December 30

This year I have read the Doctrine and Covenants, the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. I just finished up with Moroni this morning.

One of my favorite verses is in Moroni 9. Moroni includes two of his dad's letters to him. This is the second. Mormon writes about the wickedness of the fallen civilization. In fact he says his people are without civility. He sorrows that he can not recommend them to God.

But he then tells his prophet son that he can recommend him to God. In all that wickedness and depravity, a righteous father raised a valiantly righteous son. Mormon is full of faith and hope that his son has made it, finished the race, endured to the end. And even thou Moroni has to endure at least 21 more years alone, he does it.

We know that because he is the angel that visits the 14 year old boy Joseph in 1820.

I love that story in the Book of Mormon. A pure testimony that we can overcome the vileness of the times that we live in.

I completed my goal in the scriptures this year.

My new goal for 2012 -- read the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon.

I started in Genesis today also. I am playing with my new toy. I got a nook for Christmas. I have the LDS app for the standard works. I can read and just tap on a highlighted word and it turns to related scriptures and brings up all the footnotes in the LDS edition.

I am looking forward to new insights and lessons.

I can do it.

Merry Christmas

This really is about reading, but who can resist the fun games that are a part of this tablet?

They each have a new book and are loving the novelty of the electronic readers.

Cinco in the sink.

He almost doesn't fit anymore. He is a fat kitty, but he likes to be around people. I was getting ready in the morning and he decided to watch me.

La Posada

Wednesday, the 21st our school hosted a Posada. For about a week and a half before that I was cutting paper and glueing and thinking about a Star of Bethlehem (La Estrella de Belen) and the stable. This is my finished product.

A Mexican nativity play is a bit different than the American ones that I am used to. In this play there were devils rejoicing at the wickedness of the world. But the angels announced plans to convert them after the babe was born.

It started out as a morality play and Maria was sad that so many people were celebrating the birthday of her son and they didn't even know Him.

The children were darling.

My children were rotten. Josh sulked almost the whole time. He didn't want to be there. But Craig had somewhere else to be and I didn't want to leave the boys home alone all night. I was on the set-up committee and the clean-up committee.

We got home after 8 and there was still school the next day.

I'm glad I was involved, but not in charge. :)

The Pharisee in me.

I hate it when my strengths become my weaknesses.

Last week I did not have one of my finer moments. I was in Relief Society listening to a beautiful lesson. A lady that I really admire was teaching. Her lesson was heartfelt and well researched.

And I got hung up on a definition.

Now that I can look back on what I did, I have to ask myself, when did the Church ever put more emphasis in the definition than in the application?

Well -- never.

Sometimes I think I'm so smart and I just get in the way of the process.

I hope I remember this lesson so I don't have to relearn it.

I wish I was better at the application -- faith, hope and charity.

???

My good friend called to wish me happy anniversary. I said, " Oh crap, that was yesterday!"

Our Kitty Playground

Josh tried to take it over, but we put the kabosh on that! This is for the kitties.



















As long as we are in the room, they have fun climbing and playing king of the mountain. Cinco pushed Mayo off about 10 minutes ago. I love that they claw this and not my new table. :)



















Mayo's tail cracks me up. It looks like she is scared with her arched back and straight tail. I think she might have been startled.



For a brief moment, they are both on top of the world.

It's Done!

Here is Isaac's quilt. All blue and tan.


I love the square on the back.

 And booties to go with it. Welcome to Earth, Isaac. :)

Almost done

Oh my goodness. This has taken my way too long, but I am almost done with baby Isaac's quilt. I finished the last quilted stitch today and have half of the binding to do. It is almost ready for a picture.

It is about time. :)

Merry Christmas

A little over a month ago, Craig made a startling discovery. Someone had broken into our storage unit. At first glance, we noticed the chainsaw (worth about $400) was gone and an old guitar. There was one other thing that I can't remember.

Today, we decided to put up Christmas. I also decided it was time to hang the boy's school pictures. Craig came home from the storage unit and the cedar chest that my dad gave me for high school graduation was gone.

In it was a lot of our wall pictures. Two pictures of Christ (not the one from Brenda, we still have that one), the 8 x 10 pictures of the boys and Thea. I store the old pictures in the frame, so I have lost all of the 8 x 10s. The Family: A Proclamation, the Living Christ, my high school diploma, my certificate from seminary, possibly my Dixie College diploma and my BYU diploma. My high school tassel and cord and my sash and tassel from Dixie. Brenda brought an authentic Muslim (male) costume home from Desert Storm back in the 1990's. Some blankets to keep the pictures from scratching each other up. A piece of homemade paper that a friend had made me. Just various keepsakes and memories.

