President's Day Week

On Monday, President's Day we wanted to do something so we decided to go to "This is the Place" park. The only problem was that although we have had the best weather for the winter this day it was cold and windy so we went into the visitor's center looked around for a while and then decided that we would be miserable if we walked around the park so we left. K and C came up to spend some time with us so it was a win just because we got to see them. 

We ended up just going to Del Taco for lunch, Savers to look for deals, and then to NPS (Nice Place to Shop as my sister calls it). We try to go and get bargains at NPS about once a month and we had already gone for this month but the girls needed some food so we went. So it was a random silly day but we got to spend time together and that's what's important (to me at least).

This year our Relief Society has adopted the theme of "Women Who Know". And this month it was centered around Love. So Tuesday night was our activity and we got to bring our spouse or anyone we wanted so KC and I went and learned a few things. Here's a copy of the poster and the handout for the month:

These are always good reminders!

This is the poster from Relief Society in January. The theme was priorities and they had mini-lessons on health/exercise, family, and the gospel.

Thursday was a day that I have been preparing for, for over a year. Every counseling department has a review conducted by the state to make sure that everything that counselors need to be doing is being done. This is done every six years. There are ten standards that we need to be abiding to that deal with things like: reaching every student, collecting data, teaching about college and careers, suicide prevention, and leadership in the school. I have stressed and prepared for this for a while because I knew it was coming up, I am a new counselor and have pretty much got the counseling department going at the school I work at. Well they came out this week and after much stress and peparation we passed!!! What a relief! We have areas where we need improvement but now we can just work on making our program better and helping our students along the way. Here are a few pictures of our boards that we put together:

On Saturday we went to the Safety Kids Fair. We met up with Zildy and the kids. G had a blast collecting all kinds of things and candy. It was better than Halloween! She even got a trophy for playing plinko. Taye even got to do some rock climbing. 

Valentine's Day

CHEESY POST ALERT!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

So this year for Valentine's Day my most wonderful, amazing, handsome husband did something really cute that made this Valentine's Day one of the best ever! He started by giving me a little card once a day (starting on Feb. 1) with something cute and thoughtful on the inside. This just made each day so special because I didn't know what I would get for the day but I looked forward to my daily note.

Here are just a couple of samples of what was inside the notes:

If you know KC he loves running and is very devoted to it so for him to say that he loves me more than running means a lot!!!

Isn't that so cute??? He's the best!

I also got some beautiful flowers:

For Valentine's Day we went to dinner at Olive Garden and then went to see the musical Fiddler on the Roof. 

My cute homemade card:

And here we are on our 25th year of being Valentines. I love you KC!!!

I had to include this because it has to do with love... Christlike love for all we love!
Music and the Spoken Word:
If you knew that this was your last day on earth—that tomorrow your life would end—what would you do today? Most people would probably not try to squeeze in one more day at the office or one last television program. More than likely, you would spend most of the day trying to reach the people who are dear to you, simply to say, one last time, “I love you.”

Those three words—I love you—are perhaps the most important words in our language. Of course, they mean something only if they are backed up by authenticity and actions. But the words themselves are important too. So many people go through the day or week or even the year and rarely hear those three simple words. We all need to know that we are loved, that we matter to someone, that we have a place in another’s heart. This is what gives us confidence to face the cold world; it is what makes us feel alive.

When the end of our life does come, we may feel some regret about the things we didn’t accomplish or the goals we didn’t achieve, but we will never regret our expressions of genuine love. So why wait for our final day? Tell someone, “I love you” today. 
Feb. 15, 2015, Broadcast Number 4,457

Winter Break

At the school where I work we get a winter break so I have Thursday, Friday and Monday (President's Day) off. G has been off track for four weeks now and at least I got two days with her.

This is our school band playing at the assembly on Wednesday before the break:

Thursday I wanted to do something so that G would have some fun since she has been here and there and everywhere during her break. We went to the Discovery Gateway. It worked out great because Tayevion was able to come with her. I just sat and read and they played until their hearts were content. 

