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Patrick has jumped on the bandwagon and created his own blog...check it out on the side...I also have created one with dinner ideas that I am loving. Thanks for being such great friends and family!

Not of the World

As I sat in Young Women's in Church today, I realized just how different we really are from the world in General. We have an exchange student from Russia who attends regularly. She is 16 and very worldly. As we were discussing the lesson of Marriage Standards and Dating Decisions, she so eloquently asked"What if we don't want to get married or have kids? I am happy just the way I am and plan on staying that way." Luckily, I wasn't teaching the lesson. In my own little world I sometimes forget that we really are different. Marriage and family are not the ultimate goal for many people. Here are these young women facing the world head on and a large majority of their peers, think they are crazy. Crazy for their values, morals, goals that they choose to attain and maintain. Then we talked about guys and how society sometimes views women as objects instead of people. Well, that is another blog in itself. It's up to us ladies to show these girls that Motherhood and Marriage are good things and that Society would crumble without strong capable women to nurture and maintain society as we know it. No offense to Men, but most men I know would be nothing if not for the woman at their side. I for one, have two daughters to raise. I want them to be respected and cherished for the confident women they will become. I want them to know that Motherhood, meaning the nurturing of any child, is hard and challenging, but rewarding and fulfilling. May we all take the time to love our daughters, nieces, friends, mothers, aunts, and ourselves just a little bit more. We are so precious.

Therapy

My garden supplies all the therapy I need...
The grapes are really sweet! And I get at least this much every 3 days! Don't you love the earth?

Politics and Helaman

My new goal for the year is coming along swimmingly. Reading my scriptures everyday used to be easy..I have read them several times straight thru. Then I get bored, and remember all the stories and names and my scriptures are marked. Then I turn to Hugh Nibley or some other extra resource to help me delve a little deeper. Now, I hate to admit, that I can't remember everything anymore. Roman tore apart my beloved white set of scriptures. So now it is me with a colored pencil and an unmarked book. Helaman sounded like a good starting point (My family is currently on one of the last chapters of 2nd Nephi). It struck me today as I was reading that Helaman 7 sounds alot like the current state of affairs. I think I said DUH! about 20 times while I was reading it. I know most of you probably aren't reading my blog for current affairs or to discuss politics, but talk about a type and shadow of things to come. Does anyone out there feel like our country is in the crapper or is it just little old me? By the way...I think both presidential hopefuls are worthless...just my opinion, but hey, it's my blog right? Anyone care to comment? Or am I the only political junkie out there?

We are in Major Trouble!

Madeline is growing up! To say that I am nervous is an understatement. I was definitely not this pretty at 10 1/2. Granted, she is the most responsible and smart child I know, but still, boys will be boys! Well if you know Madeline, she is not a girly girl. She prefers t-shirts and jeans and doesn't give a hoot about what she looks like. That all changed about 6 months ago. She started brushing her hair and matching her clothes. Well she asked me to cut her hair 2 weeks ago, and I finally did it today. The result is shocking. My baby is gone and a Tween has replaced her! Remember how I said that I didn't feel old, well that all changed today.!

Ode to Birthday Cake

Beaverton Bakery is an icon of Portland area. It's old building has graced the downtown of Beaverton for many years. My mouth is salivating just thinking about the moist airy cake underneath the light whipped cream "frosting". My beloved husband knows of my obsession with Beaverton Bakery. After we moved from Oregon to Utah, he surprised me with a Beaverton Bakery Banana Cake for my Birthday. Now he really couldn't ship a cake there, bless his take charge attitude about everything, so he called Beaverton Bakery and got the recipe! How ingenious right?
Well this year I got the real deal! It didn't mean as much as his homemade version, but it tasted awesome. I can almost taste the cake melting in my mouth (oh yeah...I just ate some for lunch..LOL!) There are a very few "sweet" things that bring such fond memories as this Banana cake. If my memory serves me, I had it for my 28th birthday, Our wedding cake, my 32nd birthday and now my 35th. It is still as special to me now as the first time I ate it...

Cake is great!

Today is my birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me!
I'm not 33!
or 34...but 35!

So I fear that I am not "old" yet. I still have no desire to get anything lifted, sucked, botoxed, massaged, enlarged, or enhanced. My husband, actually prefers me natural, no make up...thanks to my parents for giving me fabulous skin. I don't have wrinkles yet, so maybe aging really hasn't set in. Pregnancy is the only thing that makes me feel like an old woman and we all know that I am not doin' that again. The "womb" is closed.

So for this year I am trying to work on organization. Learning how to stick a 6 bedroom house into a 3 bedroom house requires skills that, so far, I have yet to master. I have this cool label maker that I have become obsessed with. I am going to try to be better about reading my scriptures alone...we have the family one down...but yeah well...I will give it my best effort.

Reflecting on the last year...I have learned so many things. Haven't you all figured out that trials make us grow so much more than ease. I have. Learning to put full faith and trust in my husband...scares the pants off of me...but I didn't kill him or leave him and I lived through it. Getting back to the basics...I refined my gardening skills, my animal tending skills, my canning and preserving skills. I learned about the important things like family closeness (living in a hotel for 7 weeks sure does that to a person). I also learned that I could give a crap (not a bad word in my house) about the "Jone's" and keeping up with them is a waste of time and money. The grass that looks greener; it's spray painted! Not real at all! I learned that I would rather eat dinner at the same time every night at our table, than eat in the car waiting for someone to get out of dance or soccer or whatever...what I cook is always 10 times better than McDonalds. I learned that nature is a gift and it has healing properties that can restore the soul. God can dwell there.

Have a happy day everyone.