The Power of a Cookbook

There I was, in Deseret Book, enjoying a few moments of peaceful relaxation, flipping through books and finding any excuse I could to stay a few minutes longer.

A teal colored book caught my eye, I love teal, so I picked it up.  It was a cookbook, I enjoy cookbooks.  There were many things about this book in particular that caught my attention.  The most notable though doesn't have much to do with the book itself.  It has more to do with what happened when I picked the book up: I remembered a movie.  When I first watched it, it didn't leave a very big impression and I didn't think about it after that. I thought it was kind of cute and moved on.  So, why was I thinking about it now?

I had no idea why.

After I finished looking at the book I decided to buy it, it was teal after all!

On the drive home I thought of the movie again.  It's called "Julie and Julia" and is about Julie Powers experience setting a goal to cook all the recipes in a cookbook written by Julia Child.  Can you see where this is going?

After I arrived home I pulled out the book and was going through it and shared the experience with my oldest.  Then I off-handedly said, "wouldn't it be funny if I did what Julie did, with Julia Child's cookbook"?

"Well, Mom, if you want it to be a goal, you have to write it down and share it with others"  by now he was at the white board in our kitchen with a dry erase marker in hand, ready to write.  Before I knew it, we had written down all the sections in the book and how many recipes there were in each section.  

So, now I have a new cookbook, and thanks to a movie I barely remembered and my oldest, momentarily pro-active son, I have a goal to cook all of the recipes in the book.  

For reasons I won't go into here cooking has become pretty rough for me.  It is fraught with anxiety and lack of motivation and I usually dread even the thought of it.

For some reason though, with this cookbook it has become almost fun again, I don't dread it anyway.  I am learning a lot of new things and enjoying the benefits of it.

So far I have cooked 12 of the recipes, and all of them have been a hit.  Even the one Caleb sort of freaked out about when he saw the picture, but ended up liking.

Within the short span of about 3 weeks, my family has eaten healthier, saved money, eaten more meals together then we otherwise would have, and I am learning lots of new things about cooking.

What is this cookbook you ask...  It is titled "The Pioneer Woman Cooks- Super Easy" and is by Ree Drummond

When Life Gives You Lemons

We are all given "lemons" in life.  We all struggle with something.  Some have more struggles (lemons) than others.  Some have struggles that no one else can see.  Sometimes we have struggles that others refuse to even acknowledge.  They come in all sorts of ways, physical, financial, mental, familial, etc.  We can also have more struggles at certain times then at other times.  You might have 5 lemons you are currently dealing with, while someone else might have just 1 or 2.  No matter the shape, size or timing we all are given lemons.

We can all choose what to do with these lemons.  We can carry them around and hold resentment for the fact that they are ours to bear.  Some might choose to take the burden on by themselves, trying to eat the lemon no matter how much their face might pucker.  Still others might try to rid themselves of their lemons by trying to blame others, or even getting revenge.  

How are we suppose to turn them into lemonade when it can be so heavy just to have them in the first place?  

We add sugar!

When we add sugar to our lemons they become bearable, even desirable.  If lemons are a metaphor for our burdens and problems, then what is the sugar suppose to represent?  How do we make hard things ok, and bearable?

What sugar do you add to your life to make it bearable, to make it sweet?  The concept of things that apply to every person on the planet and yet differ from person to person fascinates me.  We all need to eat, but not the same things.  We all need down time, to take care of ourselves but there are myriad ways in which we can accomplish this.  

Some of the things that add sweetness to my life, that make my life bearable are: friends, downtime, my relationship with God, hiking, exercising, reading, writing.

Yes, life gives us lemons, but that doesn't mean it is suppose to be bitter, it doesn't mean we are suppose to hate everything about it.  We can do things to add sweetness and turn our lemons into joy.  What things help sweeten your life?

Variety is the Spice of Life

While I was sitting in church today I was thinking about my husband and children.  How blessed we are to have so many varieties of personalities and likes and dislikes in the world.  I went through each person and thought of what they have brought into my life and into the family.  John has brought a love of board games.  Because of this I have a lot more confidence when it comes to games in general, it has expanded my mind and strengthened my critical thinking.  

