the other day Lizzy asked me if Jesus was Santa:)  A few years ago i remember Henry asking me if i thought Heavenly Father was Santa:)  So sweet, i love that they make that association...Santa teaches children to believe, to give and receive, love others and to have joy....what a great way for kids to learn about the love their Heavenly Father and Savior have for them!

Even when the armaments of war ring out in deathly serenade and 

darkness and hatred reign in the hearts of some, there stands immovable, 

reassuring, comforting, and with great outreaching love the 

quiet figure of the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.

-Gordon B. Hinkley

i just read this quote on the nieniedialogues blog. i love it. He truly is the light and hope of the world! i'm so grateful we can put our faith in Him and teach our children to do the same!

"He asks that we “pray always, and be believing” (D&C 90:24).  When our children kneel with us in prayer and hear our pleadings in their behalf, the foundation of prayer is laid in their own lives."

i thought this was appropriate for halloween and for this time in our lives;)

"LAMPS"

I met a stranger in the night

Whose lamp had ceased to shine.

I paused and let him light

His lamp from mine.

A tempest sprang up later on

And shook the world about.

And when the wind was gone

My lamp was out!

But back to me the stranger came—

His lamp was glowing fine!

He held the precious flame

And lighted mine!⁸

-Lon Woodrum

i loved this little poem that President Monson quoted in his recent conference talk. Isn't it so true in life, sometimes our flame is burning brightly and we are able to help light another's and other times ours is weak and we are blessed by the light of others that we once helped rekindle.

"There is no spot of ground, however arid, bare or ugly, that cannot be tamed into such a state as may give an impression of beauty and delight." -Gertrude Jekyll

this quote reminded me of our visit to the Butchart Gardens in Canada.  The gardens were originally the remains of a cement quarry where Mr Butchart worked. His wife used the Barren remains of the dugout limestone and began to bring in tons of topsoil to use to plant flowers, bushes, trees....it is now an amazing world renown garden! 

"The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also."                               -Harriet Ann Jacobs

i should probably wait and post this in the spring but knowing we are about to head into a cold idaho winter, it is comforting to know that underneath the barren and the cold, a colorful spring is awaiting to grow! We are actually enjoying a heavenly fall right now though. There is a beauty and a sense of awe and wonder in every season of the year!

“As one of His Apostles, authorized to bear witness of Him, I solemnly testify that I know that the Savior lives, that He is a resurrected, glorified personage of perfect love.” —Elder Richard G. Scott

i love this picture of Elder Richard G. Scott and his wife Jeannene that he so often spoke of. 

What a joyful reunion in Heaven they must be having!!! His sensitive and heartfelt talks in 

General Conference will be greatly missed though! He was always able to speak as if he

were carrying on a one-on-one conversation even though he was speaking to a worldwide 

audience. So grateful for his example and testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

"It's so important for girls to respect themselves and not put themselves down and say, 'Oh, my life is horrible,' and 'I'm not pretty enough.' How do you know? There's this energy people give off that people can be drawn to."

David Archuleta

We were just watching a little clip of David Archuleta singing the song "If the Savior stood beside me" and i told Lizzy he was a missionary and learned spanish on his mission(he sang part of the song in spanish).  Lizzy said, "so he doesn't have a wife then? Can i marry him?" i explained to her that he will probably be married by the time she was old enough to get married and she said "well maybe he won't be married when i get older and he can be my husband"  Oh boy, this little four year old is in love with David Archuleta!!! Too cute, i couldn't stop smiling! I hope and pray she will marry a       return missionary that loves the Lord and loves her too! Now i sometimes call her "Mrs Archuleta" just for fun!!!!

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.

Maya Angelou

this quote made me think of how Jesus' motivation was love. His work and His glory will come to pass because of His love! 

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to see, to find, and not to yield.

~Tennyson

I vividly remember going to my elementary school library on a weekly basis as a child. I loved checking out the books by the author Beverly Cleary.  They were delightful to read. One of her most well known characters was Ramona Quimby. . . Our little girl Louise reminds me so much of what i envisioned Ramona to be like so i sometimes call her "Ramona" just for fun. She looks at me with a teasing smile and says "my not 'mamona, my wheezy, call me wheezy"  I love our little, endearing Wheezy!

"We need to read and study the scriptures and pray every day.  Without these two essential practices outside influences can dim or even extinguish your light.  When you are a light to the world people around you will feel a special spirit that will make them want to associate with you and follow your example." 
-President Thomas S. Monson

Life is a tapestry: We are the warp; angels, the weft; God, the weaver. Only the Weaver sees the whole design. ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994

When i read this little quote i had to look up what "warp" and "weft" meant:) What a neat imagery.  The other day Lizzy put a circular hair elastic on top of my head and said "you look like an angel because angels have circles above their heads" i told her they were called halos.  She said "yah, halos. that's right. Angels have them. So who was the first angel?" she asked.  I love getting glimpses of what these little ones think and wonder about!

in a day and age of instant gratification it's good to be reminded of patience. One thing i love about living in idaho is being able to see the farms in all their different stages: prepping the ground, planting, watering, sprouting, harvesting,....it's so much like the different seasons of our lives.

