Forget Me Not

What a beautiful ending to a roller-coaster of a day.  

I had the opportunity to watch the General Relief Society Meeting this evening, and my heart is full.  To watch the entire conference, click HERE.

We've been wrestling with a heavy decision.  President Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk, and I wanted to jot a few notes here.  I will link to the video or talk when I find the link.  Watch a snippet of President Uchtdorfs talk  HERE.

He outlined FIVE Forget Me Nots, in correspondence with the tiny flower's five petals that reflect the color of "the bluest sky", of course.

1.  Forget not to be patient with yourself
     Celebrate your good efforts and keep working on improvements.  Be thankful for the small successes in your home.  God notices, and we are not forgotten.

2.  Forget not the difference of good sacrifice and foolish sacrifice
     "Good-Better-Best"; Ask yourself: "Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?"

3.  Forget not to be happy now
     Don't wait for the golden ticket!!!  Remember the Simple Joys.  Don't put happiness on hold.  don't fail to notice the blessings that surround you.  Never abandon hope, or righteous desires.  Discover and treasure beauty in every-day moments.

4.  Forget not the WHY of the Gospel
     The Gospel is not a long list of tasks (despite what my lists look like.  LOL!), Focus on what the Lord wants us to do and why.  The Gospel is not an obligation, but a pathway...a light...it illuminates the way before us.  See out the joy of the WHY of the Gospel.

5.  Forget not that the Lord loves you
     I am not forgotten.  No matter how insignificant I feel, or how dark my days are or how overshadowed I feel.  He. Loves. Me. ♥  I am a daughter in His Kingdom.  THe love of God is saving, it can dress any wound and soften sorrows.  The Lord will Forget Me Not.

I am sure I got an answer to the issue I was struggling with.  ♥

a Sweet discount and Awesome Giveaway!!!

***I have some amazing offers on the table for some wonderful reading material...keep on reading to find out what deals I've got going and learn more about an exciting giveaway!!!***

Next week I am putting in a book order with USBORNE BOOKS.  If you've heard of them, fantastic...if you love their books, even better!  I, for one, love them, as do my boys...they just can't get enough of these beautifully illustrated, silly, educational and durable books!  

You can order through my site here:

 Deanna's Usborne Book Website

Make sure to click on the link that says "Deanna's Giveaway" on the right hand side, or you can just email me and I can put it through for you.

From my blog, I will give away one of our family's favorite USBORNE BOOKS and draw randomly on Wednesday evening at 8 pm...so enter to win by then!  (see below)

If you want to take advantage of the awesome deals I outline in this post, your order must be in no later than Wednesday the 28th of September by MIDNIGHT.

....but the best part?!?!  

Because I'm a crazy busy consultant, I am offering you 15% off your ENTIRE order (shipping not included) IF you order before midnight on Wednesday, September 28th.  Feel free to pass this information onto all your friends!  and family!  and tell anyone you think would LOVE a good book! 

To top it off, if you order over $60 worth of books, I will give you an additional 5% off your entire order!  that's an additional 20%!  

...so.....

Consider the following fun little tradition for birthdays, gifts, and the Holiday Season that is JUST AROUND THE CORNER:  

A want, a need, 

a wear, a READ

...This is my Ryan's new favorite rule for buying gifts for our kids so I don't go overboard (please tell me I'm not the only one that does that!)...especially with three birthdays within weeks of Christmas!

Wanna know which book we love???  It's called  "How Big is a Million?"  And it's about an adorable penguin named Pip who learns exactly how big a million is, through a fun adventure and some simple math...Tanner and Taylor LOVE to read this...we read it nearly every day...but I'll give you a BRAND NEW copy...

Would you like a peek inside?

This book comes with a poster that has ONE MILLION stars on it...Tanner and Taylor attempt to count them all every time we read...I think I'm going to need to start rotating which books we read each night!

There are books for all ages - board books for babies, books for preschool age, for elementary, for middle school, even for tweens and teenagers.  A recent favorite of mine is the Conspiracy 365 Series...I can't WAIT to get the next set to continue on the adventure!!!  It's a perfect read for a teen who loves adventure...just sayin'.  

Feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need recommendations...and if you want to host a show, I can get you hooked up with even MORE amazing deals, like FREE books, and DOUBLE-FREE books!  Check out additional special offers on the bottom right hand side of my site, by going 

HERE.  <-- click on the link.  ;)

There are two ways you can enter to win "How Big is A Million?":

One Entry for simply leaving me a comment 

telling me WHICH book you'd love to have.

One Entry for each book you order BEFORE Wednesday (Sept 28th) at 8 pm 

(place an order on my eShow, "Deanna's Giveaway",
and come back here telling me you did so, 

leaving a comment for each title...then I'll verify it!)

On your mark, get set, GO! 

Happy Shopping!  (And good luck winning a book, too!) 

50 miles.

