As Requested...

Here is our newly painted accent wall (and armoir). This picture makes it look a little more "baby blue" than it is. In real life it's a little darker/grayer.

My Sacrament Talk: The Sacrament and the Holy Ghost

Disclaimer: This is kind of a long talk. Please don't think I expect you to read it! I'm mainly posting it for my Mom and sister, who would be interested.

A day nearly 24 years ago stands out in my memory as a very special one. On June 30, 1984, the sun was shining in Eugene, Oregon–not something to be taken for granted–and the trees were in full bloom. I wore a pretty new dress that my Grandma had made for this special occasion. I was nervous and excited. When my time finally came, I remember walking down into the baptismal font, and thinking gratefully, that the water was warm. I had asked my oldest brother, who had recently returned from a mission, to baptize me, and he was there with a big smile on his face. As I came up out of the water, I remember seeing my proud, smiling father, who was standing as a witness. And I remember hugging my mother when I stepped out of the font, probably getting her wet, now that I look back on it!

I don’t know that I fully understood then all that my baptism represented. I remember wondering if what my Grandpa joked about had come true: that all my sins were washed away, and because I had so many, they clogged the drain! But I do know that I loved my Heavenly Father and Jesus, and wanted to please them, and that even at that tender age of eight I had a strong testimony that I was doing the right thing.

I would later learn that just as important as my baptism, was receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: ""You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half——that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost""

2 Ne 31:17 says, "For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost." It’s the combination of baptism by water and by fire that sanctifies us and gives us remission of our sins.

President Wilford Woodruff called the gift of the Holy Ghost the greatest gift we can receive in mortality. Let me repeat that so it can soak in: the gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift we can receive in mortality. Why so?

Elder Dallin H. Oaks quotes some of the scriptural teachings about the Holy Ghost:"The Holy Ghost, or Comforter "teaches us all things and brings all things to our remembrance. He guides us into truth and shows us things to come. He testifies of the Son...[He is] the means by which God inspires and reveals his will to his children. The Holy Ghost bears record of the Father and of the Son. He enlightens our minds and fills us with joy. By the power of the Holy Ghost we may know the truth of all things. By his power we may have the mysteries of God unfolded to us. The Holy Ghost shows us what we should do. We teach the gospel as we are directed by the Holy Ghost, which carries our words into the hearts of those we teach."

Elder Oaks continues: "The gift of the Holy Ghost is so important to our faith that a prophet gave it unique emphasis in a conversation with the president of the United States. Joseph Smith had journeyed to Washington to seek help in recovering compensation for injuries and losses the Saints had suffered in the Missouri persecutions. In his meeting with the president, Joseph was asked how this Church differed from the other religions of the day. The Prophet replied that "we differed in mode of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands." He later explained that this answer was given because "all other considerations were contained in the gift of the Holy Ghost."

The blessings of having the gift of the Holy Ghost in our lives comes with one condition: worthiness. The Nephites learned this the hard way in Helaman 4:24: And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples."

Elder Oaks again, "Even though we have a right to his constant companionship, the Spirit of the Lord will dwell only with us when we keep the commandments. He will withdraw when we offend him by profanity, uncleanliness, disobedience, rebellion, or other serious sins."

So we must be clean and unspotted to keep the Holy Ghost in our lives. The same Holy Ghost that Wilford Woodruff said is the greatest gift we can have in mortality. I know none of you will be shocked, but the truth is that I’ve sinned since June 30th, 1984, when I received a remission of my sins! Technically that sin would make me unworthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost. I’m not sure, but probably most of you have sinned too. So what do we do? Are we supposed to try and time our baptism and confirmation so that we just die right after it?

Heavens no! Thank goodness the Lord has spelled out a plan, and made a way for us to renew the covenants we made at baptism, thus becoming clean again, and regaining the gift of the Holy Ghost.

First we must repent. I love with all my heart Alma the younger’s example of repentance that he shared with his son: he cried, "O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. And now behold when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!"

After our repentance, and with a "broken heart and contrite spirit," we take the Sacrament in remembrance of the body and blood of the Son, and we promise again to Heavenly Father what we promised at our baptism: that we are willing to take upon us the name of his son, always remember him, and keep his commandments. In return, we again receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, "that we may always have his Spirit to be with us."

