Thanksgiving

We went to Lexington Kentucky this year for Thanksgiving to visit my dear friend Nancy from High school and her awesome family. We had such a good time!

The drive was a bit treacherous... well only because we have little kids. It was supposed to be an 8 hour drive. We did it in 12 on the way up. We managed to improve our time on the way back to 9.5 hours. But it was completely worth it. Spending time with good friends you've known for a long time is.... I'll be honest the only adjectives I can think of are "delicious" and "sparkly". For tonight that will have to be descriptive enough.

I think Summer had a pretty good time. She got 2 teeth the day after Thanksgiving and was pretty clingy to mommy the whole time, but she weathered it well.

This is a picture of our sweetie Belen after creating her first gingerbread house. She had a blast running around with Nancy's older kids who were so nice to play with her the whole time we were there.

Holden and Nancy's husband Wade discovered they both lived in Kamas Utah as kids.

I was so inspired by Nancy's ability to put on a Thanksgiving dinner with a ton of delicious foods, keep her house clean with 5 children running around, and provide fun crafts or projects for the kids at the same time. It was a wonderful trip!

Feeding off each other

Bipedal Cervidae

We drove through West Virginia this weekend. Aside from the several industrial complexes that look like they're straight out of a Freddy Kreuger movie, the most interesting things I saw were the deer crossing signs. Instead of the normal look I'm used to:
They looked like this:Can anyone explain what this means?

Chicken Noodle Soup

This post is mostly for me so I can remember that I just found my favorite chicken noodle soup recipe. I used homemade chicken broth (I didn't use chicken feet or gizzards in mine; not ready for that quite yet). For the soup I used this recipe except I did use noodles (not carrot and zuchini shredded) and I added carrots to the onions and celery as I sauted them like a typical soup. My favorite part of this recipe is that I chose to use the suggested coconut oil to saute the veggies in. YUM. Loved it. I'm sure this would freeze well, so it would be the perfect thing to whip up and throw in the freezer for when your entire family comes down with a cold and doesn't shake it for... well whenever. We haven't shaken our's yet. Just comes with having kids I guess. Oh, and I love making these cornbread muffins to go with it. They freeze well too, but every time I put them in the freezer they come out within a day anyway, sometimes hours. Oh well :)

More Diligent and Concerned at Home

So my sister-in-law Leah commented on my last post and asked if I remember the "talk about the painting of the wheat field", and I didn't really at first, but skimmed it again just now. It's called More Diligent and Concerned at Home by one of the 12 apostles of our church - David A. Bednar. It's a great talk, I love the part about being consistent:

"In my office is a beautiful painting of a wheat field. The painting is a vast collection of individual brushstrokes—none of which in isolation is very interesting or impressive. In fact, if you stand close to the canvas, all you can see is a mass of seemingly unrelated and unattractive streaks of yellow and gold and brown paint. However, as you gradually move away from the canvas, all of the individual brushstrokes combine together and produce a magnificent landscape of a wheat field. Many ordinary, individual brushstrokes work together to create a captivating and beautiful painting.

Each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the yellow and gold and brown strokes of paint complement each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33). Consistency is a key principle as we lay the foundation of a great work in our individual lives and as we become more diligent and concerned in our own homes."

Family Scripture Study

As members of the LDS faith we are encouraged to hold daily scripture study with our families. We have been making a more concerted effort to accomplish this recently which isn't the easiest thing to do with a 6 month old and a 2 year old. We usually say a prayer, read a few verses, remind the 2 year old to listen, and sometimes we sing a song. It's not long and I've been surprised that most of the time, even though we don't read for very long at all, I feel a pleasant spirit inside about the experience, and happy that we did it. And even though I think over time this will be valuable for both our girls I didn't think it was making much of a difference yet. However, the other day Belen was "helping" me in the kitchen and talking happily. At one point she said, "And it came to pass...there was a Jesus". I couldn't wait to tell Holden when he got home that our efforts were not in vain! She may not be visibly listening too much yet, but I think having an understanding that "there was a Jesus" is a good start :)