Author: Janae

Why I Avoid Cooking

Usually when the sign up for large church parties/meals, school events, or whatever comes around I sign up for the ‘can buy ready made’ options. Mostly because I would rather do almost anything besides cook so I bring the stuff that requires shopping instead of cooking, but I have had a few experiences that reinforce my desire to avoid cooking  and leave it to the real chefs too.

Ward Cake Auction

The Young Women had a spaghetti fundraiser dinner with a silent cake auction. I must have been in a baking mood when the signup came around because it is very unlike me but I thought “That will be fun! I can bring a pretty cake!” I have made some pretty cute birthday cakes so I envisioned a few fancy ideas and even thought about trying my hand at fondant. When it actually came time to make the cake my desire had faded a bit so instead of trying my hand at fondant, I made a lemon poppy seed cake with a glaze topping, I put it in a decorative bunt cake pan for the fancy part. When we arrived with our cake we were pointed to where to put it. A little back ground on our ward. They are great people, very kind, welcoming, and giving. Most of them are also very affluent and catering and amazing decorations are not uncommon at ward events because that’s just how it’s done by whoever decides to ‘host’ the party. So I shouldn’t have been surprised that they had several long tables decorated to the nines with spots for you to place your cake. It looked like a picture shoot for some up scale wedding food magazine. The cakes themselves were incredible too, I seriously doubt most of them were made by the person that brought them. I mean what are the chances that half our ward happens to be professional cake decorators.  Shoot, I’ve seen ‘professional’ cakes that didn’t look half as good as some of these. Anyway, I took my little bunt cake on its fancy clear plastic plate and found a nice spot for it between a triple tier chocolate cake with giant shaved curled chocolate cascading down it, and a fondant cake that looked like it came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. After the dinner they did the dessert auction by having everyone write their price down and put it in an envelope then they called you from highest to lowest bid to come up and pick your cake. When it was our turn my kids picked the shaved chocolate triple layer cake (which looked amazing but tasted like a box cake). When it was all done the cakes were all picked…except my little lemon bunt cake. How sad! Ryan and I were having a good laugh about it. It was the ugly duckling of the cakes. We finished up and as we were leaving Allison happened to glance over and saw our cake still sitting there. She was dumbfounded (only momentarily) then she started ranting about how rude it was that no one wanted our cake. I kept moving her towards the door and telling her it was ok.  We almost made it out the door before she wiggled away and walked over to my cake picked it up and started walking out the door. She stopped at the table with everyone collecting the cake money on her way, she put her little hand on her hip and told them that, “My mom made this cake and no one picked it and I am not leaving it here by itself so I am taking it home, and just because it doesn’t have chocolate on it doesn’t mean it isn’t a good cake.” Then she continued stomping out to the car with the cake. I think she genuinely thought the cake felt sad. I smiled and waved to the cake people as I followed her out. I wasn’t upset about no one picking it but I admired Allison for sticking up for what she thought was a gross injustice.

Ward Chili Cook Off.

Part 1. A few years back Ryan signed me up without my knowledge to bring chili.  He signed up with my name but his email and then kept meaning to tell me but never did. Apparently he was also planning on making it himself when he signed me up but forgot to do that too until he was on his way home from work and he remembered to call and tell me we were supposed to bring chili to the Chili cook off that started in 30 minutes. So I threw a few cans of chili into a pan on the stove (and got the kids in their costumes make-up and treat bags and finished decorating our trunk) and heated it up then put it in the crock pot to keep warm. Ryan was mortified when I told him how I ‘made chili’ in half an hour. I told him to set it up by the food, it didn’t have to be in the competition and stop signing me up for things. He did all that but also had to throw me under the bus and tell everyone about it. That’s fine, my pride is not tied to my cooking, and there were at least two other chilis that looked and tasted very similar to the one I brought.

