Inspiration......

“The voice of the Lord is clear and unmistakable. He knows you. He loves you. He wants you to be eternally happy. But according to your God-given agency, the choice is yours. Each one of you has to decide for yourself if you are going to ignore the past and suffer the painful mistakes and tragic pitfalls that have befallen previous generations, experiencing for yourself the devastating consequences of bad choices. How much better your life will be if you will follow the noble example of the faithful followers of Christ such as the sons of Helaman, Moroni, Joseph Smith, and the stalwart pioneers—and choose, as they did, to remain faithful to your Heavenly Father’s commandments.”

- Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I was doing some things online for Primary and Young Women's and ran across this quote. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I wanted to put it on here as a reminder of who we are and what we are doing on this earth. We have a divine purpose but are not left alone to journey through mortality. We have the constant companion of the Holy Ghost and we can feel the love of our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ if we but listen and endure. I am truly grateful for the challenges I am given and know that if God gave it to me to go through he'll help to get me all the way through it! And even though there ARE things we have to experience on our own, just like Elder Ballard said, we have great example we can look to for guidance and learn from the experiences of our ancestors. I am also so grateful for an amazing family, both the ones that live with me and the ones who don't! We help and encourage and lift each other when we have nothing left to give!! Thanks also to my fabulous husband who gives me the constant love and support I need. We are a match made in heaven and I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else!! Love you Babe♥

Mother's Day

So even though Saturday was busy with all the wedding stuff, my fabulous family still managed to make it a wonderful weekend for me!! They got my outside pots out of the garage, washed them out and planted flowers in all of them!! They are beautiful!! Sunday morning, Troy and company made me a yummy breakfast; biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and orange juice. We went to church then out to my mom's for a yummy dinner. She insisted on it being at her house this year. My sweet Daddy had a beautiful vase of flowers waiting for me! What an awesome Dad!! Then Monday night, the in-laws came out and we celebrated with them. We had shish-kabobs (idk if that's how they're spelled) and rice. And we made some super yummy banana splits for dessert. My boys always make me feel very special and loved. I am blessed to be the mommy to two wonderful boys. And the wife to one big boy!! (And I'm not saying he's fat!!) My life would be incomplete without them!! And I am blessed to have an amazing mother & mother-in-law who love and support me in all I do! My grandmothers have also been an important part of my life and have helped to shape me into the mother I try to be everyday. They are amazing women!! I also have wonderful friends who are great examples to me and I am blessed by their friendships daily! Thanks you girls for being who you are and loving me for who I am!! I hope you all had a wonderful day too!!

The Wedding

I have a good friend at work who's daughter got married this weekend. Well, a couple of months ago she asked if I would be willing to do all the food for the wedding. I absolutely love everything about weddings and would love to one day be a wedding planner/caterer so of course I said YES!!! The bride wanted an ice cream bar and had already done a little research and knew exactly what she wanted. Easy enough right?! Well I thing "easy" is a loosely thrown around word and not quite the word to use when planning food for a wedding for 400+ guests but it actually all went pretty great. We rented a darling ice cream cart that we served 5 flavors of ice cream out of. They were served in champagne glasses and then guests went to the buffet table and put on a topping of their choice and then chose from quite a variety of Pepperidge Farm cookies to eat with it. The display and presentation was very simple but pretty fabulous. It gave me an appreciation for what party planners and caterers really do! I'm not sure if it's something I want to do full time yet, but it is surely something I would love to keep doing for close friends and family.

A new call to serve..........

About two weeks ago I received a new calling. I am the camp director for our Young Women this year. I am so excited!! I love the young women and I LOVE camping, so this is going to be great!! At the same time though I am a little nervous and somewhat overwhelmed! This will be the fourth calling I am currently holding in our ward. Now some of you may think I should just ask to be released from some of the others but I can't really do that either. Troy and I teach Primary on Sundays and I am definitely not ready to let that go. We love those little kiddos. And I love that we can do it together. And quite frankly it helps get us to church on Sundays :) I also serve on the Cub Scout committee and love to be able to help plan things for my own boys to participate in. And I love the great sisters I visit teach and don't feel like I should stop doing that either. So with the help of my handy calendar (for scheduling) , the love & support of my sweet family, and a lot of strength from my Father in Heaven, I'm going to try and keep it all straight. I'm just grateful school will be out in exactly 3 weeks and I can have one less thing on my plate!!

What a crazy few weeks!!!

So our lives have remained steadily busy and I feel like my blogging has really been the last thing on my mind but there are a few things I want to post about and I figure I'll just take it one event at a time.

The first event is my sister's college graduation. And what an event it was! I am so proud of her I don't even know where to begin. She has always been a go get 'em kinda girl. When she figures out what she wants, she goes for it without looking back. She has always known that she wanted to be a teacher and she has worked very hard to get herself there. She graduated this year with two Bachelor's degrees. One in elementary ed and the other in special ed. She is amazing!! She has a love for theses special children that most can't even comprehend. Even after they kick and hit, and punch and bite her she still loves them and wants to see them succeed to the best of their capabilities. That takes someone pretty special and she truly has a servant's heart. I was the official photographer that day and went down on the floor of the college and got lots of fun and random pictures. And all the traditional ones as well!! We celebrated after at the Olive Garden and it was great to sit around and talk about the next chapter of her life. I am so proud of all her hard work and determination and the dedication she has given her educational career. The school that gets her will be one lucky school. I love you Al and am proud to be your older sister! I know you will be a blessing in many childrens lives. Congratulations on your 2009 college graduation.