Busy Busy

This is what we did today
had breakfast
finished building fence
finished putting the flooring stuff around the deck
did laundry (sorted, washed, dried, hung, folded, put away)
cleaned bathrooms (all 5)
mopped kitchen floor
cleaned the rest of the house
went grocery shopping
bought plants for the garden
weeded flower beds
tilled the garden spot
did a speed scrap
watched a movie
made dinner
planned a dutch oven dinner for Memorial Day
finished reading a book
started on a new book
sat in the hot tub with Sean and Tyrel
I'm sure there was more, but it seemed like an overly busy day! Oh yeah, I did shower sometime during all that)

I'm grateful for enough hours in the day to get all that done

Journaling

We had a great lesson given by Sister Caplin today about keeping our family histories and writing in our journals. The girls were very excited about it and participated a lot, so I hope they will remember that enthusiasm and write in their journals. It is so important.

I wrote in mine so well through high school and college and pretty much up until the day I got engaged. Then.......not so good. I did pretty well at journaling during my pregnancies with each of the boys and also journaled in their books for them up until they were each about 1 1/2 years old. Then I was just kind of hit and miss for a really long time.

About 7 years ago, Cameo Johnson came and talked to my activity day girls about writing in a journal. She lost her mother when she was very small and never knew her so she was determined if that ever happened to her, that her kids would have journals to look back on and be able to know their mother. That got me thinking and I did a little better at it then, but still nothing regular.

So, I guess blogging is an answer to my prayers. I have done pretty well with blogging and especially since our last Stake Conference when they talked about writing about what we are grateful for. I feel it has made me a better person and a better mom. I think I have been blessed and don't feel like I lose my temper or yell as much now. For some reason, thinking about and writing about what I am grateful for has made me more patient. Not that I never get mad, but I can definitely see a difference. I've only missed a couple days since then and hope to be able to keep it up!

Doing Splits!

No, not me, I don't know that I could anymore if I tried although I was really good at it when I was on drill team. JK

Tonight the missionaries came for dinner. We had SWAT team chicken, fried rice, homemade bread and fruit salad. There are 3 missionaries together here for right now. Two are from California and one from Washington. One of them has 3 weeks left, one is brand new and the other has been out a year.

We had a nice visit and then they split up. Since Travis hasn't done his range driving yet, he doesn't have his license so his friend Devin from our ward came along to drive. They dropped Travis and Elder McAllister off in Payson as one part of the split, and then the other 3 of them went somewhere different. Travis and Elder McAllister were on foot.

Travis came home talking about how amazing the experience was. I was so glad! I knew it would go one way or the other and I'm so glad it was positive. They were gone for about 4 hours and tracted out quite a few people. He got teary eyed when he was telling me about a couple of them so I know he was feeling the Spirit.

I am so grateful for these wonderful missionaries who are great examples and who were able to help teach my son. He couldn't stop talking about how excited he was to go on his own mission. I can't believe how close it is. He is almost 17, so just a little over 2 years away. I can't be that old can I?

Lots of Cooking

I don't know what the deal with Blogger is, or maybe it is user error, but I've typed this post 3 times and keep losing it.

Anyway.............

For YM activity for Travis tomorrow night, they are supposed to bring dates with them. I think he said they are playing volleyball at the church. He wasn't going to get a date, but then he came home today from school and he asked her out! He wanted to know if he and a couple of his friends from our ward and their dates could come right after school and hang out, have dinner and then go to their activity. I told him I had the stuff to make spaghetti and he thought that would be great. He also requested homemade bread, so I guess I will be busy tomorrow.

Then, on Thursday, we are having the missionaries for dinner before Travis goes on splits with them. Sean wants to have Doug's Swat Team Chicken and the boys want fried rice with it. I'll have to figure out a salad and rolls or something too. Should be fun even though I will be busy!

I'm grateful for the missionaries and the chance that Travis gets to go out with them. It will be a great experience for him in preparing him for his own mission.

Temple Cards

I was so excited! Yesterday at church, Sister Mortensen gave me back all the temple cards our ward has been working on over the past 2 years. There are only 16 more to do she said plus the sealings. It is so fun to have these done. I'm so grateful for the temple and the work that can be done there. I am also so so so grateful for my ward for helping get this work done for my family! They are amazing! I hope they are blessed beyond measure for this great act of service.

I need a vacation!

I have been working the past couple of days on a kit that Heidi and I are doing for our Patriotic July kit called "National Treasures" It is to scrap vacation pictures of our country's historical sites. It has been fun and interesting while I have been doing the research and reading and looking at pictures for inspiration for the kit.

I'm so grateful to live in this country and hope that someday I can visit all these sites I have been researching. I'm especially touched by the war memorials. I loved the saying on the tomb of the unknown soldier. It says "Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier, known best to God." It just gives me chills every time I read it. I also have always loved the Iwo Jima statue too. It is my favorite!

new Family Search

For YW last night we had our ward Family History specialist come in and talk with the girls. I don't know that the girls necessarily really enjoyed it, but hopefully it struck a chord with some of them. I learned some new things and I'm kind of excited to log in and take a test drive. I'm going to try to have a look today some time.