37 of them were sandy washboards.
13 of them were filled with a beautiful downhill rush.

It.was.awesome.

My tush is tender. A bruise the size of my hand on my thigh is more than embarrassing.  Partly because I got it when my bike tipped over while I  was treading sand.  Partly because it's so ugly, but who's looking?

The 8 hours of sleep in West Yellowstone in the pouring rain in a tent with my sweetie was priceless...there were no children to wake us from being cold or wanting to explore at 5 am. The air was crisp and inviting.

My mental state might be wavering for even considering such an expedition; but it was exhilarating!!!

And I'm realizing that I really am 9 years behind my husband.  He was in his biking prime when we met...now that he's aged, I'm ready and rearing to go...I want to get a sitter every weekend for the rest of this beautiful weather and go.go.go and climb.climb.climb and get that adrenaline rush that comes from roaring down a breathtaking mountain path with a wall of rocks and shrubs up one side and turquoise rivers below.  I wish his knees and back could take a few more beatings from being on the road.

A climbing trail of mountain terrain (our first 15 miles or so) is nuttin' compared to a level railroad grade of washboards (the middle 30 miles).  I'll take the switchbacks and gravel any day to soggy sand and four-wheeler-ed-to-death 5% grades.  LOL!

I regret shedding my camera that last 18 miles.  Like, I might go  BACK and do it again before it get's too cold JUST go get those gorgeous pictures along Warm River.

But I don't regret pushing my mind and my body to do something I never thought was possible for me.

50 miles.  Bring it.  Again.

And so it begins.

My favorite childhood game was "School".  Sometimes I played it by myself, other times with siblings.  Sometimes I even played it with friends and cousins.  But what I loved more than playing it, was setting it up.  Making a roll.  Setting out pencils and papers for assignments.  Digging through my mom's stamps to make "good job" stamps on "assignments".  Making up the names of my students or peers.  Telling imaginary "William" to sit in his seat, or praising "Jane" on her beautiful script.

*sigh*

So is it any wonder that I got a degree in teaching?  And have loved teaching high school?  And am now teaching Pre-Kindergarteners?

I've been looking forward to today for a long time.
Today is the first day that Tanner brought home homework.
*squeal!!!!!*

One back-to-front, a four page reader for the week, and another book for the week.

I just pray I can keep this enthusiasm up.  And that he doesn't take a hour to get two pages done every.single.day.

Any suggestions for helping him to FOCUS?  The boy is so easily distracted.  It's killing me! 

Stung by Tragedy, Lifted by Faith

A must see...

"Stung by Tragedy, Lifted by Faith"

Along with this one.  

"Finding Hope"

God Bless America, Land that I Love.  

Sweet land of Liberty, Praise Thee above!

Corn Off the Cob

While I luuuuurve corn ON the cob, this corn off the cob is divine!

And whoever came up this THIS idea, rocks!  I wish I could remember who gave us the electric knife for a wedding gift.  I use it once a year (and it's AWESOME!) - for this:

I  used my time this morning making green pepper jelly (which looks black in the picture):

And after picking and shucking corn in the afternoon, I spent the evening making this delicious concoction:

Corn Relish.

I ate a good portion of what wouldn't fit in the second batch with a bowl of corn chips.  Mmmmmmmm!

Bring on the four boxes of peaches and pears, baby!!!

Taylor's Turn

Today is Taylor's First Day at Apple Preschool!

He is very excited to make lots of new friends.  And mommy is very excited to get a whole two hours to work out by herself.

We remembered yesterday that he didn't have a backpack, so while grocery shopping last night, I spotted this cheap-o plain black backpack.  I instantly knew what I wanted to do with it!!!

Because the whole freezer-paper stencil gig didn't go 100% as planned, I ended up free-handing it and adding some pa-zazz with my sewing machine.  Took less than an hour.  (I was afraid to turn my iron up too high...didn't want to melt my $4 bag!)

I love it.  He loves it.  We're all happy he can bring home the hundreds of pictures he colors!

My Face..

...was embarrassingly purple after a spinning class this morning.  I didn't realize HOW purple, till I got in my car after picking up Kortlen and had a moment at a red light to glance in the mirror.  Even after I got home, showered, and got dressed and ready for the day, it was still purple...with a hint of red.  

I've discovered that I dislike running...love(d) swimming, but it's tricky without contacts as the wall always sneaks up on me (Doing the 'glasses' thing right now)...and absolutely LOVE biking.  We've biked a lot this summer.  So I figured a spinning class during Taylor's preschool and Tanner's Kindergarten would be just right...and it was...grueling.

It was intense.

You've heard the term "sweating buckets"?  Yeah.  The floor beneath my bike was soaked.

Ewwwwwwe.

Loved it.

And a lady in my class with a prosthetic leg was super inspiring....can't wait to get back to earn another purple face.  And burn more calories.  And feel like I'm going to die.  LOL!

Bring. It. On.