be AWESOME instead. true story.

my sister janers shared this quote that come through the grapevine on the web. i pretty much love it!

i need to take doogie howser's advice (ok - I know that's not his name... mostly i just don't know his name. you can tell i don't get out much. i don't watch whatever his new sitcom is either.)

anyhoo... be awesome. true story.

photo of the day

these are my kids doing their yoga downward-facing-dog pose.

it makes me laugh. see max?

i was too close and cropped off part of abe. oops!

but it was not to be duplicated so wonderfully again as max soon stepped on abe's fingers and the evening of outside play came to a close.

as we were going in jimmy hit his finger with a hammer. alas...

all the boys had baths/shower (we love clean boys!!!).

hannah watched a little princess.

tru and max wore soft new matching football jammies.

i have a cold... or something of the sort.

good night saturday... good night.

here's the plan Stan

I've realized that my kids like lists and charts. They like to check things off.

Either Abe will ask me what we are doing every moment... what is coming up later in the day ...

OR - i post a list of our day and he looks at the list to know what tasks need to be done before play. He did great this summer completing his workbooks, reading, daily journal, tasks and chore ... all because he had to have it done to play the wii.

So - I prefer the list option! I have several lists around the house... our 3 family rules, stuff to do before leaving the house, chores & tasks, and ideas for snacks, breakfasts, lunch. It seems a little intense or OCD or something to list everything out specifically ... but I know my kids thrive with a better schedule knowing what is expected of them.

This fall I decided to try this chart inspired by Jen.

I've done lists before on a weekly basis. I like the idea of starting clean each day.

That idea reminds me of the conversation between Miss Stacy and Anne Shirley. Miss Stacy teaches, "Remember you can always start everything afresh tomorrow." To which Anne replies:

Anyhoo... the idea is that you mark on the glass with overhead projector markers. Then wipe it clean the next day. I guess we'll see how it goes.

LIGHT - this is where I want to be!

The Silence of God, was a very interesting read. I felt enlightened about part of the history of Russia. Oh how much history can teach us!

This book is a historical fiction based on the Lindlof family who were the first Mormons in Russia in the early 1900s. It is incredible what people have had to endure... such hardship. All they were trying to do was live in righteousness. I can hardly imagine experiencing what they had to. This story puts 'life is a test' in a new light for me.

This story made me realize that so often individuals get caught up with political groups and movements without realizing all the implications. And in this case, "Bread, Peace, and Land" and "All power to the Soviets (councils)" went from socialism to horrible communism in a few short awful years. Many citizens involved did not see it for what it really was until it was too late. It was also interesting to imagine a culture without religion, a place where so many don't believe in God. How dark and dreary an environment that would be.

Though this book wasn't a cheerful read, it helped me appreciate all that we have. I admire the faith and courage of the Lindlof family and those who may have been friends with and helped them. It also helped me understand how socialism and communism are Satan's form of the law of consecration... only Satan forces all to give. The Lord's way involves pure hearts and freedom to choose.

So - reality is that we don't live in Russia in the early 1900s ... we aren't going to be shipped off to Siberia to spend the rest of our short life in a work camp... but we have our challenges here and now.

I see a common thread in the stories of courageous men, women, and children - they choose LIGHT. Their faith in Christ sees them through the trials of life... even when all around them is darkness and despair. They are blessed with inner peace and calm, knowing the eternal nature of this plan.  LIGHT - this is where I want to be!

That which edifies ...

I recently read a chapter on "That Which Edifies" in a book by Sherrie Johnson.

She wrote about how "important it is to create as much good as possible in the controllable facets of our environment. ... We do this by surrounding ourselves with colors, pictures, music, sayings, and decor that lift and encourage. We can train ourselves to be more aware of how things affect us. We can be more aware that we are a temple for the Holy Ghost, and we can seek more actively to find and incorporate that which edifies in our lives."

I just keep thinking about all the things I want my kids to know and believe and do. And I want things on the walls in our home environment to support goodness.  I think I've gotten past the perfectly decorated home I thought I might be able to create. I'd rather have kid's art and inspiring stuff for kids on the walls than gorgeously framed paintings (ok - really, can I have both? ... when $$ permits)

A scripture comes to mind when I think of the challenges my kids face in life:

"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

After focusing on the Holy Ghost last month in primary, I realized how very important it is that we have the Holy Ghost in our home and with each of us. So, I want to make more efforts to surround ourselves with that which edifies ... at least to remind us to do good and be good.

I love the Bright Idea pages in the Friend Magazine (actually I love the entire new design and stuff they have in the 2010 Friend). I want to hang those upstairs in the playroom and kid's rooms. They sure are cute little ENCOURAGING messages.

