How to Age Well

Spring break is here so I went for a 4-mile run this morning because I could. On my way home I ran into Ron Thomas, my 87-year-old friend who I used to run into frequently back when I ran more. Here he is at about 75 with Ash at our little Lake Point 5K race.

We stopped and chatted for a minute. He used to run but now goes for daily 4-mile walks with a son and a neighbor. 87 years old and he walks that much daily ... except for Thursday because that's the day he works in the temple. Amazing!

Ron then proceeded to tell me that his sister is 93 and she has a doctor friend who lives by her who is 97. Recently the doctor has gotten a little unstable on his feet so he takes his walker out and still does his walk to her house. He gave Ron some advice which Ron passed on to me. It was three words.

WALK

OR

DIE

Well, if it works for those older people I'm sure it will work for me. Ron has always been someone I look to when it comes to aging well. He doesn't look or act his age.

That's been my quest in the last couple of years. How to age well.

1. 10000 steps or more every day. Every morning I go for a 1-mile walk. For my birthday I got a weighted vest, so my walk now includes that. My coworkers and I walk at lunch also. I try to go for a run once a week.

2. Weights. Since November I've consistently worked with weights twice a week. I know I'm getting stronger because I even beat Ash and Kiersten in an arm wrestle that they initiated.

3. Fuel. I'm figuring out little by little how to fuel my body better. I've been working on getting more protein and fiber into my diet. Breakfast is usually a smoothie bowl, eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, berries, chia seeds, flax seeds. Some combination of all that. I don't remember the last time I ate a bowl of cereal. I feel the difference. I really don't get hungry or even snacky until lunchtime.

4. SLEEP! I really think quality sleep is probably the most important thing you can do for your body. I'm usually in bed by 9:30 and up at 5:45. I don't use an alarm clock. My body just automatically wakes up at that time.

5. Stress. I manage my stress pretty good. I don't let things I have zero control over bother me.

6. Water. This is one area I can do better at. I try to get that first glass first thing in the morning and one when I get back from my walk. I'm just not good at sipping my water at school. I don't drink a lot of soda. I usually allow myself a Pepsi once a week, sometimes I'll go two weeks.

I just really want to have the energy to keep up with grandkids, work in my yard, enjoy this beautiful world, and do what God needs me to do. Those are really hard things to do if you have a body that doesn't work like you need it to.

A funeral for an aunt gone too soon

Grandpa Robert J. Ellis passed away in April 2023. Grandma Mary Bay Ellis passed in August 2024. At her funeral I told Tyler that he might not see all these cousins again for a long time.

Not true.

Tyler's Aunt Erika Ellis passed away from endometrial cancer just this past week. We attended her funeral today where we saw many of those same cousins just 7 months ago. Erika stood by her husband Dean (Laura's brother) as he talked about his mom at her funeral. I can vividly recall how tender that was. Little did either know that a month later Erika would be diagnosed and 6 months later we'd be attending her funeral.

She was only 61.

I turned 49 earlier this month.

It's been a very surreal day.

I think part of what made it surreal is that she donated her body to the University of Utah for scientific purposes (love this!) and will then be cremated. So when we walked into the relief society room at the church expecting to see a casket and it wasn't there and there was no interment afterwards, it just felt a little off, a little different, like it was all a dream.

I also think what has made it seem so unreal is that she was active, healthy, in shape. She was a runner, a hiker, a mover. But cancer is impartial and doesn't discriminate. It doesn't care who you are.

I think today has just left me in a more contemplative mood. She had a little time to think about her death and funeral. I haven't thought much about mine other than I told Alex last week at church after he leaned over to tell me that we were singing my favorite hymn How Firm a Foundation that they better sing it at my funeral -- all 7 verses!

What legacy have I left so far?

What legacy am I continuing to leave?

How do I want to be remembered?

Definitely some questions to ponder more deeply.

Hair n Lash with Ash

She did it! 

This hardworking girl completed hair school at Evans Hairstyling College in Cedar City.

Half of her schooling was done in high school so she had 1000 hours to complete instead of the 2000. Took her 8 months while at the same time she was doing classes through SUU and holding down a part-time job.

It wasn't easy but she was diligent and kept at it. I'm so incredibly proud of her.

Her interests are coloring hair and eyelashes.

She's got a job lined up working in a salon in Cedar.

She loves living in Cedar where she can hike, fish, go to the lake, hang with friends, shop or play tennis.

Her family, especially her siblings and nephews, is her support system whom she LOVES. She even surprised us last weekend and came home for our Super Bowl party.

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After celebrating with Ash, Tyler and I continued to Vegas to see Ty's favorite band U2 in concert. We had gone to Ireland years ago and got to watch a cover band there but never dreamed we might get the opportunity to see the band in real life.

Contingency Plans

 

A God who placed a star in the heavens millennia before the birth of Jesus Christ also commanded Nephi to "to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.

But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen." (1 Nephi 9:5-6)

Nephi reiterates again in 1 Nephi 19:3, "I had made these plates by way of commandment . . . for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord."

