Last night Dallin told me he learned in church on Sunday that one of Dallin H. Oaks motto's was "work first, play later." He said he was going to try to adopt that same motto and that he had already started. On Mondays Dallin and Cameron take piano lessons from a good friend of mine. They both go together and usually while one is having a lesson the other is playing with her children. So Dallin told me yesterday her son asked if Dallin could help unload the dishwasher. Dallin said he thought of that motto and how he's been unloading the dishwasher for me in the mornings as part of a scout goal and said he would be glad to help. Then he helped her daughter clean up her room. He told me he felt really good helping them get the work done so they could play afterwards. He said he knows adults always work first and then play later but kids usually just want to play all the time and he sees that it's important to learn how to work hard right now.
I know Dallin really looks up to Dallin H. Oaks. When I was pregnant with Dallin, Ryan and I went into a home decor shop and happened to see a Santa Clause doll holding a list of children's names. The name "Dallin" was on that list and Ryan and I both felt like that was a good name for our child. We were looking for a name that would represent the characteristics we hoped our son would have. We wanted him to be responsible, a good example to his younger siblings, considerate, kind, and loving. We thought of Dallin H. Oaks and how he exemplified those attributes and hoped that someday our son would look to him as an example of how a representative of Christ should be.
I know Dallin exemplifies all of those attributes and more but it was also inspiring to see him embrace his namesake and adopt a noble motto from that great man. I am grateful for men like the prophet and apostles who my children can look up to and pattern their lives after.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
I Did It!
My goal in starting a blog last year was to eventually publish it and have it serve as our family album. Today, I got that album in the mail! It's so exciting, and beautiful. I used Blurb.com's program to publish my blog book. It took me a few weeks because I entered most of my photos and texts in by hand creating layouts like you would a scrapbook page. And of course I had to edit it about 10 times but when I finally uploaded it I got the finished product seven days later! I actually ordered two books, one for my kids to look at whenever they want, and one to be wrinkle free (yes, another fetish of mine). I'm already looking forward to putting together 2009's book and I still have almost a whole year to go!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A Little Life Lesson
I was driving in the car with Eden this morning when she suddenly tells me, "Mom, there's a sign on the grass by Grandma's house that says if your dog poops you have to pick it up with your fingers."
I told her that it probably meant that you needed to pick up the dog poop with something like a shovel, but not your fingers.
She said, "Yeah, or you could wear one of those finger things for your things."
I said, "Yeah, you could probably wear a glove for your fingers to clean it up."
She said, "Or if it's dry you could pick it up with your fingers."
I said, "No, Eden, even if it's dry please don't pick it up with your fingers."
She said, "Oh, well one time at Haydn's house I picked it up with my fingers when it was dry."
Austin, who had been quiet up until now says, "Ooooohhhh! That's gross."
When we got home I made the kids lunch and just after she sat down to eat Eden jumped back up again and ran into the bathroom. I walked by and overheard her repeating to herself, "You always wash your hands before lunch." I asked her who taught her that and she said, "Grandma did." I pictured a similar "dog poop" conversation between Eden and Grandma after seeing the sign on the lawn by Grandma's house. I'm very grateful that Grandma took advantage of that opportunity to teach Eden an important lesson, to always wash her hands before lunch. (Because we never know what Eden might have thought was okay to pick up.)
I told her that it probably meant that you needed to pick up the dog poop with something like a shovel, but not your fingers.
She said, "Yeah, or you could wear one of those finger things for your things."
I said, "Yeah, you could probably wear a glove for your fingers to clean it up."
She said, "Or if it's dry you could pick it up with your fingers."
I said, "No, Eden, even if it's dry please don't pick it up with your fingers."
She said, "Oh, well one time at Haydn's house I picked it up with my fingers when it was dry."
Austin, who had been quiet up until now says, "Ooooohhhh! That's gross."
When we got home I made the kids lunch and just after she sat down to eat Eden jumped back up again and ran into the bathroom. I walked by and overheard her repeating to herself, "You always wash your hands before lunch." I asked her who taught her that and she said, "Grandma did." I pictured a similar "dog poop" conversation between Eden and Grandma after seeing the sign on the lawn by Grandma's house. I'm very grateful that Grandma took advantage of that opportunity to teach Eden an important lesson, to always wash her hands before lunch. (Because we never know what Eden might have thought was okay to pick up.)
