Grateful....

What does gratitude mean to you?

I feel blessed, I feel happiness, I feel peace....... I've read a lot of social media posts this month in regards to gratitude. Most of them are in regards to feeling grateful for their families. Not all families are perfect, yet it seems that we can have perfect gratitude for them. I love my family, I love my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my kids, my grandkids, my in-laws and my out-laws. We're not perfect, I'm not perfect- but I love them.
Speaking of particulars.....

I'm going to just put it out there......my grandkids are cuter than yours.......

Lucas Robert

Zoey Jane

Timothy Edward

Hayden Michael

Dre Walter

Fall Fun

 There was a spiderman in my leaves this week.....

It was Hayden!

My little helper at all times!!

Getting ready for winter riding!

Chet commutes to work via bicycle.  Our cold weather arrived this week. I had to take a picture of him getting ready to ride. Be on the lookout for this guy; he can be a little crazy on the road. Don't hit him.....

Random Thoughts:

Last week I talked about Peter walking across the water with the Savior... I found this great little bible video on lds.org

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/wherefore-didst-thou-doubt?cid=HPTH111314477&lang=eng 

We had this awesome sacrament meeting yesterday. We talked about what a testimony means and how we get it.  In the church, we have this sense that if we don't have a "testimony" about this principle or that person that somehow we're too questioning or that it's contrary to gospel teachings to have such thoughts. Yesterday I realized that maybe I didn't understand Alma 32 very well. Alma is addressing our doubts that we have. Do we have the desire it takes to believe? Will we choose to believe or choose to do nothing? Just some thoughts.  In the meantime, here's a link to Elder Bednar's April 2012 conference address "Converted unto the Lord" https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng

Tell me what you think??/

Thanksgiving Comes Early..

Happy Thanksgiving! We got to have our Thanksgiving Feast a couple of weeks early this year. Our family will be out of town watching the Cougs play Cal State the day after Thanksgiving. We got together with our family that could be with us (everyone minus Jessica, Weston and McKenzie). It's been a reflective time, thinking about not being with your whole family. It's one of those stages that I've found myself in-I knew it would come at some point.

Chase brought home a friend, Cassidy. We really liked her:)

Sierra and Logan at their best

Poor Zoey was so sick:(

Chet & Sierra

 

 

Joe, Allie & Lucas

Veteran's Day...

I didn't grow up hearing these awesome "war stories." My dad NEVER talked about the war. As I got older and slowly some of his experiences came out, I realized how painful it was for him to talk about it. It was an experience that truly affected his life. Somehow, he managed and made it through it, although it has been extremely difficult. I'm grateful for my dad, who was able to raise us(my brother and sisters) to be the strong people that we are today. I'm very grateful for a mother who has endured the hardships as well and has become one of the strongest women I have known. I'm grateful to have a day set aside so we may think of our veterans and what sacrifice really means in their lives. They haven't just given lives for our country and at times for other countries, but they have sacrificed their souls and spirits. I've come to know and believe that war is hell and the remaining days that the men and women of our military have is hell as well. Love you Dad!

 

Random Thoughts.......
As always, life is like a school. There seems to be a "learning" experience for me at every corner. Especially when I'm thinking about something in particular. I've spent a lot of time lately with my thoughts focused on family, individual personalities, forgiveness and faith versus fear. I've been a stay at home mom for all of my married life- minus some random times where I've worked part time helping out when we were in school or trying to establish myself as a person who can work in the world if I needed to. I have loved staying at home raising my kids. It's hard work as any SAHM will tell you. But I tell you, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has been very rewarding. I'm so proud of my kids, I love their individual personalities. I'm also grateful that they are so good to me.  Chet and I are truly blessed! 
I had the opportunity of attending another ward's sacrament meeting this week. I watched Zoey so her Mom and Dad could go to church, so I went to the 4th ward. I really like Bishop Waterbury! I got to see their Primary Program which was fantastic.  The theme this year in primary has been Families.  Bishop Waterbury's closing remarks hit the nail on the head for me: 1. Put Heavenly Father first 2. Don't control one another 3. Don't try to solve all of your problems at once 4. Don't judge one another.  What great advice for our families. 
We also took some personality tests over the last couple of weeks with members of our family. If you have a chance and want to do a fun activity with your family, take this personality test: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp  and then after you finish the test go to this website and it will tell you all about your personality type: http://www.16personalities.com/  You can also Google your four letter personality type and it will go to the 16 personalities website. Fun times! I'm an ISFJ. Read about it and all of sudden I might make some sense to you. So if you know anything about the 'J' personalities, you know that we think in a box.  We find safety there. But I had an epiphany this morning as I thought about it. We all have different sized boxes! My box is probably a little bigger than most, but I still operate within a box.It was also fun to see what my kids' personalities were.  Take the test! It's a lot of fun:)
I had a great experience in my Tuesday CES class. We've been studying the Four Gospels. We talked about some of the parable of Jesus and why they were included in the New Testament and what they were teaching us about Christ. Christ walking across the water was especially meaningful to me today. Peter seeing Christ walking across that water gave him for a time the faith he needed to be able to join Christ and walk across that water with him. Noticing the storm, Peter feared and started to fall. Asking Christ for help, he was able to focus back on Him and get back to the boat. Lessons learned: 1. Keep you faith, trust and focus in Christ 2. Keeping that focus on Him doesn't make the storm go away, but helps you manage your way through it 3. We MUST get rid of fear. Faith and Fear do not coexist together. I needed to read and discuss this today. I fear: fear for myself, fear for my family and fear for others. I must have faith in myself, faith in my family and faith in others.  Like I said: Lesson Learned! 
Hope you have a wonderful week and keep on keeping on!!

