Thursday, May 22, 2008

Cannery Fun!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Cannery for the first time. It was a really great experience. We are so blessed to have these awesome resources available to us. I am actually starting to get into the food storage thing. Our ward and the people in this area are really serious about it. I'm just doing a little at a time, but every little bit counts. For those of you who have not been to the cannery, I think it is a very worth-while experience.


Don't we all look hot in our hair nets?

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I've Been Tagged...

I guess I will finally do one of these tag things, I always get tagged by people but somehow never get around to doing it.


I've Been Tagged
How To Play This Game of Tag:
Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

3 Joys:
1. My Husband and Children.
2. My Extended Family.
3. My Friends.

3 Fears:
1. Where and what we are going to be doing in the near future.
2. My husband, children, or extended family being hurt or dying.
3. Disappointing people.

3 Goals: short term
1. Read Scriptures daily.
2. Be more patient with my husband and kids.
3. Get my exercise routine back on track.

3 Current obsessions/collections:
1. Blogging
2. Christian Contemperary music.
3. Taking pictures.

3 Random Surprising Facts About Me
1. I love to ski and miss it terribly.
2. My toes are double jointed.
3. I wish I was young enough to be on American Idol.... hee, hee
Now I tag some of you:)

I tag:
Rachel, Melissa, Ashley, Kollen, Aimee, and whoever else that wants to do this!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Sacrament Meeting Talk

I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. I'm so glad that it is over with, but I think it did actually go pretty well. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. I was a lot more nervous when I had to teach Relief Society a couple of weeks ago. Yes, that's right teaching and talking within a couple of week of eachother.... I should be good for atleast a year now, right? lol Anyways, I thought some of you might be interested in reading my talk. It was really meaningful to me because of the topic. My hectic, and discouraging week last week was what inspired me to talk on what I did. I don't know, maybe there are some things in there that can help some of you out like it did me.... and I just think this is a great way to record these type of things.

