Last night, I re-read the recent conference talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson, entitled “The Power of Covenants.” He spoke of a family whose home was destroyed in a massive earthquake in Peru. When a member of the Quorom of the Seventy met the local Branch President’s wife, she said, “I have prayed and I am at peace. We have all we need. We have each other, we have our children, we are sealed in the temple, we have this marvelous Church, and we have the Lord. We can build again with the Lord’s help.”
Though our circumstances were not as devastating and tragic as what this family experienced, I felt a similar peace. Elder Christofferson counsels, “In times of distress, let your covenants be paramount and let your obedience be exact. Then you can ask in faith, nothing wavering, according to your need, and God will answer. He will sustain you as you work and watch. In His own time and way He will stretch forth His hand to you, saying, “Here am I.”
We have been sustained. With the Lord’s help, we are re-building our lives. I feel so thankful for His watch and care over our family. We have gained a greater trust and understanding of the love of the Lord.

Blessings of making and keeping sacred covenants:
1. Empowering blessings
2. Endowment of Faith
3. Bestowal of Divine Power

I am so thankful to be on the “covenant path” with my family!

On Sunday evening, I attended a fireside entitled, “The Temple: A Guide for Raising Your Children and Strengthening Your Family.” The presenters were Richard and Linda Eyre. I have heard them speak on BYU TV and always been impressed by their positive ideas for teaching young children. So, when I heard they were speaking at our stake fireside, I was super excited to attend.

Sister Eyre spoke about ways we can teach our children temple principles through family home evening activities. One example she gave was regarding teaching the principle of obedience. She suggested playing a game similar to Simon Says, but where the key word is please instead of Simon Says. The children MUST do what is asked of them when the parent says “please.” Then, discuss the importance of following Heavenly Father’s commandments and always being obedient. She also talked about how they had a “repenting bench” in their home while their children were young. I love the idea of calling it a repenting bench instead of a time-out chair/naughty spot/etc. It is just so positive. Then, when children are fighting, they get to go quietly sit on the repenting bench until they figure out what they did wrong. When each child is ready to confess, that child raises his/her hand and is able to apologize for what he/she did wrong and ask forgiveness.

Then, Brother Eyre suggested that the next time we attend the temple, to do so with the following two questions in our minds:
1. What does this teach me about families?
2. What is this a symbol of?
I am looking forward to following this counsel!
Another thing he said that I really loved was, “Adam and Eve chose parenthood over paradise.” They understood that their choice would result in the loss of a lot of ease and physical comforts. But, as we take on the role of “parent,” we become more like our Father in Heaven. This statement gives me renewed determination to cheerfully do things that are difficult, knowing that I too chose parenthood over paradise. Sometimes it is difficult to be a parent. Disciplining a difficult child, cleaning the kitchen six times a day… But, I know that this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do. And, as I prayerfully seek for guidance from the perfect parent, He will lead me, teach me and mold me into a more perfect parent. I am so thankful for the blessings of the temple and am excited to think of more creative ways to teach temple principles to my children and to make my home more like a temple!

After church on Sunday, Jase looked so cute relaxing on the comfy chair in his shirt and tie, so I quickly grabbed my camera.

Brighton decided to come “help him” smile for the camera:

(okay, so I know the above picture is blurry…obviously not technically correct. But, it makes me laugh every time I look at it, so I had to include it!)

Since I wasn’t able to get a good GQ shot of Jase inside, I took him outside.

Well, Jase LOVES being outside!
So, I got him all situated. He sat for ONE picture…

And then, he was off…

And he bolts for the road. BJ scooped him up and headed inside…
(Take one look at Jase’s face: Do you think he is the least bit repentant for dashing toward the road?)

With a little spanking too…

Our little photo shoot was short lived, but you get it. He is pretty dang cute!

There are amazing parks spread out all through our neighborhood. And, they aren’t just your regular old parks, but really neat, original play areas. One park has a “pirate ship” constructed entirely of ropes for the kids to climb on and hang from the riggings. This particular park has these awesome geometrical things that the kids have to shift their body weight to get it to move. And, once the girls got the hang of it, they could rotate fast! We regularly take walks down to one of the many parks throughout our neighborhood.

Jase’s only word that he consistently says is “Ball.” He loves balls! Oh, I guess he does say one other word regularly: “Huh-Uh,” which contrary to what it sounds like actually means “yes” in Jase’s language.