Friday, March 13, 2009
My "Favorite Things" Party
A few months ago I was telling a friend that I would like to have a party but wasn't really sure how. It seems most parties involve buying or selling something and I didn't want to have that kind of party. I just wanted to have some friends over and do something fun. So my friend mentioned having a "Favorite Things" party. Everyone was supposed to choose one of their favorite things, buy an extra one, wrap it, and bring it to the party. We had a type of white elephant gift exchange to distribute the presents. As each person opened their gift the one who brought it explained why it was their favorite thing. It was such a cute idea and so much fun. Some people had some really good ideas and I think I'll be purchasing a few new "favorite" things.
This was my idea for my favorite thing. They're little containers with magnets on the bottom so you can hang them up on a metal plate that can be installed in your kitchen cupboard or anywhere. I actually use them in my bathroom drawer to hold all the girls different size ponytails. I bought a thin metal plate to go along the side of the drawer to hold the little containers so they don't slide around. It's pretty handy.
I really had a lot of fun. Thank you so much Karla for your great idea and all your hard work.
This was my idea for my favorite thing. They're little containers with magnets on the bottom so you can hang them up on a metal plate that can be installed in your kitchen cupboard or anywhere. I actually use them in my bathroom drawer to hold all the girls different size ponytails. I bought a thin metal plate to go along the side of the drawer to hold the little containers so they don't slide around. It's pretty handy.
I really had a lot of fun. Thank you so much Karla for your great idea and all your hard work. Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Love and Knives
Ryan frequently reminds me of his paranoia with me and knives. It all started a few days after we were married. We were getting ready for bed and he said something smart like, "hope I don't find any knives under my pillow." Well, I don't remember if it was just after we went to bed or the next morning but there was indeed a knife under his pillow! I still remember the look of horror on his face. Now, before you start thinking I had any malicious intentions it was actually a perfectly explainable accident. We had done a lot of remodeling on this little duplex and the night before I was adjusting some blinds on the window above the bed. I couldn't find a screwdriver so I used a steak knife. I honestly don't remember it falling on the bed but I'm pretty sure that's how it ended up under his pillow. I thought it was funny at the time but since he frequently brings it up I don't think it was as funny to him.
We've been married 11 years now and I've never hurt my husband with a knife but he's still paranoid. So, this morning I'm unloading the dishwasher and he's making Eden oatmeal. He brings her bowl over to the sink and is about to pour the extra milk from Cameron's cereal into Eden's bowl. "Stop!" I screamed and waved my hands about. "Don't do that," I yelled again thinking he wasn't hearing me. He had this incredulous look on his face and was just staring at me. "It's gross," I felt the need to explain, still waving my hands about. Then I noticed what was in my hands - a butcher knife and a carving knife. Whoops. Sorry about that honey. I was really just about to put them away.
We've been married 11 years now and I've never hurt my husband with a knife but he's still paranoid. So, this morning I'm unloading the dishwasher and he's making Eden oatmeal. He brings her bowl over to the sink and is about to pour the extra milk from Cameron's cereal into Eden's bowl. "Stop!" I screamed and waved my hands about. "Don't do that," I yelled again thinking he wasn't hearing me. He had this incredulous look on his face and was just staring at me. "It's gross," I felt the need to explain, still waving my hands about. Then I noticed what was in my hands - a butcher knife and a carving knife. Whoops. Sorry about that honey. I was really just about to put them away.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Freedom of Choice
(Disclaimer, I generally try to keep my opinions to myself, but this is my blog. So, I wrote this over the weekend but didn't publish it because I thought I'd keep my opinion to myself. So, if you don't want my opinion - don't read it. I won't be offended.)
Ryan and I got to spend some time together last night. It seems like its been so long since we've had a chance to just sit down and talk to each other. But he always has such powerful insights on all manners of subjects that I really enjoy talking with him. So last night we were talking about choices people make based on opinions they've formed. Thanks to a loving God we've all been given the freedom to have our own opinions and having formed those opinions we choose the way we want to live our lives. The world wasn't intented for everyone to live the same way. Ryan even said it's more important to God that we have the freedom to choose than it is for Him to force us to follow Him. Remember it was the Devil's plan that we all return back to Heavenly Father but without the freedom to choose for ourselves. Ryan also pointed out that although we have been given this incredible freedom to choose, God also says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." I just sat there for a minute thinking, hmmm. There's the catch isn't it. We can live our lives however we want. We can do whatever we want. But if we love God and want to live with him again, then we need to follow his plan; his commandments, which aren't so easy. So I said to Ryan, "basically we can choose ourselves, or we can choose God." He said, "Yep".
