Threatened

It was brought to my attention that my blog has been somewhat lacking lately....like since October.  It was also brought to my attention that if I didn't remedy that, certain offspring would not provide the required 5 grandkids my heart desires.  So.  Here is my post.  Since it is Christmas time, and I am crazy busy, I will recap the last month here in short splurts:

1.  Busiest time of my work year.  Fax machine purrs all day long and into the night.  Thank goodness I learned to turn off the ringer.

2.  It has been super cold here - not as cold as Utah,  Idaho, but cold.  I've been building a fire in the woodstove daily. Funny thing though...I didn't building my first fire of the season until Thanksgiving.

3.  I'm nearly done with Christmas shopping.

4.  I sort of went on a donut binge for about 4 months.  It is over now, and I'm now back to eating carrots and celery.  Go me!

5. I managed to cover the garden with black plastic after harvest. I am so excited to NOT have to wade through waist deep weeds in the spring.

6. I'm glad I work at home....people are crazy this time of year. 

That is about it. Oh yeah, that was 5 grandkids per each of my kids - don't forget!

October 2013

October is my favorite month of the whole year.  I love the way the air is crisp and clean and the color of the trees.  It is also a time of reflection as we have the opportunity to hear a prophet of the Lord speak to us during General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We can actually tune in at home, in our jammies, eating breakfast.  A wonderful way to relax and soak in what our leaders have to say.  I thought I would share a few things I learned this weekend - things that stood out to me:

1.  What is said is not as important as what we hear: I understood from this that we should pray in advance of getting spiritual instruction so that our hearts and minds can hear what we need to.  The same talk from church leaders can be given and heard differently by many.  Figure out what it is that YOU need to learn.

2.  As women we don't need to be ordained with the priesthood to enjoy priesthood power.  This was made very clear to me in this conference. I don't need the priesthood to be made whole.  I am whole as a woman who stands next to my husband, a priesthood holder.  We share that power.  Blessings of the priesthood are much greater than those that bestow the gift.

3. Being a mother is the greatest, hardest, most wonderful gift a woman could have.  I am grateful to be called mother, and grateful for my own mother.

4.  Realize that the blessings we receive from paying our tithing are not always loud and large.  They are most often significant, but subtle.  Realize that the blessings are there - and we cannot live without them.

5.  Pray for stamina to do what we need to to live within our means.  To use what we have with wisdom.  Having MORE is not always the answer.

6.  The church has two standards in regards to fiscal matters:  Live within its means and having a savings account.  Sound advice for all of us.

7.  Church leaders can make mistakes.  We may not know why now, and we may not until the next life. Eventually all will be made clear and everything will make sense.

8. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

9. All that is unfair now will be made fair in the atonement.  

10.  Mental illness or emotional disorders are NOT a character flaw. The Lord EXPECTS us to use all of our resources to help ourselves.  He will help us do all we can to get better.  Just because you can't see someone's pain, doesn't mean it isn't there. Don't judge what you don't know.

11. God's love is there for us whether we deserve it or not.

12. Fear will be replaced with confidence if we depend on the Lord for guidance, comfort, and leadership.

13. We can find happiness in our families by loving God and loving each other.

14. We cannot be forced to choose righteousness.

15.  True conversion to the gospel means we actively live it.  We can't be stagnant or stand still.

16. Work with the Lord to overcome our specific bondage - addiction, debt, complacency, etc.

17. A teacher of the gospel is also a student.  Stand as a witness to what is being taught.

18. Sin, even if legalized by man, is still sin.  Pray for guidance in all matters.

19.  The Savior wants us to love Him enough to align our will with His.

There were many more quotes I could put in here, but this is long enough.  It was a great weekend - I really enjoyed watching conference and refilling my spiritual vessel.  

Happy October everyone!

A love hate relationship

I have a love/hate relationship with technology.  I sometimes can make magic happen  - especially when it has to do with the billing program I work with, but I really believe that is heavenly help doing that, not me.  Most of the time I end up having to ask one of my kids to help.  I often find myself trying to turn the TV on and literally can't without their help.  So I've been sitting here for the last 45 minutes trying to figure out how to download my pictures from our trip to Rexburg from my phone....I ended up downloading the "cloud" and now have a complete backup of my pictures and documents of my PC....but no pictures from my phone.  I DID call both kids...they actually weren't able to help. So I'm going to resort to looking it up online...and then if that doesn't work, I'll post a "I'm dumb" post on facebook for help.  I'm actually loving my smart phone, I only wish it would pass along it's "smarts" to me!  Hopefully next week's post will have pics from my trips...til then....