The Bub is a little daredevil. He loves slides and will go down the tallest slide at the playground without even the slightest hesitation. Sometimes he even gets so much momentum going that he launches himself right off the end of the slide. But, that does not deter him. He just stands up, looks a little confused or maybe a bit put off, and turns to go climb the stairs back up to the top.

I love this crazy little kid!

A picnic on the porch. Everyday since the girls received these darling little boxes from Grandpa and Grandma Loveland! As soon as Addy gets home from kindergarten, the girls hurry to pack their lunches. The fill their little boxes with sandwiches, fruit, chips, a little treat (and maybe a treasure or two) and take their packed lunches to enjoy on the front porch.

Ah…the simple joys of childhood. I love this image! Chipped fingernail polish, dusty knees and all!

My cute little wistful girl…

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for these cute boxes. The girls have had many hours of fun toting their favorite things around in their own little boxes!

still there checking my blog? Well, wow. My life has changed dramatically over the past 7 months. As I sit here and even think about how to write an update, I am overcome with emotion. What we experienced as a family was hard, but we have been so richly blessed. I have seen so many miracles happen in our lives, I thought we must have received more than our share of miracles, yet the blessings continue to pour in. I have a testimony that the Lord knows what we need. Now, sometimes what we need is not necessarily what we want . It was hard to live in a remote rural community, alone on a ranch without family/friends nearby. I felt alone and cold.

Then, after just four months in Idaho, BJ’s job ended unexpectedly and we found ourselves out of work again. He took an unpaid month-long internship out of state and the kids and I stayed in Idaho alone. It was one of the most difficult times of my life. At the end of the internship, we felt hopeful that the company BJ had interned with would offer him a position. They did offer him a position, but the offer was nowhere near what our family would need to survive. Given the economy, we wondered if he should just take the position. But, after prayerfully discussing the situation, he declined the position and came back to Idaho to devote himself to searching for a job. Then, after the trial of our faith…the miracles began. Our sister-in-law, Andria, suggested that BJ apply with the company that she worked for in SLC. He had two interviews with the company and they offered him a position! And it is not just any old job, but a career job! Immediately, just the weekend before he started his job, we came down to Utah to see if we could find a home for rent. Miracle! We found a darling home and were able to move in that same weekend. Now, BJ has a great job. I feel so happy spending my time cleaning my cute house and hanging out with the kids. We have family, temples, neighbors, shopping, etc. close by… a/c, a heater, a dishwasher, a disposal, internet, a garage again… I feel like myself again. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think I experienced some depression while in Idaho. Yet, even amidst all the difficulties, I knew that we were being provided for. Now, I am overwhelmed by the blessings we have received and am SO THANKFUL!!!
And now…here we are! Happily settled in Salt Lake City. Today is BJ’s official graduation date. He finished his Master’s program and I am so proud of him!!! After defending his thesis, the board is even encouraging him to get his thesis published! So, today is definitely a day of celebration.

Finally, I thought I would post some b-day pictures of the foof.

Any of you who know the foof well, know that she has a lot of expression!

She has been saying the funniest things lately.
2 days ago: “Mom, you are giving me a headache.”
Yesterday: “Did you know that I have super powers? They are just stuck inside my body…that’s what!”

I have had several requests to post pictures of the ranch. So, here are some pictures I took today… First. The picture above is the view from our backyard. The white house on the right is the house we are renting. See that big window? That is the window to the “cold room”. We originally named it the “play room” but that name didn’t stick.

Yesterday, the weather warmed up and the snow started melting away. So, we took advantage of the “warm weather” to venture out to feed the horses some apples. About 20 feet from the house runs a barbed wire fence. And, enclosed in that fence are horses! Okay, I admit. That is pretty dreamy! I look out my back window and see a field of horses.

Brighton was a little afraid to feed the horses out of her hand. She opted to throw her apple into the field and watch the horse walk over to eat it!

