Ballet Performance

If you've discussed dance with me at all you'll know I'm not a huge fan of competitions. They take all day and it just seems like a waste of time... but I am all for the experience of getting up in front of people and performing which is why I love The Pointe. They are not competition crazy, competitions are secondary to instruction -- I am fully behind that.

We recently had a ballet showcase. It was simply amazing! Not only was the ballet a wonderful story, the dancers amazing, but it was at the Scera Theatre in Orem so for $8 you got a reserved seat YAY! All the danceres worked so hard to make the performance perfect! One lead part was filled by an Odessey dancer but the rest were filled by the Pointe's students and can I just say it was awesome!

Great job McCall... your grace and talent show in everything you do!

If I was to splurge

http://sakurabloom.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_sakura_info&cPath=10&products_id=170

Thou Shalt Not

I love FHE night. Usually I take a thought or impression from Sunday's worship and follow up on it on our Monday lesson. So last night for family home evening, based on a prompting from a high council talk, we had our lesson on the 10 Commandments. We discussed each commandment, what it meant and how to live it. We discussed that as we break any one of these we will feel the spirit leave distinctly. (Hopefully we carry the Spirit with us enough that the odd occurrence is it's presence leaving us, not feeling it come occasionally.) I digress... as we went through discussing each commandment... we came to this quote on COVET and I really liked it.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie said... "To covet is to have an eager, extreme and ungodly desire for something."

When we covet something we usually want it selfishly, vainly, or pridefully.

Lately I have been really disgusted with my body, four kids later and my thighs don't fit into my jeans and my belly seems to lop over the waste band of my jeans. I have been really anxious, might I say eager, to get into a workout routine but I seriously rarely have a husband around and my kids are at an age which makes it really difficult to leave them unattended to go down and workout. AND I certainly will not pawn them off to the care of someone else to go work out. I have been extremely critical of myself and may I say my husband about this. I haven't said it in words to him but it's been there -- underlying -- "why can't he make time so I can work out".

And then we had this lesson last night and this morning it was reiterated to me as I looked out at the crisp cold sky and noticed a neighbor pulling in her garbage can in her workout clothes and as clearly as the Lord was standing before me I heard in response to my coveting thought "Ashley, it is okay, your time will come, right now your focus is, and should be, your little ones, they will be grown so fast, take care of them now. Next year will be a little easier, you'll have a little more time to yourself as they grow. Your body can wait -- your children cannot."

How grateful I am for the tender mercies of the Lord. For the guidance and direction of the Spirit who can guide and speak to us in all things.

I was so grateful for this lesson, later in family prayer I could see the effect it had as Erik prayed for specific things for our family which related to the 10 commandments and the request to help us remember these thoughts and impressions this week. They are so basic, and seem so simple but this lesson has us really looking and evaluating how well we are fulfilling them.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
5. Honour thy father and thy mother
6. Thou shalt not kill
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness
10. Thou shalt not covet

Gifts and Presents

Christmas is coming. Which means paper, scotch tape, ribbon and tags. Lots of gifts and presents will be exchanged. Gifts and Presents...

Somewhere I picked up a definition of the differences between a gift and a present. It went like this...

GIFT

A gift is something which you know the person wants, something that they need and desire after. A gift is something thought out and specific to that individual. A gift is given without thought to yourself, but is personal to the one you are bestowing the gift upon. It may not at times be something you agree with, enjoy or even like but you are doing it for the person so you forget yourself and give. Sometimes it may take a big sacrifice, of time and/or money, but you give to bring happiness to the life of that person. That is a gift.

Look at the word gift.

gift: 1. something given

Then associate it back to the work give.

Give: 1. put into the possession or keeping of another 2. pay 3. contribute or donate 4. yield to 5. let out of one's control

You see the similarities of the two words and meaning. A gift is about about GIVING.

PRESENT

A present is something which you want to give. Something more for your enjoyment in giving it then necessarily for the recipients enjoyment. Presents are not necessarily a negative thing... sometimes presents are more exciting for the person giving because it is something they love, something they are excited about, and they want to share that excitement and love of it with someone else. Often that person may love it as much as the giver which makes the present more appreciated.

