For the sake of consistency

This is in tribute of Elder Bednar's Conference report since I don't expect to share anything too profound but simply to be consistent in keeping a record and sharing it with family not so near.

Yesterday was an interesting day for me as I attended a Holistic Health Conference. I had six classes teaching me various aspects of health. I guess you could say it was a chance to become more familiar with eastern health practices of well-being as opposed to the western health practices of treating the symptoms. My brain is still on overload from what I heard so perhaps when and if I get a chance to process some of it then I'll share more. Randy spent the morning with the kids at the church passing out scout re-charter packets (they are changing to do it at the end of the year instead of early in the year so this is the second time for this year).

On Friday some of the kids joined other LDS homeschoolers to tour a local home that has been turned into a children's museum. We went through the home all set up like it would have been with fireplaces in each room and straw mattresses (learning about the phrase, "Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite"). It was the home where the first governor of Maryland (Thomas Johnson) lived with his daughter's family after his wife passed away. They had all sorts of toys but we didn't get long enough to play. The girls went to the doll house and Peter was at the checkers and enlarged tic-tac-toe board. They fed the kids some "cookies" they said were like what they may have had (probably not but it was fun for the kids that they included that in the tour). On the grounds they had a one room cabin which was in striking contrast to the mansion. They had a carriage museum that was more fun for the kids because we had been listening to Those Happy Golden Years by Laura Engalls Wilder and heard about the sleighs and carriages that Almonzo had been using (at least that is what made it more fun for me). They also had a blacksmith shop that was not original to the land but just to educate. It was a nice fieldtrip.

We took Thursday off from our regular schedule as well and spent many hours at the church with sisters sewing baby blankets and bibs. I took Grandma Ada's sewing machine and my old baby sheets and hand towels to through together some cloth diapers (I got rid of my old ones only a month or two ago). Poor Levi has a terrible diaper rash and yeast infection on his bottom. It was big motivation to make diapers and yogurt to relieve him some. We are still working on it but it is improving. I also found that I really enjoyed the sewing (especially because I didn't have to use a pattern, buy the material, or make it fancy).

Okay, this is longer than I intended but once I started I realized I had more to say than I thought. Here are a few other tidbits: The family sang "I am a Child of God" in church today with no accompaniment. Peter started solo on the second verse. Then Randy and I sang the third verse followed by the whole family singing the first verse with Peter on the descant to close. It was a really great opportunity for the kids (and for the mom who is scared to sing in front of people) and we got lots of comments at what a nice job Peter had done. His comment was, "I found that it is a lot easier if you avoid looking at all the people." :)

The other cute thing was that we sang "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" for FHE. The kids have learned to jump on the "-beam" part. However, we discovered that Mary Joy was singing, " A Sun-BEEP, a Sun-BEEP." It was so cute we didn't want to correct her but she liked it just as well since sunbeam ends with the same sound that her name starts with!

All stocked up!

I taught last week about prophets in Sunday School. President Monson in his closing remarks said that the Lord HAS prepared us for this time. I was at home with sick kids today but this week's lesson looked like it was on spiritual and temporal self-reliance (that is what the prophets have been teaching us). If we are prepared we shall not fear.

So, here is how it has affected us this week. We've been saving up money and now we can pay for both of our vehicles to be fixed (and one of them twice)! The kids and I went and picked up some bulk grains from the cannery to fill up our emptied shelves in the basement and now we do not fear going hungry during the winter (we are due for a bad one they tell us and we are excited for it since we have felt that the winters have been somewhat less that we were use to in Utah and Idaho. Okay to tell the truth, Randy likes more snow and I have enjoyed not having so much).

We enjoyed our Halloween by avoiding Halloween activities. During the ward Halloween activity we had the family at the temple and visitor center (meeting up with Randy after his work conference and our trip to the cannery). On Halloween we enjoyed having our new home teachers come and talk about the importance of families. It was really a tender lesson from a recently returned missionary (Robert Matthew's grandson for those interested like Grandpa Bart or Laurie and Mark's families -- he served in Boise mission) and a new convert, Joseph, from Africa -- who I was told had been a preacher prior to joining a month or so ago. They were humble and interested in us and encouraging. It was a sweet time. We followed that with feeding dinner to the sister missionaries (both Aggies -- go USU) and then playing Hide and Seek with the lights out. We had so much fun in that game. We think we'll make it a Halloween tradition!

A List...checked off for the week

-Kids classes at YMCA while Randy works out and I grocery shop
-Family Home Evening
-Homeowners association meeting
-Kids to Library
-Peter to scouts
-Excercise
-Take kids on hike and pick up Peter's Jr. Ranger badge at Catoctin Mtn Park
-Call the doctor about sick kids
-Take the van in to get fixed and arrange for a rental car
-Pack meeting
-Grocery shop and get diapers before Randy leaves on his work trip
-Study and prepare to teach the gospel doctrine class on Prophets (what a wonderful experience)
-Get the kids to church early so that they can find their seats for the primary program

Life...isn't it great!

