jeremy passed the GRE test

Jeremy took the GRE test on Monday and passed with a score of 1010! Yea! Now we can apply to graduate school for nurse anesthesia. The schools we are considering are back east - Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida. We won't be going until next January - we missed the deadlines for the programs that start in the fall.



This scrapbook page is another stretch out of my comfort zone of design, I'm playing around with more of the trendy design aspects that seem to currently be popular. I really like the effect of the small picture in the lower corner. The tutorial for this effect is on Jessica Sprague's web page (sugar city girls will remember her name as Jessica Bills). She has lots of really neat tutorials. I am currently taking her photo enhancement class and am learning lots.

Here is my spring mosaic - I did not take these pictures - I just put them into a mosaic. I hope my friend Heather doesn't think I'm too much of a copy cat, but she just does so many wonderful things that I want to try for myself - thanks for always inspiring me and then telling me where to go find stuff Heather - you are the best!
Don't these pictures just bring such a feeling of newness and a breath of fresh air - I love it!

Great Conference Idea

Here is a great conference idea. Go to this blog to read all the details.

Spring

Here is a different type of scrap page for me. I usually don't do the cutesy thing - but this kit was too precious to pass up - and the kit was free (from Shabby Princess), it doesn't get better than that - well, except that the photo of Lydia is just way too cute.

hey

Little Lou waking up from a nap. She just had the sweetest face - she is so quick to smile. I really need to do her 6 month photos before she's not 6 months anymore. I've hardly got my camera out at all this past month.

The words on the picture is my copyright watermark. I don't know if is really necessary, but my blog isn't private and usually I don't just post an individual picture, usually only scrap pages. My husband asked why my blog isn't private, I don't know - maybe I should, I just like to think that the world is good and innocent and that there are no problems in blog land.

Why is it that some go private? I need feedback - what are the reasons, what are the pros and cons, if I don't go private what are some cautions I should keep in mind?

just one more

I just had to add one more layout that I did. I love this picture of Becca, and I copied this layout from one I found online. Sometimes I don't like trying to copy someone else's layout because I can't get mine to look the same and I like the original better, but over all I think this turned out well.

Charlie reading

Charlie's reading skills are really taking off. I started teaching him to read last summer using "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons", which is a great book for teaching kids to read. He was a reluctant learner and didn't really want to do lessons very often. We still have never made through all the lessons. I think it was when I started having him read in the Book of Mormon that he got more into reading. He knows his letter sounds really well and can sound things out, but as we all know, most words are not phonetic and can't be sounded out - there are letter combinations that are common, and knowing those helps, but really a lot of words are sight words. As we would read in the Book of Mormon I would just let him choose a verse and then we would go through, him sounding out the words that he could and me telling him the words he didn't know. It really didn't take too many times of the same word until he had it down and I didn't have to tell him any more. We would put a sticker by the verse he had read and then next time we read in the Book of Mormon he would read that same verse again. We haven't done this on a consistent basis at all, but still I'm amazed at his reading skills.

I figure if I'm bored reading the grade level readers he must be too - actually I remember feeling that way when I was a kid - who wants to read 3 letter words over and over and over and over. Kids can learn much more quickly than we give them credit for. Sure, there are foundational skills that they need, but on the other side they need books that are interesting to read - sentences that make sense and that are worth reading.

Today Charlie sat down with a "Magic Tree House" book, which is definately not a Kindergarten level book - maybe 3rd grade or something. He had to ask me quite a few words, but was able to read 8 pages. Again, he only had to ask for the same word a time or two and then started recognizing it on his own. It's so fun to watch the magic of reading come alive for Charlie. Like I said, he has been a reluctant reader, but is coming around and as his skill level develops he is loving it more and more. I think he is too much like me - he wants to do everything well - now, not in time through practice, just instantly do things well now.

Digital scrapbooking

My friend Heather inspired me to make a new chore chart. The last one I made for my kids was just words because I didn't have any cute stickers or graphics (these are from The Lily Pad). I'm going to laminate them and then they can make x's on the empty spaces when they have completed their tasks. I'm really hoping to help them develop some good habits. So far we are hit and miss, which I know is my fault, I'm hoping this will help us all be more consistent.


I am teaching a photoshop elements class for a Relief Society enrichment activity so I have been putting together a class outline. The above page of Charlie was the result of me learning about masking - what an awesome time saving feature that I never knew about. This pink page below of Becca is my sample of what we will learn to do in the class. Since it is a beginning class I made up most of the page and the class will just learn how to add a photo and the text. If any one sticks with the class then I will show more details and skills.


