Election is over!!!!! Yeah :)

I am so glad that the election is finally over. Here at our home we were disappointed with the results for the president. But now that Obama is the president we will stand behind him as our American President.

I was so grateful that Proposition 8 passed in California. This is something that was extremely important to me. I am grateful for all of the voters in California who got out there and voted! I can't express my gratitude enough. Thanks for allowing marriage to continue as the Lord intended between one man and one woman. I am so grateful for marriage and the opportunity I have to be married to a wonderful man who makes each of my days brighter!

Colton has been sick with the flu today. He woke up in the morning throwing up on the carpet of all places. Not a great way to start the day, but I was blessed that my husband got up and cleaned it up for me before I realized it. And in talking to Spencer today he had the flu today too; how interesting that living so far away he had it the same time as his brother.

I talked to my sister Katie on the phone yesterday. It made me miss her all the more. She is so fun to talk to. I wish we lived closer as I miss her a lot. She mentioned coming to visit in Utah and I hope that she is serious because I would love to see her. We always have so much fun when we are together.

We went to Kara's parent teacher conference tonight and she has a 98.8 percent overall which is wonderful. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well and sometimes she is way too hard on herself.

I started a face book page as a better way to keep connected with Spencer and in the process I have found out it is kind of fun too. Some of the avenues of the Internet are so amazing. Please have a Happy November!

Halloween Fun and Grandma Mackey's 90th birthday

Halloween was great this year. Kara was a 50's girl and she looked so cute. And Colton was a CIA agent at least for our ward's trunk or treat.

One big thing is the fact that today is my Grandma's 90th birthday. My grandma is an amazing person who I love and admire. I am so blessed by having her influence in my life.

The elementary school didn't have school on Halloween so we celebrated it on the 30th. That is the day we had the school parade and all of the Halloween parties. This is my last year having a child at Edgemont elementary school. So my 16 years of watching my children in the parade is coming to an end with I am sure great things in store for the future.
After the parade I put on the Halloween party for Kara's class. I had three moms that came to help and my husband Matt came too. One of the games I picked out was a flop, but the rest were great. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Kara said the funnest game there was the one her dad did. After the party and while her class was at lunch and recess I prepared caramel apples, and put together root beer floats and then we all went home.

Colton didn't have any parties or dress up at his school, but he took it right in stride. This is the first year I didn't take my children trick or treating. Kara went with her friend for the first time without me and Matt and I stayed home (it was our date night) and answered the door and spent time with Colton. I hope you all had a very Happy Halloween.

Great Wisdom!!!

"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." Mark Twain

Connie Sokol recently wrote this and I loved it! I really need to hear it so I am posting it here for myself mainly as it is a great reminder for me as I work with all kinds of different people.

"Working with people can be Dickens-like: it can be the best of times and the worst of times. Although many of us feel blessed to work with kind and amazing angels, most of us meet or deal with people that, to be succinct, need a chill pill or a good swift kick. That is, until we walk in their moccasins. Reading the following from Brad Wilcox in Raising the Bar gave food for my soul on this very subject:

"When someone lies to us or lets us down, we can look for the secret. What has happened in his life to make him act this way? When someone gossips, look for the secret. What has made that person so insecure? What kind of pain has been dealt with to cause such low self-esteem? When someone has pulled away rejecting the very expressions of love that are so needed, look for the secret. What has made her feel so angry, alone, and devalued?"

This week when rubbing shoulders with each other, I invite us to look for the "secret", the emotional clues that will help us better understand another, and the ability to walk in their moccasins, or Nikes, or stilettos, for just a little while.

OK I know who has some great pictures of the Family Reunion!

When I was at John and Annette's home I saw some of his great photos from the family reunion. So I took off a good portion of my pictures off this site as his are WONDERFUL and I want him to send them quickly . I can't wait until you all see them too! He has an amazing camera.

I ordered all of the pictures from the photographer on October 22nd and he said it would take two to three weeks. So I imagine I will have them in my hands by November 12th and then I will mail them out to each individual family. Thank you for being so patient with me.

Our weekend in Boise!!!

This last weekend we were in Boise to celebrate Matt's dad playing in at Boise State 50 years ago against Tyler college. Boise state won the game 22-0. It was so cool to be a part of their exciting weekend as we attended a Boise State game and sat on the 2nd row. Boise State played against the Unverisity of Hawaii and it was one of the best games I have ever been too. After the first quarter they had all of the players that had played fifty years ago come on the field and they honored them. It was so neat to watch. We really enjoyed seeing Matt's parents and his Grandparents Przybylski. We had such a great time to visit with them and go to church with them too! They are both such amazing people. I am so grateful for their influence in my life.