Of course I've always known this but I don't think it ever came so clearly to me before. So here I've been thinking of some of my favorite prophets and how strongly they've felt about our agency. I've always loved the book of Joshua in the OT. Joshua had some pretty big shoes to fill having been called as a prophet after Moses. Some of my favorite scriptures involve his sincere expressions of fear and hesitation before the Lord and the Lord comforts him and says, "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9) Well, Joshua does go forward, in faith, and with great courage. So then, a few years later when his people get all wishy washy and think they need to start worshipping false Gods Joshua reminds them of all the things God has provided for them; delivering them from their enemies, giving them a land with vineyards and oliveyards (that they wouldn't eat), providing them with the opportunites to be industrious and build great cities (which they didn't do), and finally he says (somewhat sarcastically it seems to me), "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
I love that. What a proclamation of devotion. Why is it that we feel it is so hard to follow the Lord? Why do we tend to think that something else can provide us with greater happiness or deeper peace? I don't know. But we are free to choose. Like Lehi said to his sons before he passed away, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Nephi 2:27). Ain't that the truth?
So Ryan sent me this quote by Neil A. Maxwell, "My brothers and sisters, the longer I examine the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more I understand that the Lord’s commitment to free agency is very deep—indeed, much deeper than is our own. The more I live, the more I also sense how exquisite is His perfect love of us. It is, in fact, the very interplay of God’s everlasting commitment to free agency and His everlasting and perfect love for us which inevitably places a high premium upon the virtue of patience. There is simply no other way for true growth to occur." I think that's cool. God is willing to sit back and watch us make stupid choices and try to figure things out for ourselves rather than step in with His infinite knowledge and tell us the best way to live our lives.
Our whole country has been based on this principle as Hugh Nibley so eloquently explains, "The Founding Fathers did trust God. They trusted him enough to give back to him and him alone the right to judge the hearts and minds of men. In the eyes of absolutism, our Constitution is hopelessly soft on sinners. Here, heresy, held for centuries to be the quintessence of subversion and the worst of all crimes, does not fall under human jurisdiction at all; people with wrong ideas are expressly allowed to talk about them and even hold meetings; Congress may never declare one religion more desirable than another (Article VI and Amendment I), or one person more noble than another (Article I, Section 10). God alone knows who is really virtuous and who is not. The king may be right some of the time or even all the time, but that, as Macaulay observes in his “Essay on Civil Disabilities,” is beside the point, which, according to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, is that men must be free individually and collectively to make their own choices, no matter how bad. That, as we have seen, is the ancient law of liberty.”
So, I think my point has been made. A little long-winded I guess but that's because I find it fascinating. And even more than that I find myself fascinated by others' paths of discovery. There are so many varying opinions out there. People are thinkin'. Which is good. But how can you ever make sense of it all? Well, one more scripture that has a special place in my heart, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5) That's the key for me. I'm free to choose and make my own decisions in life but frankly sometimes it's confusing. I choose then to ask God, to guide me, to help me, to comfort me, to teach me, because I believe He really does love me and will help me get home to Him, with happiness and in peace with my family, for eternity.
Ryan and I got to spend some time together last night. It seems like its been so long since we've had a chance to just sit down and talk to each other. But he always has such powerful insights on all manners of subjects that I really enjoy talking with him. So last night we were talking about choices people make based on opinions they've formed. Thanks to a loving God we've all been given the freedom to have our own opinions and having formed those opinions we choose the way we want to live our lives. The world wasn't intented for everyone to live the same way. Ryan even said it's more important to God that we have the freedom to choose than it is for Him to force us to follow Him. Remember it was the Devil's plan that we all return back to Heavenly Father but without the freedom to choose for ourselves. Ryan also pointed out that although we have been given this incredible freedom to choose, God also says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." I just sat there for a minute thinking, hmmm. There's the catch isn't it. We can live our lives however we want. We can do whatever we want. But if we love God and want to live with him again, then we need to follow his plan; his commandments, which aren't so easy. So I said to Ryan, "basically we can choose ourselves, or we can choose God." He said, "Yep".