However, today I found a great resource for those of us who are trying to learn digital scrapbooking using photoshop elements. Two Peas in a Bucket (a digi scrapbook website) has free video tutorials which are amazing. On the right side of the page is a section called class lessons and so far they have 7 lessons posted. It is incredible to watch someone doing it rather than trying to read it out of a book, or even someones post online. My skill level has increased much just today from watching some of those videos.

super hero

Tom is a funny boy - very creative and imaginative. The green thing on his face is from a two pack of juice bottles and even when it was still on the bottles he saw the possibilities a green piece of plastic had. He was carrying the green thing around and asked me for some tape. Next thing I knew he had it safely taped to his face and was a super hero - it was just bonus that his shirt matched his mask - made it look like an authentic outfit. He made me take pictures of him from all sides (thus the shot of the back of his head). I was surprised at how well scotch tape held that on his face - it didn't come off until he pulled it off.

Tom really is a super kid - he loves to be helpful. Right now his big thing is his birthday - which isn't until July, but talking to him you would think his birthday is next week. Every day he tells me the details of his birthday party - a pinata, swimming, birthday cake, camping out, cousins, etc. - and that he is so excited that he will get transformers for his birthday.
Tom also really loves his preschool and every day that it is not preschool (Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat) he is counting down to when preschool is (Tue, Thur). I'm surprised that he is still so excited every time for preschool.

The next big holiday around here is St. Patricks day. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have never really made a big deal out of St. Patricks, but looks like this year we are going to go all out. Last week when were at Target the boys convinced me that they needed green shirts for St. P - they did not want to get pinched and they didn't want a shirt that just had some green on it, they needed green shirts. Target only had one green shirt to choose from - so they got matching green shirts. Today Charlie informed me that he wants to have a party on St. Patricks and have all the cousins come - I'm not much of a party person, so they will have to convince dad to help them put a party together.

Sunshine and warm weather

The sunshine and warm weather has gotten us outside, therefore my house is a mess and I am never at the computer anymore. Tuesday the kids and I spent the afternoon in the "jungle" - an empty lot kiddie-corner behind us. The neighbor next to the empty lot has a trampoline and let the kids jump on it. Today we (except for Charlie, who was at school today) spent the afternoon at the park with my cousin Annie and her baby, Ellie. After we picked Charlie up from school and he found out we had spent the afternoon at the park he also wanted to go the park, so I obliged - I didn't want to go home and have to face the mess - it is seriously bad - tomorrow I'm dedicating the day to cleaning the house (the kids are grounded tomorrow - so they have nothing else to do anyway, except help me clean).
Yesterday afternoon was spent at the dentist. Poor Charlie, who has already had two molars pulled had to have another tooth pulled and a silver cap put on the tooth behind that one. His molars are nothing but trouble. The dentist is doubting how long the silver cap will save that tooth - it might have to be pulled before it's natural time to fall out. I'm hoping the problem is just with his baby teeth and that his permanent teeth won't be so troublesome - but seeing that my molars are all fake or full of fillings isn't a good omen for him.

My sister Susan has been in Hawaii for the past week (hi Sue) - how lovely would that be - a week in the beautiful tropics with no concerns or responsibilities. A vacation sounds very nice about now - except, as much as I love and adore my children it would have to be a kidless vacation. Jeremy and I took a kidless vacation 3 years ago (when I was pregnant with Becca) to the California coast and the Sequoias - it was a great vacation. The year after that we went with kids (and Aunt Deb along to help us with the 3 kids) to San Diego and Sea World. I love San Diego - that was our third time there - and that is still where I would like to go on another vacation. Jeremy thinks he would like to go on our next vacation to Disneyland - I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Last year, as a test run, we took our kids to the Lagoon. It was great and we had a lot of fun, so I'm not sure what my hesitation is about Disneyland - well, except for the cost. I figure, well the kids loved the Lagoon, it was fun, they want to go again, why not just go to the Lagoon - I just have a hard time shelling out so much money for an amusement park. Of course I've never been to Disneyland before, but can it really be worth that much more money?

Create

There are some really beautiful videos out that combine music, pictures and the words of the apostles that really bring a new depth of meaning and inspiration to the words and message of the apostles.
This video is from Elder Uchtdorfs message last fall at the womens sessions of conference about creating as a means of finding joy.

