Do you See's what I See's?

Every year the boys earn money for scout camp by working at the Friend's of Scouting See's Candy shop. It is only open for a month, and all the money raised in the candy sales go help boys get to camp. And since we have 4 boys going to scout camp this year, working at See's has become a big part of our December plans. All I do all month is cart those boys back and forth for their shifts. But I am glad to do it, because I love any opportunity I can find to make those boys work and maybe understand a little bit the value of a dollar.

Anyways, since See's is such a big part of our Christmas (the working, not the actual chocolate - perhaps I need more chocolate), I decided to bring my camera and catch a few memories of them doing their thing. Their thing is basically swinging signs - a skill I'm sure they will be able to use throughout their lives.

They actually bring in a lot of traffic. Lots of folks say they saw their signs and thought they better pick up some candy.

The day I took these pics, Alex, Nate, and their friend Emmanuel were working, but Derek and Dylan also worked just as much. Among the four of them, my boys logged in a bunch of hours, which is gonna be a good thing when the time comes to write the check for scout camp.

Sometimes there is other stuff for them to do too. My buddy Kelly runs the joint, and she is a mom of boys and loves to put them to work as much as I do.

I am confident they work as hard for her as they do for me. Those boys are all business!

(Thanks, Kelly, for putting up with these hooligans. My goodness!)

Finding Pickles

Last month, it was finally Luke's turn to bring home Pickles the Pig. Pickles is his Tiny Tot class "pet" and everybody gets a turn to take him home for a week and then write in Pickle's journal about all the fun time the two had together.

Well, Luke was super excited and couldn't wait for his turn to finally bring Pickles home. He kept telling us about all the adventures he had planned for the two of them. When the day finally arrived he was beyond delighted!

But Pickles had only been a guest at our house a few hours when he disappeared. We searched in vain for a whole week. Some adventure huh? When it was time for pickles to report back to class, we had to explain why pickles was absent. Oops. (We should learn to never bring anything voluntarily home that needs to be returned. We stopped checking out books at the library a LONG time ago - it was just costing us too much!)

Another week went by. Pickles was starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

Finally we found Pickles, under the mountain of stuff in the kids' bedroom (just where I said to look, BTW). I always tell them their room is a pig-sty. Apparently, Pickles felt quite at home there.

It was such fun having Pickles here, but it was really time for Pickles to find a new home.

This is what we wrote in Pickles' journal.

"Luke and Pickles had a great time together. They played hide-and-seek. Pickles is very, very good at hide-and-seek. He hid for two whole weeks before Luke could find him. Thanks for the memories, Pickles!"

A Tiny Tot Christmas

Luke had a special Breakfast with Santa Claus at his Tiny Tots class. It started with a rousing performance of jingle bells,

then a visit with the Big Guy himself,

and then, of course, BREAKFAST! Pancakes, eggs, oranges, sausage, candy canes, and of course - donuts with colored sprinkles! Mommies and daddies got breakfast too, only at the big tables, and no donuts with colored sprinkles for us - those were reserved for the fabulous performers. They earned them! (But I bet Santa could have had one if he wanted.)

The wonderful Tiny Tot teachers! Luke loves Miss Kristin, Miss Maria, and Miss Llubi!

Then he drug us into the classroom to show is their tree that they decorated. We got to keep the beautiful ornaments that he made.

We have been to a lot of Tiny Tot Santa breakfasts over the years, and this would be our very last. Sobering.

We had a great morning!

In a Dark Alley

Last month Alex turned 15! To celebrate Alex wanted to go laser bowling. So we brought the whole fam, and my parents and Alex' buddy Cameron to a dark alley for some pizza and bowling.

I also brought my camera so I could practice a little low-light photography. Obviously it didn't go so well. The sad thing is the photography was much better than my bowling was that night.

I am NOT a bowler.
But it was sure fun...

Especially watching the little guys lug those heavy balls around and get so excited.