Part 2. A few years later…We have a chili recipe that we got from Ryan’s mom and  he had always been the one to make it when we decided to have chili. I made it one time and was very happy at how easy and simple a recipe it is.  So the next time the ward chili cook off came around I decided I would sign myself up and make some. Which I did. I made it, brought it and I entered it into the contest-Chili #14.  Ryan decided to start with my chili then go back and try a different one. He took the first bite and started gagging and spit it out. I thought he was trying to be a turd, so I tried it and did the same thing. I do not know what happened. We couldn’t decide if the vinegar was bad (does vinegar go bad?!) or if I happened to get a can of bad beans, or someone thought it looked to good and really wanted to win so they dropped the equivalent taste of a stink bomb in my chili. Whatever happened it was not good. Pretty much everyone had gone through the food line by that point but I went up to get my crock pot so no one would take anymore. All the food was pretty much gone, except for my chili. I guess word spread fast to not eat chili #14.

Part 3. The following year… I decided to redeem myself and make a chili again for the cook off. This time I tasted it before we went and it was delicious. I entered it into the contest and tasted it again. It still tasted delicious. Everyone’s chili was yummy and we had a great time. When they announced the winner, my chili got first place. Woohoo! I decided to quit while I was ahead and go back to taking corn bread or toppings from then on.

Ward Christmas Breakfast

For a Christmas breakfast one year they had a specific breakfast casserole recipe that they wanted everyone to make to bring to the ward breakfast. I signed up to bring fruit and some other things but a few days before they requested more people bring casseroles because they were worried there wouldn’t be enough for everyone. I got the recipe and made it. I don’t remember exactly but it was something like sliced bread with cheese and bacon sprinkled on top then had milk poured over it and baked. It didn’t sound, look or taste good to me but I followed the recipe and made it exactly how it said. I took it and set it next to all the other casseroles. It actually looked like most of the others too which increased my confidence more that I made it correctly. It looked like several people had ‘adjusted’ the recipe to make it better too, which is a great idea but as you can tell from my previous examples not really my wheel house to adjust recipes. My kids wouldn’t come within 10 feet of it, and they weren’t the only ones. I felt like this one was more the recipes fault then mine though.

Potluck with Friends.

Once a month during the school year a bunch of women meet for lunch and have a pot luck together. We take turns hosting it. Anyone is welcome, there are people from church, the gym, neighbors, friends of friends. Anyone can come and everyone brings something and we eat and visit for a few hours. I was hosting it one time and made a cheesy potato soup that I have made probably 50 times. Everyone came and ate, I didn’t eat my soup because I was trying everything else.  We had the rest of the soup for dinner that night and it was so gross. I’m guessing I left out most of the cheese and salt because it basically tasted like flour and milk sauce with chunks of potatoes. Good grief. I told my friends that I expect them to let me know in the future if there is something obviously wrong with my soup instead of powering through it.

I have many many other cooking stories but I think I have gotten my point across. It is not my favorite thing or my best talent, and I need to remember to taste test better when I do make something.

Catching up with Matthew

Matthew turns 12 this month! It is CRAZY how fast the past twelve years have gone since he was born. He decided instead of a big party this year he wanted to do a sleepover with a few of his baseball buddies. They came over Friday night and we ate pizza and went and played a few games of laser tag. Then they ate way to much junk food and played video games. They had a baseball tournament the next day so they woke up and had crapes for breakfast then we got ready and went to the game.

His birthday was on a Monday and our schedule was pretty full in the evening of football practice and piano lessons. Grandma and Grandpa Terry were in town watching the Terry cousins so they came over and we celebrated on Sunday. He wanted a cookie cake. Allison dropped Matthew’s birthday cake two years in a row so we now have a rule that she isn’t allowed to transport his birthday cake at all. The cake safely made it to the table to have candles blown out. We opened presents. He got a few sizes of dumbbells and other things to start his weight collection he wants to have and a microphone headset to play video games with and a few other things.