Jeremiah has brought a lot of laughter into our home.  That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of his good qualities.  He also loves Kung Fu.  His love of Kung Fu has increased the amount of physical exercise we all get.  John has been taking Kung Fu for some months now and is doing really well at it and really enjoying it.

Caleb loves nature.  His love of and interest in nature has done a lot of things for our family.  First of all it gets us outside more often, which is good.  Second it has greatly increased out knowledge of the out doors.  We play a game where we have to guess the animal that someone has picked and this not only holds their interest during waiting times, but has taught us a lot about the animal kingdom and about individual animals.

James Henry loves science.  His favorite field seems to be physics (who doesn't love a good bouncy ball and all the reactions that one can create with it).  But he has a general interest in most sciences.  He loved the fireworks he saw on the fourth of July.  He immediately asked when we could buy some and set them off.  Well the next time would be New Years Eve and we have had a reminder up on the calendar ever since.  With his excitement over fireworks we wouldn't have purchased fireworks for New Years Eve and wouldn't have had such an enjoyable time setting off fireworks with friends that night.  The best was seeing his excitement over watching them- he was in heaven!

Families, friends, even acquaintances can all add so much to our lives.  I am grateful for my family and the joy they have brought to my life, but also for the knowledge and exposure to things that otherwise wouldn't have happened.  It is a blessing to have a variety of people in our lives.  

Mind Space

     I was wiping down the kitchen table and noticed one of the chairs needed to be wiped down as well.  I ended up attacking all of the chairs with gusto.  As I cleaned, I thought how it's interesting that when something is dirty the dirt is noticeable.  You see the dirt and might think about it for a minute.  I'm sure the amount of time and attention we give the dirt probably varies from person to person.  On the other hand though when something is clean we don't really spend much time noticing the clean state of it.  Our mind is freed up from thinking about dirt, to maybe thinking about the thing itself.  Or in this context of kitchen chairs, maybe we think about the people sitting at the table with us, or the food on the table or whatever it may be.  At any rate we aren't thinking about the dirt, because it's not there.

    Now think of your life and prayer.  When we are dirty, have need to repent, our mind is filled with thoughts of the sin.  Once the dirt is wiped clean and we have repented, our minds are freed up to be able to ponder other things.  Your mind won't be weighed down with the need to repent.  Your mind space is freed up and you are able to progress, the spirit has more room to communicate with you and you can receive inspiration for whatever it is you need your mind to do.  

Moroni 7:45

45 And ^acharity suffereth long, and is ^bkind, and ^cenvieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily ^dprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

I found myself on my knees tonight praying good and long for a change of heart.  Praying not to have harsh feelings towards another, and after praying I thought that I needed to ponderize again.  I immediately thought of Moroni 7: 45.  I hope it does the trick.  Carrying around hard feelings towards others makes it hard for the spirit to work in our lives.  It puts us on the path away from the Lord.  It can make us a little more angry and easily provoked as the scripture says.  It can desensitize us towards spiritual things.  

Sometimes a change of the heart is immediate sometimes it is slow in coming and is a gradual change over time.  However my change comes I do at least have faith and hope that it will.  I need this thing.

Ponderizing

My family said they wanted to make a blog where we could share our ponderizing experiences, since no one was posting on it except me, I decided to start sharing my experiences on my own blog...

This week I have been ponderizing the story of the good samaritan.  It is in Luke 10:30-37.  I also looked up an ensign article from some years back that explains all the symbolism in that story.  Wow, is there a lot of symbolism in that story!!  And it's all very beautiful!  It's like the whole story of man in just 7 verses of scripture.

I had an interesting experience with Caleb this week.  He struggles with school and specifically with reading.  Yesterday his book was a bit of step up from what he normally does.  He is ready to move on to the next level of reading.  When we were about half way through the book he turned the page and there were a lot more words on that page then he has ever read on any one page.  It kind of blew his mind and over whelmed him so much that he couldn't really see how he would be able to accomplish reading that whole page.  When Caleb gets overwhelmed it looks a lot like a 2 year old fit.  That is something we are working on, but through the course of trying to get him to see that he could read that page, there were no new things on there for him, they were all things that he would be able to figure out.

