Why I Love Primary!

Our kids are the BEST.  We have 12-13 kids on any given Sunday, and they just ROCK.  They are SO eager to share each other's lives, to laugh together, to question.  They love to learn, to discuss and apply scripture and doctrine, to bear witness of Christ.  They see the world in black and white, and sometimes as a grown-up I think they're being adorably naive...then I realize that, in all important things, the world really IS black and white.  The world adds those grays, and it's our job to see through it...become like a child.

Today, Paul was supposed to give the lesson but he fell ill this morning.  So, for the second week in a row, I had to teach an "impromptu" lesson (meaning I'd looked at it and thought about it during the week, but never really planned anything...)  Today's lesson was about David and Jonathon, and what it means to be a true friend.  We made lists in our church journals about all the qualities we thought were most important for a good friend to have.  Then we read the scripture in John where Jesus calls us His friends.  We went through our huge list together and talked about the ways Jesus exemplified those traits perfectly, and then we re-read the scripture.  Jesus says in this verse that if we follow His commandments, we are His friends.  So we went through that list a third time and brainstormed ways we could exemplify those qualities in being a friend to the Savior. 

It wasn't a particularly unique or brilliant lesson--I'd given ones similar to it in various settings over my life--and any good that came from it certainly wasn't because I am such a marvelous teacher.  But I felt the Spirit more strongly than I have in a long while as I taught between 12:20 and 1:00 today, and I bore witness that Jesus is the Christ, that because He is our truest friend He was able to sacrifice his life--not just by death, but by the way He lived--to teach us how to be better friends to others.  I felt His love more powerfully in that moment than I had in a long, long time, and not just for me, but for those 12 kiddos in the room with me.  Sometimes I get complacent in sharing my testimony, because I think people who know me at all know that I try to really live my beliefs.  But speaking the words, teaching others to love the word of God, is what really jump-starts my own spiritual progression and what strengthens my own testimony.  I want to be better about bringing others to His fold.  I'm not at all, for once second, ashamed or apologetic about being a member of this Church or being a disciple of Christ.  I'm only ashamed I'm not better at it.

I love my Savior.  I have a testimony of Jesus Christ as our older brother, our true friend, our perfect exemplar in all things, our advocate with the Father.  I have a testimony of the scriptures as His words, His guidance and counsel and love, to us--especially the Book of Mormon, which is a perfect witness of His life.  I know that the Book of Mormon was translated through the power of God by a humble, perfectly imperfect man named Joseph Smith, who as a young boy had faith enough to seek out our Heavenly Father in sincere prayer, and because of the magnitude of his faith and the importance of his question he was answered in a divine vision.  He saw God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.  He did.  He had no reason to pretend it.  It cost him years of anguish and eventually his life, but he was a servant of God and he chose to rise up to his calling.  Because of his efforts and his obedience, the world is a better place because of him, and the kingdom of God moved forward.  Since then we've had many prophets, such as President Monson today, who have followed in the Savior's footsteps, serving and teaching not for the love of power or glory but because of a love for fellow men.   I want to do the same.  I know God answers prayers.  I've experienced it first hand, many times over my life, in ways that are so much more than random stimulus and misperceptions and hoping in vain.  It's indisputable evidence, even in moments when I forget that.  I KNOW He lives.  And I am grateful to surround myself with children each Sunday who know that, too.  Their pure and simple testimonies remind me that everything in our lives boil down to pure and simple love.  I'm blessed to be there. Until we got called last year, I never would have said that.  I just never knew what I was missing. 

Camping IN.

I LOVE to camp.  Paul doesn't.  I can't blame him.  He hates the heat, and bugs, and whenever we've gone it's rained and he's been cold and had to fight off evil raccoons and walk half a mile to the nearest toilet and it's just never been that fun for him.  He never really camped with his family or friends.  I did.  He's a city boy, and I'm a country girl.  I knew this when I married him. 

So we've done the camp-in date night before.  But it was WAY more fun (a) as a married couple without other people around, and (b) with the extra touches I added to make it more authentic.  :)  Last night was super fun, and here are some pics to tell the tale!

I always got those glow-in-the-dark stickers.  But they're a pain to take off, and we really don't want them up in our living room.  And I knew if I went the Christmas light route that they would stay up until at least New Year's, and I wasn't prepared for that, either.  So I figured since we do this often enough, and since we both LOVE the stars, I'd splurge a little and MAKE a starry nightscape that we could lend out and reuse over and over again.  I wish I could take picture of how REAL these look in the dark, but you'll have to take my word for it!  (I bought 6 yards of dark blue $1/yd fabric at Walmart, and a $4 tube of glow-in-the-dark paint.  SO fun to do!)

