Sunday, March 27, 2011

Habits

I heard someone say awhile back of a study that shows that LDS youth are more grounded and more apt to live their religion, and they concluded, without going into all the details, that much of this can be attributed to the habits that LDS families help their children and youth to form: going to church, saying prayers, scripture study, etc. Even if a child has not yet fully developed his or her testimony, they are more apt to live the teachings of the gospel because of the habits they have formed until they do eventually develop and strengthen a belief (testimony) that verifies that the habits and practices they were taught are indeed true principles.

Hearing of this study and its conclusion deepened my love and gratitude for the family unit and helped me feel that I have done better as a mother that I sometimes let myself believe.

Today I was given a deeper gratitude for habit and am here to testify that habits are not only good foundations for our youth but for all of us we weather the storms of life. I know I have relied intensely on habit these past few years and months as the perfect glass house that I lived in was shattered. Habit helped me to continue to live the principles of the gospel when all else was confused around me, and because I continued to live the true principles, I am finding my way back to strength and an even firmer testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE! That Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. That He suffered so we don't have to. He died that we might live again with God. I know this with all of my heart. It gives my life purpose...

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Spring Break RV

When Dave started to realize that life in the US is changing and that the US dollar as we know it is kinda heading for "heck in a handbasket," he became really focused on food storage and survival. Those of you who know Dave at all know that when he focuses on something, it gets done in a jiffy. Well, part of his plan was to purchase an RV so that if we needed to "flee" for any reason, or just have a roof over our heads, we would have just that. He found a really great priced RV and bought it.

That is a preface to our Spring Break 2011 trip:

Since the RV purchase, he has been dying to try it out. When he learned that Curtis had a rugby game in Orem during spring break weekend, THAT was our chance to give it a go!

It was really surreal to me...for some reason. But it was really fun being able to sleep, prepare food, play games, give massages...all while driving!





We left our home at 10:30 pm and drove until Dave was too tired to drive (about Fillmore) and slept at a truck stop. When he felt rested, he got dressed, brushed his teeth, etc and drove on while the rest of us got ready, ate breakfast...you get the idea. It was crazy!

Our first stop: Hogle Zoo! It was a little chilly, but not too bad, and we spent a good 3 hours looking at the animals. I never realized how entertaining elephants could be. :)







Next stop, the mall so Arielle could buy an outfit for the Senior Pictures that Aunt Davi of Sophia Shay Photography was fixin to take. Forever 21 is Arielle's addiction...she chose well and the pics turned out "A.Maze!" (Mady had some taken, too, in her pointe shoes...)





While the master was at work creating beautiful images of my beautiful girls, the boys and I wandered around Wheeler Farm. Dave dreamed of what it would be like to live on a farm...





Training Table came next. Oh, the sinful indulgences...sometimes you just gotta!







We parked the RV in Davi's driveway and stayed at her house the next night. We stayed up til 2 am playing Just Dance 2 (or watching), holding cute babies, and eating caramel popcorn.






And finally, the rugby game...it was cold! But it's always fun to watch Curtis play...

All in all, a fun trip!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

I found an awesome template in the Heritage Makers template gallery that is such a helpful way to document my family's life for a whole year! It's called 53 Fridays...check it out and tell me what you think:

Other Random 2010 Happenings...

Random order--kinda the way our life is! ha ha

Curtis turned 15! Learner's permit...oh no!


Christmas morning breakfast. Bacon, eggs, hasbrowns, and baked french toast--
on new dishes, no less!

New jammies! And Mekenze is home!

Curtis got a Barnes and Noble card for Christmas, with which he bought a sushi kit and proceeded to make Califormia rolls...they were actually good, and he was in heaven!




Tim, Roberta, and family came for Christmas and stayed a few days at our house. This is Bradi and Jayden...cute!



Karter enjoyed setting up the Nativity. Best part of Christmas.


Madyson's Christmas orchestra concert.


Karter's birthday party at Jumpin Jax. Crazy fun time.


Halloween Haunt at Knottsberry Farm. A first for us--Dave has always wanted us to go ans share in this memory with him. It was really fun.


Karter makes a really scary zombie!


We visited Grand Canyon for the first time ever. It was so pretty!
We want to go again and hike down in...


















The day after Thanksgiving was a Lindstrom Family reunion in Las Vegas.
It has been a long time since we saw some of these people. It was good to see everyone again!
It was always Arielle's birthday, so after the lunch meeting at the park, the kids went shopping at the mall while Dave and I did some Christmas shopping. Is that a fun birthday party?
The Mac Arthur family had Thanksgiving at our house in 2010.
It's not often that the Mac Fam is able to get so many people together at one time.
We made gingerbread houses after dinner. With Grandma Gayle's magic royal frosting, the graham crackers held together really well. The kids (and kids at heart) had some really creative ways to decorate and personalize them. Fun times!

Madyson and Arieall working hard!

The dinner table was decorated nicely,
thanks to the kids and cute plates and napkins from Grandma.


Isn't this an awesome family photo?



http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&projectId=98484383-078c-42bc-b04e-29d8bf4f1db7&productId=11&projectSponsor=142544

This is a test...

I tried to publish a post at the first of the year but I kept getting errors and then my computer crashed--twice (long story)--so I'm finally ready to try again.





But before I pour my heart out and spend forever getting it just right, I'm doing this little tester...and adding a photo...to make sure it works!





Here goes!
And this is a cute photo, don't you think?









http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&projectId=98484383-078c-42bc-b04e-29d8bf4f1db7&productId=11&projectSponsor=142544