If there is anything virtuous, lovely,...

Ada and Paul in the big tub...before we left we managed to fit the whole family in at once!

Here we are bowling...the kids were a little confused that we went bowling but it wasn't our traditional bowling day (the anniversary of our first date on Dec. 23).



We took a short hike to Split Rock. This is a naturally occurring split rock which gives the resort its name.


Here is my sand picture on the beach of Lake Harmony. Randy wrote a big love note to me there. Peter chased the ducks and through pebbles in the water with Paul tagging along and losing his shoes in the water. Ada and Mary Joy worked on sand castles.



This one is from Paul's birthday. We've enjoyed the new wagon!


We just listened to one of the conference talks with the kids this evening with the 13th Article of Faith. I thought I would use it for my title tonight since I was just thinking that it had been a lovely week around here.

Randy had several scout meetings and then his campout got cancelled (disappointing...) but then we were able to get things done around the house and that was nice.

Peter is just finishing of his Bobcat for Cubs. He and Ada have had to be in charge of Mary Joy this week either doing some preschool/playing with her or else working for me. They did pretty well. Peter did more work and Ada did more teaching and playing while I was able to get to some of the day to day planning and projects that needed done. We all kept busy and stayed happy that way (especially Mary Joy who was the recipient of the extra attention)!

Paul is so cute and talkative. We had some interesting conversations this week. He asked me not to copy him (he learned that phrase this week from the other kids and I thought he knew what it meant at first but later he used it inappropriately so I had to chuckle). He sounds so grown up and even the kids are trying to reason with him...which ends up being frustrating for them since he really isn't reasonable at barely 2.

Levi is on the move! He tummy crawls around and doesn't like being left behind. He has lots of big smiles...and we're working on the feeding issues.

I really enjoyed the kids this week and getting out alone to exercise some. I'm enjoying listening to conference talks again and again and helping out with neighbors and friends when I can.

Ahh...vacation!

General Conference is a wonderful time for a vacation...and we felt like we really needed one. However, if anyone remembers last time we went on vacation at General Conference time, you have to get a bit creative and this trip was no different. We managed to look up some chapels in Pennsylvania but could not locate the one (even using the GPS) on Saturday morning. So Randy attempted to play billiards, ping pong, and swim with the kids while I listened in with headphones in the hotel. Later on we downloaded the audio so that we could listen to the Saturday sessions on Sunday. Randy drove about an hour each way to a chapel that he found (with google maps) to attend the Priesthood session which he really enjoyed. Not only was he touched by the Spirit but the members there welcomed him generously and shared their ice cream social with him. He returned home late but in high spirits. I found the messages to be comforting...knowing Heavenly Father's love for His children and how to receive revelation (communication from Him) so that we can receive the help and protection that we and our family so desperately need.

So, we vacationed at Lake Harmony, PA, in the Pocono Mountains. The area was settled due to coal mining and rail building. There really wasn't much to go see... a couple of hikes to a little water fall called Hawk Falls and one to some rocks with a natural gap between them called Split Rock but the resort was wonderful. They had an indoor water park that we didn't go to with the kids so small but we did enjoy pool and baby pool, billiards, ping pong, bowling, coloring contest, a game called Ship, Captain, and Crew, a Veggie Tale Movie, popcorn, walking with the leaves turning lovely colors (just like to postcards you see), miniature golf, parks and playgrounds, the lake and beach, simple foods, a townhouse with a huge tub (we fit the whole family in on our last night) and even a sauna (that Randy and I enjoyed while letting the kids think as Mary Joy put it, that the room had its own changing room! To her credit, the other changing rooms at the pools did look a lot like that.)

Unfortunately, vacation had to end. We went via Philadelphia so that we could go to the Franklin Institute...it was wonderful! We entered right at the time of a wonderful light show being displayed in a rotunda with a large statue of Benjamin Franklin. There was classical music playing, the lights were changing colors and screens were showing highlights of his life and great contributions...it was quite the welcome upon entry! I loved that Mary Joy wanted to stay and dance to the music on the marble, wide open space and that made it all the more wonderful and beautiful to me. We saw heart and eye dissections, and found areas in the museum that put together our favorite of the parts of the New York Hall of Science and the Maryland Science Museum plus more. We got kicked out of the building before we got to see everything (and then got to spend hours in traffic trying to get out).

Now we are home again, oh, that is good...as Grandpa Bart's little story goes (ask him if you haven't heard it yet), "Might be good, might be bad, too soon to tell."