That same night CR and I had a date and we went to see Body Worlds. I have been wanting to go for a while but no one else was every interested in going. So since we were the only two interested we made it a date. It was so interesting to see. Our bodies are truly amazing!!! No one could have created them but God.

We couldn't take pictures inside so this will have to do. I loved spending this little bit of time with my CR. We need to do this more often!

Try Your Best

I could relate to this message because I am a perfectionist when it comes to certain things and this reminded me that as long as I am doing my best I am a success.

No one ever does everything perfectly right all the time. Each of us makes mistakes and falls short of perfection. That’s life, and that’s OK.

Broadway musical star Idina Menzel shared how she came to this realization. Recently, she wrote: “There are about 3 million notes in a two-and-a-half-hour musical; being a perfectionist, it took me a long time to realize that if I’m hitting 75 percent of them, I’m succeeding. . . . I am more than the notes I hit, and that’s how I try to approach my life. You can’t get it all right all the time, but you can try your best. If you’ve done that, all that’s left is to accept your shortcomings and have the courage to try to overcome them.”1

It’s not that lofty goals, big plans, and high expectations are bad. We grow by stretching, by courageously striving to achieve more than we previously thought possible. But growth also requires patience and perspective. Sometimes we give up on ourselves too early, we start to define ourselves by our mistakes, or we expect perfection and are therefore forever disappointed. When this happens, we may need to ease up and simplify our lives. 

For an overwhelmed college student, that meant lightening her schedule and her expectations a bit. For a busy mother, it meant deciding to go a little easier on herself and her children. For all of us, it can mean that we simply do our best—not someone else’s best. 

We are all far more than the notes we hit—or fail to hit. Perhaps we should define ourselves not by what we are today but by what we can be, by what we aspire to be. Wherever those aspirations are leading us, let us accept that success can happen over time, little by little. With this perspective, our mistakes and shortcomings can teach us instead of condemn us. In reality, this is what it means to do our best. 
1. “Business Lesson: Idina Menzel,” Southwest: The Magazine, Nov. 2014, 57, http://www.southwestthemagazine.com/click_this/article/business_lesson_idina_menzel. 
-Lloyd D. Newell
Feb. 8, 2015, Broadcast Number 4,456

A Memorable Day - February 1

One reason I like the new 11:30 church time because it allows for time in the morning to listen to "Music and the Spoken Word". My favorite part is the spoken messages. This morning the message was on rejoicing with those that rejoice. It was so good that I have to post it:

Feeling genuinely happy for another person’s good fortune may be one of the truest marks of authentic goodness and real friendship. Surprisingly, it sometimes seems easier to find someone who will weep with us during our hard times than to find someone who will rejoice with us in our successes. Most people are compassionate and caring toward those who suffer, but a special quality manifests itself in those who are genuinely happy for the good fortune of others.

Some have called this quality an “abundance mentality”—the conviction that life is full of good fortune, that there’s plenty of happiness to go around, and that one person’s joy does not deplete the supply for everyone else. Those with such abundant hearts do not feel threatened or jealous when someone seems to be winning at the race of life, because they know that life is not a race. They measure success in life not by how many people they surpass but by how many people they lift. They feel that every man or woman’s triumph is a victory for us all, and this generosity of spirit gives them peace and contentment. 

Life can be unsettling enough; turning it into a competition only makes us feel less secure. So how can we overcome the human tendency to count wins and losses? How can we enlarge our hearts to make room for joy in the successes of others? 

Perhaps the answer lies in looking beyond life’s mundane, fleeting things and intentionally holding on to a larger perspective—the big picture. This may help us see that we are not victims, that things will eventually work out for us, and that the things that really matter—like peace, love, and real joy—are truly everlasting. We will see that withholding a compliment or congratulations does not make us happier. Simply stated, when we choose to have an abundant heart, when we decide to cheer for others, we just feel better. Our circumstances may not change, but our heart does. We are blessed with more serenity when we rejoice with those who rejoice. Indeed, happiness for others’ successes nurtures happiness within ourselves. Feb. 1, 2015, Broadcast Number 4,455

Sometimes rejoicing with others is hard for some reason but it's something that I want to work on and improve in my life.

