Johnson's Mill

This last weekend my husband and I stayed at my favorite bed and breakfast, Johnson's Mill in Midway, Utah.  It's the best place to get away from all of the winter blahs, especially the inversion!  I'm sure it's a fabulous place to stay any time of the year, but I ABSOLUTELY love Johnson's Mill in the winter!  If you are looking for a romantic getaway for Valentine's Day this year, I can't think of a better place to spend a romantic weekend.  

Historic Johnson's Mill is situated on 25 acres of pure heaven.  It's adjacent to a beautiful lake and surrounded by all kinds of grand old trees and plenty of wildlife.  You can even rent snowshoes and wander the grounds which are next to a 300 acre nature preserve. 

 

The mill itself is gorgeous, beautifully decorated, with lots of warm fireplaces, and ten rooms to choose from that you can view online. My husband and I have stayed in several of the rooms and they are all fantastic, but my absolute favorite is the Waterfall Terrace above a 40 foot cascading waterfall.  Pictures can't do this room justice.  The panoramic view from this sizeable room is incredible.  

The room comes complete with a comfy king size bed, fireplace, and jetted tub.  Johnson's Mill has a turn down service between 6 and 7 p.m.  You will be delighted to find delicious, chocolate truffles on your pillows.  If you want to watch a movie or get a snack, Johnson's Mill has a small library of DVD's to choose from near the entry, along with scrumptious cake or cookies that you can take back to your room.

If you're crazy enough to want to bring the whole family.  I'd recommend the Presidential Suite which is a lovely 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room with a sofa bed.  It's every bit as romantic as the other rooms, just larger in scale. The view of the lake from this spacious apartment is definitely breathtaking!  

Breakfast at Johnson's Mill is always yummy!  This last week they served stuffed French Toast with lots of delicious berries!  It's the perfect winter breakfast with a few slices of bacon, orange juice, and a mug of hot chocolate.  The view from the dining area is also wonderful and you can often see wildlife as you savor your breakfast.  Check-out isn't until eleven and so there is plenty of time after breakfast to snuggle up with your honey or wander the grounds and take lots of pictures. I definitely love this bed and breakfast!  If you are looking for a cozy place, close to nature, to spend a romantic time with your loved one, there is definitely no better place in Utah than Johnson's Mill, especially in the winter months!  I will go back time and time again!  

 

Stuck in a Rut?

Have you ever had a rut problem?  Well, lately I've been having one.  And it is about time I stopped being stuck in it.  Living in Utah in January during an inversion is pretty much like living in dry ice smoke.  It's bitter cold, hard to breathe, and lacking in sunshine. It's rather depressing actually.  I think it's part of my rut problem, but definitely not all of it.  I'm feeling sluggish after the holidays, crazy in the head, and a bit downhearted.  In fact, I didn't realize just how bad I was stuck in my preoccupied rut until this last Sunday when I discovered that I'd entirely forgotten something very necessary.  I'm embarrassed to say that I became so scatterbrained getting my family ready for church that I actually forgot to wear a bra.  And to make matters worse, for 6 full hours I had no clue that I was even without one.

Photo Courtesy of Christopher Sessums via Flickr

 

Now to some of you this might not seem like a very big deal, but I've never gone outside without a brassiere since I was in fifth grade. In fact, I absolutely shouldn't. I can't even explain to my own brain how it even could have happened unless I tell myself that DownEast must put a lot of spandex in their t-shirts.  Other than that, I think I've completely lost it and gone out of my mind.  I actually don't remember having such a tough time overcoming feeling so out of it not since I was nine years old.

The favorite activity for all of my friends when I was a kid was riding bikes.  Packs of kids would race through the neighborhood having a great old time.  But I couldn't participate in this joyous freedom because, much to my embarrassment, I didn't know how to ride a bike.  And by the age of nine this had become a huge, humiliating problem.  It meant that I got left out and left behind.  Well, one day I decided that I'd had enough.  I decided that I was tired of being left out and left behind.  I vowed I would teach myself to ride a bike no matter what the cost. And so I wheeled my hand-me-down purple bike out of the garage and down our steep driveway. 