The theme that I was given to talk on is Families. I always think that the Lord is mindful of lessons that we need to learn. In preparation for this talk, I looked up various articles, stories, and different things and noticed that the material I was coming up with kind of went a long with how I had been feeling this whole week. This whole past week I have been asking myself, “Why is being a mom so hard?” Starting with Mother’s Day and continuing with every other day this week, my role as a mother, wife, cook, cleaning lady, chauffer, tutor, nurse, counselor, and or psychiatrist, seemed pretty much insurmountable. I remember before I had children I had it planned perfectly in my mind… I would have a spotless house, I would have children who helped out, were well behaved and never fought. We would have regular family prayer, and scripture study, and the kids would sit still through all of it. I would have the energy to bake and do crafts with them, while at the same time keeping myself in top physical shape…. Because I of course, would want to look my best at all times. Each child would have a scrapbook or maybe even two for each year of their life. And above all, the gospel would be the focus of our home, and because of that- our family would always be happy and peaceful. Well, I am here to tell you that my perfect plan did not turn out so perfectly. During these trying weeks, when I am wondering if all of this is really worth it, I have to remember that in many ways our families are one of the most important things that we will ever work on in our lives. Anything that is worth having takes much work and time to acquire… and striving to have a happy, spiritually and physically healthy family most certainly takes never ending sacrifice and work. There are so many things that can pull at and distract us from our families… it is important for us to recognize and address those things. Whether it is our jobs that distract us, or our volunteering, or our need to keep the house spotlessly clean at all times, or our hobbies, or maybe we are depressed or not taking care of ourselves, and because we are not taking care of ourselves, maybe we don’t have the energy that we need to focus on strengthening our family. While having hobbies, volunteering, church callings, and other things are all important, it is so important for us to remember that a balance needs to be found in each of these areas. It is easy to lose the balance that we need… I believe that Satan is using feelings of being overwhelmed, fighting, contention, negative media and discouragement as tools to destroy families. We’ve been told that the family is under attack like never before, and we are certainly seeing this all around us. One interesting example of this that I found is by a French woman by the name of Corinne Maier. She recently published a book entitled “Forty Reasons not to have children.” A mother of two herself, she says that she really regrets having children and these are just a few of her reasons:
-Childbirth is torture.
-You will become a mobile feeding bottle.
-You will struggle to continue having fun yourself.
-You will lose touch with your friends.
-You will have to learn a language of idiots to communicate with your children.
-Your children will kill your desire.
-Children weaken the bond between couples.
-Children are expensive.
-You will be duped into thinking that there is such thing as a perfect child.
-You will inevitably be disappointed by your own child.
-You will be expected to be a mother before you are a professional and a woman.
-Families are a nightmare.
-Staying at home to take care of your children is breathtakingly boring.
-You have to choose between motherhood and professional success.
-When a child appears, the father disappears.
-There are already too many children on the planet. Children are dangerous. They will take you to court without a second thought….
After reading these obviously negative spins on motherhood and having a family… I was actually quite offended, and immediately felt guilty for feeling so discouraged with being a mother myself, as I have been this past week. I was immediately able to come up with just as many positive and absolutely rewarding reasons to become a mother and too have a family as she was to not.
In a talk given by Julie B. Beck the Relief Society General President, she states, “Mother’s who know desire to bear children. Whereas in many cultures in the world children are “becoming less valued”. In the culture of the gospel we still believe in having children. Prophets, seers, and revelators who were sustained at this conference have declared that “God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.” President Ezra Taft Benson taught that young couples should not postpone having children and that “In the eternal perspective, children- not possessions, not position, not prestige-are our greatest jewels.”
“Faithful daughters of God desire children. In the scriptures we read of Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, and Mary, who were foreordained to be mothers before children were born to them. Some women are not given the responsibility of bearing children in mortality, just as Hannah of the Old Testament prayed fervently for her child, the value women place on motherhood in this life and the attributes of motherhood they attain here will rise with them in the Resurrection. Women who desire and work toward that blessing in this life are promised they will receive it for all eternity, and eternity is much, much longer than mortality. There is eternal influence and power in motherhood.”
In the Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 it gives us some very specific areas in which we can make goals and work at certain things that will help us in our family lives. It reads: “Organize yourselves: establish every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” I realized after reading that scripture, that if we did all of those things, there would not be much room for any of the negative influences that are trying to destroy our families today. If we make our homes a house of God, we are making it a place of refuge from the world for our families and ourselves. By working on each area mentioned in that scripture we can work towards establishing a true house of God. The first three, prayer, fasting, and faith go together. As we pray, fast, and practice and strengthen our faith we will be building a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father. It is important that we make our homes houses of learning. Regular Family home evenings and scripture study are two things that I would like to be better at in my family. Living the gospel and being examples to each other is another way that we can develop a house of learning. Of course having a house of order is important, and sometimes easier said than done. It seems like a clean home leads to less contention and less fighting, and the spirit can more freely dwell in a house free of these things. And most important is to establish a house of Glory. It is vital to recognize God’s hand in all things. It is important to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. By living the gospel and acknowledging God’s hand in our lives, we are giving glory to Him. It is important to remember our utter reliance on Him.
As I have studied and pondered all of the stuff I read in preparation for this talk, I have been prompted to ask myself, “Do I teach my children to be kind to others in the way that I treat them? Do I teach them the value of hard work as I work beside them? Do I teach them the importance of the gospel, by making the gospel a central part of my life and my family’s life?” And the answer I came up with is, “Not always”, but I most certainly came away from this feeling like there is hope and there is help and guidance and that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is always there, waiting for me to ask for His help. And finally to answer my first question, “Why is being a mom so hard?” which I am going to rephrase, “Why is it so hard to be a family in this day in age?” The answer is simply that if Satan was able to destroy the family unit- he would be that much closer to accomplishing his goal of preventing us from returning to our Heavenly Father. So, he is, of course going to do everything that he can do to pull families apart…. And one of those things that he does is making us feel like I did all last week. I come away now with a renewed sense of hope that things can be better if I will rely on the Lord to help me with the improvements that I need to make, and with the things that we need to do to be strengthened as a family. I would like to say that I am so thankful for my family, for my Husband, who I love, and who I do not express my gratitude to near enough…. And for my children, each of them with their little individual personalities, brings something so unique to our family and I love each of them very much. I do have a testimony of this gospel. I love my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for the tremendous sacrifice that He made for us… it is because of Him that we will be together as families forever. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Dillon's Music Program

On Tuesday Dillon had a music program at school. It was really cute. They sang five really fun songs. A couple of them were songs that I learned in elementary school. The music teacher Ms. Jackson, sent home a CD for the kids to practice with. Ashlynn and Samantha pretty much took over the CD and learned all the songs right along with Dillon. My kids love, love, love to sing. Ashlynn's karaoke machine she got for her birthday has been a great thing.