For his birthday, all Alex wanted was a lock box for his knife collection, and some new knives. You know your kid is not a kid anymore when they ask for a real knife and you actually get it for him!

Alex is such a responsible, hard working, and giving young man. I love him so much. Can't believe he is 15; driving in 1 year :) and gone in four :( .

Happy Birthday, big Al!

Trimming the Tree

Another very late post - trimming the Christmas tree!

Decorating our Christmas tree is quite a job. I pretty much have it down to a science: first the glass balls on the inner branches, then the beads, cord, and ribbons, then the other ornaments- distributed evenly, followed by the glass birds and glass candles on the branch tips, and then more ribbon. The angel is last of course.

This year I trusted my kids to do the tree themselves. They did a great job. All I did was take the pics.

A beautiful tree, all ready for Christmas.

Merit Badges Galore!

Last month the our scout troop help its first court of honor in a year (they are supposed to have them every few months.) It was fun to see all those cute boys get recognized for all their efforts, and of course, do a few silly antics at the same time.

Alex, our soon to be Eagle Scout, worked so hard this year. Check out that stack of merit badges his scout leader has for him!

Then it was Nate's turn. Another huge stack, and a Life Scout pin for mom. I'm getting quite the collection!

Finally the twins were recognized for earning their Tenderfoot rank and of course, more merit badges. They are loving being in scouts!

In total, my boys received 35 merit badges that evening, and 10 other badges (like Polar Bear Club, burrr!). That means I have a LOT of sewing to do!! Yikes, I better get on that.

I am so proud of my boys! They work so hard and are so diligent about scouts. And I am also so very grateful for my father and my husband who both love scouting and see the great benefits it hold for these boys, and spend so much time helping them achieve. Dennis is such a good dad that he takes so much time off from work and life to take them to camp and scouts and work with them. They love it, and they love the time with him too!

This is going to be another great year. Alex will have his Eagle court of honor soon, Nathan will do his project and hopefully get his Eagle, the twins will turn 12 and become full fledged scouts, and Caleb will start cub scouts, which he is SO excited about!

Good job, boys!

Still Thankful

OK, yes, I do realize that it is nearly the end of January and I am finally posting my Thanksgiving pictures. Sorry. I had technical difficulties with uploading photos and then there was that whole Christmas thing that always happens right after Thanksgiving that always seems to knock my routine for a loop. So here it is, finally - my Thanksgiving post.

But the important thing is that we are still thankful, right?

We really had a MAGNIIFICENT Thanksgiving this year - with all the necessary ingredients - food, family, more food, more family, and perfect weather. (OK, so I realize that folks in other parts of the country don't usually enjoy perfect weather on Thanksgiving day, for us here in the desert, a lovely, sunny but cool day is pretty much a given.)

The day was perfect - and that is why out celebrations were outside.

For fun, I brought my silver frame chalkboard outside, set out some chalk, wrote the words "We THANK Thee" and let everyone take turns writing things that they were thankful for. This is the same old frame that I got at a garage sale and spray-painted silver that I have used for our Young Women's New Beginnings (post here), and recently in the Risenmay Family photo shoot (here). I'm always thinking of ways to reuse my cool GS finds.

And believe it our not, our Thanksgiving celebration included a bounce house. Yep.

A few years back, my hubby rented a bunch of tables and chairs from a party rental place, and they threw in a great deal on a bounce house. At first I raised an eyebrow when they came and set up a big blown up castle in the backyard on Thanksgiving, but it turned out to be a great idea. It kept the kids busy, and everybody loved it. So we did it again this year!

SO thankful for cousins!!!

And while the kids played, I set the table. Man, how I love fall decor!

It all made for a beautiful dinner outside. I made these pumpkin cakes using mini-bundt pans.

I set up the desert table on this awesome (truly awesome!) old Habersham Plantation farmhouse table that I found for $50 at a garage sale the week before. I couldn't pass it up, even though I had no place for it, so I put it out on the back porch to use as our beautiful dessert table, and I loved it so much it stayed!