The chest itself has two big cracks in the wood on the lid. It can't really be fixed. I would have to have a new lid made. It also has 6 false drawers on the front. On one of the drawers, the hardware (brass?) is loose and I can't tighten it. It has no resale value. But it was a gift from my dad, who is now gone.

Two Christmas tubs were also missing. In one are my homemade stockings. I made them from wine (2) and pine green (2) velvet with a cuff of the white velvet from my wedding dress. And the four stocking hangers -- snowflakes.

The other tub held all my ornaments that I had collected since college. My 49er bear, my nutcracker, my porcelin baby a friend gave me when Josh was born. Musical instruments, ornaments the kids had made from school and primary, two bear ornaments from the Black Bear Diner in Madras, a snowman playing golf and a santa riding a bike I bought because they reminded me of Craig. Various angels and balls. My white lights.

And the 20 year old Christmas tree stand was gone.

But, I still had the snowflake ornaments I crocheted in college. I still had the brass bells I bought in college. And I still had the pearl garlands that I bought in college. So here is a picture of my Christmas tree. It is almost like my very first Christmas tree that I did on my own. My white lights were gone, but we had the colored lights. And I still have the tree skirt my mother-in-law bought me my first married Christmas.

I am grateful they didn't take all of my Christmas things. I also still have my lovely Nativity sets that my Loretta gave me. I am grateful I still have some things.

It is amazing how little time it takes to trim the tree when it is only bells and snowflakes. :)

And I have 5 x 7 s of my boys and Thea. Some of the poses were just the 8 x 10s, but I still have some of my pictures of the kids through the years. I am grateful for that too.



Simplier that what we have been used to, but still beautiful.



I love these nativity sets. I'm so glad I still have them.

Boaz the basketball player

Craig managed to get some really good action shots. Boaz plays hard. It's fun to watch him. I will post the video on facebook. Auntie Brenda wanted to watch Boaz play. She was sure he would play hard.

Barbershop

Craig has been very lucky in our move. He found a barbershop group that had just lost a member.

From left to right: Stuart, Kevin, Bart & Craig.

They sang at our Ward Christmas party. I volunteered them, but they have been practising Christmas music to be able to sing. I don't think they were too upset.

They did a great job. I love listening to them. :)

Picture a Christmas.

We had our ward Christmas party last night. The primary sung the song "Picture a Christmas" from the Children's Songbook.

Boaz was one of the oxen. Cutest oxen I've ever seen, even if he is singular and oxen is plural. He refused to just be one ox.





Josh was Joseph. He was a bit embarrassed about who was playing Mary -- cutest girl in Primary, but he did a great job.


It's amazing to me what a song can do to me. I love the Christmas story -- the real Christmas story.

Growing

My eleven year old boy -- who won't be 12 until August -- is wearing size 14 pants.

Unexpected.

We had big plans for this weekend. My sister and her two children came. I spent all day yesterday cooking. Pumpkin pies, cream pie, cheese cake and cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast.

Today included the turkey, stuffing, salad, asparagus. It was a good dinner.

That was all according to the plan.

What was unexpected was a call last night from my sister. Her daughter has been living in Arizona. She followed her man there. He was an apprentice mechanic -- learning the airplane trade. They were getting married December 16. Karly recently posted on Facebook that it was only 23 days.

She just didn't know. How would we have the courage to fall in love if we knew the future.

Her fiance was one of the six that was killed in the small plane crash on Superstition Mountain.

My sister found a flight to her daughter and flew there today, leaving her new husband home to get Karly's room ready for her.

My brother drove all night, leaving his family, so Karly could have a member of her family close until her mom made it.

How do we make sense of tragedy at this season of Thanksgiving?

Craig and I had a hard time sleeping last night. I tossed and turned. He had to deliver the news to his daughter, the maid of honor.

Life is so fleeting. I hug my boys close. I'm glad my sister and her kids made it safely. I pray for Karly to choose wisely in this switch-point time in her life.

We invited one of Craig's doctors for dinner. She is far from home and on call this weekend. So what else was there to do, we cooked the turkey, brought out the pies and put on a happy face.

Today we have a plate empty. A charming, kind boy has left a whole in our hearts. We pray for you Joe, and we pray for us.

Tuesday

On Tuesdays I go in and help in Boaz's classroom.

Today the teacher looked at me with the look, 'What are you doing here?' all over his face.

Great. I was wondering what if I would really drive the 5 miles to school and then just turn around and go back.

But he put me to work getting ready for making butter.

