A Day in the Life...

I started this little project at the suggestion of President Nelsen when he spoke at General Conference.  I went to the index of the scriptures and looked up Jesus Christ- which obviously indicated a TON of scriptures.  Like hundreds and hundreds.  So I'm looking them up individually, according to topic (like his birth, or ascension, or advocacy, etc.).  It's pretty enlightening.  The other day I found this scripture in 1 Timothy and it's stuck with me.  "...manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,  believed on in the world , received up into glory."  I added the italics because that's my favorite part.  The testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ is definitely growing with this exercise.  The only annoying thing is Tim.  I'll say, "Hey, listen to this..." and start the scripture, and lots of times he'll finish it for me.  He's a scripture wizard.  The other day ...

The annual trip to Park City with Denise and Candis fell on my birthday, since we always do the third Saturday in October.  We froze (it was a high of 42) but shopped, snacked, and ate lunch on Main Street. Always a good time.  I love those girls, love that my girls love them, and love that they both love all of us.  Thirty-five years of friendship, wow!  We were (all three) blond girls in preschool and gradeschool, with a love of roller skates, skateboards, catching pollywogs, building forts, and swimming in cleaned out garbage times.  Good memories. When we got home Tim had decorated the kitchen.  Best part was the realization he got a Happy 70th Birthday banner... hahahaha.  Now Micah goes around saying, "He just got that because he said it was the cheapest."  Probably true, but he had no idea what it said until Copper saw it hours later.  I just love it so it's still hanging up.  And I'm proud of him for finding a gift ...

A week ago we had our cousin Halloween party.  We blew eyeballs across the counter, tried to eat pudding without our hands, and ate delicious food (blood soup, bat wings, mummies, and eyeballs, plus monster desserts).  Taryn got into a huge whipped cream and pudding fight with Ty, which she lost big time.  Haha.  We love Halloween!

This year I told both of my girls' teachers that we would not be doing homework if at anytime it took away from our family or was too stressful.  Mounds and mounds of no-questions-asked research shows the waste of time homework is.  I'm not about to send them to school for six hours to come home and do hours more.  By the time I get home from work- it's clean up time, dinner time, bath time, reading time, family time, scripture time, and bed time. If they're struggling, we'll do more, but meanwhile, we do what we can and what they're okay with.  Except for reading, which we do every day.  So far it's working and both teachers were super supportive.  I do like to see them work hard, which is why I snapped this picture.  I'm grateful they like school and grateful learning is enjoyable and fairly easy for them. The other night after scripture study I found Micah writing in her scripture journal.  This is what she wrote on her own- I wro...

Micah: "KOTA... KOTA... KOTA!  KOTA?" Me: "Dakota, answer her.  She wants you to go see what she's doing." Kota: "No.  She's on the toilet and I don't want to smell her poop."

Today was the annual Primary Program where all the Primary kids sing and speak about things they've learned all year.  It's a lot of work to organize and the best Sacrament Meeting of the year.  This year I asked Micah to give a talk about living prophets.  Considering she had to speak at a pulpit in front of a couple hundred people, including everyone in our ward plus grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who come to see, she did AMAZING!!  She was loud, clear, and confident, despite whispering, "I'm not going to do this" to me right before her turn.  I'm so proud of her.  I'm so proud of all of our Primary kids.  They followed our theme of Choose The Right and testified of Christ, our perfect example, and the joy that comes from good decisions.  I'm really grateful for Primary and the opportunity I have to be a part of the Presidency. Micah requires a sort of a "carrot in the face" motivation.  I told her if she did a gre...

A typical week: Last Sunday afternoon the littles were painting pumpkins and Copper was writing, drawing, and studying Christ stories from the Bible. Pretty impressive to me. Tim was at a church meeting, I had just gotten back from a meeting, and we had nothing until later. I enjoy these moments when everything else seems to hold still for a bit and we can relax and enjoy each other.  That night we celebrated my dad's birthday with a dessert party.  I obviously took no pictures. Monday was a holiday, yay! I had a friend from work over and we made autumn wreaths.  Not long after all three girls wanted to make some too. Taryn started a new school about a month ago; it's a military academy.  Except it's not as harsh as it sounds.  She totally loves it, which I thought she would for a week or so but it's lasted.  Super small classes, fun activities, lots of one on one, tons of structure, and push ups if you mouth off.  She told us the...

 As Tim said this afternoon... "Halloween haunted houses, lights, and General Conference...what a life!"

General Conference is a weekend of listening to apostles and others testify of the gospel and Jesus Christ.  It can be humbling, uplifting, funny, and is overall a really refreshing time.  Last weekend was the General Women's Conference and since Copper is eight now, we went together.  It was so fun! We have a few traditions through General Conference weekend.  Rotate and renew our 72 hour kits by means of eating everything in them. Haha, but we do.  Stay at home in our pajamas.  Color for hours while we listen to good things.  Make good treats we don't usually have.  Clean the house like crazy during the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions. This year did not disappoint.  Not only did we do all of our regular traditions but we were inspired and recommitted to the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I am always awed by these ordinary folks who come and present and testify in extraordinary ways.  It's a really amazin...

 Love notes from Micah.  "Micah misses mama.  I miss mama.  I yell for mama. I cry for mama. I love mom."  And below...  "I love mom and dad.  I love our family.  I love you.  The end."  The latest school writing assignment.  Obviously different personalities.  Kota would make him comfortable.  Micah would shoot him.  A few weeks ago we spent the weekend at my sister's while they went to California.  Good times, big messes, sewing parties for matching clothes, dress up, and lots of trips to the park.  My SIL Amber came over too and brought me a whole sheet of these "Cassie's don't touch" stickers.  Love it. Field trip with my Copper (below).  We went to the park for lunch and to the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.  I thought it was great.  The kids just wanted a good time out of school.  Win, win.  Also, Micah had a rough time eating lunch, obviously, an...