Still drying...but you can see the swirly galaxy and part of a shooting star!

I put on some nature sounds as we set up our "tent"...fort building is WAY more fun with the huge decorative bamboo sticks we own!  And we haven't outgrown the need to build forts upon occasion.  :)

Our "tent," with shrubbery (ha ha).

Our fort with the starry sky hanging overhead (I used pushpins to get them to stay).

After building our awesome fort and rolling out our sleeping bags in it, we played some card games by flashlight.  We snuggled a little on our sleeping bags and listened to the "rain."  After it got literally too hot in there (blankets hold in body heat, p.s.!), we went to our "fire" (stovetop) and made s'mores.  It was pretty authentic...our marshmallows even caught on fire!  But I'll admit, it was nice having the air conditioning, too.

Once that was done, I taught Paul how to make a classic camp craft.  You can find the directions here...we modified it a little to make them smaller...and I had Paul go "hunting for sticks" around the apartment before we could make them!  Let me just say, there is something magical about the comfortable silence of working with your hands alongside your hubby and listening to nature sounds, even when you know it's coming from your computer.  It was as peaceful as an early morning hike.

Paul's Memory Keeper.

My memory keeper.

Then, we turned off the lights and went "stargazing" on the couch, and I did too good a job at hiding the constellations because even I couldn't find them.  Or the shooting star.  But the galaxy was awesome.  If anyone wants to borrow it for their own camp-in, just ask!  (For real.  I mean it.  Don't spend the money if you don't have to!)  It was just like real sky.  We just looked up at the stars in silence for a while, and Paul fell asleep with his head in my lap.

GREAT DATE!!!  It really was a fun night.  One of these days I'll make camping appealing enough that Paul will venture out into the wild with me!  But in the meantime, this was still pretty rockin'.  I can't wait to plan our next date night!

Seven Days of Romantic Words

So, back at CHRISTMAS I gave Paul a coupon for each of the 12 days of Christmas...each coupon came with a small gift, and they related to the number of the day...blah blah blah.  Details don't matter.  What DOES matter is that one of the coupons was for "7 days of romantic words..." and Paul had no idea what that really meant.  But he cashed it in, anyway, so this last week I got to do it!  It was a TON of fun, and I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone with a significant other; my love and appreciation for him grew IMMENSELY at a time when we really needed that.

So, here's an overview of the week, with only the juciest details kept private.  :)  You can adapt it to whatever works for you.  I got many of the ideas from Cher at http://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/, and the rest from my own head and past experiences. 

EVERY DAY:
I texted him a "sexy text" (mostly pickup lines that were cheesy enough to work), and I snuck in a little love note in his lunch that related to something in there.  For example, if there was a tuna sandwich, the note said, "of all the fish in the sea, you're the catch for me" and other such nerdiness.  It was fun, though.

Lunch Love Notes...can't seem to rotate them.  Sorry.

DAY 1

Pumpkin muffins...for my pumpkin!

He woke up to a basket of warm muffins, "for my studmuffin."  I also made him a GIANT card out of posterboard, sending him off with "hugs." (Yes, candy was inside!)  I also made cookies...I've been in a sugary mode all week.  It seemed fitting.

C is for COOKIE...

DAY 2

He woke up to a giant candygram awaiting him.  I also used dry erase markers on our bathroom mirror to spell out a few love notes, such as "g'morning, handsome" and such...we also had a date this night.

DAY 3

I spelled out "I Love You" with my hands, NOT in sign language but just making the shapes.  Walmart printed off the wallets fairly cheaply, and they fit in an 11"x14" frame quite nicely.  I got the frame at dollar tree, but it wasn't so great, so I buckled down and got a $5 one at Walmart later...it was worth it.  It's a nice picture hanging up by our bedroom light now.  :)  I also used this website to create a ransom note that said, "If you ever want to see your precious pillows again, I demand 15 kisses!"

DAY 4

I heart attacked his side of the room with reasons I love him written on each heart!  Also, bath crayons.  Love them.  We had them a while ago, but never really liked them because water got in the container they were in and they ended up mushy and gross.  But I remedied that by putting them in a small lid (the lid to my shaving cream) on the outside far corner of the tub, and they haven't given us a problem.  I can't put up pictures because our art and messages are too scandalous.  :)

DAY 5

I made Love Lotto cards, which I got the idea for here. SO neat.
I also sent him an array of e-cards, ranging from super cute to really mushy to just plain weird.  All with an "I love you!" message, of course.  :)  Go here for free, no-strings-attached lovey dovey ecards!