He had a box of baby food bottles. He had new marbles. He had extra thick whipping cream. He had salt.

I washed the new marbles.

I started pouring.

Then we started shaking. I was shaking one too. I had a bigger bottle. I was wondering how hard it would be to make butter.

The kids were switching off with 2 other kids. It takes a long time to shake cream into butter.

I was zoning, and shaking the bottle.

And, then I was covered in cream.

It took me a full minute to find the whole in the bottle. The marble had broken a whole about an inch wide.

It was lovely. Cream was all over me, the table, the floor, etc.

After that, I only used the small baby food bottles. I don't know if the size was the difference or not. And the other bottles were wrapped in rags for a little extra protection.

Fraidy cat.

I finally got tired enough of my messy boys' hair that I decided to cut it.

I got Josh on the chair in the kitchen and pulled out my clippers. I was going to pay for a hair cut, but I just didn't get it done. So I did it myself. It's been that way his whole life, I don't think he really cares. He just hates to sit still for the time it takes me.

The cats were hanging around. Mayo was pretty cool about the whole thing, but Cinco freaked out.

He would bat at the hair and jump back when the lock of hair moved -- it moved because he pawed at it.

He moved the hair back almost to the carpet. I had to get it back, I didn't want to vacuum hair off the carpet. That is why we were in the kitchen.

Josh and I were laughing. I had to keep telling my son to sit still so I could finish the hair cut.

I sent him to get his brother and started sweeping the hair up. Cinco had backed off and was watching me. I got the broom too close to him and he jumped about two feet in the air and twisted away. I felt bad for scaring him, but it was truly funny.

Boaz had to see the action, so I got a lock out of the garbage and showed him what Cinco would do.

The next morning, the boys had to get a lock out of the garbage and show their dad.

I did't know that cats could be so freaked out by human hair.

I wonder if it had anything to do with them getting a bit of a shave themselves about two weeks ago when we had them fixed. I don't know.

Getting going again

I ironed all of Craig's shirts today. (More than 10) I cleaned off my cutting board. I don't know where I get all the stuff I accumulate. I found a tin and packed all of Josh's cub scout stuff that has been sitting on my fabric high boy. I will get to it eventually.

I sewed two churn dash blocks. I will not get this quilt done before the boy arrives. But I have 17 of 25 blocks done and the three churn dash that remain should go quickly.

When I get this one done, then I will have about a month to get my Christmas quilt done. I think I am pushing it.  I seem to go in spurts. But I am getting anxious to see it done and on its way. I just need to report on my progress and then hopefully I will be more motivated to make more consistent progress.

The billy goat

He thinks he's very GQ.



















Very happy to be looking down on his mom.





















Craig had to prove that he could get up there too. I was impressed. I didn't get that far, but that's okay. I stayed with the camera to document the day.



















Can you see him in the saddle. This was the last good weekend. The next weekend it started snowing.



I made it this far. Hoo Rah!

Just chillin' at the top.

Proof I hiked up to the cave.

Forty Horse Cave

From inside the cave looking out. You can see the road.

There have been lots of visitors. Just look at the tags.

















The boys playing in the back of the cave. It was a bit gross back there.

Bathrooms are clean!

Last week, I fell off the wagon and didn't get the bathrooms clean. All week I remembered, but didn't get around to it.

To be honest, it was a rather eventful week. I had to translate at Parent/Teacher Conference for two nights. That took a big chunk out of my week.

That, plus piano lessons, scouts, basketball practice and the Saturday game.

Today, I got out my sponge and floor steamer. The toilets are clean, the sinks are clean, the mirrors are clean and the floors are clean!

I have clean sheets on my bed. The boys will get clean sheets tomorrow. The towels are in the dryer.

And . . .

The boys' homework is complete. Piano is practiced.

How did that ever happen?

Basketball

Boaz is playing basketball. His first year of organized sports.

He is excited and listens to his coach and does his best.

His first game was last week. The teams were pretty even. Boaz made a few baskets and I was so excited to watch him.

This week, the other team practiced "swarm defense." They were supposed to be one on one.

The first half of the game, our poor little team couldn't get a good look at the basket. There were blue jerseys all over our white jerseys.

I tried so hard not to get upset.

One little girl was so frustrated that she just gave up. Her dad was a bit upset by that.

In the second half, Boaz made two baskets. He started to really get in there and go for the ball. He started to be  more careful about his passes. (The other team was very good at stealing.)

All in all, it was a good experience for him, but it was hard for me to watch the carnage.

I hope next week, they will be better matched. It is more fun that way.