So Nephi wrote a second set of smaller plates not knowing why he should.

This same God who placed a star and commanded Nephi to make another set of plates also whispered to Mormon, the compiler of the gold plates, to add Nephi's unedited small plates to his (Mormon's) abridgment of the time of Lehi down to King Benjamin. "I [Mormon] shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren. 

And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." (Words of Mormon 1:6-7)

Mormon added Nephi's smaller plates to his abridgment, not knowing why he should.

Fast forward several thousand years to Martin Harris who lost 116 translated pages of Mormon's abridgment from Lehi down to King Benjamin. Satan assumed Joseph Smith would retranslate those 116 pages and he could bring forth the altered original to prove Joseph was a fraud. However, the Lord told Joseph to NOT retranslate. Instead He had made alternative plans for those lost pages -- not Mormon's point of view, but Nephi's according to his second set of smaller plates that covered the same time period of the lost pages.

The Lord knew Martin would lose those pages 2600 years before it happened, so he had Nephi make another set and then told Mormon to throw them on the gold plates.

That is a God we can trust.

This is a God of contingency plans.

This is a God of precision and details.

He has already placed "stars in a precise orbit" for my life making sure I'll have the blessings I need long before I even know of that need.

But most of all He is a God of love who wants to shower me with all the good things He has to offer.

May I be more like Nephi and Mormon in showing more obedience when I don't know or understand the whys.

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These are the days of

Hospital stays.

My niece Makayla has been at Primary Children's for over three weeks battling RSV. She spent a couple of days in the ICU, and just when it seems she's turned the corner and might be going home, something else comes up. We're praying she goes home before the 4 week mark.

And then my dad went in for a "routine" shoulder surgery (that's what my mom called it . . . so routine that none of us kids knew about it.) His heart rate dropped after being put under so the doctors backed off. They admitted him to ICU, waiting for his oxygen levels to stabilize. He's back home now but needs to see a cardiologist before attempting the shoulder surgery again. This is my dad who never gets sick, is the hardest worker I know, and who simply doesn't know how to be still. This photo was somewhat scary. He just looked so vulnerable. I'm not ready for him to get old. I can't imagine a world without a Sharman Seamons in it.

Why the Book of Mormon?

Why do I exercise?

Why do I wake up every day?

Why should I choose veggies over a cookie?

Why do I go to church?

Why do I pray?

Why do I reread books?

Lots of whys in our life. Take that last why. I have a read hundreds and hundreds of books in my life. I am part of a book club that has been meeting together for about 18 years, and when I recommend a book I read in my teens or early 20s, I always preface it with the fact that I really liked it then but it doesn't mean it will still resonate with me the same. So I read it again to see if it still holds that special place in my heart. Many times I come away with a different experience simply because I am different and at a different place in my life.

The scriptures are very much the same. They are not a one-time read. We are in a different space and time than other times we might have read them. They will resonant with us differently each time we study.

Why should I read the Book of Mormon again? I've read it many times in my life already.

One of the podcasts I listen to religiously every week is called Teaching Scripture. It turns out our Elder's Quorum president had a connection to Bryce Dunford, one of the hosts, and was able to bring him out to our stake for a Book of Mormon kickoff fireside and he shared the reasons we should read the book according to Nephi chapter 1.

Nephi gives us three reasons in the very first chapter of the book. Why is it probably the most read chapter in all of scripture? Probably because we never quite get why we are reading the book in the first place to continue to the finish line.

1 Nephi 1:11 -- "And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father [Lehi], and gave him a book, and bade him that he should read."

➞I've been given a book, the Book of Mormon, and bade that I should read it because . . .

1 Nephi 1:12 -- " And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord."

➞It will fill me with God's spirit.

1 Nephi 1:14 -- "And it came to bass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things ..."

➞I will witness many great and marvelous things in my life.

1 Nephi 1:19 -- "...he testified that the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of the Messiah, also the redemption of the world."

➞I will find Jesus in the book. That is the number one reason for reading the Book of Mormon, to find the Messiah who will come into my life and redeem my soul.

So why am I reading the Book of Mormon again?

Because ... 

I believe in a God and I need his spirit. That spirt makes me feel light and fills me with joy and peace. 

It clarifies doctrine not found in the Bible. At some point we all have to really think about the purpose of our life and the Book of Mormon gives us that direction.

It exposes Satan for who he really is and the tactics he uses.

I see my life in its pages.

But this year I am going to concentrate my efforts in finding Jesus on every page and in every story. Truthfully, I tend to get caught up in the narrative of the book and forget there's more to the book.

Jesus. Jesus is my reason for reading.

Read More. Write More.

January.

Cold.

Dark.

Depressing.

Blah.

