Lifting Burdens

Lifting Burdens (Click on this link to see the video)

I really needed this video right now. I feel burdened down with sick kids. It seems like such a small thing. We have been stuck at home for 4 days now and it's getting on all our nerves. The Savior can lift that burden for me and give me the strength to continue on.

Totally redeemed himself...

What a surprise I received for my birthday! Stan put together a Google docs presentation including notes and pictures from family members and friends. It was so fun to read and see and realize how many people really love and care about me. I don't feel alone too often in my daily life, even if I don't get out much around here. It's because I'm blessed to have so many amazing people in my life from Canada all the way down to Arizona, from Washington State all the way to North Carolina. Stan was so great to plan ahead and prepare for this big day. He knew if he messed this one up it would take something drastic to make up for it, like a surprise trip to someplace warm, or something like that. Since the CFO(me) would have vetoed that he did it right and it was awesome. No monetary gift would have been as good. Way to go sweetie!
(I think it is hilarious that he got my birthday mixed up in the email he sent out) He didn't forget yesterday.
Thanks everyone for emails, contributions to the slideshow that I'll get to keep forever, phone calls, and other notes. It was a great birthday! Love to all!

Who says birthdays are about gifts?

So, this morning after Stan left for work, Joel said "aren't we supposed to go to the store and buy you some presents?" He was concerned for me. I then explained to him that I already bought my gifts and they were in the closet waiting to be wrapped. (Don't judge my poor husband, he is working on it and we agreed on this method for this year). Joel then said, "that's not very fun. You don't get to have a surprise." I agree with my 5 year old. Surprises are fun and I love them but there are other things I love about birthdays. It's the only day for me. I do share this day with others but not in my immediate family. I've had so much fun being with the kids and not worrying about what I'm not doing around the house. I took the day off. Brynn made me a PB & J sandwich for lunch. It was great. Stan is cooking me dinner. I'm not doing laundry, vacuuming, or sweeping. I'm currently listening to great music and sitting in the window where the sun is shining through. I am warm and happy! Who could ask for more. Hooray for birthdays!

Missionary fireside

I've posted a few entries today so make sure you check them all.

On Sunday our ward hosted a missionary fireside. An amazingly talented lady in our ward arranged the program. It was mostly musical. Our Bishop and his wife did some readings from the scriptures. The theme was "We testify of Jesus Christ."
-The song "One-by-One" was song by a small chorus. It was amazing! The Spirit testified to me again how we are loved and watched over individually. Heavenly Father and Jesus know who we are. We are children of God. What a blessing to have that knowledge!
-The other thing that really hit me strong this time was how humble the Savior was, is. He went about doing good. His whole life was about service and teaching. What a great example for us to follow. It's so easy to be selfish but that isn't why we are here on earth. We are here to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." This was a good reminder for me to look around, to view service as the great blessing that it is for others and ourselves. Also the Lord provides a way for us to do the things that He wants us to do. This includes sharing the gospel. We can and must be praying for help to find people to be ready and to have courage to share what the spirit prompts us to share.

HOUSE

Ta-Da! Here's the laminate that covers the whole main floor. It is wonderfully low maintenance.

Here's the Master bedroom, new carpet and paint. I'm still not loving the color but I need to decorate. Any ideas?

Here's the bonus room above the garage. We LOVE the green. It matches our couch perfectly. Some day after we decorate we will post more pictures.

Carpet up the stairs. Straight up to the bonus room. The other way goes up to the bedrooms. We are so pleased with how it all turned out and we feel so spoiled to live in a practically brand-new house.

I'm 30!

I made it through a monumental decade! I say monumental because so many life changing things have happened in my life over the past 10 years. Here's a recap:
-graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's degree
-married in the Logan Temple to the most amazing man for me!
-gave birth to 3 adorable and wonderful children (I was blessed to have them one at a time)
-Moved to Canada
-supported Stan in just about every ward leadership calling, not the Bishop though.
-tried to encourage and help Stan start his career
-began the interesting adventure with Stan in part-time MBA school, full time job, and YM's president
-experienced what I thought was a REAL trial (losing a baby). I have now come to realize that the day to day trials and how we deal with them are just as helpful in our spiritual growth as having the BIG, heart wrenching ones. But I am grateful to have had a big one to help me remember what is most important. This experience really helped me remember that relying on the Lord is the only way to live life. It can be easy to forget that and try to do everything ourselves. My testimony has grown so much over the past decade but especially this last year. I have no doubt that God is in charge of my life and when I choose to accept his will, I am happy, eternally happy!

I'm sure there is more but these are the ones that stand out in my mind as really having an impact on my life in the long run.
Here's to another great decade!

Family

We had our sister-in-law do a very quick photo session so we could have a more recent family picture. It was FREEZING cold that day. We were outside for maybe 20 minutes. You can tell how thrilled Macy was about having pictures taken. I think they turned out great.

Nevermind the chunk of hair that is sticking up on my head in the main picture at the top of my blog and another one. I haven't taken the time to edit it.