a few snippets of beautiful

In today's 65-degree fall weather, Gracie and I built a leaf house in the front yard (thanks to Ron's Mom for the idea--I have no imagination whatsoever!). That means we took the leaves covering our grass and raked them to make walls and rooms with doors. Acorns were our food, leaves were our plates, and I was her neighbor. She invited me to her house for a sleepover and we stretched out on the grass and slept till Gracie said it was morning time. I peeked while I slept and saw birds resting in our oak tree.

During dinner Joseph, Christian and Claire giggled about having to square dance during gym class. Joseph asked me how old he would be when he went to the "promp" with a girl.

Ron played the guitar tonight while the kids sang along to a song they've composed with him. Claire sings and does cartwheels while she waits for the next verse to start. Christian sings and plays his harmonica. Joseph plays the drum. Ron tries to teach him about soft and loud but mostly its just loud.

My neighborhood is beautiful

One thing I love about where I live is how beautiful it is. I feel peaceful and close to God when I stop and pay attention to nature.

We like to take walks on Sunday on this trail near our neighborhood. I think it helps my kids get rid of some of their energy after sitting through church for 3 hours.

I'm not a great photographer, but I love this tree in my neighbor's yard. The homes are older, but that means the trees are bigger and incredibly beautiful.

This oak tree is in our front yard. When we lived in New Jersey growing up, we lived in a very similar neighborhood. My Dad LOVED it and would often hang out on our back porch to enjoy the view of woods and trees in our backyard. So my beautiful neighborhood makes me think of my Dad.

My favorite people in my beautiful neighborhood.

General Conference is beautiful

Soccer success!

Christian had a soccer success this week and it was beautiful. His team was losing 0-3 this morning to a team that is one of the best in their league. Ron said he could tell they were getting discouraged when all of a sudden, Christian scored 2 goals one after the other. Another player scored one and at halftime, they were tied with this team. After halftime, Christian scored another 2 goals. He played the whole game but the last 5 minutes and they ended up winning, 7-3. Ron said it was so exciting to see how excited the players were when their attitudes changed and they realized they COULD do it. And the coaches are great and so positive and were so excited too. Soccer success isn't mandatory for one's happiness, but it was beautiful to me today to see my son happy and proud about his exciting win.

"Heidi"

I read this book this week and noticed something interesting when I finished. I was in a REALLY good mood (and I hadn't taken Excedrin for a headache nor was my entire house clean all at once). I felt happy and I felt like being kind and loving to my family when I finished this book. I don't know how many books I've read in my life that I could say had that kind of effect on me. Not many. So I think this book is beautiful.

I never really read "Heidi" when I was young--I started it and thought it was boring. In trying recently to build a library with the "best books" I bought it and I think its beautiful because its an uplifting and sweet story filled with vivid descriptions of the Swiss Alps (which I've been to) and themes I could relate to (the loss of one's parents, repentance/redemption, health/sicknes, the simple life, etc.) I'd like to find more books like this for me...and for my kids who read constantly but read a lot of stuff that isn't as great.

Time is beautiful to me.

For me, Mondays are usually full of resolve of energy. I'm usually up on Mondays before my kids--sometimes I manage to either exercise or read my scriptures or even do BOTH by the time I wake my kids up. By Friday I'm pretty much crawling across the finish line. On Friday, my kids are often driven to school by a mother who's slouching behind the steering wheel so no one can see her pajamas. I need to work on finishing the week well. But today is Monday so I feel like I CAN change and improve and be better. So because of some great reminders I've recently had about time, I want to focus today on trying to use my time more effectively.

Elaine Dalton said in the recent CES fireside that our time is one of three gifts given to us by a loving Heavenly Father.

Julie Beck talked about time on Saturday night to all the women in the church. She said, "One of the most precious commodities we all have is time. Most women have many responsibilities and never have sufficient time to do everything their hearts and minds want to do." She then quoted President Dieter F. Uchtdorf who said that, "true wisdom in life consists of the elimination of non-essentials. What are the non-essential things that clutter your days and steal your time? What are the habits you may have developed that do not serve a useful purpose? What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning and joy to your life?"

I think today I won't spend any (more) time on this:

I will use my time to take care of myself with this:

and

(this is obviously NOT what I look like while exercising)

I will use my time to do more for them:

And I know some families who are unemployed right now. I think I will take them dinner or maybe just some of this:

That's how I will use my (beautiful) time today.