The holidays are over and now there is January. In the past several years, January and I have become fast friends. What other month gives us a more slower pace of life, gives us time to reflect and gather strength for the coming months. January has become my month for reading, decluttering, regrouping, reevaluating. breathing more deeply. I even have come to prefer running in January versus July. With January also comes goal setting which I gave up years ago. I do think about where I've been and where I'd like to go but that happens all year long, not just in January.

However, this year I'd like to:

Read and write more in 2024. Has kind of a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Reading is hard.

Writing is hard.

Social media is easy.

This is my Goodreads list for books read in 2023.

Not bad. 18 books (although 2 I didn't even finish). 5200 pages. Until I tell you that in 4th grade I read 10,000 pages in one term to earn lunch with my teacher. I was the only student who completed that challenge. I think pages are more important than books when it comes to stats.

So I'm challenging myself to break that 10,000 page barrier this year. It's going to be tough. I have a lot of things vying for my attention and time. Reading takes a lot of mental alertness and focus which isn't easy to come by in the evenings when social media is so much easier to digest.

I challenge my students to read every night for 20 minutes. If they do, they earn a penny (2nd graders still LOVE pennies). If I read AND they read, they get 3 pennies. They love to keep me accountable.

Writing has taken a back seat to . . . I'm not even sure. But I do know that there is a connection between writing and remembering. I need to write more, especially about my scripture reading. I read them. I mark them. I write in them digitally and physically, but I'd really like to write to connect my life to what I am studying. Maybe it will be on this blog. Maybe it will be in my journal. We'll see.

YES to reading and writing more in 2024!

_________________

These are the days of:

Discovering how smart I was as a mom when I finally got to the last child. With all my decluttering, I found Alex's school poster and as I was dismantling it, I found that I had originally created it when he was in kindergarten and knowing he would have another to do in 1st grade, I kept it and simply swapped out the "All About Me" paper and kept the photos in the same place. I did this again in 2nd grade. I guess by 3rd, they no longer did birthday posters. Pretty genius of me and saved a lot of time. Just wish I had figured that out with my first 4.

I'm Back with Updates

I've been on a little hiatus. This blog had served me well. A place for thoughts. A place for documentation. A sort of scrapbook for photos. But it seemed like it was starting to drive me instead of the other way around and I needed a break. I really didn't know if I'd come back to it. But something has been nagging me to take it up again.

So here I am.

With a little update on the fam from the past year and a half.

Tyler and Missy. 26 Years. We got to celebrate by going back to Anthony's, a restaurant we went to on our honeymoon. Our yard was featured in the Tooele Garden Tour once again. Missy completed her 10th half marathon and started her 6th year teaching 2nd grade. Tyler finally decided to fix his Achilles with surgery. It's been a slow process but he's off the knee scooter and gradually gaining strength in that foot again. 

New babies and missionaries. It was a race to see who was going to make it first: Wesley or Nate. Nate was coming on August 26, 2022 and Wesley's due date was the 27th. Wesley joined us on August 23 just in time to make it to the airport for a fabulous reunion. Did I mention school also started that week!?!

Nate finished his first year at BYU as an Economics major, is teaching piano to students in Eagle Mountain and is a TA for a business writing class. He loves to go to the gym, play basketball, pickleball, run, and tennis. You'll find him at most sporting events for BYU with a myriad of friends. He is a gatherer of friends when he comes home occasionally.

Ash graduated from high school and is finishing up hair school in Cedar City with about 6 more weeks to go. She is everyone's favorite hair stylist. She also finished up her first semester at SUU doing classes online and in the evenings because hair school is pretty much an 8 to 5 job. Ash transitioned pretty quickly to grown-up life when she moved out in June. She loves the mountains, avocado and toast, McDonald's Sprite, and hanging with friends.

Erik has one more semester to go at USU and will graduate this spring, majoring in Data Analytics. He's currently looking for job opportunities in that field. For now, he eats, drinks, sleeps tennis. He is on the club tennis team at USU, playing number one singles, and has traveled to tournaments in California and Texas. He teaches tennis classes at the Sports Academy and had a minor surgery soon after his dad. He is soon to be engaged to the wonderful Emma who is a real life pro at ice skating. For reals! She can do all the twirly, skate backward kind of stuff.

Alex has been playing more tennis and is destined to be better than his brothers if he continues playing. He loves pickleball, coding, Minecraft, and has become obsessed with Kakuro puzzles. Alex has become an only child at home and still loves hanging with mom and dad on our weekly dates and watching basketball games.

Kiersten and Jason are busy raising two wonderful little boys. Kiersten teaches piano and works for the UofU part time in a research lab. She even got her name on a published article! Jason is the maintenance guy for a company and loves fishing anytime he can. They love to be outdoors and are still driving our 2005 van they bought from us 3 1/2 years ago. Go Toyota!

We were able to take family road trip to Oregon this summer and brought Grandma instead to take Nate's place who couldn't leave FSY stuff behind. Ash caught the one-and-only salmon and Jason was enamored with crabbing.

We have been healthy, other than maxing out our insurance for the first time ever this year, and ready to see what the new year brings. One wedding for sure :)