Too funny - Too bad it's true

I had to share what I found on someone else's blog about the stimulus package:

Sometime this year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment? A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money? A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money? A. No, they are borrowing it from China . Your children are expected to repay the Chinese.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment? A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ? A. Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:
If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China .
If you spend it on gasoline it will go to Hugo Chavez, the Arabs and Al Queda
If you purchase a computer it will go to Taiwan .
If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras , Chile , and Guatemala .
If you buy a car it will go to Japan and Korea .
If you purchase prescription drugs it will go to India and Canada .
If you purchase heroin it will go to the Taliban in Afghanistan .
If you give it to a charitable cause, it will go to Nigeria .

Tom and Becca

How Do I Love Thee

Here is a beautiful video perfect for Valentines Day

You can do hard things

If you think you can't do hard things, think again. Watch Nick and he'll show you that trusting in God makes all the difference.

Marriage

I read an article by Oliver DeMille in which he talked about marriage as the central relationship in society. He quoted a journalist that said that women with children think of themselves first and foremost as mothers. This is confusion. If you are married with children, you are first and foremost a wife.
This statement got me thinking - do I put my role as wife first? With four young children they are quite vociferous in their demand of my attention. I know that sometimes my husband wonders where he fits in. Fortunately we do have a built in babysitter (my dear sister Debbie lives with us) which allows us the flexibility to leave in the evenings after the children are in bed.

I watched a movie last week - "Fireproof" which was about a married couple that was ready to call it quits when the husband's dad asked him to take the Love Dare - a forty day journey to love and serve his wife with no expectations of her. This movie really got me thinking about my commitment of serving my husband. My husband is good at serving me and thanking me and showing such kindnesses. This morning, after working a 12 hour night shift, he cleaned the whole kitchen, loaded the dishwasher, washed the hand dishes, wiped the counters and swept the floors - what a fabulous thing to wake up to - a clean kitchen - a bouquet of flowers couldn't have been more beautiful.

On a scrapbook blog that I visit she mentioned that her mother had a tradition of doing the "14 days of Valentines" where she would do one thing each day on the days leading up to Valentines Day. I thought this was a great idea. I've never made too big of a deal out of Valentines - but I think it's time I started - a time to go the extra mile in showing my love how much I love and appreciate him.

Happy Groundhog Day

Baby Lydia is wishing you a "cool" day.

These photos are courtesy of 4 yr old Tom (who is convinced that on his next birthday he is turning eight. In fact, today he had a tape measure he was using to measure how old the other kids were). Tom put the sunglasses on Lydia and then insisted that I take a picture. I told him to go get the camera for me and when he came back he decided he needed to be the one to take the picture - he then proceeded to take pictures of many other things around the house. Kids love cameras. I love digital cameras - I would never have let him run around the house taking pictures of whatever he wanted with a film camera. Digital is fun because they can see on the camera screen what they took a picture of and then the pictures can be loaded on the computer for them to see their artistic work - all at no cost.


So, my challenge for myself is to eat wholegrain breakfast, which is going great, but dinner was a little lacking. Jeremy went to work tonight before I made dinner, so I gave the kids leftover macaroni, which they love, but I do not, so I didn't eat anything. I didn't know what I was in the mood for, I did eat a slice of bread. So, just now, realizing that I didn't have dinner I settled for a cup of hot cocoa and will call that good enough for tonight. I'm too "moody" sometimes when it comes to eating and fixing food. The rare times that I make a weekly dinner menu I don't usually stick to it. I wish I had a gizmo like the Jetsons had - like a vending machine, but for dinner, type in the code and walla - dinner.

I'd really be fine if our bodies only required feeding once a day, or maybe once a week.
Have you ever pondered why eating is so constant - I mean, we only go to church once a week, why not only eat once a week. I actually have pondered on this before, and as much as I would like to give up eating I know that there is purpose in the need for "constant nourishment" for our physical bodies. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us that all things physical are spiritual also. The constant need for physical nourishment is a reminder of the constant nourishment that our spirit also needs. I enjoy spiritual nourishment and meal planning more than I do physical, however, I still find the same struggle with getting it in - ie, making it a priority.
I think my next challenge will focus on spiritual nourishment.

Joyful baby Lydia

Return to Health - Challenge 1

In effort to achieve more energy and health I've decided I need "progress" (my goal for this year) points of small things I can add to my daily routine.

For this week and maybe the next few week my challenge is:

Eat whole grains for breakfast

I am a cereal lover and could eat it every meal let alone every morning for breakfast. Now, potentially, there is nothing wrong with cereal, but as the start to the day and as a mainstay food it falls short in the nutrition category. I'm sure there are healthy, wonderful cereals that categorize as whole grain (like All-Fiber, but seriously, who could really eat that every day - gag).
What I mean by whole grains is "whole" as in not processed - which even rolled oats are stretching it because they are processed - they are rolled. The more whole version of rolled oats are steel cut oats, which, by the way, are 10 times better than rolled oats - I felt so jipped when I found out about steel cut oats. All this time I thought I hated oatmeal, but really I just don't prefer rolled oats that are cooked.

