{The Errand of Angels}

Tonight I had the opportunity to join with women from around the world in watching the General Relief Society Meeting Broadcast at our stake center. I must say, I have been looking forward to this spiritual rejuvenation for some time. :) It's always a wonderful meeting, and I thoroughly enjoyed being there with my ward sisters. I look forward to the day when I can watch it with my actual sisters, sister-in-law and mom...don't know when that will be, or if, but it sure would be fun!

I wanted to jot down a few things that came to mind (in italics), and also what was talked about in brief from these wonderful leaders we have.

♥

Sister Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President

• "Visiting teaching isn't just a task. It's a way of life."
• How have I served and loved the sisters I visit teach? Have I talked heart to heart or just face to face?
  
• In her testimony she stated, "I rejoice to know that the Lord knows us enough to lead and guide us." I echo her words.
  

♥

Hymn 309 - "As Sister's in Zion" - I noticed that at the end, the text was sung as "Oh, give us the wisdom to truly succeed" and really liked that. Below I've typed out the words so you can read them...they describe perfectly the purpose of the Relief Society.

As sisters in Zion, we'll all work together;
The blessings of God on our labors we'll seek.
We'll build up His kingdom with earnest endeavor;
We'll comfort the weary and strengthen the weak.

The errand of angels is given to women;
And this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim:
To do whatsoever is gentle and human,
To cheer and to bless in humanity's name.

How vast is our purpose, how broad is our mission,
If we but fulfill it in spirit and deed.
Oh, naught but the Spirit's divinest tuition
Can give us the wisdom to truly succeed.

Oh, give me the wisdom to truly succeed.

♥

Sylvia H. Allred, 1st Counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency

• "Rise to the occasion."
• The Lord prompts a bishop to extend callings. He (the Lord nor our bishop) would never set us up for failure...so I should just buck-up and rise to the occasion!
  
• "The Relief Society was divinely organized to assist the priesthood and to build the kingdom." We are responsible for the sisters we've been asked to visit teach - the bishop cannot physically look after and watch over EVERY SINGLE PERSON, every single day. That's where we come in. If there is something needed, we can let the bishop know there is a need.
  

♥

Barbara Thompson, 2nd Counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency

• {Mind the Gap}
  
• "Believing vs. Knowing we are Daughters of God: Don't allow doubt and uncertainty to fill your mind."
• "Transitioning from Young Women's to Relief Society: Comfort the weary and strengthen the weak"...don't allow the {gap} to happen.
• "Believing in Jesus Christ vs. Being Valiant": I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. Am I being valiant to His teachings and doing? or just thinking?
  

♥

Hymn 85, "How Firm a Foundation" - There are seven verses to this song, and I love each of
them equally, though one stood out to me this night. Verse three reads:

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Up held by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

Doesn't that just make you want to stand on the rooftops and shout from the top of your lungs that life is going to be okay? That you're going to be okay? That He knows our worries and to trust in Him? I thought so. But maybe you'd do it a bit more reverently...not so much shouting.

♥

President Henry B. Eyring, 1st Counselor in the Presidency of the Church

• "Charity is born of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."
• "Charity. Never. Faileth. Moro. 7: 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—"
• "The legacy of Relief Society is passed from heart to heart."
• My heart and soul are at peace and I am full of gratitude for my loving Savior
  

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If you didn't have the opportunity to watch this wonderful meeting and partake of its uplifting goodness, or you're just curious about this broadcast, click HERE to go to the link to the broadcast to watch or listen to it. If you're interested in learning more about the church, click HERE.

I {heart} Autumn...

...I think it's one of my favorite seasons. The other favorites being Winter, Spring, and Summer (and in that order, too). *wink*

I love the cool air.

I love being entitled to covering my lovely love handles with sweaters.

I love wearing thick, wool socks.

I love putting my freezing and balmy feet on my husband's hot legs when I wake up cold in the middle of the night.

I love a nice steaming cup of Postum...and now that I'm out and can't find it ANYWHERE, I'll love settling for a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate mix from the cannery.

I love soup. With cornbread and molasses. And a thick chunk of real butter.

I love layers of clothes on my boys...jeans, long-sleeve t's and sweatshirts.

I love snuggling with my lover under a blanket to just talk.