I lived on a street that had deep gutters and I found that if I put my bike in the gutter, I could push along with my feet on each side of the gutter all the way around the block back to my house.  That is exactly what I did for several days until I found my balance.  After I learned to balance, I learned to put one foot on the pedal and push.  I wouldn't even pedal all the way around at first.  I would just push hard on the pedal and coast as far as I could.  It was not without misfortune, however.  There was one place on the block where the gutter was especially filled with silt and mud.  I got stuck there often and actually fell in once, covering my legs with the awful mucky stuff.  It was hard to keep going after that, but I wanted to learn so badly.  I wanted to be free and with my friends and out of that restrictive rut. 

Eventually I learned to pedal all the way around with both feet and I found that if I just kept pedaling, it was easier to keep going all the way around the block.  I still fell sometimes, and I fell hard.  Riding around in a gutter wasn't the safest place to ride a bike.  There was a lot of stuff in that gutter that got in the way.  Steering helped eventually.  Once I learned to put the pedaling and steering together, I could avoid most of the sand, the rocks, and other junk.  Not much time passed before I realized I was ready to leave the gutter.  One day I pedaled super hard right out of the rut and I found that I was completely free with the wind in my hair and a thrill in my heart. 

While I was contemplating this morning on freeing myself from this annoying and depressing January rut, I realized that I'd taught myself years ago some important truths when I learned how to ride a bike:

1. First, decide that you've had enough and you are going to get out of your rut, no matter what!  Focus your energy on gaining freedom from whatever is that is keeping you stuck.

2. Find your balance.  Sometimes it take a few trips around the block using the sides of the rut for needed support.  It's impossible to get your balance with just one try.  Make little changes.  If something isn't working, try something new.  Whatever you do, do something that will bring a lasting change to get you out of your hum drums.

3. Put your foot on one pedal and coast.  Go easy on yourself.  Things are not going to get better all at once.  It takes work and it takes time.  So if there are bumps and messes along the way, don't get discouraged.  It will all turn out alright eventually with just a little practice.

4. Don't stop pedaling.  Keep going.  Someday you'll look back on this and be glad that you didn't give up.  In the words of Martin Luther King, "If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

  

5. Get a grip and steer.  There will always be obstacles to leaving your rut.  Do your best to steer clear of them.  If you keep pedaling and keep steering, eventually you'll find your way out, no matter how deep.

6. Pedal hard when you're ready.  There are much better roads ahead!  As soon as you leave your rut there will be wind in your hair and a thrill in your heart and the knowledge that you can overcome anything!

A Little Better

After thanking his neighbors for their service in providing a wonderful Christmas for his family, I heard a humble father say, "Life is never going to be fair, but we can make it a little better for everyone around us."  

I've thought a lot about these words.  It's true that life will never be fair and the more we try to make it fair the more disappointed we will be, but we can make life a little better for everyone.  I love the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley, “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey…delays…sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” 

Photo Courtesy of Juber Al-haddad via Flickr

I went to the dentist yesterday for my regular six month check-up.  Now going to the dentist for me is torturous.  Ever since my first root canal at the tender age of nine, I've developed an irrational fear of going.  Even the sound of the drill is enough to send me into fits.  I realize in my rational mind that going to the dentist is one of those necessary evils that I endure just for the sake of being healthy, but it's still hard.  It's one of those experiences where I just want to close my eyes like a child and pretend that I'm not there until it's all over.  But I have to say that my dentist and all his wonderful helpers do everything they can to make the experience a little better.  They offer me headphones, and a remote with all of the cable stations so I can watch the TV mounted in the ceiling, a blanket to keep me warm, meds if I want them, drinks, chap stick, and they complete the experience with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and some floss, along with coupons for free bread at Great Harvest Bread Company.  But the best part about the dentist experience is that my dentist and his helpers are kind, friendly, extremely smiley, and I know they genuinely care about me.  My dentist actually sees me!  Read my Truly Seeing blog if you don't know what I mean.  I definitely don't think it's fair that I've had to go through so many painful experiences with my teeth, but I'm so glad that these people are there to make the journey a little better.