Do we treat the Sacrament as the great gift that it is? It is one of the most sacred ordinances in the Church. Elder Melvin J. Ballard once said: "I am a witness that there is a spirit attending the administration of the sacrament that warms the soul from head to foot; you feel the wounds of the spirit being healed, and the load is lifted. Comfort and happiness come to the soul that is worthy and truly desirous of partaking of this spiritual food."

Taking the Sacrament is not a difficult thing. In return for the awesome gift of remission of sins and the Holy Ghost, the Lord isn’t asking us to do some great big feat. He has simply said, "That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day." Once a week. For a few minutes. Remember Him. And we’ll be given what a Prophet of God called the greatest gift we can receive in mortality!

Such a small and simple thing. Hmmm...that sounds familiar. What are we told about small and simple things? That by them are great things brought to pass. It’s in the little things that we either sink or swim.

I like to look at the Sacrament as a safety net, of sorts. If I truly come to the Sacrament table every week with a broken heart and contrite spirit, remembering what the Lord has done for me, and feasting on His Spirit, I will never fall too far away. If there’s only a week between each sincere sacramental experience, I doubt that I’ll drift so far that I’ll never want to come back, because apostasy doesn't usually happen in a day. It sneaks in our back door.

Sheri Dew said it this way: "Men and women who sell their birthright for a mess of pottage almost universally confess that their demise began with something small, with some seemingly insignificant breach of integrity that escalated. The little things do matter...Believe me, Lucifer wants those of the noble birthright. He wants our minds and our bodies and our souls. I daresay there is no greater smirking in the underworld than when he gets his chains around a man or woman who has made sacred covenants."

When we partake of the sacrament worthily, reverently, and regularly, we are putting on spiritual armor that protects us, and our families, from the wiles of the devil. We are declaring who’s side we choose to be on, and with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, we can do miraculous things!

Brigham Young taught that "if the Latter-day Saints will walk up to their privileges, and exercise faith in the name of Jesus Christ, and live in the enjoyment of the fulness of the Holy Ghost constantly day by day, there is nothing on the face of the earth that they could ask for, that would not be given to them." Wow! And yet he also said, "I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges."

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of a woman who had always wanted to go on a cruise. She saved her money for a long time and the day finally came that she was able to buy passage on a her dream cruise. She took a tour of the ship, impressed by all the amenities. When the time came for her dinner reservation, however, she went back to her cabin and ate some cheese and crackers that she had brought with her. She knew that she had spent all of her money just being able to go on the cruise–she didn’t have any left for extravagant feasts. She did this for every meal. As the cruise ended and she was disembarking, the crew was there to say goodbye. She passed one crew member who seemed genuinely confused.

"I am the Food Service Director," she said, "and I’m so surprised because I never saw you in the dining room. I made an effort to talk to every guest, and yet I’ve never seen you. Did you not eat while you were on board?"

Embarrassed, the woman nodded, and explained, "Well, I spent all I had just to be on the ship, so I knew I couldn’t afford the fancy food you serve. I ate in my cabin at every meal."

At this the Food Service Director looked shocked. "Did you not know?" she asked. "The price of the food was included with your passage. All the meals on the ship were free!"

Can you imagine this woman's dismay when she realized that she could have been feasting on gourmet food, when instead she had been getting by on cheese and crackers? What about us? Are we feasting on the Spirit that Heavenly Father so wants to give to us, or are we settling for cheese and crackers?

It is my prayer that we take full advantage of the feast of the sacrament that is offered to us every Sunday. I’m the first to acknowledge how difficult that can be with little ones. But if we can remember the sacredness of the ordinance, remember the blessings that accompany it, remember Him!, we will notice a difference in our hearts and in our everyday lives.

Brain Freeze

I know you're all getting tired of looking at my last post, it's just that every time I think of what to do for my next post, I come up blank! These are the things that I don't want to write about because they're just mundane and boring:

• How Girl's Camp Meetings and planning are taking over my life and how I'm kind of dreading it.
• How Brad trimmed what was once a nice healthy green bush into a weak, brown, sickly-looking shrub and I was a little upset, but now I laugh every time I pass it (it's FRONT and CENTER) because what else can you do but laugh? Well, we can pull it out, which I really think needs to happen.
• How I don't have any pictures of the last few weeks because I'm too lazy to put the batteries in the recharger. (I'm going to stop and do it right now...okay. Did it!)
• How even after the bush disaster, Brad still wanted to trim, so he was pulling down the trimmers, and cut himself and we had to take him to the ER so he could get stitches.
• How I'm excited for our trip to Oregon, but not looking forward to the THREE flights that it will take to get us there.
• How I love our new pool. I know, could we get any more white trash? But this was on sale, and it's as big as we can get without spending a whole bunch of money! And it's WAY hot down here. Seriously. It's Hades.

