HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tulips
Holidays
A bungalow house
Nieces
Kitchenware
Super sweet primary students
Grandmas and grandpas
Ice cream
Very dear munchkins
Icicles
Nephews, great ones too!
Guitar playing husband
Siblings

Do you remember doing these poems in grade school? I do! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

TWO SHOWERS AND A CRAFT FAIR

So nothing much new here. We did have a shower for Stacie (Rob's fiancee) and went to Traci's shower! The craft fair at Bonneville (shout out to Jessie) was marginal. Nothing new.

So, I'm glad you all have exciting lives that you blog about. That is it!

Much love!

Shout out to our friend Rob Rogers!

Our friend, Rob, writes for a newspaper in Redding, California. We love Rob and his wife, Urpy (I mean Becky). They have three beautiful little girls who are 7,6,and 2. Rob is pretty cool if we do say so ourselves, not to brag about having a cool friend! So Rob wrote about the individual preferences the girls have to torture each other, commonly known as sibling rivalry. We all did it! You know the attitude; I can beat up my brother but don't you dare!

Rob and Urpy are responsible parents (how could you be cool if you weren't). Anyway, the response from the readers was scary! So to make you feel better or worse, we are going to share a couple of incidents at the expense of our children:) Sorry Bugs and Buddy.

Larkin in general was pretty good with David. However, she had a bad habit of flinging things. . . shoes, pencils, pens, whatever was handy. David has a really pretty scar right by his eye from a projectile thrown by his sibling. I do believe that was the last time she threw anything at him. However, she did launch a shoe that caused a lot of damage to a guitar (that was an expensive lesson for her). It SCARED her bad enough to cure her!

David lived to "torture" Larkin. He soon found that he could inflict pain and receive the laughter which occurs when she is in pain. He also had a bad habit of slamming doors. . .with or without fingers in them. So I had David put his hand in the door jam, and you guessed it! SLAMMED the door, not. But they both thought I was going to. . .and it SCARED him enough to not do it anymore. The same tactic worked to cure him of his biting. . .actually I think Larkin finally bit him back (without any punishment).

We guess the moral of the story is all kids have some form of pushing buttons on their siblings. However, for the record, Larkin and David were best friends. Yes, he still gives her "dead arms" and she laughs. Maybe she laughs because she knows that is the reaction he wants. . .

Simplify. . .

Last night my bedtime reading material (doesn't everyone read to unwind?) was the conference edition of the Ensign which came in the mail! Frankie had told me about Dieter Uchtdorf's message in the priesthood session and suggested I read it. He has never led me astray thus far so I dove right in!

I suppose the caption sums up his talk, "Every priesthood holder stands at a unique place and has an important task that only he can perform." This could be said of all, he was just speaking in a priesthood session. I really doubt sometimes my importance in the BIG picture. However, my small little contribution CAN only be done by me. I really do try to do what is right and be a help to those around me. Anyway. . .

I jumped right into a talk I remembered by L. Tom Perry, his caption, "In our search to obtain relief from the stresses of life, may we earnestly seek ways to simplify our lives." He talks about Thoreau's experiences at Walden Pond. Thoreau determined we need four basic things: food, shelter, clothing and fuel. Sometimes we complicate life, don't we? I am grateful for the blessings of these four items in my life. My favorite quote from this talk was William Bradford,

"In righteousness there is great simplicity.

In every case that confronts us in life

there is either a right way or a wrong way to proceed.

If we choose the right way, we are sustained in our actions

by the principles of righteousness, in the which there is power from the heavens.

If we choose the wrong way and act on that choice,

there is no such heavenly promise or power,

and we are along and are destined to fail."

Okay, I need all the help I can get, I hope that I choose mostly right ways. . .

Well, I have stalled as long as possible. I accidentally erased my quicken data and now must recreate some of it. . . AAGH! I am wondering if I must recreate it all. . .nope don't think so. Procrastination is my middle name, but alas I must begin. . .