Melissa's First Trip to the Temple

Melissa turned 12 in April and thus became eligible to enter Young Women and to go to the Temple.  Her first opportunity to do baptisms for the dead came this week when our Young Women's group went for our Tuesday activity.

We went to the Jordan River Temple.  When she was finished, I asked her how she felt.  She said, "When can we do it again?"

We only had two other girls come to do baptisms, but it was the first time for one of those girls too.  It was a special day for all of us.

I'm glad she has a desire to go back to the temple.  What a blessing to be able to go with her for her first time and watch see her doing baptisms in the temple.

Birthday at Lagoon

There was a drawing at work for a free family pass to Lagoon which was good for one of only three days - one of which happened to be my birthday.  I thought how lucky it would be if my name were drawn, then I could take my family to Lagoon for my birthday!  And lucky for me, my name was drawn!

I took the day off work, and Jessica was able to come after she got off work around 1 pm.  We packed a picnic dinner and went to Lagoon on Wednesday - my birthday.  The weather had turned cold and rainy on Monday, but it was supposed to be nicer on Wednesday and around 65°.  I decided to bring a jacket just in case it wasn't quite that warm and for after the sun went down.  The rest of my family wasn't so smart - they wore shorts and t-shirts and refused to bring jackets because "they would be a pain to carry around."  By the end of the day they were a bit chilly.

Well it was a little cooler but lovely weather - around 60° and no rain.  There were also hardly any people there in the middle of  the week.  We were able to enjoy all the good rides with hardly a wait.  Other rides we walked right on.  The longest wait was for the Rocket which all my kids rode, Jeremy went 3 times!

We even rode some of the rides we usually don't have time for, like the merry-go-round and a mini-version of the Tidal Wave called the Kontiki.  We even rode the train - my kids had no idea there was a little zoo at Lagoon.  It was so much fun!

Here are some more of our fun memories.

 

There was a new ride this year called "Air Race" which Jeremy was the only one brave enough to try.  It swung the plane full of people around (upside down) while the whole ride went around.  Too much for me!

 We ate our little picnic dinner at one of the many covered tables provided around the park.

Melissa's favorite ride turned out to be the old wooden roller coaster.  She rode it 4 times!  She got Jeremy and her Dad to go with her (I prefer the Colossus).

Jeremy's favorite ride was the Samurai.

Anthony's favorite ride was definitely NOT the Wicked.  On the corkscrew part his phone dropped out of his pocket!  He had to go to security who found it for him.  They said they have bark chips under there because people lose stuff all the time.  It was shaken up, the sim card was loose, but when he put it back together it was okay!

Jessica took a bunch of pictures with her cell phone too.  Thanks Jessica, these are awesome!

It was wonderful to have my whole family together, not arguing, having a fun time.  What a great birthday!

Young Women's General Conference

Loved the Young Women's General Conference!  I was able to attend with my daughter and soon to be Beehive, Melissa.

I was surprised to find the chapel not full of young women and their mothers from our Stake.  There were probably a total of maybe 35-40 in attendance.  Most of the girls in my ward had dates or parties to go to instead of the conference.  It's unfortunate that they were not able to hear the uplifting and encouraging talks.  I especially loved to hear from President Monson.  His talk focused on three words - Believe, Obey and Endure.  I thought I'd make a little clip art that also works for the Arise & Shine Forth theme for this year.  I think it turned out pretty good.

May we all have the faith to believe, obey and endure!

Arise and Shine YW Activity

Well, it seems that planning for Young Women activities has taken over my thoughts.  I am always browsing for ideas for activities or handouts.

We just had an activity on the "Arise and Shine Forth" theme for this year.  I showed the video and music video that the Church produced http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FXrFpgxdly4&list=PLA313CC396ABEBB1C, then I talked to the girls about what a "standard" is - something to look up to, like a flag or banner that stands for something.  I brought examples like the American Flag (our standard of liberty) and a homemade "Title of Liberty" and we discussed Moroni's "Title of Liberty" from the Book of Mormon.  I also had a pennant banner like for a birthday party - something that helps people find their way to a party.

Then I had them make their own "standard" or banner for our "Arise and Shine Forth" theme for the year that they could look to and remember what they should stand for.  I used the symbol from the music video, a couple I found online and one I made.  Then we added glitter and the garland to make them cute.

Then I encouraged them to make additional pennants with ideas of what they could do to "shine forth".

