Well, sooner or later I had to create this little escape from the world, it was inevitable I am afraid, as I tend to love my 'alone times'.  I am a quiet person who loves to have space to dream and create. It takes me a while to get to know people but I am hoping you can get to know a little more about the person I am inside as I share my life on these pages.

Basic fascinating Bio :-)
I love taking photos with my digital camera!

I was born in London, Ontario, Canada on July 23, 1958; the middle daughter of 3 girls. We moved to a little village called Shenstone, Nr. Litchfield in the Midlands, England when I was 5 and I grew up there amongst the towering horse chestnut trees, bluebell strewn woods and rolling green hills.  I attended "Private' all-girls schools there.  One was St Margaret's in Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield.  When I was 14 we moved to Brussels, Belgium for a year and I spoke French pretty well back then. My family moved to the states, to Hudson, WI in 1973 and I graduated from Hudson High School in 1976 - Bicentenial Grads! YEAH!  

I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education with an emphasis/minor in music, from the University of Wisconsin Stout in 1980. The previous year I had married Michael Qualheim on August 11, 1979 (we met in the UW Stout Symphonic Singers) and we now have 5 wonderful children. Shaun, Christopher,Timothy, Patricia, and Katie Marie and 11 grandchildren. 

We live in the Moapa Valley, Nevada where we moved from Wisconsin in 1999.   Mike is the Human resources director for the Moapa Band of Paiutes. and I work for the Logandale NV Seminary and Institute as their Administrative Assistant and love my job! What a blessing it has been to have paid work when times have been difficult.

I also work at home as a web manager for Bev's Country Cottage (voluntary of course).  My site google ads and purchases from places like Amazon books from links I provide, help feed our family and keep this website going as it's expensive!  I also make and sell Mojave Blessing Pebbles. and run an ETSY shop!  

I spent 2003-2004 as the Media/Publicist for the 'Moapa Valley Arts Council' and 2005, 2006 year I  worked on their website, and helping sell tickets to performances. Here I am as Grisabella from CATS in the Moapa Valley Talent Showcase - Sept 2004.  I was asked to perform again the fall (2006) but that fall Mike and I were thrust suddenly in the middle of a move elsewhere for his job, (which he eventually quit-- thank goodness!). Things worked out so we were able to stay here.  Logandale is our home, our family, our life and we love it here and would like to stay here as long as the Lord would have us.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding." Prov 3:5

My number one priority is being wife to Michael, and mom/grandma to the Qualheim crew!  I have 5 terrific kids who have taught me much more than I could ever have learned in some stuffy office, or behind a desk managing things in this world!  I have learned of the laughter that rolls into your soul from a giggling 3 year old.  I have learned of the water that bathes my spirit in tears as I see my children struggle.  And seeing the world through their eyes, teaches me that my inner child can heal and blossom.  I am now a grandma also - 11 grandbabies!!  Can you believe it!?  They all live too far away and I miss them terribly.  

Wish they lived closer but I have decided to make my home the best grandma home ever for when they do come visit!  

The 5 Q's

Elder S. Qualheim at MTC

Elder C. Qualheim at MTC

I became an Osmond fan during the Osmond-Mania days in England in 1972. Donny and Alan have always been my favorites and Donny was  my first 'missionary'. I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since May of 1980.  You can read my personal Testimony of my faith - right HERE.
I worked for Alan for 6 years, as webmaster for TheFamily.com pages.  I learned so much and met some of the most wonderful people in the world with that job.
 

 I worked online with Donny Osmond from 1997 until Feb 2004, helping him create the My Beliefs pages, and I enjoyed helping answer some of the LDS mail that Donny received.  What great joy I experienced sharing the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with those who were seeking knowledge.  The Donny I have come to know is a very good person with a lovely sense of humor, and I really enjoyed working with him. I felt blessed in many ways to be able to help others learn about the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in this manner.  I always feel such joy as I do missionary work, because I know that those people can feel the same blessings and joy that I have in life. 

