We went trekking

Instead of YM and YW camp this year, a Bishop from our stake, decided to organize a trek. It hasn't been done in this area for 20 years or so. He picked the outlying wards/branches so it was only about half of the stake. Our ward was one of the lucky ones involved. Since Stan workds with the YM, I knew he would be going and because women were involved, I asked if I could come along. We got to be a Ma and Pa of 6 great kids, half of them from our ward. Our ward was the largest unit there.
The scenery was beautiful, the enthusiasm and energy of the kids was contagious and exciting, the weather perfect, the food amazing, the trekking hard and much appreciated.

This is Brigham Young quoting parts of D&C 136.

Here are our children. This is the beginning after we assembled our handcarts and were preparing to walk and push.
Here are our blood children. Aren't they cute? Stan got these hats for free from a business trip to Calgary during the stampede.

Talented and brave sis

I wish I had a before and after picture, but I don't so this is just a quick story. I needed my hair thinned but didn't really want a cut and didn't want to pay for it. I purchased some thinning shears a couple of years ago. Stan is probably smart in not being brave thinning my hair. But, I have so much of it that it's pretty forgiving if you make a mistake. Whitney and I looked up some tips on You tube for thinning hair and she did a great job! I am so impressed with the amount she took out and the beautiful shape she gave my hair. It was awesome. I look forward to her doing it again in a few months. =)
And just so I don't do another post without a picture...
We've lived in our house for over a year and the light in the oven has never worked. I figured there was some sort of electrical problem, since all the appliances were well used before we moved in. I got the bright idea to check the light bulb one day. Now I don't usually do little fix it things because Stan is handy and it makes him feel good to fix things for me and I'm so happy to have him do it. However, he doesn't have a lot of free time so I took matters in my own hands this time. Guess what I found? the light bulb just needed to be screwed in! That kind of fixing I can handle and now I can see in my oven, after all this time...

a final thought

We watched the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." It's a movie about the Holocaust. Very sad, but very inspiring to us. We watched it for our date night and it led to an excellent discussion about what to do with our future. Seeing movies likes this helps us put life in perspective. We become much more grateful for all the comforts we enjoy. It helps us think of ways we can make more of a difference to those around us and ponder if we are spending our time as wisely as we can.
I find that as a mother, I don't get too down on myself. I'm far from perfect and I always have lots of things to work on but the fact that I get to be home with my kids, all year and all the time, makes me feel like I'm contributing to a better world. As long as I'm trying my best to raise these kids the best I can and the way Heavenly Father wants me to, I'm on the right track. Think about this moms and remember how important you are!

a 2nd post to inspiration

I read "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen. It helped me look within and really think about where I'm at and who I want to become and ways I can get to where I want to be.
Here are some favorite quotes for the 5o page book:
"Man is made or unmade by himself."
"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound."
"Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment."
"Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force."
"Your vision is the promise of what shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil."

inspiring quotes

I've read a few things recently that have inspired me. I'll share.
This one is from Music and the Spoken Word, yesterday, I think...
It's interesting how two people can approach similar circumstances with entirely different outlooks. The optimist tries to look on the bright side, believes that good days are ahead, and holds on to the hope that things will get better. The pessimist sees dark rain clouds even on sunny days and believes that the best has passed him by.

There's no question whom we'd rather be around. As one commentator writes: "Optimists . . . make life better just by being part of it. They enjoy people, places and things. Their enthusiasm is contagious. . . . The greatest gift anyone can give another is a positive attitude, a smile and genuine interest. Some claim the only person you can change is yourself. Not true! You can and do change everyone with whom you come in contact. The question is whether you add to or subtract from the day's experience."

Some people seem to have more hopeful dispositions, more natural cheerfulness, and more affirmative expectations. But most of us are not always the optimist or always the pessimist. There's probably a little bit of both in all of us. We'd like to be the optimist more often, but depending on the day, the weather, the aches and pains, the disappointments and challenges we face, that can be harder than it sounds.

