My Birthday

Remember when you were a kid and you thought your parents were old?  They were actually pretty young when I started thinking that.  It's funny how a child's mind works.  I just celebrated my 36th birthday and I don't feel old.  OK, sometimes I don't feel as young as I used to, but that's different than feeling old. 

Jonathan and the kids made me feel super special that day--no cooking or cleaning, nice notes and gifts, a morning together (roller-blading at the park), and a new juicer.  It was a great day!

My Mission

Several months ago I started working with a mentor.  Her first assignment for me was to discover my personal mission.  She shared how she found hers and challenged me to find one hour a day where I could study my scriptures without interruptions.  She believed that study and prayer would open that door for me.  After reviewing my day, I found that the only consistent, un-interrupted time would be early morning, so I set my alarm for 5:30 and started on my journey. 

It was a long and sometimes discouraging journey.  I read lots of scriptures, I journaled, I pondered, I prayed, I gave-up and tried again and felt like I was getting nowhere.  A year or two ago, I did a TJEd Family Builder Class where we did a vision walk that was supposed to guide us to our mission. The only thought I got from it was that my mission had something to do with education, but I didn't know what or how.

There were several scriptures I thought that seemed good, but never felt "right".  The first scripture I read was at the beginning of Alma where Alma the younger gives up the judgment seat to go among the people to "stir them up in remembrance of their duty."  The word stir struck a chord with me and I wondered if my mission had to do with that? 

Then my mentor had me read The Allegory of the Cave and I leaned the importance of sharing with others the things that you learn--bringing them from darkness to light.  Could that be part of my mission?  I kept reading and found more scriptures that fit.  D&C 88:81 reads "Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor."  Luke 22:32 says something similar, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."  I kept getting the impression that because I have been blessed to know, it is my responsibility to teach and help others.  I also read a lot of scriptures about light and darkness.  Luke 1:79 says "To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Finally, I read my patriarchal blessing.  I probably should have started with it, but I wonder if it would have meant as much if I didn't go through the whole processes of studying and pondering.  One of the first things the blessing says is that I "will be able to understand God's purpose for [me] here on earth."  That was what I was searching for!  A few lines later it says that I will "use what I gain to help and strengthen others."  That was it, that was my my purpose--to help and strengthen others through what I had gained. 

My next step was to put that thought into a mission statement.  I wrote down some lines and left it at that for the moment, thinking I would be able to perfect it later.  A few days later the kids and I were listening to a Matisyahu song called "One Day".  In it he sings ". . .don't take me now 'cause I am here for a reason."  I wondered what his reason/purpose is.  I said to the kids "I have a reason, wanna hear it?"  Ephram said yes, so I read the kids my mission statement.  I only got to the second line before I started crying.  The spirit was telling me "Yes--that is what you are here for."  It was an awesome feeling.  That was the first time I read it aloud.  I still have yet to perfect it, but I guess it doesn't really matter.  Part of it I wrote on a 3x5 card and attached it my mirror so I can see it and read it everyday.  Being close to my mission will help me be aware of opportunities that may come my way.

Because I have been taught it is my responsibility to teach others. 

I am a vessel of light and truth.

I will help and strengthen others by sharing what I have gained. 

I will give light to those that sit in darkness (Luke 1:79).

I know I have helped others when I have felt the Spirit working through me.

Treat Your Husband Like a King

Last weekend Jonathan and I attended a LIFE convention in California.  (If you are curious what LIFE is, leave a comment and I'll share more information--but know for now that it is a leadership and personal development company).  One of the speakers shared a list of 20 things that wives can do to encourage their husbands.  She said that if we want to be treated like Queens, then we need to treat our husbands like Kings.  I thought that was good advice so I am going to share her list.

My King!

