RS Broadcast Thoughts...

So last Saturday was the RS Broadcast. This was only my second one I've been to and it was great. Last year Julie was 5 months old, still nursing so she came with me and SCREAMED the ENTIRE time. I was stuck in the mothers’ room trying to listen on the overhead but didn't get anything out of it but hey, I was there right? Anyway, back to this meeting...Julie Beck, RS President, was the first speaker and she's been talking a lot about prioritizing our lives. I really need to listen to this advice. I find myself not wanting to do what I need to do and then stressing over things I didn't do because I was having too much fun elsewhere. I'm happy that my kids are growing up in the LDS church and are praying with us and all of that but I know I can do better. This (along with a video my VT sent to me) was a great talk to help me find where I need to focus on. I'm hoping by this time next year that I have made some improvements and bettered my life as well as my kids.

The next speaker was Silvia Allred, 1st counselor of RS. She discussed how no other work was more important that building families. I know when I watch conference that they always speak on how we, as mothers, are the primary teachers for our kids. This has always stressed me out. I feel like I don't know much and I don't want to teach my kids false doctrine but this hit me tonight that I can't use this excuse not to at lease read the scriptures to my kids, try to have a simple understanding, a child-like understanding of the church. I want my kids to be strong and faithful but the only way to start them on that path is to help them, guide them as much as I can and show them how strong I am. I need to pray each night before bed with them, thanking God for the day we have had and for a restful sleep. I need to pray each morning thanking God for the rest and to help us throughout the day. Andrew has been having a lot of upset emotions lately with not getting his way. Instead of trying to argue with him, I need to pray for his understanding and for my patience to help him through this time of his life.

The third speaker was Barbara Thompson, 2nd counselor of the RS. She spoke mostly of Visiting Teaching, that we need to love, know, understand and teach each other. We need to be there for one another, be someone they can talk to, just listen to them, hear the needs of the sisters. I need to work on my own VTing. I feel like some of the sisters I visit might not enjoy it as much as I hope but I need to go with a smile and a positive attitude. I do enjoy going each month and I love the sisters I see, I just don't want it to be a burden for them to make time to see me. I love it when my own VTers come over. I enjoy the adult time as well as being able to ask the questions that I have and have the support from them that I need, I just hope they know that they are welcome anytime and I do enjoy each visit. I just need to keep my house cleaner so I don't have to schedule around when I have it clean.

Last to speak was President Monson. Who doesn't love to hear this man talk? He had a GREAT story about laundry. For those that missed it, I'll tell you briefly what it was about. There is a husband and wife, I forget the names but let’s say John and Jane. One day Jane noticed that her neighbor was hanging her laundry out to dry in her front yard. This laundry was dirty. Jane was talking to her husband about why this woman didn't know how to clean her own clothes. Over the next few months or so, every time the neighbor would hang out her laundry Jane would get upset and go on to tell her husband that her neighbor didn't know how to do laundry. One morning, as the neighbor was hanging her sheets Jane was surprised at what she saw, clean laundry. This shocked her and asked her husband what had happened, did she finally learn how to clean? John had replied that he, in fact did know what happened. He told her that he had woken early that morning and cleaned the windows. I know I'm not as good of a story teller as Pres Monson but you get the gist of what he had said. We shouldn't make snap judgments without knowing all of the facts. Do we have dirty laundry or are our windows just dirty? I loved this story! Appearances can be so misleading. We all need to be proud to be daughters of God, no matter what we look like and need to love each other and be proud for one another. I struggle with my own appearance and thought of this as not only should we not judge others but it needs to start by not judging ourselves. We need to love ourselves just like we love one other. Pres Monson had also stated, "If you judge others, you have no time to love them". What a great man! No one's life is perfect; we all struggle in one way or another.

I really hope you were able to attend; it was so nice to be there with all those sisters. Sorry this was such a long post, I just wanted to get some thoughts out on this meeting and for those who were unable to attend, find out a little about what you missed. I wish you all the best!

FRoM OnE pUmPKiN To AnOThEr...

