An interesting source for inspiration

Today I was writing a talk on the Holy Ghost for tonight's baptism. I was looking for a quote that I had heard once so I googled some key words and found a great source. Two pages of quotes by church leaders and definitions of the Holy Ghost. The quotes even included pictures of the leader who had said it. I read through these quotes and was so inspired and added a couple of them to my talk. Wow, was I surprised when I got to the bottom of the second page and realized that this source was actually an ANTI-MORMON website. It's so interesting to me that 2 people can read exactly the same thing and one of them can be inspired and the other one can be turned off. I'm glad I was the one who was inspired. I am including one of the quotes I liked, but if you need some great info about the Holy Ghost you can check out this website . Just ignore the subtle jabs that are interspersed throughout.

"Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “There is no price too high ... no sacrifice too great, if out of it all we ... enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1984], 253). What are we willing to do, what weaknesses and indulgences will we give up, to have as our personal protector and guide the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost? It is a question worth asking, for let us be clear: The adversary delights in separating us, the sisters of this Church, from the Spirit."
- Sister Sheri L. Dew (Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency), “We Are Not Alone,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 94

Potluck at the Park

We had a ward potluck at the park today. There weren't a whole lot of ward members there, but my family attended in force. My mom and sister-in-law were there and then all the kids and the people they share their living space with came as well. It was fun to have them all together. My mom had a new camera so I used it to take some "family" photos.



Poky was the hit of the party. All my nursery kids enjoyed following her around. She is pretty cute, I guess. Who can resist those puppy dog eyes?

Has anyone seen my son?

I have had to add a text message to my archive so I can retrieve it on a very regular basis all of the sudden. It says "Are you coming home anytime soon?" and it is addressed to my eldest son who has somehow disappeared from my life. Now, don't get me wrong. He is 22 years old and it is time for him to have a life of his own, but when he resides at my home it would be nice to know if he is planning on eating dinner with us or if we should turn out the lights when we go to bed. Adult children definitely make life interesting!

Speaking of children making my life interesting. I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. Her name is Poky and she belongs to daughter #2.


This daughter has been wanting a puppy for quite a while and the mean mother that I am, I have tried to discourage her. Now about 2 weeks into this relationship she is amazed at how much a dog can change your life and how much work she is, but I won't ever tell her "I told you so!" As you can see, she is pretty cute.

Lunch in a truck

Well, the date went well. The truck looked fabulous, thanks to a helpful sister.

Bahama bucks was served for dessert and I GOT TO EAT THE CAKE! I did share with my family.

Fun with the ladies

My mom and sister-in-law have been visiting here this week while my brother attends a convention. It is so much fun to have people to join me in my favorite activities such as finding bargains at Goodwill, eating Apple Spinach Salad at Crackers, putting puzzles together, looking at pictures, reading, and talking. We have really been enjoying ourselves. My sister-in-law left her 5 boys home alone. Three of them are technically adults and therefore supposedly responsible and they have been managing quite well. While we were at Goodwill today she got a phone call from her youngest, who is 9. It started out with "We have an EMERGENCY!" followed by a dramatic pause. Worried, she asked what was wrong. "I have chapped lips." "And?" "I can't find any chap stick!" The emergency was quickly taken care of and hopefully that will be the biggest crisis they face for the rest of the week.


This was the puzzle we put together. I did all the easy pieces and I made my sister-in-law do all the hard parts. She was nice and didn't complain. The edge on this puzzle was curvey instead of straight which made it a bit of a challenge, especially when some of the pieces we needed were hidden under the table. My mom put all the people together and found the missing last piece that had jumped off the table, into the living room and under a chair. Lucky thing she dropped her cane right in the right spot!