But the stuff ON the table was very pretty, and pretty yummy too! And there was SO much food (I counted 13 pies, not to mention the cakes and cupcakes, and my sister-in-law Jenny's famous snickers salad! Oh my. I'm feeling fat just thinking about it.)

But the thing that made this Thanksgiving truly special was all the family that we had here. We take turns every year having thanksgiving with his family one year, and my family the next. But this year we were hosting his family, but also invited my local family to join us, so we had the best of both worlds - one big happy family!

And, as it turned out, that big happy family brought A LOT of food!

OK, now, when I say, a lot, I mean A LOT! We had 2 turkeys, 2 hams, and, count them, 8 different potato dishes. (baked potatoes, funeral potatoes, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, other scalloped potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, yams with pineapple and marshmallow, and my famous sweet potato casserole - see? 8!) And of course we had all the other dishes such a feast requires.

No one was left hungry, that's for sure!

What a feast!

Surprisingly, we all found room for dessert, though we didn't manage to finish off all 13 pies, surprisingly.

That's another thing we are most grateful for - leftovers!

A Reunion (of sorts)

My 20 year high school reunion was supposed to be in November. I say "supposed to be" because just a week before the whole thing got cancelled due to lack of interest. Apparently, the planning commitee over-estimated how many people would attend and booked a facility that was just too big and costly, and so they ended up dropping the whole thing last minute.

I was hugely dissappointed! Not only had I spent hours designing the invitations and tickets for the event, lost about 15 lbs, and found the perfect black dress, but I was just looking forward to seeing some old friends again after all these years. (20? How could it be 20 already?) I was really looking forward to seeing how people's lives turned out, (and of course I looked forward to bragging about my six handsome boys and showing off my trophy husband! :) )

But alas, it was not to be.

We were told, however, that even though there was going to be no Class of 90 reunion, there was a big alumni party planned the night before, and I was assured that everyone (mostly) would be there. Good enough for me.

So we got all gussied up and went out to some ranch in Coachella. I had heard it started at 8, and we didn't get out there until almost 9. We paid to park on a grassy field, and quickly discovered 2 problems. 1) It was going to be outdoors, and it was chilly and I had no jacket, and 2) there was nobody there. Except crickets.

So we sat in the car a while and waited, then got out and walked around. Nobody. Finally, someone setting up a booth told us the invitation said 8, but it really wasn't 'til 10.

O...K.

So we hopped back in the car and drove all the way home for our jackets, then went out to dinner. We should have just called it a night, but no, I insisted we go back.

Happily, when we got back to the party there were actually people there this time, and a band and everything. Unfortunately, it was SO dark and SO loud, that you couldn't tell who was who. We walked around for a long time trying to see someone I recognized. Turns out the alumni party was for all IHS alumni, not just our class. Geez. No wonder I didn't recognize these people.

I finally found my good friend Amy, whose family pictures I took (here) a short while back. It was fun to see her, but she lives nearby, and I have been in contact with her, so it really wasn't exactly a reunion. Wisely, she and her hubby left after a short time, but I went on my search for more old friends. Dennis sort of dissappeared on me. So much for my trophy husband.

I found a few friends, but just that, a few. One that just wanted to talk my ear off, and one once party girl who was still partying, that wanted me to dance, insisted actually, even though I had no interest (I didn't dance then, and I don't now) and a few others. it was really great to see them - well, "see" might not be the right word, since it was so stinkin dark, and chatting was hard becasue it was so loud.

The whole event was so poorly organized. The cops even came and stopped letting people in because somebody forgot to get a permit. I actually think we were the last car to get in because the cops got there right when we did.

So anyways, not exactly the reunion I was hoping for. But I finally found Dennis, and we made our gracious exit.