At one point he said "The only way to get me to stop crying is to do x, y, and z"  at that moment I had a big realization.  I said "Caleb, my goal is not to get you to stop crying"  and when I said that I realized what my goal as a mother should be.  I continued "My goal is to teach you that you can do this hard thing and help you learn to over come things that seem like they are too big and too hard.  My goal is to help you see that even though there is something before you that seems insurmountable, you can break it down into pieces and when you do that you will be able to accomplish this big thing one tiny piece at a time."  I continued to try and build up his confidence for awhile and he stopped the fit and started to read.

Things like this are not the norm, but they are becoming more and more common as I keep the scriptures constantly presently in my mind, and focus on the Savior more every day.

 Keep ponderizing!!

The Connection or Am I The Only One Seeing This?

I was horrified, awestruck, dumbfounded.  I was 20 years old and watching on T.V. as the unthinkable began to unfold for the families of the students at a high school in Colorado.  A gunman had entered the high school and opened fire!  This is the first I remember this ever happening, maybe it was dramatized by the news, maybe I have forgotten other incidents over the years, for whatever reason this one stuck with me.  The name Columbine will always mean "school shooting" to me.  It will always bring to my remembrance a feeling of disgust and of sadness.  The original sadness for the students involved and the suffering families, and now the sadness of a nation under attack.

Maybe not just a nation for such things are not limited to America.  The most innocent in any part of the world- the children are being attacked at a place of vulnerability.  Education is being attacked and the desire to attend school to better your life, whether its primary school, or secondary, you are no longer safe to do so.  This would imply that you once were safe to do so, this is not the case for everyone and it is not as much the case as I once thought. After a quick internet search I landed on this page:   A History of School Shootings in America.  I will be the first person to be critical of wikipedia, and the validity of its information, so please feel free to correct any of the shootings posted in the link above.  This post's focus is more on what is happening to bring about so many shootings since Columbine.

So what is happening?  Lets take a look...

I did a search on You Tube for children's cartoons.  I clicked on the first one that came up.  It is a 54 minute compilation of Disney cartoons.  I only watched the first 5 mintues and I had what I needed to prove my point.  Here is a link to chip n' dale on You Tube.  Let's look at what is taught in the short 5 minute cartoon of Donald Duck and Chip n' Dale.  The first thing I noticed was entitlement.  Donald Duck steals a bundle of nuts from the chipmunks and then is immediately angry when they take them back.  He is entitled to those nuts!!  He rightfully stole them!!  Then Chip n' Dale teach the same concept of entitlement when Santa shows up and offers a large nut to one and a small nut to the other, a fight promptly ensues between the 2 of them over the bigger gift.  They both feel entitled to something that was suppose to be a gift, suppose to make them happy on Christmas.  Christmas, a day of love, a day to celebrate our Lord and Savior, and they spend it bickering over a present from Santa.  Then as if entitlement weren't enough, they make the fight between the 2 chipmunks and Donald Duck bigger and better, with a full on war scene!  This scene is complete with barricades, rapid gun fire, canon fire, and an ambulance.

So here in the first 5 minutes of this cartoon children are being taught entitlement, violence in order to get back what you stole, and that war and/or fighting is ok, even funny.  Do you see any connection between this and the violence we see in our culture today?

Chip n' Dale is an old cartoon.  The cartoons that are being created today are even worse.  They teach children that they should whine about things like school, and undermine authority figures.  The very places children should turn when they need help, they are being taught not to trust.  Do you see any connections between this and things like teenagers being emotionally unstable?  Parents and teachers are not portrayed as people that can be trusted.  So who do children have to rely on?  When a child feels like they have no one, that is recipe for problems down the road, big problems.  Problems that can take a life time to over come.

Lord, Is It I?

I just read President Uchtdorf's talk from the Oct. 2014 General Conference.  It is hard for me to separate out my thoughts from the healthy to the unhealthy.  President Uchdorf is saying that if we don't step back and evaluate and honestly take stock of our good qualities as well as our bad, then we will be deceiving ourselves.  He says:

 "But being able to see ourselves clearly is essential to our spiritual growth and well-being. If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths.¹² Ironically, our blindness toward our human weaknesses will also make us blind to the divine potential that our Father yearns to nurture within each of us."

