Aid

After seeing the destruction in Haiti we wanted to help. Knowing they need money was first in my mind but for a long time we’d been planning on putting together kits for FHE, I just hadn’t made it to Mandalay to pick up the supplies for the kits.
So after seeing such horrible pain and suffering I wanted to help and I wanted my girls to feel it with something “hands on” which they could feel and do.


On Friday Night, while Erik was in St. George, the girls and I spent part of the evening putting together Infant Kits for the Humanitarian Center.

McCall set everything out in the order it needed to go in the bag. And those wonderful little hands loaded everything inside.

We put together 5 infant kits that night…

And the next morning, on Saturday, we put together 10 hygiene kits. And after read the story of the Good Samaritan and talked about Temple covenants and giving “all that we have” so that our family can be eternal.
 
So for just a little over $100 we were able to have a wonderful time together learning the gospel of Jesus Christ through service.

We can’t leave out the help from this little one!

We still need to donate some money so that further help can be given to those beautiful people of Haiti. And I told Erik I want to adopt when Estelle is five or so.
Such a great weekend…

The Problem with Procrastination

Our household is faced with a dilemma.

Do we start over?

Do we leave off in 3rd Nephi?

Skip over 4th Nephi?

Mormon? Ether? Moroni?

We are enough behind that if we take the time to finish we will be behind for this year.

Usually we always finish early, was it last year that we went a week over?

We have put ourselves in a awful situation by missing our nightly reading one too many times.

We talked about Erik and I finishing it on our own but that will then put us behind in our personal study and you just can't do that with the Old Testament or you won't finish.

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How can we teach our 11/12 year old boys the Old Testament if we are not up to date with reading it?

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Yesterday we started over... I Nephi...

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This morning I went ahead with Genesis...

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I'm heartsick over those beloved books missed.

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And heart sick our girls won't read/hear them.

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Maybe I should take a day off and gobble them up.

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Can you take a day off with four small kids who are involved with an activity (dance,violin) on top of homework Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday? Oh, and Elizabeth has speech on Friday at 8am...

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But I don't drive to dance on Wed., so maybe I could spend the day reading.

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You see the spiral?

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You see what an awful situation we have placed ourselves in?

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This is the problem with procrastination!

I could just eat her...

She makes me want to have more&more&more... she is such a gift from God! What an angel she is. I love her, I love her, I love her.... I don't care about going out and date nights because it's just too soon that this favored stage will be gone and she will be grown! So I'll be happy with catching every moment and being her one and only!

A lot more eating then decorating...

Straw

I was left with hands red, buring, painful and blistered like this...

In my attempt to add some straw to this...

Note to self: wear gloves next time you try to shovel out the

snow-plowed

ice-packed

ridge of snow

from 6 neighbors drives & the mail box approach.

Ouch!

Thanksgiving Happiness

Hope yours was just as delightful!

A little peek...

Here's a little peek at what I'm working on for December. I want to have it done and the bags filled before Thanksgiving holiday so I can just enjoy the break. I can't wait for it... the girls are going to love it!!

Christmas time is coming soon...

Recieved the last package this week and got everyhthing to fill these ^ the other day... other then a couple other people I'm done! Yipee!!!

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!