Find JOY in all things now!

I always enjoy this time of year when we get to listen to General Conference. This session was wonderful. There were many great talks given, one of my favorites was Robert D. Hales talk on "Christian Courage". He talked about how Abinadi stood up for what he believed in even though it cost him his life, and then how through his example Alma was converted to the Gospel and then also showed Christian Courage. Another talk I enjoyed was Elaine Dalton who talked about Temple Ordinances and "Returning to Virtue". Then I loved our Prophet's talk on CHANGE. Here are some of the quote that he stated that I wrote down.

• Nothing is as constant as change
• Find joy in the journey NOW!
• There are no tomorrows to remember if we don't do anything today.
• The circus will come back again, childhood doesn't
• Be greatful for the abundance that is present.

How grateful I am for the Gospel in my life DAILY, and that we have a living Prophet on the earth today to lead and guide us.

Thanks to Tyler, we were able to watch Conference in our living room as a family instead of in our bedroom on the bed and floor.Since Tyler is the smallest and the bravest, he got to go up into our attic and help feed the wires through holes in the living room ceiling. He came down covered in the insulation up there.

Happy Halloween 2003

Getting in the spirit for Halloween? Here are a few pictures from 2003. I love the looks on Tyler's face during Pumpkin Carving. We also had the tradition while we lived up North to go to "The Halloween House" every year at least once. Thanks to Aunt June and Uncle Den who introduced us to this fun experience.

Kaitlin, how old are you?

When Kaitlin was going to turn one, we taught her to hold one finger up. So whenever we would ask her how old she was she would do this...
We use to roll her hair in curlers, she always looked so cute with them in. Such fun memories!

Kirk HATES his picture taken!!!!!

Kirk hates to have his picture taken. About the only pictures you can get of him is with something held in front of his face. A good trick I've come up with is to make him think he's not getting his picture taken, but I am taking a picture of the cute kids he's holding. Or else like in the other picture, which really isn't Kirk, it's a picture of a redneck with a shirt on that belongs to some other guy named Kirk. SHH he's incognito.

Mrs. Payne likes Monday's

Tyler comes home from school on Friday, this is our conversation.

Tyler: "Mom, can I have a shower every night"

Mom: "Yes, you can have a shower every night" Mom is wondering how she got so lucky

Tyler: "Mrs. Payne says that she likes Mondays because when she bends over to help us she can smell our clean hair. She says that by the end of the week we start to smell."

Tyler who likes to impress his teacher will do anything, even take a shower/bath every day!!!

Tyler: "Mom, do we have any coconut shampoo?"

Child of Royal Birth

I am trying to catch up on my old photos that I haven't finished. I thought that it would be fun to put some of them on my blog to remember fun times. This is one of Tyler, when he came home from primary he had this HUGE crown, not just a simple basic one. I thought that it was great, He is really making the statement "I am of Royal Birth!!!!!". How appropriate.

Family Night with the Elison's

17 years and wiser

Kirk and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner and to the movie. We took Kirk's truck and I decided that I would make it like our firsts dates when I would slide over into the middle and sit by Kirk. So I slide over, get a wedgie with the seatbelt thingie, and my knees are in my chest because I have the hump and no space for my legs.

What did I learn from this?

1. You are silly when you are young and in LOVE
   
2. Comfort is too important to my old bones.
3. My hips can't fit between the seatbelts anymore.
   

So I said "Forget this" and slid back over to the passenger side and enjoyed the rest of the evening in comfort.

What a rollercoaster these past 17 years have been. We just put our hands up in the air, scream, hold on for dear life, and then have a blast enjoying the ride. I am so greatful to be married to my best friend for Time & All Eternity.

Ta-Da!

Well we, (meaning Kirk and some great friends), finished the chimney. Notice their idea of scaffolding, good thing we aren't licensed contractors, just "do-it-yourselfer's". I love the finished result of all of the hard work from start to finish.

Thank you, I love you Kirk!

Teenagers are Silly!

Teenagers + Pink Gorilla Costume = Sweaty silliness

Tyler's a poet and we didn't even know it.

Tyler came home from school and had written this awesome poem. It describes him perfectly. He was able to read it to Mary Ellen Edmunds, who is an LDS book author. If you haven't read her books or listened to her tapes, I highly recommend them to you. Love is a Verb, is one of my favorites. She is a wonderful lady and will put a smile on your face. She was here visiting in Cedar City for a highschool reunion and we were able to have dinner with her one night. Tyler was quite tickled with himself when Mary Ellen gave him a standing "O".

Rock Melon

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. We had grilled pork chops, cheesy potatoes, zucchini and Rock Melon (which is what the Elder from Australia called cantaloupe). We had a great dinner and visit. There were three Elders, Elder Rasband, from Texas, has been on his mission two years and is going home on Wednesday, the Elder Paea, from Australia just had shoulder surgery and will be heading off to the Philippians soon to serve his mission, and then Elder Lee, from Maryland, has been out for 1 year.

