This month's topic for YW is Ordinances and Covenants. I've been reading a lot about it and studying and I've decided this is an area I need to step it up. It's not hard, and I've been able to make a list of a few things in particular. Makes me happy to know what I can do to be closer to Heavenly Father and have a stronger influence from the Spirit. I hope I can reach my goal.
It made me happy to see my kids get up and bear their testimonies. They are starting to say a few things differently than they usually do. It's cool to hear what they say. Kelly mentioned her testimony of serving others. She has been doing service around the neighborhood, so she has learned that first hand, and all of her own accord. It's cool to witness the growth of testimony in a sweet little girl. She's really been at it the last little while, hurrying to finish her Faith in God award. The Bishop told her he's never had anyone finish a year early. She doesn't get to be recognized for it until she turns 12, so I told her that rather than kicking back and putting her feet up (as the Bishop demonstrated :) ), she should do it all a second time. She seemed interested :). I'm really proud of my kids. They are all growing up so fast but so well. Makes me happy.
7-6-14
FHE
We learned how to apologize this week. Jack's lesson (aka: Nate and I). We've had some problems with sincerity and with doing the same things over and over again and I had just heard about this new idea from my cousin Becky, so we introduced it to the kids. I think they get it. Hopefully it will help a little. We played Four Corners for the activity and then went to Bowmans for donuts- Charity's treat. We ran into Natalie Mottishaw while we were there and her eyes got big when she realized we had the whole family with us. I never quite know what to say to that. It is strange to have 7 kids migrating around the cart as we slowly usher it through the store, I get that, but it's never really been that big a deal to me. I'm sure to someone who purposely waited til her 3 girls were in bed, this is quite a sight. I need to just realize that not everyone knows what it's like. And everyone is different. We have adapted to our crazy lifestyle and are perfectly content to have everyone together, so it's hard to imagine that it's a problem to everyone else. I love my huge family :). 7-7-14
POOL PARTY
Our ward had a Pool Party Tuesday night. We all got together for dinner- the Pulled Pork that Nate slaved over for 3 days (it's actually one of the more low maintenance smoked meats, but I was just amazed that he was about to make dinner for 300 people all by himself :) )- then spent the rest of the evening in the Farmington pool. The ward had rented it out so it was just us! I LOVED this activity! I totally thought I was going to hate it, but it turned out to be so fun. I loved visiting with everyone. I was so glad that I got to swim around with my kids so much too- thanks to Nate hanging out with his shadow, Jack- I had been putting off getting my swim suit on (for obvious reasons- and because I have a serious farmer tan)- but I did it anyway and was so glad I did! I usually have to sit in the shallow end with the littles when we go swimming together, just the kids and me, so to have Nate there, and to be able to play- it was just SO MUCH FUN!! Took me back to the old days when that's all I did all summer :). I did a lot with Erika in the beginning, tried to teach Charity to dive, as she requested, then I let Luke stand on my back ("surfing" is what Brent and I used to call it when we were kids), carried Noah and Erika around on the "airplaine", and watched them jump in a ton. Watched all of Kelly's tricks, tried to catch a glimpse of Bradley and Charity playing basketball, and then cuddled with Jack at the end. It was so much fun. I love being with our ward. They are all just so awesome. Lots of great divers too! Hidden talents that you don't usually find out about people come out in those kinds of settings, I just love it. It was fun to just be around everyone. 7-8-14
PANCAKES
Nate's parents invited us up to a restaurant by their house to get free pancakes for kids under 10. We hurried up to Day Break and then sat and waited for about an hour and a half- this was a very long hour and a half because we didn't feed our kids anything, assuming we would eat breakfast at breakfast time :). We did walk over to the park near their house and that killed a little time, but I learned that all of our kids have inherited my suseptibility (I don't think that's really a word) to HANGRYNESS! (that isn't either) We were all pretty grouchy! Luckily we were sitting in our seats having ordered by 11:30. That was a bit of a relief. But with a party of 24, it did take a while. The restaurant is called Egg and I, and I must say they did an excellent job of accommodating our large group! I know this was a publicity gimmick but they could have turned us away, coming up with some sort of loop hole (can't have more than 17 free pancakes for one group for example). Instead they were totally flexible, even insisted that our 11 and 12 year olds all get one too! It was pretty cute, they came out with a plate full of toppings for them to decorate their pancakes with and a cute kid cup, even spoiled them all with goodie bags as we were bottle-necking at their exit. It was pretty fun. It's always fun to get together with cousins. Grandma and Grandpa sat with 12 kids! The rest of us sat in booths next to them. It was just a lot of fun. I'm glad we went.
On our way home, we stopped at the Cole's to pick up the picnic table that Annie gave me :). Austin made it and after she asked me if I would be interested in buying one and then not telling me the price, told me it was mine and I could pick it up anytime. She had apparently paid for it and thinks that we're now even because of the cakes I've made for her. As if the cakes could add up to that much- she's so silly!! Thoughtful, but now I owe HER! It's a super cute table though- I've ALWAYS wanted one, just couldn't justify the price usually. Austin insisted that it wasn't worth anything because he just "used scraps and pieced it together in 10 minutes" but it's SO CUTE! I can't wait to stain it. The kids will love it! And it will remind me of the Coles. I love them. Not that I need reminders. As we stood and talked with Gentry for a half hour (making Nate almost late for work- oops) I realized that there is rarely a day that goes by that I don't think about the Coles. I just love them. I wish we could have run into everyone else too, but I guess they must have lives or jobs or something. All the more reason to plan AND CARRY OUT our BBQ idea. This summer for sure! 7-9-14
No comments:
Post a Comment