A question for some of you...

I know that some of you have read the Work and The Glory book series. I haven't. I just watched the first two movies over the past week and now I am really interested in reading the book. So, if you have read these books have you seen the movie? Is it close to the books? Better? Not as good? I know it is a pretty big series so I just kind of want an idea of what I would be getting into if I start reading them.

Story Sorority

I mentioned my online book club, Story Sorority, in my last post. It has been private for a very long time but I just opened it up to anyone wanting to check it out. So, if you want to check it out, see what books we have read, and maybe even join in... come on over!

The Book Thief

Wow. I just spent a good hour crying my way through the end of this book. If you sometimes read along with our Story Sorority book club I highly recommend you don't miss June's book!

S'mores Bars

During our camping week I promised to post the recipe I used to make S'mores Bars.

These are very yummy but also very sweet. It makes quite a bit as well so it's good to make for a group. I made it just for us which meant having some two days in a row and then throwing out a bunch.

Here it is:

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 King sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars (or 4 1/2 regular sized bars)

1 large egg

1 jar marshmallow creme/fluff (I had trouble finding this but finally found it at Target)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 7 full sized graham cracker sheets processed until fine)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan or line with tin foil (for easy cutting and removing from pan). Use an electric mixer to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Set aside. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until combined. Divide dough in half and press half into an even layer on the bottom of prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over the dough. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. It is easiest to press it flat in your hands and then place on top. Bake 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Be sure to cool completely before cutting into bars. 

I don't remember where I got this recipe. I think it was a blog but when I wrote it down I forgot to write the source. So, let me know if you know where it is from!

Ponderings on Pride

I have never thought of myself as a prideful person. I don't go around thinking I am better than others. In fact, to be honest, I think I go around comparing myself to others the opposite way... wishing I was more like this woman because of this and that woman because of that.
When I have heard talks in church on Pride or lessons given on Pride I haven't really taken them to heart because I didn't need them.
That was until a couple of weeks ago. I was playing around on a website and printing off some talks that she said were "must read".
One of these talks was an old one. It was entitled "Beware of Pride" and was taken from the May 1989 Ensign. It is by President Ezra Taft Benson.
I began the article the way I would any article on pride, half interested.
Then I got to the line, "The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's."
Uh-oh. No, this isn't a normal attitude for me but I have to say there were a few things that have come up in the past few years that it seemed everyone around me felt one way about and I felt the other way about. I just wasn't sure about this thing. So, I rationalized it and kind of half ignored any doctrine I heard that supported the general feeling. This immediately came to mind when I read that sentence which led me to believe I need to re think it a little.
It gets better.
In our religion we are told that each member is a missionary. Not that we have to go around trying to give everyone we see a Book of Mormon but that we shouldn't be afraid to share the gospel with people. I am really afraid of it. I always worry that people will think I don't want to be their friend and just want to convert them when that wouldn't be the case. Did you catch that? I worry what people will think of me.
Excerpt from this talk: "The proud stand more in fear of men's judgement than of God's judgement. 'What will men think of me?' weighs heavier than 'What will God think of me?' "
Oh. Oops. Still, it gets better.
A little further in the talk he states, "Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above them."
Yes, that's me re-thinking my issues with authority..... still gets better....
A little further on..." The proud are not easily taught".
Mom, how many times did you tell me that I wasn't 'teachable'?

"They won't change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong."

I began this talk thinking I had no problem with pride and realized that I guess I do. Just because I have always been known to say, "Don't tell me what to do." doesn't mean I have to continue that attitude. It brought to mind the times I would be walking to my room with the vacuum and hear my mom say, "Don't forget to vacuum your room."What would I do? I would put the vacuum down and go do something else.
I know that part of it is a legitimate part of my personality and I know I will never be perfect at being told what to do but now that I realize it is pride I think I can follow the advice he gave at the end of the talk:

" Alma said, Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble. Let us choose to be humble. We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement. We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us. We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service. We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others. We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently. We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His , and putting Him first in our lives. Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can."

videos of the week

This little short one is just a funny one to me. Maddy LOVES jack in the boxes. I haven't bought one yet because I haven't seen one for under $20 and I don't want to spend that much on one. So, every time we are at the store we have to look at them. This was the first time she did it herself. I just taped the end to get her reaction when it pops out because she does that every time. It never gets old to her.

