Friday, December 30, 2011
My favorite: Stan Hywet
I keep talking this place up but to me it really is magical. I could look around for hours and never get bored. It's like a big huge piece of art that I want to explore. I can't wait to visit it in the spring!!
My kids are HUGE into Nutcrackers right now. HUGE.
My kids are HUGE into Nutcrackers right now. HUGE.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Inevitability of Change
I don't like change. In fact, when my life is decently happy I don't want it. I like to get in a rhythm and stay there. To change my mind about change, I started reading the scriptures and talks by General Authorities and found this by Marvin J. Ashton, Progress Through Change...
"How often in life do we set our own roots into the soil of life and become root bound? We may treat ourselves too gently and defy anyone to disturb the soil or trim back our root system. Under these conditions we too must struggle to make progress. Oh, change is hard! Change can be rough...
There is nothing so unchanging, so inevitable as change itself. The things we see, touch, and feel are always changing. Relationships between friends, husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister are all dynamic, changing relationships. There is a constant that allows us to use change for our own good, and that constant is the revealed eternal truths of our Heavenly Father.
We need not feel that we must forever be what we presently are. There is a tendency to think of change as the enemy. Many of us are suspect of change and will often fight and resist it before we have even discovered what the actual effects will be. When change is thought through carefully, it can produce the most rewarding and profound experiences in life. The changes we make must fit the Lord’s purposes and patterns.
As opportunity for change reaches into our lives, as it always will, we must ask, “Where do I need development? What do I want out of life? Where do I want to go? How can I get there?” Weighing alternatives very carefully is a much needed prerequisite as one plans changes. In God’s plan we are usually free to choose the changes we make in our lives and we are always free to choose how we will respond to the changes that come. We need not surrender our freedoms. But just as a compass is valuable to guide us out of the dense forest, so the gospel points the way as we walk the paths of life....
William James once said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that we can change our circumstances by changing our attitudes of mind” (cited in Vital Quotations, comp. Emerson Roy West, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968, p. 19). Jesus Christ helped people from all walks of life reach heights they had never dreamed of by teaching them to walk in new, secure paths.
In order to make significant changes in our lives, we must accept our Father in Heaven and His truths.
It was Emerson who said, A man who sits “on the cushion of advantages, goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has been put on his wits, … [learns] moderation and real skill”
A Chinese proverb says, “Great souls have wills; feeble souls have only wishes.”
It has been said by Bruce Barton that, “When we’re through changing, we’re through.” There is no age when we are too old or too young or just too middle-aged to change. Perhaps old age really comes when a person finally gives up the right, challenge, and joy of changing. We should remain teachable. How easy it is to become set. We must be willing to establish goals whether we are sixty, seventy, fifty, or fifteen. Maintain a zest for life. Never should there be a time when we are unwilling to improve ourselves through meaningful change."
A much needed pep talk.
"How often in life do we set our own roots into the soil of life and become root bound? We may treat ourselves too gently and defy anyone to disturb the soil or trim back our root system. Under these conditions we too must struggle to make progress. Oh, change is hard! Change can be rough...
There is nothing so unchanging, so inevitable as change itself. The things we see, touch, and feel are always changing. Relationships between friends, husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister are all dynamic, changing relationships. There is a constant that allows us to use change for our own good, and that constant is the revealed eternal truths of our Heavenly Father.
We need not feel that we must forever be what we presently are. There is a tendency to think of change as the enemy. Many of us are suspect of change and will often fight and resist it before we have even discovered what the actual effects will be. When change is thought through carefully, it can produce the most rewarding and profound experiences in life. The changes we make must fit the Lord’s purposes and patterns.
As opportunity for change reaches into our lives, as it always will, we must ask, “Where do I need development? What do I want out of life? Where do I want to go? How can I get there?” Weighing alternatives very carefully is a much needed prerequisite as one plans changes. In God’s plan we are usually free to choose the changes we make in our lives and we are always free to choose how we will respond to the changes that come. We need not surrender our freedoms. But just as a compass is valuable to guide us out of the dense forest, so the gospel points the way as we walk the paths of life....
William James once said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that we can change our circumstances by changing our attitudes of mind” (cited in Vital Quotations, comp. Emerson Roy West, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968, p. 19). Jesus Christ helped people from all walks of life reach heights they had never dreamed of by teaching them to walk in new, secure paths.
In order to make significant changes in our lives, we must accept our Father in Heaven and His truths.
