Mother's day 2026

Mother’s day has been good this year. It started by going to Add and Bre’s home and getting pictures will all of them– as I do– then we went to their sacrament meeting where Poppy gave a talk all about her mom. It was darling.  Poppy was so confident.  Plus, the primary sang (Addison leads them), so we got to hear from George and Poppy.  Geo had his sparkly jacket and tie on today– looking sharp as usual.  They gifted me an amazing necklace that went perfectly with the dress I was wearing, so I put it on immediately.   Add and Bre went up to Heber to be with Bre’s momma– Addison made a grandma Sheri Berry trifle to celebrate.  It was a hit– he’s got the recipe down! (Danish Dessert is the secret ingredient)

I taught RS today– all about my favorite scripture, “As I have loved you love one another”- so that was good.Then home for dinner, which was brought in by Landon and Alex for all of us.  A delicious Brazilian lasagna- salad- fruit- bread- dessert all the fixings and Lexi and I didn’t have to do any of the work.   We had the Buzelli boys, Truman. (Sophia was at her mom's)

Mons and Lexi and girls and their bonus family and Paula Carlson. 

Bonus girls:  Armanee, Amayia, Aria

It was a gorgeous day to eat outside.  And I got my pictures with everyone… We went around the table and shared something their mom or grandma taught them, and it was really good to hear from everyone.  

 I shared some things my mom (SHERI) taught me:

People are more important than things!

Family matters.   Family relationships aren’t always easy but they are worth it.

God first.  He was always my mom’s north star.  She was never too tired or too busy to follow Him. 

Mom was a believer and called upon her “angels” daily.

Live with purpose.  Who you decide to be each day matters.  Love intentionally.

Ask yourself: “Who do I want to be?”  “How do I want to show up?” 

 

Be confident.  My mom always assumed we were capable finding solutions and figuring things out.  Because she had confidence in us, we found it in ourselves. Mom treated “I can’t” like a swear word. She would gasp and then have us say instead…”I’m not able to at this time, but I will keep trying.”  

Look for the “one.”  There is always someone out there who could use your love.  Find them.   Mom’s the one who asked for the “hard” people to minister to in her ward.  She just wanted to offer friendship and she was so good at it. 

We all have different talents... use the ones God gave you.  Her license plate surround read, “I can dance”  as a reminder of this.  It also said, "Damn, I'm good."

Show up.  For the funeral, the shower,  for the performance, for the activity.  Life is more meaningful done together.  Be everyone’s biggest cheerleader.  If you can’t physically show up— send a note, a phone call, a text ..something

Look at the world around you.  Enjoy the sunset.  Rhapsodize about the sky and the clouds.  God put this all here for us as a reminder of Him. Be passionate about it

Laila texted really nice stuff and we got to facetime at night with her.  

Happy Mother’s Day momma! You have taught me that learning and taking risks are part of life, and also a big part of growth. Just some more things you have taught me and have stuck: people matter more than things showing up matters life is better when it’s filled with laughter mental health days are okay, and needed 20 second hugs make a difference Kindness is so important Music is beautiful, whether it be playing or listening or dancing to Ordinary days can be some of the most memorable I treasure so many memories with you. I am so lucky to have you. Thank you for being the coolest

It’s a gorgeous sunset and a gorgeous day.  I love being a mother and a meema.   

Poppy's talk

Poppy spoke in sacrament meetingon Mother's day 2026

Today I want to tell you why I love my mom.

My mom is really special to me. She is kind, she always cares for me, and she has a beautiful singing voice. She is also different from other moms because she does shows at night and is an amazing actress. When I grow up, I want to be like my mom. I want to sing and be an actress too.

My mom is really good at making sleeping bag jackets and taking pictures. She owns her own photo business and is amazing at it.  She also eats the same breakfast every single day. She eats Greek yogurt with protein peanut butter and berries. She never gets tired of it, and now it’s what I like to eat for breakfast too.