Look at the word present and it's other meanings...

present: 1. introduce 2. to bring before the public 3. make a gift to

you can see that it's focus is more public, more focus is on the person PRESENTING than on receiving.

In the gospel we often talk about the gift of the atonement, it was something we needed, something that was given for us with much sacrifice on behalf of the giver.

I was just thinking about this the other day and thinking that this year I am going to try harder to give GIFTS this year.

Sunday Late Lunch

Sunday found me at home with Estelle and Claire (Claire had a slight runny nose and cough). So, while Erik, McCall and Elizabeth were at church I made one of our favorite soups with some home made bread.

The soup is almost completely made from things from our garden, excluding the chicken bullion, onion and garlic. (Some day I'm going to try growing garlic and onions -- maybe next year.)

I thought I'd share these delicious recipes...

Healthy Soup (From Sister-in-law Cheryl)

1 c. onions, diced
8 garlic cloves, minced
8 chicken bullion, or packets (dry)
6 c. zucchini, thinly sliced
2 c. carrots, thinly sliced
2 c. chopped tomato (or canned diced)
4 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Combine onion, garlic, and bullion (pound bullion to make crumble). (I add tbsp. olive oil which Cheryl does not which is why I've renamed it from very healthy soup to healthy soup!!) Saute until onions are translucent. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until veggies are soft, about 20-30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove 2 cups of veggies from pot and reserve. In blender puree remaining soup (I just use an immersion blender right in the pot). Return vegetables to pot with puree and heat.

Julie's Whole Wheat/White Bread (From Sister-in-law Julie)
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
3 1/2 c. white flour (2c. ww and 1 1/2 white flour)
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. honey

Mix water and yeast in a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside. Add flour, salt, oil and honey and combine in mixer with kneader attachment. When yeast mixture has foamed add to flour mixture. Combine in mixture until well mixed. Check the dough, if it seems to sticky add a little more flour and combine. Shape dough into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan. Let rise for about 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degree's for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy these yummy recipes!

Stunning

We came away from conference weekend so amazed at all the incredable messages. So many we loved and felt were just what we needed to hear. But this one from Elder Hollandwas simply STUNNING!

Listen & Watch here...

October Kick Off

When I talked to Erik yesterday I told him I was setting the table for our October Kick Off dinner. "What, is that just some excuse for a party?" he said. "Well.... yes...yes it is..." said I.

Each girl got a Halloween shirt in their bag with some spooky colored nail polish. I made the mistake of just running into Peerless Beauty. I didn't realise OPI nail polish was $8 a bottle...

The table was set with lime green, black and white with purple and orange accents.

We had a Spook-tacular menu...

The grilled cheese was cut into pumpkin shapes after being grilled.

I opted for the Tomato-Basil soup from Costco while the girls just had Campbell's.

My cute little striped tins (target) will be used throughout the month as we hold additional dinners, with skull candy treats and surprises to fill them with.

I'll add a photo of the girls in there cute shirts -- Estelle wasn't up when McCall left for school so we'll have to grab one when she gets home!

Sunday Canyon Drive & Picnic

The Dirty Face says it all...

Claire

Elizabeth

McCall

Estelle (with Dad)

By the River

Daddy & his Girls

Sunday, right after church we headed up with our picnic to AF Canyon. We found a nice spot by the river up Tibble Fork way and picnic-ed took some photo's and played by the river, then completed the Alpine Loop. Can I just say Sundance area was AMAZING! It was so beautiful. Opportunities like this are so great for our family. That night when it was McCall's turn for family prayer and she talked about how beautiful this earth is and thanked Heavenly Father. Afterward as we talked it was a direct result of what she saw and experienced that afternoon. I'm so glad we did it and so glad that the Spirit represents itself in so many ways to us.

Great Grandma

Most of you probably are like me and have a grandmother who is dear to your heart.

One who has watched you from when you were a baby to the time when you are caring for your own babies.
Who's hands have changed hundreds of diapers, cooked thousands of meals, wiped away countless tears, and cupped your chin as she kisses your cheek. Those hands have been worn soft from years of work and service but are dear and as beautiful as ever.

She loves your children - her great grandchildren - with a special element that only she can add to there lives.

After 97 years she is so vivid and clear in her stories and experiences and we had the fortunate pleasure of visiting with her on Saturday and having her meet Estelle Lucy for the first time(Lucy named after her own dear mother).