I am grateful and think it is amazing that the church has been able to work with today's technology and bring us something so wonderful. It makes me realize how inspired technology is. Bad things come from it because there must be opposition in all things, but it truly brings us many amazing and great things also that can be used for good.

Priesthood

We had a great lesson in YW today about showing our appreciation for the Priesthood. At the end, Nikki gave all the girls a Thank You card to fill out to give to their father, or brother, or grandfather, or someone who they wanted to thank for the blessings of the priesthood.

I didn't take one, but I wanted to show my thanks here.

I think I always took it for granted when I was growing up, but my dad was always there to give me blessings when I was sick, at the beginning of the school year, or just when I was going through a rough time.

I remember going away to college and feeling like something was missing in my life. It took me a month or so to figure out that it was because we didn't have the Priesthood in our home (apartment full of girls) anymore. I think that was my favorite part of coming home on the weekends was to feel that presence again.

I'm so grateful for it in my life and the blessings I have recieved through Priesthood blessings to me and my family, the ordinances I am able to participate in because of the Priesthood, and also my Patriarchal blessing that was given with Priesthood authority. I'm so grateful to have that in my home all the time.

I'm grateful my father and father in law, my husband, my brothers and brothers in law, and now my boys have that Priesthood authority and honor it.

Homemade Bread

Doesn't that look yummy?! My mother in law has a really yummy homemade bread recipe that my family just loves! I have always had a problem, not sure what it was but I think I didn't let it raise enough in the pan or else I was putting it in the oven before the oven was totally up to temperature, but I could never make it look good. It always split towards the top on the side, like it was still trying to raise after it started cooking. So this last week when I made it, they all turned out beautiful! So, I just had to take a picture and scrap the recipe since I finally had decent looking loaves. I love that I know how to cook and that I enjoy it so much! I'm sure my family does too. I'm grateful for a great mother, mother in law, and sisters and sisters in law, and friends that are good cooks too that always keep me supplied with great recipes to try.

It's all moved!

The store that Heidi and I sell our digital scrapbooking kits at is having a major facelift this year. They have decided to upgrade the store, forum and gallery. So, all weekend I have been helping move threads from the old forum to the new forum and re-uploading all of my past layouts to the gallery so that it is full for the grand opening of the new stuff on March 1st! It has been a chore but the new forum and gallery are so much nicer and easier to use than the old ones with lots more options so it will be good! I'm really dreading having to get all the new kits in the new store when that comes up! Maybe we will have to retire some kits at that time so we don't have to move them.

It has been so fun growing with the store this past year and being able to do something with Heidi even though we don't live close to each other. We talk almost every day now via email and I even call her sometimes too! It has been a fun experience.

The kit above is our latest! I love how it turned out although I was skeptical at first. We had a special request from someone who has a freind whose horse raced in the Preakness horse race for a horse race kit. She had very specific things she wanted in it. We decided to encompass horse derby races, equestrian, English riding lessons, and Steeplechase races all in one kit. I've never seen any kits like this and I have seen a few requests in other forums for riding lessons kits that weren't cowboy kits, so hopefully it will sell ok even though it is pretty specific. I thought it turned out really pretty.

Nothing in Particular

Nothing in particular happened today that I was grateful for, just a basic ordinary day, but I am grateful for the ordinary......I'm glad nothing stressful or tragic happened and that we were all able to just enjoy our day and be happy.

I guess Travis' bus got hit by a car. Travis said the car was pretty messed up, but the bus was barely scratched? How do you hit a bus??? They are big and bright yellow! Glad everyone was ok (other than the car).

I got to do a speed scrap tonight. I scrapped the pictures of my YW helping the people at the rest home decorate Valentine cookies. So, you will have to scroll down to the post on the 10th to see those.


OK, I just went and checked and I didn't post about the rest home on the 10th. So, I'm back to post the pictures here. I think the girls had a lot of fun! They were laughing and giggling the whole time. We ended up with lots of extra cookies, but we had a good time! I loved the word art I used for this layout. It is a quote by Joseph B Wirthlin and it says, "No matter our age, our circumstances, or abilities, each one of us can create something remarkable with our lives." I thought that went really well with the activity we did and the page.

Mady is helping this lady decorate cookies. She said she wanted 17 for all of her great grandchilren. I think Mady made it up to 6 or 7 and then the lady lost interest. Thanks Mady!

K, this little man was so funny! I think he took like 1/2 hour to frost his one cookie and the lady next to him was picking out the candies and handing them to him one by one. He told me I could only take his picture if I would make it handsome. The lady in the picture had the girls all laughing, She wanted plain cookies (ate about 3) because she said she didn't like frosting, then she started frosting them and ate another 2 or 3 more. I think she piled about 300 red hots on the one cookie she made. She kept saying funny things and kept us all laughing.

