Watch out Team USA!

We got ski passes for a Christmas gift, so yesterday, we pulled C out of school and took him snowboarding for the first time!  B was great at showing him how to get started and then it was to the top of the slopes for a lesson on going down!  No bunny hills necessary!  C was a natural from the beginning!  He couldn't wait to get started and took off before we had a chance to say, "let's go!"  He learned quick and hated waiting for our group at the bottom before getting back to the top.  By his second run he was maneuvering the board and by the third time, we went alllll the way to the top.  Still - not a problem for C!  Of course, mom and dad were super proud of his abilities!  He was so brave and had a great time!  Watch out team USA - we have a new competitor on our hands!  

Young Women's Lesson 6: Sharing Work in the Home

I am so excited to share the Young Women's handouts I gave the girls yesterday!  Our lesson was on Sharing the Work in the Home.  It could be a delicate lesson (who wants a lecture on chores??)  but, it turned out great and the girls loved the handouts!  We started the lesson with a girl holding a bag full of stones.  The stones represented chores that would be done in a typical home.  Her assignment was to hold the bag until the end of class without resting it on anything....she did it!  I was then able to talk about how we could have made her burdens lighter by each taking a few of the stones from her.  I also read a great story about Vaughn J. Featherstone.  He grew up with a single mother that worked the night shift (to be with her six kids during the day).  One day she got home from work, slept a couple hours and got up, slaved by cooking and cleaning for family that was coming for dinner (about 30 people).  After dinner the dished and food was shoved in the kitchen and the door was shut so everyone could mingle.  Vaughn remembered looking at all the work his mother would have after the guest would leave.  He said, "I remember thinking it was unfair and than I thought, I know!  I will do it."  He did.  It took him 3 hours to hand wash all the dishes, clean up the counters and food, and scrub the floors.  It took him three hours, but he thought he did a job well done and then his mother walked in.  As you can imagine, she was speechless and proud.   Vaughn never forgot the unselfish act he performed that night and did over and over and over again.  I then passed out handouts and asked the girls to do at least one nice dead for their families on top of their daily chores and write it down and we'll report on Sunday.  I'm excited to hear what they all chose to do!  The handout with the quotes says, "The gospel of work is a very important teaching of the church.  If we learn to work early in life we will be better individuals, better members of families, better neighbors, and better disciples of Jesus Christ, who Himself learned to work as a carpenter."   -Neal A. Maxwell  I got the cute quote handout from Shanna Vineyard and the No Mess Nest Routine wheel from the YW Fun-tastic book.   I changed them up a bit to my own liking though.  And of course, since this lesson was on Valentine's Day, I gave them each a cupcake from my previous post!  The girls loved them both!

The Day of Love!

My new blog wouldn't be complete without posting a Valentine's treat!  Today we made cupcakes for all our friends!  I think the kids had more fun taste-testing the frosting and Dove chocolates, but hey!  Isn't that the great thing about this sweet holiday?!  The middles of these cupcakes were filled with my homemade raspberry jam and of course they wouldn't be complete without homemade cream cheese frosting!  MMMMM!  I'm getting hungry just thinking about them!  You'll have to excuse my while I take a cupcake break...Happy Valentine's everyone!

Off to School...

 

Even though this photo took place 5 days ago, I thought I would post it.  This day was filled with bittersweetness.  As a mother, I never felt the anxiety of sending a child off to school and missing them like crazy until they came home...until today.  Aaahhh!  We've been home-schoolers for the past 5 years and a couple weeks ago, C's friend talked him into trying out public school.  We had several lengthy conversations about the idea and in the end decided it would be a good opportunity for C, so two weeks later, we enrolled him into the public school system!  Although I was excited for C, deep inside I was also anxious and nervous.  Luckily I have been blessed with some amazing friends that called and checked on me all day long to make sure I was still breathing!  (Or at least making sure I wasn't at the school spying on C!)  In the end, C safely came home from his first day of school with a smile on his face and satisfaction in his new life.  Good for you, buddy!  May you be blessed with plenty of straight A's and good friends as you venture forward!        

Spaghetti Mustaches and Smiles

I love the days when my kids make me laugh the whole day long!  This particular day started with "spaghetti mustaches"!  I was doing dishes and J said, "Mom, look!" so I turn around and in her best man's voice she says, "Look!  I have a muuu-stache!"  For some reason, the way she said it combined with her large smile made laugh so hard!  J is always finding ways to make us happy accompanied by lots of giggles and laughter!  What a character she's turning out to be!  Love ya girlie!!  XOXO

The Love of a Grandfather

 
I love how sweet Grandpas can be!  Love radiates from their faces and I know they truly care...at least that's how my Grandpas are!  They have a gentle touch and genuinely care about me.  How lucky is my family to have just had the chance to visit one of our dear Grandfathers. This is Grandpa Patten and from the first day I met him (he's actually my "Grandpa-in-law!"),  he has always been good to me.  He makes me feel loved every time I am in his presence.  He is sure to let out a huge smile and gives me the tightest hug he can manage!  His health is fading and he says, "I'm ready to go when the good Lord is ready for me."  Of course, we hope he stays around for a little bit longer - I'm not ready to lose him just yet.  We love you Grandpa! 

Young Women's Lesson 4: Obeying Commandments Helps Us Fulfill Our Divine Roles

 

I felt a little intimidated today as I taught my first Young Women's lesson!  I am used to speaking in front of the Relief Society, but to speak with the Youth, I felt all tangled up inside!  However, my first lesson was a success!  I got the girls' attention right from the beginning when I broke a glass bottle filled with bath salts like the one above, with a hammer.  (I received the idea from Nicole Bruderer.)  Of course, when I smashed the bottle, the girls freaked out and were a little nervous about their new found teacher (I assured them I wasn't really an aggressive person!)  Getting on with the lesson, I asked them what I had done.  They said,  "I broke the bottle".  Then I asked, "As a result, what happened?"  They said, "I made a mess".  I proceeded to tell them the bottle represented a commandment.  I asked them what I had done to the commandment, and of course they said, " I had broken it."  I then stated that when we brake commandments, we can make a mess of our lives.  Lucky for us, the glass can be recycled.  We compared that to the atonement.  The picture above is the handout I gave the girls.  The label on the glass says: "I am a commandment; don't break me-I will make a mess."   I also attached a quote from the lesson by Elder Delbert L. Stapley:  "Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves, though the thought must precede the action.  Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives.  It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built - that is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice."