Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.....

Tonight I can either....
Support my son by going to the Pinewood Derby
OR....
Carry out my church calling and go with the Young Women for a pedicure at a spa....
Hmmmm 
Think......Think......Think........
It sure is a toughy but I'm thinkin' I'd better 'serve' these girls and get a pedicure...
What would you do???

Monday, March 28, 2011

I feel like summer today...

I was just thinking how wonderful it was to sit outside last summer while the kids ran and played on the freshly cut green grass. Or while they played in the frigid pool or ran through the sprinklers to get some much needed relief from the sweltering heat. I read a book or fiddled on my laptop or just sat and watched their funny little antics and interactions wishing time could hold still and they could stay like this forever. I remember one day in particular when we were outside enjoying a hot summer day when the ice cream truck magically appeared. The kids were thrilled!!! They ate their treats while they sat in our little pool and everything was right with the world. I wanted to take the kids outside to run and play and just pretend that today is a beautiful summer day but then I remembered that it's chilly and windy today and that yesterday we were surprised to wake up to see beautiful blanket of white snow outside. By the time we got home from church it had all melted away and now we have a big ol' MUDHOLE in our back "yard" of dirt!

I planted some tulip bulbs in the fall and they haven't come up yet. They were covered in ice until a couple weeks ago. I've anticipated seeing those pretty, bright colored flowers come into bloom all winter long. I hope they do and that I didn't plant them wrong or something. Don't you just love spring when the grass turns green and the flowers start popping up. Even the smell in the air is different. I can't wait until the weather starts feeling like I feel today....

Saturday, March 26, 2011

I'm still alive...

So, I've had some major writer's block lately but I am still alive in case you were wondering. I was in a really crummy mood for a few days there. I just felt really, really discouraged. No hope. No joy. Just empty and sad. My pain had started to go away because of a combination of medications I was taking. It was still there but very dull. Occasionally bad still, but mostly dull. I'll take it!!! Well, the medicine stopped working and it upset me. A lot!!! I've also been having a time where I'm so sick to death of scrimping by and pinching pennies I could scream. Just not in very good spirits. Low. Very low. Then last Sunday at church Brother Banasky asked me how I was feeling and I gave him my standard answer of, "I'm ok. How are you?" Then he said, "No. Really. How are you feeling?" I told him it really hadn't been a good day, painwise. He asked if I had asked Brian to give me a blessing. I told him that I hadn't even thought about it with the crazy morning we had getting ready for church. But I did ask Brian for a blessing after church and it was a really beautiful blessing! Brian even explained some neat feelings he had as he gave me the blessing. After that I had a REALLY low few days and then on Wednesday I was able to talk with my friend, Sherelle and she helped me talk some of my feelings out. Then that night some very kind members of the Relief Society came for a visit while I was at YW and Brian talked with them a bit about me. They just recently found out about my health issues and wanted to express concern and support. Our wonderful bishop called later and talked with me. Having so many people reaching out to me and praying for me really has helped me these past few days. I have felt so much happier and have had more energy and strength than I have had in such a long time I can't even remember. I know with all my heart it is because of a Priesthood Blessing and the prayers of others on my behalf. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am thankful for all of the inspired programs of the church. I am thankful for members of our family, members of our ward, and friends who follow the spirit, and try to live like Jesus and serve others in His behalf.

