Happy Mother's Day~

I enjoy Mother's Day. Not only because I am a mother and my kids always make me breakfast, but because I think about my mother and what a blessing she has always been to me and to my brothers and sisters. When I hear the stories of other people and the lives that they have led and see the world today with mothers whose hearts are cold towards their children, I realize more and more what a saint my mother is. I hold her as my ideal and I know that I fall incredibly short of that ideal.

My mother went through a lot of difficulties in her life. She was raised during the depression in a family with 8 children. Any money she made was used for the good of the family. She married my dad and raised 7 children and she never had much money or things of the world. But, she always found ways to give us what we needed and made us feel that she was proud of us and served us throughout her life. Her service to us and to others was remarkable as I look back at her life.

People make so many excuses today about why they fail in their family life or why they can't parent as well as they should. What the problem boils down to is selfishness and an unwillingness to love and fulfill personal responsibilities. Even in the most dire of financial situations, my family never became disfunctional. I am so thankful for that and I love my parents so much for their love and hard work. I especially love my Heavenly Father who blessed me with that love in my life. I hope my own children know of my deep love for them and that they can continue this righteous tradition of caring for their own families that has extended from all of their grandparents to them as they carry on in their lives. It is in family that we find true happiness and joy.

I Can Tell it is May!

The End of the school year is just a few short weeks away. This is always the time of year that gets so busy with last minute activities and ceremonies and I seem to work a lot for teachers who also have last minute activities and ceremonies. My house becomes more and more out of control and I start feeling restless and wanting to get everything in order. I just have to hang on until the summer break gets here. I can hardly stand it. This year seems to be particularly bad for me. Next week, Lindsey is leaving for Provo, Glen is going to follow her at the end of the week with her household goods. (She is flying in order to get there in time for job interviews.) Madalynn is leaving on Weds. Night for her trip to San Diego with her 6th grade class. Our backyard is like the ultimate white-trash yard now that the shed project is coming to an end. We now own 6 chickens. While I have enjoyed having almost all of my children at home, the bigger ones seem to take up a lot of space now and we are bursting at the seams. I need to do an extreme over haul of all of the bedrooms. Tyler has purchased a drum set which is in my living room. Aaron has sound stuff in there as well. It is all very difficult to clean around. Jacob has baseball 2-3 times per week. I am in charge of cub scouts and I am the camp director for the young women this year. Cub scout day camp is June 9,10 & 11. Girl's Camp is June 19-23. I haven't seen Alicia since Easter and I worry about her. I am glad that Glen is going up there to check in on her. But, all of this travel is costing us a lot of money and I really want to get the credit card paid off, but with summer here and that means I won't work for the duration, there won't be much extra money to do that.

I don't mean to complain. I know that I am so blessed. I think that I would be able to cope if I could just get my house in shape and organized. Something needs to feel orderly. Now, If I can just organize myself this summer to get a lot of work done, and have the energy that I need........
Pray for me!

Words to Think About

Recently, Gordon B. Hinckley passed away. Here is something that he taught once when he addressed the students at BYU: "You are good, but don't just be good, be good for something." He always said that we should stand up for what we believed and stand for something. I think that this is what a hero does, a hero isn't just good, but he is good for something. In other words, he does something with what he believes is right. He has integrity to make his actions consistent with what he believes to be true and right. His goodness motivates him (or her) to action. Faith should motivate us to act and to become Christlike. Faith and love should be verbs, not just nouns. Somehow in my mind it continues to come together until it will gel in my heart.

My Kids

Here is the update about everyone:
Tyler is trying to join the Air force. He wants to attend the Air force Academy. He needs to lose about 2% of his body fat in order to do that.

Madalynn recently competed in the State Odyssey of the Mind competition in Tucson. They tied for 5th place. I was surprised that they didn't do better because I thought that their performance was much better than some of the others. But, I guess it is a good thing that they didn't win because we didn't know how we would sent all of the kids to the national competition in Maryland. Now she is working on a science project with chickens. We are buying 4 baby chicks, hopefully all hens from Pratt's. She is going to study them to see if the chicks raised on regular feed grow any differently that those raised on feed plus a supplement. In the end, we should have four nice laying hens. If not, we will be eating chicken. But, with the price of eggs and groceries in general, we thought that this might be a nice idea. We shall see. Some of the names have already been chosen: Stella, (say that with a fervent cry), Tina, (from Napoleon Dynamite), and we are waiting to hear the rest. In May, Maddy will be going to San Diego with her 6th grade class.

