Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Every year we go down to my grandmother's house in Florida to celebrate with her and my Aunt Cecilee. We have so much fun. We stay in the kitchen for nearly two days cutting, rolling, filling, and laughing. This is one of the things that I am truly thankful for. The companionship of women is a marvelous thing.

The other thing that I LOVE when we go down is that my grandma has a big yard, and all the little kids go run outside and play until they fall over exhausted.

I am also thankful that my mom and sister went with us this year. It has been more than five years since I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my mom. I love her now more than ever. Who isn't thankful for their mother after having children?

I hope that your Thanksgiving was as fun and stress-relieving as mine!

Random

There are many things that I should be blogging about right now.  Disney, Thanksgiving, Family...but tonight, I choose none of them.  What I choose is this:  Ryan and I went to see a movie tonight.  This is a miracle of sorts.  Since we cut our budget, we haven't been to the movies.  Tonight we went and saw "Australia" with some friends.  Can I just tell you...this was a beautiful movie.  The cinematography was wonderful, The story was inspiring, and the actors...welllll....all I have to say is....Hugh Jackman.  AAAHHHH!  (singing now).  Hope you had a good night too.  I am going to bed to dream of....

Self Portrait

So....I got my hair cut.  

Yesterday I was a little wary.  This morning I HATED it.  It turned out okay once I took some time with it...but who has time to do their hair?  I BARELY have time to take a shower, and I almost never have time to eat.  Where am I going to find the time to fix this mess of a haircut?  Maybe it will force me to take time for myself.  That wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Miracles

I know that this is very silly and mommyish of me, but I am just so excited.  You would be too if you could only see the kind of mess this child can make in one meal.

Oliver had a bowl of cheerios for breakfast this morning.  I was being brave, and decided to let him eat by himself, knowing full well that I might have a lot of cleaning to do.  But, GOOD NEWS, he ate the whole bowl AND drank the milk with no mess at all!!!!!

Miracles do happen.  Hope your day is going as well as mine!

Inspirational Words

A couple of weeks ago Elder Holland came to our stake to visit with the members here. I thought that I would write down (and share) some of the things that he shared with us.

His emphasis in talking was, for the most part, aimed towards the youth that were there. But I believe, like all gospel principles we can apply this to ourselves as well. I will paraphrase his words, but this is not a direct quote.

He first spoke of President Hinckley and his lifelong dedication to service in the church. Three days before he passed away he was conducting meetings with the first presidency and the twelve. He was almost 98 years old. He worked up until the very day that he died. Why did he do this? Why not just retire to Florida, and take some time off. Surely he deserved it after working for so long. He did it not for his own salvation. Surely Pres. Hinckley's salvation is sure, if not, then we are all in serious trouble. He did it for each and every one of us.

I ask of you today, a tithing. Not of your money, you give that to your bishop. What I want from you today is a tithe on your lives. If we all live to be 100, then 10% of your lives is 10 years. The years that I ask of you are the years from 12-22. This is a time in your lives that you will make nearly every important decision in your life. Whether or not to go to church, who your friends are, whom you will date, whether you will go to college, if you will go on a mission, whom you will marry. These years are the time that we lose many members. YOU MUST NOT LEAVE THE CHURCH.

I know that this was directed at the youth, but I think that it is such a lovely idea. To tithe your life to the church. Of course, I doubt after ten years that you would have the desire to stop. :)

He also talked about temples. I don't remember exactly how he fit it in, it wasn't a structured, written talk. There is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 88th chapter, 33rd verse that haunts me. It tells us if we reject the gift, we reject the giver. In our time we have 125 (?) temples. If this is not a gift, I don't know what is. Throughout all of history there have been only a few temples. We have the amazing opportunity to attend these temples on a regular basis. All over the world. Let us not reject this gift that the Lord has given us.

In his closing remarks he gave a quote of some kind. He did not say where it was from, but this is what he said. Many of us are looking toward the second coming and wondering when it will be...the actual moment when Christ descends from heaven. I am not here to announce that today. If you are faithful and look to Christ in all things. If you will be obedient and valiant in your life. You can bind Satan in your own life. We can live in our homes as if the millennium has already come. We can have millennial homes and millennial families. Satan will be bound in our very homes.

I know that many were as touched by this as I was. There were not very many dry eyes in the church. What a beautiful idea. To make our homes a true safe haven from the world. I know that this is what I am now striving for in my home. I am trying to constantly have the spirit with me so that I can deal with my children in a Christlike manner. Instead of TV or random music, I have been playing conference talks on my computer. With the tumultuous times that this world is going through, I want my family to be safe and to have a place of peace and love to go to.

