Announcing a sister's Blog!!!

We finally did it! My sisters and Mom all got together and made a blog!!! We are super excited about it.

http://www.smallandsimpleblog.com

Please go check it out.  We are each writing on a different day of the week, and I am MONDAYS! :) Our purpose is to help spread light and love and some pretty great ideas.  My Mom's "Grandma's Corner" is  amazing, and my sisters are an eclectic mix of brilliant, creative, fun, cheap, thoughtful and inspiring. Cathy is about to publish a page about how she redid her whole kitchen for half the price.  My first post was a page full of links called "The Best of Pinterest."  http://smallandsimpleblog.com/2012/06/05/best-of-pinterest/

And this current post publishing June 11, 2012 will be Ten Simple Changes that will improve your life forever.  I could never give up this great HappyCrew page. I will have this forever. But please take a minute to add my other blog to your list. I am sure between the five of us, there will be something to make it worth your while.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be - brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so small that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in us, it’s in everyone. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. "
Marianne Williamson, 19921994 Inaugural Speech -Nelson Mandela

"Home should be the place in which a person can unburden his soul and find renewed strength to face the world, where there is comfort, joy, and understanding, where best friends live, and where we can learn to be our best selves.
Home should be an anchor, a port in a storm, a refuge, a happy place in which to dwell, a place where we are loved and where we can love. Home should be where life’s greatest lessons are taught and learned. Home and family can be the center of one’s earthly faith, where love and mutual responsibility are appropriately blended. Thinking of home with its pleasant and happy memories can make us stronger during our present and future days here upon the earth." By: ELDER MARVIN J. ASHTON - A YEARNING FOR HOME - (Ensign No. 1992)

Nauvoo

I'm back for a minute!! I had to reserve for posterity our trip to Nauvoo!!
What an amazing journey for us.

 It was a 13 hour drive for us.  We arrived close to 11 PM and saw the temple.  Beautiful.  I can't believe how hard the early church members worked for that temple. I could tell from history how grateful they were to be able to attend a temple before they left across the plains to Utah. I love it that we rebuilt this temple. In many ways it is a tribute to them.

Here we are on the front steps of the temple.

This was fun.  The kids didn't think I could do it. But I also love the symbolism.  I go to the pioneers in my mind for examples of women who did hard things with faith and joy.  So this pic is a keeper for me. I can get my kids across the modern day plains.

They have some wonderful plays and theatrical performances up in Nauvoo during July. We saw one at the visitors center called, High Hopes and Riverboats.  We LOVED it.  Beautifully done. Excellent message of love and faith of the early saints in Nauvoo.  The pageant is an outdoor performance every evening during July. It is absolutely amazing.  What a beautiful performance. 

A couple great highlights without pictures:  We were able to see the brick makers, the blacksmith, and the gunsmith. They showed us what life was like in the 1800s. We loved to tour the inside of these old homes. And it was meaningful for us to see the graves of Joseph, Emma, Hyrum and their parents.  The trail of hope down to the waters edge was touching for the kids. And we also were able to visit Carthage jail, the site of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith.  

All throughout Nauvoo is a special feeling of peace and love. The Spirit of the Lord is present in great abundance. It was a great experience for us all. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints has its restoration and beginnings with a boy named Joseph Smith who grew to a man and restored Jesus Christ's gospel to the earth once more, clarifying much of the confusion and differences in religion, translating the wonderful Book of Mormon for us as additional scripture.  He sacrificed all for us to have all these awesome blessings and many more.  I wish more people knew about the happy life of the LDS people.

Thirty Ways #19: Do Less

Make time to ponder, to relax, to think, to feel, to experience, to listen, to study, to grow, to love and share.  In all the serving and helping and enabling and encouraging and building and peacemaking and working and constructing and creating etc please take time to just feel.  To enjoy.  To love. You will feel in the quiet, an opportunity for the Savior to reach you.  An opportunity for Him to speak to your heart.  It can be a beautiful experience.

Thirty Ways #18: Make Gingerbread Houses

 Great wonderful friends invited us over last night to make gingerbread houses with them!! We each made two.  We kept one and we are giving away one.  SO FUN. We love to do this.  She made the gingerbread for us and everything. What a dear. So creative too.  When I saw her house and her fun ideas I realized once again how some people are just incredibly creatively gifted. Never fear though, for all of us who are marginally creatively gifted (or not at all like me.... :)) there are plenty of pre-made kits you can buy where all you do is set them up.

 

Christmas offers lots of activities and opportunities to be together.  Building friendships and strengthening families and feeling love for and from each other are all things that bring us closer to Jesus Christ.



And this is just a quick shot of our little one ready for her dance recital.