Spiritually Filled

As I prepared my lesson Sunday I had no clue my day was going to be like it was. I have never given "the Easter lesson" at church before, nor have I ever taught or given a talk on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. When I saw the topic of my lesson I immediately became overwhelmed with the subject of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have always had faith in the Atonement and knew I had to do my part for it to work. I haven't really studied the Atonement and all the implications of it. It wasn't until just a few years ago that I was able to look at experiences that I have had in my life and was able to recognize that the Atonement was part of those experiences. Recognizing this strengthened my testimony of the Atonement and has helped me to use the Atonement more. Knowing that Christ Atoned for our sins and will help "carry" us through our burdens helps me endure everyday.

So, back to the lesson. I read it through a couple times and got the basic idea for it, but I had several questions of my own that I needed answered before I could teach this lesson. I have a great source to go to when I have questions. Jim is always so willing to help me with my lessons and answers any questions I have. I love discussing the scriptures with him because he has such a great understanding of them. As we discussed the Atonement of Christ and the events that took place, so many things were made clear to me about the Atonement. There is so much more I can learn about the Atonement, but during our discussion, my testimony of the Atonement and why it happened and how it helps us has been greatly strengthened.

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Article of Faith #3

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

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As I taught my lesson more things were made clear. I have a wonderful class that is willing to make comments that help me understand even more. The best part about teaching is everything that I learn for myself.

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As my Sunday went on I was able to continue my learning. After church Jim shared the video of Bruce R. McKonkie's last talk. (To view his talk, search on YouTube for Bruce R. McKonkie's last talk. There were 3 parts we viewed.) Such a powerful message and testimony. Later in the evening we were able to go to an Easter choir fireside that Brindley was singing in. The messages in the songs and the spirit were so strong. A wonderful way to end the day. My learning went on though. The scriptures we read Monday morning were about Christ and the Atonement. The kids thought it was cool that the spot we are in in The Book of Mormon was about the Atonement and that Easter is this Sunday. For family night we did a lesson that Brindley made in Achievement days last year. There were 9 Easter eggs. Each egg contained something different that represented Christ's Atonement, starting with a piece of bread and ending with a picture of Jesus appearing to Mary after he rose from the tomb. As each egg was opened Jim would share what the item inside represented. The kids actually paid attention. And once again, the spirit testified to me of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

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The following was taken from the lesson I taught....Gospel Principles Manual Lesson # 12

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How Jesus loves us, to suffer such spiritual and physical agony for our sake! How great the love of Heavenly Father that He would send His Only Begotten Son to suffer and die for the rest of His children. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
We accept Christ’s Atonement by placing our faith in Him. Through this faith, we repent of our sins, are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and obey His commandments. We become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. We are forgiven and cleansed from sin and prepared to return and live forever with our Heavenly Father.

The Savior tells us, “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer … even as I” (D&C 19:16–17). Christ did His part to atone for our sins. To make His Atonement fully effective in our lives, we must strive to obey Him and repent of our sins.

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I love the Gospel. I love Jesus Christ. I can't deny the feelings I have felt over the last couple days about the Atonement. How lucky we are to have Christ with us and carry us through those rough times. I know he suffered and died for us so we can, if we chose to do our part, live with Him and Heavenly Father again.

Let's go to Sacramento for the Weekend!

A couple of weeks ago Jim talked me into getting away to Sacramento for the weekend. Yes, he really did have to talk me into going, but by the time we got back home I was so glad we went.

I have never been to Sacramento. The drive was beautiful. We went from 6 feet of snow along the side of the road to green grass within 5 miles. Tell's you how fast you drop in elevation.

We actually surprised the girls with the trip. I packed bags for them without them knowing. When we got up Saturday we told the girls we were just going to Reno for awhile. Well, after being in the car for two hours the girls starting questioning where we were going. We didn't say much other than we were going for a drive. Jim found out earlier in the week that there was a zoo in Sacramento, so that was our first destination.

The Sacramento zoo was fun, but not quite like the Hogle Zoo.

The train ride was interesting. The train cars were so small. I thought we were going to tip over as we would turn. It lasted about 1 minute.

After several hours at the zoo and no lunch. We were starting to get tired.

They had a small playground that seemed to be the high light of the zoo. Samantha was even able to run around for a bit.

So, after the zoo we decided to find a hotel, then we would eat. This is when the girls found out we were staying the night. Oh, the joy! Mom remembered to pack their swimsuits!