DAY 6

Small envelope cut in half, four pages taped together!

I did my own version of an "I love you...THIIIIS MUCH!" card, which I stashed in his lunch.  He said the folks at work looked at him kinda funny.  All the better!  :)  I also used Obi (our dog) as a love note messenger...I tied a little card, written "from Obsidian," to her collar just before he came home so that when she greeted him in her usual way (jumping up on him and barking like crazy), he'd see the card.  He got a kick out of reading her own love note.  :)

DAY 7
I had a real love note hidden with some materials as part of our date night, which he had to find.  (You could also hide several notes around the house, or several parts of a note he'd have to put together to read...)  Touching.  Also, I created a free website that had pictures of us and some original romantic poetry that tried to capture the many different ways I feel about him.  You can check it out here.

It was a great week...I mean, c'mon, who WOULDN'T love having someone fawn all over you with a week of surprises and romantic words?  Even though Paul's not a "words of affirmation" love kind of guy, he really seemed to appreciate the attention.  And it was good for me to give it!

And the winner is...

I know...I said I'd post it at midnight...but I got REALLY tired last night and fell asleep right after dinner with the hubs.  So, you got to wait a few more hours in anticipation.  Then, this morning, I assigned each of you a number and just rolled a dice.  Easy!

Without further ado, the winner is...

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KERSTIN JAMES!

Congratulations, Kerstin!  I'll be sending the little lovely ASAP!  (And now I have your addy so I can do that!)

Thanks for playing!

2 Days Left for the GIVEAWAY!

Okay, either you don't like the dolls, you don't like ME, or you're just too busy to check blogger.  (I'm hoping it's the latter, especially since I've had some major self-acceptance issues in the last few weeks, but I digress...)

Just a reminder, yet again, that you have TWO DAYS LEFT for the FREE AND EASY giveaway!  Go HERE to enter now!

Tanner's 1st Birthday!

My little brother's baby boy turned 1 yesterday!  We had a little party for him and his mommy at my mom's house...

At first, he didn't like us too much...

(we hadn't seen him for a few weeks, I think he forgot who we were!)

But then, after having mommy right next to him, and getting to open presents, he was all smiles!

Playing with the toys was even better...

And then we had cake, and I must say, with three family birthdays in two weeks, I'm sick of making cake, of eating cake, and of pretty much all things sugar.  I don't know how you do it, Kerstin!  Well, no, I do...you have a passion for it and create your own personal masterpieces and probably don't eat much of it anyway, whereas I just kinda like it once in a while and steal all my ideas online and have to eat it, too.  :)

Thankfully, the next birthday (besides my step-mom's tomorrow, but I doubt we'll go to any festivities for that one) isn't until Paul's, in a little over two months, so I think we're safe...maybe I'll like cake again by then!

Anywho, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TANNER!

My Mama

IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you haven't yet entered my giveaway, PLEASE do so (the deadline is Friday the 13th!).  It's easy and fun and even if you don't particularly care if you win, it'd really make my day.  Go HERE to discover how!

BUT NOW ON TO MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS...

Today is my mom's birthday.  She is awesome.  See if you can tell from the pictures and captions what theme I picked out this year...

cake I made...

Cake and her present...

Opening her gifts (a horse wind chime, horse deck of cards, and some horse figurines)

Trying to decide where to cut so he doesn't get hurt...

If you can't figure the theme out by now, you don't deserve to know.  :) 

Anywho, since today we're celebrating her life, I thought I'd reminisce a little and tell a few of my favorite memories/qualities of my mom...

(1) When we were little, there was a summer when she read Where the Red Fern Grows to us every day out in our yard.  Once we finished it, we got to rent the movie from the library.  This is one of my favorite childhood memories!

(2) Mom has a playful side that, once in a while, she indulges. One summer when everyone else was gone and it was just her and me at home (we worked together at Alcoa while everyone else got to go to the Nauvoo Temple open house...), she told me to get in the car and we'd follow a rainbow to dinner.  Which is exactly what we did, as the rainbow led us to Ruby Tuesdays. 