Even during our difficult moments, however, we can decide to be happier, more positive today than we may have been yesterday. Optimism is learned; we can practice and work at it until it becomes a habit. We can talk to ourselves and others in more upbeat ways, look for the bright side, and resolve to be more optimistic. When we do, our optimism is a gift not only to ourselves but to everyone around us.

RAIN...and thoughts

I feel like singing the song, "rain, rain, go away, come again another day" but it has been so nice to not have to water our garden or grass. This week, we had a huge amount of rain. To help us not go stir crazy, Whitney and I took the kiddos to see Toy Story 3. It was good. In fact, I liked it better than the first one. The kids loved it. It was a real treat for us as we hardly ever do things like that.

I LOVE having my sister-in-law Whitney living with us. It is so much fun. She and I have been exercising regularly and having a great time. Since this last stint I've been on, I can actually "see" progress being made. I don't know if I've lost weight, I don't like scales, but I can see something different in my shape. Finally! I plan to keep it up. I am loving the variety that we are doing, some cardio, some weights, some flexibility ie. pilates/yoga.
Exercising isn't been the only fun thing about Whitney. She cooks dinner for me periodically, babysits, gives comfort, a listening ear, and brightens our home with her happy, engaged self. I'm going to miss her more than anyone here at this house. We only have one week left and then she is off to southern Alberta to finish planning her wedding that is at the end of August.

We finished moving rocks off our front yard area, finally! I don't really want to know how many hours we have put into that job. I'm extremely grateful that it is done and we can move onto something else.

I'm not sure I mentioned that I'm in the primary presidency now. I love it. I was so grateful for the Lord's help today in giving a sharing time that I found out about yesterday. The counselor in charge became ill. We talked about the story of Nephi breaking his bow and related principles taught to loving others and serving, following the commandments, etc. I was really impressed with the senior primary. We made up a new verse to "Nephi's Courage."
Random thoughts. I know my mother-in-law reads this so this is mostly for her... Does anyone else read it?

What we've been up to

I guess Canada Day is first! We had a really fun ward party and Brynn invited our neighbors to come. They have two girls that are fun to play with. It was great.

A crazy attempt at flag cookies. They tasted delicious.

I have pretty much disappeared. Lots of projects going on around here. Moving rock, planting garden, playing, enjoying some nice weather, ripping out flooring due to broken washing machine that leaked. (only minor damage).

The first few are of the kids playing the hat game or some people call it scum. My sister-in-law has a really great collection.

Macy was crying at my door one day while I was having some quiet time. She was more tired than I realized and fell asleep in the hall outside my door.

Petting zoo for the Beaumont Daze. Bunnies, wombat, goats, turkeys, guinea pigs. the kids loved it and we had our niece Kali with us to enjoy it all.

You have to blow up this picture to see why I took it. Macy really wanting her shorts under her swimsuit yesterday. So I let her.

"New" washer and dryer. They work so great! They are much quieter than my old ones and I'm pretty sure we can put our closet doors back on.

After not having laundry machines for 10 or 11 days, I was never so excited to do my pile of laundry. It doesn't look like much but what I did do, took me most of the day, before dinner.

Happy 4th of July! This was so yummy. I'm addicted to angel food cake. I mixed whipped cream with vanilla yogurt and topped it with blueberries and strawberries. We even had 50 blueberries on there.

Our garden. I'm so happy with how it is growing, even though we've had tons of rain storms, wind, and some hail. Lots of tomatoes, peppers, hopefully peas and beans will give us something one day. My spinach is doing the best. I've harvested several times already and it is so yummy. The kids like it too. I love fresh stuff.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

This is excellent. We all need reminders and encouragement that being a mom is important, challenging, rewarding, and a divine calling and that Heavenly Father will help us if we will rely on Him.