For dinner we had one destination we were searching for. SIZZLER! We miss going to Sizzler and we had seen one earlier in the day, so we began the search. And once we found.......we enjoyed.

And to top off our trip to Sacramento.....I got to see FAMILY! I knew Danny and Stephanie lived somewhere close to Sacramento, I just didn't know where. After we found our hotel, we found out that Danny and Stephanie were only about 15 minutes from our hotel. We did go see them kinda late, but it was so good visiting with them. The girls loved playing with their kids. Thanks for letting us stop by. We definately need to get together again soon.

One more stop before we got home. Donner's Pass Monument. We didn't stay long because everyone was tired, but I did manage to get one picture of Lexie in front of the monument.

Samantha Walking

Yes, it has been awhile since you asked, but better late than never. Here's my babe walking. This video was taken about three weeks ago. She cruises everywhere now.

For just a moment....

Time to get rid of that depressing post that showed up everytime I went to my blog. Here is a post that should be more uplifting.

The USU AGGIES came to town! And guess what they brought with them? A friend from home!! I had such a great day last Saturday. Which I think I deserved after dealing with a horrible ear infection/ache and doctor appointment with Samantha.

My Saturday started out with two more mice gone out of the garage. Followed by Karissa and Lexie making pancakes for everyone. Then we all got ready with our Aggie apparel and headed to Reno. First stop...Lunch with a friend! I got to see Amber! Amber and Larry came to the WAC championship games. It was so fun seeing them. I really enjoyed just visiting with other adults. It has been awhile since I have done that. It was so good to talk with someone from home. The kids loved the surprise she brought for them too! Samantha knows just where to find that surprise too. She loves them.

I also got to go shopping at Kohl's after lunch. The first thing I saw when I walked into Kohl's was a lady wearing a USU AGGIE shirt. Of course I had to go say hi. Even though I had no clue who she was, it was still fun seeing someone from Cache Valley (And the shopping was great also).

As I mentioned at first, the AGGIES came to town. It was the WAC championships in Reno this last week. I would have loved to go to all of the games, but I didn't want to attempt taking all 4 girls without Jim. So we waited til Saturday and went to the championship game. USU AGGIES played New Mexico State Aggies. It was so awesome being there amongst all the other USU AGGIE fans. It almost felt like home. We even sat by one of Jim's past co-workers from Logan. The game was fun to watch, but sad to see the final score at the end. We made signs for the girls to hold up. These pictures were taken with our cell phones, so not the best.

Before the game started.....waiting to find seats closer to the floor.

The girls did awesome and cheered loud.

What a great day it was! Spent with the ones I love. Thanks to all of you who made it so great!

Finding Comfort

Jim, you are truely my best friend and I could not do what I do without you. This post is going to be a bunch of rambling and may not run together very well, but I need to get theses thoughts out.
The last couple of weeks have been some of the hardest I have experienced (emotionally). Luckily the Lord has blessed me with Jim to help me get through it.
I have tried really hard to accept being here in Nevada. It has been a struggle. I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss all of my nieces and nephews and seeing all of there personalites and watching them grow up. A few weeks ago Nathan was on the phone waiting to talk to Jim. I had the phone up to my ear and I heard Nathan tell his cousins, "Hey guys, I'm talking to my buddy, Uncle Jim!"
It's also been a struggle being this far away from home when I hear that Suzanne is getting married. I so want to be there and be apart of the wedding preparations. I want to go shopping for wedding dresses with them and watch Suzanne with the excitment, the frustration, the nervousness, the joy and all the emotions that come with planning a wedding.
I mentioned to someone the other day that I missed Macey's grocery store. Yes, that is another struggle for me. I haven't been able to find one store that ranks with Macey's. The atmosphere in Macey's is credited to all of the happy employees.
I miss my house. My house wasn't big and fancy like most, but it was mine. It fit our family. And it had the long front porch that I always wanted.
I miss my kids' friends. They had such good friends and it was hard to seperate them.
I guess one good thing about the move is that my girls have had more time to play together. They don't have the friends here to go play with outside.
I miss my ward in Hyrum. I know the Lord put us in that ward when he did because I needed the people of the ward during the time we were there. You guys took care of me. Thank you. I miss and love you all.
There are many other things I miss and as I think about everything it eats at me and gets me so frustrated. I want to be happy here. I guess I'm not trying hard enough. I told Jim a week ago. I'm useless. I do nothing. I sit here everyday all day waiting for the days to pass until I can load up the boxes that are still packed and move back to my house in Hyrum.
So with all of these frustrations, this is where I am thankful to have Jim. A few weeks ago he spent several days in Colorado with work. While he was gone I got very upset and frustrated with being here. I let him know this over the phone. When I went to pick him up at the airport a few days later I was still upset. I didn't even want to talk to him because in my mind it was his fault that we were here in Nevada. I now know why the Lord puts the people in our lives that he does. Jim didn't even say one word and I couldn't stay frustrated very long. Like I said at the beginning, I couldn't do what I do without him. Just having Jim back from his trip made things better.
As this week has went on I have again expressed my frustrations to Jim. I have said things to him that would hurt him, but all he does is turn to me and say, "What can I do to make things better for you?" I love this man. He has so much on his plate with work and with dealing with a crazy wife. He amazes me with how he can do it all. After all of the stress he deals with at work he still comes home and picks up all the pieces that I have dropped. The last few days my little one has been really sick. Jim has been so willing to help. He took an extra hour at lunch so he could give me a break with her. Yesterday I took her to the doctor and he took Lexie with him to work so I wouldn't have to worry about her while I was comforting Samantha. There are so many other things he does for me, yes, he even cleans the toilets because I figure I will just clean them when we move back.
So, thanks Jim, thanks for helping me through this time. Thanks for helping me find the comfort to deal with my emotions and feelings. Thanks for being my best friend and letting me yell at you and complain to you and in return you still love me. I love you.