AAAHHHH......November!

It has started! The beginning of the holiday season!!! I love the holidays- get togethers, family time, family time, family time.  It IS what it's all about.

We've had some sickness and that sorts at our house, so I've been a little slow getting things posted. We've had football games, Sadies, Halloween, and just some goofing off. It is time to get rolling on the winterizing... I've taken this week off to clean windows, blinds, rake leaves (a month long process at my house because we have so many beautiful trees in our yard), and to prepare our family Thanksgiving Dinner because this Sunday will be the only time in the next few weeks that those who can be with us will be here.  I love this time of year! No joke folks:)

SADIES

Logan went to her first school dance! She was in a group with SiSi. She had a great time

Super hero theme

SiSi and her Captain America date

Chet being a goof ball

Awkward family photo

SiSi, Sarah & Logan

SiSi and Sarah

Allie, Logan & Jesus

Pumpkin carving "day" activity

We had a busy day with the day activity at our house and dinner:) I was ready to hibernate

CHOIR & BAND CONCERT

This week was also full of concerts. SiSi had her choir concert on Monday  and then Sierra and Logan had their band concert! I love their concerts:)

HALLOWEEN

POPE FAMILY

BABBITT FAMILY

SCOTT FAMILY

This picture kills me, he must have been waving his hands around. He looks like an amputee:)

Barbie & Ken and their dinosaur child ;)

What a fun time it is to have your grandkids around!!

It's election time! Did you vote? Kermit the Frog is my guy:) This is how I feel about politics......and yes-I'm going to say it through memes, so get over it!

I know- I'm jaded

Random Thoughts.......

I've spent the last month thinking about General Conference. There were more than a few that were especially meaningful to me. I'm not sure why, maybe there are some circumstances in my life over the last few months that have made me pretty reflective. I especially enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk on Gaining a Testimony of Light and Truth https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/receiving-a-testimony-of-light-and-truth?lang=eng

This talk also reminded me about one given a while back by Elder Holland: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng

Why are these talks near and dear to me? Many of you know that I'm a convert to the LDS church. It was a two year road for me. I didn't join because thats what I was told to do, I didn't join because it was the popular thing to do. I joined after asking a lot of questions and searching for a lot of answers. I don't have all of the answers to my questions. But I do believe. Most acquaintances that I run into that have left the LDS church are over grievances that they have with another person. I rarely meet someone who has legitimate doctrinal questions, but I know a small handful of them. Some very close to me. Talking to someone with doctrinal questions can be very difficult because we all have our own views and takes on things. We also have our own ways of processing information.  I am more of an instinctive person.  I go on my feelings. But if you are a person who needs absolute truth  or knowledge before you can accept an idea as truth, religion is a tough area for you. If you are one of those who have doctrinal questions, read these talks. They aren't talks to convince you of truth but to show you the road to believe (which is different than knowledge). Don't give up my friends and loved ones, it may be easier to sweep it under the carpet, but try to stay on the road with us.  

Another great talk....Elder Oaks' Loving Others and Living with Differences: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/loving-others-and-living-with-differences?lang=eng

Elder Oaks (not usually one of my favorites) hit it out of the ballpark guys!! Keep in mind this talk was delivered the day before the supreme court released their ruling to not appeal the same sex marriage ruling in a lot of states including Utah. We may or may not agree on this issue, but come on folks let us be nice to one another about it.  Can we agree to disagree?

I also went to a memorial service for a woman in our neighborhood that passed away last week. I always say the same thing after a memorial/funeral service and it wasn't any different this time. I wish I knew this lady like the others did. She struggled. Struggled with life, kids, finances, health, you name it! She used to run a day care and I was so impressed with how she took people in to help them out and make them feel welcomed in the world.  It was sweet to see a young man who may looked a little rough around the edges express his love and devotion to a woman who cared for him when he was a little kid. I was really touched.  It was also solidified in my soul that God truly does love all of his children.  He loved her even when she didn't want anything to do with Him. I was also grateful to see her boys working together and making their mom proud.