10 Reasons why I love my Dad by Rebecca

I came down to use the computer and found a paper with this typed on it lying on the ground. It made me smile - especially because a few minutes before I had found a handwritten chart in my room on my floor that she titled "Mom's feelings". It has pictures of 15 faces ranging from angry, crying, sad, flat, happy, excited, etc. Yesterday my emotions were like a yo-yo. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and felt like crying over nothing. But fortunately I was happy by the end of the day after I read some stories to my kids and had fun playing games. Rebecca has been spending a lot of time on the computer lately now that she has discovered how fun it is to read all of the fun anecdotes on everyone's blogs. She also loves typing up all kinds of lists. This one is a treasure.
10 REASONS WHY I LOVE MY DAD
10 Reasons why I love my Dad

Reason # 1 He’s HANDSOME. I know that’s not very important but still he is handsome

Reason #2 He tries to spend time with you ( with me he calls it “connecting” ).

Reason #3 He comes up with really good stories.

Reason #4 I like his talks that he gives in church. They’re spiritual and interesting.

Reason #5 Most of the time when I ask him to bring home a treat he does. Sometimes he brings one home even when I don’t ask him.
Reason#6 When I ask him to take me to the store he does, and he doesn’t take me on hour long shopping trips before we buy the candy.
Reason #7 He’s funny, and when he see’s something funny at a movie he acts it out and that makes dinner a lot more enjoyable.
Reason #8 He’s easy to talk to.

Reason # 9 When I ask him a question he answers it.

Reason #10 He’s just a fun person to be around

I LOVE YOU DAD

What's Most Important

This was a busy week. AfterParent Teacher Conferences, helping at the book fair, Music Club Meeting, piano preschool, Tee ball games, a ward baptism, piano lessons and choir practice, we had Stake Conference on Saturday & Sunday to rejuvenate. We rushed off to the adult session last night to sing in the choir and I was so sad because I forgot my notebook. Jared was so nice he passed his notebook through the choir over to me so now I can remember all of the inspiration I received a little bit better. He is so thoughtful. (Rebecca -my editor- says "That's why you married him mom!" - and its true.)
Elder Craig Zwick from the Seventy came. I especially loved his wife's talk. Her theme was from Jacob 5:41 - What could I have done more? Although we are usually trying our best in life, there is always more we can do to improve. She related several life experiences where she wished she would have done things differently. I can definitely think of plenty in my own life. Here are a few of my notes - it is a little bit of what she said mixed with what came to my mind while she spoke.
Happiness in daily life comes from making deliberate decisions to do good and carrying them out.
I think I make a lot of decisions to do good- especially at night when all the kids are asleep and I am feeling peace, but it is so much harder to actually carry them out the next day when life becomes a whirlwind.
1- Don't let the world get into your heart. Sister Zwick shared a story about when as newlyweds, her husband "surprised" her by getting them a new (old klunker) car. She had formerly been driving a really nice convertible that was her parents. When she saw her husband pull up excitedly in an old white "klunker" he just bought for them with his hard earned money, her dissappointment was apparent in her face. She wished she could go back and change her reaction now.
This made me think of one of my regrets from high school. I remember a really shy boy calling me the night before Sweethearts to ask me out. I didn't date too much and I said yes although I didn't know what I was going to wear. $ was really tight in our family then, & I thought the "dress" was formal and figured I didn't have anything suitable to wear. I knew we couldn't afford to rent anything and didn't think I could find something to borrow on such short notice. With a little persuasion from my mom, I called the boy back and told him I couldn't go because I didn't have anything to wear. Later when I saw my friends pictures, I discovered my plain church dresses would have been just fine. I have always felt bad that I worried more about how I looked than how another person felt. I was too embarrassed to apologize.
2. Use the scriptures as a guide for your life.
Proverbs 3: 5-6¶ ^aTrust in the Lord with all thine ^bheart; and lean not unto thine ^cown ^dunderstanding.