While i am using the computer Lizzy is playing "house" and she set up a bed on the couch in the living room. She tucked herself in and then jumped out and said "i forgot to read the scriptures" so she got my little hymnbook that kind of looks like scriptures and pretended to read.  Then she said, "oh i forgot to say my prayers" so she kneeled by her makeshift "bed" and quietly whispered a prayer.  Oh how i hope  she will rely on prayer throughout her life. There is power and peace in a prayerful life.

“What do you do when you have prepared carefully, have prayed fervently, waited a reasonable time for a response, and still do not feel an answer? You may want to express thanks when that occurs, for it is an evidence of His trust. When you are living worthily and your choice is consistent with the Savior’s teachings and you need to act, proceed with trust. As you are sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, one of two things will certainly occur at the appropriate time: either the stupor of thought will come, indicating an improper choice, or the peace or the burning in the bosom will be felt, confirming that your choice was correct. When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision”-Elder Richard G. Scott (“Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer,” Ensign, May 2007, 10).

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie

"Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]-the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth." 
~Sarah Ban Breathnach (quoted by Thomas S. Monson)

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now." -President Thomas S. Monson

A philosophy professor once greeted his new class with this object lesson:

He had an empty, clean quart jar that he held up to the class.

In this he poured some rocks about the size of a half dollar. He poured them in until the jar was full. Then he asked the class was the jar full indeed. They all answered that it was full.

The professor then took a bag of smaller pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook it so they would fall into the spaces between the larger rocks. The class laughed.Once again, he asked, "Is the jar full?"

The class all answered again that it was full.

This time he picked up a cup of sand and poured it into the jar. Naturally, it filled up any left spaces as he shook it. He told his class to recognize that this represented their life. The rocks are the important things such as {GOD}, your family, your partner {SPOUSE), your children, your health, or anything so important to you that you would be nearly devastated if you lost it.

The pebbles are the other things in life that matter such as your house, job and car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff in life.


If you put the sand or the pebbles in the jar first, there will be no room for the rocks. Same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on small stuff (material things), you will never have any time for the things that are truly most important. Pay attention to the things that are most critical in your life. Tell your spouse you love her, spend time playing with your children, take your spouse out dancing, take time for medical checkups. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.


Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter to you. Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand! 

Copied the italic paragraphs from:http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/beautyrecipes/LifePriorities.html
Pictures from: http://tarasuetakeawalkinmyshoes.blogspot.com/

I recently got a new visiting teaching companion and she is so dedicated.  On the last day of the month she is already beginning to plan when to visit and how to serve the sisters we teach the following month. She is new in the ward and is still getting to know the three sisters we visit, but has already done so much good to help them. In addition to that she is a mother of 9 kids, two of them are adopted and have special needs. She has a lot going on so she told me she needs to make visiting teaching a priority at the beginning of the month or else it will fall by the wayside.  I know i've been so blessed with the sisters i've met through visiting teaching over the many years of being in relief society.

“Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach. T. Berry Brazelton. Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with ‘Goodnight Moon’ and ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.” Then she goes on and talks about some of the mistakes she made while raising her babies. “…the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make…I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of [my children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”

--Anna Quindlen

“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. … And he took [the children] up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:14, 16).

"We need to elevate the roles of mothers and fathers.

We need to teach our sons and daughters that there isn’t any greater honor than that of mother and father. We need to teach them to exalt the roles that mothers and fathers play in the plan. Being a mother and father is something of great worth. Every child should feel that they are the highest priority to their parents." -Bonnie Oscarson

“I am in love with this world. I have nestled lovingly in it. I have climbed its mountains, roamed its forests, sailed its waters, crossed its deserts, felt the sting of its frosts, the oppression of its heats, the drench of its rains, the fury of its winds, and always have beauty and joy waited upon my goings and comings.”

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” -John Burroughs

lately i've been riding my bike more when i need to run a quick errand around town...i love it!!! It feels so good to be outside and it makes me notice nature more even though we live in the city...it really does  "put my senses in order."

"Families mean work, but they are our great work—

and we are not afraid of work." -Julie B Beck

(baby lizzy)

Each day I hug my boy,

I kiss him softly,

I whisper “I love you” into his impressionable ears.

Each day I think about how I could make him smile,

How I could make him feel cared for,

How I could make his day.

Each day I get on the ground and am my son’s playmate,

his best bud.

Each day, I strive to fulfill his need to simply be loved.

No questions asked, no prerequisites needed.

My love is free and that is the greatest gift.

-marla gale

(baby henry)

when god wants an important thing done in this world or a wrong righted, he goes about it in a very singular way. he doesn't release thunderbolts or stir up earthquakes. god simply has a tiny baby born, perhaps of a very humble home, perhaps of a very humble mother. and god puts the idea or purpose into the mother's heart. and she puts it in the baby's mind, and then-god waits. the great events of this world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts. the great events are babies, for each child comes with the message that god is not yet discouraged with humanity but is still expecting good-will to become incarnate in each human life. {edmond mcdonald}