Procrastination

My children all have a bad habit of procrastinating. I have never been able to figure out where they get it from. Certainly not me. Today the youngest was suppose to sign into his summer online health class. If he didn't sign on he would be dropped from the class. At 9:00 my cell phone alarm rang and I reminded him that it needed to be done. Of course he was planning on doing it and had it all under control but right then was not the time. I dropped a few hints and issued a few reminders throughout the day, but there was always something else he HAD TO DO at that moment. About 5:00 I said, "Let's go do it now!" and went to the computer to log onto the internet. Lo and behold there was no internet service. I picked up the phone and there was no dial tone. I announced that we were going to the library to sign in since it had to be done. There was door slamming and loud, annoying remarks. From the son, not me, although I felt like voicing my opinion in a very loud manner. We grabbed the instruction sheet that told us how to sign on, drove to the library and made our first attempt... no such user name. Then our second attempt... no such user name. This continued for about 20 attempts and more than a few whispered, annoying remarks. We were in the library after all. Finally, he sent an e-mail to the instructor explaining the problem and asking what he should do and we went back home.

The hubby was home when we got there and he called the phone company on his cell phone and they assured us that the phone would be fixed by 7:00 PM - tomorrow. As a side note here I will mention that this phone not working had been a common (once a month) occurance until recently when the phone company finally reburied the phone line in our alley that has been laying above the ground for about 2 years and got sliced everytime the city cleaned up the alley. We were hoping our phone troubles were over, but this wasn't looking promising. Usually it takes 2 to 3 days to get service again so at least 1 day sounded better. To make a long story a little bit shorter, about 8:00 we got a call that our phone was fixed and we were able to use the internet, get the correct user name from the e-mail the teacher had responded to and sign into the class. Hooray!! All those loud annoying words for nothing!

Message to my Children - Don't put off until 5:00 what you can do at 9:00.

Poison Cake

Today daughter the younger made the announcement that her elder brother has a date tomorrow. This was news to me. Well, the date included him serving lunch in the back of his truck and he decided to bake his favorite dessert, white Texas sheet cake. This cake is his favorite because it has almond extract in the batter and the frosting and he loves almond extract! He bought neon food coloring so he could make it a beautiful shade of pink - the recipient's favorite color. Just as he was taking the cake out of the oven and stirring the frosting for the last time she called and for some unknown reason he decided to ask her if she had any food allergies. I bet you can guess what her answer was. Yup, she has two and one of them just happens to be ALMONDS. I think he really wanted to cry. We all had fun giving him a hard time about trying to kill his date. As his family we thought it was only right for us to destroy the evidence, as in eat the cake, but he insisted that she was going to get to see it even if she didn't get to eat it. Maybe tomorrow we'll get to devour it. I can hardly wait.


Here is the recipe for the cake just in case you know someone who is allergic to almonds that you want to get rid of. It's also just plain delicious if you want to try a good cake.

White Texas Sheet Cake
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in flour, sugar, eggs, sour cream, almond extract, salt and baking soda until smooth. Pour into a greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cake is golden brown and tests done. Cool for 20 minutes.
Frosting
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk
41/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Combine butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; add sugar and extract. Mix well. Stir in walnuts; spread over warm cake.
Yield 16 to 20 servings.

Summer Reading Program

Every summer when school gets out I have taken by kids to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. It has been a lot of fun to choose books and earn prizes. My two oldest kids even volunteered as staff for the program. It has been a memorable part of our summer. My oldest son won a bicycle one year in a reading program drawing. Wow, just for reading! Now that all my kids are older, I have missed this summer tradtion. I was really excited this year to read that our library was having a summer reading program for adults. You better believe I was down there the first day I could register. Just for registering I got a flash drive, a book bag, a Spanish/English dictionary and a COOKIE! They are going to have drawings every few weeks for gift cards and other prizes. Finally, an excuse to have to read! I love it!!

Oreo Day!

Well, today is Memorial Day and I haven't given much thought to those men and women who have made such great sacrifices so that I can have the freedom that I enjoy. My 15-year-old son just finished taking a World History and Geography class online. This meant that pretty much every day he was sitting in front of the computer and I was sitting behind him - usually keeping him from escaping. Together we learned a lot about history, and war, and sacrifice, and how lucky we are to be Americans in 2008 even though gas prices are way too high. I am grateful for the opportunity he gave me to be reminded of these things (even though I wasn't all that grateful at the time).