What we aren't teaching

So, during our family home evening lesson last Monday we were talking about and sharing our testimonies. At the end, Brynn said she was grateful for primary and all the things she learns there that she doesn't learn at home. At first I was offended, thinking that all our efforts are in vain, but then I felt grateful that primary was doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. A supplement and help for what we are trying to do here at home.

Spokane trip

Girl Cousins are so fun! Some of my siblings. My oldest sister spent the previous day with us and we got some pictures of the three sisters but I don't have them. Maybe I'll post one after I get it.

She is the reason we were all together! We spent a fun weekend with most of our family, sharing in the joy of a lost sheep returned! We love you Niki and are so happy we could be in the Temple with you. The trip was short, but sweet. The kids were amazing travelers.

too much

I'm going nuts with yard work, planting a garden and other things I wish I enjoyed more.
We had a fun trip to Taber last weekend. Joel's birthday is coming up. The house is a mess. I have to teach a Relief Society activity about summer learning activities (any ideas?) And school is not happening! Tell me it will get better. I can't handle a whole summer at this pace.
I hope to update with pictures sometime.

Great Book

I just read an awesome book I want to recommend. It's called, Seven Miracles that saved America.
If you have even the slightest interest in history or the U.S. you should read this book. The authors did an excellent job of briefly summarizing events, giving you just enough information to understand the situation. It made me want to study more in-depth some of the events that were talked about.

Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters

This is at the visitor's center in Winter Quarters. We had a cute sister missionary give us the tour and she was SO patient with our extremely tired kiddos.

Brynn LOVES flowers so we take lots of pictures by them.

The stained glass windows at the Temple are so beautiful. Brynn was bummed that she can't go inside any of the Temples. We tried to reassure her that she can go when she turns 12. She looked at us and said in disgust "but I'm not even 8!" It's sometimes hard for us to remember those anxious times of waiting when we are kids.

This is at the Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs. We debated about stopping here. We felt pressured by time. We are SO glad we stopped. We got a different view of the Mormom Battalion and felt the Spirit of this wonderful building where Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd President of the Church. Also Oliver Cowdery, (someone correct me if I'm wrong), returned to Church activity here.

The missionary couple who talked to us and led us through were with Mom and Dad T. in the MTC .

Of course the pictures are in reverse order!

Brynn got a hair cut!

We love our grandmas

We are so grateful for our wonderful mothers and grandmothers and great grandmother who have taught us so many wonderful things. They are great examples of service, sacrifice, unconditional love, patience, faith, and many other wonderful qualities! We love you so much.

D.C.

The background picture is the U.S. capitol with my mom and Aunt Lorene in front. Top left is me in front of the D.C. Temple. Directly below that is me with Laura and Bridget in front of the Mesa Temple. Bottom left, me with the Washington Monument in the background.
Top right two pictures are me at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home/farm etc. Below that we are in the Library of Congress. Below that my parents and me in front of the National Cathredal. It is huge and we couldn't get any pictures this close of the whole thing. The bottom right picture is of us on a WWII army truck that was water and land ready.

Highlights of my trip to Washington D.C.:
-The Temple, I'm always so excited to see a new one, but most of all I just love being there. There isn't anywhere on Earth I'd rather be.
-spending time with my mom and aunt.
-Fiddler on the Roof-we saw it at the National Theatre. It was well done and moved along quickly. Much shorter than the movie. I hadn't really caught the story line before. I felt a little saddened at the loss of tradition they experienced, even though I don't agree with the practice of choosing spouses. I'm sure grateful I was able to choose my spouse!
-Amazing tour guides. We went on a lot of tours. They talk the whole time you are with them so it's impossible to remember all they say. I gained an appreciation for new ideas, many sacrifices from the founding fathers and others througout history. The night time tour was particularly amazing.
-The Lincoln Memorial was a favorite, he is an inspiring man. I'm excited to learn more about him and his life.
-Mt. Vernon-George Washington's farm and mansion.
-Holocaust Museum- so much to see there and too much to read and think about on one visit.
-Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot
-Korean War Memorial
-Arlington National Cemetary- we saw a changing of the guard and wreath ceremony. It was amazing. The cemetary seemed quieter than sacrament meeting. I probably wouldn't take my young children there anyway. It's a special place. I wish we would have had more time to walk around there.