I love brown. Leaves, dirt, dust, and even mud...to me, it just says "roundup".

I love holiday preparations.

I love Halloween Costumes, crafting inexpensive home-made Christmas gifts, planning three birthdays, and eating out of food storage to afford my illness. :)

I {heart} Autumn!
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I have fond memories of picking red leafed branches up at Keetley and Hobble Creek with my dad and siblings...bringing them back home and putting them in a vase on the fireplace or the kitchen table for my mom. She would arrange them beautifully for all to enjoy. Oh, how I wish I could carry on the tradition and find some beautiful red (and I mean RED) leaves in my neighborhood!

complete

ta da!

My mom taught me that the back of a project should always look as neat and intriging as the front...so here's a bottom shot. :)

The wires are for braces - anybody remember the chairs at the Keetley House? Yeah. And I LOVE that the wire is galvanized and crisp and clean...kinda adds a modern element, in an old-age technique.

Also, I am pretty proud of myself for covering the bottom with muslin...though I wish it were a different 'coverage' shape...oh well...it's what I had to cover those raw edges!


I can hardly wait for this fun photo shoot...and more to come!

progress

I distressed and put a clear satin finish on my red chair tonight...if I had the board cut, I'd have had the cushion on, too...but alas, I must leave SOMETHING to do at 5pm tomorrow night, as I'm walking out the door to do the photo shoot at 7pm.

Wednesday Night Project

I need a red chair for a wedding photo shoot I'm doing this weekend.

So tonight I'm doing what any amateur, last minute photographer would do. I'm making one!

This is my project for the night...


and these are the colors...

I painted it black first, then I'm playing it safe by painting over that with red and have plans to distress it a bit....

And this is how it stands at midnight...still needing a clear coat and some distressing...I think! :)

I will probably decide on the distressing when I pick out fabric tomorrow...

Either way, in between photo shoots, I think I found a new home for this old chair!

I know it looks a bit pink in the light, but that's because the paint was still wet...it actually dries the same color as the frame above it...which works out perfectly!!! Wahoo!!!

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What do ya'all think?
sand the edges?
distress random areas?
paint it black again?
__________

{ I Took His Hand & Followed }

My dishes went unwashed today,

I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring
My little son and I.
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky.

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through the woods
My kitchen wasn't swept today
But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn't brush the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth
Will know, or even care

But that I've helped my little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

~Author Unknown

(To view credits for the picture, click on it...it's linked.)

In preparing for scouts today, I came across this little poem. I had a few thoughts...

...my boys are growing up so quickly, I just want to soak up every moment, good and bad, happy and sad...

...I fear the troubled world my children are going into...I feel like I'm going to send them to the wolves when they come of age...who knows when that is, but it seems as though it's getting younger and younger and younger...

...I long to be home...where a mother should be...

...picking daffodils on a warm summer day atop a mountain glad sounds marvelous...

...when my boys say, "Tank you mommy!" or "oh! tanks! that was nice" in their little boy voices...I never want them to grow up...

...I want to be the mom to take their hands and follow...for as long as they'll let me!

'mornin...no good around here!

A few weeks back we changed the crib to a toddler bed...and had success with naps and bedtime until recently.

This morning, around 6am, we quickly put the toddler bed BACK into a crib. Taylor was extremely upset with us, but I'm positive the feelings were mutual. We are tired of being tired of him getting out of bed so early...

This is the face he gave us for a good 30 minutes when we woke up the SECOND time this morning.

I just love how he juts out that jaw and those big crocodile tears streamed down his face. I couldn't help but get a picture! He looks JUST like his daddy when he was a toddler!

Labor Day Weekend...

What more can one ask for, than a lovely weekend enjoying family and God's beautiful creations?

My mom and dad have wanted to take their family to Yellowstone National Park for years...when we moved to Idaho in 1999, we thought for sure we'd get there...and we finally did! Being in Idaho Falls, Ryan and I are only a short 2 hours away from this grandeur, and so when my mom invited us to go camping with them over Labor Day weekend, we were all for it!

I'll spare you all the boring details, but will share some of the highlights and lowlights, if you will.

