A Little Ramble

This is a post from one of my friend's on Facebook who lives in Topeka, Kansas:

No electricity, cable TV, ac, Internet, laptop is almost dead, cell phone almost dead, what did people used to do before electronics? This is really horrible. Hmm how am I suppose to sleep?
Later she said this:
Just heard there are 19,000 of is in this situation. And they have no idea what the problem is or how much longer it going to be...Uhggghg..
Someone suggested she get a generator, to which she replied: We have one its too bad to go outside to start it up. But if it lasts much longer I'm going to have to suck it up and go fire it up lol!


It got me thinking, we all use cell phones and many people don't even have land lines anymore. We didn't have one until the stupid Internet company here forced us to. The phone we have for our land line is a cordless phone. If our power is out, our phone does not work. It's kind of freaky if you think about it. I mean what if something like that happened to us and we needed to call 911 and we couldn't because all of our phones are completely dependent on electricity.

At Church we are always learning about how important it is to have a good food storage. Also, to have soap, toilet paper, toothpaste, you know, the basic toiletries and such. It just never occurred to me to make sure we have a corded phone that doesn't require electricity.

I used to think we all needed to have food storage in case some sort of natural disaster or some such thing that would leave you with no way to get food or supplies. I learned that lesson at a young age when my dad and I had to walk 6 blocks in the snow to the nearest grocery store to get food for our family. My cousin lives in Australia and they had major flooding this year and they didn't have too much damage where they lived but food trucks couldn't get to their town because of the damage to the roads. They were so grateful to have food storage. 

Some years ago I learned how important it can be for a family to have food storage. My friend's husband lost his job as a big wig at Geneva Rock. They had 6 kids and a large home and a couple vehicles. Well, they had quite a lot of money in savings and they were able to live for 6 months off of savings and food storage. She sold Tupperware to help pay for perishables, etc. that they needed. I was so impressed that because they chose to follow the council of church leaders, to not be in a lot of debt and to have savings and food storage, they were able to survive a difficult situation. Her husband was able to take some college classes during that time that would help him be more able to find work. 

I've been really feeling like we need to start having a food storage. We have a hard enough time feeding our family from month to month, having enough money to buy food storage often seems out of reach.  We're doing the best we can to start having food storage. It feels so good to at least start the process. We have a long way to go!!! And I am definitely adding a corded phone to my list of  essentials to store!!!

Good Quote!

One of my friends on Facebook posted this and I liked it so I thought I'd share.Yes I'm going on Facebook more. I just can't seem to stay away. I just love the interaction with friends and family who are far away or even in my neighborhood.  Anyhoo, Here's what she wrote...

If life is a highway, I wish someone would finish with the construction already. I'm tired of the detours, road blocks, and pot holes.

FUN TIMES & DEFINITE BRUISAGE & I may have gotten a little carried away with all the pictures....