6 In all thy ways ^aacknowledge him, and he shall ^bdirect thy ^cpaths.
I've always loved this scripture. Sister Zwick shared how this counsel had helped her with the challenges of parenting their first born son who was born with physical and mental delays.
3. Don't let secondary things get in the way of essential things.
The most important yes we can say to our children is "Yes, I have time for you."
I think that was my favorite quote from the whole conference. (Rebecca who is reading beside me disagrees, She says the most important yes is "Yes you can have some candy")
So my house may be a little bit messier, but this week I want to make a few more memories by playing Old Maid with Dan, Cooking with Chef Rebecca, throwing the ball with Jacob and dancing with Emily.
That makes me think of this quote from our prophet,
"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly." - Pres. Thomas Monson

I'm so glad for the Saturday night adult sessions. My inspiration was quite a bit more sparse while we wrestled keeping 4 kids quiet on the bench for 2 !/2 hours.

More Diligent and Concerned at Home

This talk by apostle Elder David Bednar was one of my favorites this conference. I can't wait to read it again in print. His 3 areas of counsel about strengthening our family relationships were
1. Express love and show it
2. Bear Testimony (Bear it, mean it, live it)
3. Be Consistent (w/ family prayer, scriptures and family home evening)
I feel that it is somewhat ironic that now that I am "living my dreams" of being a stay-at-home mom, sometimes (too often) I just want to be alone, even though I love my kids very much. I spend so much time serving them by washing clothes, doing dishes, fixing meals that by the end of the day I'm not as available to them as I'd like to be. But time is passing too fast and my time "at-home" with Rebecca is already half over if she leaves for college at 18. That makes me sad, and I want to be better at showing my children how much I love them, sharing my testimony of the gospel of the Jesus Christ and being even more consistent in doing the important things with them like family prayer and scripture reading instead of just rushing through it before they run out the door to the bus.
My mind was filled with specific things I need to do to improve. This talk made me think of Daniel singing a solo for our family night last week. He sang "The family is of God" while I tried to play the piano music throught my tear-blurred eyes. I love that song! It says
"Our father has a family, its me, its you all others too we are his children
He sent each one of us to earth from birth to live and learn here in families.
God gave us families to help us become what he wants us to be
This is how he shared his love
For the family is of God"
It just makes me smile thinking of him singing the word "children" with a bit of a country twang:0)
Good things:
Listening to 2 sessions of Conference w/ no interruptions (thanks to Jared's parents)
Family Night
New Inspiring Primary Songs
Family

Captain Moroni Comes to Primary

Emily helped me make rice krispy treats for the primary activity we had this morning. Don't you wish you could look this good in the morning without even fixing your hair?
Our activity was about teaching the children to strengthen their family. We sang the I" am a Builder Song" and then divided up into groups for different activities. I was in charge of helping the kids make our own "title of liberty" with pictures of things they could do to strengthen their family. So I recruited Jared to be Captain Moroni and tell his story. Then I read this quote by Elder Ballard about the Family Proclamation
“Today I call on members of this Church and on committed parents, grandparents, and extended family members everywhere to hold fast to this great proclamation,” Elder Ballard said, “to make it a banner not unlike General Moroni’s ‘title of liberty,’ and to commit ourselves to live by its precepts” (News of the Church,” Ensign, Nov 2005, 126–28)

Then the kids drew pictures of them doing things to strengthen their families. I gave them ideas from one of my favorite parts of the proclamation...
"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

It was cute to hear a lot of the boys saying - is that real? can I touch your sword? etc. I ended up taking pictures of a lot of them w/ "Captain Moroni" and I think that was their favorite part.

Jacob loves football

Jacob came home from school yesterday and told me about how much fun he is having at recess. He loves playing football with some of the other boys. We had fun throwing a few passes in the backyard. Here are a few pics of him when he played football this summer. He's the one in the light blue shorts.

A BIG Kindergarten Project

Jacob brought home a cup with seeds in it from Kindergarten in the spring.
Now it is taller than him! Then it got infested with aphids. I tried to cut it down w/ a shovel but the stem was soooo hard. Its more like a tree than a flower.

Summer Fun is Almost Done:(

Our version of Rock Climbing


We took the family to Ross Park one evening. The kids to climb on the rocks and especially love this natural "rock slide".


Slaying the Dragon

This has been a great summer. I can't believe its over. Here are some pics of the fun things we did. For the Knight Family reunion we had fun doing "Knight" themed activities like...

Fighting Knight Battles (oops, I forgot to rotate)
Swimming in the Moat
Sword Fighting
Improving Archery Skills
The Kids love hanging out in the backyard. Our giant basketball swing is a big attraction.



Hanging out in the yard