View from the side yard:

The snowman melted and the girls did their best to kick away the remaining pile of snow:

I do have a picture of the snowman when it was still alive. Once I find it, I will add it to the blog. On Christmas day, BJ helped Kennady and Brighton build their first snowman and they even dug their own snow cave. Meanwhile, Addy…who prefers to stay warm, stayed inside and worked on the puzzles that she got for Christmas. When she sat on Santa’s lap, she asked for a mini kingdom doll and a movie. When Santa asked her what kind of movie she wanted…maybe a princess movie? She replied, “No. A pirate movie!” She did get her mini kingdom doll and we rented the pirate movie. Thank goodness for clearplay. With the movie filtered and plenty of parental censoring, she got to watch her pirate movie. We did have a nice Christmas. I had purchased toys at the 75% off sale at Target last January, so each of the kids got a couple of gifts and you are not going to believe this…but Santa really did send them a gift. UPS delivered it. We were all surprised to find that the big, beautiful dollhouse really was from Santa! It said so right on the tag. So, thank you Santa. The girls have been having a lot of fun with their new dollhouse

And, finally just a few pictures of the girls playing in the slushy water in the driveway, which was feet of snow until yesterday. Thankfully, the owners of the ranch come over and bulldoze out our driveway while they are plowing the snow off the ranch. Otherwise, we would have been stuck in for sure!

Yesterday, the school had planned to have the elementary children go caroling to all the widows in the commmunity. However, they could not go out because it was ONE DEGREE!!! With the wind chill factor, it was 7 degrees below zero. Starting the first of December, we started renting a little house outside of town a few miles on a ranch. I know…my life keeps getting crazier and crazier. I live on a ranch. With cows. The main source of heat in the house is a pellet stove in the kitchen. So, really…the only room in the entire house that ever gets warm is the kitchen. We bought a few little space heaters to heat the bedrooms. Unfortunately, the wiring in the house is so old that if too many things are plugged in, everything shuts down. So, I have to be careful which outlet I plug the vaccuum into because if I guess wrong, the fridge and vacuum and everything else connected to that circuit turn off. Then, I get to trudge through the snow to flip the breaker switch. So, we found out that we cannot run three heaters at the same time. The wiring cannot handle it. This morning, when I woke up, the back room was 30 degrees. The main house hovers around 56 degrees and the kitchen is relatively warm. So, the entire family huddles around the stove in the kitchen. So, there is our update. We don’t have internet/telephone/television at the house yet. So, I do feel isolated and disconnected from the world. A bit of homesickness has started to settle in. But, despite all the ice-cube toes and fingers, we are happy and thankful. We are together. We are healthy. We know that the Lord is providing for us and blessing us…even if it is not exactly how we would have planned it. He has a plan for us and we continue to trust His will for our family.

When Kennady talked to Grandma Char today, Grandma told her that it is still so hot in AZ that she is still using her air conditioner every day! Meanwhile, we are getting pretty c-c-cold up here! I love the heater.

Also, as promised…I am including some of the notes from my talk in Sacrament Meeting today. Of course, these are just the quotes and ideas I used. I also included personal stories and improvised a lot, but here is my outline for anyone who wants to read over my notes

In the October 2005 general conference, M. Russell Ballard gave a talk entitled, “What matters most is what lasts longest.” He said, “As your leaders, we call upon members of the Church everywhere to put family first and to identify specific ways to strengthen their individual families.” So, logically, our next question will be…How? How do we protect and preserve and strengthen our homes and families in a world that pulls so hard in opposite directions? Elder Ballard gave three simple suggestions:
1.Be consistent in holding daily family prayer and weekly family home evenings. These activities invite the Lord’s Spirit. His Spirit provides the help and power we, as parents, need. Take opportunities to bear testimony and to allow children to bear their growing testimonies.
2.Teach the gospel and basic values in your home. Teach them to be kind, responsible, respectful, modest, etc. There are so many good basic values that we can teach, but we can’t forget that true gospel teaching must also be done in the home. Primary, sunday school and seminary should reinforce the things taught at home. The main responsibility for gospel teaching rests in the home. Elder Ballard encouraged us to prayerfully choose a gospel subject or a family value and then watch for opportunities to teach it. Of course, in order to teach our children these important principles, they must be home. Elder Ballard counseled, “Be wise and do not involve children or yourselves in so many activities out of the home that you are so busy that the Spirit of the Lord cannot be recognized or felt in giving you the promised guidance for yourself and your family.”
3.Create meaningful family bonds that give your children an identity stronger than what they can find with their peer group or at school or anyplace else. This can be done through family traditions for birthdays, for holidays, for dinnertime, and for Sundays. It can also be done through family policies and rules with natural and well-understood consequences. Read good books together. Work together.