When they were finished, I had them write their testimony on a card and tie it to a balloon which we took outside and let "arise" and "go forth" to the nations.

I think the girls enjoyed the activity, and I think that the ideas got through.  It took an amazing amount of time to create and prepare for one little hour of presentation, but I hope it was worth it.

Youth Night at the Temple

I haven't been to do baptisms at the temple since I was a kid.  So I was looking forward to our Young Men/Young Women combined activity tonight - we went to do baptisms for the dead at the Jordan River Temple.  Jeremy was one of four boys and two girls who came - this was a good turnout for our ward. 

We went early to try to beat the rush.  It started snowing just before we leftEvidently it gets very busy on Tuesday nights, but we got there about 6:30 p.m. and the kids hardly had to wait at all.  It was nice, too, that someone in our ward gave Jeremy some family names to bring for the young men to do.

It was amazing to me when the Bishop was able to perform the baptisms for our youth, and then one of the Young Men's leaders was able to do the confirmations.  Jeremy is about a half a foot taller than the Bishop who struggled just a bit to raise him up from the water.  One time the witnesses signaled that he didn't get completely immersed, I guess his hair stuck out (amazing when his hair is only about an inch long); so they he had to do it again.

After they were all finished, the Bishop offered to get them dessert in the temple cafeteria.  The kids were delighted!  It was a lovely end to a very special night.

New Year New Callings

For the last 10 years I have had the same calling at church - making and handing out the Sunday sacrament meeting programs.  That has not been my only calling, but it has been the longest lasting.  At the same time I also had the callings of information specialist (I suspect that was a made up job that included making the ward directory, flyers for firesides and other activities, the yearly lesson schedules, ward calendar and anything else they could think up - don't get me wrong, I loved it), choir director, ward music chairman and of course visiting teacher all at one time.

I think I loved being choir director the most.  Over five years I progressed fromg leading choir like I would lead sacrament meeting, to really learning how to lead dynamics, pauses, breaks, etc, to actually arranging some music for the choir.  It has been a lot of work, but it's been a lot of fun and my reward was always our Christmas program.  I know I'm really going to miss it, but now it's someone else's turn.

Over the last month I have been released from all five of my callings and given one new calling.  The Bishopric told me they had to call three different people to replace me and the Ward directory is online.  That made me feel pretty good and well appreciated which was nice.

My new calling is 2nd Councilor in the Young Women's presidency.  I have never been in the Young Women before and am a bit overwhelmed.

I'm not the only one with a new calling, Anthony was recently released from his callings as Employment Specialist and Ward Missionary and was called as the Sunday School President.  He is really enjoying his calling and is working very hard to do all he can.

Jeremy also received a new calling just before the new year as Assistant to the Bishop.  And Melissa will shortly be graduating from Primary and will start going to Young Women's.  I hope she will like having me in there with her.  So far Jeremy has found it "weird" to have his mom at mutual with him - lucky for him it's only once a month during combined activities.

Jessica has also recently had a change - of employment.  She is now a nanny, taking care of two young children and a 6 week old baby.  This is VERY new for her.  She never did much babysitting as a teenager except for a few times for cousins, so this is a brand new experience for her.  I hope it will be a good one.

Well, there's nothing as constant as change!

Spiced Apple Walnut Cake

Anthony has become quite the chef over the years.  He loved the cooking channel when we had Directv.  He learned a ton and now does a majority of the cooking.

One of our favorite desserts that he learned to make is a spiced apple walnut cake.  For the last few years he would make it around Christmas time.  It was his answer to the dreaded fruit cake.  But unlike that cake, this cake is fantastic.  It never lasts more than a day or two - it's soooo good we just can't not eat it!

This year he didn't make any because he lost his recipe.  He looked at several recipes he found on the internet, and even tried one he thought was it, but they weren't the right ones.

Finally he found the right recipe on Food Network.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/spiced-apple-cake-recipe2/index.html).  But just in case that goes away sometime, I'm putting the recipe here so we won't lose it again.  This recipe makes the ugliest looking cake in the world, but it tastes delicious!

Spiced Apple Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cups white sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (Anthony added this ingredient to the recipe)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped (about 1/2" chunks) (about 4-6 apples)
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°.  Butter and flour a 10-inch cake pan (Anthony just sprays a 9"x13" glass baking dish instead). Combine dry ingredients and set aside.  Whip eggs until frothy (this step is important), about 3-4 minutes then add oil and orange juice and mix thoroughly.  Add dry ingredients and beat with whip at low speed until thoroughly combined.  Fold in apples and walnuts and pour into prepared cake pan. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until firm on top (Anthony's is usually a little crispy on the top edges but still a bit soft in the center of the top).  Cover with aluminum foil if top gets too brown.  Cool on rack 5 minutes, then serve (if they can wait that long).

