Celebrate Life and Connection

Today our family celebrated the birthday of our dear friend, Gerrie Dixon. We enjoyed dinner with Gerrie at The Porch in Daybreak.

Gil, Gerrie, Shelly, and Nicole

Birthdays are truly amazing events. Birthdays reaffirm life and the passage of time. Birthdays are a way to mark another year of lived experiences. Birthdays whether we are celebrating 1 year or 100 years remind us that life is a true blessing meant to be lived and savored each and every day of that each year.

Oscar Wilde said: To live is the rarest thing in the world, most people just exist.

I am trying to LIVE each day of my life. A huge part of truly being alive is my connections to other people. To my husband, Gil, my daughters Jessica, Samantha, Cassandra and Nicole and my family and friends.

A recent article in the Deseret News about the impact connections /relationships have on aging might have been written with my friend, Gerrie, as one of the test subjects. https://www.deseret.com/2022/5/7/23060482/harvard-longevity-study-happiness-relationships-physical-mental-health-byu-waldinger-super-ager

Research, a lot of research, is showing that it is our relationships that helps us age well even more than our genetics. The theme for Rootstech 2022 was Connection. That is what the power of Elijah truly is the sealing power, the power of eternal connection.

I am so grateful for the connections in my life past, present and future. Living life to its fullest is all about creating, nurturing and celebrating connection.

4 months and 2 days!!

It has been 4 months and 2 days since my January 22 FH Reboot. Wow! And I have made maybe 5 entries since then…

LIFE!! Well, life has been crazy and my life has seen a lot of changes. The world has seen a lot of changes like Russia invading Ukraine, the end? of the COVID pandemic, high inflation, and a very tight job market.

My life change list includes 1. I am now working full time for Intermountain Healthcare as a nurse case manager on T6. 2. I resigned from being a BYU clinical instructor going forward (not because I didn’t love that job, I did, but because I want work at one job full time..I have never done that or at least not for a long time). 3. Gil and I are adapting to being empty nesters. 4. I am down to 150 pounds and hopefully still losing. 5. I am becoming a real hiker and have done a hike or at least a 2 mile walk for 19 weeks!! 6. I am more community involved than ever and loving it. 7. I have attended the temple almost weekly for the last 5 months. 8. I am learning more and more about being a disciple of Jesus Christ and developing Christlike attributes. 9. I have always been a fairly early riser but 5:30 is pretty normal for me now with hopefully 3 to 4 days/week of 4:30 am. 10. Seems like there should be 10 things but can’t think of one right now.

I am still trying to establish a consistent habit of daily FH. I watched a great video today from Rootstech 2022 that helped to demotivate. It showed some quick ways I can do FH on my phone in short 5 to 10 minute increments. Today, on the way to work I updated my Journey app for the last week with photos I had taken but not added to Journey. I also updated my 52 Hike FB page for the first time in months. The video: How to Save Your Best Memories is linked below.

https://youtu.be/06Np0_LZP40

Flowers on Grandeur Peak May 2022
My parents Max and Serena Watt at Idaho Falls Temple May 2022
Gil and I in St. George, Utah April 2022
View from Grandeur Peak Mother’s Day 2022
Jess and I in Dixie Rock area April 2022