A good read

While I was sick I had a lot of time on the couch-- I read this good book that Pres. Tew gave to us. It is by Dallin Oaks' second wife, Kristen. It is about her life before she married him. She was single for 51 years. It is a really great book and applies to all of us ~ single or married... I really enjoyed it and recommend it - you can get it at Deseret Book...

An early Halloween visit from DRACULA- and more...

I'm back! WHOA... Anemia = THE BADS. Ever stop to think about how important each part of your body is? Well... me neither until I lost about 40% of my red blood cells... Being a nurse, I have always been so amazed by the human body~ each part of our bodies work together to keep us going, feeling good and operating correctly. If you alter any part of the body, it's so incredible what happens... needless to say, I found out the last 2 weeks how important these little guys are! I am thankful to be feeling better finally! :) I found out I am not a very patient person when it comes to being sick... a wake up call to appreciate good health.

So I have been taking iron pills - ouch! They HURT the tummy~ so I am looking for alternate ways to get iron -SPINACH and I are new best friends! :) I have been eating a bag of this a day... thankfully I LOVE it!! So- here's to good health, another thing to be grateful for! :)

Last weekend...

Last Friday night Dave took the girls camping - they went to Mt. Charleston with Rich, Heidi, Nikki, Jordan and Kids. They had a great time- they loved getting one LAST camping trip in before the COLD weather hit! But the cold weather DID hit while they were there! They woke up to snow! Although they were a bit chilly, they still had a great time roasting hot dogs, eating s'mores and being together! Yea Daddy! I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't get to go, but had a relaxing time alone at home.
HOMECOMING!

Saturday was Homecoming. Matt went with Julieann Ray. They had a really fun day. They went on a hike in Redrock in the morning and had a picnic lunch, then came home for a few hours, had their pictures taken, went to Maggianos for dinner, went to the dance and then went to Casey Stagner's house where they had set up a "carnival". They had a homemade mini golf course, a knock over the bottle game, an awesome "bounce house trampoline", cotton candy machine, popcorn machine, cakes, cookies etc... They had a great group of friends... Matt, Scott Albright, Casey Stagner, Trey McGhin, Zach Brasier, Jeff Buxton, Riley Creer, Mitch Morgan, their dates and a few others who joined the group late... SUPER FUN!! (Even though they froze just a bit!)

I am so thankful for Matt's great friends. He has such an awesome group of kids he hangs out with...

In other news-- Matt has been out with an injury for almost a month, after 3 doctors appointments and an MRI he has been told he has tibial bone marrow edema -- which means no stress fracture(yea!) but almost-- so he cannot run for another month. This has been such a bummer for him because he LOVES cross country and it has been so hard to sit out. The hope is, though, that he will be back in working order in time for wrestling next month!

-Lindsey and Katie are progressing in piano despite their teacher

-Ellie is reading up a storm and has found out that her forte in school is MATH~! She loves math and is very good at it! GOOD JOB GIRLS!!

Last Weekend and New Pictures of Kids

We had a great trip to Utah last weekend for braces...We also got a new kitchen table- YEAH! Thanks Cosi and Mark!! It was so much fun, even though it was quick, it's always great to be together. The girls had so much fun - Thanks to Cos and Alyson for Klambe!! Thanks to Bishop for the last minute tickets to GENERAL CONFERENCE! Dave, LeeAnn, Lindsey, Katie and I were able to go to the Saturday afternoon session ( the one where Elder Wirthlin was soooo hilarious) and then Matt and his three cousins (Garrett, Tanner and Josh)were able to go to Priesthood together. It was wonderful!! We loved it so much! None of us had EVER been! (except Dave) What a great opportunity!

We enjoyed the sour dough waffles, Maria Bonita, finding out what "color" we were and mainly just hanging out.

Conference was so inspiring! I came home with a renewed outlook on life--- what a blessing!

AND then we have our BEAUTIFUL new "fall" pictures courtesy of my great friend Jamie! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I love them so much! She is so talented and I can't help but be biased about how beautiful my kids look in them! :)

Thanks for the LIFT! :)

Although I feel a little bit weird about blogging this, I just want to share a few thoughts I have had lately.

I have been going through sort of a rough patch recently- emotionally, physically and spiritually and I just wanted to share that I am so thankful that Heavenly Father shows his love for us all the time, even when we don't feel like we are particularly at our best. He has shown his love for me lately through the following opportunities:

1. Our wards primary program. I LOVE the primary program each year. Ours was last Sunday and it was really wonderful to see my three little girls up there on the stand giving their parts and singing those beautiful songs. It touched my heart to see the beauty of children and their innocence and love for the Lord.

2. The General RS broadcast. OH! How I needed this! Every word that was said felt like it was just for me. I especially LOVED Elder Uchtdorf's talk - it spoke peace to my heart that I really needed. I hope you enjoy this quote as much as I did -- Thanks Nikki!! :)

3. A Stake YW training last night. My stake YW president, Sis. Deaver, is such an eloquent speaker and gave such a motivational talk last night. I came home with a new resolve to be a better leader, mother, wife and daughter of God.

I am so thankful to belong to this church where we receive these "LIFTS" that we need. It is so great to be able to have these opportunities to get spiritually fed and receive the reminders I need so often to keep on trying, to have faith, to work harder and to love myself and others more! WE CAN DO IT!!!! I can't wait for general conference!!! :)