Tennis is the one form of exercise that is not painful to me. I feel grateful I can get out and run (well that’s stretching it) and have fun at the same time. Today our league team finished a week-long district playoff and we pulled out the win by the thinnest of margins. We now get to compete in a secional playoff in Salt Lake City. We will represent Nevada and will play against five other teams, each representing their respective state, from the inter-mountain area. I am thankful I can still have this activity in my life.

Today we celebrated Alan’s birthday. He is a wonderful son and a delight in our lives. He has a thing for Memphis Barbecue. Guess where we went to dinner?

President Uchtdorf gave a masterful talk on the importance of being merciful. We all want mercy applied to ourselves but it is much harder to be merciful to others. His words below are simple yet very profound in helping us become more merciful.

“This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

Stop it!”

Then he gave us this little self test:

“Do you harbor a grudge against someone else?

Do you gossip, even when what you say may be true?

Do you exclude, push away, or punish others because of something they have done?

Do you secretly envy another?

Do you wish to cause harm to someone?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to apply the two-word sermon from earlier: stop it!”

Richard sent me this fun posting today. Fathers are great but this says it all.

I always appreciate bright bold color. One may think of the desert as dry and lifeless, but even here we have vistas of color. No, I don’t mean the colorful neon lights of the city, but rather the natural colors seen in the landscape – in this case just west of the never-sleeping bustle of Las Vegas.