So Much Snow!

I have shoveled so much snow over the past few days.  I am so sore!  I hope that we don't wake up to more snow in the morning.  Maybe we need to invest in a snow blower.  The kids were having fun today.  They were moving around the snow.  They were using shovels and a wheelbarrow.  They are making one BIG pile, they want to make a snow cave.  They want to make it big enough, so that all seven of us can sleep in it.  They had a story on KSL about some people in Salt Lake building an igloo...maybe this is what they have in mind...

Cute Girl, Cute Art

Beautiful Sunset

This is Brandon's newest painting from art class.

Who Wants Some?

Basketball Games and a Movie

Daniela and Ethan had basketball games today.  They both did a great job!  We told the kids that if they got all of their jobs done, we would take them to see Hotel Transylvania.  It was a cute movie.  All of the kids enjoyed it.

Cute Girls

World's Fair

Tonight, the sixth grade had a World's Fair.  Brandon and his group had Mexico.  They had a to do a display board and they had to serve Mexican food.

Here's Brandon making some quesadillas...

Farewell

Farewell to Elder Mark Keele!  A few weeks in the MTC and then off to Stockholm, Sweden!

Also, I got a text from Ethan's scout leader, she said that they were doing some baseball drills.  The boys shared helmets.  They did not know at the time, but one of the boys had lice!  We checked Ethan and didn't find anything.  I called the doctor just to see what they suggested.  The doctor said that if it was his child, he would just go ahead and buy the shampoo and have him wash his hair with it one time.  That's what we did!

Daniela - Neil Armstrong

Daniela's book report.  If you open his shirt, her report folds out.  It sure seems like they have had a lot of projects lately!

Our Talks

Grant, Brandon, and I all spoke in church today.

Brandon spoke on the Holy Ghost.  One quote that I liked from his talk...We have been promised that the Holy Ghost can be with us always—each day of our lives. We can all be spiritually influenced and led each day – multiple times each day. The next time somebody asks, “When was the last time you felt the Spirit?” you want to be able to respond by saying, “Well, what time is it?”

I spoke on reaching our potential.  We are here to write our own story and like the song says, I decide who I'll be. Our time here on earth won't always be easy. If we think about our time here upon this earth compared to eternity, our earth life is not long. Some days may seem to pass by slowly, but the weeks, months and years pass so quickly. I can't believe that I have a 12 year old and that my baby will turn 6 next month! We make choices each day. The choices we make each day determine how we will live forever. We decide how our story is written day to day. Our happiness in this life and in the eternities is determined by the choices we make on a daily basis.

I hope that we will all have an insatiable desire to ponder on the life of the Lord, to learn of Him, to the point where we can say, “I know that He loves me, I know that I love Him and I know that whatever He will ever ask of me, will be for my own best good, as difficult as it may be.”

I want to turn my life over to Him, to be molded and shaped, to become the person He knows that I can become. I want to live my life so that my Savior knows that I love Him. I want to give my heart to Him. I want to live with Him forever. I also want to live my life so that my family knows that I love them, that I want to be with them forever. I write my own story, but all of our stories are intertwined, intermingled. I'm helping my family write their story and they are helping me write mine. We are all helping each other. As we love, care and serve one another, we help each other reach our potential and to stay on the right path.

Life isn't easy, but Heavenly Father gave us many things to help us along our way. He gave us the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and the gospel to help us stay on course. We will make mistakes and have to make U-turns in life, but if we remember that we matter to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, we can become a masterpiece. 

Grant spoke about not giving up on wayward spirits.  There are so many examples of men and women who are incredibly faithful, strong members whose children fall away.  That is likely the reason God places such children with strong parents!  Elder Maxwell called this divine positioning -- God's placing weaker spirits with stronger spirits for the purpose of spiritual rescue.  Suddenly, with that perspective, parents of rebellious children might realize that their child's waywardness is a calling, not their failing.

Mohawk

I was cutting Alex's hair tonight and just for fun, I left a mohawk.  He didn't want me to cut it off, but I did.

A Year of Powerful Prayer

I bought this book.  Here's the description..

In A Year of Powerful Prayer, some of the most important and inspirational writings on the topic of prayer from Church leaders, gospel scholars, and other beloved writers have been gathered into 365 daily devotionals. Embark on a journey that will help to increase your understanding of prayer, help you recognize answers to prayers, and encourage you to utilize the power of prayer in a more meaningful way. Learn how to make your prayers more effective and strengthen your personal relationship with God. A Year of Powerful Prayer offers guidance, hope, and prophetic promises as you seek to discover how prayer can make a profound difference in your life.

Includes selections from Gordon B. Hinckley, James E. Faust, Joseph B. Wirthlin, Neal A. Maxwell, Gerald N. Lund, Truman G. Madsen, Patricia R. Holland, Bruce R. McConkie, Robert L. Millet, Virginia H. Pearce, and S. Michael Wilcox.



I'm excited to get into it and learn more about prayer.

Ethan - Neil Armstrong

Now we can erase most of Ethan's homework/projects off of the white board!  I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed each day!

Marble Ramp

Ethan had to build a ramp for a marble.  It had to be made in a shoe box.  I guess that they will time how long it takes for the marble to go down the ramp.  Whoever has the longest marble run time wins.