Summer fades into Fall

I'm baaaackkk! I took the summer off from blogging - what a whirlwind it was. I still can't believe we are now into September.  I will be posting pics from the summer later....today I am struggling with a cold and feeling worn out.   We just got back from delivering Sami to BYU for the year and are relaxing today.  What a quick trip!  I flew down on Thursday, and Dan and Sami drove straight through and arrived 9:30pm that night.  We spent the night with our friends the Piranio's (who just moved to Utah) and then spent the next two days shopping and unpacking.  We managed to go to Crown Burger and Cafe Rio...OH YUM!  As always it was hard to say goodbye to Sami at the airport, but I am confident that she is where she is supposed to be, and that this year will be a great one for her.  In 10 days we'll do it again - and take David to BYU I...

Gardening 2013

 I've been working at the weeding a little at a time.  I get a good start on it and then the rain comes...I just have a little left and the whole garden will be ready, but I need some sun!

This is our strawberry patch. It started with three plants, and has grown!  I transplanted some new growth so the patch was more compact - they really spread across the foundation of the house!

These are my volunteer potato plants! I was so excited to uncover them.  I really thought my crop last year failed - I think I just didn't dig deep enough - or in the right places I guess.  I moved these too - I wanted them all in one place.

This is the corner that still needs to be uncovered.  It looks worse than it really is.  I did find a bird's nest in the thick of it and it was full of eggs.  I know that it was abandoned as the mother was nowhere...and in years past they have dive bombed me when I got close to their nests.  After some sorrow, I did move it because I want to take full advantage of my garden spot. This fall my goal is to keep this "green" free - maybe by covering the whole thing.  That way the birds will go elsewhere.

We are also thrilled that Sami is now home!  Dan flew to Salt Lake City on May 17 and she met him at the airport.  They took off for home from there, stopping in Caldwell, Idaho to have dinner with Aunt Mada.  They made it home on Saturday May 18 @ 4am.  So glad she is here and our family is intact for the summer!

Just a Little Spoiled....

No, not David..the dog! She thinks she is a human and likes to cuddle. Crazy dog. Doesn't she look funny with just one back leg? Don't tell her she is missing one, she really doesn't know.

We are moving into summer, and with summer comes garage sales!  I LOVE garage sales and have actually already been going this year.  This saturday I purchased a brand new 14 megapixel camera for $25...The next pics you see on  my blog will be taken with that - I am SO excited.  I also found a small planter made out of Lenox Butterfly Meadow china for $4.  I have just started buying this pattern and I love it.  I also found a brand new, in the package purple pillow case for Sami's body pillow.  Matches her new curtains!  Anyway, point is you can find really great deals on things you need for not very much money.

It is very warm in the house today.  Usually when the 80 degree weather hits we open windows early in the morning, and then shut the whole house up by noon.  Unfortunately that doesn't work when you attend church in the morning.  Glad to have morning church - but not real glad to be too warm.  Not complaining too much - I love the way the sunny days make me happy.  Bring it on Summertime!

Gardening and Getting Fit!

This last week was very busy.  I was unsure if I was going to do a garden this year...it is a lot of work, and I've been really, really busy with work I actually get money for, so I didn't know if I could fit it in.  What turned the corner for happened at a garage sale.  On some Saturday mornings I go out to garage sales with a friend.  It is simply amazing what you can find for SO cheap.  One Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago I found two tomato cages...the wire things that keep tomato plants all together and off the ground.  When I saw those I knew it was my sign...so I paid a $1 and that began my garden season.  This week I had another sign. I pulled the recycle bin around to the garden bed and began pulling grass and weeds to prepare to plant.  I always tell myself I won't let so much winter green enter my garden...but I have yet to be successful at that.  ANYWAY...I started at the easy end and started pulling...when much to my amazement, I found volunteer potato plants - another sign!  I think the gardening bug has well entrenched itself this year - I am excited to plant!

The other thing that happened this week is I joined an exercise group.  A woman at church is spearheading this group and it is being held three times a week.  The first day I got 10 minutes into it and felt like I would not be able to finish.  Discouraging thoughts kept coming at me..."you are SO old compared to these younger women"..."they are all thin...I've never been thin, I'll never be able to keep up"...and I think you get the idea.  I didn't give up, and by the end of the workout I was sweating and felt great!  I have set goals for myself...against myself, not others...and I'm ready to take on the challenge!  I intended on only attending two of the days, but on Friday I found myself in the car and heading towards the church.  I was SO glad I did.  I am really grateful to the person putting this together (thank you Tracy Adams)...

May 17 - Sami will be on her way home - YEAH!