Going to the temple...

 When a child of our faith turns 12, they are allowed to go inside a Temple to worship.  What a special day for Brinley.   There is a peace in the Temple that can't be described.

 Ellie was there to support little sister!

 My girls and I were able to take part in the work described in 1 Corinthians 15:29, which reads:

"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"

In Biblical times, this sacred ordinance was performed for those who had passed on from this life without having the chance to be baptized when they had a physical body.   We continue this practice today.  It is ideal if we can do this work for our own ancestors.

 The boys were not old enough to enter in, however there is a great feeling on the temple grounds. 

 I asked each son to find a spot on the temple and put their hand on it.  

Our prophet has given us this counsel:

“As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.”

Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, January 1982

 Nathan chose a beautiful window!

 Levi followed is brother.

 Saxton loved the doors!  One day he will enter these doors, as his sister did on this day.  

Kind of a funny pose from my boy.

 Next to the temple, there is a visitors' center, with interactive exhibits which the children liked.

 My greatest hope is that we may all stand in the presence of our dear Savior one day.

 

Brinley turns one dozen years old...

Let me tell you just how cool my baby girl is...

She gets up at 6 a.m. ever school day, without help, without fail.
She reads and reads and reads in her spare time.
She loves routines and gets upset when she is late.
She is exciting!  Loves to dance and tumble and play.
She is so loving and is a real snuggler.  Her love language is definitely touch.  (She'll have a lucky hubby!)
She loves music and can pick up a new instrument and learn it quickly.  (currently clarinet!)
She has a great sense of humor.
She is the most consistent person of all my children.
She is a healthy eater.
She feels sheepish asking for gifts.
She is so grateful for every little thing she receives, it makes me cry.

So here are some things we did to celebrate her day....
Breakfast in bed (she always asks for sticky buns for her bday breakfast)  We decorated with fruit!

 Early a.m. chatting (my mom always felt you shouldn't just drop breakfast in bed off and leave someone to eat alone)

 She braided her hair so it would be wavy :)

 Party at Arctic Circle with Grandma Gay...

 Gifts from family...

 The only thing she asked for was Pringles!  What a kid...

 Singing card from Grandma and Grandpa U.

 Her annual "fruitcake".  Such a healthy girl.  She also requests artichokes for dinner each year. 

 So fun to light up!

Levi loved it...

Brinley,  you will never know how much joy you bring to us.  Unless you have a daughter just as wonderful as you.  I hope you are given such a privilege.  

Paper is going away...

 I used to teach seminary for my church.  I had boxes of organized files, ordered by the books of the Bible and the Book of Mormon.   I had saved them for future classes.  The other day I dumped them all out into a bin and realized I needn't keep any of it...
Teaching has changed so much!  Resources are abundant online, and I no longer need hard copies of anything.
The only things I kept were letters from students.
And pictures like the following:

Just kidding.  Corny graphics!

The Hustle....

I substituted for my mom today, who is a dance teacher.  So, for several hours I saw myself, in spandex, in front of some big mirrors.  The whole time I was dancing in front of all these cute little girls, I thought, "my bum is totally jiggling right now.  gross.  my mom's bum does not jiggle.  it is made of steel."  Talk about a wake up call.   I feel so fat.  Time to call the carbohydrate police because that is so much my weakness right now.

But I digress...

Family Home Evening was fun and fast.  

Brinley gave a lesson on bullying.  She used this article from our church children's magazine, The Friend:

So one example she gave of bullying was rolling your eyes and laughing at someone.  Nathan proceeded to act that out, only he did it in such a dramatic way that it made us all laugh.  Then we laughed at how we were "bullying" Nathan for the way he was acting out bullying.  Oh funny.

A great scripture in this article was Mosiah 2:17, which reads:

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

For an activity, we stood in a circle and danced to Disco music, one of the songs being "The Hustle", which is from my birth year, 1975.  Woot Woot!   We each came up with 8 counts of music and put it all together.

I chose a super fast activity because we needed to get to bed!

And our treat was one of my favorite cookies ever!

 Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c. shortening

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 c. mashed bananas (3 medium)

1/2 tsp. soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 3/4 c. sifted flour

1 3/4 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Mix together and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  Makes 2 dozen.  These are so soft and yummy.

 Aw, man.  They are FULL of carbohydrates.

Light Up the World...

So at Christmastime, I was visiting with a friend whom I greatly admire.  I was explaining that I wanted to keep things really simple for Christmas (my husband is unemployed), and I asked her for ideas on how to accomplish this (she is the queen of bargain hunting, finding treasures, and keeping her home and wardrobe lovely without spending too much).  

She gave me some great ideas, and loaned me a copy of this movie:

At that point, I knew what my oldest daughter was receiving for Christmas.  A bedding set in colors that she liked.  

When my friend found out we were doing things for Ellie's room, her wheels started turning.  She invited me to her home and showed me some darling lights her girls had made out of icicle lights and folded paper.  I loved it and thought I would do it after the holidays when things slowed down.

