A Day in the Life...

This week is "spring" break; I'm calling it second winter break... this weather is ridiculous. It won't stop snowing. I'm ready for some vitamin D soaked skin, long evening walks, and daylight until past bedtime.  Or... I'm ready for the magic of Christmas again, so maybe I'll get out some nativity scenes to match outside. The kids haven't done too much this week. Tim took them to a trampoline park, then thought he'd try it out himself... and spent th rest of the day in bed.  So that's fun!  We have plans this weekend to explore one of the venues at Thanksgiving Point, see the new Super Mario Brothers movie, do a few family challenges, play some games, and spent a lot of time together. I love Dakota's look lately... going for a cowgirl theme. She's a beaut. Look at my wheat only six days after planting!! This makes me very happy.  

The twins signed up for an early morning robotics club at school that lasted the last three months. They built and programmed a robot that could go forward/backward, spin, say words, and do other tricks. They coded it all and had a showcase to show them off for family. They did amazing! We love their teacher, Mr. Adam Smith, and how he loves them. He's been the best. Micah was in a group with Emery and Maddy  Kota was in a group with Olivia and her brother (who didn't want a picture) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Moving on... The other night I had my family do a little activity. We each drew a tree with roots, and talked about how roots keep trees planted upright. We labeled our tree roots with what keeps us grounded and planted, the foundations of our lives. We talked about how the branches and leaves of a tree might change with seasons or influences, and what the influences are in our lives. We talked about how we need to rely on our ro...

Copper asked our Bishop for General Conference tickets. At first he told us they were gone but texted us a few days later and said they had found four extra tickets for the Sunday afternoon session! Super cool. Tim and the twins did not jump at the chance to go because they are bums, so Copper invited my parents. We had excellent seats- close enough I could tell who the Apostles were when they sat down, recognized some of their wives, and a few other people on the stand.  Because our Bishop's daughter works for the church, we got reserved parking too, next to the elevators that took us right to the ticket scanner. When I drove up to the underground parking the lady says, "This parking is for the Apostles, and the 70, and people like that..." so I kindly said, "Yeah, I don't know if I'm in the right place, but I guess my name is on a list and I can park close." She looked it up and sure enough, there was my name, so we got to park really, really close.   ...

Last Sunday our Young Women president thought of a cool Easter activity for the girls.  From Sunday afternoon to Tuesday evening we threw together something pretty amazing. We set up a really nice "Last Supper" setting, with tables close to the ground and rugs/pillows to sit on, like during the last week of Christ's life.  I taught the girls and leaders how to make bread and how symbolic it is to Christ, His life, His ministry, and our own spiritual growth. The girls divided into two groups to make four loaves (with regular yeast), but I came prepared with another four loaves already made the night before from sourdough. We talked of Christ, feasted on bread, apples, cheese, and grapes, watched clips of videos of the Holy Week, and committed to be better friends, neighbors, and selves.  Each girl also left with a personal mini-loaf of bread and a personal invitation to feast on the words of Christ. I was a little worried I wouldn't get everything done in time, with on...

 I've had a handful of experiences in my life that have been profound sittings with God- like an unmistakable presence. Once when Tim and I were first married we got up hours before the sun, read scriptures together, and prayed. I can't even remember what about, but I very much remember we sat there with God in the room with us. If you ask Tim about it, he'll remember exactly what experience I'm talking about, and it was 15 years ago. I swore I could have turned around to see Him sitting on our old, broken, black leather couch. There are a few other times that were memorably and remarkably strong.  Once you're on the top of a mountain and really elevated, when you climb down (or fall, haha), you long for what you knew above, for what feels like home, or freedom.  That's what I picture sitting with God like.  Experiences with God really mean something to me, and they create a longing to be spiritually elevated. So, sometimes in my prayers I plead to "have an...

Last weekend it was sunny so we decided to drive up to our property and have a cook-out.  Well, we didn't anticipate there would still be TWO feet of snow!  We couldn't even pull in through our gate, so we made our way through town and went to Starvation State Park.  We had lunch, ran around with the dog (who was in absolute heaven), admired the frozen lake, got cold, and drove home... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mother Nature: thank you for an abundant, wet, winter. Please bring heat now...    It snowed several inches and was a full on blizzard at home today, so I'm less than amused. I'm ready for yard work, extra Vitamin D, long days, and short-sleeved shirts...  

This last year after Christmas I made some goals in alignment with the youth program the church has. I thought it would be a good example to the girls in the Young Women program I serve in. I set goals in the following areas: physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual. One spiritual goal was to go to the temple six times this year. It doesn't seem like a lot until I think about my history of temple attendance, which is sometimes only like once a year.  I think I've been five times since January, which is a record in the 16.5 years I've been endowed as far as number of times gone in a year. Micah and I did baptisms, then all of us did baptisms, and I've done initiatories, an endowment session, and then Tim and I just went and did sealings.  Each time I've gone I've thought, "This feels like a good place to be," and I want to go back. I'm happy the temple is so busy, but it's also really hard to get a reservation time. Now I see why they'r...