1. Initiate a good time in the bedroom
2. Email and A-Z list of the good things about him
3. Scrapbook his dreams
4. Ask what you can do for him
5. Cook for him
6. Do his chores for 1 week
7. Forgive his failures quickly
8. Write him a note on the bathroom mirror with a wet erase marker
9. Take care of yourself
10. Let him be his own boss
11. Praise him
12. Initiate a great time in the bedroom
13. Buy his favorite soda
14. Have a "Yay, Daddy!" party with the kids
15. Talk nice about him to others
16. Be his advocate to the kids (you can tell what a wife thinks about her husband by what the kids say)
17. Don't keep score
18. Greet him at the door wearing lingerie
19. Protect his time
20. Stop what you are doing when he comes home and welcome him home

Jonathan already treats me like a queen--he is my #1 fan and supporter.  He is a great father and husband and friend.  I'm so grateful that he is mine. 

Does Mom Work?

On Monday Corbin made a comment (and later Dyllan agreed) that I don't do anything but make them do everything.  He was angry because I was giving him extra jobs, but I also got angry (my pride) and said "I'll just stay in bed tomorrow and you can see how much I do."

Tuesday morning I actually stayed in bed.  I didn't wake the kids up--they know to get up with their alarm and do their 5 jobs.  I didn't help with the jobs.  I stayed in bed and read.  My phlegmatic/type 2 nature is wishy-washy and I wondered the whole time if I made the right decision.  "Do I really not do anything?  Am I being prideful?  Will they learn anything from this experience?"  My choleric/type 3 nature had a hard time sitting in my room doing nothing.  I also thought, "My job is to teach my kids to run their own home, so if I'm doing things right, if systems are in place, they shouldn't need me today."  But I know I do a lot of reminding--time to get up; you have 5 minutes; the kitchen needs cleaned; what is your job now; etc. Yes, I ask my kids to do a lot but do I do my share, too?

I wrote down some of my thoughts as the morning went on.  I'll share directly from my journal.

It is now 10:00.  It's been a slow morning.  The kitchen is still a mess--all the food is still out and dishes haven't been done, there is stuff on all the counters.  But, the bathrooms have been cleaned, kids are dressed and hair and teeth are brushed.  They are doing a lot of playing.  No one is there to remind them to work.  Braedi did take charge to get the bathrooms cleaned and it was her day to cook so she got breakfast made. Curtains are still closed in the bedrooms, stuff is on the floor, laundry hasn't been started and I've only heard one mention of school.  At the beginning when Braedi too charge, Corbin had a hard time with her authority. Jonathan talked to him about his attitude.  I heard Dyllan and Ephram turn to Braedi for answers to questions.  

A little before 11:00 Jonathan and I called the kids in to talk about what happened.  We talked about what happened.  We talked about Corbin's feelings and my feelings.  We talked about communicating.  Jonathan shared his appreciation for me and the importance of the kids recognizing all that I do.  Then we went and cleaned the kitchen and read scriptures and had a little school time.  On Wednesday (instead of a musical) we watched a movie (Jimmy Neutron) where the parents are kidnapped by aliens and, after a day of fun and craziness, the kids realize how much they need their parents and how much their parents do.  I told the kids that we were watching that because I wanted them to learn something from it.  They got the point.

I hope that the kids learned something from this experience.  They were surprised that I actually stayed in bed--so was I.  I think we all learned something.

I got a lot of reading done!

A Month of Gratitude

I got this idea from face book.  Everyday people have been posting things they are grateful for.  I didn't want to post everyday, but I thought the idea was good.  I took it to a family level and got the kids involved.  Everyday of November we wrote on an index card 1 thing we were grateful then hung the cards on our bedroom doors.  It was neat to see the lists and I loved hearing the things that they were thankful for.  We decided to carry on the tradition and have "Thankful Thursdays" as part of our morning devotional.

I'd like to share my list.

1. Jonathan--The only one who truly "gets" me.  He appreciates me and supports me.  He helps me grow and is there for me.  He listens to me.  He loves our kids and is a great dad.
2. Homeschool--I love that I can homeschool, that I can be with my kids all day long and teach them whatever I want.  I love that we can learn TOGETHER.