This one is really dark and hard to see. It is the video I took the other night when the girls were jumping onto the beanbag. I love listening to the laughter!


On Sunday Abi gave her first talk in Primary. She was so excited about it. I asked her some questions about the topic and then helped her to put those into a talk format and then added some more to it myself. I typed it out for her and then put it on the back of some pictures she liked. I wasn't sure if she could read the whole thing by herself but the first time she tried, she got almost every word right. We practiced a few times during the week and then Sunday was the big day.
I was nervous for her as I stood in the back of the room. Six months ago she wouldn't have been able to stand up there and her she was telling me she didn't even want any help!
I wondered if she would get nervous once she was actually up there and if she would need any help with any of it. I didn't need to be nervous!
She did it so well and the funniest thing happened. The kids in Primary were so quiet the entire time and when she was done a bunch of them started clapping!
So funny! I was so proud of her and so happy for her.
I promised my mom I would videotape her reading the talk but I can't get it to give me the embedding code for some reason, so for anyone who wants to hear it follow the link below to youtube....

Abi's talk

Temple outing

We took a little trip down to the church bookstore yesterday. Whenever we go down there we like to stop by the temple. It was such a nice day that we spent quite a lot of time on the grounds taking pictures. So, this is the post of many pictures because I just couldn't decide on my favorites!

playing some peek a boo...

It's funny how I really don't think this temple is one of the prettier ones but it has grown on me and now I love it. I think it's just the feeling you get when you are there, even when it's just on the grounds outside.

Abi's magnets

On Friday Abi got the magnets out and wouldn't let me come near her while she worked on her 'project'. The top where is spells out "my cente" was supposed to be "my centerpiece" but she ran out of letters.

Obviously she is still working on her spelling but she mixed the magnets up into categories... "nit" (night), "sane" (sunny), "foris" (forest), and "wet" (wet- this one was correct obviously). 

She put the moon and other things she thought were for night in the "nit", all the yellow magnets and the sun for "sane", the green and foresty things for "foris", and the blue for "wet". You can see she also made a boat out of letters for wet.

I thought this was really fun.

A little late night fun

After getting home from dinner the girls were pretty tired but you would never know it from these pictures! Maddy went over to the beanbag and started throwing herself down on it so Abi joined her. They were laughing so hard. 

 Maddy kept putting that phone up to the rocking horse and jabbering on and on. It was a very lively phone call.

Fun with Grandfather

Doug's dad was in town for a few days last week. We had a lot of fun spending time with him. On Wednesday night we went over to his hotel for a while to go swimming in the pool. 

I got this inflatable seat thing for Maddy but Abi enjoyed playing with it too....

Maddy thinks Grandfather is so funny!

Maddy loves baths but hates swimming pools. She freaks out every time I have tried to put her in any kind of water besides the bath so I was hoping this seat would make a difference. At first she got mad but then she calmed down and had a great time! She loved it!

After swimming we went back to our place to change for dinner. Abi enjoyed being able to read some books for Grandfather and Maddy...

Then we went down to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Abi decided to face a fear and pet the giant robotic snake...

A magician was going around to all the tables and making balloon animals for the children for free! Abi thought he was hilarious.

She chose a flower. He made a snake for Maddy.

Right when we were about to leave, both balloons popped. Abi was so sad. She sat there with tears in her eyes trying so hard not to break down. The man was still there and over a few tables from us. He came back and made Abi a new one. I thought that was so nice and generous of him.

