Weekly Web Finds

I love this painting by Angela Reichman.
She painted this after the Las Vegas shooting,
but she also had been thinking of recent news events around the world.
You can read more about the painting here.
Her inspiration and thoughts about it are very powerful, and helpful.

My favorite pumpkin treat recipe. I call them Pumpkinies

Of all the General Conference talks we heard last week,
this one keeps coming into my mind.

Good Parenting Advice

I've just been called as a Relief Society teacher in my ward.
My first lesson is this Sunday.
As I was preparing for Gordon B{e}. Hinckley's Lesson #20,
I re-watched this video from when Pres. Hinckley was interviewed
by Mike Wallace for 60 min.
This is what Pres. Hinckley said of the interview afterwards.

Happy Weekend.
I'm hoping to stay warm, visit this Barn Sale,
watch a couple soccer games on Sat.,
and not get too nervous about speaking in Relief Society after
many years of working in primary and young women's.

Happy General Conference Weekend

My kids like watching Good Mythical Morning.
Occasionally, I found myself listening and giggling while I watch the show despite of myself.

Kyle watched this episode when he was home sick this week. It was all about what pumpkin products to buy at the grocery store, Trader Joe's. Here's to pumpkin food season:



Also, I'm looking forward to this weekend. It's our church's general conference, when our church leaders speak to us to give us advice, council, wisdom, revelation, etc. Our family watches it together, and it's always a nice weekend to S L O W down.

How to watch LDS General Conference this weekend.

I'll be making these cinnamon rolls this weekend too. They really are pretty easy for 1st time cinnamon roll makers. The rising just takes about an hour.

The Mother's Sacrifice

I just read this magazine article about a mother's sacrifice.

A mother was spending her evening sweeping her kitchen floor for the umpteenth time.
She was mumbling to herself the whole time,
"I didn't even make this mess or eat this food that is spilled on the floor."

Her husband overheard her and said to her,

“It’s what mothers do. They spend their lives cleaning up messes that they
had no hand in making—just like the Savior did.”

I loved this. Not the part about moms cleaning up all the time.
Just understanding better what the Savior has done for you and I better.
And, I liked getting some better perspective for the work I
do day in and day out.

Something Fun to Listen To!

I really enjoyed listening to the new Relief Society General Presidency
talks from BYU Women's Conference last week. I laughed, and felt better.
If you need something fun to listen while you do dishes, laundry,
or taxi kids around this maybe just the thing to listen to.

Talk Link

These are great women, who are real and GET IT!

They are just like you and me.

I like that.

Does God Believe in the Internet?

Screens, Screens, Screens, and Pornography.

This is a daily concern I have as a mother for my family. I have 5 kids ages 15-6. Boys and Girls.
I'm right in the thick of it, raising my kids, and learning how to raise them in this world of technology.

We had a great Saturday night adult session of Stake Conference where a senior missionary couple talked to us about addictions and pornography. This is their mission, they have been called to serve as missionaries to help people who are working on their addictions, and in their recovery programs.

This is what the Sister Missionary said:

"Here are 8 things to help you and your families with Pornography and Screens"

1. Do your children know God's plan for Sex? Do they know it's a gift?
She asked the audience if we knew if God believed in Sex?
Teach them that it's a gift to be used properly for happiness.
We need to be the first to teach them.
We need to be the 1st resource about questions about Physical Intimacy.

2. Your children should have a dream/goal.
Becoming a pilot, scientist, soccer star, chef, mother, etc.
They should be engaged in doing things to help them with their goals and dreams.
This helps them with their idle time. They should be working on something they love to do.

3.The days of hit and miss scripture study and family prayer are gone.
It needs to be done every day. Let your kids know you struggle. Tell them when things
went wrong when you were a youth. Talk to each other. Try to make your home a happy place.
Do Family Councils. Build a happy, spiritual home.

4. Let your children spend more time with you than with their screens and devices.
Control and Limit their screen time.

5. Bear your testimony often, it will light theirs.
Help them FEEL their testimony in their hearts. Ask them "Do you feel that"
Let them learn what good feelings feel like.

6. Teach Optimism. There are happy endings! The world is too negative, it can be draining.
Teach them happiness. "Everything works out in the end, if it hasn't worked out yet,
then it's not the end."

7. Gratitude. It's hard to be depressed when you're counting your blessings.

8. God believes in the Internet! What is his view about it? Use it for good- Family History, Indexing,
etc. Tell your family stories. What is Great Grandpa and Grandma's stories, tell them.