We decorated his room with lots of balloons and notes about how awesome he is and we had shrimp for dinner-his favorite. I double the amount I make every year and it still isn’t enough for him to get his fill.

Every year on his birthday for the last few years Matthew challenges his dad to a race to see if he is faster yet. Every year he thinks it is his year but so far Ryan has held the win. Ryan says he will not be able to beat him until he is an old man and it is embarrassing for Matthew to say he can beat him.

He is now in Young Mens too. He will get the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday and pass the sacrament for the first time with his dad the week after that. The Deacon president and a leader came over and talked to him about stuff on Sunday. I think he is excited to go to Young Mens. He is not a big scouter. He likes the activities and camping (in good weather) but he isn’t to concerned with getting all the badges and things like that. He was excited to go to an activity tonight that wasn’t just for scouts. We are planning on doing baptisms with him at the temple soon as well. Lots of changes!

This is my last year with my tweenager, then he will officially be a teenager. He is getting a little bit of the mood swings and some attitude sometimes but he is a good kid. He is a stubborn kid just like his dad and in the same way his dad is. It is like a Ryan mini me. Good thing Ryan knows how to handle himself. 🙂 Matthew has a good head on his shoulders. I’m excited to watch him continue to grow.

He is adjusted to school for the most part. He has a little bit of a negative attitude about it though. We have been talking a lot about how to enjoy things and make the best of it even when it ‘isn’t fun’. He took an assessment that helps them think of possible career paths based on how they answer some questions. I remember doing that in high school and it told me I would be a good airline pilot. I think of it more of a fun ‘horoscope’ test, than valuable information. His answers said he would be a good, zoo keeper, vet, or professional athlete. Except for the vet part (he can not handle even thinking about blood, body parts, or needles without freaking himself out) he thought it was right on track. He tried art and choir for his electives this semester. He likes art, his choir teacher is about a bog a stick in the mud as you can get and makes everything miserable so he is going to switch to life time sports next semester. Hopefully at the new middle school next year the choir teacher will be better and actually involve some singing in the class and he will be willing to try it again.

He played a tournament with the Raised Royal Baseball team he is on a few weeks ago. It is a combination of two teams and they only play tournaments in the Fall. They did really good. In the two years they have played they have never lost so they started getting a little cocky and careless and ended up taking second in the tournament. They could have easily one if they kept their discipline. It was a good learning lesson for them though, and still fun to watch.

 

Catching up with Allison

Allison is having a little growth spurt mentally and physically. She is leaving her little girl traits behind and starting to get young girl traits in their place. She is loving 3rd Grade. She has a good fun group of friends she hangs out with and she likes her teacher, and she is feeling challenged with school work instead of doing ‘baby work’. She has a good grasp of math. She was playing a game with Ryan the other day and he was really impressed with her strategy ability and how she could add numbers in her head so quickly.  It is fun seeing her start to grow up and show more of her traits and abilities. She is a talented girl.

She has been sick this week so she stayed home with me Wednesday through Friday. She slept most of the first two days but was starting to feel better on Friday enough to play Battle Ship and watch a movie together. She is a fun little girl. I love it when she is her happy silly self. She kept winning at Battle Ship so for the last game she put her ships all together so once I found one I found all of them. She has a kind sweet little heart.

She is good at piano but I am having to coerce her quite a bit to get her to stick with it. We made a deal that if she does it through Christmas break then I will let her choose if she wants to keep with it or not. Hopefully by then she will be hooked and want to keep going.

She is loving gymnastics still. She even admitted she was glad that she switched to the new place. She has been improving a lot. She can do several different kind of flips and walk overs. She switched from the tumbling only class to the general gymnastics class so she could do bars too.

She is doing another year of girl scouts. We switched troops this year too, and it is a much better fit. There are several girls in her troop that she hangs out with at school too, and her best friend from last year that is at the new elementary this year is in it too. They do a lot more activities that Alli is interested in and it is a good fit for her.