So far one of my favorite whole grains that I've found is actually a medley of grains - corn, wheat, oats, nuts, dried fruit - it's called "Dee's Cereal" and I buy it at Harmons. Because all the grains are cut small (not processed, just cut) it cooks quickly. My kids love oatmeal and whole wheat pancakes, so that is what I usually feed them.

So here's to my first challenge - if you like, join with me on my adventure and we'll do this together. Let me know what other great breakfast options there are - what are your favorites.

Hair and kids

Lydia in her new bouncer - she loves it for about 5 minutes at a time - then she wants to be held again.
Look at that sweet face - she is so adorable!





















Jeremy currently has a beard. I love it, but he continuously is threatening to shave it off. He has such a baby boy face that the beard makes him look more like a man. Either way - he is a handsome man and I love him.






I got my hair cut last week - I wasn't going for that short of a cut - but I'm glad it ended up that short - I love it! It is super easy to do and stays looking nice the whole day. When I had long hair it always ended up pulled back in a pony tail sooner or later.






My children are ever adventurous and last week decided to rearrange their room. Charlie took his mattress off the top of the bunkbed and put his shelves and some chairs on the platform. His mattress is on the floor, where it has stayed since last week and so far they still like the arrangement. With his mattress on the floor there isn't much floor space left. This arrangement might end sooner than later because it is starting to bug me - I don't like stepping on the mattress to get to the window and to get to the dresser.

Friend magazine online

Have you seen the new options for the online Friend magazine
It now has interactive online things for kids to do - color, listen to stories, games, etc. I had a fun time using the online coloring - try it out.
The Friend is the greatest resource - I am just starting to realize the possibilities. The other day Charlie and I did the mystery word hunt at the back of the January 2009 Friend. It was great, not only as an activity to do together, but it gave him great practice with the alphabet and putting words together - what a fun way for him to learn.

Our open house trip

We had a wonderful time last week going to the Draper Temple open house. To read the details of the event click on the scrapbook page picture and it will come up big in a new page and you can read what I journaled there.


Besides that, there isn't much new to write about. We've been keeping it pretty low key here. I've been so tired lately and we haven't done much of anything - no park days, no library time, not really much of anything.

Wacky Hair

This picture page was really fun to put together. It's fun to explore photoshop elements and try new things. I'm also excited that this layout is all my own design - the layout I was using as inspiration looks nothing like what I came up with, but I couldn't get my pictures to work for the other layout and instead of starting over I just moved around the pictures and added borders and shadows until I created something that looked good to me.

The pictures are from a couple weeks ago when Jeremy was washing the kids. Usually the kids scream and hate when he washes their hair (I would too, he pours the water over the top of their head while they are still sitting up and it runs all down their face. I always have them lay back so the water doesn't get in their face). Well, in effort to prompt more fun and cooperation of the ordeal he gave them mohawks - which they loved. Tom still asks if I will do a mohawk for him with the hair gel so that he can wear his hair for the day like that - I tell him that is just for tubby time fun.

Winter Days

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and today is too - I LOVE sunny, warm days that are reminiscent of summer days. Now that Jeremy is working nights (and sleeping days) he is home in the afternoon. Yesterday afternoon we took the kids to the park and played for 3 hours. It was almost 60 degrees and the kids didn't even wear jackets. This is why I love living in St. George - not for the summers that are 115, but for the winters that are a sunny 60.







We are taking our kids to the Draper Utah Temple open house on Friday. The open house starts this Thursday and goes through the middle of March. I was sad that I missed the Rexburg Temple open house last year, so although Draper isn't near and dear to my heart the same way Rexburg is, it will still be wonderful to have the opportunity to take the kids through the Temple so that they can experience the Spirit of the Temple. Last night when I asked Charlie if he would like to go to the open house his eyes got really big, and he nodded his head up and down and finally he said, "yeah, that would be so cool". I'm hoping that the weather will be sunny and warm on Friday -our ticket time is in the morning, and we southerners aren't used to the cold.

Word of the Year

I found my word of the year! My goals summed up into one word. This year I'm not looking to achieve anything or check things off my list (things never leave the "list" they just get put back to the bottom or where ever - nothing is ever done). Last fall Charlie had gymnastic classes and the teacher would always say "Practice makes progress". That makes so much more sense than "practice makes perfect", which feels so unattainable, but to know that we can improve and become better - that is a worthy goal.