A Long week

This week was slightly crazy.
Monday Abi had her last dance class. Unlike last time when she was so obedient to her teacher, this time she was really itching to do her own thing. At one point I was able to whisper to her that she needed to be doing everything the teacher told her to do and after that she did. I can see why she doesn't want to take ballet anymore. During their freeze dance game when the girls are able to dance however they want, she is all over the place twirling, jumping, real contemporary freestyle. And she is good at it. I think ballet is too structured for her to love it anymore.
So, after dance we stopped on one errand and then were driving home. Everything seemed normal. I stopped at a red light. The light turned green. The car stalled. I felt a little embarrassed. I hadn't stalled in a long time. I started it up again, but it wouldn't start up. The guy behind me was honking and yelling. I tried to wave him past and finally he pulled up alongside me and asked if I was out of gas.
I told him No but it wouldn't start. He said the car behind me was far enough back that I could probably roll off to the side of the road so I put it in neutral and yanked the wheel as far as I could, slowly rolled off the road and watched the guy drive off. I sat there for a minute trying to decide what to do. I kept trying to start it but it wouldn't start.
I knew Doug would be getting worried so I thought I should call him right away. He wouldn't be able to come get us since we are a one car family but maybe he could help me figure it out. I got my phone out of my purse. Dead. No battery left.
So, we sat there on the side of the road on a very hot day trying over and over again to start the car, praying each time that this time it would start.
We were blessed by a few things: first that this was one of the only spots along this stretch of road that had a place I could pull over without going in a ditch, and we were pretty close to our friends Ryan and Heather's neighborhood. I decided we should try walking to their house. Two more blessings: I had almost worn heels today- big heels. But then I changed to flip flops that had a little support to them and I almost didn't bring a stroller but threw it in the car at the last minute.
So, I got the girls out and we walked down the road. We had to cross the road and walk close to a ditch because a dog wanted to attack us... but we got there quickly and safe.
I was very proud of Abi because she had to walk in her ballet outfit and we walked pretty quickly.
This was hard for me for one reason especially. I am NOT good at asking for help. I really worry about inconveniencing people and was so nervous to show up at their house unannounced on Family Home evening night to ask if they could let me use their phone and if they could possibly give us a ride home.
They were so great. Ryan gave me his phone so I could call Doug and let him know what was going on and then drove us home. I was so grateful that he was willing to do this for us and that Heather was willing to let him leave for awhile on Monday night. After he dropped us off, he took Doug back over to the car to push it a little further off the road and check it out.
That night we were blessed by another man from our ward using his truck to tow it back to our house.
The car sat out front until Wednesday afternoon when after checking lots of things on it we finally sent it to a mechanic.
So, Tuesday I was without a car for Abi's last day at swimming... the day they were going to open up the big waterslide for the kids. Abi would have dealt with this but we really wanted to find a way to get her there.
Heather came to our rescue again. She came over in their van and drove us over to the gym. She had to do it a little early but it worked out great and we were able to just walk around while we waited for class. I was so glad we were able to do this because Abi loves swimming so much and when they opened up the water slide it was heaven! This is a huge swirly waterslide and she came out of it like a bullet. She was a little stunned but went right back up to do it again. She did it five times. It built a lot of confidence in her (and me) for her to be able to go down a waterslide by herself.
Doug's dad ended up coming into town that night so he was able to go get Doug and then come pick us up. It was going to be about an hour after we got out of class so I decided to walk around the lake to a park Abi likes. I picked the wrong direction to go and we ended up walking the longer route to the park (just over a mile and a half) on an extremely hot day! Abi's cheeks were so pink but , again, she was such a trooper walking the entire way without complaint. We got to the park and were able to drink some water and juice, sit in the shade, and play for a few minutes before we were picked up.

Wednesday we hung around the house working on car stuff, doing yard work, and playing until going over to Doug's dad's hotel that night to swim for awhile (I'll post pictures later) and got the car towed to the mechanic.
They had the car ready and done by yesterday evening and we are so happy to have it back in our garage!