3. Braedi--She is growing up.  I love seeing her setting goals and working hard to achieve them.

4. Corbin--He loves to help cook meals.  It is a joy to see him light up when he has done something good. 
5. Dyllan--She is a great helper and is a peacemaker. 
6. Ephram--My little ball of energy, but he loves to lay next to me and listen to me read a story. 
7. Faythe--She makes me smile everyday.
8. Books--What would I do without a good book to read?  Books play a big role in my life.  I'm always reading or listening to 2 or 3.  The kids and I listen to 1 in the car and I will read aloud 1 or 2. 
9. Guidance from the Spirit--Most of my decisions are carefully guided from little promptings.
10. Health--Not just mine, but my kids' and my husbands'. 
11.  Freedom--I live in a free country thanks to the people who came before me and fought for my rights.  The kids and I have been memorizing the Declaration of Independence--what a strong message!
12. Missionaries--I recently participated in a 30 fast with my ward where members took turns fasting for 1 day for 30 days.  My experience made me grateful for missionaries and all they do to prepare.
13.  Clothes--I love new clothes. 

14.Piano Tuners--We had our piano worked on this week and the piano tuner was so patient with the kids, teaching them and talking to them about what he was doing.

15. The Scriptures--For the past 6 months I have been studying for upwards of 30 minutes in my scriptures.  I'm learning about myself.  I've learned that I need to KNOW the stories and principles found in those books.  I've learned of their importance.




this is an old picture,
but it's all I have of the 2 of us

16. My sister--I love that my sister is only 30 minutes away (though I wish it was only 2).  We have fun times together.
17. My family--I have a great family.  My mom and dad and siblings and my in laws.  Such a great support system.
18. The Atonement--I'm grateful that I can turn to Jesus Christ for EVERYTHING!  He can take away my pain and sadness and frustration.
19. Flowers--so beautiful.
20. Me Time--I usually spend my "me time" running, but every once in awhile I go shopping.  I also love being able to take weekends away with my sister-in-law. 
21.My home--it may be small, but I love it.  It is a place of refuge and the place I feel comfortable and where I most want to be.
22.  Peanut Butter--actually I love all food, but peanut butter is really good.  Food is one of the reasons that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  


Just for fun here are the kids' lists.  I love how they came up with all the things on their own--no prompting from siblings--it's fun to see what they are grateful for. 
Braedi: My family, the atonement, the gospel, my talents, good books, my primary class, activity days, the church, the temple, love, friends, my grandparents, the scriptures, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, that I'm homeschooled, prayers, the swing set, the armor of God, music and art, and family home evening. 
Corbin: Animals, nature, mom and dad, biology, chemistry, scouts, books, food, free time, grandparents, candy, watermelon, and scriptures. 
Dyllan: My family, my parents, the world, books, clothes, tongue, games, grandma, grandpa, plants, school, animals, the gospel, and friends
Ephram: Dad, Heavenly Father and Jesus, mom, games, bags, cars, swing set, notebooks, pencils, teachers, great-grandparents, church, earth, brothers, library, school, birthdays, tithing, sisters, missionaries, my body, friends, grandparents, and food. 
Faythe: My dad, my  mom, my sisters, flowers, my brothers, computer time, my body, my eyes, church, stuffed animals, grandma and grandpa, my blanket, horses, cousins, chocolate chips, gum, turkeys, friends, my kitty costume, bananas, temples, and the swing set. 

We took the week of from school that week and did a few Thanksgiving activities.  One was a to make a turkey.  The kids marble painted a white piece of paper then traced and cut out their hand.  The hand print was the feathers.  Then they made a turkey body and added the feathers.  They were super cute. 

Neon Splash Dash

A few months ago I had a friend ask me to join her team for a 5K.  I thought it would be fun.  Turns out it was unlike any 5K that I've run.  First off there were rules about what to wear.  Another thing is that it was mostly for fun and it wasn't timed.  And another thing is that the race was at night.  We had to wear white shirts and there were several stations on the path where we got sprayed/splashed with glow-in-the-dark paint.  It was my slowest time (we timed ourselves), but it was also the easiest 3.1 miles I have ever run.  I ran with some girls from the team and we chit-chatted the whole time.  My friend and I even made tu-tu's.  Talk about going out of my comfort zone!  I'm not sure if I'll ever do it again, but it was fun and now I can say that I've done it.  Next up, someone needs to invite me to do a half marathon. 

before the race

after the race

part of the team

 

can you see the color in my hair?