Catching up with Emilee

Emilee’s favorite things right now are coloring and more coloring. She carries her crayons and whatever she is coloring wherever she goes. She is very good at it too. She is really good at coloring everything like a rainbow. She lost her fourth tooth today. She is running low on top front teeth, it just makes her cuter though.

Emilee’s class has a Mystery Reader on Fridays. A parent or other family member can come and read a book to the class and they don’t know who it is until they come. I signed up to come read last Friday. It was fun, kindergarten is a fun age.

I am volunteering in her class on Thursday afternoons. I have done it for a few weeks and it is one of my favorite things I do each week. Sometimes I do copies and laminating or other things like that for her teacher. Sometimes I help them do a project that they are working on. This last week I helped them paint pumpkins and glue a face on it.

Emilee is still struggling a little bit with going to school in the mornings. Monday’s are usually the worst, Tuesday is ok and it starts building again and Thursday and Friday are pretty rough. I was walking you into class on occasion to see if that would help you relax but then she just wanted me to walk her in everyday and it seemed to be making her anxiety worse. So now, if she comes into class on her own and is not crying her teacher lets her have an extra ticket or prize from the treasure box. If that isn’t enough to help her be brave then the school counselor comes out to the car and helps her walk in. This week she went in three times on her own and the counselor had to walk her in twice…three days in a row was a new record so that is good. Baby steps.

October General Conference Weekend Part 2

*Elder Oaks (Women’s Broadcast)

God placed divine traits in women that are magnified and expressed to their fullness in motherhood.

  • Quiet strength
  • refinement
  • peace
  • goodness
  • virtue
  • truth
  • love
  1. Spend less time on your phone
  2. Be Kind.

*President Nelson (Women’s Conference)

He gave the sisters a personal challenge like he did for the youth a few months ago. He challenged us to do four things.

  1. Fast from Social Media for 10 days. My first thought when he said this was “That won’t be to bad.” I don’t do twitter, snap chat, instagram at all and I have Facebook but could go without no problem.  I felt like he was implying that it was a fast from whatever it is that is taking to much of my time, and then I had the thought come to me that I could do it for TV. I do like my TV.
  2. Read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Listen and FOLLOW THROUGH on every prompting you have while doing this. I need to do this. It has been a long time since I have read the Book of Mormon that quickly. I am past due. One of the sisters spoke about any good thing comes from Christ so it doesn’t matter if something is a prompting or ‘just our thought’, if it is good, just do it.
  3. Schedule regular temple attendance. Since school started and I have more time without my kids at home I have been trying to decide how to schedule the temple so I make it there more regularly. I am going to make my goal going 1-2 times a  month.
  4. Participate in RS and be an active member.

My desire and motivation to do better at…life…everything, was renewed and greatly motivated after the Women’s Conference. I always have the urge to get a plaque or sign for our house after General Conference with some quote or saying that stuck out to me. Some day I am going to figure out how to have a giant quote wall in my house (it has to be organized/aesthetic or it will drive me crazy). After the talks today one of the plaques I want to have  displayed somewhere is “How can I be kind today?” Another thing that was said several times in this session is to ACT and FOLLOW THROUGH when we have a thought or prompting to do something for our kids, families, or others. I need to improve and that.

*Elder Ballard: Loss of loved ones

NOTES: Joseph F Smith stories and history. Received revelation and vision for redemption for the the dead on October 3, 1918. Families can be eternal and we can see our loved ones again after they leave this earth.

*Sister Cordon:Ministering

NOTES:Walk into moments of service with honesty and love, not just a plate of brownies.

*Elder Holland: Be a Peacemaker 

NOTES: Don’t be immobilized wondering if we should swim the dog paddle or breast stroke. Just swim and follow the guidelines given. Anger if not restrained is often more destructive than the incident that caused it. Our relationship with Christ is effected by our relationship with others. Heal wounds caused by you or others and move on. The true path of healing includes forgiveness. Get over your spite, pride, hurt, or whatever it is and fix those situations so you and others can move on. Do not with hold forgiveness from others or yourself. Care for one another in love. Be peacemakers.