• How Ty and I spent six hours in our pool the other day, and although we both lathered on the sunscreen often, I guess we didn't enough because we both got sunburned, and this was his first one.
• How we have to talk in Sacrament on Sunday, and my anxiety about it.
• How I like the Mole on ABC, although I miss the good old days when Anderson Cooper hosted it.
• How Brad's been working insane hours with insane situations involving birthparents.
• How we painted an accent wall a nice slate blue color. I actually like it. We also painted our armoir black.
• How I found some great deals at the Thrift Store tonight. I guess Thursday night is a good night cause they're stocking up for the big weekend crowd.

Okay, that's about it. I'm really only doing this as a stall tactic because it's my bill-paying night, and I don't want to face all the bills!!! If anyone has ideas for future posts, I'd love to hear them, cause I'm losing my blogging steam!

True Love

Saw the pile of clothes.

Brought them to the play room.

Sat on an uncomfortable stool.

Turned on the small TV.

Folded our clothes and

Melted my Heart.

Random Pics

It seems like I've gathered up a bunch of pictures that are interesting to me, but don't seem to fit with anything else, so here are some random leftover pics from the last week or so:

Between our recent Utah trip, our work trips to Corpus Christi, and Brad's work retreat last week, we've used our suitcases more than usual. Ty has taken to using them as special hiding spots.

This picture cracks me up because no one looks like they're having any fun. It looks like a before picture of a backyard pool makeover advertisement. Like at any moment they'll be surprised with a great big, fun, exciting pool--not this lame-o small plastic one, which was even more crowded when I got in!

We found our way to the town of Kirby's First Annual (and possibly final?) Hobo Festival, and Ty got to take a picture with the Hobo King! What a treat! Seriously, though, what is with the Giant BBQ Turkey legs for sale at all the festivals and theme parks and garage sales and any celebration you can think of here? Do other places focus so much on the turkey legs or is this just a Texas thing?

Sara always says that the humidity makes her feel like she's on vacation. That's how I feel whenever I see palm trees, which is a lot.

We happened to notice several children playing in long dresses. Then it registered to me that these must be some of those Polygamist Sect children. It was at a Catholic Children's Home.

Speaking of Catholic, some people may not know that there are several old missions here in San Antonio, not just the Alamo. We visited a couple of them, and were surprised to learn that they still have active parishes. This was an outdoor altar at the Mission Conception. It was kindof interesting trying to explain to Ty why Catholics pray to the virgin Mary.

Ty with the pretty Mission in the background. Another forced grin. Grrrrrr.

Unexpected

Yesterday we had Stake Conference in a big basketball auditorium on the campus of Texas State University. They actually created a new stake and then added wards from several other stakes to make up for the units we had lost to the new stake. Very interesting stuff.

Anyway, as we were sitting in our padded seats that were way more comfy and roomy than the Marriott Center (not a judgement, just an observation), we pulled out our small tupperware container full of treats for Ty (pretzels, Life cereal, etc.). As we were trying to listen, Ty was eating, occasionally putting a piece of pretzel or cracker up to our mouths. Absently, trying to hear the speaker, we would open our mouths and let him feed us. Hey--it kept him quiet, okay?

All of a sudden I hear a whisper, "Sally! Sally!"

I turn and see Brad washing down water from a water bottle, with a look of sheer panic on his face. I can tell he wants to scream, or at the very least bolt from his chair.

"What?!" I say, a little worried that he's about to make a scene.

Only because of his sheer determination, I can tell Brad has calmed himself down and with one last shudder, returns to normal.

"What?!" I whisper again, curious by now as to what caused his little "episode."

"Ty was feeding me little pieces of cracker and pretzel, when I noticed he put something else in my mouth that had a different texture. I ate it, and then asked him what it was."

That was when Ty looked up at his daddy with a big grin and said, "It's a booger!"

Good Read

I know I saw this book recommended on somebody's blog (that's why I read it in the first place), but I have no idea whose blog it was anymore, so forgive me for not giving credit.