Now to the title of this blog - When my oldest son was probably about 5 or 6 we had been telling him all day that it was Memorial Day and that was why Daddy didn't have to go to work. As dinner time ended he looked at my husband and me and said, "I've waited and waited all day and I want to know - when do we get the Oreos?" We were a little confused until we realized that he thought we were saying MMM...Oreo Day! We had a good laugh and went out and bought Oreos and our Memorial Day Celebrations since then have always included Oreos.

Frogs don't like orange peels.

Today in nursery one of the kids found a finger puppet frog during snack time. I put him on my finger and proceeded to provide some snack time entertainment. I did a lot of talking which got giggle after giggle out of all 6 of the children. Then they started to offer the frog some of their food. He was a fan of goldfish, oranges, cheese and strawberries, but he did not like the orange peels. Of course, once he showed his preference all of the sudden a couple of little boys got great delight out of trying to feed him orange peels in a number of creative ways. It was very entertaining.

I think it is so interesting that at 2 and 3 these little children of God already have their own unique personalities. They are so much fun to be around and have such a desire to learn new things.

Our lesson this week was "I am thankful for my ears". My oldest daughter and her husband laugh at the lesson topics we teach in nursery, but I think they are very inspired. I am indeed thankful for my ears. I would miss so much if I couldn't hear. Things like those endless giggles at the snack table and nursery singing time with musical instruments. Or perhaps the fart that just "accidentally" escaped from the 12-year-old neighbor we were driving home from church. Those sounds are much more enjoyable when they come from someone else's son. However, the thing I would have missed most today was my 22-year-old saying "I sure wish my brother would come home. Things just aren't the same when he's not here." That I would have never believed if I hadn't heard it with my own ears!

Demolition

My neighborhood has undergone some changes recently. A car dealership, a gas station and a restaurant have all been visited by the demolition squad. It is so strange to me to drive by a building one day and have only a dirt field there a day or two later. My husband and I actually got to view part of the "backhoe banging" on the restaurant. With one well placed thump from a large backhoe a wall came tumbling down. I couldn't help but think of the time and effort that went into constructing that building when it was first erected and now all that is left is a pile of rubbish.

There was a time when my youngest son thought that tearing down buildings would be the greatest job in the world. I tried to convince him that designing and building a structure would be a much more noble calling, but he wouldn't have any of that. I guess it's the boy in him. You know, it's a proven fact, if you give a boy a stick or a dowel or pretty much anything made of breakable wood and ask him to throw it away, prior to its entry into the trash can it will be thoroughly demolished.

Sometimes I think I enjoy being part of the demolition crew as well. At least in the way I treat my family and interact with them. I am way to willing to tear down and destroy rather than try to build up. Being positive and uplifting takes effort. Being negative comes way to easily to me. I need to remember that it is much more noble and important to be a builder and not a destroyer.

Don't be yourself - be someone a little nicer. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Why?

Why do I live in Tempe, AZ if I love the rain?

Why do I have boys in my life if it isn't to take out the trash and carry heavy boxes?

Why does the same 15-year-old who so adamantly and not so nicely tells me over and over again all afternoon that he is perfectly capable of packing a suitcase and does not need his mother's help suddenly become helpless at 2:00 in the morning when he finally gets around to doing it?

Why do gasoline prices go up 10 cents a gallon overnight when there is a holiday when they're already higher than they should be? $3.75 a gallon - that's ridiculous!

There are so many questions I have going through my head. For some of them the answer seems obvious. I live in Tempe because that's where my husband has a job and I kind of like living with my hubby and having money. However the obvious answer is not the right one today. I live in Tempe so that when it is a beautiful, 65 degree, rainy day during the almost last week of May I can truly, truly appreciate it for the blessing and wonder that it is. If I lived in Seattle I probably wouldn't recognize today as a perfect weather day.

Oh, and the reason I have boys in my life is so one of them can drive that same helpless 15-year-old to his 3:00 AM rendezvous with the Priest's group and I don't have to.