To Be and To Do

Last weekend was one of the highly looked-forward-to events in  our household. We spend time with family, play bingo with candy for playing pieces, shush the kids(a lot), and feel the spirit as we listen to the leaders of our church give us counsel. It's such a great weekend twice a year.

It's been a week since LDS General Conference and as I contemplate a message to put in my ward Relief Society newsletter I ask myself if listening to those eight hours of conference has made a change in me? Have I changed who I am as a result of the inspired words so that what I do will reflect more of the Savior? As I strive to become a Woman of God what things will I change in my life to become more like Him?

Will I keep the Sabbath more fully and allow it to enrich my life as Elder Perry counseled? Will I be one of the Incredible Women that Elder Cook spoke of or take more opportunities to do good as Elder Eyring suggests? Am I waiting on the Road to Damascus for a manifestation or am I actively seeking to know Christ and become like Him?

Being worthy and receiving revelation, attending the temple, building my marriage, seeking and accepting correction , so many good words of counsel received from these good men and women. How do I do them all? How do I internalize them and make them part of me? I believe the answer lies in the life of Jesus Christ who grew "grace for grace"(D&C 93:12). If I want to be An Ensign to the Nations I must choose one or two things at a time and always be improving and I can receive 'grace for grace' just as Jesus did. What better way is there to be like Him?

Attitude

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home.

The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a different way. We cannot change the inevitable. All we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

    -Charles Swindoll

The big 1-2!

 DaVinci's big day finally arrived. He has been planning and looking forward to his twelfth birthday for a very long time. So many things to decide--whether he wanted presents or just money, whether to get the priesthood on his birthday(which just happened to conveniently fall on a Sunday) or wait 'til the next week when maybe some family could come to be with us, whether to have a party or not. All of the decisions got made and DaVinci planned his own party and carried it out with no help from me except making the cake.

They played frisbee, Apples to Apples, and trampoline games. Davinci says it was a successful party so I guess it was!

The whole crew

Trampoline games

Busy times!

 Things are starting to pop around here---lots happening. Of course there is always a lot happening so I just couldn't skip over a few fun events over the last little while so here's a quick review:



Superstar doing the Boot Scootin' Boogie at the school dance program. Cutie got to do the chicken dance, but none of my pictures turned out.



DaVinci and Superstar getting their orange belts.



Pinewood Derby. Superstar got the award for the 'most outlandish' car. He asked me what that meant and I told him it was the most cool and crazy car. He thought that was great!



DaVinci at his winter orchestra concert. Wow! That sixth grade orchestra is good! How wonderful that our kids have the opportunity to be part of something exceptional without it costing us a fortune!



All the boys gathered around the piano singing songs from Newsies. This is a really blurry photo, but by the time I tried to take another one they caught me and wouldn't stay where they were. I just couldn't leave it out.

Icon ski night. The only pictures I took were of the snow sliding off the roof of the lodge. The pictures don't do it justice. It was hanging way out off the edge. The area was fenced off so it wouldn't fall on anyone.



Superstar in the 4th and 5th grade spelling bee. He is asking the judge to repeat the word since he pronounced "museum" really strangely.



Brothers! They are just so cute!

ZoomYummy!

I was searching for patterns to crochet a granny square bag and I came across this wonderful website/blog called ZoomYummy. It is so fun--lots of recipes and crafts(especially crochet patterns for simple things like slippers and bags). I'm going back there soon!

Off she goes!

Last night I watched my oldest and only daughter go through security and the airport all alone as she set off on an adventure that will expand her world. She's never had to find her way through an airport to catch a flight before. She's never been so far from home(from ME!) before.

I've been trying not to think about all of this too hard because I needed to be strong for her. She's had many sleepless nights and much anxiety about this trip. I couldn't let my anxiety be seen. So now that she can't see me I am typing this and crying.

I don't know what there is to cry about--she's been working and planning for this for a LONG time. She told us when she was three years old that she was going to go on a mission to China. In middle school and high school she insisted on eating with chopsticks much of the time. She took two years of Chinese in high school(she doesn't need to speak Chinese at all to qualify for this experience). I've encouraged her to go from the beginning. "You just don't know what's coming in the future so go while you can." On Monday night at our 'Going Away Party Family Night', we had some fortune cookies. We had to laugh when she read her fortune--"A long term goal is about to be fulfilled."

She and I have very different ways of preparing for things. I like to be ready well in advance and she likes to take her time. It took all the energy I had to keep my mouth closed and let her do things her way and she was ready when it was time to be ready.

At the airport there were about 50 other people in the group she is with, all going to China. There was someone there to show her where to check in so they could all be together. She got checked in but didn't go with the rest through security because a friend of hers wanted to meet her to say good-bye. We waited for him and saw him for a few minutes and by then the rest of her group were already gone to the gate. We couldn't go any further with her so she went through security and didn't look back. As I type this she is probably landing in Seoul Korea within the hour where she has a 22 hour layover. Tomorrow she has a short flight across the bay to Weihai China where she will be teaching English for the next 4 1/2 months.

Hopefully she'll be keeping us updated on her blog fizzlegiggle with pictures too! For now I just pray for her peace of mind as she embarks on this exciting and unnerving adventure.

A Dog Tale

For a very long time our children have been begging for a dog. I never objected but Stephen has always been very adamant that we not have one. Over about the last year he's been softening up on that resolve and even at Christmas time said how fun it would be to get a puppy and early Christmas morning put it inside a box and wrap it up so the kids would unwrap a puppy. That didn't happen, but last weekend Stephen said he thought having a dog would be really good for DaVinci so we should get one. We were all very shocked and surprised at that and we wasted no time in heading to the animal shelter to see what we could find.

This is Koda

He is black lab/heeler mix and a perfect dog. Seven months old, already house trained and fixed, and so well behaved. He never barked at all. We brought him home, went and bought a leash, food dish, dog food, etc., and began learning what it's like to have a dog. We all loved having him around.

Except for Cutie. Koda doesn't seem to know how to interact with someone so small. The information the shelter had said that he didn't do well with small children and should be with kids six and older. But maybe they need to be older than that. He kept biting Cutie's hand. I think he was trying to play with him four out of five times, but one of them seemed like a real bite and Cutie was really scared of Koda. So with very heavy hearts we took him back to the shelter after less than two days. If anyone has no small children and wants a perfect dog go to the Cache Humane Society and take Koda home with you!

We went back to look at the other dogs there and Koda was all excited and barking when he saw us. How can we ever find another dog so perfect, and perfect for Cutie too?