I am trying to remember all of the songs they sang:


*Sing, sing a song...


*YMCA


*50 Nifty United States


*We are family


And oops, can't remember the 5th one.... but anyways, they were all darling. I used my new video camera for the 1st time at the program. I am going to try and figure out how to post a video so you can see how cute they were. But, for now some pics will have to do.





My Mother's Day...

It has never been a secret in our family that Dustin doesn't do anything for Mother's Day. In his own words, "But you're not my mother...". This Mother's Day started out no different from the rest. The kid's decided that it was a good day to be more difficult than usual to get ready for church, Samantha decided to hang on the towel rack in the bathroom and make a huge hole in the wall, then she was running around the kitchen in her church shoes and slipped and fell and almost had a seizure, then Ashlynn splashed the juice from the roast I was putting in the crock pot all over her white dress, then someone from the primary called and said, "Did you remember that Ashlynn has to give a talk in Primary today?".... ummmm, no!!!! I didn't remember! Anyways, eventually we made it to church, in just enough time to be late for Sacrament Meeting. I actually only had to take Samantha out to sit on the stairs one time... that was a good thing. After the kids were in their classes, I actually ended up enjoying the lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society a lot. After church, I decided that I was just going to go home, make dinner, and make all of my Mom phone calls. I went in the house, changed my clothes, and then saw the kids running around laughing, and trying to hide from me..... I asked them what they were doing and that is when they popped out with one of them holding flowers, one of them holding a card, and one of them holding a gift bag. Well, as you can imagine, I was a little bit shocked. I went and sat down on the couch and opened the gift bag....and to my surprise, Dustin had bought me a new video camera! Holy Cow! You say? That's what I said!!! At that point all I could do was cry, and cry some more, especially after I read the cute card that Dustin and the kids wrote in. Until then, I had pretty much accepted the fact that Mother's Day was a day that I celebrated my mother's and grandmother's, but that it wasn't a day for me. Well, Babe... you have now set the bar, I am excited to see how you're going to top this one next year! Just kidding... I am totally just kidding. Thanks Babe, you're the best....I love you.




Here are some of the homemade treasures I got from the kids and the flowers. And here is the video camera I got! It is such a cute little, tiny thing!

The Special Mother's In Our Life

It took me a few days to gather the pictures that I wanted to use for this post. I wanted to pay a little tribute to all of the special mother's and grandmother's in our family's life....


Janalee,Mom,Grandma

I will be forever indebted to Janalee for taking on me and my two brothers at such a young age. Being a mother myself now, I cannot imagine what a hard thing that must have been. I give Janalee credit for making me who I am today. She taught me everything I needed to know about how to be a wife and mother. She taught me how to work, how to cook, she taught me to be responsible. Unfortunately, I also think she taught me to worry a little too much :). I now always have way too much food prepared if we ever have company over- because it's always better to have too much, than to not have enough. I credit her for teaching me to take pride in what I do. Whenever I have to give a lesson or a talk in church now, I can't help but remember Janalee making me memorize every word of every talk I ever had to give growing up. It forced me again to be responsible and to be prepared. I still to this day try my best not to read any talks or lessons I have to give. Janalee is a great Grandma to our kids. Even though we don't get to see her as often as we would like, she always does a wonderful job of remembering all the special days and holidays during the year. The kids so look forward to the fun packages from Grandma and Grandpa Morris.

Janalee, you have always been the glue that has held the family together..... You are beautiful on the inside and out. I will always be grateful to my Heavenly Father for bringing you into my life.


Gloria, Mom, Nana

I have been blessed to have a mother-in-law that I can truly call my friend. Gloria is one of the smartest, most talented women that I have ever known. It seems like there aren't many things that she doesn't atleast know something about. If I ever have questions about anything, I know that I can call her up and get the answers that I need. I'm sure that her "vast knowledge" comes from her many life experiences... the first and most obvious one being her son Trent. For those of you that do not know, Trent was born prematurely. He is multiply disabled because of complications from prematurety. I have never seen such love for a child....Trent is immacuately taken care of. This is a tribute to Gloria... but I cannot leave out Dan, my father-in-law, who also does an amazing job with Trent. Dustin and I have said many times that his parent's must have it made..... that they will go straight to the top, because of the way in which they have cared for Trent.

Nana, as my kids call her is a wonderful Grandmother. She always manages to find those little "teaching moments" with the kids. There is never a time when she doesn't want to just sit and hold them or cuddle them. She has always told me that I need to hold my kids as much as I can, because the time will come when they will not want me to. True advice, I am finding out as my kids get older.