Hiking

Last weekend, the family bustled into the car off on an adventure. We were looking for 40 horse cave. An attempt to capture a memory from Craig's past.

The cave is up in the Narrows, up a steep mountain covered in shale.

After decades, the memory of where the cave was had grown dim.

I told him that whether we found the cave or not, we would have an adventure.

Josh turned into a billy goat and blazed his own trail.

I pushed down my panic and tried to keep track of the 11 year old that kept vanishing up different ravines.

I hiked across the shale covered mountain, around big rocks that Craig was sure was hiding the cave that held 40 horses long ago.

How in the wide world did horses get up this I wondered. How was this any kind of an effective hiding place. It took way too long to access it and it would leave a clear trail.

I had panicy visions of our family falling to our deaths and no one finding us until spring. (That was clearly on the verge of hysteria that needed to be tapped firmly down.)

The shale was more than ankle deep. In fact the shale breached my shoe and slid inside. Boaz had shale in his shoes also.

I told Craig that this was my one and only time trying to find that cave. (Later my good friend told me that if I could read the Old Testament, I couldn't let a simple hike beat me. I'm not sure how that made any sense, but I did agree to go again.)

Needless to say, we did not find the cave. But I did make it up to the sheer cliff. I did not fall to my death. I did make it up and then back down again.

Yesterday we tried again. This time we took along Craig's brother Brad. He didn't move away, he has fished every hole in these hills. And he did know where the cave was.

Yea!

He warned me that there was a lot of shale on this hike. NOT! Not even close. My shoes did not sink in up to my ankles. I did not slide down each step to my starting place or lower. I did not have to take huge steps to make it a normal distance up the mountain. I fact, I could see dirt under the loose shale. There was vegetation to stabilize the path. There WAS a path.

The path was littered with spice containers for BBQs. Teenagers had hauled kegs up this path.

It was a big cave, filled with spray painted names and other trivia.

Josh was back to his mountain goat ways.

This time I remembered my camera. But I haven't loaded them to the computer. I'll post a few later.

But we found the cave.

A memory was recovered and memories were made in with the next generation.

Success!

Meet the Howell's

You can get a better look at the hair in this picture. And I have the gloves and jacket.




What a good looking couple. Don't they look happy? :)

Halloween Hair

Our friends have an annual Halloween Bash. Our group was Gilligan's Island.

I needed big hair for Mrs. Howell.

So I did my first attempt at back combing -- or ratting.

I'm really not sure how I went from the witchie mess to the up-do.

I wonder . . .

. . . why a child that will wear three pairs of socks, two shirts and two pairs of pants in one day will not want to change his underwear every day.

Repair men

How is it that when the repair man comes, the thing that is broken doesn't act broken?

Our garage door is acting up. It's an automatic door. It won't close all the way. It gets stuck not even half way down and then goes back up. I have not parked my car in the garage for a week. It makes the garage basically useless.

So today the garage door guy (who just happens to be our neighbor) came to see what was going on.

The first time we tried to open the door, it opened slick as a whistle. I was so frustrated. He opened and closed it several times.

I tried to explain what it had been doing.

I pointed to the track where the door would get stuck.

He said it was just a sensitivity issue.

I pointed to the sensors at the base of the track. The sensor at the right has a lens that has condensation. The light that should be green was yellow.

He was not impressed.

I went to close the door and it went not even one panel before it went back up.

"That is what it does." I pointed.

He said that it was the logic board. and had me try and close the door again.

Not even half way.

I was so relieved. It was acting up when somebody who knew what he was doing was there.

He will bring a new logic board tomorrow.

Hopefully I can park my car in the garage again. No more scraping windows. Just in time for colder weather.

Falling in love with the scriptures

I assigned myself this topic for lesson today. We had our Souper Saturday. We did a roll making class, and crafts. That might be normal super Saturday fare, but we decided to shake it up a bit and offer three classes. The ladies could choose two. I'm a bit sad I missed the other classes -- Joy in Womanhood and Recognizing the Holy Ghost.

I was asked to write my class down for a friend that has a blog. So after a partial clean up, I am at home to see if I can remember what I said twice today. :)

I have been thinking about this topic for two months. I decided to ask my husband about it, I like to get his opinion on things sometimes. He went in a totally different direction than I was thinking. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew he was right. So I will give a brief overview of what I was thinking to begin with and then share some of his thoughts with my new direction.

When we read scriptures, it is good to know:

    Who - is "talking" and who is being addressed
    Where -  they are
    What - is being said and what is going on.

Knowing these things is helpful to keep track of the story.