*Elder Bowen: Study the Book of Mormon

*Elder Anderson: No wound to our soul can not be healed by the Savior

NOTES: Couple missionaries took other missionaries to Brussels airport when a bomb went off. Our lives are full of many blessings and happiness but there will be times when our souls are wounded. No one is immune it is part of our mortal experience. Our trials are often our greatest teachers. Whatever our trials are we are not meant to perish spiritually. They are meant to help us thrive and grow. The Savior can heal all wounds, there is no sorrow he can not heal. Remember you proved your worthiness in the Pre-mortal existence. You may be exhausted but don’t ever give up.

*President Nelson: What’s in a name, everything.

NOTES: A few weeks ago a letter was sent out reminding what the proper and correct name of the church is and we should use. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS. Mixed ‘reviews’ on that letter. The name of the church was chosen by the Savior, no one else. Nick names take His name from the church, which is a big deal. This is an offense to God. It is His church with his power, using the full name will help us remember and others realize this.

*Elder Eyring: Take the Lords name upon you

*Elder Ashton: God’s attributes and character, becoming like Him.

*Elder Gay: Take the Lords name upon you

NOTES: Without Christ you can have joy for a season but you will not have true eternal joy. There is no one that can not receive joy by turning themselves to Christ. Choose to increase your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

*Elder Carpenter: Repentance is how our spirits are healed.

NOTES: Story of son having a stroke on his mission. Repentance is how the spirit heals. Don’t with hold healing from your spirit.

*Elder Renlund:

NOTES: Mary Poppins. Heavenly Father’s hope for us is not to make us do right, but for us to choose to do right. 

*President Nelson: Closing remarks.

NOTES: Study the messages you have heard today. The changes today will help and strengthen families. Sabbath days will be a delight and the influence of the adversary will decrease. Visit the temple regularly. Twelve new temples announced.

 

October General Conference Weekend Part 1

Today is Saturday and the first day of conference.  There have been whisperings of some big changes happening to organization and things so I have been looking forward to Conference. It has been a while since I have been able to sit and watch conference live on Saturday. Usually we record it and watch it later. It was going to be a pretty busy day with a baseball tournament and football game, but we had a big storm system with lots of rain move in and settle here for awhile so the activities have all been cancelled and our day opened up. It has been a great day so far.

We have a few traditions for watching conference. The kids like to get 5 or 6 bowls with a different treat in each one, and each bowl has a word they might hear in conference like prayer, temple, Savior, ministering, etc. Then when you hear the word that goes with the bowl you can take a treat out of that bowl. I print out conference activity pages too for them to take notes on or color or do whatever activity is on the sheet while they listen, or at least sit in the room and be quiet so I can listen.

*President Nelson.

NOTES: Home centered church supported plan. We are responsible for our own spiritual growth. Parents are responsible for children.

*Elder Cook-Deepen Your Conversion

NOTES: The purpose of the meeting adjustments is to deepen personal conversation to the Savior and faith in Christ, allow more time for home focus curriculum, and continue to honor the sabbath day, do family history work, study the gospel and have FHE or family councils. New ‘Come Follow Me’ curriculum coming out, with a home study gospel plan too. Deepen personal study and testimonies and conversion, be more purposeful with our time. Family religious observance needs to be more powerful. Want to balance church and home experience. If desired you can study informally in groups together. Make homes place of spiritual strength.  New curriculum hopes to help families progress from reading scriptures to studying scriptures. Deep and lasting conversion.

The thing that stood out to me the most in his talk is how many times he said ‘deepen your conversion’. I think/worry about this a lot with my kids. I want them to have their own strong personal testimony. I am really excited about the new curriculum, it sounds like it will be really awesome. I love that everything will coordinate and work together with family study, FHE, and church classes.

*Elder Borough- We have to do hard things.