Thanks, Gloria, for all you have done and continue to do for us. You are a great example to us all.




Barbara,Mom, Grandma McCurdy

The older I get, the more I am coming to realize where some of my personality traits come from. I believe I got my independent nature, and socialness from my mom. I have always been a little more on the "I need to find things out for myself" side than my siblings. I have learned through stories that my mom has told me from when she was young, that she was the same way. She also has the ability to talk to people and be a good listener, and enjoys being in social situations. I have been told :) that I am a lot that way too. My mom does not like to hurt peoples feelings, and tries to avoid confrontation if at all possible... also traits that I possess. My mom likes to have fun and be adventurous and spontaneous. I have always been that way also...(Dustin would argue that the "spontaneous" part is not a good thing...hee, hee, just cause he likes everything to be planned out to the minute.)

Grandma McCurdy, as my kids call her, has come to visit us a couple of times since we have lived in Vegas and we always have a great time. She always treats us to lunches, and dinners, and the kids usually always get spoiled with something that she buys them.

Thanks, Mom, for everything you do..... you are great.



A Tribute to the Grandma's in our life...







I have been so extremely fortunate to have had so many Grandma's in my life. So many people that I know have not had that opportunity. I have always counted my Grandparent's as one of my most treasured blessings. Each one of my Grandma's have contributed to my life in different ways, and helped me become who I am today..... and for this I am grateful. I am also thankful for the opportunity that I have had to know Dustin's Grandma's. They are both wonderful women and I know that Dustin loves them so much. Some of his favorite memories are of spending time at your homes. My children have also been blessed with the opportunity to know many grandparent's. I am so thankful for this, because I know first hand how much grandparent's can contribute to your life. My children not only have 3 wonderful grandma's, but have been blessed to have 5 sweet great grandma's as well. They even were able to know their Great, Great Grandma Ellen Genta.... How many kids get that chance? We love all of you and are forever grateful for extraordinary examples.

Grandma Nina Morris, Grandma Ruth Miller, Grandma Carole Mason, Great Grandma Ellen Genta, Grandma Renan Stevens, Grandma Aleen Veenendaal



And last but certainly not least, I want to acknowledge my sister Adrie and my two sister-in-law's Shalise and Melinda, who are wonderful mother's to my neices and nephew's. I waited my whole life to have neices and nephew's. I remember I used to be so jealous of my friends who were already "Aunts" when we were growing up. I am so thankful that these special little kids have such great mom's to raise them. I also want to thank you all for being such great "Aunts" to our kids. They love you and get so excited when they get to see you. You are all great and we miss all of you very much.




I could probably spend all day telling you about all of the wonderful women and mom's that have influenced my life... but since that would take a really long time... I will instead share a poem that I think encompasses the whole concept of being a Mother very well.

A newborn's conversation with God:

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.
The child further inquired, but tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'
Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'
'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'
'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'
'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now , please tell me my angel's name.' God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.




Happy Mother's Day!!!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Moms and Muffins


This morning was Moms and Muffins at Dillon and Ashlynn's school. So, we got up early and headed over there. It was fun and kind of nice not to have to worry about making breakfast.
They also had ballets to vote for the new PTA board. I was laughing because there was only one name and then a blank line under each category. I was just wondering why we were even voting?.... I guess blank lines were there if you wanted to write yourself in and then vote for yourself? Who knows, I just thought it was kind of funny.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Pretty Senorita's


Because today was Cinco De Mayo, we dressed the girls up as pretty senorita's. (Excuse the incorrect Spanish...) Ashlynn had a party at school and was suppose to dress up, so, of course, Samantha had to dress up too. They looked so cute that I decided to take them outside and get a few pics. I think they turned out pretty cute.




Friday, May 2, 2008

Lunch Time!






Yesterday I hosted the weekly ladies potluch lunch. It was a lot of fun and we had a great turnout. Everyone brought their own meat to grill, which ended up being a little challenging because the wind kept blowing out the flame. Eventually though, all of the meat got cooked and it turned out delicious. There was also lots of other yummy food that people brought to share. All of the kids had fun playing out in our back yard. They managed to stay pretty entertained the whole time, giving us adults time to visit. I think these lunches have been such a good idea. It is nice to get out and socialize with people you wouldn't ordinarily see during the week.