If you're looking for a good uplifting read, this is it:

I read it in one day (and night), I enjoyed it so much. It's the true story of a mother of ten children in the 50's and 60's who, with no help from her alcoholic husband, basically raised her family on earnings from jingles contests. Her positive attitude and sense of humor were so inspiring.

I know that a movie has been made about it, and I hope to see it soon, although often times movies aren't as great as the book.

So...go find the book at your library--you will enjoy it, I promise!

If You Can't Beat the Heat...

...Embrace it!

We're spending an increasing number of afternoons in our backyard with the little pool and a big sprinkler ball. We all love it!

In other news...

We had a great trip to Utah, we just didn't take many pictures! Here's one with all but two of the Grandkids on Brad's side.

Goin' Back to Utah

We leave tomorrow for a little trip to Utah. I can't believe it's been just shy of a year since we've been there! In many ways it seems like yesterday that we packed up our huge U-Haul Truck, towing our car (which ended up costing us about five hundred extra dollars at the end of the road because we tried to back the car off the trailer without fully unhitching it, thus bending the frame underneath) and stayed that first memorable night on the road in Monticello, UT.

We spent six interesting and HOT months in Houston, and have finally found a home and ward and community that we love here in San Antonio.

But we're excited to go back to see family; to make fun of the FOX13 news team; back to CougarTown; and most importantly, to see the MOUNTAINS! (Seriously, Texas, you think you have hills here, but you have no idea!)

Apparently it snowed again today, so hopefully we'll get to feel cold again (we haven't had cold weather since January...and let's be honest: it really wasn't even that cold)!

Hopefully I'll come back with some good blogging material. I've been brain dead the last couple of weeks when it comes to blogging!

Final Four

On Friday Brad took part of the day off so we could enjoy some of the Final Four festivities downtown. First we went to the Alamodome and watched the shoot-arounds for Memphis and North Carolina. Since the actual tickets to a game were way too expensive, we were excited that these practices were free.

While there, they annonced a seat in the audience that had won tickets to the championship game. We looked on the screen, and there we were on the jumbo-tron. They announced seat 18, and that was Brad's seat! We were screaming and yelling, Brad saying, "We won! We won!" Until the official-looking guy with the Final Four badge looked a little sad for us as he gave the free tickets to the lady one row up! Ughhh...we really thought for a few seconds that we were so lucky! Oh well. Who needs tickets to a stupid championship game when we can watch it for family night on our awesome 19 inch TV?!? We had a lot of other fun:

Ty was a happy boy, even though it wasn't the most exciting basketball action. Spencer and Sara and their clan joined us for the All Star game, which turned out to be the Not-So-Allstar game. We decided to leave at half-time to check out the "Block Party", or street festival they had going on.

Best Buds

Spencer rockin' out on the Karaoke machine. Watch out David Archuleta!

When we were a bit tired, we just sat for a good 20 minutes and let the kids chase the pigeons. Ty really thought he'd be able to catch one!

Enjoying the beautiful day on a bridge over the Riverwalk.

Macaroni

Things were really good for a few months. No markers on the wall, no lotion all over the carpet, nothing broken or damaged. I admit, I got a little complacent. It felt good to be out of the Toddler stage, where I had to watch him every second.

That's why I was a little baffled when Ty came screaming into my room that something was stuck up his nose. No worries, though, we'd get it fixed. As I went searching for my tweezers, he sneezed, and out came a macaroni. I laughed, and said how great it was that his body took care of the problem by itself, but that he really shouldn't put things up his nose. He laughed, too. I laughed again as I told his dad, in front of him. Daddy laughed.

Hmmm....I guess we laughed a little too much and instructed a little too little.

The next day, same story, second verse: Tyler came screaming to me with yet another macaroni up his nose. (Note to self: when you spill some macaroni in the pantry, clean it up. Today!) He was trying to sneeze, and nothing was coming out, and he was a little panicked.

"It's not coming out! It's not coming out! I'm sneezing and it's not coming out! It's supposed to come out when I sneeze!"

Wait. He did this on purpose, just so he could sneeze it out again and we could all laugh again? (Note to self: laugh more at the positive things he does. Today!)

I got the tweezers. Too far up there, macaroni turned a bit soft, so I only got a portion. Reminded me of the time I got a live moth trapped in my ear and my dad pulled out a single wing, while the rest of the bug was frantically beating against my ear drum. But I digress.

