spiritual cup part2 (and a move)

continued.... :)

Day 2! SOOO EXCITED

Chris WIlliams- watch his story or read it online, it is AMAZING!!! His wife and 2 out of his 4 children were killed in a car accident when they was hit by a 17 yr old drunk driver. In the instant that he realised his wife and 2 of his children were GONE, he heard the Lord tell him DISTINCTLY  to "LET IT GO".. A beautiful story about FREELY FORGIVING!!! The message that Chris gave was that the Lord needed to "SAVE" one of his children (the 17 yr old drunk driver, who was a young man that is a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and how can you be mad at the Lord for letting this situation be the one that changed this young mans life! Have Faith in the Lord and his Divine plan!

*Tragedy helps us Love

*Pray for strength to carry our burdens, to have faith in Jesus Christ, and to LET IT GO:)

*What burden could I lay at the feet of the Lord?

Mercy River- LOVE THERE MUSIC!!

-We poor out our miseries, but God just hears a melody, its better than a hallelujah sometimes

-Has anybody told you you BEAUTIFUL, you might agree if you could see what I see- said GOD!

-What if the trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?

KATE & SARAH- Mormon Mommy Bloggers. :) **Look into my eyes and listen to my words** They had a great message about mothering and not trying to be perfect! Family and Life is Messy and that's OK.. This talk is clearly not for me (since probably all of you know that my house is the dirtiest house on the block, my kids never have on clean clothes, and I take a shower maybe twice a week;O)....
The bigger more meaningful message for me was that we need to make time for the Little (but most important) things in life.
-read your children bedtime stories
-scripture study
-family home evenings
-eating together
-TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN, don't drown them out with music or other distractions in life
-laugh with them
-let them know how much you LOVE THEM
-play with them
-hug and kiss them everyday
-teach them that they have a define heritage, they are a CHILD OF GOD and He has a plan for them.

Mothering is not only reserved for women that have children, it can be done by anyone..
     ---Motherhood is loving, caring for, and nurturing anyone in need.

BRAD WILCOX-  Micheal Angelo sculpted a beautiful statue of Mary holding Jesus. When this statue was put out for display no one believed that a young sculptor only 23, could produce something of "this" magnitude. His work was very impressive and he was upset at the thought that no one believed it was his work, and with good reason. Micheal was VERY proud of this sculpture, soo proud that when he got home that night he decided to sign that sculpture.. He wrote his name on the robe of Mary, right across her chest where EVERYONE COULD SEE!

Now close your eyes and imagine the Savior signing YOU.. He is the sculptor of me, man is one of his greatest works (I am one of his greatest works)... We are his work and his glory! How is that for a sense of self worth! :)

Jesus- is known by a lot of names one being the KING OF KINGS- we are all kings/ queens that come from the highest king!

JOHN BETHEWEY- Talked about surrounding our self with GREATNESS!! You are the average of the 5 people you hang around the most. "Regardless of your original intention you'll eventually become what you surround yourself with". .... emphasis on: Regardless of your intentions..... in this day in age I need to be overly mindful of the things I am letting influence my children and my family. Bad things can happen even if you have the best of intentions.

-the way we spend our days eventually becomes the way we spend our lives

-surround yourself with GREATNESS!, music, TV shows, friends..

-BE THE GREATNESS!!!!

-wind up your spiritual clock as OFTEN AS YOU CAN!

-"I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful counitnance"

**"fill your mind with thoughts of Christ, fill your hearts with a love of Christ, and fill your life with service to Christ."

-A father doesn't give up on his children, endure to the END.... Love the spirit that I felt during this talk. Be the Greatness, that is my goal.. (that is probably every ones goal, who doesn't want to be GREAT:)

EMILY FREEMAN- I didn't get to stay until the very end, because I had to go pick up the kids:( I missed a few of Emily's bullet points but hopefully I can buy the CD from the event and maybe Kaj and I can make a date night out of watching it:)

1. The Lord knows where you are in your journey. "the Lord they God knoweth... He walketh with thee...." Deuteronomy 4, 2:7

2. Trust his word! The Lord hears and answers prayers. Expect an answer, listen for an answer.
*When was the last time you had an answer to a prayer?
If it wasn't in the last 3 day's then your not doing it right.
*When was the last time you found an answer in the scriptures?
If it wasn't within the last week than your not doing it right. 