Lindsey is planning to move back to Provo in May to retake the LSATs and to work until Law School. Tyler is going to drive her up there and hopefully will date all of Alicia's roommates as well as Lindsey's new ones in the couple of days he is there!

Jacob is playing Little League. Lately he has been on first base and doing a fine job.

Aaron is finishing this semester at ASU. He plans to be finished up with school in December! Yeah! for him! He is doing a great job.

Alicia is finishing the semester and then moving into a house. Sadly for her, she and her boyfriend will be parting ways because he will be returning to Michigan to leave on his mission for the church. So, there will be new and wonderful things to come for both of them.

So, that is the update. I haven't been waxing very philisophical lately, and I haven't had time to write about my spiritual moments. I will try to focus on that later. Bye!

Just an update

I spent today cooking healthy food. Tyler is planning to go into the Air Force to finish his education. He has to lose 2% of his body fat to be eligible. I am trying to cut down my cholesterol and lose weight. So, today I steamed asparagus, steamed vegetables for Glens lunches to work, made fresh salsa, made cabbage salad and finally baked low sugar oatmeal/apple cookies. (lots of fiber is the key!) It is satisfying to get all of that done. Unfortunately, it won't last long around here. Groceries have gone up and so has the amount we consume with everyone home. But, I love the Fry's ad this week, I should save a bunch when I match everything up with my coupons!

Oh It is Wonderful, Wonderful to Me!

This has been a busy and wonderful Spring Break! On Monday, Tyler, Madalynn, Jacob and I drove to Clovis, CA to visit my mom and family. It was too short of a visit, but very nice. Tyler got to spend time and have an adventure with his cousin Kendal who also recently returned from a mission. Our drive home was long, because of bad traffic, but we made it.

Then, On Friday night, Alicia flew home for the weekend. She brought all of her laundry. It was fun to have her home. This was the first time she got to see Tyler, so it was great to have her home to see him, to be here for Easter and to hear Tyler speak in church on Sunday.

Saturday was a busy day because Jacob had Little League opening ceremonies, and a game. Then, we had family pix at 4:00 and came home and colored Easter Eggs and got food ready for Easter company. We sang a little Karaoke that night, except for me who is hoarse!

Sunday was a great day at church because many people came to hear Tyler speak. Well, actually some came for that, but the rest just came because it was Sunday and/or Easter. Whatever the reason, it was a packed house today. Tyler gave a beautiful, humble and heartfelt talk about our Savior. He spoke about how the third day of his misson in Belem, it was raining, he was hot and tired, and his feet hurt. He didn't know what anyone was saying and he thought that he just wanted to go home. He prayed in his heart for help and the Spirit spoke to him and said, "I wonder how many it steps it was for the Savior to the top of Golgotha as he carried his cross." Then Tyler thought to himself that he could keep walking a little furthur for the Lord. He told us how the gospel has changed him and how he has seen it change other people. He was so sincere and sweet in his testimony that I see why he had such success when he taught in Brazil.

After church, we came home and fed family and visited. It was very nice. We had to get Alicia to the airport as her flight left at 3:45. It was sad to see her go. The rest of us had a special Easter family home evening. I hate to see Spring Break end and to have real life begin again. I love being in my own world with just my family, friends and the gospel to keep me going. But, I am grateful that my kids have their strong testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ to help keep them safe out there in the world.

Old Age is Settling In.

My lab reports came back from my Dr. visit. They say I have high Cholesterol. I went to see my doctor today. I told him that I don't want to be on another pill. I want to try to change my diet and excercise to one that will help me lower my cholesterol natually. He says that my problem is genetic and that the natural method will not work. He is giving me until June to try to lower my numbers and see if I will believe him then that I need medication.
The medication that he wants to put me on is called Niaspan. It is a time release form of niacin, or vitamin B3. This medication is supposed to lower the ldl, raise the hdl and lower the triglycerides. So, I have been doing research on what foods are high in B3. Interestingly enough, they are mostly animal products: Chicken breast, Tuna, Salmon, Venison, liver and the exception is a certain kind of mushroom, which I hate, so I will stick to the chicken, salmon, etc. But, doesn't it seem odd that the things that lower cholesterol are the very things that they warn you will raise it? (Except salmon, which we all know is high in omega3.) It just goes to show that medical scientists don't really know what they are talking about.
By the way, the other really good thing for your cholesterol is psyllium seed husks. It is usually used to make MUCUS!