I attended a Donny concert Aug 4, 2005 at the Orleans hotel in Vegas and took a few rather blurry photos, but it was so much fun!

I am also a Cary Grant Fan, and my fave former TV shows are Bewitched, the Red Green Show from Canada, and EMERGENCY!    

MUSICAL TASTES
I awake in the morning, and the first thing that I think of is music. I fill my days with it so I can feel inspired and uplifted. My childhood was immersed in music with my mother singing, music playing in our home, or us all singing in the car on trips, and my favorite memories scan the days of singing with my Aunt Mary.  I now perform with our ward choir and that helps fill the void of not being in college choirs. I have a large classical music collection -although most are LPs though so I no longer can play them.  I play basic John Denver type guitar and tenor recorder--although I am horribly rusty on that!

Music often fills my dreams and my waking hours in the night when I am unable to sleep. I am often 'haunted' by songs that play in my head in my sleep, tunes I have not heard mingled with ones I know well.  I don't know enough keyboarding to write down what I hear though.  Someday perhaps.  I have been told I hum and sing in my sleep, which is interesting!  I wake up singing, even at 5:00 am always have even as a child.  I love early morning!

I have pretty eclectic tastes in music. I love Musical Theatre, contemporary jazz, light rock, R&B, classical, 80's music and more.  I have many favorite musicians too.  My childre are one of my fave 'groups' as they all sing but don't have much opportunity since they all live far apart now.  I love the group Chicago, Classic-Pop Piano player William Joseph - you have to listen to him!  What a young, talented man! Love harder 'rock'-  Trans-Siberian Orchestra (great symphonic rock sound) and I love Christian 'rock'. 

Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square formerly the Mormon Tabernacle choir, BYU Vocal Point, Nathan Pacheco, James Taylor, John Denver, Chicago, and Donny Osmond has always soothed me and brought me great joy since I was a teenager.  His voice has comforted me many times when I was going through dark waters in this life, so he remains my favorite artist. 
 

HOBBIES
My hobbies include: Crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, singing, and playing guitar, walking my dog 'Cookie' and petting our kitties Lily(a rescue) and Ginger (another rescue), Disney stuff- LOVE Disneyland ♥, doing research for our genealogy, drawing, writing prose, writing in general, swimming, reading (especially pioneer books).  My favorite authors are Laura Ingalls Wilder, James Herriot, Janette Oke, -- I LOVE to read! There are many more. I also enjoy mountains, camping, being outdoors, gardening, sunshine, searching for interesting rocks and fossils, travel, drawing the mountains, (did I already mention mountains!?)  writing poetry,web design, walking, studying alternative medicine and more. I've had a few bumps with health issues through the years, but I have decided the best course of healing is to put total faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ, and to use herbs and homeopathics whenever I can.  Telling myself every day "I FEEL GOOD, so GOOD!!"  "I am healthy and life is terrific!" all helps me 100%  :-)

Well, I listed my hobbies above, but one of them I didn't list is taking photos of sunsets, and here in the desert, there are some of the most amazing sunsets you will ever witness. I'd like to share a few photos I have taken as the sun sinks behind the mountains here. The 2nd photo is of a beautiful sunrise, the colors just don't photograph well. There are days when my mind starts early and I cannot sleep.  I often go outside to just look around and breathe in the fresh air, or I will write or paint.  The last picture is of a scene I created in my mind and I sketched out.  I love doing that.
 
 

One of my passions in life, is doing charity work. I have had a few trials, as we all have, and each one had brought me to a new level of understanding about how to help someone else.  One of my favorite hymns is "Because I have been Given Much".  It starts out:

I love that hymn!

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Border photo in Provo, Utah, taken by Christine Hill.  Border by Beverly Qualheim. Copyright 2002, 2011 All Rights Reserved

Back to Bev's Country Cottage right now :-)