Spring Garden

I finished planting my spring garden last week. Back in January, while the weather was still cool, I planted a few things (carrots, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce) and then the weather started getting warmer so I planted some more (zucchini, squash, cucumbers, more tomatoes and peppers).   I still have a lot of questions, but I'm learning a lot about gardening.  Every season my garden does better, but I wish I could figure out how to get more.  For example, my peas grew tall, but I only got enough peas to snack on every few days.  I've never had enough tomatoes to can or beans to can.  My next step is to figure out how to make my plants produce more. 

January Date--Under the Sea

As part of my Christmas present to Jonathan I put together a year of date ideas.  I found my inspiration on several blogs and from friends.  The ideas is that there would be no more asking "What should we do tonight?"  I gave him 13 envelopes--1 for each month and the last filled with random ideas in case we got an extra date night. 

Our first date actually happened in February because of some sick kids and a lot of other activities going on.  Jonathan and I met at the new aquarium out at the Wild Life World Zoo.  In this month's folder I included, the description of the date, a BOGO coupon and a scavenger hunt for us to complete.  After walking through the aquarium and completing the scavenger hunt we ate dinner at Dillon's. 

I CANNOT get this to turn the right way!

Some of our favorite exhibits included the giant turtle, the tree frogs, the penguins, the axolotl, the eels, the rock fish, and the seahorses. 

One of the reasons I liked this date is because we were kid-less--it's a different experience to go as a couple.  And of course, I always love spending time with Jonathan!

Garden Update

I am pleased at how well my garden has been doing this season.  I've gotten several green peppers, some cucumbers, a pumpkin, radishes, beans, some herbs, and a few carrots.

We had a couple of nights of frost and I covered my plants, but the frost still got through and killed my bean plants, tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers.  Thankfully everything else is doing well. 

Corbin found one teeny-tiny pumpkin on the plant after the frost killed the vine.  He picked it and carved a mini-pumpkin.



Ugly Sweater Party

Jonathan and I were invited to an Ugly Sweater Party by some friends in the ward.  The kids and I went to the Goodwill to find some ugly sweaters.  Anything that I picked as ugly they thought was cute.  I finally settled on a pink sweater with turquoise birds and glitter branches for me and and ugly golf sweater for Jonathan.  The night of the party, Ephram came up to me and said "That's not ugly!"  It's just the beginning of the differing tastes of parents and kids.  We also found an turtle neck for Jonathan to wear and a wig. 

At the party we visited with other ugly sweater wearers, ate food, and played a fun game of thrift gift exchange.  Jonathan and I made out with a lot of junk gifts!  A lot of it will go back to Goodwill, but Jonathan likes the toaster oven and the kids love the singing frog.  It was a fun night.

Choose to Become

Christy and I attended Time Out for Women this weekend (the tickets were a gift from our in-laws, but it's something we've attended together for the last 3 years).  The theme for this years conference was Choose to Become.  The speakers and musical presentations were all about choosing to become what we are meant to be. 

At the beginning of the conference we were asked to think about what we want to become.  This was not meant to be something else to add to our checklist, but more like a vision of what we are meant to be.  I pondered this question throughout the event and felt the spirit prompt me that I need to work on being a better mother.  More specifically, I need to build better relationships with my kids.  And I felt that the way I need to accomplish this is to be less selfish. 

On our drive home, Christy and I discussed the question posed to us and our answers.  We decided that we are going to try to share our journey on our blogs.  This is my first step: I am choosing to become a self-less mother. 