Quinoa salad

Expecting outrage from my children and comments about being forced to eat third world country food from my husband, I made this beautiful salad for dinner. I'd never tried quinoa but I'd heard about it at every food storage enrichment class I've ever attended. Quinoa is a supergrain that's high in protein but relatively low in carbs for a grain. So this is what I made and it was so good! I did get the expected reaction from my kids but Ron was completely open-minded and said he liked it. The recipe is at epicurious.com and its called Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa. This salad was beautiful to me because it was healthy and colorful and tasted great!

Joseph and Gracie playing "Trek"

So my stake had a "Trek" this summer for the teenagers. For those of you that don't know, that's where they dress up like pioneers and act out the pioneer trek across the plains so they can learn lessons about endurance, faith, obedience, etc. Ron helped with planning of the event, so he recently received a copy of the "Trek" DVD. There are lots of pictures on the cover of the DVD and Joseph has been really interested in it. He was particularly interested in the mock rifles the boys were holding in some of the pictures. So this morning Joseph decided to make a "rifle" with a 3-foot tall wooden dowel that we have. He used cardboard and duct tape to widen one end and it really does look like a rifle (or is it a musket--I have no clue what the correct term for the weapon is). Gracie's rifle was a tennis racket. They went into the backyard and pulled our wheelbarrow around as their handcart. They would periodically stop and shoot things with their "rifles." They would also stop and sing songs (Gracie's "rifle" turned into a guitar at this point) while Gracie ran around the handcart in a circle. Joseph insisted that she had to run because "thats what the pioneers did while they sang songs." The song they song was Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" which they recently picked up from a friend of theirs. I stopped what I was doing to watch all of this and of course, as their mother, I thought it was so cute and funny and beautiful. Kids playing together nicely and using their imaginations is something that is beautiful to me.

Beautiful to me because

My Dad passed away this summer--June 24th to be exact. I love him and I miss him to the point of tears almost daily. His loss is painful to me--bitterly painful. He was 59 and my youngest brother is 18. I'm 34 years old and the oldest of 7 children. He died of a heart attack as he was packing his car to come join us. We (my Mom, 3 of my siblings, 2 in-law siblings, my 4 children and their 3 cousins) were camping on the Oregon Coast when we received the news. It was raining. Dad was going to drive to meet us that day and we were going to meet up with my Mom's parents, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews the following day at one of our awesome family reunions. Instead, we returned in complete shock for 7 hours to my parents' home in a slow, sad, 3-car caravan.

I decided to start using this blog as a place I can keep track of things that I think are truly beautiful. Crassness and vulgarity are everywhere and often rule in our culture's media and entertainment. I often witness or hear about people who treat others cruelly--their outward acts evidence of ugliness on the inside. I'm on the lookout for things that are "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" (The Articles of Faith, 13) to me. I'm hoping that as I do this regularly, I will be able to be a more positive person and not feel overwhelmed by the negative that is ever-prevalent in our society. I'm also hoping that I don't sound preachy or self-righteous to anyone--this is something I just need to do for me.

As I mentioned, this picture of my husband, our 4 children, and me in front of my father's casket is beautiful to me. Is that strange, morbid, or just plain wrong? Let me explain: this picture reminds me of what I discovered this summer amidst the bitterness of my father's sudden death.

First, I learned that my family--immediate and extended--is my sweetest and most beautiful blessing.

Second, I learned in a new and deeper way that the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly a precious and beautiful gift from a loving Heavenly Father. Before this summer, the whole "we must pass through bad times to appreciate the good times" was just a cliche to me. For me, this was a truth that had to be understood experientially. Passing through this difficulty this summer made me appreciate more the knowledge that I have--that is amply taught in the scriptures--that Jesus Christ lived, died and was resurrected so that we can be resurrected as well. I am more grateful after this summer for the doctrine I've always been taught and that has been taught by prophets--that death is not the end of our existence.

A third thing that was truly beautiful and sweet to me this summer is the service that was given to our family after my father's passing. I mentioned our 7-hour car ride home from the place we were camping. By the time we arrived at home, members of our church congregation had come to my parent's home, mowed the lawn, cleaned the house completely, stocked the fridge and prepared a meal for that evening. Our extended family and my Mom's ward family continued their service in the days and weeks following my Dad's death. One person that performed this service said that he mowed the lawn, "because he just had to do something." I felt like the people who helped us were sharing our burden and mourning with us. It was a truly beautiful experience to be served so completely at our family's time of need.

