January 19-24th

A little bit out of the order, but that's the way the pictures popped up.  :)  Morgan went on a "Klondike" campout with the young men this weekend.  They went to Snow Canyon State Park and hiked the petrified dunes.  Morgan had never been there before and really liked it.  Our boys really  liked it last time we went....but that was almost two years ago when I was pregnant with Rylea, it was quite the adventure, I'm sure I've already written about that.  These were some awesome pictures of the park though.

 Rylea girl is up to her tricks again, she will either pull a chair to the counter to get what she wants, or she will go get the step stool from the bathroom.

 I'm not even sure what she was trying to get, just that she wanted something.

 I love that the weather is getting a little warmer and we can spend more time outside.  This week I had a goal to get out and go on a walk with the kids or at least be outside for a while at some point during the day, for the most part we did pretty good.  I can remember at least 3 walks and some other outside time.  Next week we will do even better!  Rylea could probably spend all day on the trampoline, she loves it and the little kids have done really well not to bounce her too high.

 I was practicing the piano the other day and heard sucking sounds and I turned around and saw Rylea just sucking on her toe, I thought it was pretty funny

 Brittyn really likes bunnies, whenever I ask what kind of project or craft she wants to do, it always has something to do with bunnies.  :)

 So we made Bunny-Girl and Cat-Boy masks.  They made it through the whole day too, I was pretty impressed.

 I started a challenge with Raquel to read the Book of Mormon 3 times in 3 months.  I wasn't sure I could really do it, it's about 18 pages/day, but I really felt like I needed something to step up my study in the morning, so I went for it.  Each time you read it you focus and highlight something different.  I went through two yellow pencils the first time and it was an amazing experience to read the whole book so quickly.  I'm just starting my second time through with my red pencil now.  It's been amazing to me to realize that a lot of my favorite quotes were not from people who I thought they were.  I would usually just assume who said it because of what book they were in.  I feel like I understand the storyline a lot better reading it so condensed, I'm excited for this second time to focus on the Atonement of the Savior.

Damon has been studying the different systems of the body and wanted to make sure we documented his Q-tip skeleton.  He did a really good job.

The past couple weeks we have really been making an effort to do our family scripture study in a more meaningful way, so now we wake up the boys a little extra early in the morning so we have enough time to study before breakfast....I think I already wrote that somewhere, but anyway.  Over the last couple weeks we have really noticed a difference in a very good way what that has been doing for our family.  I know the Lord is pouring out his blessings.  We have even had tender mercies along the way that have confirmed that the boys really are listened even if they don't always look like it and that we need to stick with it and keep moving forward.

A couple days ago I had this experience:

Thursday January 21^st, 2016

This morning, Jaron, Rylea, and I were headed to the grocery store and out of the blue Jaron asks if this is Earth.  I said, yes, this is earth.

J:  Why are we here?

Mom: Well, because Heavenly Father and Jesus have a body and they want us to be just like them, and the only way to get a body was to come to this Earth and learn to be like Them so we could live with Them again.

J: Oh, when will we live with Them again?

M: Well, we get to have His Spirit to be with us on earth right now, but when we die we will be able to live with Him again.

J: When will that be?

M: I don’t know sweetheart, only Heavenly Father knows that, so we just do the best we can to make good choices with the time we have so that we can live with Him again.

J: Oh…does Heavenly Father miss us?

M: I’m sure He misses us a lot, that’s why He wants us to return to Him, but He gave us a way to talk to Him while we are away, that’s why we pray Jaron, so we can talk to Heavenly Father so He doesn’t miss us so much.  He wants to hear from us all the time.

J: but…I don’t know how to pray.

M: Oh, I bet you do, and, even if you don’t feel like you’re saying the right words, if you’re saying it because you want to talk to Heavenly Father, He will hear you.  That’s why we practice a lot at home too.  Hey, I know a song that teaches us how to pray, do you want to hear it?

J: Yeah

M: I begin by saying Dear Heavenly Father, I thank Him for blessings He sends, then humbly I ask Him for things that are right, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

J: Can you sing it again mom?

M: Yes…I sang it about half a dozen times while he chimed in.

J: Okay, mom, I think I know how now, you can stop singing.

M: Okay, maybe we can sing it again tonight at bedtime.

J: Yeah.

This whole experience might not seem like much on paper, but if you could have felt the Spirit in the car at the time, I hope I can always remember it.  I think part of the experience was for Jaron because he was curious and wanted to know, part of it was for me to say those things out loud and bear testimony to him and have it confirmed that I know those things are true, and part of it was a tender mercy for Morgan and I to know that the sacrifices we are making and the things we are trying to teach are children are right and good and true and to not get discouraged even when things don't always seem to go like we plan during scripture study and Family Home Evening.  I'm so grateful to have had this experience.

Until next time.....