Photography by a 3 yr old.

BriLynn loves taking pictures with the camera. Here is her latest shoot of Jonathan, her willing subject.

She was inside the cupboard taking them. She always makes me laugh....well except the times she picks her nose, points her finger to me and says "here mom".

Pressure

I have been reading a book called Side by Side by Jeanette Goates Smith. It's about supporting a spouse in church service. It has helped me when at times I feel like falling apart. I wanted to write a few quotes/stories that have stood out to me.

Revel your limitations: Do you find that whenever you have to tell someone "no" you generally include an explanation for your answer?  A devoted Church servant need not manufacture an excuse for saying no. Saints who are anxiously engaged in a good cause always have something else beckoning. 

Tolerance for trials: Believing, behaving, and serving Saints want desperately to obey Heavenly Father and, in doing so, serve their fellowman.  I see this in Kevin and it makes me even more proud to be his wife. But...those with high tolerance for trials are willing to give and give and give until they have nothing left to give. Such a sacrifice is not helpful to the kingdom. It is okay to give and give but stop short of giving till you have nothing left to give. Save some energy. This way you will remain useful and won't become a service project yourself. Even those who rate the highest on a "tolerance for trials" scale eventually reach their limit. Hence why we should serve within our means.

The oil in your lamp: I love this quote from Neal A. Maxwell. "When, for the moment , we ourselves are not being stretched on a particular cross, we ought to be at the foot of someone else's."  Deep huh? We all crave opportunities to serve, but we can't give when we are stretched on our own crosses.

Pressure to set an example: Church leaders and their families are often watched very carefully. She relates a story about pressure she felt to set a good example while her husband was bishop.  Her son who was deacon-aged, showed up at church without any shoes. The church was twenty minutes away from home and she would miss sacrament if she drove home to get them. She cringed as she thought of what others reactions would be that the bishop's son attended church without any shoes. How unorganized the bishops wife must be, how scatterbrained! She probably slept to late. Hasn't she heard the song "Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday..."? She should have had her children's clothes all set out the night before. She decided to attend Sacrament.
One of the most stressful requirements of supporting a spouse in leadership position is dealing with the knowledge that your family will be subjected to a bit of scrutiny. When Kevin was put in as Bishop a member of the High Council told him to prepare his wife as she would loose friends. I thought this was so sad. I don't believe I have lost any friends but I do feel weighed down with the responsibility of setting a good example. It's not me thought that I worry most about. In his first year of being the bishop Kevin told me that he couldn't count how many times he has been yelled at. It saddens me to think that there are those who would be mean to those trying to serve the Lord. He's a regular guy with extra burden. It makes me want to tell those who have yelled at him to "put yourselves in his shoes and see how you do." It also reminds me of a comment made at the "Mom's and Muffin's" that the PTA put on recently. A mom complained that there wasn't any milk with the muffins. We didn't advertise there would be. I want to say...if you have a problem with the way things are run, then try running it yourself. Sorry, venting moment. When we say anything bad about the leaders of the church, weather true or false, we tend to impair their influence and their usefulness and are thus working against the Lord and his cause.
I have learned to not sweat the small stuff. I'm trying to do my best each day and there are times I falter but, I'm human,  doing the best I can is all He asks.

Wish List

I went to the school today and watched Danika as she played with the High School Orchestra. I WISH I could play the violin.  The music was so beautiful.  I took this picture

It's not the greatest photo, it's from my phone. I WISH I wasn't as technologically challenged as I am. It took Kevin days to talk me into getting an android. It has been fun but I guess I'm a bad student. I don't want to learn things, I just want to automatically know how to work it. You should have seen the clerks face when he switched the sim card out of my old phone. He handled the thing like it was an ancient artifact ha ha. I told him he should have seen the cell phone I had when I first went to college. It was a brick phone, anyone remember those?
I WISH I could go to the bathroom without interruptions.
I WISH I knew how to fluently speak Spanish.
I WISH I didn't have grey hair already...so not fair!
I WISH laundry could wash and fold itself.
I WISH BriLynn still didn't call for me to wipe her behind. It's been a few weeks since I have yet she still calls for me. (I told her I'm not doing it, that it's her job now. "Why don't you want to wipe your own behind?" I asked  "because it's yucky" she says) Yeah...