NOTES: Sometimes we are asked to do hard things, or our choices or others choices cause hard things that we have to do (ex: Nephi and his brothers).  Face hard things first by forgiving others, and second by turning our hearts to the Lord. We can and should find joy when we face hard things.

I love this. Sometimes you don’t need to be coerced, begged, rewarded, convinced, told, asked, or want to do things. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and do it. Life isn’t about the easiest way and we will be better and stronger by challenging ourselves.

*Elder Bangerter- Use traditions to make a strong foundation.

NOTES: We should make strong sure foundations for our lives and beliefs in CHRIST. We need to so small and simple things, they WILL make our homes sanctuaries of faith-scriptures, prayers, church, learn together, etc. Have consistent wholesome family traditions that strengthen families and build testimonies. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.  The things we talk, teach and preach will become us. It isn’t so important to focus on if they are ‘getting it’ in the moment as much as that it is consistently being done.

I have a lot of faith in the ‘Train up a child…” quote. Whenever we are doing something whether it is loading the dishwasher or having FHE, or sitting reverently in church and it blows up like a nuclear explosion I lean on this quote. I hope somewhere along the way we are instilling a habit or thought or something that will sink into their little heads and start growing. I like the way he said to make things we do that strengthen families and testimonies a tradition. Sometimes I get caught up in the ‘check list’ of things that we need to get done. Thinking of family prayer, or reading scriptures, or brushing teeth all together, or whatever it is that ‘has to be done’ as a family tradition is a more pleasant way to look at it. It makes it seem more doable to me.

*Elder Rasband- Overcoming Fear

NOTES: Following the prophet will relieve our fear. The promises made to us for obeying what we are told will be answered. Stand in holy places. Gods love is in his holy places (church, homes, temples) and perfect love casteth out all fear. Be of good cheer and be not troubled. Remember those that believe and follow Him on this earth and the other side of the veil are more powerful than wickedness. Trust the Lord in his promises. All promises to us will be fulfilled if we are righteous.

My fears are manifested as anxiety most of the time.  I remember hearing adults say things like they wish the second coming would just come, or it will be nice when it finally happens, and it gave me a lot of anxiety because of all the unknowns involved with that. I like my life, and it is weird and nerve racking to think of not having things the way I have always known them to be. I do believe that everything will work out and be okay in the end. It is the stuff that has to happen before he comes that is nerve racking. As far as the world going down the toilet, at this point in my life I worry sometimes but don’t focus on it to much. It is sad and I worry about the influences on my kids but the fact that it is happening is less alarming to me, more a matter of fact or sign of what we are told will happen then when I was younger. Some might think this is naive but if we keep doing what we are supposed to do and following the gospel I really do believe it will all work out like Elder Rasband said-all promises will be fulfilled.

*Elder Bednar- Individual strings put together make a strong rope

NOTES: Gospel of Jesus Christ offers the greatest perspective of truth and blessings. Shortened meeting schedule is making it available for us to enhance our Sunday study. It is to allow us to love and serve more completely. Don’t get caught up in ‘checking off the list’. Our lives are like a tapestry. As we learn and strengthen conversion, the tapestry becomes more clear and more detailed. Exercising faith in Christ is trusting and relying and following and pressing forward in him-through repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost (fourth article of faith). Each  of those things are like individual strands, when put together they make a strong rope. Promised us increased perspective, power and understanding by following and embracing these new changes.

It requires a lot of focus for me to follow him when he speaks because of his vocabulary. The way he speaks is…poetic and visual. I like the perspective he gave of all the changes that have happened over the last few decades. They aren’t random, it is all a plan to continue to move the gospel and how we understand and live it further along in His plan. I think this new change will help us be better at teaching and learning more in our homes in case it ever comes to the point we can’t meet for some reason or other.

*Elder Oaks- Eternal Truths.

