Braces

Makenna got braces today!

She is starting out with just the top ones.

I wore braces too!

8th Grade

9th Grade

I'll just sit back now and wait for all the comments to come in about how gorgeous I was as a teenager.

A Sad Day For A Historic Building

February 4, 2009 was a sad day for residents of Moapa Valley. The Logandale Chapel caught fire at about 4 a.m. The fire began in the relief society room, but quickly spread.

The fire spread to the roof and the attic, eventually leaving the chapel in a state of rubble.

The Logandale Chapel had a great heritage. Before its construction, various wards and bishops in the Moapa Valley area had dreamed of building a modern chapel, but had been were discouraged by the cost. In addition, local church leadership knew that the small chapels being advocated by the church building department at the time would not meet the needs of the large Logandale ward. Finally, in 1949 Bishop Grant Bowler of Logandale received permission to build a chapel. He talked with Brother Andersen of the church building department and chose a chapel plan that would accomodate the needs of the ward. The new chapel was projected to cost $150,000, half of which would be paid by the ward. This was a large commitment for a ward of less than 400 members. In addition, the ward members would need to raise $10,000 before construction could begin.

Grant M. Bowler 1954

Upon arriving home, Bishop Bowler went straight to work to raise the necessary funds. He and his bishopric visited ward member homes, showed them the building plans, and encouraged them to donate to the fund. In addition to other fund raising projects, members donated horses, livestock, cars, pies, hay, etc. for an auction. This spirited event was a great success.

Bishop Grant Bowler and Thomas Leavitt-1950

After Bishop Bowler returned home from the auction, he received a phone call, from Lou Adams who asked how much money the ward needed to meet the $10,000 goal. Bishop Bowler informed him that the ward had earned $9,907. Brother Adams stopped by Bishop Bowler's home the next morning with a check for the remaining $93.00. The goal had been reached!

With the $10,000 check in hand Bishop Bowler made his way back to Salt Lake City. He met with a building supervisor there who said that the ward would need to build a different type of chapel than the one originally agreed upon..He showed Bishop Bowler a photo of a small chapel that greatly resembled a barn. Bishop Bowler stared at the photo in horror, saying that Brother Andersen had promised him that if they could raise $10,000 then they could build the original plan. During hs imapassioned plea, Brother Andersen appeared at the doorway. With a faint smile he said, "Well, it looks like there is no way out of this, eccept to build the chapel we agreed upon last spring."

The original building site was on Liston street, but a series of land swaps occured that allowed the building to be built on Moapa Valley Blvd. The new building site added an additional $2,000 to the cost. Nothing was said about the change by the church department until several months later when Bishop Bowler received a phone call informing him that the new property was too expensive and that another site should be located. Bishop Bowler informed him, "Well, we are just a little late to do that. We are putting on the roof."

Saturday Construction Crew 1951

As the buidling was being constructed, Bishop Bowler felt that it would not be large enough to accomodate the needs of the ward. He talked with Stake President Bryan L. Bunker, who wrote a letter to the church requesting approval to enlarge the original plan. Because of limited time, President Bunker requested that he be notified within 10 days if the building department did not approve of the enlargement. Ten days went by with no word, so the ward went forward with the enlargement.. The Church building department never said anything about the addition, but local church leaders realized that they were no doubt displeased with an enlargement to a chapel they already felt was much to large. However, when the Presiding Bishop LeGrand Richards came to dedicate the building on February 18, 1951, he voiced a differing opinion, saying, "the building wasn't too large. We are building too small of a chapel all over the Church."

Logandale Chapel 1951

Le Grand Richards

Little did anyone know that the Logandale Chapel would need to serve as a Stake Center just three years later, when the stake was divided and the Moapa Stake Center was moved back to Logandale. Apostle Harold B. Lee, who presided over the stake division, informed the saints that the Logandale Chapel would serve as the stake center and told them that, "The Lord has a way of seeing ahead so as to have things prepared when he needs them."

Elder Harold B. Lee

I am sad to lose a building of such great historical significance. When I think of this sad event, I am reminded of an experience I had about four years ago. We were living in Salt Lake City for a year while Jared completed his residency. The local chapel was rededicated after an extensive renovation project. H. David Burton, the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, presided at the dedication.

Presiding Bishop H. David Burton

He explained that because of the magnitude of the renovation project it would have been cheaper to tear down the existing building and build a new chapel. However, he said the original building was preserved because of the many memories and spiritual experiences that had been gained in the chapel.

I did not attend church in the Logandale Chapel, but it was the closest chapel to my home. It served as the stake center for most of the years I was groing up, so I have many memories associated with this buiding-stake conferences, youth dances, stake youth conference, firesides, my baptism etc.. I will greatly miss this historic building. I feel as if I have lost a dear friend.

Note: The historical information and pictures were obtained from the book Zion On The Muddy: The Story Of The Saints Of The Moapa (Logandale Nevada) Stake by G. Lynn Bowler, the Logandale Nevada Stake Historian and son of Bishop Grant Bowler. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the history of the saints of The Moapa Valley.

Makenna

This is my daughter Makenna. I know I'm biased...but isn't she gorgeous?