So, my family rented a cabin together in the Heber Mountains. My brother Robby, my sisters Stephanie and Katie, and me and all of our families were there. We did miss Dana and her family (they live in Colorado and her husband is in the Special Forces in the Army in Afghanistan) and Nathan and his family who just moved to Florida in July!
This cabin was so awesome! It had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a zip line, a game room, a movie room, a wrap around deck/porch, and a huge kitchen and eating area. It was beautiful & secluded.
Each morning we anxiously looked out the wall of windows in the living room in hopes of seeing some sort of creature. One morning Steph saw a mama bear and her cub. Two of the days we saw moose. Once there were two moose and once there was one big moose who walked right up to the fence that was made of a couple of cables, which lined the property. One day a fox walked up to the house while eating some little creature. We saw lots of deer.
Steph's husband J.J. brought up some 4-wheelers and a side by side. We had some very nice little rides and a couple of very exciting rides. On one of the exciting rides we were heading up a very steep, very rocky, trail. When we were to a point where there was about a 50-70 foot drop to the left of me, my 4-wheeler started struggling to make it up the hill since it was so steep. Well, it was a manual shift 4-wheeler and I was thinking, oh no I must be in 2nd gear instead of 1st gear so I shifted down. Turns out I WAS in 1st gear after all and shifted into neutral. Oh CRAP!!! So I shifted back up to 1st gear and floored it, which caused me to basically pop a wheelie. The thing stood straight up, threw me onto my elbow and my butt, while still straddling it, and started teetering over all the way. I saw it teetering and panicked! All I could think of was that when 4-wheelers land on top of people they often die! Brian and my Zacky were on the 4-wheeler directly behind me. I scrambled to get completely off of it, flipped over to my knees and crawled away as fast as I could. Thankfully, it didn't ever roll completely over. The rack stopped it. It scared the crap out of me, Brian, Zack and everyone with us. I feel very blessed that it just stopped! I have bruises and scrapes and I'm sore pretty much everywhere but it could have been so much worse!!!
On Tuesday afternoon, Brian and I, and all of my siblings (except Katie who was cooking dinner that night) and their spouses went on a kind of hairy, totally awesome, 2 hour ride! Katie's hubby, Chris rode with Robby's son Tyler. And oh my gosh, it was awesome! We rode to the top of a mountain with spectacular views. To the east we could see the Uintahs, Mount Timpanogas to the west, and gorgeous views to the north and south as well. It was really fun! It was nice to ride on the back of a 4-wheeler, snuggling Brian for 2 hours. We rarely have that kind of time away from our children. Our 18th anniversary was on Sunday so it was so nice to have such a great time together! It's funny though. You can tell how much older we all are now. Steph, Jenise, and I were so happy that there was a nice little outhouse in the middle of nowhere on the ride that had T.P. AND hand sanitizer! I kept saying to Brian that I am a mother of 4 and every time we went over a bump it felt like I was being punched in the bladder. I really wished I had been more diligent at doing my Kegel exercises. HAHA
The zip line was so much fun! The kids especially liked it! My Max and Steph's son Josh are little dare devils and just thought it was the coolest! My Dad even rode it once. My Mom and all of us adults were more than just a little bit worried about him riding it. Of course all of his grand kids thought he was a total rock star!!!
We had a blast! We all hated to see it end. Can you believe that there were 17 people there and we all got along perfectly! It was really great! We are supposed to do it again next year and we just can't wait!
Life is so expensive anymore that we don't ever spend enough time doing super fun things as a family so it was especially nice to just get away and have fun! I'm so glad that it wasn't a 'luxurious' cabin. It was nice, yet just rugged enough, and the PERFECT place to take kids! They knew they had to take care of the cabin but we didn't have to worry about them doing naughty stuff so much because they were constantly entertained by the zip line, the great outdoors, the game room, and the movie room. It was great! 

My sweet little Gracie climbing the stairs

 Gracie & Max getting ready for our ride.

 Zack, Gracie, Max, & Brian

 Matty rode with me on a 4-wheeler

 Look closely between the rear and front tire on the black car. The fox that came up to the house.

 Starting out on the ride where I crashed.

 I love how you can see the moon between the trees in this pic.

 This is the crazy path we took. It was NUTS!!!Especially since we had kids with us and the side by side that was too big to be on this path. It was pretty cool too just a bit scary! We were afraid a bear or something would jump out at us.   :)

 This is a nice pic of all of them

 This is when J.J. discovered there was a small branch from the bushes in Steph's hair...

 Brian on the 4-wheeler that I tried to roll. I was on with Zack after the incident. I should have gotten a picture of the crazy hill we climbed when that happened. It was Crazy!! 

 Rob and Tyler

 We were all so happy to have survived the ride that I just HAD to get a picture!

 The totally awesome moose...

 Grandpa getting ready to ride the zipline.

 There he is at the end where you fly upside down.

 All done

 Zack getting ready to ride

 The kids thinking Grandpa is the coolest!!!

 Kinda screwed up the sequence on these next few pics. In this pic Max is climbing the ladder to ride the zip line.

 Here he comes. You can barely see him.

 Max flew completely upside down at the end of the zip line

 Matty on the zip line

 My pretty little Gracie

 Cuter than cute Joshers

 Steph took the kids for a ride in the side by side

 Tyler, Chris, Rob, Jenise, Me, & Brian

Me & Brian

 J.J. & Stephanie

  Brian pointed out this heart shaped patch of snow.

 This part of the ride is VERY steep and scary to go up or down. All us girls bailed off and walked down...

 Chris and Tyler

 If you put sunscreen on right before a 2 hour 4-wheeler ride you might end up looking like this...

A few thoughts

Sometimes if I ask Gracie if she wants to take a nap she'll say no and then a little while later she'll say she does want to go ni-nite. So I asked her today if she wanted to go ni-nite and she said, "No, dedo" and smiled really cheesy.
Max was playing with my hair today. I have my bangs pulled back in a couple of bobbie pins today. He had one of Gracie's hair flowers in his hand and said, "I'm just going to cover these up with a flower because when I see them I think they are kind of hideous."