This cake doesn't need any frosting or topping of any kind.  It's sooooo good - mmm!

Lights at Temple Square

Wednesday after Christmas, we decided to go downtown to see the lights and Christmas displays at Temple Square.  I thought that since Christmas was over, the crowds would be gone or at least a lot smaller.  They weren't.  Also, I didn't realize that there was a Jazz game playing that night.  We gave up trying to find a spot or a lot and parked in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building parking lot and prepared to pay $2 per hour.  We parked just before 8 pm and didn't leave until after 10.  The building closed at 10, so when we left the garage - since no one was there to take our payment, we got to park for free.  Yay!

The weather was excellent and the lights were lovely.  We introduced the kids to the Assembly Hall and the Tabernacle where there was an organist playing.  We watched the nativity display and walked around the Visitor's Centers, and took a lot of pictures.

The Spirit of Christmas

Christmas this year has been a bit harder on me than in the past, I just couldn't get into the spirit, nearly until Christmas Eve.

We have been trying to catch up on missed tithing, paying off a credit card and keeping up with bills, all on my income and whatever Anthony can bring home.  When Anthony was given the opportunity to take over a friend's business of selling magic items online a couple of months ago, it turned out the business was woefully out of date and was operating at a loss.  After two months of trying to update it and get it working again, the losses were too much and the foreseeable future was not looking any better, so he gave the business back.  Now how do you prepare for Christmas with that kind of financial hardship hanging over your head?

So it was about a week and a half to Christmas and I hadn't bought a thing, when I got a Christmas bonus from work.  Then a kind, generous soul sent me an anonymous card with $100 cash.  The Lord must have inspired them that we were in need, Anthony said it was a blessing for paying the tithing.  Then Anthony got quite a few Santa gigs for some more kind people who gave generous tips on top of Anthony's fee.  Those blessings allowed me to catch up a couple of bills, pay our tithing in full and still get something for Christmas for my family.  Luckily my family is used to non-extravagant Christmases, so they were all happy.

I finally caught the Christmas spirit as I prepared for my family Christmas Eve party, which I hosted this year.  We were able to book the use of our church building and we (my kids, my sister and I) got there early to decorate.  It was fun getting out the decorations and all my holiday bears and some of my Christmas toys.  We dragged couches and comfy chairs from the foyers to make the rooms more cozy, set up a Christmas tree and set up the tables and chairs for lunch.

It was so nice to have everyone there this year!  We had a lovely lunch, then had our traditional talent show with cute nieces and nephews singing songs they had learned - very cute; then some of the more grown up kids sang - such talent.  I'm so grateful they are willing to share.

We had a gift exchange and a piñata, but the best part was our live nativity with the little kids dressing up and acting out the story as we read the scriptures and sang the hymns that went with them.  It truly brought the Christmas spirit into my heart!  No more worrying about spending money for gifts, or organizing everying for the party or the pressure of the holidays - just the pure spirit of celebrating the birth of our Savior with the love of my family surrounding me.  It was just what I needed to help me truly feel the spirit and joy of Christmas!

I was determined to take better pictures this year, I think these are pretty good!  From youngest sister and family to oldest - here's our family:

 Jen, Karen, Michael, Neils

 Zach, Cindy, Hayden, Jeff, Josh

 Pam, Quinn, Troy (top row), Haylee, Heather, Wesley, Amanda (bottom row)

 Isaac, Richard, Rose (top row), Mikaela, Callista (bottom row)

Jessica, Kathleen (me) (top row), Jeremy, Santa (Anthony), Melissa (bottom row)

Merry Christmas to all!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  Pam offered to be our host this year, so we all went to her house (unfortunately minus Cindy's family) and shared a wonderful dinner together.  We had a nice visit, and had a great time playing games after dinner.  Jessica brought Nate and stayed for dinner, but left shortly after that to attend 3 more dinners.

The teen table

Cute turkey favors Pam and her girls made

I am very thankful for family!  I am thankful for holidays that give us the opportunity to spend time together.  I am thankful for the gospel and priesthood blessings and for prayer and for the knowledge that families can be together forever.