Primary Program

So I have decided that if I take time to blog on Sunday, I will blog about Sunday type things.

Today was out Primary Program.

Brooklyn is my only primary age child anymore, so she got all the attention from our bench.

What a cutie she was, singing her little heart out and signing along with all the words.

When it was time for her to do her part, she read it beautifully.

It was too long for her to memorize.

The sister sitting in front of us, turned to me and said "she looks just like you"

I guess it's nice to have a mini me walking around. :)

I love the Sunday when the children do the primary program.

It is full of sweet music, sweet words of wisdom and a sweet spirit.

It took me back to all the hard work pulling off a primary program is.

This is my second year NOT doing the program. I think it is more fun to watch from the cheap seats.

I do miss seeing all my kids up there singing. But I guess they have to grow up sometime. :(

You really realize how fast time is moving as you watch your children grow and change week to week, month to month, moment to moment.

I don't want to miss a minute of it.

I want to enjoy every moment of it.

So I will!! With a smile!!

Texting Training

We barely joined the wonderful world of text. Unlimited that is. We have always had it, just had to pay 10 cents each for them. With a teenage girl who has a busy social life this was adding up. I being the wonderful mother that I am, insisted that the dad, instead of chastising her about the many texts she unwillingly receives, just get unlimited text and be done with it.

Low and behold he listened. The only problem with this.....is that I am now expected to text. Pfff!! It is like typing with one finger, painless and sloppy. I don't know how to capitalize, I can barely use itapen and forget punctuation. So if you're lucky enough to receive a text from me - know it will look like this: (true text I sent today)

did you find your friends are you having fun and did you win the game let me know what time you will be home and where you are going after the game

Can you say run on sentence? I guess I got the point across. So I am a texter in training, hopefully I will get better with practice.

p.s. I want to post cute pictures like the rest of you....it will take some learning but I will succeed!!

School Shopping

So today my sweetheart decided that I needed to do a little school shopping on him. Yes, he took me shopping for new clothes and shoes. The best part of this shopping trip is that he paid for the whole thing. :)

I have been whining of late about my lack of wardrobe. Fall is coming and all my long pants are worn and well to be honest ugly. I know, I know, why don't I just replace clothes along the way. Well I am the type of mother who, when has extra money prefers to buy cute things for my cute skinny girls. I mean lets get real......Who likes to shop when they have to buy sizes that are for a person 30-40 pounds overweight. NOT I!!

Today my husband forced me. (I believe he just couldn't take the whining) Whatever the reason I am 4 pairs of pants and 12 shirts the richer for it. Maybe I should whine about my church clothes too.

I forget to mention how wonderful my sweetheart is...He went with me and waited outside the dreaded dressing room for me to model each shirt and pair of pants. While I was changing into the next outfit he was scouring the shelves for something else he just knew would look Fabulous on me. The joy of blind true love.

Paula Brown Noorda in Sacrament Meeting

So today was High Council Sunday. Yes, I know your thinking urgh...Dry Council.

Not this Sunday. This Sunday was good, very good. The speakers both told personal experiences about the temple and how attending the temple has blessed their lives. I felt truly uplifted.

The second speakers name was Bother Jay Silcox. He began his talk, by telling how temple attendance and being an eternal family can bless our lives. How family is so important, and the two are closely related. (not in those exact words)

He then said, "I recently attended the funeral of a local lady, a dear friend of mine Paula Brown. Well you would know her as Paula Brown Noorda. She grew up here in Riverton just as I did, we are the same age and went to school together. When I went through the line at her viewing, it was made so clear to me and to any who attended that family was the most important thing in her life. That eternal families were important in her life. Paula and her family are an example of the testimony of Temples, and eternal families. You could see it in the way they all reacted to the loss of their dear wife and mother." (allow some liberty for remembering the exact wording but this is pretty close)

Imagine how quickly my attention was drawn to him. I was listening....but my mind was probably wandering a bit as I was really tired. But boom when he said Paula's name I was drawn right back to the talk. Even my family looked at me with big eyes..."mom, he just said the name of your friend."

This is just further proof that Paula was such and amazing woman in the gospel. That her name and example would be shared by a high councilman, in a ward meeting, where more than likely know one knew her. I knew her. I was touched and reminded of the wonderful lady she was and the impact she had on my life. I was reminded of the many things she taught me personally as a young women growing up in the gospel.

Temple blessings were important to her and she did instill that in her family and others she came in contact with. How blessed I am to have known her.

Talk the Talk....

I started my day the usual way...