NOTES: Be cautious of motivation and source of truths. Religious truth should come from prayer, revelation from holy ghost, scriptures, and modern revelation. Science without religion is ignoring part of truth. God is real and the father of everyone. Gender is eternal. The family is ordained of God. Celestial life or exaltation is ONLY possible through a temple marriage of a man and a woman. All people have been given the right to exercise their free agency. Mortal life is sacred- we oppose abortion and euthanasia. Men and women relationships, identities and functions are essential to gods plan. Nurturing children is an important responsibility of a mother and father. Opposition to these beliefs is expected but will not change them. Don’t try and change the church to your beliefs. Hold fast to what you know and wait for what you don’t know. What we know always trumps what we don’t.

Bam! This talk will be in my top favorites for the weekend I think. I loved it. As we have been reading the scriptures lately, similarities of the pride cycle and people turning their focus from the gospel seem obviously parallel to more and more of the way things are now. This seems especially true within the church itself. Granted it could have been like this when I was younger I just didn’t notice because I was young and less aware, but it seems like there are so many more people in the church diverting off on their own little path and trying to match the world more. I love that he said, ‘Opposition in our beliefs is expected but will not change them.’ Nothing in his talk was new information really but it clarified, emphasized, reminded, and reinforced that the gospel is ETERNAL and all the grumblings and wishing, hoping, whining, complaining, reinventing or flat out ignoring those truths does not and will not change them.

*Elder Christofferson- Live a gospel centered life

NOTES: Prophet Elijah tells people to choose if they believe in the Savior or not and worship Him correctly if they do. He challenges worshipers of Baal to build an alter and see who’s god would light the fire. We need to decide if the Savior is real, if the Book of Mormon is true, etc, and if it is follow the Savior and His teachings. The gospel shouldn’t be one of many influences in our lives, it should be the defining focus of our lives.

There is no more time for playing both sides. We have to decide and know what we believe then DO IT.

*Elder Davies- Follow the prophet

President Nelson is a prophet of God and he is leading His church. If we listen and follow the prophet we will have direction and purpose and peace in our lives.

A while back a friend and I were talking about a lot of the ‘hot topics’ going on at the time. I don’t remember which topic we were talking about specifically but we came to the conclusion together that a huge block in our foundation is whether or not we believe that the Prophet is called of God. If he is then when something isn’t quite clear or you are unsure you can fall on your testimony that if you are following the prophet you are going in the right direction. If you don’t believe the prophet is called of God then you are unsure of your direction. I do believe in the truth that God has a living prophet and he will never lead us astray, so when I’m not sure where to go with something I can always look to him to get my bearings and a heading. I know President Benson, President Hunter, President Hinckley, President Monson and all the other presidents before that were Prophets of God. I know President Nelson is our living prophet right now and that we will always have a living prophet on the earth until the Savior comes again.

 

There were a few more talks in the afternoon session but the same friend I had the above mentioned conversation with called me to come watch her kids while she went to have a baby at the hospital at 4:30 this morning so I could not keep my eyes open for the rest of the afternoon session, so no ‘live’ notes on those talks. For the Saturday sessions the theme that stuck out to me over and over again was the importance and focus that should be put on families working together to help each individual have a DEEP personal conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think it is going to become more and more important to be able to KNOW your beliefs and be able to stand on your own in those beliefs if necessary, and having those beliefs will continue to separate us more and more from the world.

 

 

September Memorable Moments.