My mom is really funny. She’s good at telling funny stories that make everybody laugh. She sings songs about her Dr Pepper and does funny dances.  If my mom were an animal, she would be a giraffe because she loves giraffes and she is really tall.

I have lots of good memories with my mom. I love traveling with her to the Disney parks and to Hawaii. One of my favorite memories with her was swimming with manta rays in Hawaii. At first, I was scared, but my mom said a prayer with me right there in the dark water. She helped me be brave and face my fears. Now, swimming with manta rays is one of my favorite things in the whole world.

My mom makes me feel loved because she hugs me and tells me she loves me all the time and she helps me feel closer to Jesus. She wakes up earlier than me and gets scriptures ready so she can teach our family from the Come Follow Me lesson before school.

Something my mom has taught me is that Jesus wants us to ‘love one another.’ I think my mom is really good at doing that because I know she sees everyone as a child of God. That’s a way my mom is Christlike; she loves everybody in her family, neighbors, and all of her friends, no matter who they are or what they believe. 

Moms are important! Heavenly Father gave us moms so we could be alive- moms help the babies come to earth, and so they could help us when we need help. For example, my mom helps my whole family stay organized and know what to do- especially dad.

Mom, I’m so so so so glad you’re my mom. You’re perfect for me. I hope you know that I love you very much.

I know families will be together forever. I know Heavenly Father made us and loves us. And I’m thankful for my mom and for Jesus.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

New look for our home

 Wayne dug the old trees on the front mow stip up, that the deer rubbed their antlers on and mutilated last fall-- and we replaced them with gorgeous flowering plum trees!  Now we just got to remember to protect them from deer antlers this fall.  They will look great!

We redid our wall in the dining area.  Wayne and I got this huge picture at a garage sale in St. George, along with the rug under the table for $125.00 for both.  It was a steal and makes this area look so great.  The picture is a sunrise over a field of lavender in Provence, France.    It's 6 1/2 by 51/2 feet wth a really heavy frame.  I put the shelves that were in this space over above the sliding glass doors now. 

What I wore in April - Dress for Joy

 

April training meetings

Utahonline K-5 School group....Back row:  Julie Baggaley, Jen Larsen, Marianne Shaheen, Jessica Everett, Hollie Bybee, Deann Stratton, Laura Belnap, Brooke Brown, Me.  Front row:  Andrea Charlton, Tara Criddle, Paula Finlinson, Sheila Hamlin, Julie Morales, Mindee Taylor, Summer Johnson

I had school training in St. George this week. Training time is good– I love seeing my fellow online teachers and spending time with them, and learning from them.  I’m always amazed that one of my besties Laura Belnap, built this– she is a visionary, and I’m so grateful I jumped on board the Utahonline train for the past 21 years!    I announced my retirement for 2027!  It felt good and sad all at the same time.  One more year of doing all the things, including April teacher training.

Wayne got to spend time in St. George with his buddy Eric– they walked, hot tubbed, swam in the pool, watched sports and movies, and sat around a lot, because of Eric’s broken ribs and Wayne’s recent surgery… but they did a lot of talk therapy and naps in between all of that.

I got in the pool and hot tub one time...and my swimsuit blew up like a life preserver... wow, Dolly Parton has nothing on me.  
 

Sleeping bag into a Jacket magic

It's like Magic!

We are all into taking old Disney sleeping bags that we buy on E-bay and turning then into one of a kind jackets.  I made me a Mickey one and Wayne a Star Wars one just in time for "May the 4th be with you."

 

Melinda's talk 4/26/26

 I love walking at my Layton City Park, because of the ducks and the squirrels. I walk on the sidewalk and there are all these lines right in between the different sidewalk sections. When I look down, I get caught up and focused on not stepping on the lines as I walk.  I notice my feet and the exactness of my step as I try to stay on the squares and avoid the lines.  “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back”

 It feels like I can’t help it.  It’s just kind of funny but it’s what I do. 

BUT, when I look up, I don’t even notice that the lines are there.  I see the sky and the gorgeous trees and ducks and all the beauty surrounding me and I don’t care if I step on a crack.

