Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

1955-2011

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”  -- Steve Jobs 

Corning Glass Museum - NY

We attended the Corning Glass Museum in NY.

So amazing! 

We got to see beautiful works of art and then some amazing technology and hands on science for the kids. The best was a glass football shaped room. With a person sitting in each end all you had to do was whisper and it magnified and seriously sounded like you were speaking in surround sound. 

Do you see the tree? 

This was probably my favorite piece. Made with thousands of tiny glass threads.

Click on image below to see tiny strands.

Watching the presentation of the glass blowers. The two guys ended up dropping the lovely glass vase they just created - but the crash really made for some excitement!

Brock, McCall, Joseph, Matt & Stella's head.

Jess, Claire, Lauren, Ben

Elizabeth and Julie

Stella, Andrew and Tiffany

You may wonder what we were doing in a glass museum with four kids but they were pretty good and we had amazing aunts, uncles and cousins (especially the fabulous Miss Jessica and Miss Lauren) to help us out.

Lake Ontario - NY

June 2011

When not tromping around the 13 acres of forest my Grandparents lived on this is how I remember our time visiting each summer in NY. Foxes, rabbits, deer, my grandfathers bee's, fireflies, oh and don't forget poison ivy, were scattered among the forest surrounding his home.

The tree's are amazing, landscape lush and green everywhere. You'd see a field that wasn't plowed for a couple years and tree's would be sprouting up all over the place. You can see the thickness just beyond the waters edge.

Lake Ontario always felt like the ocean to me as a child, which it could be as you cannot see across it. Playing at Hamlin State Park, minutes from my grandparents home, was a tradition and it was great to let my girls experience this. Of coarse we cooked at the beach the very best hot dogs you'll ever taste "White Hots".

 

Peter Whitmer Farm - NY

 After working the Joseph Smith Farm my Great Grandparents were asked by the church to come to work and take care of the Peter Whitmer Farm. Above is the home they lived in. It was great to sit outside and listen to the story of my great-grandparents and life at this place.

The Peter Whitmer Log Cabin sits across from the white farm house above.

 All of the 21 Stoner Grandchildren. It was such a beautiful experience being together on this trip.

Palmyra - NY

My Great-Grandparents worked and lived on the Joseph Smith farm while my Grandfather was a boy. This was where my Great-Grandfather and Grandfather labored and toiled. How amazing to plow the same earth, to tromp around the grounds and be in this sacred place where such important things happened for mankind. 

The Palmyra Temple

The (Replica) Cabin where the angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith Jr.

What cute cousins!

Stell Bells

Claire - Smiling despite the heat and humidity.

Elizabeth with a hint of attitude in that pose - what a goof!

The rebuilt home build for Joseph Smith Senior and Lucy Mack Smith.

The Sacred Grove:

You don't have to travel here to gain a testimony of what took place, but there is no denying the spirit and the sacredness one feels here. There is an opportunity, as you walk the quiet path, to ponder what took place. God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ did appear here. God loves us. He continues the pattern set for over 4000 years in the Old and New Testaments of revealing His word and His plan to his children. THAT is what the Book of Mormon testifies of. Of the continuation of the Father's love and His hope that we will follow the Plan so that we might be with Him again...forever and always.

 Hill Cumorah

Poor McCall: She has the worst mother ever who packed denim Capri's, and a lightweight cotton sweater over a tank for this day. She was by this time hot and irritated with her mother for such poor planning.

We love all the cute cousins and the sweet girls to look up to.

Looking out from atop the Hill Cumorah is such an amazing and wonderful experience. It really is a beautiful area but those early settlers must have had such a hard time hacking it out and clearing the land! How cool that somewhere in this hill the angel Moroni turned over records of gold to aid in the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the worthiness of the youth Joseph Smith, Jr who was able to do this great work. I love the Book of Mormon and it has borne me up and strengthened me and guided me so often. I cannot deny it's truth and worth.

Rough Morning (Part 2)

Some of ye are wondering what we did with Stella and Claire after the incident here. Well Stella is just a little lopsided for now - the poor girl is over two and still has less hair then P.Olsen - for crying out loud!!
(P.Olsen is a darn cute baby in our ward - my husband comes home
bragging about her each month when he visits her at home.)

 And as for Claire... I trimmed off about 3 inches off the back, on the bangs I trimmed about three spaghetti size chunks of hair that were longer than what she cut the rest, otherwise, I have left them completely as she cut them.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF PETE:

DO NOT TELL HER SHE LOOKS CUTE...

EVEN THOUGH SHE DOES!

Greater Focus

I love conference!

Okay, who doesn't and every year I could profess that the "talks were just for me" or "the talks were so good this conference" or "the Spirit was so amazing" or "I'm going to do so much better".