(3) When we were kids, Mom always made time for herself.  She was a good wife and mother, but she was her own person, too.  She took correspondence courses for children's writing and veterinary assistance something-or-other, learned how to decorate cakes, did a little woodworking in which she and my dad built all of our household bookshelves, pressed flowers into beautiful collages, and more.  Once we were all in school, she worked at the school as a special education paraprofessional, chaired the town Halloween party, and volunteered with the STPS (our PTA).  Even now she has taught herself amazing computer skills that have earned her promotions at work, and she's ALWAYS giving money, advice, and support to her children, even when they don't deserve it.  She is always trying to better herself and better the world around her.  This is perhaps my favorite thing about her and the one thing I most want to achieve in my own life!

(4) I cannot help but love John Denver music, because of her.  Also, chocolate, horses, and 90s TV.  A lot of my tastes have been molded by hers, which I suppose is natural, but it's still really cool to think about!

(5) My mom is an honest person.  She doesn't pretend to be anything she isn't and she is a person of her word.  That sort of integrity and the level of self-confidence it takes to live a truly honest life aren't easy to come by these days, and it's set a great example for me and my siblings.  I'm still working on that myself, but I aspire to it.

For these reasons and more, I love my mother.  And I'm glad she was born so that I could be, too!  Happy birthday, Mom!  Hope it was a great one!

DUNES!

Just a reminder, become a follower of this blog and leave a comment for my previous post to be entered in my 200th POST GIVEAWAY! No, really. It's free and I really want you to. Pretty please with sugar on top?


ANYWHO...

For Charissa's 26th birthday, she decided she really wanted to go to the Indiana Dunes...and since Cerene now lives 7 minutes from the beach, we couldn't NOT oblige her!  We were supposed to go on Saturday, but it rained (shocker), so we went Monday instead.  It was a BLAST, especially since Caida hadn't ever been to the beach.  We gave her a proper introduction to Mt. Baldy, a favorite family vacation spot when we were children, including...

...climbing the actual dune...

...sitting on the shoreline and letting the waves hit you as you kick against them...

...playing various water games...

...building sand castles (she particularly LOVED doing this!)...

...the feeling of eating sand with your picnic lunch...

...burying some or all of your body in various sand sculptures...

...chasing seagulls...

...and being so tuckered out from playing you fall asleep within MINUTES of getting in the car!

 

All in all, it was a pretty successful excursion!

200th Post GIVEAWAY!

Okay, folks! It's time for the 200th POST GIVEAWAY! I'm going to make this SUPER easy on everyone. All you have to do to qualify for the ABSOLUTELY FREE giveaway is:

(1) Become a follower of this blog, if you haven't already. (There's a button on the right.)

(2) Comment on this post, telling me which handmade flower/fairy doll you'd like. (Men, you can get one for your wife, sister, niece, or daughter!)

The deadline is Friday the 13th 'til 11:59 pm. I'll post the winner at midnight. I'll ship it myself anywhere in the world, so don't be shy! Have fun!

Here are the dolls up for grabs...just leave the number of the doll you'd like in your comment!

Happy posting!

#1:

#2:

#3:

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#5:

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#10:

A "Tough Beef" Moment

Gordon B. Hinckley is credited with this quote, although one site I found said he was quoting Jenkin Lloyd Jones:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey … delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

I LOVE this quote because while it still captures the optimism and gratitude that President Hinckley became known for, it acknowledges the very HUMAN moments that make up most of our days, and recognizes that just because we're Latter-day Saints doesn't mean we have to pretend that our lives are perfect or that we're always happy, every moment of every day. Yes, we can still be grateful and hopeful in even our darkest moments, but I feel validated somehow when I read this quote and realize that those "tough beef" moments DO still happen, and not just to me.

I've been having a LOT of those moments lately. I suppose I should have expected it, since we had a few months of relative calm...but still. Those moments never cease to surprise or overwhelm me. And mostly it's all the "stuff" of life that you can't plan for--identity theft, health issues, external family things that you can't help but be affected by, learning to find that "high degree of mutual toleration" with your very human spouse and your even more human self, big companies practically screwing over the little guy...and no one to fight your battles for you. Add to that my own battles with depression and job hunting, and it's been a very stressful summer. But as much as I'm grateful for those brief, beautiful vistas and the occasional "thrill" of the ride, which I DO experience now and again, I'm doubly grateful for those moments when I can share my mundane life with someone else and when they can share their troubles with me. I appreciate more and more the honesty of close friends who clue me in to the fact that EVERYONE struggles, NO ONE has the perfect marriage or the perfect life, and, in essence, I'm not a horrible person for being unhappy sometimes. All of this is part of the human experience we signed up for, and maybe someday it'll all be worth it. That's the human tie that binds us.