We can all do that!  We can all make the journey a little better for those around us!  Like my husband said a few days ago, "We shouldn't want life to be fair."  If it was fair then we would all be condemned to that place of eternal torment.  The Savior has paid the ultimate price for each of us.  Every single one of us holds a place within His heart.  He gave everything He had to make life not just a little better for us, but a lot better.  In return, He asks us to make life a little better for those around us.  I'm grateful for the angels in my life that do that for me.  Imagine if we all did that for each other...

Gordon B. Hinckley, in his book, Standing for Something, tells us, “Imagine how our own families, let alone the world, would change if we vowed to keep faith with one another, strengthen one another, look for and accentuate the virtues in one another, and speak graciously concerning one another. Imagine the cumulative effect if we treated each other with respect and acceptance, if we willingly provided support. Such interactions practiced on a small scale would surely have a rippling effect throughout our homes and communities and, eventually, society at large.”

I hope that we can make life a little better for all those around us today.  It doesn't have to be much.  Even a smile, a note, a compliment, or little bit of recognition can brighten the world and make life "a little better" for everyone.

My Hope for the New Year

When my sister and her family were on their way to a holiday event one day last week, they noticed a blind man trying to cross the busy street in front of them.  Because of the new fallen snow and the build-up of icy drifts, the blind man couldn't find the edge of the sidewalk and was unable to properly determine his direction.  He therefore struggled to find his way, backing up traffic.  That's when the world suddenly became perfect,for just a short bit of time.  My sister watched as several good-hearted individuals parked their cars right in the middle of the road and went to help the blind stranger make his journey across the busy highway.  No one honked or yelled in irritation as the traffic light changed from red to green.  No one tried to go around the beautiful spectacle.  All watched, patiently transfixed by the show of brotherly love.  When the blind man was safely on the other side, another woman offered to take this blind stranger where he needed to go. 

 

Photo Courtesy of NCReedplayer via Flickr

When moments like these happen, I am once again reminded that love is stronger than hate, and forgiveness is more powerful than revenge.  I reflect upon the great examples of love and forgiveness in my life, and how deeply I am touched when someone gives the beauty of love instead of ugliness.  There is always plenty of ugliness to go around, what we need in this world is more Godlike love. 

I went to see the movie Les Miserables this last week, and I was so touched once again by the wonderful story of Jean Valjean who finds redemption by truly learning to give his life to God by serving his fellowman.  The movie is a tear jerker and teaches the profound power of love and charity.  I love the words written by Victor Hugo quoted by the character Jean Valjean, "To love another person is to see the face of God."  I think there is great truth in these words that we can all learn from.

A friend shared the story of her husband's family recently and it has forever changed my life.  Her father-in law is a paraplegic and her mother-in-law must care for her paralyzed husband constantly, around the clock.  As you can imagine, this is a demanding and strenuous life.  When times get difficult and she grows tired and taxed, she imagines that she is giving her service to the Savior in order to make it through.  Can you imagine how much better the world would be if when we grew tired and taxed with those around us, especially those who might be a challenge in our lives, if we imagined that we were serving the Savior instead?  I think this is what the Savior meant when he said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 

As we begin a new year and the Christmas decorations are once again boxed away, I hope that we won't forget the love that our Savior brought into this sometimes dark and complicated world.  His redeeming love can change our hearts and our lives forever and the lives of those around us, as well. 

When times grow tough, let us all resolve to give love to our Savior by serving those around us.  In the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” That is my hope for the new year for all of us!