  1. Emilee is sitting on the floor staring at her feet. All of the sudden she gets quite concerned and says, “Mom my toes are broken and I don’t know what happened to them.” Apparently she was trying to spread her toes and she could spread the ones on her right foot but not her left, after trying many times she was concerned they were broken. I explained to her that they were not broken sometimes you just can’t spread your toes. Every now and then I ask her if she ever got her toes fixed and she usually says something along the lines of, “No. I don’t know what is going on with those toes.”  She says it in a very matter of fact tone, like she has been putting a lot of thought into it on a regular basis.
  2. Matthew has a blanket that he fell in love with the second it touched him when he was just a few weeks old. He has slept with it since then and the think looks like it has been ‘loved’ to death. I have sewn it almost as much as I can to keep it in one piece, but it is getting pretty shredded. I went into say goodnight to him one night and was laying by him and talking for a little bit. He was twisting his blanket around in his hands and there was a lull in the conversation. Then he said, “Mom just feel this blanket, rub it with your fingers just like this, and twist it around your wrist.” I tried to do what he was showing me and he said, “Isn’t that amazing how comfortable and satisfying that feels!” He then showed me all the favorite parts of his blankets and the best way to sleep with it. I loved that he tried to explain the amazingness of his blanket to me. It made me chuckle.
  3. I was working in the yard and Emilee called me to see something. I walked around to where she was at, she was pointing at a tiny little hole she had found by the window and said she thought that is how all the flies were getting into our house. I told her I thought it was because of the door she left wide open behind her while she looked for little holes.
  4. This one isn’t even my kid but it made me laugh anyways. I went to lunch with Allison at school the other day. Towards the end of our lunch the next group of kids came in and sat down to start eating. I would guess they were second graders. As we were sitting there visiting I noticed one boy who had brought his lunch from home take the apple out of his lunch and make a ‘ewe gross’ face. Then he casually took the apple and hung it from his hand behind him as low as it would go then dropped it on the floor under the table. Allison saw it too and we both looked at each other and laughed. She knew exactly why he dropped it and thought it was hilarious. Little stinker, I should have figured out who it was and told his mom. He would have wondered how in the heck she found out. Hahaha! The mom network, that’s how! Anyway, I told Alli to just bring her food home if she wasn’t going to eat it, and we finished our lunch.
  5. Emilee has always been a momma’s girl. Being in my presence is great but we have a family joke (that is kind of true) she prefers to be physically touching me whenever possible. While this is sweet, it can be frustrating at times too. Like in church when it isn’t her turn to sit right next to me she holds her hand out in my direction and gives me ‘puppy dog eyes’ and silently sobs for all of sacrament. All day kindergarten has been a big adjustment for her. Once she is there she does fine and has a great day but bedtime before and the morning of can be a little rough. She has said things like this many times but one night it made me smile when she was being particularly dramatic and said, “Mom, I can’t go to school tomorrow. It is so long. I can’t go that long with out touching you!”
  6. Emilee is not a morning person. This was one of her funnier ways of showing us she still wanted to be in bed rather than up eating breakfast.

How many packs do you have?

So Matthew works out a lot for baseball and football and he has recently become interested in getting strong well defined muscles like his arms and his abs. The other day he was explaining his plan to turn his four pack into a six pack and then an eight pack to Ryan and I. It was a very entertaining conversation. Allison and Emilee overheard it and Allison decided she was going to get an eight pack first and then keep going until she had a twelve pack. So the past week or so we have seen a lot of sit ups and crunches and many unknown exercises that apparently strengthen your abs. The funny part is the way they talk about it, they don’t really know what they are talking about. Allison skipped up and told me that she her two pack was now a three pack after doing sit ups for thirty seconds. I play smacked Matthew in the stomach the other day when he was being a smart mouth. He quickly replied that I missed because he blocked it with one of his packs.  Emilee asks us to tell her how many packs she has all the time or just picks a random number to say she has. What a bunch of goof balls.

Matthew’s Football

Matthew decided to try football this year. It is a little crazy with practice and game schedules because he is doing baseball too. He is liking it but hasn’t taken to it as easily as other things he has tried. He is a little nervous about contact but he is getting better. His last game he recovered a fumble and scored with a touch down. He was pretty excited. We happened to be playing a team that one of his baseball team mates is on, his dad is one of his baseball coaches actually. He also likes to take pictures so he took some of Matthew for us and got some of his touchdown run too. Someday I might add becoming a better photographer to my list of things to learn to do. I really appreciate all the people that take pictures for us.