A few days before Christmas, my friend called and said she and her girls needed a project-- that her girls were bored and in need of service to do (amazing.  did you take note of the day?  the day most people are running around crazy, finishing last minute Christmas stuff up.  I still needed to deliver neighbor gifts!).  So they arranged to see Ellie's bedding set and went to work building this set of lights to match:

My friend had colored envelopes she had purchased for 5 cents each from the drugstore, and the lights were found at the D.I. for a few dollars.  So the whole thing cost less than five dollars (and several hours of work)!  Isn't it so pretty?

And the cool thing is that they didn't want Ellie to know who it came from.  So, on Christmas Eve, they delivered a huge box wrapped in gold paper and a big red ribbon to our home, for Ellie from some Christmas Elves.  Ellie will never know who made these lantern lights for her, but she looks at them every night and thinks about her anonymous givers.  

Aren't people so cool?

So, the way they made them was to make several of these paper balloons

 in all different sizes:

Tutorial found here.

I'm grateful to know these sweet "Christmas Elves".  They have inspired me to look for ways to serve and to give of my time.  

"It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, but he who gives of himself gives all."

 Thomas S. Monson, "The Gifts of Christmas", December 2003

Perfection

The World seeks its form of perfection

and it is impatient to win it.

Tucked Tummies, photoshopped faces, 

Gleaming homes of space and trend.

Visual perfection is the demand and the result,

at least for the moment.

Then the moths and the rust come,

leaving behind a half-life, 

to be cast out with last month's magazine.

The hurling world moves on, 

in search of some new thing.

The fountain of youth only works on the young.

The old are put away in their place,

The previous celebrity is set aside,

and a new-favored beauty walks the red carpet.

"Be ye therefore perfect" was not to be accomplished

in this flashbulb way;

in order to evoke mass applause.

AS RINGS ON A TREE OUR GROWTH WILL COME.

It is in the light of the (wrinkled) eye,

In the spirit of the (humble) home,

In the breaking of the (hidden) heart.

Oh!  To seek this, the Lord's incremental perfecting,

and not the transient, fading, decaying "perfection" offered by mammon.

Fantastic Five

Meet the Goddesses of Water and Fire, the God of Air and Stone, and a random Blues Brother....

This guy has figured out how to eat while staying in character:

As well as read scriptures.  Had to capture this:

If you were at my house tonight, I would have fed you candied chicken, glazed carrots, salad with homemade dressing, homemade rolls, and sauteed mushrooms.  Cheesecake for dessert!  I was a more-work-than-usual kind of dinner, but my superheroes were grateful.

And here is a quote from a true superhero, an apostle named Dallin H. Oaks.  This is an excerpt from his talk entitled, "Good, Better, Best"

"The number of those who report that their “whole family usually eats dinner together” has declined 33 percent. This is most concerning because the time a family spends together “eating meals at home [is] the strongest predictor of children’s academic achievement and psychological adjustment.”³ Family mealtimes have also been shown to be a strong bulwark against children’s smoking, drinking, or using drugs.⁴ There is inspired wisdom in this advice to parents: what your children really want for dinner is you."

Roots Tech

I had such an awesome experience this month!  I was able to attend RootsTech, a conference on Family History and the great technology that is being developed in that area.  

I went with my cute mother in law:

 We had so much fun!  We cried quite a bit, actually, as we attended classes about finding our ancestors.  Such a great Spirit attended the event!

Here a presenter, Todd Hansen, is talking about his TV show, The Story Trek. He randomly picks places and homes to visit and finds out the story of anyone willing to talk to him.  He asserts that EVERYONE has a story.  Good stuff.

 And here is sweet Stephanie Nielsen.  She is actually one of the main reasons I decided to attend this conference.  Her blog and her book have been such an inspiration to me.  I loved her presentation and wept as I felt her heartfelt words.

 Here are some cute people dressed up like our ancestors, encouraging us to get to work!

 I thought this song was funny, set to this tune: In Our Lovely Deseret

 My girls joined us for part of the time, when the youth had all kinds of things to do...

 Like listen to John Bytheway...

 And meet the full cast of Studio C!  (These girls were beside themselves.  We were SUCH groupies!)  Of course when it came time to meet them (after waiting in a long serpentine line), I couldn't find my payment method to buy t shirts, and I scrambled through all my bags while everyone was waiting.  So embarrassing.  After that my pic's of them were not that great.  But they are sweet kids!  We love watching them online.

I can NOT figure out how to rotate pictures.

 And here we are with a pirate, encouraging us to "tell the tale of dead men" by indexing their obituaries!

And here is a little cute video on why indexing is vital.

I feel so fortunate to have attended!

AND I had room service for the first time ever, in my life!  This salad had fire roasted salmon, avocado, Granny Smith apples, and celery.  A pretty combination of all things light green.  Yummy green dressing, too!

AND a foreign waiter delivered it!  Something about an accent makes an experience so chic.