I spent a really fun day with friends in Arizona. I had a big layover. We went to the Temple in Mesa and visited a lot. It was so nice to be able to see them and enjoy the beautiful warmth of Arizona in springtime.

I'm overwhelmed with the amount of things I want to study! What a wonderful time I had. I enjoyed some time away from the kiddos, even though I missed them. I came back refreshed and ready to begin again. Thanks to my wonderful husband who made this trip possible and for my parents for inviting me along!

In Nauvoo

The favorite activities for the kids included:
throwing rocks in the Mississippi River, and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa

The pictures, left to right, then down
top left: Brynn and Joel sitting in front of a mouse trap from the pioneer days
Macy had a thing for bending sideways, this is one of many
Brynn, Joel and Macy on the wagon ride(Temple in the background).
We are all at the blacksmith shop. Joel was right in there "helping"
Macy in grandma's apron, showing off her face wound.
Joel and Grandpa in front of some of the tools they used.
Stan and Joel in front of Grandparent's door to their apartment (the upstairs of a farm house)
Me, Brynn and Joel, rope making
Joel took the picture of us in the grass.
Mom and Dad T. are site leaders at the Family Living Center
Brynn and Macy on Easter morning
Brynn throwing rocks in the river, barge in the background
Wagon ride
Joel in front of the horses pulling the wagon.
Kids in front of Grandma and grandpa's home.

Did I really miss Macy's birthday?

Macy is 3 now! Brynn really wanted to help decorate these cupcakes and she had a great time doing it. Macy wanted to help too, maybe next year...

I LOVE these faces

Kids are so easy to please. I love the family parties with just the five of us. They played and played until way past their bedtime.

Why we love Macy:

-She is funny and entertaining (she often sneaks into Brynn's bed and eats her candy. I still haven't figured out why Brynn doesn't choose a different spot to "hide" her stuff. Macy always finds it. It's like she can smell it or something.)

-She is sweet and says "I love you" more times in a day than you can count.

We are so happy and blessed to have this special girl in our family!

"Now Let Us Rejoice"

For Easter we bought ourselves the book "Our Latter-Day Hymns," by Karen Lynn Davidson.
Since our kids are young and we wanted at least Brynn to remember this trip, I felt the need to keep talking about our experiences with the Church History sites and our testimonies of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I decided to give our Family Home Evening lesson on "Now Let Us Rejoice", Hymn no. 3 in LDS Hymnbook. This song was written by W.W, Phelps. I'm going to share a little history provided from the above book. I hope I'm not infringing on copyright laws.
The author quotes from the Comprehensive history of the Church: "In, 1833, a mob, plentifully armed and numbering between four and five hundred, came upon the settlement at Independence. They tore down the two story brick building in which the press was housed and in the lower par of which the Phelps family lived; they destroyed the press, burned the books and papers, drove Mrs. Phelps and her baby out upon the street;...and they served warning on all the Saints living in the county not to do any more work or build or buy or sell in their settlements." The Saints were soon after driven from their homes in the dead of winter.
Here is a link to the words of this hymn:
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=3&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=3&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

This song is powerful evidence of the testimonies of the early Saints. I have always liked this song but it has taken on a deeper meaning to me now. After witnessing the strength of the parents of our nephew who just passed away, I know they believe this too. It is because of the Savior's atonement that we still can rejoice when really hard things come our way.