3. Trust in his timing.. Jeremiah 29... Pray for peace, pray for contentment. There is HOPE in the end. Trust God enough to trust in his timing

4. Trust his example- Matthew 9.... "When he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion" He gave us the example of ministering, healing and compassion. " Pray ye that he would send for labors" 1nephi 4... "Nevertheless continue to minister" 3nephi 18..... Go where the Savior directs.

There should have been a number 5 and then I'm sure she ended with a summary but I missed it.. and I missed the awesome Mercy River and there closing number but I am MORE than thankful for the opportunity that I had to hear all of the speakers that I did this weekend. There example and stories of HOPE have strengthened my testimony and left me feeling like I have knew knowledge that will help me be able to "go about my Fathers business" with better understanding. :) It is soo easy these days to get distracted and loose sight of where we are going and what should take priority in our lives, and I am soo grateful that I have a place that I can go to get "back on track", a place that will teach me and help motivate me to be better than I think I can be.. 

Umm hello cute tote bag:)

Moving update:)--- With the help of grandma, papa Hall and Ryan, Kaj was able to get a few loads taken care of. There is still SOOO MUCH to get done but we have tomorrow from sun up to sun down.... Get it babe! :O)

working well into the night:(

Briyler "helping"

 

and just so you know how good of a mom I am here is Briyler wearing Dugi's shorts (because he wont wear anything but Dugi's clothes), no socks or SHOES and staying up WAY PAST HIS BED TIME!

he must be 3! :)

Filling my spiritual cup:)

 

Ok so if you know me personally then you know just how EXCITED I was for this weekend!! Not only was this the weekend we move out of my parents house but it is also the weekend that I got to go to the TIME OUT FOR WOMEN convention!!! OHHH MY GOSH, if you have never been to this event you SERIOUSLY need to commit yourself right HERE right NOW to go next year.. There isn't any other place in the world that I can think of where you feel the spirit quite like you do at this event. There is something about a LARGE group of ONLY WOMEN (over 10,000) all trying to be strengthened and uplifted.

This years theme was "SEEK THE GOOD". I'm not going to lie I hadn't put much thought into that statement until the actual event. I didn't really understand the depth of the statement to be honest, I thought I was doing just fine in "seeking the good" but I was obviously wrong:) I am going to write down the highlights of each one of the talks given during the convention. --These are just the highlights for me, so someone else might have a totally different take on the talks and what messages was trying to be relayed.

VIRGINIA PIERCE-  The definition of Seek means: to go in search of, look for, or try to discover by searching or questioning.....

I thought I understood that pretty well. I knew that if I wanted to find good in the world I couldn't just ideally sit back and wait for it to come to me I have to GO OUT IN SEARCH OF IT! I needed to find the good in my everyday life, in my kids, my husband, my church calling, even in my trials. In every aspect of my life I needed to SEEK IT.. And for me it wasn't hard to find, I felt like I was doing pretty good at the whole seeking the good thing, and then sister Virginia Pierce told us that Seeking is only part of our quest. (I was in OWE, part 1? You mean theres MORE!!) Once we go in search of the good we need to make sure we are ready and willing to RECEIVE THE GOOD!!  Who would have thought that receiving would be something that you have to actually DO!

Receiving the good is sometimes harder than seeking the good. Once we have sought after the good we need to then change our habits to reflect that of which we found to be good. Then after we have changed whatever it is that we might have needed to change we are in a position to receive the revelation that comes along with what we have been seeking. Are you confused yet:) There is more to seeking the good than just acknowledging the good around us we need to be PRO ACTIVE. We need to be quick to forgive and slow to be offended,we need to be the kind of person that exemplifies the Savior, we need to loose our self in service to those around us and once we do this Heavenly Father will be able to use us as a vessel for his work and help us to be more than we ever thought we were capable of being. I absolutely LOVE sister Pierce she seems to have a way of saying things that totally make sense to me. Honestly we could have ended on that note and I would have felt ready to go out and take on the world, but lucky for me there were MORE LESSONS to be learned and more stories shared that deaply touched my heart:)

SHERI DEW -gave a good message about studying our heritage. Would our fore fathers be proud of the work we are doing and the person we are becoming. Know your mortal and Divine heritage! I absolutely LOVE this next thought:
*The pedigree of our spirit can be written on a single line - YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD!!!
How amazing is that statement! I know exactly where I came from, where I'm going and WHO I AM!!! The Lord saved choice spirits for the last days and WE are his chosen !! Live up to the promises you made before you came to this earth, remember who you are and where you are going and don't be shaken by the world!