Grant and Brandon were both timing the marble run on their own watches.  They started when Ethan dropped it in and stopped it when the marble came out.  Here was the result...

They were amazed that they got the exact same time!  They probably couldn't do it again even if they tried a thousand times!

Overwhelmed

Do you ever feel that way?  That's how I felt today.

Homework Help

I had to make this chart tonight to help me and the kids keep up with their homework.  They have their regular stuff due, but then projects due towards the end of the month.  Hopefully, this will help me, help them, stay on top of it.

New Classes

It was a great day at church.  The kids all enjoyed their new Primary classes and new teachers.  I'm excited about the new curriculum for the youth.

After church the kids had a hard day...

Of course Brandon and Krista are faking.  You know the story about Daniela.  Ethan and Alex both have that kind of wind/rug burn on their elbows.  I don't know how it happens.  We tried Aloe Vera and it helped a little.  We finally just wrapped ice on it and that helped.

Busy Saturday

We were at Instacare for about two hours.  She did not break anything, just tore the ligaments.  She hurt it at basketball practice on Thursday.

I took Krista to the church.  A boy in our ward needed her help for his science fair project.  Here is a picture of her with her dream light.

I cut Alex's  and Ethan's hair.

Ethan and Brandon both had basketball games.  Ethan did great!  I didn't get to see a lot of his game because I had to leave to go drop Brandon off at his game.  Brandon did very well also.  He had a really good game.  His team lost 31-26.  Brandon actually scored 19 points!  He also had quite a few steals and rebounds.  I only got to see about half of his game because I had to go get Ethan.  Brandon even made 3 of 4 free throws!  He has been working on these, so it was great to see him make some.

On the way home from his game I had to go to Target to get a prescription.  I remembered hearing about a big snowman that someone built.  I think I heard it on the news, I heard it was behind Target.  We found it!

Sleepover!

We had a great time!  We played Castle Panic, watched Brave, and had lots of treats!

Pizza Day

I like Thursdays at school.  It's pizza day.  I don't have to make any home lunches.  My favorite thing about Thursdays and pizza day is that I go to school to have lunch with Krista.  I pick up Alex from Kindergarten, we wait around for about 20 minutes and then pizza.  I don't actually get any, but Krista and Alex do.  Alex loves pizza day as well.  He gets mad at me if we can't go for some reason.  They are rebuilding part of the school, so all of the kids eat lunch in their classrooms.  It is fun because I get to know some of the other kids in Krista's class as well, some of her friends.  It's fun to see my sometimes shy girl not be shy at all!

Writing My Talk

I have known that I have to give a talk on January 20th for about a month.  I didn't start working on it right away because I had to do Sharing Time in December.  I have been working on it since then.  I have decided that I just like to have a week to prepare, not a few weeks.  I feel like I have been working on it forever.  I am not getting as much other stuff done because I am spending too much time on this.  I need to just finish it up, so that I don't have to worry about it anymore.  Oh, Grant and I both have to speak on the 20th.  Since we both speak and Brandon is in Young Men's now, I figured that he should speak with us, as the youth speaker.  Grant talked to the Bishop.  The Bishop thought that it was a great idea!  He is super excited!  (Just kidding!)

Basketball

The kids all had basketball games.  It was Brandon's first game after Christmas break.  This was Daniela's and Ethan's first game of the season.  They all did great.  It is fun to watch their games.

Beware of Falling Ice

You should see all of the huge icicles around town!  We had one of these fall today and it stuck in the ground.  It could have hurt somebody.  This picture was taken a few days ago, we have some really long ones right now.

Cinnamon Rolls

A few days ago, Daniela wanted me to make some Rhodes cinnamon rolls, she said they were sooo good.  I told her that if she thought those were good she should try homemade ones.  We made some tonight.  We used a recipe from Our Best Bites.  This recipe...http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/06/everyday-cinnamon-rolls/

They were really good.  I don't think that she will be asking for those Rhodes ones anymore!

Cleaning Day

I spent most of the day cleaning and organizing.  As I sit in bed, about ready to go to sleep, it feels so good to have gotten so much done.  I even wrote out a menu for the whole month of January.  I haven't done this in a long time.  I really don't mind cooking as much when I know ahead of time what I am doing.  I don't like to cook when I am always trying to think of something an hour before I need to have it ready.  I am looking forward to being more organized this year.

Congratulations to Holly and Bert!  They went in to have their ultrasound today to find out if they were having a boy or a girl.  Surprise, surprise, they are having TWO girls! TWINS!

Happy New Year!

Today was just a relaxing day, it was really nice.  Grant and I took some time to go over our calendar for the month, we looked at our budget, we printed new job charts for the kids, and we even took time to make a Doctrine and Covenants reading chart for the older kids.  They are studying Doctrine and Covenants in Sunday School and Primary this year.  I'll post it here if anyone is interested.  We had Book of Mormon charts for the older kids this year and they all did it, they read it this year.  I am really proud of them.  Krista and Alex use a different chart.  They read the Friend each month, the Book of Mormon, New Testament, Old Testament, and Doctrine and Covenants Stories.  They did great!

I was going to post the charts, but I guess that I don't know how to post a file.  If anyone is interested in them, let me know, and I'll email them to you.