Sunday,
November 03, 2013
3:42pm
Last
Monday I took it pretty easy all morning after my busy week last week I played
with the girls and surfed blogs and caught up on Facebook. However, I had a huge mountain of laundry to
tackle because of Chad’s and Spencer’s camping gear. I took a picture of it because it was a
pretty impressive mountain, but I accidentally deleted it so you’ll have to use
your imagination. While I was wasting
time on the computer Marlee came up to me and said, “Mom, I did something bad.” I asked her, “What did you do?” She said, “I wrote on the wall with a permanent
marker.” I’m so proud of myself, I
didn’t yell at her! I calmly walked her
to her room while I got something for her to scrub the wall with. After she scrubbed unsuccessfully for about
five minutes I scrubbed for a while and when it still wouldn’t come off I
remembered Brenda said lemon essential oil will take off anything. And she was right. It worked like a charm. Too bad my patience wore thin and I wasn’t as
calm later that day because I yelled really badly at Bryant for something
really dumb Monday evening while we were making homemade pizza. I yelled at him for something he tried to do
to help fix dinner (I had just asked Marlee not to do it, but he hadn’t heard
me) I really hurt his feelings badly and had repent and ask him to forgive
me. I don’t like to be a yelling mom. It’s ugly and makes me feel kind of … dirty I
guess. I’m working on it though. Monday afternoon after school, Spencer tore
down the rest of the swing set. I really
didn’t want to worry about finishing that project that day because I was trying
to take it easy, but he was having so much fun ripping it apart (the wood was
so old it just crumbled) I decided to let him keep at it and we got it all
taken down, cleaned up and put away.
Tuesday
Puring’s discussion went well. The
missionaries taught her about the word of wisdom. The only thing she has a problem with is
coffee. She said, “I had coffee this
morning, I won’t drink it anymore.” Then
later on she started talking about drinking milk and then stopped herself and
asked worriedly, “Is milk ok?” We assured her it was. We all had a good laugh. I was amazed at Puring’s faith to commit to
living the word of wisdom so quickly.
While I was listening to some conference talks one morning on my walk a
quote from Elder Nelson’s talk reminded me of her. He said, “Stellar spirits are often housed in
imperfect bodies.” Puring is frail, she
is on dialysis three times a week and is kind of old, but she has a stellar
spirit. Tuesday night Chad put our swing
set together (Spencer and I helped a little), it was delivered that morning and we were excited for our kinds
to start using it.
Wednesday
I had a very special experience in the temple.
I did a sealing session and Elder LeSueur, an Area Seventy of the church,
who also happens to be my former Stake President and who has recently been
called as the new Gilbert Temple President, was in the session participating
and getting trained as a temple worker. When
I first walked in (I joined a group already in progress) I recognized Elder
LeSueur and thought, wow that’s cool to be able to do a session with a general
authority. As I participated in the
session and listened closely to the prayers, I again noticed something in the
sealing of husband to wife that I hadn’t noticed before. I was able to ask the sealer some questions
about it and then after the session was over, I introduced myself to Pres.
LeSueur and he taught me more about the questions I asked. It was a very special experience for me. I don’t want to post what he taught me because then his words can be forwarded along without his consent and
because the experience was special to me, but if you’d like to hear about it I
can share the experience with you in person or over the phone.
Wednesday
afternoon my visiting teachers came to visit me. I love the visiting teaching program. I’ve made so many good friends through it and
I’ve gotten good ideas of how to be a better wife, mother, member of the
church, etc. Wednesday evening all three
kids had soccer practice, Chad had to work late and he had a tournament
basketball game too. I took all of the
kids, except Spencer because he still had practice, to Chad’s game; we got to
the game before Chad did because he got stuck in a work meeting. Chad finally got there at half time and his
team was only ahead by one point. Chad
helped build up an eighteen point lead.
However, they only ended up winning by about five points. This was Chad’s first tournament game this
season. He plays again this
Wednesday. They are going to finish the
tournament that night so if they keep winning they will end up playing three
games that night. I’m sure Chad will be
so tired if they end up playing that many games.
 |
| We had my visiting teacher's son stay to play with Marlee after our appointment was over. They get along really well. |
Thursday we had a nice Halloween. Marlee has dressed up as three different thinks this year. At our ward trunk or treat she was a pumpkin witch (it was a witch costume with orange on it so I call it a pumpkin witch), at her preschool party she was a fairy princess, and on Halloween night she wore a different witch costume. Spencer dressed up as a zombie soccer player, Bryant was a ninja with a mustache, Karalee was a pumpkin witch and Tilly was Chicken Little. Halloween was also the 13th anniversary of Chad’s and my engagement. I didn’t realized what day it was until I got ready to write him a little love note on the box of salted caramel macadamia clusters that he loves and I’d bought him at Costco that day. So I turned my love note into a happy anniversary love note. J By the way, if you haven’t tried those caramel macadamia clusters from Costco yet, you should, they are SO good.
 |
| Fairy Princess |
 |
| Marlee with some of her preschool friends. |
 |
| We are trick-or-treating a Puring's house. She was so happy to have us come. |
 |
| Ninja with a mustache |
 |
| Zombie soccer player |
 |
| Pumpkin witch |
Friday
was Karalee’s seventh birthday. We had a
fun filled day, with our beautiful daughter.