A little more about what I learned and some favorite quotes:
--Elder Scott: "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."
--Learn, Work, Serve, Love (and I added Play)
--The Optimist Experiment: pray with faith, think with faith, live with faith
--"We can pierce the darkness as He shines through us."
--Don't be the thing that stands in your way.
--A God that requires nothing of us, is making nothing of us.  I thought that I could replace the word God with parent. 
--I need to think more positive thoughts.  President Hinkley: "How can a person become what his not thinking?" and Grant Van Harrison: "Your thoughts will be a determining factor in what you accomplish during your life."
--I need to teach the principle behind some of the things we do.  I need to teach why we have family home evening, why it's important to keep the sabbath day holy, why we don't fight, etc.
--Ask "What is the most important thing I need to do today?"  Then stop and listen.
--Focusing on the darkness won't bring us to the light, we need to focus on the light to get through the darkness.

It was a great break from life and an uplifting experience. 

My New Calling

A few Sundays ago our stake held a special "adults only" meeting to inform us of the changes in the ward boundaries.  Every ward had some changes and a new ward was made. We were put into the new ward.  I didn't know what to think about that at first.  I love our old ward, but sometimes change is good. 

The next night I came home from running to a message that the bishop wanted to meet with me.  I naturally assumed that it would be the president of an auxiliary.  There was no way that it could be anything else that quickly.  Jonathan tried to convince me otherwise, but it didn't work.  I was so scared to be called as a president.  I'm not a leader.  I don't deal well with other people and it would be more of a responsibility than I think I can handle.  I had a crazy dream that night--I was called as the Relief Society president and 3 names were given to me. 

All the next day I had a rotten stomach.  I can't believe how nervous I was.  Finally the bishop and one of his counselors came and extended the calling as the Primary President.  I was so relieved!  The day before I was saying how I didn't want to be the president of anything, but at least it wasn't the Relief Society President.  The bishop complimented me by telling me of how he came up with my name.  He asked himself, "If my wife and I died, who would I want teaching my kids?  Ashlee!" 

I'm nervous about the responsibility.  I'm also nervous about how I will look.  I know that's silly, but I want to be seen as a good president.  I'm also excited.  I have a great secretary and counselors--we'll work well together.  I'm looking forward to teaching the kids and inspiring them to want to grow stronger in the gospel. 

I also have a great example to follow.  A few years ago I served as the Primary Secretary with a great woman.  She loved the kids in Primary and had such a strong testimony.  I know that I have a lot to learn, but I'm grateful for the support I have. 

Millions of Peaches

Jennie and I ordered 3 boxes of peaches and spent all day Saturday canning.  The kitchen was a huge, sticky mess by the time we were done, but we canned 42 jars and still had enough to make peach cobbler and keep some for eating.  I had 4 jars that didn't can so I'm looking for recipes that use canned peaches. 

 The recipe we used to make the cobbler was super yummy so I wanted to share.  I found it at allrecipes.com

Southern Peach Cobbler
8 fresh peaches--peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges (we left the skin on)
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 c. flour
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbl. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 c. boiling water

3 tbl white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients.  Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish.  Bake for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine next 5 ingredients.  Blend in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them.  Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.  Bake until topping is golden--about 30 minutes. 

Homemade Vinyl Letters

My friend and I tried to make our own vinyl letters.  We took scrapbook paper and cut out the letters with her cricket.  Next I mod-podged them to clear contact paper.  Then I had to cut them out with scissors.  Finally the letters were ready to attach to any surface.  I took of the backing on the contact paper and stuck them to our school drawers and over our art wall.  Too bad that I didn't take the time to measure and make things centered. 

Fall Garden 2011

I began planting my fall garden today.  I started by mixing compost into my boxes.  I had to use store bought because my compost wasn't ready yet.  (I haven't been good about mixing it.)  Next I added new twine to make my square foot boxes.  Then I had to make a plan of what I wanted where.  That is a hard part for me.  I don't know the best places for plants and what should be grown close to what.  Sometimes when things are full grown I wish I'd planted them differently (like too many tomato plants too close together isn't good) but I can never think about that stuff when I'm planning.  Then I planted what was ready to plant for now.  I planted broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes (just to try--I think I actually need to wait until December), beans (even though I should have planted them last month), some herbs, cabbage, and carrots.  And I had some pepper plants left over that I'm going to leave in to see how they do and a huge basil plant.  I also planted some pumpkin seeds last month, but they probably got in too late.  I have to wait until October to plant the rest of it--it's still too hot. 