I am reminded of an experiment that I did in college (go Aggies) wherein I tried to only have positive thoughts towards people that I passed while walking through campus.  It is natural to notice a person's physical appearance and make judgement calls based on what we see.  These judgement calls are based on our own biases and likes and dislikes, making it natural for many of our thoughts to be negative, because we are all different.  Different clothing likes, hairstyle, physical makeup of our bodies.  That is the worst one of all: to judge someone based on the size/shape/color of their body, something that is completely out of their control. 

In college I wondered what would happen to myself if I only let myself have positive thoughts about the people that I passed.  The main thought being they are a child of God.  Wow!  How my perspective changed.  All the outward physical things I could notice no longer mattered.  The longer the experiment went on, as with anything we do for a length of time, I began to do this naturally, without thought or effort.  Then I noticed that my heart began to change towards the people I encountered.  I began to wonder, instead, about their well being or what might be happening in their life.  Do they need a friend?  Are they having a bad day?  Are they healthy and happy? 

How does this apply to President Uchtdorf's teachings?  Well his teaching applies to me in this way, because if I am to take an honest look at my life there are some people in it that I need to use this experiment on in its concentrated form.  In other words every time I think about them I need to think of the good and dispel as quickly as possible any negative thoughts, even if I think they are true.

Must Have's- Books

I was recently asked if there are any books that I think are must have's in terms of picture books/read-alouds.  At the time, for some reason I felt put on the spot, and didn't really allow my brain time to process the question in order to come up with a good answer.  So here is my real answer...

There are A LOT of great books out there, there are also A LOT of books that have no substance, and truly are not worth our time.  The job of sorting out which is which, can be time consuming, and arduous.  Not ideal for a home schooling mother with young children.  So my recommendation at this point, because this is the source I use to determine which books are best, The Read Aloud Handbook, by Jim Trelease, and Honey for a Child's Heart, by Gladys Hunt.  They are both stellar books! 

Most people feel that reading to their children is important.  I also use to feel that way.  I now feel, since having read these books that reading together as a family is important, and that there are books to read, and books not to be read.  There are ages that books should be enjoyed, and ages that maybe they shouldn't be, or aren't ready for that book just yet.  There is a reason that a classic is a classic and that revising it, or adapting it, or retelling it, makes it not a classic.  I use to know that reading to my children is important.  Now I know that reading to my teenagers will also be important.  Now I know that reading out loud while my children are at home will make up a sizable portion of my homeschooling efforts.

The main reason I would recommend these two books for the question posed, is because of their extensive list of great books.  In The Read~Aloud Handbook it is referred to as the treasury of read-alouds, is divided by category as well as grade and is 115 pages long!  In Honey For A Child's Heart it is divided by categories, as well as ages and is 116 pages long!

Jim Trelease's web page

Gladys Hunt's blog

You can't buy Gladys' book from her blog, but it's a great blog, and has links to web sites where her book is for sale.

I welcome your comments.

Happy Reading!

Some thoughts I've had over the past few days....

I am so grateful for neighbors who are willing to help, despite their own plans, at a moments notice.

I am grateful to have family and friends (Mary) that are willing to drop their lives in order to help make sure mine doesn't fall apart!

Grateful for the things that happen that could not be anything but the Lords careful orchestration of our lives (Mary)!  You must be the reason I went to the instacare first!

Really nurse, you think a CAT scan and x-rays are more important than a priesthood blessing?

Grateful for worthy priesthood holders who were prepared to administer at a moments notice.

I wonder who our home teachers are.

Trauma 2?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ambulances are cool!

I love you primary children's hospital!

Thank goodness for family, and safe places for my other children to be.

I love volunteers!!  They get the bigger picture and what it really takes to put "the child first and always."

(I had that thought a few times...)

I love volunteers!!!

I am grateful for orthopedic surgeons, opthomologists, nuero surgeons and trauma teams, oh, and CAT scans and x-rays.

Where would we be without casseroles, I love them!

