COVID 19- 2 weeks in

This will probably go down in text books that kids will learn about in a hundred years. The world has it formerly existed shut down.

• There is no going to school {there is homeschool but we will get into that later} 😳
• There are no stores {besides grocery stores and feed and supply stores}
• There are no public gatherings. No funerals, no weddings, no conferences, no nothing 
• All parks and recreation facilities shut down
• No church
• No 4-H 
• No sports

It’s officially been 2 weeks. (Maybe just over for a few things). There has been a lot of adjusting in our home- as with everyone’s.

My girls were so disappointed about missing out on 4-H regional communications {for reals}. They both thought they had an excellent shot at winning. This week brought further 4-H disappointments when the exhibition cancelled the show and sale in June.

There have been lots of amazing things to be grateful for.

Spring is coming. The kids have all been enjoying the warmer weather, planting seeds, and playing with the animals. 

Home centered- School Supported education has been.... interesting 🧐 

The older girls are organized and seem to be handling the online assignments and instructions well!

Penny wishes that she only had to do her teacher assigned tasks BUT I bought a few books and some flash cards and have really upped the anti around here!

Andy is having a blast  and he is ruling the roost!

He gets at least 1 hour every day with one of his sisters to build all the awesomeness! 

Here’s to another week of living the dream 🍻 

Easter Bunny and More Important Things

This little picture pretty much sums up our Easter Bunny experience.

It is simple.

Exciting

but

we don't put too much fuss into it.

We spent Thursday colouring eggs

and 

that night we hid them.

Friday Morning

(after a Thursday memo down a local bunny hole)

That tricky rabbit came.

Everyone was thrilled with the hidden treats.

Andy spent the rest of the day packing around his ninja turtle bucket!

The girls flipped and flopped all over in their new footwear.

Friday afternoon was spent preparing our Easter meal.

we spend the evening eating foods that would of been prepared in old Jerusalem.

The kids love it.

Dusty and I love it.

Sometimes we invite people over

but

it was just us this year and it was perfect.

We then spent the evening going through a little Easter activity

that represented the last days of our Savior.

Saturday and Sunday have been quietly spent eating treats and listening to messages of 

Christ.

I am pretty sure as a kid I would of thought this was

"stupid" or "boring"

but

I look forward to this time with our kids

and

surprisingly

even when given opportunities to skip this

my kids choose not too.

This weekend fills me with gratitude for all the gifts I have been given.

I am so grateful to be a mother.

I never had an intense yearning to have children

but

as each of them have arrived

I feel more and more like this was always what I was meant to do

I am so grateful for my parents and sisters.

For the lessons I learnt in my childhood

and growing up on an acreage.

I am thankful for my Dad and his patience with us tagging along on hunting and fishing trips.

For the skills (sometimes forced) in cleaning animals
and
helping me understand what it takes to physically put food on a table
and where it comes from.

He taught me what honor means.

What integrity is.

I am grateful for my mother.

She taught me to never limit myself. What you can do if you work.

She gave me stories and taught me about my family and "roots".

She gave me expectations to live up to.

That is a gift without measure.

My sisters have let me learn what it is to love someone
even
when you don't agree with them.
They teach me about talents
I appreciate how beautiful a family is with differences.

I am grateful for Dusty.
I tell him everyday.
even when I am mad.

I am grateful for our house.
For our animals.
for every lesson
learnt every day.

I cannot measure my gratitude for God
for His Son.
For letting me live each day
For letting me make all my mistakes
For letting me learn all these things
For giving me a chance to hope
to believe
to know

I know that we all walk different paths.
I am grateful He is here with me on my path.

Talent Show Act #3

I ran out of room on my phone so the video got cut a little short.

She did awesome.

She can't wait to do it on the real thing this summer!

Talent Show Act #2

Ellie wanted to show-off her mad goat tying skills.

Penny could give Vanna a run for her money!

Talent Show Act #1

Scripture Study

Andy can be a bit distracting

even

on his best behaviour...

Home in the Summer

We decided to come home..

Well the weather helped that decision 

But

It was a good thing we did because our garden needed some tending!

We got our beans and peas harvested and stored away!

And this little monkey was making it as tricky as he could!

And when we finished the girls got to go to the ward picnic for a waterslide.

The first week of February

I have a feeling that all the posts in the first few months of this year will be the same.

Life is sort of returning to normal.

The older girls go to school.

Penny watches cartoons and does puzzles and school books.

Andy sleeps and eats.

I .... I am not sure what I do

But

Boy am I glad I have a calendar!!!

And a furnace.

The deep freeze that has settled is chilly.

It's kind of hard to believe it's been 4 weeks since his arrival.

Although looking at the state of my house- it's not hard to believe that I haven't cleaned in a month!!!

That's pretty much our week.

We did bless Andy on Sunday.

I will post those pictures sometime.

Dusty did take the girls skiing.

I doubt he took pictures.

And

My brother in law had a baby.

Well his wife did.

A boy!

So lots of fun things.

Sunbeams and sandwiches

Today Penny graduated from nursery.

I was a little worried.

Less play time....

Perhaps no snack....