On next night, the night that was supposed to be our real reunion, we went out with my dear friend Alicia and her hubby Eric instead. She had already made all the arrangements to come down for the reunion when it got canceled, and I am so glad that they decided to come down anyway.

We had our own little reunion. We went out to Babe's, then to Yogurt Island where we lingered long and talked until they had to kick us out so they could close up. We always have so much to talk about, Alicia and I, and Dennis and Eric get along great to.

I love that lady! She is my dearest, dearest friend.

It turned out to be a pretty terrific reunion after all! I realized that out of the entire mighty class of '90, she was the one I most wanted to see, I lucky me, I got her all to myself!

I guess we'll try again for the 30 year reunion. At least was have facebook, right?

(Now I just need an occasion to wear my fabulous new black dress!)

Here is the Church, Here is the Steeple, Open the Doors...

Here is the Church...

Here is the Steeple...

Open the Doors...

And See All the People!

Today we met in our brand new building for the first time! What an exciting and blessed day for the saints in our area, especially for our ward!

My joy is very, very full!

For six or seven years now, since our ward was first created, we have been meeting in the Palm Desert building - and all of us had moved to that building from the Indio building. For all of us, I think, the trip to Palm Desert was much further. For our family, it is twice the distance. While the PD building is a very nice building, I think we have always felt like guests there, at least I have. We have had to scrounge around for closet space. When I was Young Women's president, I had to trek all the way around to the other side of the building to get our supplies out of our closet, then lug it all back to the closet after church. Fun.

Those of us who lived the closest were a good 15 to 20 minutes away, and it was probably double that for the folks who live out the furthest. The biggest hassle, I think was driving kids all the way over there for youth activities that lasted an hour and a half. It usually wasn't worth it to drive all the way home, just to drive all the way back to get them a short time later. And if you forgot something at home...

Mormons just spend a lot of time at church - so much more than just Sundays.

For me, after a long day, or long night, as was often the case, that drive home was the longest!

Of course, I am grateful that we had such a beautiful building to meet in, and I realize that there are saints who live much, much further from their buildings, and we really don't have room to complain, but I think it is fair to say that going to the Palm Desert building was somewhat of a hardship on our ward.

But no longer!!!

We were so excited a few year back to learn that we had been approved for a new building in our area! So excited! And then we learned where the plot had been selected- right here in Bermuda Dunes at Washington and Ave 41! So very close to home.

With joy we attended the groundbreaking ceremony in the end of May of 2009 (here is that post), where we each got to take our hand at using a golden shovel to chip away at the hard packed desert sand and imagine the idea of having a building to call our own! The sun was bright and we were hot, but were thrilled and the spirit was surely in attendance!

And then we waited.

It seemed like FOREVER that we watched that plot of land and waited for signs of improvement. Apparently there were problems with permits, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But once it started to get going, it was so fun to watch as it started to look more and more like a church. We drive by there every day, and usually Luke would announce - "there's our church!" as we passed.

I felt a special joy the day I saw the steeple go up! Our steeple!

As we have gotten closer to this day, I have become increasingly excited about getting into that building, and have paid attention as every last detail on the exterior was completed.

Last week, I stopped by to take some of these photos. Curious, I peeked into the windows and saw my friend Dave hanging some artwork. He let me in for a little self-guided tour. Thanks, Dave!

I was thrilled beyond words! It is just beautiful! I love the architecture and the colors and the gorgeous artwork! I like the layout and the lovely huge arched paned windows in the foyers. And of course, I loved that everything, from the hymnals to the dishes in the well-stocked kitchen, was new! But my favorite part is the beautiful chapel. Our chapel!

I felt like I was coming home!