Feeling loved and Healing

Well, things are going pretty well for me. We had a lovely stake conference the last few days that I enjoyed and felt the Spirit strongly. It started on Friday when Randy stayed home with sick kids and I got in to the temple. I listened to some of the New Horizon Choir (USU Institute choir) music that caused me to rejoice in God's power over the hardships going on in my life and in the lives of those around me, knowing that He would grant us strength, and His purposes would be fulfilled. Saturday evening session we had a babysitter and were able to go to dinner and then the session. We were told about a training given to the seventy and passed on to the stake presidents with a slide showing a filter to pass things through...the prophetic purposes being 1)affirm faith in Chrish and 2) Strengthen families. All the talks fit into that beautifully and reaffirmed being strong because we feel God's love. I especially liked the talk by the Sister...mother being overwhelmed getting the advice of getting back to the basics..FHE, prayer, scriptures and how, though hard, things did improve with time. Today session was great too...a lot about the temple and the stake president offered to personally watch my kids while I went to the temple (which he has done for me once before)! It was fun to listen to our new mission president from Meridian, Idaho, who speaks a mile a minute, while giving quotes from past apostles, mixing in scriptures, making you laugh one second and cry the next. (I must say that we were relieved when the meeting was over as the kids were a handful. Even the lady in front of us demanded (well, asked) for a turn to help out the baby but was unsuccessful. It's funny now.)

So, I've enjoyed the rest of the day visiting with some of the family on the phone and relating feelings and concerns about parenting and such. Also hearing about Suzy's marathon...way to go! Stall...I am waiting for the pictures from the camara to download so that I can see if we did anything fun this week. Randy was busy with work having a big site visit this week. We got a second coat of paint put on the kids rooms but still need to do the trim before putting the rooms back together. I did have a chance to get rid of lots of "stuff".

The pictures aren't working so I'll just give a brief update.

Peter-new hobby: making paper airplanes, class: health and wellness at the YMCA; currently reading: Harry Potter #4, Mad Scientist Club, Christopher Columbus and the New World, picture scripture book, and What Your Third Grader Needs to Know; other: Having trouble sleeping due to the spooks...trying to learn how to pray, conquer fear with love, and trust in oneself (I'm still trying to learn those things too!)

Ada-hobby: drawing picture books (probably the reason my pictures are taking so long. I took pictures of them rather than trying to keep every book she has made.) class: Swimming from YMCA, currently reading: beginning reading books (when she has to), other: loves to dress up with scarves or do her hair fancy...she is very creative.

Mary Joy - hobby:playing make believe with little pastic figures; classes: trying to get Mom to do preschool with her; loves to kiss the baby; starting to try and help out a little in the kitchen on good days; behavior is improving tremendously; LOVES oatmeal with chocolate and raisins!

Paul- hobby: talking and getting into trouble. That is pretty much what he does all day. It is amazing the sentences he is speaking. For example, "Mommy can I have some more pizza to munch on please?" He loves his primary teacher and is talking about "Sister Wirt" (it helps that we see her a lot since she lives across the street). Oh yes, and trouble...can take off clothing, can turn on water faucets but not off, can pull open door to street and has tried crossing himself, can get in and out of crib, can get out of room by crawling under crib, stop...that is enough!

Levi-hobby: smiling! He is so cute. A little frustrating that he won't nurse except when he is just waking up or going to sleep. So he wants to eat a lot every couple of hours. He is sitting and starting the army crawl.

Peter's Baptism

Yesterday was Peter's Baptism day! I was so happy to see him be baptized and have really enjoyed discussing the gospel and the purpose for and need to be baptized. We have marked scriptures together, made a spider graph of God's powers and characteristics, and prayed together. This has occurred in spurts and special moments over the last few years and it has been a lovely learning experience for me as I have tried to bear my testimony to him and had my testimony grow by studying with him and having a desire for him to come to know God and develop and understanding of and personal relationship with Him.

Peter is a very good son with honest desires, exactness in his actions, willingness to share the gospel with neighbors and strangers too (thankfully not when he is alone), a growing understanding of gospel principles with excellent questions to ask. He is also a delight to have in our home as he plays with little people and steps up to be my mother's helper in taking the family from place to place when Randy is at work. He is responsibly and reliable in doing his household responsiblities and his personal studies. I learn a lot from him as I blunder along in my attempts at motherhood and all that it entails. I am so happy for him to be baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost and become a member of God's church. I'm glad that he is a member of my family too!

It has been wonderful to have Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Bart be here with us to celebrate. They have been a huge help in watching out and entertaining little people, keeping us fed, and helping out around the house. We love our special time to visit with and be with them. I am thankful for the example of gospel living that they have shown and the love and encouragement they give to me, my children, and all the family.