Salt Lake

We left Thursday, March 25, after work and traveled 5 hours to Lethbridge.
Friday morning we met up with family to caravan down to Logan, UT. It was great fun. Maybe because they took my two oldest kids and Macy slept for a big chunk of the afternoon. =)
The beginning of the 2 + weeks road trip. Click this link to see our route and note the kilometers and days traveled. I feel triumphant in accomplishing this adventure! We all still love each other and had a wonderful time!
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=beaumont,+alberta&daddr=Pleasant+Grove,+ut+to:broomfield,+colorado+to:nauvoo,+illinois+to:Sioux+Falls,+Minnehaha,+South+Dakota,+United+States+to:keystone,+south+dakota+to:great+falls,+montana+to:beaumont,+alberta&hl=en&geocode=Fd0XLgMdb2s9-SnhkO3NwRygUzHFHVGccsDFcw%3BFVboZwIdVAFX-Snnx5tBH4RNhzEeLL208h-9pg%3BFZ0jYQIdRoG8-Sk7-IhbzIprhzGwQryQ6JcFBw%3BFZq-agId1ZON-im3UcGO4SXnhzFJYMOFT3_S4A%3BFReFmAIdWXg8-inXrL3gmLSOhzHP_LKoOv-V3g%3BFfjKnQIdevbV-Sm7AKUYFjZ9hzGgi8c_-4kZLg%3BFcvL1AIdOK9d-Sk7uIxljTdCUzGoRVmOsVbe1g%3BFd0XLgMdb2s9-SnhkO3NwRygUzHFHVGccsDFcw&mra=pe&mrcr=3,4&sll=46.591631,-102.398471&sspn=14.466076,43.198242&ie=UTF8&ll=46.589069,-102.392578&spn=14.466076,43.198242&z=5

Interesting sign. Joel lost his first tooth in Logan!

It was just a one room Pulled it out himself.

bathroom at a gas station.

We visited Temple Square. It was so much more meaningful

now that the kids are older. We went in '07 and Brynn didn't

remember anything. They loved the "big Jesus statue"

Fun to "touch" the Temple and talk about the pioneers who

built it by hand. Just these doors alone are amazing!

I'll put our trip posts in pieces so I can add the best pictures and some journaling with it. We don't have any from the funeral weekend yet and we had some great family pictures taken, just our crew and all the Torries. Those will come at some point...

Teaser

I have some updating to do. But, my computer is having trouble loading all the pictures from our trip so I'll try again later.
While visiting some great friends in Colorado on our adventure, they introduced us to this FUNNY and clean comedian. Here's a favorite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVblNA3drM

We are grateful for blessings of the Temple

We are so thankful to have the gospel in our lives! Our nephew, obituary attached below, was killed in an accident almost two weeks ago. The funeral was amazing. His mom and dad have been comforted by the prayers of many and the knowledge that Wayne is alive and they will be able to be with him again one day. We were able to have all the Torrie family together, which hasn't happened since the summer of 2003.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hjnews/obituary.aspx?n=wayne-julien-torrie&pid=141131869

Run

So, my friend talked my into running a 1/2 marathon in September. The thought of running again was exciting but scary. It's been a long time since I've done any real running. I thought I was pretty out of shape. I decided to go jogging just before dinner last night and Brynn and Joel really wanted to come. So I told them the loop we were going to make and that we would be doing some walking. I had total confidence that they would be just fine, since I'm really out of shape. I forgot to take into account that they are 5 and 7. Kids seem like they can go forever and ever. After 30 seconds of VERY slow jogging, they stopped to walk. Our loop was just over a mile and we walked most of it. The funny thing was that they kept moaning and asking if we were ever going to be done, all the while knowing that the only way to get home was to keep walking. As we approached the last leg, out of nowhere Joel said, "where's a taxi when we need one?" Random and very funny comment. It also kept them minds busy for a few minutes.

School's out

Stan finished his 2nd class. It was much more difficult but he ended up getting a good grade. It's been nice having a break. We finished reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Great book. Stan's oldest brother Mel and some of his family came for a visit. It was really fun! We missed the boys but I have to admit that it was pretty quiet. The girls had so much fun together. We had lots of fun with other cousins that live here near us. It's fun to have visitors. We are preparing for our big trip at the end of this month to Mt. Rushmore and Nauvoo. Can't wait!