On Monday night, our bishop invited our ward over to officially check out the building together for family night. What a special experience that was for us! There was a feeling of excitement as we explored our new meetinghouse. The kids found their classrooms, and the sisters commented on closet space and the number of stalls in the ladies' bathroom, speculated on who would use what room for what, and exclaimed the clever, clever plan that put the mothers' lounge right next to the Relief Society room, end even more brilliant, the tiny little bathroom right in the nursery. A woman definitely had a hand in this design! My kids couldn't get over that itty bitty toilet and sink! I loved the electric pianos in some of the rooms that come pre-programed with the hymns - just push a few buttons! That will be fabulous for seminary. And I watched, and listened, as my talented friend Shari, did her magic on the wonderful new organ for the first time.

When we all met for dessert in the cultural hall with it's fabulous hardwood floors, I was overwhelmed with joy and love for our ward family! What wonderful, wonderful people we are so blessed to have in our ward and have our lives entangled with - our brothers and sisters in the gospel. I was overwhelmed with gratitude, not so much for the building, as for the people that will share it with us.

Now we all have a place to call home!

Today was wonderful! There was a spirit of excitement and rejoicing as we greeted old friends in new surroundings. The chapel was full to overflowing, and to our joy, we saw many dear members of our ward that we have not seen in ages, who had come out to worship again with us in the new building! We were also glad to see, in passing, the members of the Santa Rosa ward, that we have missed so much since we were at one time in the same ward together. It is great to share a building with them and see them again every week!

The spirit was definitely in abundance today! I felt it so strongly.

After Sacrament meeting the entire ward gathered outside the North entrance to take a group picture. I remember once seeing an old black & white picture of my pioneer ancestors with their ward on the steps of their new church building, and I am so glad we decided to do the same thing! I, of course, got to be the photographer - (sort of. A sweet sister in the other ward, baby in tow, pushed the button for us so I could get in the picture too.) We ended up putting the camera on a tripod on the top of a truck just to get high enough. I'm sure the ward got a kick out of seeing me in a long skirt and pearls climbing up on top of that truck to set up my camera, but it was totally worth it. I think we will treasure that photo in years to come.

And when church was over, it took us only 3 minutes to get home! Whoot whoot!

How blessed we are! There is no other word for it. We have a beautiful temple to serve in just an hour away and now our very own building right in our neighborhood! The folks in Utah may not think that such a thing is much of a big deal since they seem to have a church on every block there and a temple in every town, but to us it is something of a dream come true! It can't get better than this, I suppose.

I just think of the wonderful memories we will create together here, and the testimonies that will be born and developed and shared here. My sons will give their missionary farewells and homecoming talks from that podium, and perhaps have their wedding receptions in this building...

Our building! Home.

I am simply overwhelmed with gratitude.

Come Now, and Let Us Reason Together

(First, let me quickly apologize for being so behind on my blogging. I was in the process of blogging about Thanksgiving a month ago when I had some issues with downloading photos, that I have not had the time to try to resolve. As soon as I do, all the picturey posts will come. But until then, I can still write the un-pictured posts. Hope that's OK and you all don't stop reading because my posts have become less, well, colorful.)

Have I mentioned that I LOVE teaching seminary? I do! I love it. I love the opportunity to study everyday and share my love of the Savior with a bunch of fun teenagers every morning! (I don't know how they feel about having to see my face first thing, dark and early every morning, but like it or not, there I am... every morning.) :)

It is such a gift to me to be forced to open my scriptures every day, and to really study the word of God, and to ponder on the wonderful messages that they contain. This week I read these profound words which really struck my heart!

And now come, saith the Lord... and let us reason together, that ye may understand;

Let us reason even as a man reasoneth one with another face to face. Now, when a man reasoneth he is understood of man, because he reasoneth as a man; even so will I, the Lord reason with you that you may understand. D&C 50:10-12

This is the Lord speaking directly to his church leaders who had come to Him with a question. This is the Almighty God who says, in essence "Come here, my son. Lets have a chat." I can almost see Him pulling up a chair beside Himself, patting the empty seat, as an invitation to sit down with Him and have a real face-to-face conversation. It is so personal. So beautiful! And this invitation speaks VOLUMES of who our God really is and the kind of relationship he craves to have with each of us.