I had some good helpers out there with me, too.  Corbin and Dyllan helped with the compost and the twine and Corbin and Ephram helped with the planting.  Faythe helped a little by spraying the bugs.  Braedi tried, but said it was too hot, so she played inside with Faythe. 

I love the way my garden looks right after I plant--so neat.

What is Thomas Jefferson Education?

I am co-facilitating a group called Leadership Education Family Builder. It's a program that will help me and the other parents implement leadership education principles in our home. We meet once a month and each month are to complete certain assignments--reading, writing, listening, applying and thinking. Last month one of our assignments was to write a paper answering 2 questions: What is Thomas Jefferson Education? and Why is leadership Education needed today? I've been struggling to be able to explain what Thomas Jefferson Education is and it was hard for me to write this paper. My goal is to be able to explain to people what I am doing in my home to educate my kids. I'm still not sure if I was able to accomplish that, but I think I am coming closer. Here is my paper:

In Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged a principle character, Dagney, asks people living in a small town why they don’t fix a road so that vehicles can get through when it rains. They respond that the road has always been that way. When she asks the grocer why she doesn’t move the produce out the sun to keep it from spoiling she answers that it is always kept there. Dagney is frustrated with the lack of motivation in the town. The town’s people were probably given an education that prepared them for a job and were taught what to think not how to think.

There are 3 types of education—conveyor belt, professional and leadership. In order for a society to function properly all three types need to be in place. A conveyor belt education prepares people for a job by teaching them what to think. Professional education creates specialist by teaching them when to think. Leadership education trains thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs and statesmen by teaching students how to think. Oliver DeMille calls leadership education Thomas Jefferson Education.

Thomas Jefferson Education is a philosophy that uses classics and mentors, depth and breadth, quality and application. Classics give us a chance to study great men and women from history, to learn from their mistakes and look deep inside ourselves. Classics also force us to think. A mentor, together with classics, is a teacher. A mentor helps to individualize the student’s education and guide her in her learning and help her meet her goals. This is the way to teach people how to think. Classics make individualizing easy because the same book can be different for each student.

Oliver DeMille says that depth and breadth “means really paying the price to get a great education, a superb knowledge base.” It is knowing a lot about a lot of things. A leadership education also means giving quality work and applying what we learn. Discussing classics helps us to apply what we learn to real life. Oliver DeMille says “no education is complete, or even particularly valuable, unless the student uses what he or she has learned to serve the community, family, society and God.” What is the point of knowing how to think if we don’t use it to make the world a better place?

Thomas Jefferson education teaches people to be leaders by inspiring (not requiring) them to gain their own education. We need leadership education. If we don’t prepare leaders we get people leading where they have no training and people who don’t see this as a problem who will follow because they don’t know any better. In Atlas Shrugged the small town was full of people with a conveyor belt education and because of this the town hadn’t prospered. It was missing leaders. We need leaders in our society and Thomas Jefferson education nurtures them.

Friends and Fun

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures!

Alisa and her kids visited last week and we were lucky to have them spend Thursday with us. The kids played and I put Alisa to work helping me make jam. Yes, more jam. I made some berry jam. I should say syrup. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. In the long run it doesn't matter because the kids use in on pancakes so it doesn't matter if it's a little runny. I also made some freezer strawberry jam. Alisa also helped the kids figure out their puzzle ball prizes from the library summer reading program. I can't believe how hard they were to put back together! But after she figured it out she taught them and now they have it down.

We took a trip to the splash park in the afternoon and had the kids run around. It was too hot and they were getting a little antsy being stuck in the house all morning.

