Me & You

      It may come as no surprise, but I am not the most creative person on the block.  That's why I LOVE Pinterest!  I love seeing what others have done because, unlike me, there are a lot of creative people out there.  But once I get a visual of something I can usually take it and run.  That is what I did with my latest project.  When I saw this on Pinterest, I knew I had to have it, or at least something similar to it.  So I ran to the craft store and bought the letters.  I decided against the frame because I didn't think it would look good with my peaked ceiling, not to mention the letters I bought are gigantic.  The most challenging part was finding an "&" sign.  I searched every craft store around.  I also looked online but could not find one.  That brought my project to a halt.  Luckily, I was able to team up with a couple of people from church to help me out.  I was able to get an "&" sign engraved onto a piece of wood and then I took it to someone else to cut out.  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  Next came the painting, and waiting for paint to dry is almost painful because I tend to be impatient.  Finally, I was ready to hang the finished project and this is how it turned out.  I really like it!  It really brings to life the empty space I never realized I had up there.  Now that that project is done I get to move onto the next one.  Stay tuned ...

I Love This Show!

      This is one of my favorite shows!  Corporate execs secretly take low-level jobs within their organizations to find out how things really work and what their staffs really think of them.  I love watching this show because you get to see the CEO of a huge corporation humbled.  It's a feel good reality show and I don't think I have seen an episode yet that hasn't got me teary-eyed.  So far, the CEO's of Yankee Candle Company and Lucky Strike Bowling have been my favorite.

Such a Giver

      I feel like I've been bragging about Cameron a lot lately, but he has done some spectacular things and I can't help but want to share them.  A couple of nights ago I took Cameron shopping with me at Wally's World (aka. Walmart).  To preface this story you must know that Cameron is a saver!  He rarely spends money and when he does it's on something he's put a lot of thought into.  So while Cameron and I are walking around picking up the things I need, he spots a t-shirt with The Hulk on it.  He picks it up and says "I should buy this for Andrew because he loves The Avengers".  He asks me if it's the right size for Andrew, which it is, and then stands there in deep thought contemplating what to do.  Then he says to me, "I don't want to waste my money, but it would be a really nice thing to do."  I agreed.  He put the t-shirt back and we continued shopping.  A little bit later he stops by the same rack and says he is going to buy it for him.  I was seriously touched!

      By the time we ended up leaving the store, Cameron had bought a t-shirt for Andrew; bubble gum for Austin; and 2 king size Snickers bars for his Dad; all on his own and nothing for himself.  He was all smiles.  He desperately wanted to buy me something too but I told him that seeing him be so kind and generous to others was a present enough for me.  And it was!  Cameron has a natural, genuine love for others and he gets such joy out of sharing.  I am proud to see this quality in him!    

   

A Time To Prepare - Ian S. Ardern

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      What makes us decide how we will spend our time?  Our priorities.  Too often I think there is a difference between what we think our priorities are and what they truly are.  To find out what your priorities are right now, ask yourself what are the things that you make time for?  We have been given time on earth so that we can learn how to be our best selves.  We need to engage ourselves in good, uplifting activities that will help us reach that goal.

      "There is much that is good with our easy access to communication and information.  I have found it helpful to access research articles, conference talks, and ancestral records, and to receive emails, facebook reminders, tweets and texts.  As good as these things are, we cannot allow them to push to one side those things of greatest importance.  How sad it would be if the phone and computer, with all their sophistication, drowned out the simplicity of sincere prayer to a loving Father in Heaven.  Let us be quick to kneel as we are to text".

Dare To Stand Alone - President Monson

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We should never be in any doubt concerning what is moral and what is not, nor should we be in doubt about what is expected of us.  We have been and continue to be taught God's laws.  Despite what you may see or hear elsewhere, these laws are unchanging.  What's popular today doesn't make it right.

Courage means to act in accordance with one's beliefs, esp. in spite of criticism.  It takes a lot of confidence in one's self to display courage.  Having confidence in one's beliefs and being willing to stand firm in them is very respectable, even by others who don't share the same beliefs.  May we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe, and if we must stand alone in the process, may we do so courageously, strengthened by the knowledge that in reality we are never alone when we stand with our Father in Heaven.

These Girls ...

      These girls are AMAZING and I love them to pieces!!  They help keep me young and allow me to be goofy with them.  Being the older Aunt that I am makes me feel like I should be the one teaching them about life.  But a lot of the times I actually find quite the opposite to be true.  When I was their age, 17 & 15; I was solely driven by popularity and by what others thought of me.  And looking back on it now some 16-18 years ago I regret the fact that I tried so hard to be what I thought others wanted me to be.  But I don’t see that with Megan & Caylin.  I admire that these girls are confident in who they are and that popularity means little to them.  But the ironic part is that they are so well liked because of this fact.  I think other people love these girls so much because they are the same today as they were yesterday.  Their esteem doesn’t waver depending on whom they are with.  That is admirable!  They have chosen good friends who accept them as is.  I guess I am just so proud of them for not changing who they are for anyone.  It took me a lot of years to learn that so they have me well beat.   These girls are a wonderful example and I dearly love them!           