There were many lessons learned this week. On the way to Ryan and Heather's house on Monday, Abi asked me, "Why didn't Heavenly Father answer our prayers. Why didn't he listen to us?"
It gave me the opportunity to talk to her about the fact that he always hears us but sometimes it is not his will to answer them the way we want. I told her that I was probably supposed to learn the lesson to always make sure my phone is charged. She immediately took all this in and was okay with it. It was faith building. I think it is important that she knows that there are times like the ones she has experienced where she has lost something, prays about it, and immediately finds the lost item... but there are also times when the answer comes slower and not in the way we expect.
It also gave us an opportunity to share all of the blessings we recieved: friends that were close by and willing to help, the location that it happened, a friend who could tow it, a friend willing to take us to swimming, Doug's dad coming into town just when we wouldn't have a car, it didn't happen when I was two hours away at Circus World, it didn't happen when Doug was out of town, our friend recommended a mechanic that we believe gave us a fair deal, etc....

A long week, but what could have been a really stressful horrible week actually turned out pretty great.
Thanks Ryan and Heather for all of your help this week!!

Last weeks randoms

It was a busy and fun week! 

I was so excited to clean out my school cabinet and put most of my school stuff in the basement not to be pulled out until Maddy is three!

I now have all of our kid board games, our family home evening box, my scripture study supplies, and Abi's Sunday Activity box in there. 

I did some kitchen purging this week and love that it is a little less cluttered in our cabinets and drawers!

And with the warmer weather we did a LOT of playing.

Maddy has a new fascination with Abi's sunglasses....

Friday Abi got a shiner. She jumped up and began to run and ran right into the pantry doorknob on her eye. It was bruising and puffing up immediately so I had her put an ice pack on it. Within about ten minutes the puffing had gone down and the bruise wasn't as bad.

You can hardly tell in this picture but it is her right eye (the left one if you are looking at her.)

A preschool graduate

As usual lately I am a week behind. Last Tuesday marked the end of our preschool year. 

We started the day by having Abi do a bunch of review sheets with the alphabet and numbers.

I am so excited for her. She loves learning and that is something that I have strived for. I loved school. I loved assignments. Yes, I was that kid going "Woo hoo!" when we were given essay assignments while the other kids groaned. So, this makes me very happy. It was fun to see how much she has grown this year and how much she has learned. She is such a sponge. I love it. She is doing addition and subtraction now and has just started doing addition like 2+5+4+3 rather than just 3+3. She likes to play math games and has told me that math is now her favorite subject.

Her reading has boomed as well. Yesterday she read the scripture off of the Sacrament meeting program to me. She is constantly reading to me. Yesterday she read me the story of Nephi and the Brass Plates that I printed off of the Living Scriptures website. It was fun to have her read it to me when I was planning on reading it to her. She even got Jerusalem right. But..... she did keep saying Neptune instead of Nephi which I thought was funny.

So, after our reviews she got to have some fun and make some crafts.

Then it was time for her graduation! I've always thought preschool graduations were a little silly but this year I decided that I should do one with her. I knew it would make her feel special and it really turned out to be fun. Doug was home from work so we all gathered in the front room. I got her dressed in her graduation robe (a black blouse worn backwards), her 'honor' lei, and her little paper graduation cap.

I hummed the graduation song while she walked into the room. Then I told her how proud of her we are and how great she has done in school. We told her how happy we are that she loves learning. Then I handed her a little diploma.

Doug and Maddy clapped and cheered. Then we had a treat. I made graduation cap cupcakes.

Abi then got busy building 'amazing' towers.

She had swimming that afternoon so Doug was able to come watch her which made her very happy and a little goofier than usual. Afterward we celebrated her graduation some more with a trip to McDonalds for dinner.

Then we had our Welcome to Summer Family Home Evening party.  I gathered some fun outdoor toys, coloring books, a Strawberry Shortcake summer DVD, and some new summer jammies for the girls. We talked about things we want to do this summer and made a Phineas and Ferb 104 days of summer calendar.