My husband got me thinking about the Why. And then I went to the General Relief Society Broadcast and listened to President Uchtdorf. One on his 5 'forget nots' was forget not the why. And I knew that was what I needed to focus on.

Why do we read the scriptures? (This a discussion part. Feel free to add items to the list.)

1. It is a commandment.
2. To learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus.
3. To invite the Holy Ghost into our day.
4. Our homes are more peaceful when we do read
5. To be an example to our children.
6. To find answers.
7. When we need comfort.

I loved Elder Scott's conference address from this past Conference (October 2011). He basically gave my assignment. Here are some of the "whys" he gave for reading the scriptures.

1. "They are readily available.
2. Inspired communication from the Holy Ghost - Pure Truth.
3. Foundation of truth.
4. Pondering a passage of scripture can be a key to unlock revelation.
5. Calm an agitated soul.
6. Heal emotional challenges.
7. Accelerate physical healing -- I did not know this one.
8. Blessed with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord.
9. Blessed with a greater resolve to obey.
10. Blessed with a stronger testimony.
11. Greater happiness, peace and attainment in this life."

Elder Scott also encouraged us to memorize scriptures. He shared some of his favorites.

It reminded me of my life. When I was a Merrie Miss in the Primary, we were encouraged to memorize the Articles of Faith. There was a scripture to memorize for each Article. The scripture that I remember from then is Amos 3:7 "For surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."

When I was senior in high school, someone I loved and trusted tried to destroy my testimony. This person had wandered from the Church and has lost their testimony. I spent a long night afraid that what I had believed all my life might be wrong. I was too afraid to pray. But my whole being was focused on this question. I believe this can be a form of prayer. I don't think I slept that night. When the dawn broke the scripture I had memorized six years earlier rang through my soul, and I knew that prophets spoke directly with God. That experience and answer are the bed rock of my testimony. When I am in turmoil, I can "cast [my] mind upon the night that [I] cried unto [him] in [my] heart, that [I] might know concerning the truth. . ." And I testify that he "[spoke] peace to [my] mind concerning the matter." (see D&C 6:22 - 23).

That scripture was definitely my friend that night, and in all my troubles since. Knowing that, I am a bit ashamed that I have not continued in my efforts to memorize scriptures. Elder Scott has encouraged me to begin again.

We are blessed to have the scriptures in our homes. It has not always been so. Elder Christofferson related the story of William Tyndale in his address in April 2010. He determined to translate the Bible into English. He had to hide in Germany to work on his translation. He was eventually found and imprisoned for 18 months in a dark, damp cell. Then he was executed. The prophets who wrote the scriptures were at times killed for their testimonies. The brave Reformers often were killed for their efforts to bring the scriptures to the common man. Today we are the beneficiaries of these brave and true men. We often have multiple copies of the scriptures in our homes.

So now the question is How do we read them.

The first time I read the Old Testament, I had just received my mission call. I wondered how I could be a missionary if I had not read the scriptures. So, in an attempt to be obedient, I read the Old Testament. For many years, I considered it as checked off my to do list.

Then I decided to read it again. The second time, I read it with the Institute Manual. These manuals are prepared by the Church education department. They offer testimonies and stories of modern prophets, explanations of ancient culture and vocabulary and insights to ancient geography.

I have found the more I read the Old Testament, the more I love it. And that can be said of every standard work.

I picked one of my favorite verses from four of the standard works to share.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path."
                                     Proverbs 3:5 - 6

Just before His arrest and death, Jesus told his apostles: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth , give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
                                      John 14:27

After Moroni had been alone for a long time. He had already written what he thought was his last words in the book that would bear his father's name. He included two of his fathers personal letters. The entire world that he knew had fallen into wickedness. Mormon described briefly the depravity of the Lamanites and the worse state of the Nephites. He said, ". . . I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me. But behold, my son, I recommend thee unto God, and I trust in Christ that thou wilt be saved." In that evil time, a righteous father raised a righteous son.
                                     Moroni 9: 21 - 22

Our lives are filled with things to do. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed that we feel like we are running in circles. Jesus told Joseph Smith, ". . . Stop, and stand still until I command thee, and I will provide means whereby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee." We need to make time where we can be still and quiet so we can hear Him.
                                      D&C 5: 34

The scriptures are a gift - from a God that loves us.
They are an invitation - for us to follow Him.
They are a map - for us to know the way.
They are love notes - from our Father who wants us to return to Him.

Let us open them, and read them, and love them.

The cake.

We counted. 88 candles. The combined ages of Willa and Brenda.

When they were blown out, we worried about the fire detector. :)

A fun weekend of staying up late playing cards, laughing,watching movies and eating good food.