Even though I had a clash with our nurse, I am so glad that she was trying to do what she felt was best for Caleb.  I do have a strong mother bear instinct, but I also know I need others to help me sometimes, and I am glad she brought her knowledge, expertise and concern to the table...even though we had differences.

I am grateful for homecomings.

The phrase "get back to normal" is a myth.  Things happen to change us, to make us better, returning to where we were before means we did not gain all we could have from the experience.  Besides that I was in the middle of turning our house upside down anyway, so we couldn't have returned to the way it was.  :)

The Relief Society is just as much an army as the missionaries.  WOW!  They came.  They cleaned, organized, rearranged, chatted.  All of the bases were covered, I didn't even know the names of some of them!!  And when the dust cleared there were treats and flowers and needed supplies waiting in the kitchen for us!!

Last, but most strongly felt over the last two days....I am grateful for Caleb, and his many guardian angels!!

My Favorite Time of Day

Awhile ago I had a conversation with my oldest son, then 6.  I do not remember any details except his response.  He said "My favorite time of day is bedtime, because that is the calmest time of day"  Lest you get any false images of our home, this is not always the case!  Especially lately.  Bedtime is the time of day I try to get my children to sleep as quickly as possible so I can then relax. 

What bedtime should be though, and what I am trying to create for me and my children is just what Jeremiah said, the calmest time of our day.  I use the word 'our' there with purpose, because without a calm parents influence it could not be calm.  These are the ways we are trying to make bedtime a calm time...

First of all divide and conquer!  It is great advice in times of war but we frequently apply it to our parenting as well.  One of us is more or less in charge of helping the boys get teeth brushed and washed up and use the potty before bedtime.  The other one is doing pajamas and reading to the boys in their bedroom.  We might also sing to them at this time.  So a child is either in the bedroom with a parent or in the bathroom with a parent.  This means that neither John or I have all three during this part of the routine.

I have moved a rocking chair into their bedroom with the intent to have a calming influence in their room while they are getting ready for bed.  This is where John or I sit while we read to them and talk to them about their day and sing to them.  This where we sit while we wait for them to sleep.  It provides a comfortable place for us to be, so that it is not unpleasant for us to carry out this routine.

This is an important step, not only for bedtime, but also for our relationship with the children.  They have an opportunity to tell us about the events of the day, and ask questions openly.  This is a great way to get to know your children and develop an important open dialogue situation with them. 

Last but most certainly not least is patience!  This word seems to be creeping into every aspect of our day and of my job as mother.  How could I possibly be successful without it?!  It can take them awhile to calm down and be ready to sleep, sticking to the routine helps avoid attention driven behavior.  They learn more and more that it is a special time and will crave the calmness of it if we stick with it.

Happy Mother's Day

How can words express gratitude for the single person who has had the most influence in my life?  You have seen me through to adulthood- to my own independence, and yet I still want you in my life.  You have given me so much, but the thing that stands out the most is your patience and love. 

Always you were patient with me.

Always you loved me!

Always you were there, the constant presence of someone that is always patient and kind, someone that loves you as only a mother can has turned me into the person I am.  So when you tell me you are proud to be my mother, don't forget your own role in accomplishing who I am and have become.

You taught me to pray, because I saw you praying.

You taught me to love because I saw and felt your love.

You taught me to weather life's storms no matter your own personal cost, because I saw you do the same.

You taught me to have faith, because I saw your faith.

You taught me to be smart about the decisions I make, because that's what I saw you do.

You taught me that life should be fun and to find the good in it, because you always have.

Thank you for all these things, and so much more!!

Happy Mother's Day!
I love you!

What Works

This past week or so I have been thinking back on our year of home schooling.  Evaluating and analyzing how things have gone, what worked, what didn't, what I need to change or add, Whats missing etc...

Many things have gone really well, and in that sense they have worked for us.  For our math curriculum we use Math-u-see, Jeremiah is doing really well in that area.  The science units I found online are working great.  After all the analyzing and evaluating I can do, it boils down to this:  what has worked for me, for us, this year is prayer.

Prayer has brought patience where before I can assure you, there was very little patience.