Tonight I went to The General Young Women's Conference Broadcast and a wonderful dinner that the Stake YW Presidency prepared for us. It was a wonderful night. I so enjoyed visiting with the leaders from our ward and the YW from our ward who attended. The broadcast was wonderful as well. I am so grateful for my calling. I am so grateful for my YW leaders when I was a YW and for the amazing General leaders of the YW. At the end of it Elder Eyring talked a bit about the challenge in the Book of Mormon that Mormon gave to everyone who reads it to pray and ask for the witness of the spirit testifying to them that The Book of Mormon is true. It made me remember when I was in college and fervently reading The Book of Mormon. I will never forget how I felt as I got to that part in The Book of Mormon and how strong my desire was to pray and know for myself that it was true. I already had felt the witness of the spirit telling me the words were true throughout my reading but I just felt strongly that I should accept the challenge and pray for that witness. I had a lovely and sacred experience that I will never forget as I prayed and received that very strong witness that it was indeed the true word of God. It was so strong and powerful that when I have struggled at times in my life since that moment I CANNOT deny the truthfulness of the book!!! It is the most wonderful feeling and I feel so strongly that everyone should get that witness for themselves as well. Especially in this day and age when there are so many evil forces surrounding us trying to lead us astray. We HAVE to be steadfast and immoveable in our commitment to living the gospel. Having that strong witness and testimony can be THE thing that keeps us going no matter how hard it gets.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me and never gives up on me, even when I give up on myself. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who loves me and suffered my sins and pains and challenges and frustrations and sadnesses and everything that I go through. I am grateful for His compassion and understanding. I am also so very grateful for the Holy Ghost and His companionship. For His comfort and peace that buoy me up and carry me through the hard times I face in this life. I know with all my heart and soul that nothing else on earth can bring us such joy and bring our spirits such comfort and peace than living the gospel to it's fullest and bringing ourselves closer to the members of the Godhead through our faithfulness and diligence in keeping the commandments and asking for their help when we need it! I love them and I am thankful for them. I am thankful for a wonderful husband and beautiful children that keep me going. I know I am incredibly blessed and I am so grateful for all of the many blessings I have been given. I know I am so far from perfect and that I have so far to go but I am so happy for the patience and love of my family and my Father in Heaven!!!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

I have an idea...

How about we change the way Visiting Teaching works. How about, when we have one of those rare days when our house is REALLY clean and tidy and has no strange smells or any horrible messes and everything feels put together, in it's place, and totally presentable...WE call our Visiting Teachers and ask if they would please come visit us today. That would be so awesome don't you think?!

So, this morning I decided it would be super great to finish the second book in a series I'm reading and start the third book because I just couldn't stand to put it down. Sure, there was a sink full of dishes that needed to be washed. And, yes, I have 4 baskets of laundry that need folded and put away. My bathroom needs cleaned. The living room needed vacuumed because we had popcorn last night and the kids got little bits all over the place.
They ALWAYS get little bits all over the place.                                                                         
 Why do I continue to buy popcorn?                                                             
Do I REALLY expect a different outcome? 
              You know what they say about that, right?!
Expecting a different outcome, that is. 
Anyway, my room looks like a bomb went off, mainly because I have the 4 baskets of laundry in there. And I shampooed the living room and Brian shampooed the dining room on Saturday and I need to shampoo Gracie's room and the kitchen. And I know I have Kindergarten Roundup in just a couple hours. But, I decided to read instead. I NEVER do that anymore. I mean, I read but I just don't do it for hours on end in the middle of the day when I have a zillion things to do. I do it in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep. So this afternoon my visiting teachers called and asked if they could come visit me tonight..........Uuummmmmm.....Sure! That would be grrrrreaaaaat. 
Hence, the wonderful new idea to change the way we do visiting teaching.
Who's with me????

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Rice, Surviving Sacrament Meeting, Ipod Touch, Spiritual Thought, Crazy Life, Please share!