*pure womenhood + priesthood = exaltation

*GO GO FIND A WAY TO GO TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD!

*Stand tall and do not faulter in the building up of Zion.

*Much of the growth of the church in the last day's will be because of the good women of the church

*The Lord wouldn't have taken a chance in the last days by sending men/women he couldn't count on.. ---    Make sure the Lord can COUNT ON ME!!

What a way to start out my weekend. The messages were powerful and I left wanting MORE!!! I could hardly wait for the morning to come............

On a side note, my mom was out of town and I couldnt find anyone to go on this AMAZING adventure with me (they dont know what they are missing) but I wasnt afraid to go meet new friends, and I did just that:)... We should have gotten a picture together but the group that "took me in" had a MILLION women in there group and we were hardly ever all together at the same time:)

Ps- Super Dad held down the fort while I was gone and even got 1 HUGE load packed onto the trailer so HE could start the actual moving process in the morning:) ... (yep HE alone because I will be gone... Did I mention I have the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD)

FHE: halloween style

Ok so this week was another fun family get away for FHE.. We really need to start up with our lessons again!! :O) Grandma and Papa Hall invited us to a Halloween work party. They had pizza and bread sticks for dinner, Carmel apples with candy bites for dessert and TONS of fun games for the kids to play!! Briyler and Ryker were both ECSTATIC to put on their spiderman costumes, and even Dugi was jumping around because he got to wear his dinosaur pants.. (these costumes are getting great use this year).. Grandma Trish and I went together since the party started at 4 and then Dad and Papa met us there after they got off work. Briyler was a little out of his element tonight. I don't know if it was all the games or if he was just really excited but he was PRETTY NAUGHTY!!! (I guess that's the 3 year old phase, right) He really wanted to run around and wrestle.. I don't really mind the wrestling its just that in public its not very good manners, and it is something that can get out of control way to fast..

Other than the over excited behavior they kids had a good time.. I got some really funny pictures of Ryker and Dugi trying to eat donuts off of a dangling string and Ryker trying to push a small pumpkin across the room with his nose.. .SOO FUNNY!!!

PIZZA TIME:)

Ryker shooting his "spider web" at me:)

Brothers :)

Briyler can be such a stinker

 

Dugi trying to eat the donut.. SOO FUNNY.. Bri wouldn't even try

Kynlie played for bri, she knew just what she wanted.. She pulled his donut right off the string:)

Ryker playing, start from the bottom... GOOD JOB DUDE

Get IT!!!

Bri stealing back the donut that was supposed to be his, luckily Kynlie didn't care.

Your lucky you have a nice sister Mr!

LOVE HIS FACE!!!!!! Haha!!

Dugi, theres to much going on to look at you mom

Ryker pushing the pumpkin with his nose!! it was tricky and he was the smallest one in his group

This might look like chaos to alot of parents but it makes me happy that they are all smiling and having fun together.. even if it is rough boy fun!

Chili cook off, super saturday and John's homecoming... Busy busy busy!

This weekend was soo fun! Friday night we had our annual ward chili cook off. I love this tradition, I am not a good cook so being treated to YUMMY homemade chili's is the ultimate reward!! The kids got to dress up in there Halloween costumes for the first time and they were SOOO EXCITED to go show there church friends.. Our ward is awesome, they had a ton of fun booths set up for the kids and they loaded up on the treats (since most kids dont love chili..) It was perfect for the kids, who actually lasted a good hour and a half.. I was not EXPECTING THAT!

this is the picture right before Kynlies MAJOR meltdown:) there always has to be at least 1 unhappy child.

Briyler posing like spiderman

who knew balloons would be so fun!

DUGI!!

Bri chasing after his balloon

Kynlie girl

Mom stop taking pictures!

WILD ONES!

Kynlie the funny girl

Dad and Kyn, she is really shy  

TUI!!! little spiderman:)

Saturday morning was our SUPER SATURDAY!! I can not even begin to say how much I LOVE this tradition as well.. Being at home with the kids all of the time doesn't leave me much time for crafting right now. I am always so jealous of all of the home decor that I see people displaying in there homes of things they have made, lucky for me once a year I get to be crafty and make a few things to hold me over until the next year:) This year I signed up for 3 projects (and I was kicking myself for not signing up for more once I got there).. But my projects were pretty easy ones so I finished with plenty of time left to eat and socialize... WOOP WOOP!! Once again we had a huge arrangement of soups for lunch (ALL of which were amazing), side salads, handmade rolls (from an amazing baker in alpine, who I really need to meet), and plenty of YUMMY desserts to finish off the afternoon.. I am SOOO GRATEFUL to the women that put on the super Saturday in our ward every year. I know it takes SOO MUCH work: planning, prepping, collecting money, making the projects to display, coordinating, shopping, and plenty of other things that have to happen behind the scenes to make this work.. We have some really wonderful women in our ward and I hope they know just how much moms like me appreciate all of there hard work!!!