In conclusion, we are curious. We are sexual creatures. Satan says it's a secret. Secrecy is his weapon.
CALL IT OUT! Don't keep it a secret. Give your children/youth images to replace it with.
Talk about it. Teach them to not return, don't go back! Assume your children have already been exposed to it. The average age is 11 yrs. old. But some children encounter it much earlier.
The industry is targeting children through cartoons.

It might be worth listening to this General Conference talk again too.


Use this website as a resource: overcomingpornography.com
There are also great FHE lesson ideas too.

Easter Week

This Sunday is Palm Sunday.
I love thinking about Easter Week, the Savior's last week.

This is a beautiful video you can watch this Easter Season with your family.


You can follow along each day of Easter Week here.

I put up a post last year of the Bible videos you can watch each day for Easter Week.
Our family likes following along that way.

the Small Seed posted this idea on their blog from Melanie Burk's idea.
You can download the pictures shown below for each day, and some scriptures that go with it, or an activity to. You could put the scriptures in an easter egg for you littles.
Don't make it a huge project. Keep it simple, the blog post has a lot of detail. It's too much for me.
I'm showing it, because I love putting up these pictures on a wall in our home.
The post allows you to download the pictures easily.

Photo from The Small Seed and Melanie Burk

On the Blog:

1 year ago: Rhubarb Recipes - The ice cream is easy and fun to try!

2 years ago: Easter at Grandma's house and with our cousins in their apple orchard

3 years ago: My cousin Tom's drawing of the Savior

4 years ago: Spring Break when my brother, Steven, came home from his mission

5 years ago: My son, Tate, and Junie B. Jones

6 years ago: My son's kidney surgery on  Easter Weekend

7 years ago: A mother's recipe with kids

8 years ago: Easter pictures when my kids are small

SaveSave

Certain Women

First News of the Resurrection - Painting by Rose Datoc Dall

I loved Sister Burton's talk on Saturday to the Women.

You can listen to her talk here.

She talked about the words 'certain women'

that are mentioned in some scripture verses.

She has passed over those words before.

But recently, in her scripture reading those words 

have jumped out at her.

She talked about the description of 'certain women'.

I can't get the phrase out of my mind.

I love it.

Am I a certain woman?

What do I need to do or change so that I can be one?

Mary Heard his Word - Painting by Walter Rane

Sister McConkie from her talk mentioned,

 from the scriptures,

"Martha, Martha,

insert your name here,

thou art careful and troubled about

many things;

But ONE thing is needful:"

I loved that too.

These phrases keep running through my mind:

Certain Women &

One thing is Needful. 

Certain Women - Painting by Walter Rane

We finished the Book of Mormon

A couple of years ago. I don't know how long now, too long really.

(I should have written down the date.)

Our family started reading The Book of Mormon to finish it.

We used a similar chart like this one to help move us along.

I liked this reward incentive because it was for each book,

instead of just doing one reward for the whole book.

It helped encourage us better.

We weren't the best at it every day. We tried though. Sometimes each member of the family would read a verse or two. Other times one person would read a few verses. Sometimes we listened to it with our devices. Other times we even watched a video. We forgot where we were a lot. That means we read double some times, or probably skipped some parts.

The point is we were consistent.

The kids were in the room with us, not always sitting still,

maybe never sitting still, or even behaving for that matter.

But we did it, We FINISHED!

That was a great feeling. Really Good. 

The quote below and others like it, are what encouraged me to keep trying to finish the book with our family, even when it was challenging at times for sure: 

(The quote is from Elder K. Brett Nattress from his Oct. General Conference talk, 

No Greater Joy Than to Know That They Know)

"As further evidence to help you understand the challenge my parents faced in raising our family, let me tell you about our family scripture reading. Each morning, my mother read the Book of Mormon to us during breakfast. During this time, my older brother, Dave, and I would sit quietly but irreverently. To be completely honest, we weren’t listening. We were reading the print on the cereal boxes.

Finally, one morning, I decided to square up with my mother. I exclaimed, “Mom, why are you doing this to us? Why are you reading the Book of Mormon every morning?” I then made a statement that I am embarrassed to admit to. In fact, I can’t believe I actually said it. I told her, “Mom, I am not listening!”

Her loving response was a defining moment in my life. She said, “Son, I was at a meeting where President Marion G. Romney taught about the blessings of scripture reading. During this meeting, I received a promise that if I would read the Book of Mormon to my children every day, I would not lose them.” She then looked me straight in the eyes and, with absolute determination, said, “And I will not lose you!”

Her words pierced my heart. Notwithstanding my imperfections, I was worth saving! She taught me the eternal truth that I am a son of a loving Heavenly Father. I learned that no matter what the circumstance, I was worth it. This was a perfect moment for an imperfect little boy."

