I hate this

Why not just make a cutesie paper that says "The priesthood blesses my life and candy is yummy"?

Disclaimer: The person who made these is super sweet.

It's cute.  Sure.  But does it actually help people appreciate the actual priesthood more?  And have you ever tried to explain one of these semi-homonym candy grams to a deaf person?  I also hate it
when people make a song chart and use a big "EYE" to help the children remember "I".

I'm just so hate filled!  And I was confused a lot in my childhood.  I thought that the line "by this
shall men know" was really "by this shalminnow..." 

So instead of being so hateful, how about I just say I think these things do more harm than good.  I mean candy is bad for us, but it's yummy.  And these cutesie had outs distract.  Oh well. 

road trip

I'm so excited, and full of dread.  For years to come, when the children ask why we never go anywhere, we will say :Remember the summer of..."

Lucky Day!

 We've been living in this wonderful home for 2 1/2 years.  The L's left us so many nice things.  These beautifully crafted chairs have been a bane.  Just 1 trip to the ER would prove me crazy to let the threat continue in the house.  I finally found 11 beautiful wood chairs on auction in GA.  I won the auction for $42.  P went up to GA and got them for me.  I love them!  After 2 weeks of trying to sell them, or even give them away, I took them to the metal recycling plant and got $9.46 for them.

So today is a lucky day.  Today is the first day in my beautiful home without the threat of impalement!  There is so much freedom in that.  The new chairs are great.  I love them.  I think I said that already.  And now I have so much more useable seating!

traditions

When I was a kid Grandma H had a bit of wall where everyone got measured.  We visited every year and it was one of my favorite details from our visits.    P and I wanted to make something like that for our family, but living in a condo, we needed something portable.  

Amid the chaos of G's first year we got this board.  My sister in law painted it white for me.  I painted on the inch markings and decorations while in the hospital.  On G's 1st birthday we were in the hospital.  With trepidation we let his feet touch the hospital ground for the first time to measure his height.

This year M measured taller at 7 than G measured at 9. 

This is such a sweet time.  I love these children.  I'm so glad to be their mom and I love all the good times we have.

making kids happy

M turned 6 and my mom gave her Frozen.  The kids were all so excited.  It's so fun to see how appreciative and grateful they can be.  Can be.  I feel so frustrated when they get all entitled.  Like me...

I have this beautiful house and I don't take care of it.  I have a strong body and I don't take care of it.  I have beautiful kids and a wonderful husband that I think I take care of.  But I need to do better.

The lego room has been a pit for a while now.  I'd gotten pretty good at cleaing up the fire pit (step down area with a fireplace on one end, where we keep the toys).  But I didn't want to deal with the lego room.  It was past the point where the kids could clean it up by themselves.  Too many random game pieces, legos mixed with k'nex and playmobile.  Poor kids. 

So I stayed up late last night and sorted.  Then this morning I sorted out the legos from the legos that go with motors and gears.  I reassembled Magikus whose pieces had gotten lost in the lego pile. 

At 9, 7, 3 and 1 I expect my kids to do a lot.  Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's too much.  Right now G and M are keeping their clothes, and rooms clean plus trash chores.  lP helps out in various ways.  They're all willing to help pick up around the house.  They're good kids.  I don't wan them growing up not able to be helpful, so I need to be more helpful.

The body of marriage

I was thinking today about how marriage is a lot like having a body.  When we're young we're learning so much.  Our young bodies fall a lot, and experience a lot of joy.  And like a marriage, as long as there isn't a a disability/dysfunction, you get through the first 20 years or so without much intervention.

Then once you have a mature marriage, you might suffer from a metabolic change.  If you have kids, they are not children anymore.  They're teens and likely driving your marriage apart rather than bringing you closer like little children do.  And when the kids grow up you loose that common endeavor completely.

So just like a body slows down and need exercise to stay healthy, so does a marriage need conscious effort to keep it healthy.  Everyone knows about diet and exercise, even if they don't do them.  And just like your body can't stay healthy on a diet of soda and chips, the communication and habits of your early marriage aren't going to cut it as you age.

So here's the question, what do people need to maintain and improve the health of their marriages as their relationship matures?