We were so sad when these guys moved away last year. We are lucky that they come visit every once in awhile. The kids look forward to the visits and so do I. I love chatting with Alisa. She is a dear friend and I'm blessed to have gotten to know her.

By Small and Simple Things. . .

. . . Are Great Things Brought to Pass.
This was the theme at the BYU Women's Conference this year. Christy and I had the opportunity of attending again. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to go because of Jonathan's school schedule, but thanks to a little rearranging by his teacher and a little help from Lola I made it. And it was fantastic.

The weather was a little better for us. No snow on the drive up and a nice spring day on Thursday. But Friday we woke to 2 inches of snow. It looked so white and clean that I had to eat some. It wasn't as good as I remember it from when I was a kid.
One of my favorite classes at the conference was about scripture heroines. The presenters told stories of some of the women in the scriptures and what we can learn from them. My next goal for personal scripture study is to study the lives of the women in the scriptures.

Sister Beck also (as always) had an awesome talk. She talked about the importance of learning the history of Relief Society. 1. It strengthens and supports the unique identity that we are daughters of God. 2. We see that Relief Society is a pattern of scriptural history. 3. It is a manifestation of charity--living as Christ lived and being as He is. 4. We can learn that faith is possible. 5. There is an inseparable connection to the priesthood.

We were also blessed to hear from Elder and Sister Bednar. They helped me realize the importance of the small things--prayer, scripture study, and mundane tasks. Doing them in a deliberate and consistent manner will overtime bring about a great thing.

Christy and I also participated in the humongous service project efforts. It feels awesome to know that I helped someone with the projects that we completed.
We continued the tradition of crafting--we made a cute skirt and some hair clips. And we also did some DI shopping. A new thing for us was a visit to Salt Lake. We had dinner at Alison's restaurant (it was great to visit with her)
and then visited temple square.
It was a great time. A nice break from the normal day to day stuff. I'm so glad that I get to go every year with Christy. I think that our friendship has grown because of these trips. I love getting to talk to her about all the things that we've learned. I learn so much from her every time.
Just a little reminder about how important the small things are:
"A mother holds a baby, a small thing
She's cradling eternity
She's holding a king
Small and simple means
Bring great things
It's been said"
By Chop and Ammanda

A Big Yellow Plane Took My Man Away

The song really goes "A big yellow taxi took my girl away", but I thought my title fit my situation better. This morning we got up super early and took Jonathan to the airport. He's on his way to Uganda for 9 weeks. He's making a stop in Denver first to help bless his best friend's baby, then on Wednesday he makes the flight to Africa. What an awesome experience for him. He gets to teach the teachers there about Leadership Education. You can follow his adventures here.

I have been mentally preparing myself for his absence since January and think I'll be able to survive. I'm blessed to have a lot of friends and family around who are worrying for me and are willing to help. I'm going to miss him, though. And so will the kids. I made a countdown sheet and have a list of a bunch of fun activities to distract them when it gets too hard.

The next line to the songs goes "now don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?" I hope that it didn't take him leaving for me to know how lucky I am to have him in my life.

I love you, Jonathan! You'll do an awesome job.

Millions of Peaches

There was an hour until I had to fix dinner. What should I do? I know, make peach jam. What was I thinking!?!

Our peach tree out front had peaches that were ready to pick and we had a huge bowl full. I didn't think we'd be able to eat them fast enough so we made a small batch of jam. My history with jam hasn't been a good one. Usually they don't jell. This batch can join the unsuccessful group. It is probably because I halved the recipe. Jonathan laughs when I do stuff like that with recipes--"Just follow the recipe!" Oh, well! We like it as syrup.

The kids are good helpers whenever it's time to can stuff. I am thankful for their help but today was a bit stressful. The peaches were really juicy and we had a sticky, juicy mess all over the kitchen and over half the kids. Plus I was in a hurry and that rarely makes for a peaceful cooking experience. But they did good and will enjoy the "jam" with their breakfast tomorrow.



The jam is really dark becuase the peaches are pretty red.