It was so hot. The dashboard felt like I could fry an egg on it. So I stopped at 7-Eleven for a drink. When I saw the Slurpee machine…I. fell. in. love. Slurpees always remind me of home. My mom owned a bookstore in the small Utah town where I [...]

“If a non-member family moves into your neighborhood, don’t just automatically assume that they are different and that you can’t associate with them. Listen to the spirit and maybe it will tell you to be friendly. You may be able to give them something so precious that will completely change their life.”
Quote from a young [...]

My kids and I recently got back from a long driving trip. A very long driving trip. We visited eleven states, five zoos, and put more than 3,000 miles on our minivan. Even though I’d be lying if I said the whole thing was fun (the 20-hour death-march from Minnesota to Texas on the last [...]

I always forget how to hold newborn babies until I’m presented with one: the small face, old, wise, young, perfect. It’s not just that I forget how to hold them, though. It’s the feelings a newborn baby calls up inside me. I held my newborn nephew Saturday and it made me remember the joy, [...]

Have you read the latest issue of Segullah yet? If you haven’t, you’re missing out. Lori Nawn’s beautiful essay, “Cream of Wheat” caught my eye because I grew up absolutely loathing Cream of Wheat. I realize now we must have been eating (or, in my case, gagging on) the instant kind.
But I absolutely love [...]

What is left of the steam from the potato salad rises slowly, stops just above the dish and descends. Forks are scraping plates with hungry vigor, sausages are being passed from place to place, the vegetables, freshly-bought are crisp with life. Each mouth opens and closes, eyes sometimes follow. A slow, soft [...]

Hey Segullah Blog readers, it’s me, Heather H. Not the witty and ever-present Heather O., nor the poetically gifted Heather B. But me, the I-used-to-blog-about-once-a-month editorial staff member who has been scarce as of late due to a beautiful new baby. Do you remember me? Have you missed me?

I remember when my first was born and the foreign utterance that crossed my lips to my dad, while I was still in the hospital with my new baby.
“Now I know what joy is,” I told him. And he said, that’s right, that’s exactly right.
In Darlene’s beautiful poem, in the latest issue of Segullah (out [...]

A few winters ago, a few of my siblings and I met for a few hours in Palm desert. We lay on chaise lounges poolside, a hyper-green golf course stretched for acres to our right, a gondola splashed through a manmade canal, and hundreds of palm trees soared above us. It was so lush. Only [...]

This is the classic story of Emily’s Stolen Car: I walked out of the mall and scanned the parking lot for my car. No car. I walked up and down the rows of cars, hunting for my car. No car, no car. It must have been stolen.
I ran back inside and borrowed a phone [...]

I served on the Enrichment committee for a few years. This was a “stretch” calling for me. I loved working with the other women on the committee. I did not love Making Things Beautiful. I stink at it, and yet it’s a hallmark of Relief Society. Ask me to speak in church with ten [...]

I know I had it all figured out when I was twenty. I know, because I remember. I was at BYU, my 1980’s hair as big as ever (and beautiful, mind you), my mind filled with the fire of great political philosophers, my heart filled all brimming to the top with youthful pride. The world [...]

This is how I interpret the essay Keeping my Passport, by Lee Ann Setzer. Life is tough, and you gotta stick with it.

Today I conquered the deli counter.

I hate ants. With a passion. Growing up in Southern California, our home was plagued with them, and it drove me crazy. There is nothing worse than pouring yourself a bowl of cereal, adding milk, and watching ant corpses bob to the surface. It was enough to make an 8 year [...]