In The Strength of the Lord

One of my favorite talks right now is from Elder Eyring. The talk was given in Conference of 2004. What really impressed me about this talk is he explains why it's so important to do the gospel basics in our lives. Whenever we have a problem in our lives we always look for something of a solution and he points out that we need strength in our lives and to get that strength we need obedience.

It specifically mentions the strength we recieve in our lives through prayer, scripture study, attending church meetings and serving in the church. The way he addresses these basic things really stuck out to me the first time I read it and I keep coming back to it whenever I am struggling. Here's just one excerpt:

"the test a loving God has set before us is not to see if we can endure difficulty. It is to see if we can edure it well. We pass the test by showing that we remebered Him and the commandments He gave us. And to endure well is to keep those commandments whatever the opposition, whatever teh temptation, adn whatever the tumult around us. We have that clear understanding because the restored gospel makes the plan so plain."

Really, take some time, click on the link and read this talk.

In The Strength Of The Lord

Delays

Thanks to everyone out there that takes a moment to read my blog.

Sorry the posts have been a little unpredictable as to timing lately as I was having trouble getting them to post. I believe the problem has been fixed.

Also, they've added a spell check feature so I can learn to spell, or at least know when I've made a mistake.

Cousins

It isn't often we have family come to visit and we all enjoyed it.

The kids were always fighting for spots on the bean bag...

...and April's lap.

This is what happens when Moms are away.

Thank you to Lindy for making the trip to come visit. We love you guys!

How To Get Kids To Eat Vegetables

I’ve been attempting to improve our eating habits lately and we have made some good strides. As with any changes there are always things that just don’t work out the way you expect. I was trying some recipes that use vegetable purees cooked into foods to trick children into eating healthy.

The first day I did this I made a sandwich with a cottage cheese and sweet potato mix that you cook in a waffle iron. I love the idea of making grilled sandwiches in a waffle iron, they really get crisp and have the potential to be great. The filling for my sandwiches was too runny as I bought baby food to use for the puree. We sat down to eat and we had these sandwiches and green beans. My husband told me they weren’t very good and the boys tried a few bites before abandoning the idea of eating dinner, then I brought out a can of green beans to eat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my kids eat green beans that fast. My husband pointed out that the goal of the whole exercise was to get the boys to eat more veggies so this was a success, just not in the way I had intended.

I could have said this was a fluke but the next day I tried another new recipe. The recipe was too complicated for a week night and I should have known better. The main dish turned out okay and the boys ate a little but once again the broccoli on the side disappeared quickly followed by a reminder by my three-year old that I’d promised edamame with dinner. Once again the veggies became the main attraction as both the boys eagerly ate up the soy beans. So a thank you to my friends who have encouraged healthy eating. I hope my future endeavors aren’t quite as entertaining.

One Man's Scraps...

So, I had a period where I made tons of recieving blanket and a few rag quilts. This was before I'd learned how to minimize scraps and I ended up with tons of squares left over. A friend of mine encouraged me to put something together from the left over and this is what came out of it.

I love that it has bits of all the projets I've done. It's the most ambitious sewing project I've ever done and I think it will be a long time before I get motivated to piece something again. I do have to admit it turned out pretty cute.

On The Hunt

Our pre-school co-op combined with another pre-school for an Easter egg hunt.

It was fun to see the kids so excited.

Even the little ones got in on the action.

After a bit the kids decided they needed to play.

I was surpised they left some eggs out to go play.

The weather was amazing and we ended up staying quite a while.

A special "Thank You" to Savannah for putting this together.

Paparazzi

If I ever become famous and have camera people chasing me around sneeking pictures it won't be a problem. Since we got married my husband is always catching me off guard. The first couple months we were married we found a couple disposable cameras in our apartment which he quickly used to take pictures of me. Here's a sampling of the shots taken by my personal paparazzi.

This was a day I was out moving the car...and giving a driving lesson.

Here's me being my glamourous self...paying the bills.

Both the boys are obsessed with sitting in my lap right now, it's the best seat in the house!

Wheelbarrow

Look Mom, we finally got awheelbarrow! So, it was impossible to not enjoy bringing this into the house to assemble it. Matt loves putting things together (I only take things apart :)), and the boys enjoyed helping.

It was fun to watch our three-year old really get into helping out.

He even got to do some all by himself.
It's sure a good thing we have a wheelbarrow. We've put it to good use and are looking forward to working on some bigger summer projects.