As my only daughter, she's a bit spoiled: abercrombie clothes, the best bedroom set in the house, even her own bottle of mascara. A ten-year-old in mascara! What is the world coming to?!!

On a more serious note, I am so pleased with the choices Makenna is making. I know I can always count on her to do her best and to do the things she knows are right. She is also very kind hearted. For example, last year her teacher, Mrs. Kulp, periodically handed out "Kulp cash" for good grades and behavior. The money could be used to bid on cool prizes at an in-class auction. There were three auctions during the year, but Makenna saved all her money for the last one. As she left for school on the morning of the last auction she was bubbling over with excitement, but when she came home that afternoon she was absolutely devastated. Amidst tears, she related the events of the auction. Makenna bid on a few items but was outbid. Finally it came down to the last item. Both she and one of her best friends raised their hand to bid on the item. Makenna realized that she had more Kulp cash than her friend and could easily outbid her. But kindhearted Makenna lowered her hand and allowed her friend to win the item. She was absolutely devastated not to win a prize, but I was so impressed with the choice she had made.

I love this little girl so much! I hope I can always show her just how special she is to me!

Cinnamint

I just wanted to put a plug in for my favorite lip gloss-C.O. Bigelow Mentha Cinnamint Lip Shine. My sister-in-law Michelle gave me several fabulous lip glosses last Christmas. Thanks Michelle! This one has become my favorite lip gloss of all time. You can purchase it at Bath & Body Works. Try it! You'll like it!

My New Jeans.

Yippee! I bought a new pair of jeans!. I love clothes and get way too excited about my clothing purchases. I somehow managed to pry myself away from 7 for all mankind jeans and venture out into the unexplored territory of Paige Premium Denim. I love these! The floral motiff on the back won me over.

I purchased this pair as well, but returned them for the sake of frugality. I hope to repurchase them in a couple of months or so if they are still around. They are the Scorpion jeans in amethyst by Rock & Republic. Didn't I look hot in them? O.K. So this picture is not really of me. I wish...

The Fruit Bowl

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to improve my eating habits. I wasn't ready to commit to anything major, so I just decided to start putting a bowl of fresh fruit on my table. I didn't actually commit to eating more fruit, just to setting out the fruit. And of course the obvious has happened. We are all eating more fruit. Even my husband.

Dream Homes

Today (like pretty much every other day) I have been thinking about how much I hate the house we are renting. The amenities include disgusting toilets with ill-fitting tanks covers,

weird leaves stuck on the kitchen ceiling,

and cactus in the front yard.

Sigh.....Decent rentals are hard to find. Especially in a very small town. Especially when you want something over two thousand square feet. Especially when you have an indoor dog.

We are in the process of subdividing an acre off my parents property. . We have to pay for the subdivision and for water, but other than that it's free. How else could we get 1 acre of land in Southern Nevada for under $30,000? The money we save will enable us to build a much bigger and nicer home than we could otherwise afford. However, there is a downside. And not a minor one. The land division process takes forever! We hired a company to handle it for us, but we are already at the 1 1/2 year mark. :( I am becoming increasingly more impatient and frustrated. I spend a lot of time dreaming about the house I would like to have. These are a few of the homes I love.

This one is my all-time favorite home that is even remotely within the realm of affordability. About seven years ago, when we were a poor student family, we found this home plan. It is the Collinwood plan by Frank Betz. Both Jared and I fell in love with it. We are more than a bit obsessed. Just to give an example.......April of 2007 we flew out to Virginia to see a house built from this floor plan. Seeing it in person only served to increase our obsession. My husband is almost certain that we will be able to afford this home by the time the property division is done. I am almost certain that we will not. Jared is notoriously optimistic. He would say that I am notoriously pessimistic. This is one occasion when I hope he will prove me wrong. I think most likely the Collinwood will go down in family history as the house that got away...

I have come up with some smaller (ie. less expensive) home plans that I like. However, even these may be long shots. But, who knows? Maybe insurance companies will actually start paying us for a change. Maybe we'll win the lottery even though we've never bought a ticket? Stranger things have happened. I think.

This is the Shenandoah. Before we left for Virginia to see the Collinwood, my sister said, "What if you go to see the Collinwood and find another house you love even more?" Blasphemy! How could that ever happen? I had searched through literally thousands of home plans and had yet to find anything I liked better. However...I do REALLY like this house. It was in the same housing division as the Collinwood. Gorgeous, isn't it?




This is another house I found online. I LOVE Victorian homes. As if you couldn't tell. This is one of my favorites. It's about 2,500 hundred square feet, so it should be fairly affordable. At least that is what I'm hoping. I would probably change the color. This one seems a little dreary to me.





This is another of the more realistic possibilities. I love the cheeriness of the yellow. The gazebo is nice too. Think outdoor wedding reception...The downside is that it only has 3 bedrooms. Of course, we could probably have the plan expanded or altered a bit to include a fourth bedroom.







And last, but not least, yet another Victorian home plan. I love it when online home plans include photos.















So what do you think? Which do you like the best and why? I would love to hear your thoughts! Please, please, please leave a comment!