25 Ways in 25 Days

My kids and I love counting the days until Christmas!
Usually, we have lots of ways we do this with countdown chains from school,
chocolate advents from Grandma, and our elf, etc.

I like to prepare an advent for our family about Jesus Christ
- his life, his stories, his miracles, his service, etc.
It helps us stay focused on what matters most during this Season.

Our church has prepared an advent reflecting this very thing.
This year all over the world, no matter your age,
your faith or religious beliefs,
you can do small things to help serve others.

It's beautiful and simple.



You can do one thing each day, or just do a few of things
throughout the month. No need to go overboard, or to feel guilt, or stress.

It starts tomorrow on Dec. 1st.
It will help you enjoy Christmas better, in a more meaningful way.

Go to this link to print out a pdf of the calendar, so you can follow along.

The idea is to #lighttheworld with small acts of service.

This initiative will help each of us remember Jesus Christ,
and more importantly come to know him.

This website will give you more information.
Share your ideas on social media using the #LIGHTtheWORLD

Activity Day Girls - Thankful Tree

I serve the 8-9 year old activity day girls
in my local (Mormon) church congregation called a ward.
Every 2 weeks we meet for an hour with about 10 girls,
and we do something crafty, fun, educational, spiritual, etc.
It's a lot of fun.

This week we talked about the 1st Thanksgiving in America.
I loved when I asked the girls how the pilgrims made it the new land.
Most girls said, "they walked". Then we played a guessing game.
Each girl brought something they were thankful for.
We went around the room trying to guess who brought what.

After the game we made these Thankful Trees.

Lindy made this same tree a few years back when she was in Activity Days.

How to make the trees:

October Family Home Evening

I showed my kids some episodes of this tv show.

It's perfect for the month of October.

We all enjoyed it!

(You can watch these shows through Amazon or YouTube.)

We also went to the

 LDS Youth YouTube channel

We let the kids pick short videos they want to watch.

These are always some of our best Family Home Evenings,

when we watch theses videos.

We always learn something, the kids pay better attention,

and each message is always very direct and important.

We also made pumpkin pie milkshakes!

I love this recipe from Our Best Bites.

Treats are the key to fun Family Nights.

General Conference Weekend - Oct. 2016

I was so excited this past weekend, I made homemade cinnamon rolls!
This has been a goal of mine for years.

We also listened to General Conference from our church.
We listened to our Prophet, President Monson and the 12 Apostles.

Refuge from the Storm

I've been inspired by this video:



We can help by going to www.justserve.org

Even if my time is sometimes limited I can smile when I see them around our town. Now that my eyes and ears have been opened to them, I see refugees quite a bit now in our community - at parks, in the grocery store, at the dr's office, etc.

I can donate supplies.
Our church often has drives for assembling health kits, school supplies, blankets, etc.

Praying for them, is also a great place to just start.  I can recognize a prompting, and do my best to follow through.

A Mother's Day Gift Idea

Buy a package of Forget-Me-Not Seeds.

Attach this little note on the back from

Pres. Uchtdorf's

Forget Me Not talk from his

Oct. 2011, Women's Broadcast

Easter Week Videos

I love thinking about what the Savior did this week
as we prepare to celebrate Easter Sunday.
I love using these bible videos,
to show our family about those events.

Here's the videos:

Palm Sunday


Monday - The Cleansing of the Temple
(You can click on the link to access this video).

Tuesday  - Teaching in Jerusalem


Thursday - The Savior Suffers in Gethsemane

Friday - Jesus is Scourged and Crucified

Saturday -


Easter Sunday -


You can also watch this beautiful video about celebrating our loved ones who have passed on, and who we will see again because of the Savior's resurrection! #Hallelujah

The Gift of Time Video

I was able to attend a Relief Society Conference last night
for all women ages 18+ in my local area.

This video was shared.
Listen to it carefully. Listen to it again and again.

It is filled with a lot of wisdom to guide you in your life right now.

This sweet sister has learned the power of having a relationship with God through prayer
and using the Holy Ghost to guide her in her daily life.

Joseph Smith Jr. and his Family

I love Joseph Smith's Family.

The recent June 2015 Ensign had a fabulous article about their family.

I loved it.