Of course I've always known this but I don't think it ever came so clearly to me before. So here I've been thinking of some of my favorite prophets and how strongly they've felt about our agency. I've always loved the book of Joshua in the OT. Joshua had some pretty big shoes to fill having been called as a prophet after Moses. Some of my favorite scriptures involve his sincere expressions of fear and hesitation before the Lord and the Lord comforts him and says, "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9) Well, Joshua does go forward, in faith, and with great courage. So then, a few years later when his people get all wishy washy and think they need to start worshipping false Gods Joshua reminds them of all the things God has provided for them; delivering them from their enemies, giving them a land with vineyards and oliveyards (that they wouldn't eat), providing them with the opportunites to be industrious and build great cities (which they didn't do), and finally he says (somewhat sarcastically it seems to me), "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
I love that. What a proclamation of devotion. Why is it that we feel it is so hard to follow the Lord? Why do we tend to think that something else can provide us with greater happiness or deeper peace? I don't know. But we are free to choose. Like Lehi said to his sons before he passed away, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Nephi 2:27). Ain't that the truth?
So Ryan sent me this quote by Neil A. Maxwell, "My brothers and sisters, the longer I examine the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more I understand that the Lord’s commitment to free agency is very deep—indeed, much deeper than is our own. The more I live, the more I also sense how exquisite is His perfect love of us. It is, in fact, the very interplay of God’s everlasting commitment to free agency and His everlasting and perfect love for us which inevitably places a high premium upon the virtue of patience. There is simply no other way for true growth to occur." I think that's cool. God is willing to sit back and watch us make stupid choices and try to figure things out for ourselves rather than step in with His infinite knowledge and tell us the best way to live our lives.
Our whole country has been based on this principle as Hugh Nibley so eloquently explains, "The Founding Fathers did trust God. They trusted him enough to give back to him and him alone the right to judge the hearts and minds of men. In the eyes of absolutism, our Constitution is hopelessly soft on sinners. Here, heresy, held for centuries to be the quintessence of subversion and the worst of all crimes, does not fall under human jurisdiction at all; people with wrong ideas are expressly allowed to talk about them and even hold meetings; Congress may never declare one religion more desirable than another (Article VI and Amendment I), or one person more noble than another (Article I, Section 10). God alone knows who is really virtuous and who is not. The king may be right some of the time or even all the time, but that, as Macaulay observes in his “Essay on Civil Disabilities,” is beside the point, which, according to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, is that men must be free individually and collectively to make their own choices, no matter how bad. That, as we have seen, is the ancient law of liberty.”
So, I think my point has been made. A little long-winded I guess but that's because I find it fascinating. And even more than that I find myself fascinated by others' paths of discovery. There are so many varying opinions out there. People are thinkin'. Which is good. But how can you ever make sense of it all? Well, one more scripture that has a special place in my heart, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5) That's the key for me. I'm free to choose and make my own decisions in life but frankly sometimes it's confusing. I choose then to ask God, to guide me, to help me, to comfort me, to teach me, because I believe He really does love me and will help me get home to Him, with happiness and in peace with my family, for eternity.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Dr. J
So Ryan's cousin is a pediatrician and just started a blog where he's offering free medical, uh, wisdom. Actually, it's probably not what you want to hear but I think what all doctors wish to tell you, which I find hilarious. So, be daring and take a peek. You'll find him here. I must warn you, he is a little long winded but like I said, he's a doctor.
The Cyclones
Dallin just finished his Basketball season for the year. His team was the Cyclones. Evan and Ryan were coaches so most of the boys on his team were good friends of his. He had a great time but his favorite part was having his dad be one of the coaches. I know Ryan really enjoyed coaching and spending time with Dallin too.
I think one of the best parts for me was watching the boys improve so much. They really developed their skills and learned to work well together. It was fun to go as a family and watch the games too. I think the best part of Austin's week was going to Dallin's games. He can't wait for his older brother to teach him how to play basketball (and I think that's why he chose his reward for potty-training to be a green basketball; green's his favorite color).
I think one of the best parts for me was watching the boys improve so much. They really developed their skills and learned to work well together. It was fun to go as a family and watch the games too. I think the best part of Austin's week was going to Dallin's games. He can't wait for his older brother to teach him how to play basketball (and I think that's why he chose his reward for potty-training to be a green basketball; green's his favorite color).
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