So that is why this picture is beautiful to me. I still miss my Dad every day. But I have more sweetness and beauty in my life because I've become aware of what's really important and valuable to me. Does that make sense?

New couches

Those of you that know us know that we've been somewhat slow to buy furniture. We finally found what we were looking for and have new couches sitting in our living room! We still need a rug, curtains, a coffee table ottoman, tables and lamps--but for now I'm really happy to have a place to sit in our living room. The old blue flowered couch is now downstairs with the TV and the other couch.

Claire's Baptism Day

Claire got her own basketball skills clinic from her Grandpa Blodgett on her baptism day.

Christian did too.

And Joseph.

Claire got her hair done by her Grandma Ahrens on her baptism day.

It looked beautiful!

Claire did not love wearing this white jumpsuit on her baptism day. She thought it looked funny. She still looked beautiful though.

Claire was baptized and confirmed by her Dad. He is a great Dad!

Grandma and Grandpa Ahrens came to be with Claire on her baptism day. Grandma Ahrens said the opening prayer.

Grandpa Blodgett came to be with Claire on her baptism day. He said the closing prayer.

The service was simple but spiritual. Christian gave a talk on baptism and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. The Primary children sang "Baptism." Bishop Nielson conducted and spoke at the end. I wish I'd taken a picture of the people who came--she had quite a few friends from her class and our ward there.

Claire wanted pizza for dinner so we went to a yummy New Jersey pizzeria after the baptism.

We had a great day and I felt really proud of Claire for making the choice to be baptized! She is a special, sweet girl and I'm grateful to be her Mom.

Things I learned this week

Trials come in all shapes and sizes. An amazing family I know just lost their father to melanoma cancer. This is a trial I can't even imagine facing. The Mom, Cory, was so positive through everything. Her 2 high school-aged children spoke at their Dad's funeral. Their talks were positive and faithful and a reflection, I think, of their Mom's positive energy and faith. 16-year old Sophie said she was happy to know that her Dad would get to meet her children before she did. Anders (I think he's 17 or 18) said he knew that because of Jesus Christ, he would be able to be with his Dad again. Their other son, Quintin, is serving as a missionary in Chile. He was at the airport, waiting for his flight to leave so he could come home and see his father one last time before he died. He said that he felt he should stay in Chile because that's where his Dad wants him to be right now so he turned around and went back.

My trials are nothing compared to this, but for some reason they still feel like pretty big trials to me. I've learned a lot from this family's example this week. I want to be the kind of Mom that teaches her children to be positive and faithful in the face of sadness and difficulty. I learned that I'm grateful for Jesus and his atonement. I'm grateful for the atonement because it makes it possible for families to be forever. I'm grateful for the atonement because as a very weak person, I can hope that one day, through the atonement, my weaknesses can turn into strengths. The older I get the more I realize how much I need this aspect of the atonement. I do so much that needs correcting. I'm also grateful for the atonement because of what it says in Matthew 11:28: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. When things are heavy and I am feeling burdened, I am grateful to know that the Savior help me carry those burdens. When I was serving as the gospel doctrine teacher in the Morristown Ward, I would come to church every Sunday feeling "heavy laden"--nervous, overwhelmed, anxious. I was unable to enjoy church because I was so stressed about having to teach all those scriptorians, former mission presidents, bishops, etc. I read these verses during sacrament meeting and said a prayer that I would be able to not feel so burdened by my calling. And from that moment forward, the calling was not as heavy a burden. I felt that the Lord saw my efforts and help to lighten my load. So that's the other reason I'm grateful for the atonement.

I don't know why I'm feeling so reflective tonight, but I just am. Life is not usually this serious. Tonight I was helping Gracie go "potty" and I went to take my usual seat on the edge of the bathtub but I overshot my mark and fell backwards into the bathtub. Gracie thought it was VERY funny and so did I. My clumsiness brings me to another thing that I learned this week. Yesterday some workers were at our house replacing the roof and I backed into Pablo's car and dented and scraped his driver's side door.

What a stupid thing to do! Just like that--we are out $500. I called Ron and I was VERY upset but instead of getting mad at me, he just said "accidents happen" and told me not to worry about it. So I learned from Ron what it means to be a supportive and GREAT spouse. I am grateful for the kind things he does for me every day.

To sum up--I learned to try and be positive amidst life's struggles, that I'm grateful for the Savior and the blessings of his atonement, that I want to be a good wife to Ron just like he's a GREAT husband to me. I also learned to be careful when I sit down on the edge of the bathtub.