Elder Rasband then gave us a short message of the importance of having balance in all things. He did a really neat object lesson for us. He took a salt shaker with a toothpick stuck in a hole then had a spoon a fork and another toothpick that he told us we had to balance the other three objects on the one toothpick. Everyone tried but couldn't figure it out. It was amazing how it actually works.

Yummy Pancakes!

It's such a fun tradition to go to Grandma & Grandpa Marchant's house in the summertime to have their yummy pancakes. You haven't had good pancakes unless you've tried these. I am not a huge breakfast fan, but I rarely will pass up this breakfast.

Fall Open House at Roberts

We have been planning our Fall Open House at work this past couple weeks. We did several demos on getting ready for the fall season. I can't believe that Fall is around the corner already. We had one lady leave the store in disgust because we started putting our fall decorations out! Oh well. It's always fun to plan but even better to have the event over. Our next event is Ladies Night Out.

Daddy Daughter Date

Kirk and Kaitlin went on their first Daddy Daughter Date with all of the girls and their dad's from church. They went miniature golfing and had a great time. Kaitlin was so excited and talked about going for a whole month, she kept reminding Kirk so that he wouldn't forget, he finally showed her that he had it programed in his phone to beep so that he wouldn't forget.

Blessed but busy, busy, busy

I have been working with Granite Publishing for the past few months seeing if they would be interested in selling some of my vinyl products. They sell to LDS book stores all over the United States. I sent them samples and they really liked everything and then this last month there was a LDS book sellers convention up in Salt Lake, where they displayed a poster of my products. I then received an order of over 300 items. So I have been up to my elbows in vinyl this past week trying to get the orders filled. I sent 80% of the order today and had to order more vinyl because I ran out yesterday! So I can breath for a few days until my vinyl gets here on Tuesday. It's really exciting yet overwhelming at the same time. My goal is to get on top of everything and then do a little bit at a time so that by the time I get another order I'll be ready for it.

The picture is a small sample of what I am doing for them.

When I grow up I want to be a Fireman

For our August Relief Society activity, we went on a tour of the fire station. We had a great time! They have a fire safety house that is a fully furnished house and they take you room by room and show you all the different safety hazards and explain what you can do to avoid not only a fire but other injuries. The last room that the kids went through they filled with smoke and showed them how to escape a window. Afterwards we had spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and dessert.

The Power of Prayer & a 10 year old

Yesterday after I got home from work Tyler met me at the door. He had gone to the DI with his friend and ended up not being able to find his money (ten dollars). I asked him if it was just in his pocket or in a wallet, he said just in his pocket. I told him that he shouldn't put his money in his pocket because it just works it's way out and you can loose it. Oh well, there is nothing we can do about. A while latter he comes back with his friend and tells me that he and his friend decided to both say a prayer that they would be able to find his money. They retraced their steps back to the DI and when they got inside the cashier asked them if they had lost some money and they said, "Yes, a ten dollar bill", she then handed them a ten dollar bill that had been found on the ground.

These little kids are such an example of faith and prayer. I am so glad that they were able to have the faith that their prayers would be answered and that they were able to listen to the Holy Ghost. They were so excited that their prayers worked!

Tyler came home from school today with this leaf bug, pretty cool!

For some must push and some must pull...

Derick was able to go with the Young Men and Young Women of the 2nd and 8th ward on a the Martins Cove Trek. He left on a bus on Tuesday and came home on Saturday, July 25. He had a wonderful experience there, making great memories that he will treasure forever. He came home with tons of mosquito bites and blisters, but other than that survived.

I'm so glad that he was able to take part in a little bit of what our ancestors and the pioneers went through to come to Utah to help build the temple and the church. I'm greatful for their sacrifices so that I can have the gospel in my life.

Back To School! & penniless

The kids started school on Thursday the 14th, HOOORAY for all of us. Man is it expensive getting kids ready for school. I guess I need to start budgeting ahead of time so that where ready when it starts. We did the rounds of back to school night, meeting the teachers, and seeing what the plans are for the year. The kids are all happy with who their teachers are at this point.

Derick is taking Advanced Science from Mr. Black, then He has English and Reading from Mrs. Rowley, U.S. History from Mr. Kamachi, Algebra I from Mr. Prince, Chamber Orchestra from Dr. Neves, and P.E. from Mrs. Chamberlain.

Tyler has Mrs. Payne and he thinks she's awesome!

Kaitlin has Mr. Shirley who grew up in our neighborhood and his parents are in our Ward.

Hopefully it will be a good year, without to much drama. It's nice to know what they are doing every day while I'm at work. Thankfully my schedule allows me to be here to send them off and I'm home before they get home. Plus on Fridays I will be able to help in their classes on my day off when the need me.