I'm finally enjoying the summer. We're just kickin' back and havin' fun and I'm feeling very relaxed. In most ways I'm not looking forward to school starting. I am, however, looking forward to having a cleaner house. That's it. That's the only reason I'm looking forward to school today. Tomorrow if the kids start fighting I'll look forward to school starting then too. I'm really looking forward to having some one on one time with Gracie. She is such a sweetie and the poor thing is kid #4 so she pretty much just has to go with the flow. It will be nice to not have anybody in preschool. Being able to keep up with the house better will be nice. It will be nice to feel like things are more calm and relaxed. I really NEED some calm and relaxation in my life!

Can you believe I actually braved free swimming day at the pool for International Days? They said there were over 1,000 people there that day and I believe it! It was crazy! But we had fun! Gracie freaks out when the waves turn on but by the time we left that day she wanted me to take her to the biggest wave in the pool. She's so cute! I love spending time with my kids and feeling like I can actually feel like doing fun things like that with them by myself. I am really thankful for modern medicine!!!

To Forgive or Not to Forgive...THAT is The Question....

When I was in college I started to really "get" the gospel. Oh, I was raised with it and went to church every week and listened to talks and lessons about the gospel but it wasn't until I was in college that it all kind of came together in my mind and I really started to understand it all. As I read the scriptures I began to question different teachings and principals of the gospel. It seemed that each time I went to church the lessons and talks were about the particular subject I was curious about and answers leapt from the pages as I read The Book of Mormon. Well, since we have lived here I have wondered about two different things; recognizing the spirit and forgiveness. Working with the youth of the church has been wonderful for me. I have learned a lot!

There have been many lessons and talks given at church about the spirit and how to recognize it. I feel much more confident about recognizing the spirit because of these talks and lessons. When we went to the Manti Temple once for baptisms a man told the youth to focus on the way they were feeling in the temple that day. He said there is a different feeling in the temple than anywhere else. That feeling is the spirit. The more you try to make choices that will bring the spirit  such as; reading scriptures, attending church and other meetings, praying always, and attending the temple as much as possible, the more they will be able to feel the spirit and recognize it's guidance and direction in their lives. That really helped me a lot! Another experience I had happened just yesterday, actually. We were having a combined meeting and a counselor in the Bishopric was giving the lesson. It was about the spirit. He said that often times we wonder; is it the spirit talking to me or is it just my own thoughts? He said if it's a good choice then it doesn't really matter, if we just do it, good will come from it. Our bishop was in the meeting and was talking about that too. It just came to my mind when he was talking that if we just start always following that feeling when it comes, whether it's the spirit or our own thoughts, the spirit will know that we will actually listen to it and won't stop giving us those impressions. We are taught in the scriptures that we are to be submissive and ALWAYS listening to those promptings definitely helps us to be submissive. I know everyone else probably already knows all this and it just takes me longer to learn things but it sure feels great to understand the Holy Ghost better!

As for forgiveness...I'm still not there yet. There have been so many lessons and talks on forgiveness lately that it's kind of crazy and I STILL struggle! I know that we are supposed to forgive EVERYONE. I "get" that. We have forgiven and forgotten over and over and over again. We aren't big grudge holders. We can forgive and forget and continue to be around people no matter what. We have had issues with some of our family for over a year now and I have to wonder if what we are doing is acceptable to the Lord. We have chosen to just not have them in our lives. We love them very much (some more than others (<:  ) and we really miss having them in our lives. But we have been hurt by them so badly. They don't feel that they have done anything wrong. They heard our side of things and they just flat out don't care. They have turned their backs on us and have listened to lie after lie that others have told them about us. So, the question is...do you have to forgive people who don't think they have done anything wrong and don't even WANT your forgiveness in the first place? We are very forgiving people!!! We would give them forgiveness in a heartbeat if they asked for it. But they jut plain don't want it. What they want is for us to just come around again and act like nothing ever happened. We feel that THEY should be asking for OUR forgiveness. So what do you do in this situation? There is one of the people involved that we don't really have anything against and we just kind of feel like they were caught in the middle and we would love nothing more than to mend that relationship and be part of each others lives again. We just can't picture family gatherings with EVERYONE. Just too much! So how does it play into the rules of forgiveness? Do you have to give forgiveness to people who don't want it? THAT is my question...

If we do forgive do we still HAVE to be around them and allow their toxic influences into our lives? Can we truly forgive them if we don't let them back into our lives? It's just so hard! Forgiveness, in the past has been easier because it was easier to get over the situation. This situation is just so stinking hard for us. We just can't ever imagine having most of the people in our lives again. Too much has been said and done. You can't just erase years of lies behind our backs and years of trying to destroy us in others' eyes, and all the words that have been spoken. The damage is irreparable it seems. Trust has been obliterated! I want to forgive them but I don't want to spend time with people who think so little of me and my husband and children. Is that WRONG?