But as I came out of 

Old woman's 

(aka relief society- my children never remember what it is really called)

Penny was waiting for me

And announced

She loved sunbeams

She got sandwiches.

Mini ones

With jam.

What a kid!

Getting ready for church

Most Sundays are crazy.

Chores, breakfast, 3 little girls, me, lessons, bags, talks, and then dusty.

This Sunday should of been nuts

But it wasn't too bad.

I procrastinates getting off of the couch as long as humanly possible

And

In doing so

Managed to snap a photo of the girls in front of the living room tree.

Ellie's Baptism

She was true to form

totally uncomfortable

with all the attention.

but

it went off fairly smoothly

nothing major

just a nice simple evening.

Women

It's been a week

 (and one day- but who's counting)

since this blog has seen any action...

I was busy.

I had to write a talk for church.

It's all i could really think about

or talk about...

my poor poor friends...

and children.

They were neglected.

they will get over it

they always do.

Until they are teenagers...

then they won't.

I spoke about mothers...

really a shocker...

since it's mothers day and all.

I won't make you endure my entire talk.

I have inflicted enough pain for one day.

but I will leave you with a quote.

When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets have been so protective of woman’s most sacred role. While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living”—and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality, righteous women were endowed pre-mortally with the privilege of motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us.

--Sheri Dew

Happy Mothers day to all those Women out there who spend their time nurturing anyone in their care!

Life's Garbage.

I am feeling the need to spring clean....
Right now I feel very bogged down..... I have sympathy for my house (which is also probably wanting to be dejunked).

Anyways, I am not going to get into all the garbage I was carrying around but I turned to a friend for some advice and she told me to read the serenity prayer (commonly used in addictions counselling)....

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Garbage being disposed of.......

I am thankful today for my friends. I am thankful that Lucy is feeling better. I am thankful for my computer and my blog. I am thankful for the opportunity church gives me to grow and to continually push myself. I am thankful the breeze and the fresh air. I am thankful for Dusty's stable job. I am thankful for my family. I am mostly thankful for life.

Head, heart, and a serving of Cheesecake please.

I needed a day like today. I have a new calling at church and it's been a huge change for me. I have had to dedicate much much much more time not only to the direct needs of that calling (sort of like a job at church) but also a lot of time indirectly and more time on just making sure that I am up to par. The last 5 or so Sundays have been so super busy like can't breathe busy but finally today, I finally caught up. I felt like finally I was on top of it... (that and I stayed for an extra hour and wasn't rushing out the door to go home or to another meeting)....
It's funny how things turn out in life. I never thought I was good with kids (in fact they totally freak me out). I never liked to babysit. I didn't mind older kids but for the most part I would of way rather spent time with old people. I became a mother and thought that I really only liked my kids and that I was good with them because they were actually mine. I felt really inadequate at this new calling. I still do. But today, I sat at the front of the primary (the children's organization at church) children and I looked at them, I felt home. I wish that my brain could just follow my heart and trust that I will be good at this. I know that I am in store for an uphill climb that promises an amazing view.... I hope my legs hold out for the next couple weeks while everything gets tweaked...

I also got to go for dinner to a friends house. It has been a long time since we've been to "Sunday dinner". Both Dusty and I grew up with Sunday dinner and we both loved it. The tradition of getting a good meal and visiting with everyone. Dusty works shift work and we've found it very challenging to make it "home" for dinners and we've found it equalling as challenging to do Sunday Dinner at our home. he is either working or we are starving when we get home.... Today was lovely. Sunday dinner and visiting and it just felt so good. I would say my goal for next week would be to have Sunday dinner BUT it's the long weekend and Dusty is working and I have extra meetings at church.... so alas.... I may have to settle for Saturday night dinner.

Do you know what else is awesome about sunday dinner?
Dessert. and especially cheesecake. YUM!

Hope the rest of ya'll had a good sunday!

A Song and a Dance... without the Dance...

Last night was Monday.

Not really a profound revelation

but

in our house Monday's mean one thing and that is

 Family Home Evening.

An evening dedicated to spending time with one another and it usually has some sort of spiritual message.

This year the Primary's (The Children's portion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) theme is, "I know the Scriptures are True" and so as a family we decided that on Monday nights that is what our focus would be.
Last night we were talking about, "If we got to go back in time and live in the scriptures, where would we live?".... 

One of the answers was from Ellie and she would want to live in the time of Ammon and her reason was because she LOVES this verse in the song, "Book of Mormon Stories".

Well one thing lead to another and we got talking about King Benjamin and the girls asked why there wasn't a verse for him in the song.

Soooo we ended up making on up for him.
It was actually really fun.

First we wrote down some of the things the girls remembered about King Benjamin.

Then we looked for a pattern in the previous verses.

It was actually perfect timing because Ellie is learning to write basic poems in school based on rhyming words....

and then we got to work... and the result is this...

Benjamin was the king and Nephites did rejoice.

He built a tower and they flocked to hear his loving voice.

His message was of love and God and living peacefully,

This he lived, until he died righteously.

The girls are so very proud of themselves.

They really wanted to sing it on Sunday....

