were to ask me to imagine the view from the kitchen window in my mind, I would tell you that there are lush green fields leading to the hill and the view was perfect. Now if you were to ask me if there was a logging business next door to my house I would say - Yes! And I might even tell you that they store logs and random ugly equipment in the field directly behind my house (like the picture). However, that never got in my way of seeing how beautiful the Ashton Hill was. This little scenario reminded me of a recent conversation I had.
My sister said, "Kathryn did you know that Jesse (code name) did something really stupid?" I said to my sister in return, "I really like Jesse, I tend to think that he has never done anything wrong." It sounded funny when I said it, but as I have continued to think about it, it is TRUE. When I have seen the REALLY good and kind part of someone's heart, it is so easy to overlook anything not so good, logging equipment, in other words. It reminds me of a quote from Joseph Smith...."When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind." Sometimes all I see is the LOGS and sometimes all I see is the HILL. I need to be a little better at looking for the hill before I look for the logs :)