You can read more about her special day HERE
on my blog. I’m so thankful to be her
mother. She teaches me a lot. Friday night Spencer had a soccer game. Josh stayed the night with Karalee at our
house and Marlee stayed the night with Mary at her house. I also watch my friend Michelle’s daughter
Victoria overnight since Michelle had to work really late.
Yesterday
was a trying day for me. Karalee woke me
up early whining to me, my neck hurt most of the night and so I didn’t sleep
well, the kids had a busy schedule that I taxied them too all day long, and
Chad had to work most of the day. The
day ended well though. Chad took me on a
nice date and I went to bed while Chad swept and mopped for me (That’s our
Saturday night, after the kids are in bed chore). I slept very well last night and my neck is
feeling much better today. Life is
always so much more pleasant with a good night’s sleep!
Today
I had a rough day on the organ. I
started the introduction to the closing song and I played a bunch of wrong
notes so I stopped and started over, but sadly that’s not the worst of it. As I tried to start again, I hit the wrong
cord, not once, but like three more times. I was so embarrassed. There was nothing to be done though, I had to
keep going. At least I finished strong! I’m not sure what happened. It’s like my brain and fingers went dead for
a while. Sadly that’s not the first time
I’ve been embarrassed during a piano/organ performance/accompaniment and I’m
sure it won’t be the last time. Oh well,
I’m over it.
I
realized today that my nephew Hayden’s mission farewell and our ward’s primary
program are both next week. I hadn’t put
two and two together that they were on the same day until it dawned on me
during the announcements this afternoon.
Now we aren’t going to be able to go up to Snowflake to listen to Hayden
speak. I’m pretty sad, but I’m excited
to listen to my kids in our ward. Bryant
was assigned a one minute talk and he wrote a very nice talk. Spencer will be singing with seven other
children the second verse of We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet. Karalee will be singing The Family with her
primary class.
I
got a new calling today. I am the ward
music chairman for the temple cultural celebration. I’m VERY excited. I’ll be teaching the youth in my ward the
songs for the celebration. I’ve been
hoping to be able to help with the music for the temple dedication or cultural
celebration in some way. I really have
hopes to be in the choir or to be asked to play the organ in one of the temple
dedication sessions too, but after today’s fiasco on the organ, maybe that’s
not such a good idea. But if they ask,
I’ll do it and I’ll practice, practice, practice.
My
quote for today is from Elder Dube’s conference talk, Look Ahead
and Believe. “President Boyd K.
Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, once attended an ox
pulling contest, where he drew out an analogy. He said of the experience: ‘A
wooden sledge was weighted with cement blocks: ten thousand pounds
[4,535 kg]—five tons. … The object was for the oxen to move the sledge
three feet [91 cm]. … I noticed a well-matched pair of very large,
brindled, blue-gray animals … [the] big blue oxen of seasons past.’ In speaking about the result of the contest,
he said: ‘Teams were eliminated one by one. … The big blue oxen didn’t even
place! A small, nondescript pair of animals, not very well matched for size, moved
the sledge all three times.’ He was then
given an explanation to the surprising outcome: ‘The big blues were larger and
stronger and better matched for size than the other team. But the little oxen
had better teamwork and coordination. They hit the yoke together. Both animals
jerked forward at exactly the same time and the force moved the load.’ As we look ahead and believe, we need this
same teamwork in hastening the work of salvation as we invite others to come
unto Christ.”
I
know that if we follow the promptings of the Lord and work together with the
missionaries we will be blessed with ways to share the gospel of Christ and the
Plan of Happiness with other. We don’t
have to be the biggest, best matched, best looking, or most talented to do the
work. We just have to be humble and
willing and the Lord will bless our efforts and magnify our meager
offerings.
Love,
Mindy
Yesterday afternoon during Tilly's nap I took my camera outside and took lots of pictures of the kids playing with their neighbor friends. I just realized there's lots of pictures of Karalee, probably because it was her special week.
Last night we had our yearly neighborhood Fall Shindig put on by the HOA. The girls had fun in the petting zoo.