So my goal this year is to make progress - to improve and become a little better than I was last year.

2009 FHE lessons for the whole year

I've already sent an email to many of you with this file of family home evenings for the year. For the rest of you here is the link to the website that posted this great resource.
I'm using it in conjunction with my idea of having a scripture hero of the month. I'm not using the FHE lessons in the order presented, rather I am rearranging them to fit with the Hero of the month. I'm not finished planning out the whole year but so far I have my "hero" of the month and their "power" outlined, I just have to finish detailing which lessons go with each one.
Jan - Nephi - power of Obedience
Feb - Alma the younger - power of Repentance
Mar - King Benjamin - power of Service and Gratitude
Apr - Abinidai, power of Faith in Christ
May - Alma, power of Baptism
Jun - Ammon, power of Missionary Work
Jul - Captain Moroni, power of Example
Aug - Enos, power of Prayer
Sept - Mormon - power of Hope and Charity
Oct - Moroni, power of Testimony
Nov - Brother of Jared - power of Family
Dec - Jesus Christ - power of Doing the Father's Will

The plan is to each week of that particular month focus on learning more about each of these Book of Mormon people, specifically focusing on their "power" and how we can implement these in our own lives.

P.S. the download from that website it formatted funny. I've already gone through and made changes so it downloads better. If you don't want to have to reformat it all send me a message with your email and I will email you my copy.

Pictures of the Moon

I took these pictures of the moon this morning at 8:30 am. It was a beautiful morning and I almost didn't take the time away from making breakfast to stop and take a few pictures. I'm glad I did, because it wasn't much longer after I took the shots that it was too light and the moon could no longer be seen. Interesting that the difference between able to take a picture like this or missing it is only a few minutes. That is one thing I have noticed with taking pictures in general - photo moments are just that, moments or less and if you miss it you miss it and can't recreate it. The moral of this story is, take the shot while you can.

Today

Tom, aka. Max
The first picture is Tom, who is endlessly changing his name. A few weeks ago his recent "new" name was "Max" as shown by the letters on his forehead. He found some letter stickers and put them on his forehead - "so people know my name" he declared. Of course, why not, maybe we should all paste our names on our foreheads. I know it would help me out very much - I am so bad with names. Even with people who I know, I still will blank on people's names time to time.
The stickers from Tom's forehead were transferred to his Christmas stocking so that Santa would know his new name and be able to give "Max" Tom's gifts.




Today was the first day since in a while that I got out my camera. I wanted to take a picture of our new fish tank that we bought at the DI last night. We got two goldfish months ago and they lived just fine in a small fish bowl. Last night when we were at the DI Jeremy found this fish tank, with all the "trimmings" for $20 and decided that since he was the one who loved and cared for our fish, by weekly cleaning their tank, then he could be the one to decide that not only were the fish worthy of a larger tank, but they should also get some friends. We didn't buy any new fish last night, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

Our Fish
It's true, that if it weren't for Jeremy cleaning out the fish bowl they would either be swimming in the dirtiest water ever, or they would be dead. I figure I have enough to do without having to clean a fish bowl.
Our fish are strange fish. When they lived in their small bowl I noticed that when I would feed them they would swim to the bottom of the bowl and then wait until I was out of sight until they would come up and eat. They did not like to be watched when they were eating. Now that they have lots of room to roam and places to hide it is even more evident that they do not like to be watched. When anyone comes near by they dart back and forth very quickly and then "hide" by the plant. I say "hide" because it isn't really hiding at all. They turn their face toward the plant, but it's not like they go behind it or in the middle of it, they just face it and then just sit there until we walk away. I never knew that fish could be so entertaining. It really is interesting to observe them.

Becca

Becca is a joy! She is two years old, so she also can be a handful - always getting into things and always wanting to do things herself - "I do it" and "I did it" are two of the most common things she says.
Becca is so cute with baby Lydia. She can't quite say Lydia, it sounds more like "I deea" and Becca loves to say "I deea, no, no, no" and gibber at her and try to get her to laugh. Becca talks a mile a minute and has lots of stories to tell, we just can't understand her, as grandpa Scott says, who knows what language she is speaking.
Becca loves to sing. At church she will hold the hymnbook (sometimes upside down) and sing "la, la" during the songs. Her favorite song is "I love to see the Temple" and she sings along and knows almost all of the words. At bedtime she has us sing that song to her over and over and over again.
When she says "no" she has the cutest and funniest inflection in her voice - like when we are looking at a book and I ask her a question she loves to answer "no", but it's the way that she says it is so cute and funny - and the face that she makes when she says it.