Next I remembered the time my nephew Reed stuck a peanut up his nose. My sister awesomely blew up the unclogged nostril and the peanut popped out. I tried that on Ty. Nothing.

At this point I started to get a little worried. I went back to the tweezers. Nothing. Encouraged him to blow out his nose. Nothing. Blew his open nostril again. Nothing. Held him upside-down by his ankles. That's how my mom saved me from choking on a butterscotch hard candy once. I know he wasn't choking, but give me a break, okay? Anyway, nothing.

Brad came home at some point during all this and Dr. Daddy took over. With the tweezers. He finally stopped when Ty was wailing and thrashing around so much that if this were the game Operation, the buzzer would have been a solid BBBEEEEEEPPP!

Finally, the inspiration came to Dr. Daddy: Neil's Nasal Cleanse. This baby has been known to flush out pieces of infection and gunk that were soundly lodged deep in the cavities of the sinuses. Its powerful stream reminds me of our trip to Yellowstone to see the Old Faithful Geyser.

After reassuring Ty that this would not hurt, Brad let that deceptively benign-looking contraption do its thing. Out popped the half-dry, half-soft macaroni into the sink. Cheers were heard throughout the neighborhood.

"Are you ever going to stick anything up your nose again?"

"No Mommy. I guess sneezing doesn't work everytime."

"Nope, I guess not."

Walls

We've lived here for five months now, I figured it was time to do something about our empty walls. We've still got more than our share of bare spots, but at least this helped a little.


I like to do art that means something personally to me, so I end up with a lot of photographs. These are ones that my dad and I took on the Oregon coast. I turned them to sepia on my photo software, then uploaded them to Costco.com, where I picked them up less than an hour later!

I know the wall quotes are a bit cheesy, and a lot of people do them, but hey--this is my home and I should put things in it that I like, right? I've always been a quote lover and collecter, so these fit me well. The top two I got at a site called Wall Chatter, but there are lots of sites out there. The bottom one I found at Target! It's by a Provo company called DCWV Home.

Easter

Tyler's First Suit

This morning I had an eight o'clock choir practice, followed by church at 9, so in order to celebrate all the Easter Bunny festivities, we would have had to wake up pretty early (for our household, anyway).

Thankfully, the Easter Bunny came through for us. As I told Tyler, we got an e-mail from the Easter Bunny on Friday, saying that evidently more people were believing in Jesus and His Ressurrection this year, so he had more people to visit. Since we had church early in the morning, would we terribly mind if he came then, istead? Tyler thought that would be just fine, so for us, it was great fun coming home to see that the E.B. kept his word and came during
church (Sunday School, in fact! How do I know that? Hmmm...just a guess.)

We're Not in Utah Anymore

One thing I have really enjoyed about San Antonio is its diversity. People of all colors, backgrounds, religions and lifestyles seem to mesh pretty nicely here.

But the other day we found ourselves in a situation where we realized we were a bit out of our element. We noticed a new clothing store had opened up in a strip mall that we often drive by. (We should have known better since it was in the same neighborhood as Sara's Haircutting Adventure!)

The first thing I noticed upon entering is that we were the ONLY white people in the whole place. And we weren't just white this day, we were pasty white: Brad, with his BYU gear on, looking all preppy, me--the suburban housewife in capris, Ty wearing OshKosh...Anyway, as I walked down the aisle toward the kid's section I took a look at the clothes on the racks, all with name brands that contained words like Urban, Phat, Gangsta, and Warrior.

Some cute outfits for me:

A couple pieces for my man:

And we can't forget the baby:

I was looking for a nice Easter outfit for Tyler, but after sorting through racks of what we dubbed, "Chikeziewear," (if you saw his orange suit on American Idol, you know what we're talking about) we realized this was probably not the place for us.

Trying to look perfectly at home, we sauntered back to the front of the store, avoiding stares the whole way. (You'd think they'd never seen a white person before!)

I didn't think too much of it until I heard Obama's Racism Speech today. He talked about how racism is still alive and real--from both sides. He said, "If we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges..."

Maybe we shouldn't have walked away so quickly. Pehaps if we'd spent a little more time there shopping , we could have helped to bring everyone together and fill the chasm that exists between the races. Then again, maybe not!