I'm going to do better is what I always feel when sitting and listening. I see the Gospel so clearly, I see the simple beauty in it and see what matters most. I see my faults and see what I need to do better. I'm going to be a better mother, more patient, I will be a better wife, I'll be a better visit teacher - I'll really serve my sisters and their families. I'll be a better RS President. I'll spend an hour each day serving the sisters in some way. I'll be more Christlike all the time. People will see my faith in Jesus Christ, they will feel my love for him by seeing the way I live and the way I treat and talk about others. My scope becomes broad - worldwide - rather than the narrow scope I see with most of the time. What are my struggles? Look around you Ashley. I'm going to do something great - something worldwide. I feel that I can do anything, that I can overcome anything.

No wonder conference is so powerful when we sit and experience personal revelation for our lives.

Then Monday comes and real life starts again and within the first day I seem to have completely forgot what I felt so strongly only 24 hours before! Why is that!

Moses went into the mount and came back to a people who had completely lost vision and focus. I guess that is why conference comes every 6 months. Longer than that and I'd be back to my super narrow focus of me and my, me and my. Twice a year to refocus, realign and recommit.

I am so grateful for this amazing Gospel. For the way the Lord molds and sculpts me into the woman I need to become. For the Spirit as it reveals to me where I need to go and what I need to do. How it gives me a greater focus on who I am and what God expects of me.

Rough Morning

So I scheduled a post for today and hate to post twice but I just had to share my morning with you, this is DEFINITELY getting labeled under trouble!

I guess when I typed this on the picture I was refering to STRAIT rather than STRAIGHT as in

STRAIT: (strāt) A position of difficulty, perplexity, distress, or need. 

The best part was when I called Erik and he brilliantly told me "you can't leave them alone even for a minute". 
Good thing he wasn't standing in front of me.

Claire must be following trends!
She has seen a lot of tinker bell
as she's on a big Peter Pan kick lately.

House Plans - 1st Draft

So we have the first draft of the plans.

To see the plans click below...

House 1st draft

I love feedback:

it's much cheaper to make changes on paper right now.

• Need to add a sink to the laundry.
• We will probably remove the closet by the stairway on the main level and open that area into the mud room and then put a landing station counter and cupboard with homework/mail slots over head right by the kitchen and the lockers will be L shape in closet area in the mud room - MAKE ANY SENSE?
• The basement "theater" room will be a dance/exercises room - the architect just labeled it that way.
• I don't think we will have such a large kitchen in the basement, maybe put craft/computer stations along the exercise room wall for the kids with some overhead cabinets for storage and maybe some two doored closet storage in the kitchen area so there isn't so much counter/kitchen space.
• And still debating if we want to have two sinks in one of the girls bathroom or go with one for more counter space.
• We are also going to have a standing shower in one of the two girl bathrooms and not a tub - but haven't decided which. At first I thought the one with the two sinks cause I think that bath will get used more but the one without a window would be ideal for a large shower.
• My walk in closet is simply ridiculous but secretly I love it.
• I think I'll throw in a linen closet in the master bath cause the sink side is something like six feet long I think, plenty of counter space so maybe make a closet by the master closet?
• I wish the upstairs bedroom which will be an office/craft room was more open to the house. I'd love to be able to see what's going on in the house but I don't want doors off the entry into it cause let's face it...it's always going to be kind of a mess!
• Still working on the exterior style. If I had my dream house it would be modern or at least contemporary, it would be in the foothills with a fabulous view and I wouldn't need blinds, just floor to ceiling windows (we'll maybe some window coverings in bedrooms but you get what I mean). But I like lots of other styles like that uber tall home on the south west corner from the AF Temple going down Mary Pulley Drive(900 East). Love that one.

Kitchen Inspirations:

As you can see I love white cabinets but I can't decide if I want all white or if I want to go with a wood color island to break it up. What do you think?

You can click on the picture to show the full size.

Master Bathroom:





This floor is gorgeous!

I haven't decided on the towers flanking each sink or one in the center. Problem is this: We share our toothbrush charger and it would be nice in the center so we can both access it but I like the openness of having the towers to the sides. I guess if I do the side ones I could just get another base or charger thing for the toothbrushes - it would probably help our marriage as I never clean mine off well enough and Erik thinks it's gross when a little pool of water and paste drips onto the base of the charger from my toothbrush. 

(I do rinse mine off after brushing but unless you remove the little brush end and rinse it thoroughly, some of the paste and dare I say saliva, gets caught up inside and slowly drips down the side of the electric brush forming a happy little half circle smile of residue on the counter or more regretfully the base of the charger.) 

Now, Erik on the other hand removes his end, rinses it THOROUGHLY, wipes the whole entire thing towel dry, then places it back in the little storage container in the charger base. WAY to much work I say.


Wow! I really should just buy another base as I've already got myself all worked up about this.


COOL STORAGE:
Check out all these cool under stairway uses. Like I said Erik better hurry up and build because the longer it takes the more "cool ideas" I get = "expensive" it gets.

Mud Room:

Exactly what I want for the mudroom, LOVE the drawers for shoes.

Can't decide if we should have doors or not on the lockers.

Entry Flooring:

L-O-V-E this!!!

I wonder how much marble tiles are?