Happy New Year

After I posted this the first time I was playing around in photoshop and trying new things and completely changed the scrapbook page from the original - first one (which is the one I played around with) is more dramatic than what I usually do, but I like it.

Using a tutorial that my neighbor Allison gave me I made the "slide" template and then put my photos in the slide to make this scrapbook page. Making the slide template was easy and just took a couple minutes. It's fun to learn new things and be able to create my own things to use on my scrapbook pages.

Happy New Year to all. I never did do any Christmas cards to anyone - so don't feel bad if you didn't get one - no one did.

I'm excited for the newness of the new year. I like to take time thinking about what I want to have happen in this next year.

One goal I have for this next year is to work on gaining the skill of storytelling - in order to not only tell existing stories, but also to make up stories. Currently I don't have a skill for telling stories and I've decided it is a skill I would like to develop, so thus my goal to work on it in this new year.

I find that I have an easier time planning FHE if I have an outline of what to focus and then just fill in the blanks of what to do each Monday. This year I'm borrowing an idea I read somewhere to have Book of Mormon Hero's for each month and then break it off in subtopics. For instance, January the hero is Nephi and some of the subtopics are - Nephi followed the prophet (so the lesson would be about prophets), Nephi kept a record (ie, journal), Nephi kept the commandments. One reason this idea of Heros works for me is because of my boys and they are at the superhero age, so it seems nice to help them have heros that are definitely worth looking up to.

Baptism

Last month my niece and nephew, Kayla and William Smyth were baptised. It was the week before Thanksgiving and all my family was able to be there - it's been three years since the last time we were all together.
So even though, at this Christmas time we are not able to be all together, we were recently all together and it was wonderful!

Tomorrow night we will be with Jeremy's family at his parents in Pine Valley (where all the snow is).

Snow Bunnies

We went to Pine Valley (45 minutes north) Wednesday night and stayed all day Thursday. We were out on a drive Wednesday afternoon looking at the little bit of snow that dusted the mountains in Ivins, just west of St George, when we decided to go to Pine Valley to stay the night. We called Jeremy's mom to see if it was okay to come for the night, she said yes, just come as soon as possible because the snow was really coming down and it would be dark soon. Because it would have added 45 minutes (or more) to go home, grab supplies (like coats and pajamas) we decided to just stop at the grocery store and get some diapers and then head to Pine Valley. That is one reason for the lack of warm clothes on my children (as pictured) when they went out to play in the abundant snow on Thursday. Even if we had gone home we wouldn't have had too much more proper snow clothes, but the kids do have warm winter coats, we just didn't have them on when we went for a "car ride" that turned into staying the night at grandma's house. The snow boots are ours, but the hats and scarves are courtesy of grandma (she even made them).

Giving to those who need this Christmas

There is a story "The Secret Giver" in this month's Friend magazine about a family who secretly gives gifts to a family in need. My boys really liked this story and are planning who they want to give to and what they want to give. A few weeks ago I told my kids that we wouldn't be buying any extras any more (like the occasional happy meal, or toy from the dollar store) I told them that Christmas would be coming soon and we need to save our money to buy gifts. Yesterday they asked if we could have happy meals for lunch (which it isn't really the "meal" that they want, just the toy that comes with the meal. Someone once said, "It isn't the toy that comes free, it's the meal that comes free with the toy you paid for"). I asked them if they remembered what I had told them a few weeks ago. Tom got all excited and said, "Oh yeah, we have to save money to buy our secret gifts to give".
To help with keeping the true spirit of Christmas we have been doing an activity in this months Friend, Stories of Jesus, Tell Them to Me, which lists a scripture story and picture from the GAK, one to do each day of this month. We are also learning the song "Picture a Christmas". I am recently called as the primary song leader so I figure I need to practice with my kids to learn how to best teach the song to the other primary kids - it gives me a chance to have a live audience to work with, rather than having to practice in the mirror or something.

Lydia's baby blessing

I never did get a picture of Lydia in her blessing dress. She wore the same dress that I wore for my blessing and the same dress that Becca wore. I never got a picture of Becca in it either. The dress is still draped over her bassinet waiting for my good intentions of putting her back in it to take a picture. Both girls got rashes on their face the day of their blessing and the commonality is the dress. I think Lydia is too big to wear it anymore - she is only 3 months old but moving into size 6 months. I guess I should at least try.