Happy 10th Birthday Brindley!

Where has the time gone! I have a 10 year old! Here is a trip down memory lane. We didn't have a digital camera until Brindley's 3rd birthday. So that's where we will start.

3 years old

4 years old!
5 years old!

6 years old!

7 years old!

8 years old!

9 years old!

I will post pics of her 10th birthday when I get them on the computer.

Brindley, you are an amazing person. Some of the things I love about you are: You are very considerate and kind to others. You have a soft heart. You are forgiving. You are very helpful with your sisters. You are a good friend. Thank you for being the person you are. I depend on you so much and appreciate all the help you give me. It's hard for me to let go and let you try things and do things on your own, but I know you are growing up too. I love you so much and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father blessed me (us) with you.

Samantha's Birthday

Yes, Samantha's birthday was over 2 weeks ago, but I still wanted to post pics of her birthday and share my Little Sunshine with you.

Samantha's new adventure is walking. She started walking just before her birthday, but it wasn't until now that she loves the fact that she can just walk where ever she wants. She used to just always try to get to me. Now that she can walk she goes exploring in the house. She loves to play in her sisters' rooms and get into what ever they leave out. I have even caught her climbing already. She has climbed onto the kitchen chair. I thought the climbing didn't start for another several months. Samantha loves her sisters. She especially loves Karissa. If Mom isn't paying attention to Samantha then she finds Karissa. Samantha loves to copy what others do. She will scream when the girls scream. She dances when the others dance. She loves to "toss it" when we play patty cake. She loves being outside. She loves Rocky and gets very mad if someone goes to take care of him without her. She loves bathtime. She loves to empty everything....cupboards, garbages, laundry baskets, boxes. Anything that is in it's place can not stay there. Samantha loves to eat whatever we are eating. I still am feeding her baby food, but if there is other people eating by her then she will not eat any baby food. I took Samantha in for her 1 year checkup. She is very healthy, but just like my other girls she is small. She weighed 17 lbs even and is 28.5 inches long.

I have really enjoyed having Samantha in our family. I can't believe she is already one. She brightens my day and makes me smile so much. I love snuggling with her and rocking her everyday for her nap. Love you Baby Doll!

Another one of Samantha's favorite things to do is cuddle and snuggle with blankets and pillows. For her birthday I made her a quilt and a matching pillow. They are so soft and cuddley. Here she is cuddling with her new blankie and pillow just after she opened them.

I love making my girls' birthday cakes. This lady bug was soo fun to do and she loved it.

I tried to sit her on the counter to get her picture with her cake but she wouldn't leave it alone. This is the best pic I got before we gave it to her.

This is the best part. As Lexie says, "DIG IN!"

Samantha was even willing to share with everyone. Check out those black hands!

All done!

Headed to the tub!