Day 1, Friday September 4th

We loaded up with mom and dad and we rode with them to our camping spot, the Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana, just four blocks from IMAX and the enterance to the park. Mind you, we're real campers, and real campers camp in the wilderness, in the dirt and have a real fire...so to camping in an RV park was thought to be CHEATING. I'll have the world know, that it was FABULOUS. This place was clean, neat, mostly quiet, cold, but had hot showers, two outdoor stainless steel sinks for dishes, a play room with Nintendo, air hockey, TV, the works. We camped in the tent section, so we had grass to sleep and play on. My parents had their 4-wall tent, and the rest of us slept in tipi tents...the boys slept well, Ryan and I slept fairly well, and all WENT well.

• Saw the IMAX movie, "Yellowstone". Pretty sweet...Ryan bought treats, the boys sat through the whole thing...Tanner kept saying, "Whaoh! Mom! Tool! (cool) We also scouted for the souvenir T-shirt we'd get before leaving.
  
• Keith, Tricia, Reed and Stephanie arrived safely and in good time from BYU...we're so glad their car died when it did...before they got out of town.
• I had put together my towel and clean clothes and toiletries on top of my bag so when I went to shower in the morning, I didn't wake everyone up rustling through my bag. When I heard people visiting in the morning, I got up to go and shower...when I got to the tent door, I thought I'd check what time it was...I looked at my phone and it clearly read 1:20 am! So I went back to bed...(curse those night-owl partying campers!)
• (Same morning, a while later...) Ryan and I heard a bunch a clanking, and I thought it was those partying maniacs next to us that had possibly taken our tent poles down...My parents came running because they thought a bear had gotten into the cobbler we left in the dutch oven on the Camp Chef (you're not supposed to leave food out)...we shortly realized that our tent was collapsing, so we jumped out to see what was going on...The rope holding the tent to the poles had broken. *sigh* Dad fixed it in no time. We put the boys in with Katelyn and Deseret, and took our showers and the day went on as planned...

Day 2, Saturday September 5th

Because of a short road closure in the park, and to get to the top of the park, we had to go clear down and around...it made for a long day, but we did manage to see two elk with collars (we see them collar-free in our back yard) and herds of buffalo (which we ALSO see in our back yard in Chesterfield). We were slightly disappointed by the dozens of cars that stopped IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and GOT OUT TO TAKE PICTURES of the buffalo...they didn't even pull over!!! So we sat. And sat. And sat. until it got dark and people FINALLY started driving forward again...we got back to camp around 9 pm that night. uggh!

• Ryan, being the wise mountain man he is, packed two walkie-talkies; one for each vehicle. We were not even 30 miles into the drive when Taylor chucked one out his window....we managed to find the electronic device, but failed to find the third battery...besides, with my extras (a scout is ALWAYS prepared) the thing busted to smithereens and wouldn't work.
  
• Keith, Reed, Stephanie, Katelyn and Tricia went for a refreshing swim at Fire Hole...it was a BLAST! The boys had fun throwing rocks into the river.
  
• We decided earlier in the week that we'd use Deseret's old booster for Tanner and let Taylor use Tanner's car seat, because we thought they'd be more comfortable.
• Taylor screamed anytime he was put into his car seat until he would finally wear out and fall asleep. It made for some LOOOOOOOONG driving time.
  
• Tanner did surprisingly well in the booster...he even stayed in his seat belt and wore it correctly, for the most part.
  
• I think Tricia and Keith will think twice about having children due to the terrible temper tantrums our children threw when they didn't get their way. I'm blaming it on personality and long days, not our parenting. :)

Day 3, Sunday, September 6th
We attended church at a local meeting house in town. It was very nice. I sat outside with Taylor for the majority of the meeting. Afterwards we had a scrumptious dinner with the couple that sat next to us at church...they were camping with their family friends in the same campground, so they joined us.