While we were there the red carpet was rolled out by Annette and John and family. We had a wonderful time visiting and the cousins love playing with one another. It is so much fun to watch them play together. Annette is so fun to talk to and I thoroughly enjoy her company. Jessica is such a beauty and certainly resembles her mom!

Mason played football while we were there too. He looked so strong in his football uniform. We were sad we didn't get to watch his game. Colton and Steven play so well together it is too bad they don't live closer! On Sunday after going to two wards we left to go back home for school and work. It was funny we went to two sacrament meetings and both were about charity. It is something I always need to be working on. Thanks for a great weekend to all! We did forget to bring our camera to John and family! We love you all!

The marlin Matt caught while he was deep sea fishing in Cabo.

Matt spoke out at the prison

Matt has really enjoyed being on the high council that is until it was his turn to speak out at the prison. He was very nervous because he was supposed to speak for 35 minutes and he also couldn't bring any notes either. So it was a little daunting for him. He was speaking to one of the women's wards our stake is over and the topic he was given was temple marriage. I think that must have also been part of his reason to be so reluctant. He found out also that while you speak that the women have a tendency to speak out and ask you direct questions too. Well, he spoke and felt good about how he did, but he did have one woman ask him if she could get married to her female partner in the temple. After speaking he decided it wasn't so bad, but then we found out that our stake is no longer over the prison branches as of January 09. So it looks like this is his one and only prison speaking assignment.

General Conference

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to watch General Conference. I feel so much gratitude for my membership in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I am so blessed to be a member of the restored gospel. I so enjoyed watching General Conference and hearing from the brethren and sisters. What a wonderful way to be edified. I always receive so much at conference that I know I need to work on, but I just so grateful that the Lord continues to give us guidance and revelation. I had so many favorite talks at this conference, I think some of my favorites were President Uctdorf, Elder Nelson, Elder Bednar's, and the prophets message on enjoying the journey.

One other piece of great news I got was that Matthew ran the marathon in Saint George and he qualified to be in the Boston Marathon. How did I get so fortunate to rub shoulders with such awesome siblings?

Brittany's Baptism!!!

On Saturday, September 27th, 2008. Brittany was baptized by her dad, Matthew. She was so beautiful dressed in white. I sure love Brittany and what a sweet girl she is becoming. I am so glad I am in her family!!!! Thanks for inviting our family to your special day!

Our weekend in Cedar City!!

Well it was parents weekend at SUU so our family went down to see Spencer and enjoy the weekend with him. He seemed to be all settled in his apartment and enjoying college life. We had a great weekend there going to a Smash mouth concert (I had never heard of them, but apparently they sing some of the songs in Shrek) and boy was it LOUD. On Saturday we went to a brunch with Spencer at the college and then he showed us all around campus. And then we took him shopping for FOOD. We came home and I went a little overboard helping him clean his room and apartment. We had fun looking around Cedar city and getting better acquainted with it.
On Saturday late afternoon evening we went to their football game and it was so much fun. On Sunday we went to the local ward there and we even ran into a family there who was also visiting from our stake. It was so much fun. Thanks Spencer for letting us come and see you during parents weekend. We love you!!!

Johnny leaves for the MTC!!!

Today was the big day for Johnny to enter the MTC. We were all so excited for him! I was a little nervous for him, but he seemed to be so together.

Suzanne and Matthew were very gracious to put together a wonderful breakfast for four families. And it was delicious. Even Robert (Annette's brother came). I am excited for Johnny to make wonderful memories on his mission. He is going to be an excellent Ambassador of the Lord. I have so loved watching you grow! And you are going to be one of the most handsome missionaries in Washington D.C mission ever.

That night we had our Enrichment and it went very well so I was very relieved. Everyone brought there assignments and we had a wonderful tasters table of things the sisters had from their food storage, garden etc. Those that spoke were so informative and we all learned much from everyone and got some great recipes in the process. It all was so delicious. I made Suzanne's recipe for Zucchini tomato soup. It is a delicious recipe. Sisters who claim they don't like zucchini or tomatoes raved about the soup and my family enjoyed it too. We had a good turn out and now the next quarterly Enrichment activity will be our Christmas dinner. But we have plenty of our Enrichment groups in the meantime to keep me busy.

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend was great. Spencer came home from SUU for the weekend and it was so nice to see him. Also, we were able to see his girlfriend Lindsay who came from the U of U. We had fun celebrating her birthday. We went to Rocky Mountain pizza and then we had cake and ice cream. We sure love Lindsay!!! Then they stayed for church on Sunday. I spoke that Sunday in sacrament meeting so it was great to have them there for that.