So I was thinking about this in terms of the gospel —when I’m trying to stay within the lines and do the exactness of the gospel- the rules of the gospel, it seems hard.  That’s where my focus is, but it’s not on Christ. When I look up, my primary connection is with Jesus Christ, and the lines are secondary and it doesn’t seem so hard.

Scriptures and Prophets  constantly remind us to: Look to God and Live.

Why is it a challenge to consistently look up in our lives? Perhaps we lack the faith that such a simple act can solve our problems. 

When the children of Israel were bitten by poisonous serpents, Moses was commanded to raise up a brass serpent on a pole. The brass serpent represented Christ. Those who looked up at the serpent, as told to them by the prophet, were healed with the promise “that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”  But many others failed to look up, and they perished.

Alma agreed that the reason the Israelites did not look to the serpent was that they did not believe doing so would heal them. Alma’s words are relevant to us today: “O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful … ? “If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for [our] sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead.”

Our world today is often characterized by fear and anxiety—fear of what the future might bring for us. But Jesus has taught us to trust and “look unto [Him] in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

When I’m walking and only looking down, my walk feels endless and monotonous. When I look up my perspective changes, the time flies by, my thoughts are lifted and I feel energized. 

Life is good.  And life is Hard.   Pres. Camille Johnson said , “It’s going to be hard.  You can do hard with Jesus or you can do hard alone.  When you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes Holy.”

I have noticed this in my own life. I was thinking of a past hard time when looking up helped me to get through it and turned it holy.

When my daughter was six years old, she fell from a 6 foot height straight onto her head onto a wood floor and cracked her skull open. This is our only daughter that we prayed for and longed for after having four sons and then at age 40 we adopted this beautiful brown baby girl.   Laila has my whole heart.  

The night Laila fell is the same night  I was supposed to be leaving on an airplane to meet Wayne in China, instead I ended up having our daughter life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital as we were told she might not live.  Wayne was stuck in China and I was all alone overnight in the intensive care unit- Just praying, and crying,endlessly praying that God would see my girl and help us through this difficult time. Somewhere in the night. I had this thought that it would be OK if God took Laila.  I was just grateful to have had six years with her as her mom. I turned it all over to God and I was at peace.  It was such a hard time, but truly what got me through was looking to Christ and knowing that His will would be done and I would be OK with it.   Things were not going well. 

Wayne was stuck in China trying to get a flight home. The doctor told us that if Laila made it through the night, she would most likely be living on machines for the rest of her life and her quality of life would be very diminished. 

She did make it through the night and the next time the doctors checked her they said wow,  her cracked skull and bleeding on the brain are gone…she has made great improvements but she’ll probably be here in Primary Children’s hospital for about four months to help her learn to eat, talk and walk again.

And the next time the doctors checked her, they said, " Wow, she continues to improve, but she’ll probably be here in the hospital with us for about four more weeks just so we can monitor her.

 And then, miracle of miracles, four days after the accident, we were released from the hospital, with Laila told to just take it easy and she could start back in school in a week.  This happened just as Wayne was able to get off his return flight from China. It took him 4 days to get home…in China 4 is considered a very unlucky number– and it was for him…. But I believe God wanted it this way for me …I learned a lot. 

This experience taught me so much because I felt physically alone through it. In the past, I had my Wayne right by my side to lean on, but through this hospital stay, I only had Christ to lean on. I had a constant prayer going on, and it really built my testimony and my faith, and helped me to see that I could go through hard with or without Jesus, but because I looked up and went through it with Jesus, this situation became holy. 

 We all have hard things in our lives.  Days when fear and anxiety seem to take over and pull us down.  I testify to you that in our hard we need to Look to Christ and live. He will redeem us and heal us.  The hard won’t automatically be made easy…but going through it with Jesus Christ you will feel better, more supported, more cared for, more loved…more holy.

   I am grateful for the sidewalk that I walk on each morning as I go see the ducks; I'm grateful for the covenant path that's in front of me, and I know my walk is more beautiful when I look up.