Great Resource

It's preschool enrollment time, and I have had the hardest time finding an affordable preschool for Tyler! All the ones I found had huge enrollment fees, supply fees, and tuition costs in the $200/mo range, all for a 2 day/wk, 9-12 time block!

I even got on the phone to call places that didn't have websites (big step for me, as I hate calling people on the phone!) but the prices were still high! The cheapest place I could find was $140/mo, which is still more than I want to pay!

Then I found a site called Mamasource, where you sign up for free and just have an opportunity to ask things of local moms. I asked them about inexpensive preschools on my side of town, and by the end of the day I had eight responses giving me suggestions. One of them turned out to be a really good school for only 80/mo, so I went and checked it out today, and it seems really great.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass that site along. I think they have it in all areas. It's very helpful, especially being new in town!

Another Meme

Carlye tagged me this time.


10 Years Ago...
I was serving my mission in Branson, MO. I had just found out that our first baptism there still had a smoking problem but was keeping it from us. We also met a Bible Basher that day who was totally in our face and rather than just walk away, my foreign companion tried to engage her in a scripture war. Duh.

5 Things on my T0-Do list today...

• Mop floor
• Clean up house
• Play with Ty
• Make dinner for missionaries (is it bad that I always experiment with recipes when the mishies come over? I always think, "They're missionaries--they have to eat anything!" Tonight, in honor of St. Patty's Day, I'm making a new recipe that I found here of corned beef and cabbage.)
• Practice our choir Easter music (I missed the last two practices because of camp meetings but the director said I could still sing with them if I practice at home!)

Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire...Ohh...I try not to let myself think too much about this--I start getting covetous! But I would definitely pay off our mortgage and student loans, probably move to a still-modest, but a little bit bigger home, save the majority, and use the rest to be able to travel wherever and whenever I wanted, with whomever I wanted! (Let's all go on a Cruise on me!)

3 of my bad habits...

• Not calling people back (I really dislike the phone)
• Procrastination!!
• Forgetting to switch the load from the washer to the dryer, and having to run it all over again.
  

Jobs I've had...

• Helper at a Child care facility
• Aid at a Nursing Home
• TCBY yogurt artist
• Office Temp
• MTC teacher
• Plasma donor (yes, that provided about $100/mo when we really needed it!)
• Nu Skin secretary
• Junior High Teacher
• And my current job, Household Executive!

5 Things people don't know about me...I'm really shy on the inside. Although I love extreme weather, whenever it gets a little stormy I worry a little that we'll get hit by a tornado. I love reading autobiographies. I hate mustard and pickles. I don't really mind cleaning toilets, but hate unloading the dishwasher!

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged!

Spring in Texas

Lots of things to do:

Riding the Train with Friends

Playing at the Park

Walking with the Cousins

Tenting in the Backyard




Presenting at a Families Supporting Adoption Activity

and much more, I just didn't have my camera. Like:

Winning our Ward Basketball Game

Camp Meetings

Playgroup

New Garage Door Opener

Ward Activity

Yardwork

Don't Ya Just Love Spring?

Camp Name

I've been called to be a leader for the YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders) at Girls Camp this year. I'm excited--I love Girl's Camp, and this stake seems to have a really good one!

I have to come up with a camp name for myself, though, and I don't have a clue. Any suggestions? Others have names like Oreo, Sparkle, Uno, etc.

So don't be shy. Let's have a brainstorm!

Here's to Good Days

Acted Sweet; Lots of Loving Words and Hugs

No Tantrums

Brad Traveled Safely to and from Houston for Work

Found Some Good Deals at the Supermarket

Made Arrangements for Date Night
(thank you Spencer & Sara!)

What a Beautiful Day!
(And still dry here in San Antonio.

Brad said it was pretty humid in Houston. )

Life is Good!

A Break

Sometimes it's good to switch gears. I've been (and still am!) in political gear right now, and I'm sure it's annoying to some of you who read my blog. So sorry about that, it's just that for the first time in my life I'm asking myself what I really think about these issues, not just what the party I was born into says I should think! It's quite interesting. And confusing. And I'm finding that there aren't a lot of cut and dried answers out there.

Anyway...in an effort to take a little time out, here's a clip of Tyler at the Obama rally. I'm not sure if he's making up a new dance move, or pretending to sing, but hey, it kept him occupied for a little bit of the three hours we were out in the sun.