Happy Birthday Heidi

Happy Birthday to my little sister! Just wanted to take a minute to tell Heidi how much I love her and hope she had a wonderful birthday. We had our share of arguments when we were teenagers and it seemed to me growing up that we didn't have a lot in common, but now that we are older and our kids are near the same age and mostly because we have been designing our digital kits together, we have become closer. It has been fun and I hope we can continue for lots of years. Luv ya Heidi Ho! You are the best sister out there!

Cutter Machine

Did I ever mention how much I love my cutter machine? I've been using it for vinyl projects lately but we used it today to cut out all the letters for Trevin's Science Fair project. It is so nice also to be able to hook all the letters together so they cut out as words instead of individual letters. That makes for a lot less pasting. It is much easier to put on an entire word instead of all the little letters. We are almost done with the project. He needs to do the graph tomorrow and then he will be done and ready for the big day on Friday.

Happy Late Birthday Little Bro's

I did wish both of my brothers happy birthday on Facebook, but I forgot to post about both of them so here I go. I am so grateful for both of my little brothers, or should I say younger brothers because they have both been bigger than me for a long time now. Greg's birthday was January 25th and Brett's was February 6th. I am so grateful for both of them and hope they both had a great day. I had so much fun going to Denver with both of them in December. We had a great time talking, reminiscing, and having a few good laughs. Thanks guys! I love you both.

Fast Sunday Warning!!!

So, we get to church today and first thing as I walk in, I get asked to say the closing prayer. Tyrel says, "That will teach you to get to church on time." It's no big deal though, I don't mind. So then, Sean and Travis get there and here comes our happy Bishop making a beeline down the aisle to us. He comes over, shakes our hands and says, "I like to get a couple to start off the meting with their testimonies and would like to ask you two to do that today." Tyrel laughs again.

Let this be a lesson to all of you in my ward about getting to church early on Fast Sunday! Really though, I was grateful for the opportunity. Sean asked why when he nudges me to get up and bear my testimony I don't but when the Bishop asks I do? Who can say no to Bishop Christofferson????

It was a great meeting and I'm not just saying that because we bore our testimonies. I bear my testimony every time I teach in YW, but it is good to do it in Sacrament Meeting so that the boys can hear me and know that I have a testimony. So, because of that, I was grateful for the opportunity. I wasn't even that nervous.........

UGGGHHHH!

I've missed 2 days of grateful posts because my computer got a virus on Friday and we have spent the last two days transferring everything important to my external hard drives so Sean could get it working again. Luckily (if you can call it lucky) it only affected my email and internet and not all of my files. Sean ended up just having to delete my old user and set up a new user on my computer and then we transferred everything back on. I hate that people think it is funny to send viruses and worms and destroy other peoples stuff. What are they thinking?! The worst part is that now I have lost all my email addresses and all my logins and passwords for processing loans. What a pain.

So, on the bright side, I'm grateful for a techie husband that can fix stuff like that and knows what to do to get me up and running again and I'm grateful that it didn't totally take over my computer.

Book Club

I'm grateful for my Book Clubees. I'm sad that I have to miss bookclub tonight because I am teaching my class at the High School. I am so grateful that they got me into reading again. I read a ton in high school and college and then when I got married, I kinda quit reading and didn't really even pick up a book for years and years. I'm glad I have re-discovered it and love getting together with the girls once a month. I will see you all next month because my class will be over by then!

The Rubber Band

We are fortunate to have a member of the Rubber Band (the one that goes along with Ryan Shupe) in our ward. So, since Roger's wife (Roger is the guitarist for the band) is in Young Women's, we have the opportunity of hearing from them every once in a while. The whole band came a couple of years ago and did a great little concert/mission sharing experience night for us. Tonight for our combined YM/YW activity, we got to hear from Roger and Ryan again. They did a great job talking about how music influences our lives and performed four songs for us! It was great and I left feeling really happy!

They sang "Walk the Walk", "If I Were A Bird", "Dream Big" and "The Gift". Their song Dream Big is one of my faves! If you haven't heard it, look for it on youtube and listen to the words. Actually, I believe it is on my playlist here on my blog if you want to click on it there. Have a great evening!

Cooking

It seems to me that I've always loved to cook. From the time I was really little and my mom would let me dump stuff into whatever she was making after she had measured it, till now. I'm grateful that my mom was such a good cook and taught me how to cook and instilled the love of cooking in me.

I set a goal this year to do layouts of all my boys favorite recipes to make into a book to give to their wive's someday. I have a goal to do 52 of them and I am ahead of schedule so far. The hard part is remembering to take pictures of the things we eat.

For more great family recipes, you can go here.

If you are related to me and want to contribute your own recipes to the blog, let me know and I'll send you an invite. We would love for everyone to share!

Home from the OHIO

I'm grateful we got to go to my parents ward today for their mission homecoming and I'm also glad they are home. Their report was great and it was fun to spend the day visiting and hanging out with family. We also were able to go to Lee and Maxyne's homecoming report this morning as well. They left and came back the same day as my parents and were in the MTC with them also. Everyone did a wonderful job!