Not Quite What I'd Asked For

I folded Libby's laundry and placed it in a basket.  I handed her the basket and asked, "would you please put your laundry away?"  I came back ten minutes later to see if she'd finished . . .

Not only did she NOT put her laundry away, piling it on the floor instead, but, as a bonus, she took all the clothes out of her drawers and put them in the pile, too.

What Would You Like?

My grandma and grandpa have given us the Taste of Home magazine for Christmas the last few years.  We really enjoy looking through it and picking out things to make.  I got a new issue last week and thought it would be fun to give the kids little sticky flags and tell them to put a flag on any recipe they would like me to make.  Maria had orange flags, Hudson had blue and Libby had yellow flags.

 They picked out more than I expected:

Of course, some of them got a little carried away:

Libby picked this.  "Libby," I said, "you're suppose to pick things you want me to make.  That's a bed."  "But I want that bed for you," she said.

They did make some nice selections, though.  They all picked this:

Hmmmm.  Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie.  I think I'll have to make that.

When You Go to the River

Sometimes when you go to the river you get to hope across streams.

Sometimes when you go to the river you find great rocks to throw into the river.

Sometimes when you go to the river you have to take off your shoes and socks, roll up your pants, and slosh through the cold, cold water.

 Sometimes when you go to the river your dad will help you walk to the middle of the river and you can feel the river pushing you.

Sometimes when you go to the river your pants get a little too wet.

Sometimes when you go to the river and your pants get a little too wet you have to wear your jacket like a skirt . . .

Or a dress.

Always when you go to the river you smile and smile and smile . . .

Because going to the river is great fun.

Balance

Ethan and I have had to think about balance lately.  Life is pretty stressful right now.  Ethan's been looking for work since April when he graduated.  As any of you who have had to look for work know, it takes a lot of time to apply for jobs.  A lot.  Ethan spends hours every day looking for and applying for jobs.  It's pretty much a full-time job.  We haven't done as much as we would like in the way of fun this summer mostly because of this.  Ethan feels a lot of pressure as the sole provider and I think he let's that keep him from having fun - why have fun when finding a job is so critical?

But that's where balance comes in.  He's been working so hard and not off-setting it with enjoyment.  That only creates stress.  Stress makes life miserable.  Life is to be enjoyed.  Sometimes that's harder to do than other times.  But that doesn't make it any less important.  We realized we need to have more fun.

And so we went into to mountains.

I love how excited my kids get when we tell them we're going to the mountains.  I love how it only takes us about 10 minutes of driving across town before we get into the mountains.  I love how, as we were walking through the mountains, Ethan sighed and said, "I feel more like me now."

As a family, we're getting better at hiking.  We hiked the Jardine Juniper Trail and made it farther than we ever have before - and that's with all the kids walking the whole time!  That's a major accomplishment for us.

That hike was good for all of us.  I love what being in the mountains does for our souls.  

I don't know what our future holds.  I don't know when relief will come.  I do know that where ever we go the Lord will take care of us.

And I hope that, where ever that place is, there will be mountains.

Autumn's Approaching

Can you see the hints of it?

Brigham City Temple

I'm behind.  I've had so many blog posts running around in my head not getting out for you to see.  I actually enjoy blogging - it's fun to look back and see all the great times with my little family - so I'm going to try to do better this next week.

It's been a couple weeks now since we've been to the Brigham City Temple Open House.  It was a great experience and the whole family enjoyed it.

Here are a few photos from the outside:

This window is a peach blossom.  As many of you know, Brigham City is famous for peaches and the peach blossom is present throughout the temple.  There are many beautiful landscape paintings and murals in the temple as well.  It was absolutely beautiful.  

Here is a photo gallery of the inside of the temple.  Take a look, the pictures are amazing.  What a wonderful temple!  I love it!  

I actually grew up in Brigham City and my parents still live there.  They were lucky enough to be called as temple workers in this temple.  What a great experience that will be!  

Here's a funny fact for anyone who doesn't know this:  Ethan's dad grew up in Brigham City, too.  Although our families never met, the Nuttalls actually lived in the same ward I grew up in.  Ethan's dad and I went to the same schools.  Isn't it a small world?

Moments