It was Emerson who said, A man who sits “on the cushion of advantages, goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has been put on his wits, … [learns] moderation and real skill”
A Chinese proverb says, “Great souls have wills; feeble souls have only wishes.”
It has been said by Bruce Barton that, “When we’re through changing, we’re through.” There is no age when we are too old or too young or just too middle-aged to change. Perhaps old age really comes when a person finally gives up the right, challenge, and joy of changing. We should remain teachable. How easy it is to become set. We must be willing to establish goals whether we are sixty, seventy, fifty, or fifteen. Maintain a zest for life. Never should there be a time when we are unwilling to improve ourselves through meaningful change."
A much needed pep talk.
And then there were three...
Guinea pigs that is. I don't even know where to begin with this story, but we started out with one. I am a total pushover. Here's a shout out for Chocolate, Oreo and Ashley (can you guess who named that one?)
The end.
The end.
Favorite Christmas morning pics
This is actually a sad picture but I'm posting for documenting purposes. Trevor woke up twice in the middle of the night feeling sick to his stomach and couldn't quite recover the next morning. He spent part of the festivities on the couch. And he was set to perform a Piano piece at church and had to cancel. So sad.
Twas the night before Christmas...
We read this book every year to the kids on the night before Christmas. The kids all sleep in the same room on a mattress on the floor. They LOVE it. We read the book. Then they assume one of our traditions in a wrestling match, so they start to wrestle, then we tell them they have to be really silent so that they can hear Santa. Then they fall fast to sleep (in theory).
Cookies for Santa
The kids helped me make their usual Christmas cookies for Santa. Then they filled the elf jar with candy and the reindeer jar with an apple. Corbin wrote the Santa letter this year.
Then Trevor and Ashlyn decided that they wanted to write a letter to Santa too.
Then Trevor and Ashlyn decided that they wanted to write a letter to Santa too.
Christmas Eve
We spent Christmas Eve with the Days and the Tracey's.
We ate yummy food:
The kids acted out the Nativity:
We sang Christmas carols while Trevor and Jaxson played the piano:
They even got an episode of Ninjago in :)
We ate yummy food:
The kids acted out the Nativity:
We sang Christmas carols while Trevor and Jaxson played the piano:
They even got an episode of Ninjago in :)
Monday, December 26, 2011
Cucumber Canoe
Have you heard this song? You should: here
A friend introduced this song to me and it is SO CUTE. I love it! It might actually be a kids song... :) But I think everyone will like it.
p.s. the video that goes along with the song on youtube is kinda lame but the song is adorable. Check it out.
A friend introduced this song to me and it is SO CUTE. I love it! It might actually be a kids song... :) But I think everyone will like it.
p.s. the video that goes along with the song on youtube is kinda lame but the song is adorable. Check it out.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Track Santa on NORAD--fun for kids!
My kids and I are having fun tracking Santa's progress here: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/
Found out about it from here: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=18620464&title=norad-santa-trackers-having-record-holiday-
I guess this started in 1955! The kids can see where Santa has delivered presents already from around the world. So cute!
Found out about it from here: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=18620464&title=norad-santa-trackers-having-record-holiday-
I guess this started in 1955! The kids can see where Santa has delivered presents already from around the world. So cute!
Funny Story
Trevor said to me today: Mom, I remember how much you weigh from last year.
(*side note: Dave bought me a scale for my birthday last year and before anyone starts calling names, I actually asked for it! When he gave it to me we all hopped on it and weighed ourselves for fun)
Me: Really? How much?
Trevor: 113 pounds.
Me: ...totally.... ;)
(I'm not even going to try to correct him on that one...hopefully he spreads the word! :))
(*side note: Dave bought me a scale for my birthday last year and before anyone starts calling names, I actually asked for it! When he gave it to me we all hopped on it and weighed ourselves for fun)
Me: Really? How much?
Trevor: 113 pounds.
Me: ...totally.... ;)
(I'm not even going to try to correct him on that one...hopefully he spreads the word! :))
Baking cinnamon rolls with Ashlyn
Ashlyn likes to bake with me purely so that she can wear this apron. Seriously. My mom gave us matching aprons (same pattern, different colors) and Ashlyn loves to wear hers. We made cinnamon rolls for neighbor gifts.
Delivering treats to one of our favorite ladies, Sandy. The kids decorated the small Christmas tree themselves.
Delivering treats to one of our favorite ladies, Sandy. The kids decorated the small Christmas tree themselves.
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