Being a good person is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all of the yucky stuff -- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a bright new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see. This was passed on to me from another pumpkin. Now, it is your turn, if you like, to pass it on to a pumpkin of your choice.

School Pictures

This year I decided that I didn't want to spend money on the school pictures but instead pay the same price and get some great kid pictures done by my friend in our ward. She did a great job! There were SO many pictures so I tried to include them all in clumps. Enjoy!Andrew's been into Star Wars a lot lately. His shoes have storm troopers and his back pack is of the Clone Wars. Did you notice the Millennium Falcon shirt?

This is my all time FAV! She looks like a super model posing. So GOOD!

School for Everyone!

Lately Julie has been helping Andrew get ready for school. She'll bring him his socks, she'll try on his underwear (over her clothes), and today she got a backpack for him. It wasn't his backpack so he had to get his school backpack but Julie was insistant. I decided to let her carry the old backpack of Andrews out today and she made it all the way to the car, left it in the car when we took Andrew into the school, then took it out of the car and walked all the way inside with it. It was so CUTE!!! She's getting so big, 17 months now, slow down girl...you WILL have time to go to school yourself one day but NOT TODAY! Anyway, here's a picture walking back home to the door.

Sacrament Talk

So Mark and I were asked to speak in sacrament a few months ago but I was going to be out of town. We thought we were off the hook for a little while but we were asked again to speak on September 12th. I was nervous since I don't remember ever speaking in church before. I'm sure I had when I was a youth but I don't remember for sure that I have actually spoken in Sacrament meeting. We had the subject of "Preparing for General Conference" which was pretty broad and generic. I was a little nervous about it since we didn't really prepare, we just made sure to watch it every time, maybe that's why we had to speak on that subject since we didn't currently prepare. I think it went pretty well. We shared our time with a youth speaker so that was nice. I felt like I only spent about 5 min talking but afterwards someone said that I gave a long talk and they were really impressed so I guess I did okay. Mark got emotional, which was so sweet! He hasn't spoken since his mission so he was nervous as well. Overall it was a great experience and gave us some ideas on how we should prepare for the next conference in October as well as some traditions we might want to start in our own family to get the kids excited for it each year (twice a year). Anyway, I just wanted to post something quick about it. Thanks for the experience and I hope those that were there enjoyed it.

Husband Intuition?

So today started off pretty good. I woke up early so I could get some work done before taking Andrew to school. I had some friends over to make hair bows while Andrew was at school, all the while trying to keep Julie out of the scissors and pins and fabric. Went to pick up Andrew, came home to put Julie down for a nap since she missed her morning nap and had lunch. Normal day so far. After I was done working I had to go to the store. While working Andrew was asking me question after question, not giving me any quite time to think or do anything I needed to do. Even when he played outside he would call me out to talk to him. I was starting to get a headache but still had to make it to the store. After Julie woke up we headed out. I usually don't mind taking the kids but today, Andrew wanted to buy everything in the store. By the time we were done, I was done. I knew Mark was getting off late and I had a meeting at 7 so I didn't want to bother him with my frustration. It wasn't really anything specific, just one of those days. I couldn't wait for Mark to get home! I got a text that he was going to get his hair cut but that he was off. Then Julie found the sugar container, and figured out how to open the sugar. Then found the raisins and threw those at the dogs, and anything else she could reach at the pantry. I was counting the minutes for Mark to get home. I then got a nock at my door, who could that be? I fought off the dogs on the way to the door, didn't have time to peak through the peep hole and just opened the door. Who was it you might be asking yourself? My amazing husband holding flowers, a card and CHOCOLATE! Oh, he know how to make my day better without knowing I was having one of those days! It was so sweet and so unexpected. He hasn't bought me flowers in a long time, it was just what I needed. I know this is a long post and I'm sorry, but I was just so happy and had to share it with you all. It might not have seemed like a bad day but I was feeling it. Here is what I got: Thank you Mark! I love you and think you are such a great dad and husband. You made my day!

KiNdErGaRtEn

So like a lot of other kids, Andrew started Kindergarten on Monday. I'm a little late posting but here is his picture after his first day at school. Yay!