I LOVE THIS!

Here's a You Tube video someone shared with Stan. It is about 6 minutes long but I LOVE IT. It is a good reminder of things we often forget.
Sorry about that video. If you live in the U.S. you can see it on the NBC site. Canadians aren't able to view it from that site.

I love the Olympics

Brynn and Joel made their own Olympic rings.
Here's our big one we all made together with some trivia questions to the left.
We had fun making windsocks to cheer on our countries.
Sorry this is flipped. Picasa isn't working right now and I wanted to get these posted. I have to say I was surprised at how well they turned out! Joel is amazing with scissors. He is great with detail work. Brynn is great at making things look pretty. I was the supervisor who provided the ideas of how to put it all together. Go Canada and U.S.A.!
It was exciting and fun to prepare for the Olympics by seeing the torch pass through Beaumont, really close to our house, decorating, learning and talking about the history of the Olympics. The kids haven't watched too many events but they loved the Women's snowboarding Cross, the Ski Jumping, a little bit of speed skating. I think they would like the figure skating but they are usually in bed by then. It's been good to talk with the kids about how hard the athletes work to get to the Olympics, the goals they set, and sacrifices they make, even if they aren't the world's best. Hopefully they'll remember something from it that's important.

Some of what we love to do at home

Don't they look scrumptious? They always are. I LOVE this recipe.

Joel likes to take pictures of everything, including our work in progress.
Macy couldn't resist helping herself onto the counter and having some dough.
Happy Groundhog Day.
I wish I was a better photographer. The light is so bright in most of these. You get the point anyway, even if the pictures aren't great. Any ideas on how to solve this problem? Do I need to close all the blinds when I'm taking pictures?

Grateful

We have had a VERY mild January and February. What a blessing it has been for us. I had to update my blog background to welcome the thought of spring. We are still covered in snow here and I expect we'll have a few more snow storms and some cold weather but the days are getting LONGER. I can't believe what this does to me. Waking up to sunshine pouring through the windows makes it so easy to get out of bed. Eating dinner while it is still light out is so fun. The joy in small things.
Macy is done with pull-ups! She started her potty-training adventure about 6 weeks ago and she really didn't like the pull-ups at night. We made her wear them for our sanity, in case she had an accident in the middle of the night. As with all of my kids, she never had a wet pull-up and we let her sleep without one a few nights ago and she has been doing great! We are so proud of her. It really has been all her, and not us.

Inspire

I believe inspiration is going to be a HUGE part of our homeschool experience. This example might seem silly, but it rang true for me.
As most of you readers know, I was born and raised in the U.S. I'm proud of it and I'm trying to pass along traditions to our children that are important to me, as well as things that are important to Stan. For the last couple of years, we thought it would be fun to sing 'O, Canada' when we cross the border into Canada and 'The Star Spangled Banner' when we enter the U.S.A. The kids are fine to sing O Canada because they know it and sang it at school. I struggled to teach them the Star Spangled Banner. It's longer and less familiar because nobody here sings it, obviously. It frustrated me that they would whine and complain when we "made" them sing it. I finally let it go and thought that at one point they would appreciate it. The day came already!
I sat down one day last week and started playing and singing it. After I got done, I sat down and decided to tell them why I like the song and why it is important to me. End of discussion.
Later that night, Brynn asked if I would play the Star Spangled Banner so she could sing it. This was her exact words, "I've decided I like this song now, Mom." We have since sung it at least 15 times in the last 4 or 5 days. A silent cheer from me, for the kids!

Fun pictures

Brynn lost her first top, front tooth and the new one is coming in already.

Love Brynn's face. This is FUN!

Macy coming out of the igloo. I can't believe how grown up her face looks.

The kids and Stan inside the igloo he/they made. We have a great backyard.