Temples

I found these photos online and thought they were beautiful and needed to be shared.

What is your favorite season

Yesterday I bought a Circle Journal and the idea is to share the journal back and forth between two (or more) people. I bought it to share with my husband. I find it easier to write what I'm thinking than to share it outloud sometimes, so I thought this would great for sharing things with my husband that I might not otherwise share.

That is what I love about blogs - a place to share our thoughts that we might not otherwise vocalize and we can see into others and come to know them and their hearts. I'm glad for those that let me in on their thoughts and their lives - I'm glad to be a part of yours and to let you be a part of mine.

I thought I would share my journal entry today "What is your favorite season of the year". If you like either respond back in the comment section or put a post on your own blog.

"My favorite season of the year is this season - whatever time of year it is, the current season is my favorite. When fall begins I think, "Oh, I love fall." I love it getting colder, I love the pretty color changes of the trees, I love the wrm days and cold nights, I love the smell in the air.
When winter comes I think, "Oh, I love winter". I love the beauty of snow blanketing the ground, I love the winter holidays - the energy of the season, the smells of baking, the tastes of hot chocolate, the sights of decorations, the sounds of music and the feeling of love. Winter means time indoors, together as a family, playing games, eating together, celebrating together, and warm, cozy fires.
Then comes spring and I thing, "Oh, I love Spring". I am so happy to see the snow melt and the buds on the trees - new life is on its way. Spring is refreshing and invigorating. I love spring flowers - the colors, the smells. Growing up lilacs were my favorites, I would gather armloads and bring them to my bedroom and let the scent fill the air.
Summer comes quickly after spring (at least in St. George) and I think "Oh, I love summer". Summer is for fun and outdoor play, for baseball games and water fights, swimming and hotdogs, for staying up late and gazing at the stars.
I think the best part about life it that things change - there is always something new to look forward to.

I invite you to be part of my circle journal and to share your favorite season with me. It doesn't have to be long like my response was - I just tend to be verbose - even a sentence would be great.

Recent photos

I have been going through my pictures and realized I have a lot of pictures I've taken recently. I thought I should put some of these on my blog for family to see.Grandma Smyth stayed with us for a few weeks after baby Lydia was born. Here she is with Charlie and Tom.

Grandma Smyth with Becca and Lydia.

One night Jeremy was putting Becca to bed and he laid Lydia down by Becca - it was too cute to not take a photo of them together.

Every once in a while I try to do Becca's hair. I tried hair rollers, but all they did was make her hair extremely poofy. This was worse than her normal hair, so I wet the poof down and let the natural look be the look of the day.
One day a few weeks ago I heard the kids all laughing together and found them on the front lawn enjoying ice cream. They had carried the baby and her chair outside and luckily didn't try feeding her any of the ice cream.

Sweet sleeping baby Lydia.

Charlie loves his baby sister. He is always carrying her around and playing with her.

What a sweet face. Lydia is an angel baby. She is just happy to be - but don't leave her alone, she loves interacting with everyone.

Sharing my testimony

The Ensign conference issue came today in the mail and I read all the talks from Saturday morning session. When I read Sister Silvia Allred’s talk about missionary work I really identified with her statement about the impact her mission had on her life – “I learned to rely more on the Lord, to seek the guidance of the Spirit, and to feel and overwhelming love for God’s children. My knowledge of the scriptures and my understanding of the doctrines increased. So did my desire to be obedient and to keep the commandments with exactness. My testimony of the Savior and His infinite Atonement was strengthened.”

I served a mission in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1997-1998. I truly loved the people of Russia, and my testimony of the gospel and of Jesus Christ were strengthened – in fact all of the above quote from Sister Allred is true for me. One thought I had while reading this talk was if I am a return missionary, who went abroad to share the gospel with others, and if I have such a strong conviction of the truthfulness of the gospel and the restoration of the gospel then why do I have such hesitation in sharing the gospel with others? Why do I hesitate to pray to have missionary opportunities?

Today as I pondered that I had the thought that I don’t doubt my testimony or conviction of the gospel (I’ve always known the gospel to be true and known that it was restored in its fullness through Joseph Smith) the thing that I doubt is other people believing it. I don’t doubt my testimony, I doubt the ability of others to believe. I forget that it isn’t by our minds that we are converted, but by our hearts – more specifically by the Holy Ghost speaking to our hearts, telling us that it is true.