Getting the kids off to school. Although I usually go off to school with them. Not today.

Brooklyn apparently has the Chicken Pox!!

Can you believe it, who gets Chicken Pox anymore. It started as a funny rash on her belly on Thursday, and has gotten progressively worse all weekend. I finally took her to the Doctor this morning. NOT expecting Chicken Pox because she has been immunized. Well apparently when they first started immunizing kids for this they only gave one shot. Now they give two, wonder why?!

No worries, she is just going to have a 3 day vacay from school, seeing as how she feels great, but has these funny bumps that sorta itch. The dad had us stop at the store and let her choose her favorite half gallon of ice cream, which she doesn't have to share. She chose strawberry.

Which brings me to my time on the computer. I have all this free time for the moment and decided to browse my blogs. As always this brought me to Cjane and Nie Nie among others.

I am continually amazed by the outpouring of prayer and concern from total strangers. I found myself scouring the church website for the article about blogging by Brother Ballard. I feel compelled to try to be more positive in my blogs. Of course this wont always be the case, because lets face it being a woman, wife and mother are not always easy. It does bring us a lot of joy, but not without it's trials as well.

So I will talk the talk and walk the walk. I will share what I believe whenever the spirit moves me and I will strive to be a better example to those around me. I will be better. :) This is my goal. Kneeling in prayer more often, fulfilling my calling with a bigger smile, being more patient with my teenagers, reading my scriptures more diligently and attending the temple more regularly.

Maybe I will even try red lipstick. NOT!! My husband would pass out from laughter. Maybe lip gloss!?

Nie Nie and the News

Can I just say WOW!! From a blog to the New York Times, to the Today show...What's next?

I started reading Nie Nie because of the link at Keli's blog. I immediately enjoyed her blog and found it uplifting. I found the link about 2 days after the accident and have been reading cjane ever since. What an amazing story about the power of the blogging world and human compassion felt worldwide. I am amazed more every day with the coverage this is getting. What a forum they have had to share their belief in the power of prayer, eternal families, service, faith, the importance of marriage and motherhood and so on and so on. If you think about it, it has turned into an amazing missionary tool for all who read it.

I think in life we often wonder why things happen, then something like this takes place and you have to think, the message that is being shared worldwide must be for a reason. The lord knows all and there is a purpose for everything.

Stories like this strengthen our faith in our Heavenly Fathers plan, inspire us to be better, prompt us to be more heartfelt in our personal prayer and encourage us to share our testimony with those around us.

I am grateful for the example of this dear family and the many ways it touches my life each day as I read their posts. If you don't know what I'm talking about click on the cjane button at the top of my blog and become amazed and find joy that there are still wonderful caring people out there everywhere.

Laundry Lady

Yes that is me. Well it's what I feel like. And I am sure it is what my kids think. Can I just say I HATE LAUNDRY!! It is the bane of my existence. I would rather mow, edge, trim and weed my yard any day of the week. You see, laundry is NEVER DONE!! You do a bunch and think finally all done, then you go into a room and someone has taken off their clothes. Wala more laundry. But when you do the yard you have instant gratification because you can admire your beautiful work for at least a week before you have to do it again.

Today I washed and dryed my daughters favorite new shirt. Big no no!! No drying!! Well **it! You know how it is, your in a hurry and you start pulling the clothes out of the washer and throwing them haphazardly into the dryer, you think you've been careful and gotten all the non dry items out. At my house that is almost all of the teenage items. "I mean really mom they might not fit the same." I think it is way past time the teenager did her own laundry. Is this evil of me? When did we all start doing our own laundry? The dilemma...It is a task I can easily perform to make her life easier. But, it is an easy task for her to perform to make my life easier.

What's a mom to do? Dang I'm complainin'...But come on who on this earth likes laundry?!

Back to Bowling

Yes it's that time of year. League bowling. I have been bowling with friends from high school for 10-11 years now. It is a social blast. BUT, my loser friends ditched me this year to go to a morning league. Can you believe it does 10 years mean nothing anymore. Tsk Tsk.

So being the resourceful person I am, blessed with more than just 3 friends, I replaced them!! Thanks to my almost life long buddy KP and another friend Michelle M. I am back at it, and none the worse for wear. The question is can I dump a few games intentionally to get my bowling average under control...Doubtful. I was trying to bowl semi stinky today and somehow bowled a 176. Can you say OUCH!! This does not bode well for me getting my average all year. Something must be done. Next week I will be so obviously throwing gutter balls. 146 average or bust.