I've also been trying to find good audio books for my kids to listen to. Our parents (and grandparents) have read lots of fun stories for the kids to listen to while following along with the book. I recently read some stories too. Our kids love all of those.

2 resources I recently came across that I put on our family ipod:

Scripture Stories on the Mormon Radio Channel. You can download the different episodes. It has a primary song and the illustrated scripture stories read by children. I love that they have these.

Audio of The Friend magazines You can save them by right click and 'save link as'.

It cracks me up that our 1999 Toyota Minivan still has a cassette tape. Isn't that so old-fashioned?! But I found a device that will connect the Ipod through the cassette tape so we can listen to all the good stuff in the car. So instead of silence ... we now have fun primary songs and stories. Yay!

One more step to filling our life with things that edify. I sure hope it can help us all remember to choose the right more often.

Gather {JOY}

Twelve years ago in 1998, I was a summer counselor at Academy for Girls, a program for 12-14 year old girls through the Continuing Education Office at BYU. The theme that year was JOY IN THE JOURNEY. It was a fun (and tiring!) summer. I met so many great women and wonderful girls. I did sessions in Provo, Ithaca, NY, and San Antonio, TX.

Fast forward to 2010. It was decided to have an Academy for Girls Counselor Reunion Retreat. REJOICE! And this time I could attend since I lived in the same state. The drive to Midway was beautiful! I'm so grateful for the gals Katie, Sara, and Leslie who planned such an event. They took such care in all the details and made it very meaningful.

It was such a joy to be uplifted by the goodness of these women.
We shared favorite quotes,
cried, laughed,
designed a fun bird collage craft (go modge-podge!),
did a service activity to decorate boxes that are given to grieving mothers in the hospital after losing a baby,
shared Simple Gospel Truth packets,
ate delicious food,
hardly slept a wink,
enjoyed an early morning walk,
received oodles of fun ideas to teach the gospel daily in our homes,
focused on the simple ways we can gather joy... in moments ... with our children ... in testimony ... at home.

I came away better than I was before. I felt filled to the brim with inspiration to keep plugging along as a mother and woman in zion.

I have oodles of notes from all the workshops, but the main take-a-way for me was that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can fill hearts with love, patience, joy, comfort, truth, forgiveness, knowledge, inspiration, and goodness. Every time we do good, we are given more LIGHT and STRENGTH in Christ. I left inspired to increase my efforts to study the scriptures diligently... to bear testimony to my children DAILY in conversation and example.

I also realized that we all have such different but hard trials. So many go through so much, but they are given strength through Christ to endure. I was impressed by the attitude, faith, and courage of these women to deal with the various challenges in life.

I plugged my notes into wordle and it came up with the most-frequent words:

Overall, there were too many unphotographable moments to mention, but those tender mercies were felt with the heart... and changed me for the better. And then... the test came... to return home... and see if I could keep that same Spirit with me while going through crazy days with my tots. It sure was nice to fill my soul with inspiration, but I think the key to survival (enduring to the end with JOY) is filling our soul daily with the things of Christ.

Thanks to Heidi Tate Lawson for the fabulous photos of the weekend!!

Articles of Faith 4x6

I finally got around to shrinking the Articles of Faith to 4x6 size. Thought I'd share them with y'all.

One of these days I want to shrink them to 3x4 to be laminated and put on a ring for scripture bags take-a-long. All in due time...

Here's the link to the 4x6

'Articles of Faith' Album

Terms of use: These prints are for home, and church use only. They are not to be resold for any type of profit. I want to make my creations available for friends to use; I just want to be sure they are being used for the right reasons. If anyone has questions they can e-mail me at happyfam@gmail.com ~ Heather

Articles of Faith 8x10

I had a friend suggest the idea to create some Article of Faith posters. What fun to make! They are a little bright and perhaps a little bonkers, but hopefully fun for tots.

here's the linkie to the album for the

8x10 Article of Faith Images

This summer we've attempted to memorize the articles of faith. We have one sitting in a frame on a shelf in our dining room and once we know it, we swap it for the next one, etc.

p.s. If any who are printing these have a Costco membership, let me know and I can email you the link to my costco photo albums so you don't have to upload all the images to their site. It's really slick and easy that way. They have 8x10's for $1.49.

p.p.s. disclaimer: Since I know who most of you are who read this bloggie!!!, please don't start some mass email to the entire world with the images or links attached. Pretty please! I don't mind at all if you use them for personal use or share with close family and friends. Just want to keep things honest with copyrights ya know and not have some stranger start selling them or something weird.

Items used: Gina Cabrera: cute newsprint papers... and Crystal Wilkerson: fun bracket frame.