I have an attitude of fear which needs to be replaced by an attitude of faith. I also have a lack of confidence in my ability to share the gospel in an effective manner. Again, that goes back to thinking that it is me that has to be convincing, which is not true, it is the Spirit that does the convincing. I just have to live the gospel with diligence and never be apologetic to others for living the gospel and keeping the commandments. If others object to the way I live then it’s not me they have a problem with but God’s laws, for I live my life according to God’s laws.

Sister Allred gives two fundamental truths to keep in mind:
1 – have a clear understanding that God loves all His children and desires their salvation
2 – Our message of Christ and His restored gospel is the most important gift we can give

I know I have a powerful testimony of the restored gospel, I felt it very acutely last Sunday when I bore my testimony. I know this is a gift from God, not given to me to keep to myself, but to share with others.

I’m looking forward to reading more of the conference talks and being reminded about what was spoken at conference.

Upholding the Constitution

Proposition 8, in California passed, but that doesn't mean that the fight is over. This was a very controversial issue and it's not likely to go away - we are going to have to continue to fight for traditional marriage and for anti-traditional marriage to not be propagandized to our children. Also, as was pointed out, this wasn't just and issue about who can or cannot get married, it's about the Constitution and who is and isn't allowed to make and amend laws. Orson Scott Card wrote an article, Upholding the Constitution that is worth reading.

He explains "there should never have been a Proposition 8.In order to make such a radical change in human behavior and custom, the proponents of gay marriage should have followed constitutional, democratic process and persuaded people to support it until a majority was achieved....small groups of dictators (pro gay) have simply taken it upon themselves to deny universal human practice and remake the law as they saw fit, without waiting for democratic process. ...No branch of government was ever intended to have the power to dictate new law without other branches of government having a chance to stop them or at least slow them down.... But they think only in the short term. They don't mind leaving democracy in a shambles and making the Constitution a joke, as long as they get their way on this issue. ...As much as I think gay marriage is a terrible idea, grounded on neither science nor common sense, we should be even more concerned that our republic is in the process of ceasing to be in any meaningful sense a democracy."

Halloween

Well, according to my kids, "Halloween is the BEST EVER!" That is what Tom and Charlie kept saying yesterday. Of course who doesn't love getting dressed up in something fun and then getting lots of candy from people.
What they dressed as:
Charlie - Grim Reaper
Tom - Ninja
Becca - Tinkerbell
Lydia - witch
Jeremy - as self (nurse)
Jenni - as self

We started out the day with orange pancakes and green dragon milk (credit goes to Jeremy for making this fun breakfast for the kids). The kids loved it and commented "Dad spoils us too much". The kids wore their costumes all day long, so by the time night rolled around they were dirty. Trick or treating for us started at the Bloomington Hills circle park where all the neighbors park their cars around the park, some of them decking their cars out with halloween decor and while Jeremy stayed at our van to pass out treats I walked with the children from car to car to load up on loot. It is so fun to see everyone dressed up - a lot of the adults dress up too. Everyone is so creative - there is such a variety and little duplication.
I enjoyed halloween when I was young. Every year there was a Halloween carnival at the elementary school with games to play and treats to eat and everyone dressed up. I like the sense of community when people are gathered together celebrating - that is probably why I enjoy going to the circle park on Halloween, to gather with others and enjoy it together.

After the trunk or treat at the park we stopped at a couple of houses and then came home for dinner (yes, I do know that it is a bad idea to start the gathering of the candy before a nutritious dinner is in the stomach, then the little ones just eat the candy and dinner is neglected, but my timing is always off on these things). I took Charlie and Tom to a few of our neighbors after our late dinner and Charlie wanted to do just one more and one more. Soon we were a couple blocks away and poor Tom was tired (it was 8:45 pm). When we got to the Murdocks house he asked Sister Murdock if she would give us a ride home. I didn't realized that he was so tired and was surprised he asked her, but glad because then we were able to go home without one more and one more, because Charlie was a die hard and would have kept going.

This morning, on advice from a neighbor, we portioned our candy out into baggies so the kids can have controlled amounts from time to time - I think we have our year's supply of candy. We had the boys help assemble the bags, I thought this would help them take ownership for the idea and not feel jipped that we weren't going to let them just have free access to the candy at all times.

When Becca got up this morning I noticed little red dots on her head. Of course it worried me, I didn't know what they were or how she could have got them. I had Jeremy look at them and he was concerned too. We decided we should bathe her and then take a good look at them (her hair was wild from sleep and the hair gel I used last night in getting her ready, also, I thought maybe the spots were a reaction from the hair gel). Well, thankfully after her bath the spots were miraculously gone. What ever they were, the soap cleared them right up. I still can't imagine what she got on her head that created rash like spots, but they washed right away.