A good Reminder

This week our FHE focused on Prayer:what we say when we pray, how we pray, all the things we can pray for. We read a story about a little girl in the friend who was frightened and decided to pray. We talked about how we can pray if we are sad or happy. Later in the week, Madison was sad and I was trying to console her. Katie walked right up to her and said, "It's ok Madi, Jesus will help you." I'm so glad that I have the gospel to teach my children.
In preparation for a talk I have to give tomorrow I was reading through some of the talks from April's conference. Elder L. Tom Perry said, "I believe that if we could create in our minds a clear and true picture of eternal life, we would start behaving differently. We would not need to be prodded to do the many things involved with enduring to the end, like doing our home teaching or visiting teaching, attending our meetings, going to the temple, living moral lives, saying our prayers, or reading the scriptures. We would want to do all these things and more because we realize they will prepare us to go somewhere we yearn to go." Sometimes I have to be prodded. I think if my scriptures looked to me like my messy house did, maybe I would read them more often!

I want to be a vampire

So I've been reading the latest book in the Twilight series: Breaking Dawn and I've decided that I want to be a vampire. According to Stephenie Meyer's account of vampires, they don't need to sleep and my list just doesn't end of things that I could be doing instead of sleeping. Today I was able to attend a Super Saturday for our ward. It was a lot of fun to get to know a few people a little better. While I was gone Peter headed to his parents with the girls so that they could have fun with their cousins and so he could work on a project he is designing to get his office more organized. I'll try to include pictures of it later. They ended up staying at grandma's longer than planned and I had 3 hours of time at home to get what I wished was tons of stuff done. While I did do all of the laundry (at least the washing and drying part), I mopped the bathrooms, organized FHE for the week, and updated our budget, there are still a million more things I need to get done. I'm trying to Treasure the doing a little bit more and the getting done a little less.

Seeing Friends

While we were in Utah, we were able to see some old friends. It was great to see Garrett, Leah and Dani Gross; the Maner family, the Pyne family, Whitney Heap and her boys and Kristy Heaton and her kids. I wasn't great about getting pictures, but I managed to get 2. Thanks to everyone for making some time for us to see you!
Top: Brynn Bottom: Shayla, Cole, Katie, Hannah, Madison, Cooper
Heatons, We wish you the best of luck in Texas! Come visit us in Colorado.

Whitney and boys, Kim and girls-Although my girls had never met Whitney's boys, they had a great time playing while we got to visit.

Road Trip

In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed not just endured.-Gordon B. Hinckley

The girls and I set out on a trip to Utah this morning. I was prepared to endure about a 10 hour trip alone with the girls. I wasn't even sure how I was going to use the restroom without another adult with me (I should have thought to bring a stroller for Madison, but it was just another thing to pack.) We started out early and left Grandma Lovejoy's in Denver at about 6:30. Sadly, I was the first to have to use the restroom, so after winding down the mountain about an hour we stopped at a gas station where I hoped they had a clean restroom. As I opened the van door, Hannah threw up the bag of cheesy sunchips she had chosen for her breakfast. I was almost ready to turn around and go back home. It would only be about an hour and a half back to Peter's parents and then I could make the 1 hour trip home whenever I wanted. After watching Hannah, Katie threw up the same breakfast. I wasn't sure I could make it all the way to Utah with that smell in the car. I decided to push on since it seemed like the windy roads, the quick change in altitude and the fact that the girls were watching a movie was the culprit of the first less than pleasant event of the trip. Hannah's excitement for the trip quickly faded and every 15 minutes she asked if we were almost there. She started to cry and say she wanted her dad. My prayer out loud while I was driving seemd to help a little and a few funny songs on a cd changed her gloomy spirits for a while. We stopped at a McDonalds playland for about an hour and then all the girls fell asleep for the following hour. Then we stopped at a park in Price, UT and made it to my Aunt Sherries around 5. It wasn't a bad trip since I was going it alone and we really wanted to support Grandma while she graduates this week! The girls had a great time playing with our cousin's dogs and swimming in the pool this evening. They really were angels once their feet hit the ground. The saddest part is that I don't think they will ever remember the trip, at least I don't have any memories at their age and I'll have noone to reminisce about the drive with.

Our Yard is Finished!

We ar emissing the street tree, but other than that, the yard is done. A week after it was completed, it started to rain a lot, so we are having some issues that need to be fixed in the back-so envision it without the tarp. My attempt at a very late garden. The lettuce seems to be doing the best, we'll see if anything else grows. Next year will be better.