• I got a silly sunburn because I was too stubborn to put sunscreen on...wait...we all got a little pink that afternoon.
• A 5 yr old and his 3 yr old brother (they ate lunch with us) and Tanner were playing on the playground the camp had (the area that has the steering wheel thingie). The 5 yr old told Tanner he couldn't be the 'bus driver', that he wasn't big enough. Tanner said he was, and the other boy's brother, who was also 3 mentioned that he was 3, too. The older brother stated that he could play on the 'bus' because he had on a blue shirt...He then attempted to push Tanner off the 'bus'. Tanner grabbed the 5 yr old by the collar of his shirt and shoved him up against the bars and told him, "leave me alone! I can drive the bus, too!" and was shaking him by the shirt all the while. *sigh* I got myself off the grass, had Tanner come with me and we talked about the incidence. I told him I was proud of him for sticking up for himself, but that he couldn't push and bully someone that was being mean to him. We talked about how he needs to use his words, and walk away. It's not HIS fault he's short, but it was hilarious how the whole thing went down!
• Went and saw the Oregon Short Line train...ehhhh...
• Drove back into the park to see the Mud Paint Pots and the Grand Prismatic Spring. The boys both fell asleep after the Mud Paint Pots so I sat in the car with them while everyone else hiked up to the "Rainbow Puddle"...it wasn't so rainbowish this year. Glad I got in a nap.
• Saw another IMAX film, "Alaska". It was pretty good, too!
  

Day 4, Monday, September 7
We laid awake listening to rain on the canvas tents from 11 pm til around 3am. Because of the rain in the night, we couldn't pack up as soon as we wanted to. We had a fabulous breakfast and allowed the tents to dry. It took everyone's help to get packed up and cleaned up before we could leave. Some of us walked to the Yellowstone Trading Post (where the IMAX theater was) to find our souvenir to take home. Me and the boys got sweatshirts...Ryan expressed his burning desire to get a T-Shirt somewhere else. :)

• Tanner woke up dry every morning!!!
  
• Taylor woke up with wet hair, after scooting to the top of the tent.
  
• Gramma got the most cuddly and soft black bears for the boys. They LOVED them! When we got home, I did have to do a little tummy-tuck on Tanner's, as the tummy seam had come undone, and I also did some preventative tummy-tucks on Taylors.
  
• When putting Taylor in his seat to go home, he cried for only a moment. My mom said to him, "Taylor, if you cry, gramma will hold your bear until you stop." And he stopped and went to sleep. I ♥ my mom! That was the most peaceful and quiet drive we had all weekend!

We arrived home in great time, by 3 pm. By 4 Ryan and I had vacuumed out our car, gone grocery shopping, hung the sleeping bags to air out, did two loads of wash, and had dinner fixed by 4:30. Needless to say, we all crashed in our own, soft and comfortable beds before 10pm.

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Thank you for the fabulous weekend, Dad and Mom!

Thank you for your help with the boys, Dad, Mom, Keith, Tricia, Stephanie, Katelyn, Clay and Deseret!

__________

My kids crack me up...

There was some hoopla going on and Ryan and I had had it...

Daddy: "Get in your room and don't come out until I come and get you. Both of you! NOW!"

(I'm catching up on blogs after camping for 4 days in the Yellowstone Wilderness*.)

...about 5 minutes later...

We hear a creeking door...and two blonde heads pop out...

Tanner: "Daddy? We're ready to listen. Pause."

Daddy: "I am in a bad mood. I will get you out when I'm done putting stuff away."

Tanner: "But daddy, we're being good. Pause. We'll listen and come out and you can still be in a bad mood."

...

Trust me...Ryan is no longer in a bad mood, and he talked the boys into staying in their room until I do surgery on Tanner's black bear...and here I sit, blogging.

*Stay tuned for some fun pictures and narration of our awesome Labor Day weekend spent in Yellowstone National Park at a campground that was pretty sweet...it was only lacking a fire pit, but seriously, it was a sweet deal!


Okay...On to stitching up a tragic case of ripped innards of a stuffed aminal. :)

It's about TIME!

I meant to mention this a week or so ago, but....




...this is big news...

Tanner is officially potty trained!!!

He'll be four in December, so I'm really excited he's come so far.

The recap you've all been waiting for:

We started potty training Tanner over a year ago. We began potty training him at least 4 times. Night time just clicked...I have no idea what did it. He just caught on. He only had two accidents in the last month at night.

What determined this finality of diapers? He wakes up in the middle of the night to tell us he needs to go potty...OR (this is the best part) he'll turn on all the lights in the house to use the potty, then come get us to help him find the arms to and zip his jammies back up. Another perk: No more $200 on diapers and wipes each month. (***correction: Ryan just informed me we spent more like $45 a month on diapers, which means I spent over $100 on random things I can't account for. Darn!)

So here's to you, Tanner:
"YAY!!! YOU DID IT!"