Measure Your Love For Jesus Christ

Elder Ballard recently spoke to students up in Logan, and at the end of the talk gave these suggestions for measuring our personal love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Are you actively seeking your eternal companion?
2. Are you saying your prayers every day?
3. Are you honest in all that you do and say?
4. Do you completely avoid pornography of any kind?
5. Are your thoughts, actions, and language clean?
6. Are you a full tithe payer?
7. Are you striving to live the Word of Wisdom?
8. Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
9. Are you studying the scriptures and doing all that you can to strengthen your knowledge of and faith in Christ?
10. Are you honoring your baptismal covenants?
11. Are you worthy of a temple recommend?
12. Is the Holy Ghost guiding your life?
13. Is there anything you need to repent of?
14. Are you returned missionaries maintaining the dignity of a faithful priesthood bearer?
15. Are you happy and secure in your faith and testimony, and are you enjoying being a member of the Church?

I really appreciated being reminded about what priorities I should have in my life. I know for a matter of FACT when I do these things I am happy.

To view Elder Ballard's full talk go here. To view a summary go here.

Aby's Birthday Party

On Saturday we got to spend part of our day celebrating Jeremy's niece Aby's 1st Birthday!

Hadley had so much fun! She especially loved the cake and all the fun presents that Aby got! Boston had a blast playing with all of his boy cousins!

It was so good to spend time with Jeremy's family since we hadn't seen most of them since Christmas! Happy Birthday Beautiful Aby!

Another Remodeling Project

Jeremy has been hard at work yet again. He has been putting up new baseboard molding, bead board, chair rail molding, into what is going to be our playroom downstairs. Finally this weekend it was ready to paint! I even helped with that!! Pictures NEVER do a remodel justice, so please come visit to see the real deal!

Before

After

Before

After
Before

After
Before

After

We still have lots to do... like build a shelving unit that covers up the brink, paint the door, and of course the fun part... DECORATE! I am so excited! Me and the kids love it already!!

Hot Date

I was lucky enough to go out on a Hot Date with my Valentine yesterday! It was Jeremy's turn to plan and he did a fabulous job!! We went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, and then went Ice Skating at the Peaks Arena, which included Hot Chocolate! After Ice Skating we watched a Hockey game for awhile and then headed home!
-
Where were the kids? Making Valentines with their Aunt Jenn to take to drop off to the Singles Ward Valentines Party. Our kids are becoming the Singles Ward kids. All of Jenn's friends just love them, and our kiddos eat up the attention. Boston thinks they are all his best friends! He knows most of them by name, and gets so excited to see them.
-
It was a Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Party

My amazingly talented friend Jennie threw a Valentines Party! Boston was SO EXCITED!! We ate heart pancakes, bacon, bananas, and got to break open a pinata!! All the kids exchanged Valentines too! Holy lots of candy... the kids loved it!

Sugar Cookies

Valentines just wouldn't be Valentines without Sugar Cookies!! YUM!

Popcorn Picnic!

Yesterday was so warm that me and the kiddo's went on a Popcorn Picnic! Not much prep time wiht the same happy result!

It was so nice to go for a walk and sit enjoy the beautiful views that surround us!! Lucky for us Jeremy was able to finish his scout meetings and come join us!! Yay for Sunday afternoons. I love 9:00 church!

Another Fun Trip To Discovery Gateway!

MyMom and I took the kids to Discovery Gateway. I just love that place!

What an awesome construction crew!!

Water tables and touchable bubbles... oh so much fun!!

Hadley's favorite was the horse!! Can't wait to go back again soon!

Love Letters

I found these cute little mailboxes at Target for $1.00. I slapped a few stickers I already had and they have been a fun addition to my small Valentine decor!

The best part has been leaving each other LOVE letters. Who doesn't want to receive one of those! I look forward to the many years these mailboxes will hold love letters from my wonderful little family.

Another Dress-Up FHE

I couldn't resist posting this picture! This past Family Home Evening, Jeremy had us dress up as Missionary's! He taught us what missionaries do... teach people about Jesus Christ. He then had me and Hadley hide in a room and then he and Boston came searching for us. Once they knocked on our door, we opened it, and with a little coaching Boston asked us if they could share a message about Jesus Christ with us? Then he invited us to church.

Goodbye Coach.

I was crushed yesterday when I heard the news about Coach Sloan leaving The Utah Jazz. I have loved watching and going to Jazz games for many years. I will miss watching Sloan's passion. I will miss his old school style. I will miss seeing him at all the games. My favorite quote that I have heard of Sloan's is "Heart is what makes a difference."

Thank you for sharing your heart with us for 23 seasons. Thanks for the many years of wonderful memories Coach. You will be missed.

-
Go Jazz.

The Theatre

Jeremy and I really love the Theatre.

On Tuesday was saw some of the kids in our ward perform in the 6th grader's play Peter Pan.

On Thursday we saw our local High School perform The Phantom of the Opera! I was really skeptical that a High School could really pull this one off. (I saw it at the Capital Theatre years ago) But to my great surprise they did a FANTASTIC job!! We both LOVED IT!!!

On Friday we actually went to the Movie's. We don't do that very often!! We went to our local movie theater called Water Garden Cinema. It was our first time, and we will for sure be going back. First of all it is only $3.00 a tickets. They get the movies just after regular theaters do, and way before dollar theaters. Also the popcorn, drink, and candy is only $1.00! YIPEE! It is standium seating, and NO STICKY ICKY floors!! The thing I love most though is that this theater doesn't show rated R movies, and is picky about witch PG-13 movies it plays. Now that is a theater I want to support.

-

Enough about the theater, Narnia was SO GOOD!! If you haven't seen the new one, go see it! I absolutly loved it.

5 Years Ago.

5 years ago my best friend and only sister passed away. Feb. 5th, 2006 remains the worst day of my life. It's hard to believe that my family has made it 5 years. It seemed impossible to even make it through a single day. 5 years is a very long time. It's hard not to think about how different our lives would have been these last 5 years had she been here. It's hard not to think about all of things I wish I would have said or done while she was here. It's hard to live with the guilt of knowing I could have been a better sister. I miss her terribly. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I could just talk to her, or see her smile, or hear her sing. I wish we could "play house" together and swap mommy stories. I wish we could still sing together at my parents piano. I wish we could still play games together. I wish she would still invite us over for fondue parties. I wish I could hug her, even though she hated hugs. I wish she was still here to be the peacemaker and the glue of our family. I miss my sister.

I feel so lucky that Matt, Logan, and Mason are still such a HUGE part of our lives. I feel like when I show them love, I am showing Natalia love because those are 3 people she loved most. Watching Logan and Mason grow up, I see different characteristics of Natalia and that brings me joy. I am so grateful that Matt has stayed close with our family.
-
I hope my sister can see and feel just how much we miss her. Heaven is pretty darn lucky they have such an AMAZING person serving there. I hope they realize how special she is.
-
I love you Natalia.

Choose The Right... OR

In Boston's primary class on Sunday the teacher asked the kids what kinds of things they could pray for. Boston replied "We can pray to choose the right.... or the left.