Jacob's Obituary

Jacob Michael Neal age 95 died Saturday November, 15, 2097, when he was watching a BYU football game when BYU scored a touchdown he got so excited that he had a heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital but it was too late he died he was announced dead at 9:55 at night and was aproximately died at 9:23. He was born in 2002 June 12 in Provo Utah his current residents are his daughters Hiddee Neal, Cyeby Neal, and Lisa Neal he had three sons Bobby Neal Beanie Neal and Jared Neal. He was a retired therapist and was living in his home town Pocatello Idaho, survivors were Cyeby Neal, Lisa Neal, Hieda Neal, Beanie Neal, Bobby Neal, Jared Neal, Danney Neal, and Josh Neal. He will not have a funeral because he believed it would just cause pain and grieve for his family members but will be buried on December 12 in Provo Utah.

(FYI - he purposely changed the spelling for his daughter to make more sense... Hidde e makes more sense than Heidi!)

"Wicked" Manners?

A few weeks ago Emily had a totally fun mother daughter activity days etiquette dinner to cure us of all of our "wicked" manners.  I think she now remembers more about setting the table properly than I do.  The grotesque looking spaghetti noodles were deceivingly scrumptious!

While we ate, we were taught about proper manners.  It brought back memories of my first night in the mission home eating dinner.  I was sitting next to our mission president's wife and she remarked, "I think the elders really need to watch the etiquette video after dinner."  I was super self-conscious after that about my every move at the table as I don't claim to have the most refined manners.  I drink my milk and soup from my bowl at home,  because although it may not be polite,  its more efficient.  I butter my roll straight from the butter plate, because I don't like having to clean up the grease on every plate.  And although I don't often lick my plate, I clearly remember crouching down behind the counter after dinner when we had company as a child, because I wanted to lick up every morsel of sweetness from my dessert plate clean, even though I knew it wasn't proper :)

Halloween Twenty Fifteen

Carved Pumpkin Pancakes.. for when traditional pumpkin carving seems too daunting  :)

Gretel or Heidi,  Your Worst Nightmare and Cowgirl or Jessie?

 We headed to the church for a chili cookoff and trunk or treat.  Halloween candy doesn't hold much appeal for Becca now that she's gone 9 months without it as part of her personal progress goal to me more healthy.  Her willpower amazes me!  She definitely takes after her dad in this arena.  But she did have fun heading to a dance party with friends for Halloween night.

 Josh got a lot of attention for his cute skunk costume at Alyssa's school party, so he was excited to stay a skunk for the trunk or treat too.

Our Lil' Stinker says "Snort snort, I'm a skunk!"

What does the skunk say?   According to Josh the skunk goes SNORT!

 I know its hard to tell, but Dan is a basketball player!  I'm not much of a fan of buying fancy Halloween costumes that are only worn 1 day a year.  The kids just pick something from the Halloween bucket that is mostly handmedowns.  Jacob put some black mascara under his eye to be "a guy who got in a fight" while he and Dan raced around gathering a year's supply of candy with Jared as their chauffeur.  I'm happy to be moving on to better holidays.

Homeschool Highlights

Emily loves the hands on learning projects we do for homeschool (Sculpting Landforms).  I love their sweet expressions in this pic.

I couldn't find colored pipe cleaners so Emily was happy to use Halloween candy instead for her Model of a Neuron.

A new family with girls her age moved into our ward so we planned a fun day  full of music and science homeschool fun. After playing Music Jenga, grand staff Uno and composer old maid they did some solution science experiments and marker chromatography.

But my favorite parts this week have been curling up in a blanket to read Sarah Plain and Tall and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
One of our latest fun discoveries is the Ted-Ed youtube videos.  We definitely couldn't miss watching the benefits of playing a musical instrument :).  But I also find the science topics especially intriguing

A few other favorites

Goodbye Party

 Rebecca hosted a going away party for her friend Mercedes who is moving.  Honestly I'm not much of a party host, but it was really fun seeing them have a good time playing crazy games like Werewolf, The Animal Game, The M&M game and Ghost in the Graveyard.  It brought back the fun memories of my own teenage years when we had so much fun playing silly games at huge friend parties.  I was fortunate to have a great group of friends who knew how to have good clean fun.  Its crazy to have kids old enough to be entering that stage of life.

Carving Thanks

 We haven't carved pumpkins for the last couple of years but Emily was insistent that we do it this year.  I bought the pumpkins the week before Halloween, but our schedule was swamped, and many chores were left undone so they still sat uncarved on our porch Halloween night.  We decided to transform them into a "Thankful" Snowman for November.

Ponderizing with Music

One of my favorite messages from Conference was Elder Devin Durrant's suggestion to ponderize the scriptures.  To help my family better "ponderize"this scripture in 1 Timothy, I tried to pair the words to the tune of a familiar hymn.  The theme of our church President, Thomas S. Monson's message this week was "Be an Example and a Light." Music definitely expedites memorization, and I love how scriptures that are put to song come back into my mind during mundane activities like driving, washing dishes or folding laundry to uplift my thoughts and spirit.
Finding a matching meter that emphasized the important words was challenging but I chose the opening verse of "Did You Think to Pray."
So instead of singing...                 We sing this...
Ere you left your room this morning                    Let no man despise thy youth, but
Did you think to pray?                                          Be thou an example of the believers (quickly)
In the name of Christ our Saviour                         In word, in conversation
Did you sue for loving favour?                             In charity in spirit
As a shield today.                                                  In faith, in purity
As a shield today.                                                  4:12        First Timothy
(lyrics by Mary A. Pepper Kidder)
I designed the pocket size image above so they can refer to their cards at school and "ponderize" throughout the day.

I appreciate the positive mental power that stashing these scripture songs in my mind brings.  I find the tunes popping up in my mind when I lay in bed at night, when I'm doing dishes or driving and the message of the words has definitely helped me to rise above feelings of negativity or discouragement.
Last week for Emily's "Vocabulary Choice" lesson she learned 2 Nephi 2:27 with a song (click the link to hear it).
The words "they are free to choose liberty and eternal life... or to choose captivity" stood out to me as I reflected on the idea that I am the one who ultimately decides if I want the happiness that comes from focusing on freeing positive thoughts rather than being stuck in the captivity of victim mode by blaming my mood on the actions of others around me.