The Grass is Greener ...

      The grass is greener on our side, for once!  For years now our yard has been in a desperate need of TLC!  The problem is/was in order to do something about it requires time and money, and most importantly a desire to get it done.  Well the time finally came when the desire won out and now we have beautiful lawn.  I just love instant gratification!  There is a funny story though about our new grass.  Spencer and his buddy, Ryan, in a quick moment before ordering the turf did an estimate in their head of how much sod we needed. Unfortunately/Fortunately they were way off!  We were unfortunate in the fact that we ended up with twice the amount of sod that we needed and there were a few days when I was sick to my stomach thinking about wasted money.  But Spencer is so good to not make me feel bad when I make an error with money so I bit my tongue.  There were fortunate results though too.  Originally, Spencer felt that our front lawn was not in terrible need to replace.  He planned to lay a little grass seed in certain areas and fertilize it well.  But when he saw how many pallets we had left, things changed.  Our front yard wasn’t prepped for sod like our back was so that was our biggest concern.  But then David told us that he’s planted grass over grass before and it has took.  So after a major trim on the lowest setting with the weed whacker, Spencer spread soil from our raised garden beds all over the yard.  Then they laid the sod.  I was a little bit concerned if this theory would work but so far it appears to be just fine, great actually!  There is still a lot of work to be done surrounding our home, but I’d say that it looks 90% better than it did 3 weeks ago.  So what did we do with the 3 pallets of left over sod?  We gave it away to our neighbors up the road, and I am very glad they were able to use it.

The Songs They Could Not Sing - Quentin L. Cook

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   Why does a just God allow bad things to happen, especially to good people?  I have to admit this lesson was somewhat of a challenge.  It’s a difficult subject to tackle because it invokes so much emotion and there are a lot of questions we just don’t have answers to.  I prayed continually for help with it.  A couple of weeks ago, I had two simple words enter my mind and I feel confident that with these two principles we can tackle anything in this life.
 

FAITH - In our Father in Heaven & our Savior Jesus Christ

      Most people believe we have a Father in Heaven.  But do we have faith that He knows us?  That He loves us person­ally and understands our suffering perfectly?  That His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and Redeemer?  Though you may feel that no one can understand the depth of your despair, our Savior understands.  He suffered more than we can possibly imagine, and he did it for us; He did it for you.  

TRUST – In our Father in Heaven’s plan for us

      We all search for happiness, and we all try to find our own “happily ever after”.  The truth is, God knows how to get there!  All you have to do is trust your heavenly father:  Trust him enough to follow His plan, even if we have to endure the worst in order to get there.

      Unfortunate results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan.  So it is extremely important that we not judge others and think they are going through trials because they lack faith.  Tragic events happen to even the most faithful people.  It is our reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.  Our attitude is critical to our lasting happiness.

Teaching For Our Times

      Several months ago I was asked to be the teaching for our times teacher in Relief Society.  I was really excited when I was extended this assignment because I LOVE it!  All of my lessons are chosen by our Bishop and they come from the General Conference talks found in the Ensign.  I will admit that some of my topics have been more challenging than others, mostly because they are directed strictly towards the men of the church, but it just takes more creative thinking on my part to pull it off.  For some reason I always thought that teaching women more knowledgeable than I should be intimidating, but I haven't found that to be true.  Everyone has a slightly different perspective no matter what their age, or level of knowledge is, and if we are open to hearing it then we are constantly learning.  I would like to start sharing just a few highlights from my lesson after I teach, but first I'd like to share some of my favorite points from the past few months.

Love Her Mother, by Elaine S. Dalton

      Raising kids in general is scary these days and I think we all have the same concerns, will our kids be strong enough to make it in this world? This talk addressed the question; How can a father raise a happy, well-adjusted daughter in today’s increasingly toxic world? 
The answer … Love her Mother.

      A father can show his daughter by the way he loves and honors his wife that she should never settle for less. Our role as a Wife and Mother
is to encourage and support our husbands and/or our future sons in their role as a father. Husbands & wives should love each other, but are we always easy to love? Do we sometimes make it hard for our husbands to love us? Don’t let any influence come into your life or your home that would cause you to compromise your covenants or your commitment to your family.

Protecting Your Heart

      I'm the kind of person who has no qualms about being thrown into a room full of strangers and feeling comfortable.  It's really never scared me because I have come to learn that you can always find something in common with any person you meet and when you find that common ground, conversation takes off.  Yep, strangers don't usually scare me, it's the people who know me and who I trust that scare me.  I say they scare me because it's those people who can do the most damage to my heart! 
 

      I have the kind of personality that instantly connects to people and I open my heart up almost instantaneously.  I think to a wide degree that's good.  I want to be an approachable person.  I want others to feel like they are being let in.  It's the people pleaser inside of me.  I very much want everyone to get along and feel happy.  But opening your heart up so freely can be risky and scary and I honestly don't know how to protect it!?  I heard the saying, "protect your heart" from a friend of mine and it has forever been etched in my mind.  But how do you protect your heart while still allowing it to be open?  And how do you get thick skin without becoming calloused?  I honestly don't know!