chicken wire frame, jewelry holder and colored picture frame... :) I was sad that I  didn't make the decorative book stack for Christmas... That's on my list of things to do.. Now that I've got my crafty juices flowing I need to find some more super Saturday's to crash... (my moms ward isn't doing one this year)...

and of course the BIGGEST EVENT of the weekend was my cousin John getting home from his mission!!! We headed over to listen to his homecoming speech and ohh what a treat it was.. He is an awesome kid and it was soo fun to hear about all of his experiences and see how much he has grown (in every way but mostly spiritually) in the last 2 years.. WAY TO GO JOHN, we are proud of you and glad that your home :O) .... Of course I forgot my camera for this big event:( :(

FALL Family Fun, FHE... The pumpkin patch

This week for FHE we decided to skip the lesson and enjoy some time outdoors during this BEAUTIFUL FALL weather! I found a local pumpkin patch online (it is actually a farm in Riverton called the Petersen Family Farm, it was AHH-MAAA-ZZZING!!!) and they have TONS of fun activities for the kids, most of them being FREE, and if they aren't free they are 1$!! ... Doesn't get much better than that! I talked up this super fun activity all day so by the time we were ready to go the kids were beyond excited! We ate a quick dinner (of mickey mouse nuggets) and then headed down the mountain for SOME SERIOUS FUN... Picking the perfect pumpkin, mini corn maze, petting zoo, tractors for the kids to play on and a huge pile of hay to climb (and those are just the free activities!!! )

The kids have never been to a pumpkin patch before so as we were parking they were all screaming with excitement! There really was no hidden agenda, no lesson, no real plan the only thing that I wanted for us was to have FUN TOGETHER!!! Lots of hugs, laughs, kisses, silliness, and jokes  all the things that help build families closer together:O) AND I'M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE IT ALL WENT ACCORDING TO PLAN!!!!

IT WAS A HUGE SUCCESS.. I am soo grateful for my wonderful little family. My kids and husband honestly bring me more happiness than anything else ever could. There is nothing that makes my heart melt like seeing the genuine smiles that my sweet little ones show when they are having fun together. I LIVE FOR the moments that I see them beem with SHEER HAPPINESS, it makes me feel like I am doing something right. Lucky for me I saw lots of those moments tonight! I say this a lot but we dont get out much with the kids being soo young but I am grateful for the things that we have been able to do together and for the memories that we have been able to create so far, we are very blessed and I never want to take that for granted!

 Here are some pictures of our super fun "fall family night:)" ENJOY

Hard at work:)

Briyler was in LOVE with the tractors!

Dugi however was a little scared of them at first

family FUN

Briyler and Ryker trying to figure out the corn maze!

this was there fav part!

Yep more tractors!

climbing the hay tower

Kynlie was so proud of herself!! She was cracking us up!

Dugi didnt want to climb he just wanted to pick up and hold EVERY PUMPKIN he could find!

They are best buds!

Mom and her Kyn!

Ryker being his funny self, I had to leave part of the other boy standing next to him in the picture.. his facial expression at ryker is soo funny!

these two are a riot!!

Put all 3 of them together and it makes for an extra good time

Dugi was loving the pumpkins

Briyler warmed up to them too

This makes me soo happy!!! Love that smile!

he told me he wanted to "pose" BAHAHA, good one Bri!!

Dugi with more pumpkins

Mom and her Kynlie girl

dad and kyn, now we know where the facial expressions come from:)

petting zoo, feeding the goats

Bri just wanted to watch

Dugi did NOT like the minature horses..

Kynlie LOVE THEM THOUGH

Family picture with the sleeping baby:)  

(these are kind of backwards) but here is the Family picture minus the sleeping baby

the tractors NEVER GET OLD

Not even for the little girl!

once she was on she didnt want to get off

Bri and more of his modeling skills;)

Dugi's sweet little face

TUI!! He woke up a little nervous... :)

but that quickly turned to happiness

and then some snuggles!

and then a photo shoot:) :) LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS LITTLE GUY!!

Cant get enough!!!