Prayer has brought conviction, the conviction I needed to stand up to nay sayers, and the like.  The conviction I needed to help me stay the course even when things were hard- really really hard.

After all the research one can do, and all the studying about home schooling, prayer helped me know what methods and curriculum and ideas were best for us.  Prayer helped me see through the dust to the gold.

Prayer has taken a day filled with anger and frustration and yelling, and made it peaceful, healed the wounds that were created and helped us move on.

Prayer has given me courage to take on something so big that I cannot see the end from the beginning, or even what the middle will look like.  I can feel the Lords reassurance and for now that is enough.

Prayer has brought answers from the most unlikely places, help came to me when I didn't even know that is what I was praying for.  I was praying though and asking for help, and help came and answered a question I didn't even know I had.  Yet, I did have it, and with out the answer things could not progress.

Prayer has done all these things and so much more.  I did not know that I was living a luke warm life until I took on a project so big I couldn't even comprehend where to start or how to start.  I could not start without the Lords guidance and help.

First Trip Up American Fork Canyon

We went up the canyon on Easter Sunday.  I felt like I was being rebellious or "weird" for not doing something more traditional.  After we had all eaten though, and were exploring the new life of the canyon, I began to ask Jeremiah and Caleb questions about what they saw that was different.  Were the leaves different and if so, how?  How about the trees? The grass? Bugs?  It is always fun to watch your children discover things.  The excitement in a child is one of the best parts of parenting.

I was surprised to find myself loving the new life of the canyon, of spring time.  The timing could not have been more perfect- Easter Sunday.  Usually it's day of family and a nice ham, Easter baskets and candy, gifts for the little ones.  None of these things point to The Resurrection of Our Savior.  As I walked among all the new life of spring time though, it seemed to me that everything was pointing to the Savior!

The new life of Spring and Christ Rising from the tomb to live again.  I couldn't help but think of the winter we are coming out of though- how dark and snowy it was.  Yet all these plants are on schedule to bloom and grow in their own right, despite the winter.  And we too can grow and bloom in our right, despite the harsh things this world can throw at us.  Despite our own weaknesses, shortcomings, and sins we can apply the Miracle of Christ to our lives and have new joy and hope, just as we can see all around us at this time of year!  Christ rose on the third day and we too can over come because He over came!

I am grateful we took the time to enjoy the canyon before it seemed like the canyon would be ready for us.  We went and enjoyed the new life, the beauty of nature at this time of year, and the Resurrection of Christ!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day 1999 found me single and with out a date (as did most Valentines until I met my husband).  I was in college, sharing an apartment with 5 other girls, and loving it.  I did not mind that I didn't have a date, because my roommates and I always had so much fun together, no matter what others were celebrating.  On this Valentines Day though, I was to be taken by surprise.  One of my roommates gave each of us a card.  I don't remember what the card said.  I do remember the gesture, and Valentines Day was never to be the same again.  It was no longer about romantic love for me.

This Valentines day we will be delivering cards to those that mean the most to us!  I want my boys to use Valentines Day as a reminder to say I love you, to ALL the important people in our lives, not just our spouse. So we are currently in the process of making valentine cards and will be delivering them to friends and family on Thursday.  Then we will share a nice dinner together, ALL of us, as a family, so that we can read the valentines cards that we have made for each other!  I love sharing Valentines Day with ALL of my family, not just my husband.

Pulse of the Home

Everyone knows it all goes down in the kitchen.  The kitchen/dining room is where the pulse of the home is.  Even more so in our home since that is where we have school.  To date, our kitchen, unless there is a structured and guided activity for the children, is noisy mayhem.  It is often frustrating to have to yell at my children just to get them to quite down so they can hear what I am going to ask them.  They love to run around the island and that is usually accompanied by loud laughter/screaming and eventually crying and then a time out.  At which point my husband walks through the door.  Dinner isn't ready, the children are all upset and crying, and I feel like crying.  Welcome home honey!!

A glimmer of light shone down on us today.  Church was over, lunch was over and the table cleaned up.  Jeremiah asked John if he would play with a circuit board with him.  So they got that out and I asked Caleb if he wanted to do a puzzle with me.  We were all sitting at the table and rather amicably I might add.  It was very pleasant, and an experience I would like to see repeated often!