~I finally perfected rice after 17 years of trying. When Brian and I were first married I was the worst cook ever!! I was especially bad at cooking rice. I also had a hard time actually remembering to cook rice in the first time with meals until the sauce or whatever I cooked was finished. Brian was also bad at cooking rice. He can make fabulous bread, rolls, meals. I can cook just about anything that doesn't require yeast. But we just couldn't get along with rice. It always ended up crunchy in spots and gummy in other spots when we made it. So gross!! So we started making Minute Rice all the time. It saves time and it is always cooked right. Now that we have a family of 6 people to feed and a VERY limited budget, we decided we better master the art of cooking rice. We've been trying for a few months now and Brian finally figured out Jasmine rice. But still more expensive than regular old rice. I was still struggling until I started cooking 2 cups of rice with 5 cups of water and I cook it at a bit higher temp than we were before. Now it works! Every time!!! I am SoOoO happy!! I know it's kind of weird to be so happy about that I just felt like a weirdo for not being able to figure it out before. It seemed EVERYONE but us could cook rice. Yay me!!! Now I just have to get serious about mastering recipes that require yeast. Wish me luck!!  :)
~I've decided after attending Sacrament Meeting with my kids last week as usual on Sunday morning, that every single one of them must have ADHD. Sometimes they're worse than other times and last week was rough. We've tried taking snacks, books, coloring books, notebooks, Friend magazines, lacing boards to keep them entertained but it seems they just fight over them. Or discuss what they are doing...LOUDLY!!! Make huge messes. Cause many distractions and big scenes. It just isn't pretty! So last week we tried the -not bringing anything- thing...again. I think it worked about the same as anything else does. My biggest problem is that Max and Matthew think their voices only have one volume. Full blast! I wish there was some kind of muzzle for kids that I could use at church. Is that bad? This week we didn't bring ANYTHING again and it worked pretty well. Much better than last week. Matthew's volume is still full blast but they behaved as well as any little wiggly boy could be expected to behave.
~I am truly grateful that we decided to buy Zack an Ipod touch for his birthday last year!!! He had been begging for a Nintendo DS or an Ipod for a couple of years. An Ipod touch costs more than they do but you can use it for both games AND music as well as about a zillion other things. We NEVER spend anywhere near what we spent on that thing for birthdays but he's a great kid, we can't afford to pay allowance, we can't afford to take him anywhere fun ever, he NEVER gets ANYTHING fun so we figured it was worth a splurge for him!! Thank goodness we got it for him! If you don't have one in your family you definitely need one!!! We were sitting there in Sacrament Meeting when Zack remembered he was supposed to give a talk in Primary today. He whipped out his Ipod touch, that Brian was going to borrow for Sunday School and Priesthood since it has the scriptures and lesson manual on it, and looked up the Friend magazine and found a lovely little story by Elder Uchtdorf to read for his talk. Saved again!!!
~Our lesson in Sunday School was fantastic today! I just love it when this certain man substitutes! He is outstanding!! We talked a bit about The Word of Wisdom and about how some people don't want to commit to following that commandment or any commandments but want to eat, drink, and be merry and not be accountable at all. Brother McCourt talked about how Jesus suffered all of our sins and died for us that we might be forgiven of our sins and return to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our families forever and what does he ask of us in return? That we obey His commandments. That we live lives that emulate Him and that we be instruments in His hands in serving others, loving others, and bringing our brothers and sisters to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that none of us is perfect and that ultimately we are all striving towards the same goal. And that we all know what we should and should not be doing but I just love how each week at church we can be inspired to live certain  commandments and principals more fully. Each of us may find something different that we, as individuals need to work on but if we all go with the same attitude of being humble/teachable, the spirit can speak to us and help us find ways to achieve our Celestial goals. I was really not thrilled to go to church this morning. Time changes are hard and I turned off the alarm and decided say a quick prayer before getting in the shower and accidentally fell asleep until 10 minutes to 8:00. Not good!! It's a circus at our house Sunday morning and sometimes when I'm sitting in Sacrament Meeting after all the craziness, I don't always have the right spirit about me. But I forced myself to go and I am so glad I did! I eventually humbled myself and allowed those wonderful whisperings to happen. Next week I'm going to try to not FORCE myself to go but to go with a happy heart and with an excitement to learn.
~The last few weeks have been crazy! Here are a few of the things we've had going on.
*baseball sign-ups
*baseball try outs
*New Beginnings: LOTS of hours and details and work but oh so worth it!!! It was a really great night!!!
*Zack received his Arrow of Light badge through a really neat ceremony at the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts. Incidentally, the entire Blue and Gold Banquet lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes! Only church should last that long and even then...kind of iffy! :)
*Meal planning for a month
*Grocery shopping for a month
*Zack's D.A.R.E. graduation
*Matthew's Patriotic concert for school on a Wednesday night that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes
*Zackary's Patriotic concert for school the very next night that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes also. Same program. Same parts. Same songs. Different kids. They didn't have enough room for all of the parents and families to be there on the same night so they decided to split it up and have them do it on 2 different nights. UGH!!!
*Fire station field trip with Max's preschool
*Parent/teacher conferences: Warning: Shameless bragging ahead!! Have I mentioned lately that my children are positively BRILLIANT?!!!!! I am so proud of them! I love that the teachers always say they wish they had a class full of students as well behaved and smart as my kids are! They are awesome!!! And they both have THE best teachers EVER!!!
*I had a couple of Dr.'s visits, medicine additions and tweaks, and 8 vials of blood for testing. Fun stuff!
*A 3-4 hour Book of Mormon Read
*My beautiful niece Emily's 1st birthday party

We've been busy and having fun! Brian and I are gearing up for a very busy baseball season as many of you are. I've GOT to be more organized with our meals this year. Last year we ate so many hot dogs that the mere thought of them makes me gag a bit! We never tired of sandwiches though. What is your favorite "go to" busy night meal. Please comment and share your tip with me! Even if I don't know you PLEASE help me out here! Take care everyone!!!