HAPPY SPRING

I am so excited that it is officially SPRING, the next best thing to SUMMER!! They are both great seasons, but I'm a summer girl. I can't wait to wake to bird songs & see the flowers & trees in bloom! We're getting closer. In the summer I also enjoy working side by side with Hootie on the ranch. I will plan to celebrate/ kickoff summer, so stay tuned...
On another note, I am involved with something called the Delta Care team. We have been trained, if you ever really can be, to help families & victims of aircraft accidents. I hope it's training I never have to use, but know if something happened I could be the right person to help a particular family & take care of them in the immediate aftermath of that tragic event. A condensed version if nothing else, we can help with logistics of planning, contacting people, visiting the site & helping with expenses and getting them to their loved ones, even babysitting if need be. With this I get many inspiring emails, or ones that just have a very good message. It crossed my mind today, that I could share some of these on my blog. I'm sure there will be more that I want to share. Maybe just to remind myself or others what's important. Enjoy!!!

The Nature of Character
Abraham Lincoln was very concerned with character, but he was also aware of the importance of having a good reputation. He explained the difference this way: "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

Put another way, your reputation is what people think of you. Your character is what you actually are.

In a world preoccupied with image, it's easy to worry too much about our reputation and too little about our character. Building a reputation is largely a public-relations project; building character requires us to focus on our values and actions. Noble rhetoric and good intentions aren't enough.

What we're looking for is moral strength based on ethical principles. Character is revealed by actions, not words, especially when there's a gap between what we want to do and what we should do and when doing the right thing costs more than we want to pay.

Our character is revealed by how we deal with pressures and temptations. But it's also disclosed by everyday actions, including what we say and do when we think no one is looking and we won't get caught. (Reminds me of this month's primary song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me", which I love).

The way we treat people we think can't help or hurt us (like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries), tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. People who are honest, kind, and fair only when there's something to gain shouldn't be confused with people of real character who demonstrate these qualities habitually, under all circumstances.

Character is not a fancy coat we put on for show. It's who we really are.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Michael Josephson
www.charactercounts.org

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I don't know much about the holiday since I'm not Irish or Catholic. But it's a holiday, so that makes it fun!!! Hope you all remembered to wear your green today, so you don't get bruises from being pinched. I'm sporting a green dress & green eyeshadow. Hootie wore a suit with a purple shirt, no green. I hope he got pinched, 'cause he was warned. (Is that mean to say?) I want to go to San Antonio for St. Patty's day sometime. The San Antonio Riverwalk is pretty cool (there's a picture on my slide show), but on this day they dye the water in the river green. Plus, there is a little dueling piano Irish Pub, that would be very entertaining. Hope everyone's having a great day!

I Just Talk Funny

So all this week I've been flying in/out of Atlanta. I love flying the southern system. The destinations are great, the people are kind, the manners are good, and the kids are so cute & respectful with their yes ma'am, no ma'am, please and thank you's. It's the same way I was raised with my mom being from Mississippi. People on these flights don't look at me funny if I say y'all, they know what fixin' means, & cute little ladies don't take offense to me calling them ma'am. Something I get alot of no matter where I fly, but esecially out of SLC, is people asking me where I'm from. They say they can't place my accent.

The other night I was working a flight from Houston to Atlanta, two of my first class guys had a bet going if I was from Texas or Georgia. They were shocked when I told them they were both wrong, they were sure I was from the south. I gave them the standard, "I'm from Utah, but I have a southern mama, so I just talk funny". I think I just have a bad combination of Utah's hick accent & saying some other words different because of how I learned them, we lived in Texas when I was learning how to talk. I guess I'm a southern girl at heart. Hootie's sister's thought I was weird when we were dating, because of the way I say pajamas(pa-jaw-maas). I know this is kind of a lame post, but it's for my friends that used to make me repeat myself whenever I said penny & fixin'. Just to let y'all know, I still talk funny!

A Good Date

So I just thought I'd post a good date night we had fairly recently, and the great view. We have lots of great friends that we go out with, but we don't go out alone too much.
I was suprised one morning as I was getting ready for work, Hootie said we should go to President Hinckley's viewing. I thought it was a great idea, I just didn't think he'd suggest it. So after work, we met Justin, Tiff, & their cute family at the conference center. We waited outside for quite a while, & inside even longer, as they took sections up for the viewing. When it was finally our turn, it went by so fast. It was neat to be in the viewing room, but not near enough time. I knew there would be heavy security there, but the security detail was amazing. I associated it with the President and his Secret Service. It was a neat & humbling experience. Afterwards, Hootie & I decided to walk through temple square. I wanted to go in the Tabernacle because I hadn't been there in years. I still love the building & can remember going there often as a little girl. It was overwhelming as a kid, it seemed so much smaller to both of us that night. We were lucky to go in when we did, the choir was practicing. It was so beautiful, they were rehearsing their selections for the funeral. With each song the director told them a story about President Hinckley, why they were singing a certain song, or why it had been a favorite of the Prophets. We were both so glad we went in that night. We decided to go to dinner at the Roof, but they had closed early, so we went next door to the Garden. I've gotten Hoot hooked on pickles, so he ordered the fried dill pickles, something I've only tried in Mississippi & Texas. He loved them, until he overdid it. We had a good dinner and the whole night was a special, memorable experience.

First Real Post

So I've just come across some friends blogs in the last couple of months. It seemed like a fun way to keep up with friends & let other's know what's going on in our lives, or just to share fun stories. I thought I should create one, so I wouldn't feel voyeur-ish when I checked out other peoples. We don't have kids right now so we don't have those cute stories to tell, but we'll try to come up with other interesting topics. I'm not much of a journal keeper, hopefully this will be different. I always have funny things happening on the plane, so maybe I can give a heads up on the quirky fliers.

We like to play & have fun. Although, I don't think we use my flight benefits near enough, we do try to vacation in Mexico once in awhile. We honeymooned in Cancun, so it's always been a favorite to go back to. It's fairly easy to get there & it doesn't take all day. The last adventure was a 48 hour stop in Cancun, in February. I forced Hootie to go, or so you would have thought. But once we got there it was fun & relaxing and nice to get away. When there, we always eat at a lobster-shack (I hate seafood), called Lorito Joe's. The food is great, the service is awesome, and you have a good chance of eating next to a huge crocodile if you sit in the patio seating next to the Lagoon. Hootie & I have sat at the same table 3 times, and he's always come to visit. If you ever go down check it out.

I thought I'd post a few pics, to show what we've been up to the last little while.

We're new to this...

Nothing exciting to see right now, we're working on it... standby. :)