Hahahaha maybe next week will be writing a letter to President Monson....

Harvest Ball

This is one of the videos I took of the girls at the Harvest Ball. It was super fun and they were ecstatic to be able to get dressed up in their finery and go dancing. We had to stay almost until pumpkin hour!

That is Lucy and Dusty enjoying the treats found at the ice-cream bar!

Ellie in her ball gown.
I am pretty sure that she had the "bestest most perfectest ball EVER!"
I know cause she told me.

Fruits of Saturday

I got home from church. It was chilly and gray. I walked through my door and immediately got to work with the after church routine.... undo the dresses, get pj's out, start some lunch. You know all the usual stuff. Right now the girls are in their beds quietly reading (except for Penny, who at the moment is a little less than pleased that she has been put down for a moment) and I have gotten to enjoy some pie. Fresh peach pie. It's so nice to enjoy your Saturday labours on a quiet....er....on a Sunday afternoon.

Young Men's Camp

So YM's camp was awesome.

I wouldn't know personally

BUT

I heard.

You know through the grape vine.

We have grape vines all over the place out here.

So there is this little tiny gray spot between the trees.

That's the camp.

Dusty took this picture on a ridge on the way to some lake.

They did lots of hiking.

Oh wait not hiking.... "Mountain climbing"
In fact, Dusty's legs were so not used to all this hiking, er, mountain climbing, that when he got back to camp his legs seized and he fell over on the ground and couldn't get up.

Bahahaha

so funny.

Especially because after he managed to get up it happened again!

He tells this story in amusement now. I'm sure it wasn't so amusing then.

This is a picture of the lake they hiked to on the second day.

Dusty loved it.

They fished here and I guess it was pretty awesome because everyone caught something.

Dusty caught 8.

They had a great lunch.

This is a picture taken from camp.

In the V on the picture is where they hiked and then behind the ridge was one of the lakes.

Dusty said they had a good time.

I think he may even be looking forward to the next one.

did i mention?

So a couple of weeks ago I got a calling.

Not really a shocker... I mean seriously who doesn't?

It takes some serious skill to evade EVERYONE at church.

It's like mission impossible really.

You must be stealthy and dive into the darkest of corners...and let's face it... the church has a lot of lights (probably to see all the people in the corners.)

Anyways.

So I got called as (drum roll please)

Relief Society secretary.

Now some of you are groaning for me and some maybe nodding in approval....like

"that's not so bad she could be in primary or young women or in elders quorum.."

BUT

I would like to make a bold statement that I have

THE BEST CALLING EVER.

True story.

Move over people who get to wash church linens....

move over people who have to collect hymn books...

move over.... well just move over.

You may be asking,

"What makes your calling so awesome?"

Well let me tell you.

I am reprieved from the traditional secretarial duties.

No Note Taking for Me.

I get to do a relief society blog.

Pretty sweet eh???

and the BEST part...

I get to do my calling in my PJ'S.....

I told you best calling ever.

Faith, Friendship, and Enduring to the End

"Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us."

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Yesterday I came home from a play date at a friends house. We were having a conversation about past relationships (friendships). I had previously made the comment to one of the girls that I "test" friendships. I don't think of ways to do it I just always seem to find myself in a situation where I have either said or done something hurtful (most times not intentional). The ladies made the comment that those situations don't always have to happen. I dismissed this. At that moment I dismissed it because I felt like I didn't know why it happened but it does and I don't know it's done until it is too late.
The conclusion in my head is that I am not a great friend. I came home, dwelling on this thought.
I had a little bit of time before I had to start supper so I opened my January 2010 Ensign. I was flipping through it and read, "The Best is yet to be". Another New Year's article....

So I get to this article and I read the title and I am about to flip, when I notice the picture of Lot and his family leaving Jerusalem, intrigued I stayed. I am glad I did. It is one of the BEST articles I've read in the Ensign. I hope you find the time to read it.

Now because I was dwelling on this thought that I was a terrible friend and that one could even go so far as to say I am a terrible person (that was a wee bit on the dramatic side but you know what I'm getting at..) the focus of the article the first time I read it was directed at that train of thought.

I am not going to go through the entire article because you should read it yourself  BUT I just kept thinking...

I am looking back, not forward.

I didn't "remember Lot's wife" Luke 17:32

There is a part in this article where Elder Holland talks about "forgive and forget". Mistakes we make in the past consume our thoughts. He says, "It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ."

I forgot that I am not the same person I was 10, 5, 2 or 1 years ago. I am not the same person I was yesterday. And reflecting on those same circumstances I wasn't a terrible friend. I believe that most of us do the best we can with what we know. I have been in lots of situations where I've put my foot in mouth, said something out of good intent to have it back fire, or done the "right" thing to have a friendship's trust tested. I think that happens in any one's relationships. Some of the best relationships I have are with people that have stood through the "test of time" and with time comes trials, it's an inevitable fact of life (like taxes and death).  "The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim them embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future."

I guess for me the moral of this entire (long) story is that I will "remember Lot's wife" and I have faith. I have faith in myself and the relationships I have with people. I have faith in a Father in Heaven who understands me.