Just FYI you may see many more of these posts on here so that I can remember messages that touch me.

Trevar (nephew/cousin) received his mission call and he wanted to come to our house to open it. It really meant so much to me that he wanted to open this at our house. To me it's such a special time that a future missionary will always remember. I haven't experienced this yet as a mom but what joy to know that he will be serving the Lord and the people of Brazil. Trevar will be an awesome missionary. He is so dedicated to doing his best at everything he does and he will be a great blessing to those he comes in contact with.

He was broadcasting it over the internet to his family and anyone that wanted to watch. So it took a little bit of time to get everything ready. We found out later that even Jenner (his brother currenty on a mission in Peru) was able to watch since he is an assistant to the president and they gave him permission. He will be going straight to the MTC in Brazil and will most likely miss Jenner because he is not finishing his mission until July.

We even got a Brazil dessert for him.

January 2015

On January 8 I had the opportunity to go with G on her fieldtrip to the Natural History Museum. We have such high parent involvement at the school that I only had to have G and her friend (Amelia) in my group. We had a lot of fun together! When the other kids went on fieldtrips I usually had to have like 8 kids in my group so this was easy.

On Saturday January 10th we went snow shoeing with G and CR. Sadly I didn't get a picture of CR because he decided to do cross country skiing instead so we went in different directions. This seems to be the extent of our snow fun this winter because we are having warm weather and no snow. 

We are lucky now to have Trevar at BYU so we get to see him often. We even got to celebrate his 19th birthday!  

For a few years now we have been going to BYU for Martin Luther King's Birthday to participate in various service projects.  This year we made heart pillows that will go to heart patients. We were happy that K was able to join us. 

At the end of the month I got a dumb cold. I spent a couple of days pretty much sleeping and just trying to feel better. I HATE BEING SICK! But I decided to take a picture of what happens to our house when I'm sick... 

G Baptism

We are so grateful for our little girl G that was allowed to come to our family 8 years ago. She has blessed our lives as parents but I know she has blessed the lives of her siblings also. Now that she is 8 she is the age of accountability when she can choose to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She has a strong testimony of the gospel of of Jesus Christ and she chose to be baptized on January 3, 2015. I'm so proud of her for making this decision!

Here's a picture of her Baptism announcement:

 Before she got baptized. 

Her baptism buddy Sadie. Their birthdays are only three days apart.

This is the program. We somehow managed to get all of the siblings to have a part in it.

After she got baptized pictures: 

Cousin Tayevion

 With K (who made her beautiful baptism dress)

We almost forgot a group picture! Luckily I rememberd and forced everyone to take one before we ate. 

Our family. My greatest joy is that they have all chosen to be baptized and stay on the gospel path back to Heavenly Father. They all have strong testimonies and I'm grateful to be sealed together in the temple as a family. As long as we all stay righteous through the joys and pains of this world we will be together FOREVER!!! :)

A picture with the grandparents. We are blessed to live close to my parents and that KC's parents live close enough that we see them at various times throughout the year and especially at special occasions. All four of our parents are a great example to us all! Thank you for always being there for us.

A few of the college kids had to hurry and get home to get ready for the new semester. But here's four of them:

We had a chance to drill this awesome just engaged couple about plans for the wedding, etc., etc. I love these moments when we can just all talk. I guess this is where we introduce a new member to the extended family: Courtney!!! We love her already and they are an awesome couple! Congratualions! 

Mom & Dad

Grandma & Grandpa

Rich & Judy

Anyway you say it they are wonderful! 

G with her Mei-Mei shirt with Mei-Mei. 

As G would say it was the "best day ever!"