Christ is not a tyrant, not a distant and unapproachable being who makes his declerations from his golden throne high in the heavens and expects all to obey his demands or be thrust down to hell.

That is NOT the God I am coming to know. These words reveal a God who wants a personal relationship with me. With ME! A God who is my elder brother and wants desperately to be my friend, my mentor, and my confidant. He loves me, he always has, and he misses our face to face "chats" we had in a time before this life. He reminds us here that we can still have our little chats, our two-way personal communication. In fact, he is pleading for us to come and converse with him again.

On Monday morning, when we studied this, I had two students sit on the floor, back to back, and I dumped an identical pile of wood blocks in front of each of them. I told one he was the "architect", and the other was the "builder". The architect was to build a structure with the blocks, and as he went he was supposed to tell the builder exactly how to build his structure. The builder could only listen and obey. He was not allowed to look or ask questions or for any further clarification - just listen and follow.

Even though the architect did a good job of describing the structure he wanted built, the builder tried his best, but was not able to build his structure to the architects' specifications. I asked him what would have made his job easier. He said that if he could only ask questions that would really help.

So i let them try again. This time the architect gave his step by step directions, and the builder asked clarifying questions, "Is the long block vertical or horizontal?", "Exactly how far apart are the two cubes?", etc.

The results were two identical structures. The builder was able to exactly copy the architect's plans.

I explained how the leaders of the church were able to build Christ's own church here on the earth in the same manner. Christ is the architect of his church, and the church leaders are the builders and they want to build His church according to His specifications. For centuries man has be attempting to build His church using only the instructions provided in the Bible, but without clarification from the Lord, different builders have come up with various interpretations of what Christ's church should look like - none of them were just like His - not until he restored his gospel to the Earth in it's fulness to his prophet, Joseph Smith, by the power of revelation. That is what the Doctrine and Covenants is - it is the record of the clarifying questions Joseph and others leaders had as they attempted to build His church, and the specific answers that the Lord gave in reply. It is the record of this "reasoning together". The Lord did not just hand Joseph a thick instruction manuel on how exactly to build his church. Every revelation came only after a specific question was asked of Him, and this often after some trial and error. But look what it has built! This is the church that Christ himself has designed. It's divine design is evident in all aspects of the organization of this church - down to every last detail, and he is the head of it. Absolutely.

But the Lord's way of communicating, of reasoning together, is also how he hopes to help each of us, individually to build our own lives into what he has planned for us. He wants to be the architects of our lives, and what a master architect He is! Who would want to try to clumsily put together their own abode with the pile of blocks life throws at us when the great Architect is offering to design a mansion for just for us? Not me. I have seen His work in the lives of great men and women, and I am eager to turn mine over to the master as well! But it will only work if we, the builders, are in constant communication with the Lord - only if we pull up a chair and "reason together", really talk things out. The Architect's blueprints are the scriptures. We, as builders, need to study them carefully, and then if we have any questions, or need any clarification, or additional information, even encouragement, we can go to the architect in prayer. He in turn, will give is further instruction to answer our questions through the words of the prophets, ancient and medern, and through personal revelation via the Holy Ghost. If we do this, I think we will be amazed at what we each can build out of the pile of blocks that have been dumped in front of us!

I think that if we can remember this, that he wants to reason together with us in a two-way communication, that our prayers will become more meaningful as we come to him with those tricky spots in our lives that need clarification, and that in studying the scriptures and listening to the words of the prophets and the sweet voice of the spirit we will pay closer attention, because we know that is the only way the great architect can give us the instructions we need.

I am so grateful that our Lord is a loving, tender, and merciful god who's greatest desire is to spend a little one on one time with us - to sit and chat - to have a personal relationship with us. He loves us, and misses us, and waits for us to come to him in prayer and ask him to help us build our lives. After all, that is his work and his glory - we are his work and his glory - and the greater the buildings we build with our lives, the greater the architect He is.