Priesthood Power

You think after six children we would be used to uninterrupted sleep. While yes there are wonderful days with no interruptions there are more nights that someone comes in saying they are scared, need to go to the bathroom, don't feel good, can't sleep and the list goes on. Last night was one of those nights, but worse. BriLynn was awake to go potty, Jacob was up coughing and couldn't get back to sleep. Jonathan was up and down every twenty minutes till three in the morning.  I was ready to take him to the ER to get his ears checked. I was so frustrated. Kevin got dressed into his white shirt, tie and pants and gave him a blessing. Within two minutes he was asleep. I love the respect that he has for the Priesthood he's been given. In the middle of the night, tired and exhausted to dress properly for a Priesthood blessing. I took him to the doctor and he has a double ear infection. Poor kid. 

I know that if Kevin hadn't given him the blessing we would have been up with him even longer. I was crying as I watched him fall so easily to sleep in awe. I'm thankful my husband is worthy of this special gift from our Father above.

Happy Valentines Day

So I don't want this post to be "look what I did" post, I mean for it to be an ideas post. Remember how I said I wanted to make a giant fortune cookie for Kevin for Valentines? Well this is how it turned out. 

This is what I put int he fortune cookie: 

I have tried a couple different recipes but this is the one I like so far

you can find it at:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fortune-cookies-i/

I took that to Kevin's work along with some balloons and a poster that said

(Candy) Mike and Ike won't do

They don't compare a Stud 

Muffin (box of muffins) 

Like you.

I took enough muffins for his co-workers. 

This morning I had valentines on the kids plates, I found some funny angry birds ones and wrote a poem for them on the back

You are a special kid and we love you very much,

you make us smile and have a tender kind of touch.

We are so proud and thankful each and everyday,

To have you as our child, what more can we say.

Love Mommy and Daddy

I cut a heart shape out of bread and made toad in a hole.... at least that's what we called it growing up. When you cook the egg inside the bread.

Okay so now this next part is going to brag ha ha. Read on if you like. Our school was awarded the National Title 1 distinguished school. Also Utah State Closing the Achievement Gap Award and High Achieving School Award.

The kids were awarded with a fancy lunch. The cafeteria was transformed into a banquet area. Balloons and lights everywhere and they had a quartet playing. The PTA was asked to serve desserts. Each kid took home these plates.

It was fun to see their faces light up as they came in. One kid said "This is the best day of my life" 

Two different Opinions

We have a situation going on at our house.....my hubby and I disagree. Shocker right, ha ha. Really we don't disagree on that many things. This isn't that big of a deal, but I'm wondering what others opinions would be on the matter.

So here it is...Kevin would like to buy a new stove, dishwasher and washer and dryer. You would think it would be the other way around right?  I'm not completely against it as I know we need new ones but for now I think we can wait. He wants to get them now.
In my opinion they are still working so why get new ones. Wear it out, right?  What do you think? Lets start with the washer and dryer. These baby's have to be around 35 to 40 years old. We have had them since we were married. Kevin got them from his professor at CEU, he was getting his wife new ones. So I figure they were around 20-25 years old then and we have been married for almost 12. Kevin has had to fix something on the dryer since we have had them and that is it. Ya ever hear the phrase "they don't make them like they used to."

Next is the stove: This has been in the house ever since we moved in (almost 10 years ago) If you look closely you can see the water slanted in the pan. It drives Kevin crazy that it's not level.

Now comes the dishwasher. We actually just bought this like three or four years ago so It makes me furious that it's already broken. The handle broke so I had to open the whole top off and rig it up with tape so it doesn't fall. But hey...it still works. 

So what do you think? Would you get new ones or wait till they die?