Such moments give me hope for the not too distant future and I feel that someday Caleb's fits of screaming and shrieking will subside.  The boys will stop running around the island and trying to hurt each other in the process.   And instead of walking into a room filled with mayhem, my husband will be able to walk through the door and be greeted with smiles.

The Importance of a Good Looking Home

  It was finally time to stack the bunk beds that the boys have been sleeping in.  Caleb is old enough and they were both very excited about doing it.  To date they have been sleeping in two separate beds, with the option of being stacked as bunk beds.

  After stacking them and doing the mandatory vacuuming that comes with rearranging it was time to put some decorations on the wall.  This is my favorite part!!  Jeremiah's desk is in the corner so I put up his things there.  He has a picture of the temple, his letter "J" from Grandma, a faith rock sitting on his desk, and a few framed things that he colored.  Above Caleb's dresser are his letter "C", also from Grandma, and some painted wood things: car, train, airplane.  He was involved in the process of putting them up so they are not perfectly spaced and arranged as I would have liked them to be.

  As I stood back to admire their room and its decorations, Caleb was playing on the floor with a toy.  I liked the way everything looked!  I was proud of myself for actually "getting around to decorating".  

  I turned to leave the room but then took another look, and couldn't help but notice Caleb- now very involved in his toy.  No matter how cute his room and its decor is; watching him and his brothers play will always be my favorite part of it!  So how important is decorating?  How important is it to have a home that is constantly clean?  Perhaps I cannot pin down a perfectly quantified answer to those questions, but I can say that before we decorate, before we spend tons of money on the perfectly placed eye-catching ornaments for the cutest shelf from the latest store; we should make sure all is well with our children.  We should be spending time with them in those rooms that we love to decorate so much- before they are grown and all we have left are the decorations, and the time for our children to fill those rooms has passed.

I missed a couple of weeks, but we made it up the canyon each week.  I have been trying hard to find new things to cook.  One time we made biscuits in a paper sack that had been sprayed with grease.  They were good, but under cooked.  Then I brought a can of baked beans this last Monday and we cut up our hot dogs in it.  The boys gobbled that right up!  I took the opportunity to talk to Jeremiah about peer pressure one night and then another night John read a scripture from Alma, about learning wisdom in our youth and talked to Jeremiah about why its important to learn things now, while he's young.

They both still love to get out their boats each time, and are starting to feel at home in the canyon.  I am getting better and better at starting a fire, and finding things that we can cook together.  I am trying to get my hands on a dutch oven, so I can try my hand at some of those recipes.  Let me know if you have any favorites, I'd love to try them out!

Wild Boys!!

We didn't make it up the canyon tonight.  After dinner we told the boys we were going to sing a bunch of what they calll fun songs.  They love to sing fun songs!  So we get the song book and before we even started they were bouncing off the walls!  So we sang fun songs, but cut it short because they were both being so anoying!  So after a short lesson on not lying, I went outside to make sure they got some of their ya-ya's out, and John stayed inside with James Henry. 

And that was it.  Jeremiah was interested in the lesson, and sat still for it, but caleb was running around like a wild banchee!  So outside we went.  I felt like it got cut short and like jeremiah didn't really get it, but that's how it goes sometimes.  I have to remind myself that they still get something out of it, and they still hear what is being said, even though they really don't seem like it.  I know its important to have family home evening!

The next couple of weeks topics

Went up the canyon tonight with my parents, and my sisters family.  So much fun!!!!  But amid all the craziness, and every one fighting for a spot over the fire to cook their sish ka bobs, the kids playing in the river, caleb getting a small gash in his leg,  Tash and Kevin dissappearing for a while, going on a little hike, we were still able to pull of a short lesson.

With so many people there I just explained a bit about our boats, and then said that we are talking about things that can pull our boats into the whirlpool.  Jeremiah seemed very excited to name all the parts of the boat and share with everyone what they meant. 

We went around the circle and everyone said something that can pull our boats away from the right path.  So here is our list of topics for the next couple weeks....

Stealing/robbbing
Not keeping the word of wisdom
Peer pressure
Lying
Selfishness