If anyone has any ideas that you use in your home to make your home more peaceful, I would love to hear them.

Bravery

This is my sweet little Gabriel at swimming lessons.  I have recently been feeling like it was important for him to learn.  So a couple of weeks ago, we signed him up.  It was fairly inexpensive, and not a long commitment, just in case he freaked out about it.  He goes every Saturday for 30 minutes with Coach DeRahn.  He is actually learning to like it.  He was especially excited this week because Gram was going to take him.  He couldn't stop talking about how he wanted to show her all the things that he could do.  He went on and on about how Coach kept asking him if he had been in swimming lessons before.

The first lesson was especially scary for ME.  I kept waiting for him to completely lose it and I would have to try and calm him down while making sure that Eme and Oliver weren't throwing their little bodies into the pool.  But he was totally cool with everything that they did.

In just the first lesson he learned how to doggy paddle, back stroke, glide and go underwater.  The overprotective mommy in me thought that this was sort of a lot.  I half expected them just to teach him about water safety and how to float.

He is doing really well already.  He is swimming short distances to the side of the pool.  He doesn't freak out every time he goes under.  He doesn't even demand a towel every time water gets in his eyes.  It's like watching him

 change right before my eyes.

For any of you that know Gabriel, you know what an incredible feat of bravery this is for him.  I am extraordinarily proud of him.  To 

watch him conquer his fears is amazing.  He attends lessons every week on my promise that he will be okay, and he trusts me.

He asked me the first time we went why he had to take swimming lessons.  I told him that I thought it was what Heavenly Father wanted for him.  He never asked me again.

Gabriel's acts of bravery have inspired me to ponder my own fears.  I have a goal of handing out some Book of Mormons, but I am afraid.  I have a fear of rejection.  I also fear that I will offend people.  I think that while watching Gabriel learning how to swim, I realized that I need to just jump in.  Take a leap of faith.  And trust that this is what my Heavenly Father wants me to do.  I might have a lot to learn the first time, but I know I will make progress.  And maybe someone else will gain happiness because I was brave.

A Book I Am Thankful For

I recently read this book... "Dreams and Visions of the Last Days".  It is a fabulous book for anyone interested in emergency preparedness as well as being spiritually prepared for the second coming.  It has literally changed my perspective on how I want to live my life.  I STRONGLY recommend it.  I probably have offered it to several of you to read.  You can find it at the following link:  http://www.ldsavow.com/books.html

Fun in the Fall

I thought that I would go ahead and post some Halloween pics on here.  I haven't sent any out in e-mails yet.....

Gabriel chose to be a vampire this year...much to my surprise.  I was sure that he would insist on being a super-hero.  I was so glad when he chose this instead and I was still able to coordinate everyone's costumes.  Call me silly, but I LOVE it when they all match a theme for Halloween.  I almost had him convinced to be a white rabbit so that we could be the cast of Alice in Wonderland.

Eme was my little "witchie".  She was the cutest thing ever.  Her tulle skirt bounced as she ran back and forth from the houses.  She was completely 

adorable.  

She was allowed to wear her costume to gymnastics.  

That was, of course, the best thing ever.

This is the ONE picture I got of her in her COMPLETE costume.  The hat kept falling off and she refused to carry the broom.  She needed all her strength to lug around her kittie bag that was jammed full of goodies.

Just a little fun fact for those of you that might find it fitting.  (No pun intended).  Eme's costume wasn't finished, both her hat and her belt had to be safety-pinned.  

Oliver was my handsome little devil.  He was so good to wear his horns the whole time.  He was too cute.

It was so funny to watch him walk around with that tail bouncing behind him.

It took him a little bit, but once he figured out that everyone he walked up to gave him candy, he was all about it.  He had no problem interacting with strangers after that, and even started to pick his own candy out of the bowls!

The cutest little ghouls I have ever seen!!!!  I have to say that I think their costumes turned out really good.  It's the most sewing I have ever done at one time.  Happy Halloween everyone!

Just the Beginning

Well...here we are.  I never thought I would be the kind of person to start a blog.  I suppose it's mostly for me.  Ryan will probably never see it unless I force it upon him.  :)  This post is just for starters, and so my page isn't completely blank.  Ha ha.  It makes me feel like I've accomplished something to have written about absolutely nothing.