Saturday Ballon Launch

I hate having ballons around the house, so after a day or two I pop or like to get rid of them.

So you can see we decided to let these go from McCall's birthday.

Erik says it's litering.

But we had fun.

Sometimes we just have to ignore Erik.

Up

Up

and Away...

HaPpY BiRThDaY

We had such a nice evening.... Dinner was nice...simple....pizza per McCall's choice....we had lots of pink on the table and then after dinner had Sundae's and thick fudge brownies. YummY!

McCall got a pink ipod nano that shoots video from Mom & Dad. Perfume from Libby, Watch from Claire and a "M" necklace from Estelle. She also got itunes cards, gift cards, ihome stereo and docking station from Grandparents. She loved it all and had such a great day!

9 years

I cannot believe it's been 9 years -- It has gone by so fast. McCall has continued to inspire, bless and shine in our home. We love her lots.

Household Items

You'll want to click on this to really read it, I didn't have time to figure out how to bring in my excel spreadsheet so it was print out and scan, then upload the photo! Lame I know!

Since conference last October, Erik and I have been wondering about our year supply. So at the beginning of this year we started tracking what we use. We listed common items on a list and then wrote the open date in the first column and when it was used up in the second column. We were then able to see what we needed... we were pretty close in our years supply but somethings were a little under and a couple things I had been storing way too much of. I thought I'd make my list available in case it might help any of you.

This said, let me just say that this is based on our families needs and uses (family of 5 - now 6). Some people may wash clothes more often, or less (I'm a fanatic about washing sheets once a week). And you would need to gear some items for what you use (we use JUMBO rolls of Charmin so you'd need to adjust your amount if you use a normal size roll).

Also, I store one more than what I need, so if I need 8 jugs of laundry soap I have 9 so that when I finish #9, I purchase a new one and thus always have 8 always in storage... or if I need 2 packages of Dove soap for the year, I have a third that is open and in use. Again when I get close to using that package I purchase a new one so I always have two unopened packages for our years supply.

Comprehend??? You could get quite O.C. about it but the idea is to just do your best to store approximately a years surplus.

Our church lists a lot of what to store per person for a year (like water, flour, sugar, salt, etc.), so we are relying on those figures for now, and a lot of the food storage changes from week to week based on what we are using for the meal, we have tracked some of our basics, like peanut butter, pancake mix, etc. and I'll be listing those amounts in the future.

For now this is what we use... it's pretty complete on the basic household & personal items we want to have. I always keep one extra case of diapers and wipes on top of one that's being used.

I haven't listed medicines, band aids, q-tips etc. cause it's too hard... I just store way more than I should because I'd rather be safe than sorry... right now I have 5 plus 1 opened bottles of children's Tylenol... More than I probably need but I never want to run out and make my kids suffer through a fever or something. I usually don't have this much but it's the beginning of flu season so I always stock up so by the end of the season I still have a years supply... and hey who wants to go the the store sick and contaminate everyone else to pick up medication. Oh and you have to stock up on Sudafed (behind the counter kind) 2pkgs over a distance of time or they will think you are making drugs or something!!!

Hope this might be helpful to some of you... we just totally revamped out 72hr kits too so I'll post about that soon too.

Oh and just to get this out in the air before I get the question ... YES my food storage room is VERY full.

SLR

I just went to Best Buy to purchase season 5 of The Office (which they were sold out of btw) and I ended up wandering over to their SLR camera's and I've wanted one for so long... and when I called Erik (to tell him they were out of the Office and as I explained about the Office being sold out and how I should have purchased it at Costco yesterday but Erik had seen an add for it at Best Buy... yada yada yada) So, as I'm explaining this, Erik came back with a "Honey, I'm busy--I don't care what you buy"... and right at that moment I was just standing there looking at that cute Canon... so I just figured I'd purchase it because Erik sort of gave me the okay with the "don't care what you buy".... RIGHT?!!
Anyhooo..... I am really excited and I hope I can figure out how to use it. :)

Estelle's almost two months

I cannot believe how fast time has gone. I wish it would slow down! Estelle is just the sweetest, happiest, most adorable thing. The other day I was nuzzling her and I just thought... it's not right to love someone this much!