The Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning....

The Spirit truly was burning at the Brigham City temple dedication our family attended last Sunday.   It is such a tremendous blessing to be able to attend a temple dedication.  I am grateful our family had the opportunity to attend.

 The Spirit is so strong at a dedication as the speakers testify of the blessing and importance of temples here on earth with their sacred ordinances and eternal sealing power.

When I was growing up, I used to dream about being able to go inside a temple. Well,  because I grew up in Washington state I didn't see any temple until after I turned 12.  I feel so fortunate to now live in a time when some many temples "dot the earth."   When I enter into the temple I feel  a very calm peaceful feeling that never leaves. 

Some of the things I want to remember from the temple dedication are:
"It is what really happens inside our selves that matters when we go inside the temple.
We can be taught how to be more like our Savior when we attend the temple."
The Brigham City temple is the 14th temple in Utah and the 139th temple in the world.

Routines

I have been thinking today about how hard, yet how welcoming it is to get back into a steady routine. With almost a full month of school under our belts I finally feel like we are slipping comfortably into our routine.  The kids have been awesome adjusting.  Our 6:30am scripture study is not for the faint, but everyone has been good about getting up to read.  Kara is out the door to school at 6:50 which is later than we left for early morning seminary last year~~~HOORAY!!!

I am a person who needs a routine and who is able to easily fall out of one and become unproductive. So I try to work hard to stick to my routine.  With exercising. work schedule, limited computer time (In the past there were times I would be on facebook and almost an hour had gone by without even noticing) homework and family rituals.

As my children have gotten older it has been harder for me to stick to a routine because frankly, I don't have as much control over their lives.  Kara has had less homework this year than last year which is so nice.  Colton's schedule at work changes every week, luckily he puts his schedule on the calendar so we know where he is.  Spencer has a schedule that is the same each week.  And I don't really know what Coby's schedule is.  :)  And I can hardly ever figure out Matt's schedule.  We he have people working at our  home, coming and going each day.  But, supposedly he is going to be having a new office next month---we will see.

I love being back to work!  I love the ladies I work with, I love my boss, I love the teachers, I love the kids, and I love our new principal.  I just love everything about it!!!

On other news we have a new puppy.  My brother Matthew and family got a pure breed, Gordon Settler all the way from Missouri and after almost a week with their young family they realized it wasn't a good fit. So we have their cute puppy, Gracie.  I should say it is Spencer's dog, but we all love her.  Fozzie our dog of 10 years,  is adjusting slowly, but surely.  Fozzie likes to be inside, but Gracie loves being outside.  She has the sweetest personality and just loves people!!!   She has been a fun addition to our family, but she has certainly changed our routine for the better.    

Things I love:
Sincere heartfelt compliments from coworkers
My job
Spencer's new puppy
Routines
Making raspberry jam with Suzanne (my favorite jam)

Busy Weekend

We had a very fun,  busy weekend.  Friday is always Matt and I's date night and for our date we  went and saw,  The Borne Legacy.  I was on the edge of my seat all night.  There is a lot of action, but the plot, is kind of jumpy.  I love Bourne movies though, so I liked it.  

 Coby and Colleen came for the weekend late Friday night!  On Saturday morning the youth in our ward and leaders  went on a temple walk from the Oquirrh Mountain temple to the Jordan River temple. It is around 4 miles and was a piece of cake and oh so beautiful.    Then we came home and I took Kara to take her final for a class she has been taking online. Colton and Matt had to work.  And Spencer was having a little reunion with the group he went to Fiji with.    Coby, Colleen, Kara and I went to the the Farmer's market at Pioneer Park.  There are so many cool products they are selling there.  The food was yummy and the vendors were so kind.  

 After that we went to the Leonardo museum that we have an annual pass to.  This time the  Human Right issues they were teaching about was the need for clean water.   There are about one billion people with out access to clean water and four billion  without an adequate supply.  Nearly 4,000 people, mostly children die because they drink contaminated water.  We are so blessed to have clean drinking water and I must say it is something that I take for granted.

 After we were done in the Leonardo we walked to the city library and went to the top of the roof.  Gorgeous view!

 Collen was so kind to  ask me if I wanted to get in a picture with my kids. 

 Then we went to an authentic Belgium waffle place. Colleen's mom went on a mission to Belgium and she says this is how they really taste.  I must say I fell in love with the waffle.

 We also had frites and the dipping sauce was a mayonnaise base with lots of yummy flavors.   The mayonnaise tastes  different then  the kind in U.S. and I must admit was much better.

 We came home and Kara had to baby sit.  Matt and I took Colleen and Coby at the restaurant of their choice and they picked the pie.   It has very yummy pizza.  Afterwards, Coby invited some of his friends from high school. It was so fun to see everyone and visit! 

 On Sunday evening we went over to Matthew and Suzanne's home to celebrate Brittany's birthday.  She turned 12 and she is such an amazing young woman.    For her birthday she got this beautiful dog (above) that Spencer fell in love with.  It is a pure breed dog and it came all the way from Missouri. She has lots of energy!

More pictures of Bear Lake

Thanks to my friend Ann, Camille, and Makinzee for these pictures. 

BYU football game!

 We have BYU game tickets for this WHOLE year.  We were cheap and we got the student tickets through Coby.  It was fun to sit with students.  It brought back a  lot of memories when I was a student at BYU.  It was nice because there were also a lot of people our age there too.   It was a very HOT afternoon game against Weber.  We both got sun burnt.

  Before the game we took Coby out to lunch.  I miss him!  Coby was so sweet and dropped us off as close as you can possibly get to the game.  

I forgot to wear my blue!!!   Thanks for a fun day Matt and thanks Coby for getting us the tickets.

What is going on!!!

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.   Some annoying stuff---our car getting towed and costing one of our children $230 to be able to get it back.

  Another day having our car not start and after spending a couple hundred it finally started working!!! Hooray!!!!!  Thank you Mindy for driving car pool for me!!

Also,  we are dealing with  children  who are making some tough decisions about what they want to do with their life.

Kara tried out for the play they will be doing at her new high school.  Usually they don't cast very many sophomores so we are crossing our fingers.  They also only cast a small group.  She did her singing audition on Tuesday and she finds out if she is in it this Friday!!! My fingers are crossed!

Coby traveled to Canada recently with his girl friend, her brother, and his girlfriend..  He had a great time.  His girlfriend just turned in her mission papers. It will be fun to see where she goes!!!  She will be an amazing missionary!!!

Right before school started we went to Bear Lake with some friends.  It was so much fun!!!!  Unfortunately my camera was dead so I am relying on my friends for pictures.  But here are a few that I copied.  Thanks Makinzee!! 

 Kara holding Lily!!!  She is such a sweet cute baby. 

 

Me holding Lily.  I started rubbing her head and she was fast asleep.  

 Here is our whole group minus Jen and family.  This is right after we hiked through this cool cave with A LOT of steps.   It was fun. 

 

Hopefully, I will have a  lot more pictures after  I look through all of my friends pictures.  

Kara had her first piano student today. She is going to be an excellent piano teacher.  Right now I believe she has two students, but she is taking more if you know anyone that is interested!!!  

I went out to lunch today with friends from work.  It was fun to catch up with those I haven't seen in the last couple months.  I am starting work later than normal this year due to a whole new core curriculum being started.  I go back to work on September 24th.   I have been grateful for my break as I have been doing this 40 day de-clutter project my friend Camille told me about.   Also, I have been able to walk each morning with my friend Ann!!! It is so beautiful outside right now and it is so fun to talk to Ann!!!