Here's a favorite quote from the article:

(Read the whole article if you can,

to better understand this quote)

"Remember this as perhaps the first lesson of Joseph’s life and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In spite of failure, mishap, and bitter opposition—and in many cases precisely because of those things—Joseph Smith got exactly where he needed to be to fulfill his mission. So, if now or on some future day, you look around and see that other perhaps less-devoted acquaintances are succeeding in their jobs when you just lost yours; if major illness puts you on your back just at the moment critical tasks of service seem to come calling; if a call to a prominent position goes to someone else; if a missionary companion seems to learn the language faster; if well-meaning efforts still somehow lead to disaster with a fellow ward member, a neighbor, or an investigator; if news from home brings word of financial setback or mortal tragedy you can do nothing about; or if, day after day, you simply feel like a bland and beaten background player in a gospel drama that really seems made for the happiness of others, just know this: many such things were the lot of Joseph Smith himself at the very moment he was being led to the stage of the single most transcendent thing to happen on this earth since the events of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb nearly 2,000 years earlier.
“But,” you may say, “my life and earthly destiny will never be like that of the Prophet Joseph.”
That probably is true. But it is also true that your lives do matter to God, and your eternal potential and that of every soul you will meet is no less grand and significant than that of the Prophet Joseph himself. Thus, just like our beloved Joseph, you must never give up, give in, or give out when life in general, or missionary work in particular, gets utterly painful, confusing, or dull."

The Gleaners - Mothers!

Happy, Happy Mother's Day to each of You, My Heroes!

"In my office is a beautiful painting of a wheat field. The painting is a vast collection of individual brushstrokes—none of which in isolation is very interesting or impressive. In fact, if you stand close to the canvas, all you can see is a mass of seemingly unrelated and unattractive streaks of yellow and gold and brown paint. However, as you gradually move away from the canvas, all of the individual brushstrokes combine together and produce a magnificent landscape of a wheat field. 

Many ordinary, individual brushstrokes work together

to create a captivating and beautiful painting.

Each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the yellow and gold and brown strokes of paint complement each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33)."
- Elder Bednar, More Diligent and Concerned at Home

2015 Spring Break

We stayed home this past Spring Break.
Since we have just moved, our vacation budget is very low,
and we still have lots of projects to get done around the house.

The kids thankfully, just seemed to enjoy hanging around the house to relax and not be as scheduled.

On MONDAY - we visited Dad the Dentist!
I also went over clothes with some of my kids.
The dreaded seasonal clothing chore:
what have you outgrown, what have you never worn in your drawer, what do you need now, etc.

On TUESDAY - we saw the new movie Cinderella.
Such a great, great movie! A must see! Very well done, with a great message!
The below image is from Miss Brimley's blog.

After seeing the movie, throughout the week I kept feeling like I was the wicked stepmother when I asked my kids to do chores and work. Then, I felt like we needed a lesson on which one are you,
Cinderella who cheerfully works, or the wicked stepsisters who want nice things, to sleep in, and do no work.

On WEDNESDAY - I took my kids on an adventure.
We explored this quirky little outdoor museum in Walter's Ferry, Idaho.

On THURSDAY - we had the cousins over for our annual indoor jelly bean hunt.

Still a huge hit, even with the older kids!

 Sadie

 Cousin Spencer

 Cousin Kate

 Cousin Claire

On the weekend - we went on a family bike ride, we planted some trees for our backyard, and attended stake conference where we received wise counsel about having monthly family councils. The family council is something where all family members no matter their age can offer their ideas, suggestions or questions about matters concerning our family.

Easter 2015

We had a great Easter Week and weekend.

I love studying about the Savior's last week. What he did each day.
I put up a photo wall of each day to help our family remember.

Each night we also we watched a short video clip about
what the Savior did each day of his week before he died using these bible videos.

On Saturday we went over to Grandma Dianne's house with cousins and
colored Easter eggs. We were also able to listen and watch some of the LDS General Conference.

 Egg Coloring with President Uchtdorf!

On Sunday the kids were excited that the Easter Bunny came. He delivered some candy in their baskets. Tate didn't get any toys or remote control planes in his basket.

We watched, slept, and enjoyed some more General Conference.

Then, in the evening we headed over to my sister, Molly's home,

for a delicious Easter potluck dinner, and cousin's egg hunt.

Molly and her husband recently moved with their family onto some acreage.

So, egg hunting on their property was a lot of fun!

 Brandon

 Cousin Claire

 Cousin Kate

 Lindy and Tate looking inside the house.

There are no eggs inside!

 Lindy

 Cousin Nathan

 Cousin Matthew

 Sadie

 Cousin Sam

 Cousin Spencer

 Tate found a caterpillar instead of an Easter Egg.

Thanks Dianne for hard boiling so many eggs for coloring,

and hosting our family for Easter Weekend.

Thanks Molly for hosting such a fun Easter Dinner!