Happiness

Ladies, this post is for you. In one of the latest Ensign magazines and the Conference edition, President Nelson, next in line to be the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, gave a talk entitled "A Plea to my Sisters." He restates President Kimball by saying that much of the growth in the Church in these latter days will come because the women of the Church will reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and "will be seen as distinct and different- in happy ways- from the women of the world." Someone who does a good job of this is Stephanie Nielson of the blog Nie Nie Dialogues. Her blog has followers that are in the millions and she knows who she is and what she stands for. Her blog posts consist of sweet family moments and she often tells of her knowledge of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I encourage you to stand tall and be different from the women of the world. As we "reflect righteousness and articulateness" in o...

Last Monday night I made plans for the second day of Christmas vacation. Those included the Thanksgiving Point Museum and baking cookies. As I watched the snow flakes line up in a straight line on my Weather channel app which were followed by the very real deal of soft, fluffy snowflakes cascading down from the Snow White sky, those plans changed. We nixed the museum idea, stayed in our pajams until 10 or for some of us all day, and added building a snowman to the list. The big boys went sledding, the girl stayed inside and the toddler and I made a small snowman from perfect snowman making snow. He had fun and tried to knock the snowman down like he does with his blocks. I distracted him with plastic, colorful buttons and twigs for arms. A cup of hot chocolate always convinces the littlest ones to come inside and after half a sippy cup of hot chocolate with a splash of milk, I read him two books and sang him two songs- including Silent Night in the mix- and tucked him into bed. As I di...

Merry Christmas, everyone! We hope you have a wonderful Holiday season!! We love you all!

I had the best birthday! A trip to a Museum- Springville Art Museum. A Kundalini Yoga Winter Solstice Event. Star Wars.  Here are a few pics from the last few days: What a great day! Some days are just tender mercies from our Heavenly Father!

I was going through old pictures and found these. Love them! 2006. Salt Lake City, Utah 2008. Gaithersburg, Maryland 2010. Washington DC 2012. Gilbert, Arizona 2014. Gilbert, Arizona- our back yard. 2015. Lehi, Utah- our back yard. How everyone has grown! It's amazing!

Christ and His Father Amazed At their Love, Power, Strength, Humility, Kindness, Meekness, Gentleness, Perfectness. Though strong Yet they are meek. And in their Meekness Is their Strength. Relying not On themselves But on their Faith.

Hope is a confidence              an optimism              an enthusiasm              a patient perseverance. (Taken from Preach My Gospel on Hope) I have been trying to learn Hope as well as Patience during this trial of daily pain. I can have confidence in knowing Christ will and can comfort me and give me the strength to live a balanced life on a daily basis. Just like the Isrealites lived on daily manna in the desert I can also be sustained daily with His help. I can be optimistic that all is right with the world even though I am in pain. I can be enthusiastic about life. I can also patiently persevere. I had to lengthened my goal to read the Book of Mormon in 30 days to reading a chapter a day. Reading those assignments took me 45 minutes and hurt my head a lot. Sometimes you just have to modify your goals. And that's okay. "When you have Hope, you work through trials and diffic...

Some people have a way with words. They are writers. They know how to captivate their audience- how to grab them, pull them in and keep them there, glued to their screens or books, until they release them to come for a breath of fresh air and a sigh of contentment. Like a wonderful, crispy, chewy chocolate chip cookie whose first bite has gotten your attention and whose last bite leaves you wanting more. I know that these writers follow a recipe to make their writing good as well adding a bit of natural talent as well. Oh, how I want to be a good writer. Not to really tell a good story but to be able to express my thoughts clearly and distinctly and leave the reader yearning for just one more bite.

  All mine in your loveliness, Baby, all mine. All mine in your holiness, Baby, Divine. Sing on herald angels in chorus sublime. Sing on and adore. For tonight you are mine.

Declan is so fun! He loves to mimic everything that we say, eat banana shakes for breakfast and snack and late night snacks. He loves singing time at nursery and especially "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam!" He loves his brothers and calls them all Asher. He says "biz biz" for Elizabeth. Declan likes big trucks and loud noises- quite the typical boy. He has warm, soft, kissable cheeks.  The other day he said his first full sentence "more water in it"- talking about refilling his humidifier. He loves anything to do with water- baths, playing in the sink, anything. He is a doll and we love him!

These paintings are found in the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. We went during Fall break and had a great time! They recently renovated it and included a children's play area and submissions to a recent art competition. Asher doing tanagrams in the children's area- focusing on light. He needed a haircut! Jonah building his house upon the rock.                    Ethan's house. Elizabeth speaking at a replica of the podium at the conference center. Asher compared to the statue of angel Moroni. A Piece of artwork submitted to the competition. I love the colors and the perspective the artist painted Christ with.❤️ Here's another. A replica of Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith and several others were held prisoner for several very cold months and where Joseph received revelation. I really felt the Spirit with this one as I was really struggling with a prison-like headache at the time. Our trials can become like Temples to us and sac...