In the Church, we have been taught of the importance of families and understand that the sanctity of families is part of our eternal existence. We know that before this life we lived with our Heavenly Father as part of His family, and we know that family relationships can endure beyond death. But, sometimes…we take our families for granted. Yet, going to back Elder Ballard’s statement. It is so true: What matters most lasts the longest.

Robert D. Hales, gave a conference talk entitled “Strengthening Families: Our Sacred Duty,” In that talk, he said, “The key to strengthening our families is having the Spirit of the Lord come into our homes.”
He gave a lot of great ideas of how we can bring create an atmosphere in our homes where they Spirit of the Lord can be present. Where each child will feel safe and loved.

• Spend individual time with our children. Let them choose the activity and the subject of conversation. Block out distractions.
• Encourage our children’s private religious behavior, such as personal prayer, personal scripture study, and fasting for specific needs.
• Pray daily with our children. President Hinckley also reminded us of the importance of prayer in the home. He said, “Is prayer such a difficult thing? Would it be so hard to encourage fathers and mothers to get on their knees with their little children and address the throne of Deity to express gratitude for blessings, to pray for those in distress as well as for themselves, and then to ask it in the name of the Savior and Redeemer of the world? How mighty a thing is prayer. How tragic the loss for any family that fails to take advantage of this precious and simple practice.
• Read the scriptures together.
• Read the words of the living prophets in Church magazines.
• We can fill our homes with worthy music and we sing together from the hymnbook and the Children’s Songbook.
• Hold family home evening every week.
• Hold family councils to discuss family plans and concerns. Some of the most effective family councils are one on one with each family member. Help our children know their ideas are important. Listen to them and learn from them.
• Invite missionaries to teach less-active or nonmember friends in our homes.
• Use a quiet voice in the home.
• Eat together and have meaningful mealtime conversation..
• Work together as a family, even if it may be faster and easier to do the job ourselves. Talk with our sons and daughters as we work together.
• Help our children learn how to build good friendships and make their friends feel welcome in our homes. Get to know the parents of the friends of our children.
• Teach our children by example how to budget time and resources. Help them learn self-reliance and the importance of preparing for the future.
• Teach our children the history of our ancestors and of our own family history.
• Build family traditions.
Plan and carry out meaningful vacations together. Help them create happy memories, improve their talents, and build their feelings of self-worth.
• By word and example, teach moral values and a commitment to obeying the commandments.
• Teach our children the significance of baptism and confirmation, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, partaking of the sacrament, honoring the priesthood, and making and keeping temple covenants. They need to know the importance of living worthy of a temple recommend and preparing for a temple marriage.
• If you have not yet been sealed in the temple to your spouse or children, work as a family to receive temple blessings. Set temple goals as a family.
• Men, Be worthy of the priesthood and use it to bless the lives of your family.

Fathers and Mothers each have divinely appointed roles and purposes within the family.
President Harold B. Lee said: “If you husbands remember that the most important of the Lord’s work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home, you can maintain close family ties. … If you will strengthen your family ties and be mindful of your children, be sure that home is made a strong place in which children can come for the anchor they need in this day of trouble and turmoil, then love will abound and your joy will be increased.”
Last year, Sister Beck gave an inpiring talk in conference, entitled, “Women Who Know.” She said, “The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Mothers Who Know Bear Children
Mothers Who Know Honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants
Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers
This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness.5 To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a “house of order,” and women should pattern their homes after the Lord’s house (see D&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women.
Mothers Who Know Are Leaders
In partnership with their husbands, mothers plan for missions, temple marriages, and education. They plan for prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. Mothers who know build children into future leaders and are the primary examples of what leaders look like. They do not abandon their plan by succumbing to social pressure and worldly models of parenting. These wise mothers who know are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most.
Mothers Who Know Are Teachers
Mothers Who Know Do Less
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all.
Mothers Who Know Stand Strong and Immovable
They do not give up during difficult and discouraging times

President Hinckley taught:
“We must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.
“If we fail in our homes, we fail in our lives. … Pray for guidance, for help, for direction, and then follow the whisperings of the Spirit to guide you in the most serious of all responsibilities, for the consequences of your leadership in your home will be eternal and everlasting.”