Book Review: I Want to Be Baptized, by Annalisa Hall

I am posting this a couple days later than I should be. A couple months ago I was sent a digital copy of Annalisa Hall's new book I Want to Be Baptized to review. I read it with my oldest, who will be baptized this coming year.

The book goes through all of the things that baptism means and everything is taught by a big sister to her younger brother who is preparing to be baptized. Jacob and I really enjoyed reading this book together and it helped serve as a great jumping off point for some pretty meaningful discussions. We look forward to continuing to read it. Because Jacob is the oldest, I also loved that it showed him how he will be able to be the good example for his younger siblings when the time comes for them to choose to be baptized.

We think that Corey Egbert's illustrations are really fun and they help explain some of the more symbolic aspects of baptism in a way that not only went along with the text very well but also that made it easier for a child to understand really important doctrine in a simple way. And we loved that the boy is missing a tooth--a detail pointed out by my observant little boy!

Many thanks to Cedar Fort Publishing for letting us review this simple but very helpful book.

Book Review: Walking With the Women of the New Testament by Heather Farrell

Have you ever been talking with a friend, the really good kind of friend, who has probably known you for a while and she (I'm using feminine pronouns because I am thinking of my girl friends here) just gets you?  Maybe while you are talking you realize just how great your bond is because she understands the struggles you have had, how much you love to do something, or how much you struggle with a weakness. Maybe she has those same struggles, likes, and weaknesses, but maybe she is just really fabulous at relating to you. Maybe she helps you see how you can become better and maybe she helps you become better. She believes in you, and maybe it's because she's been there before or maybe it's because she just has a great ability to help others reach their potential. Maybe you can see a bit of yourself in her or she can see a bit of herself in you. It might be that not everyone has a friend or a sister or a mother like this, but oh how I hope you do.

But let's back up a bit to where I mentioned seeing a bit of yourself in someone else. Sometimes this can happen with people in our lives, or for me it seems it happens most often with my children. But I have had it happen when I read books before and I love how eye-opening it is to be able to relate to someone, whether fictional or historical, because it gives me an opportunity to reflect. Anything that helps me to be able to improve myself in an uplifting way that doesn't make me feel guilty is a great thing.

I have been following Heather Farrell's blog Women in the Scriptures for almost two years now and was really excited about her book. I started reading Walking with the Women of the New Testament a couple weeks ago and I'm still working my way through it. The artwork is pretty eye-catching, kind of like photographs and watercolors in one. Mandy Jane Williams did such a nice job with these pictures. The book goes in chronological order through the New Testament, beginning with Elisabeth, and details the accounts and experiences of dozens of women or groups of women. I feel like a review needs to be balanced so I will say that I found a few spelling and grammatical errors that bugged me at first but one that made me laugh. In the section about Mary, the mother of Jesus, it refers to Gabriel and then later Gabrielle. :)  I promise the author did not really try to add more women to the New Testament in this book, since that was just a spelling error, but in general it was so great to see that there really are more women in the scriptures than most casual readers would realize. We really need to look for them, and Heather's book encourages us to do just that.

Some of these women we know more about, and others are just mentioned in passing in the New Testament. But instead of just aimlessly speculating about them, Heather puts things into a proper historical and time-period appropriate religious perspective and then makes suggestions about what could have been. And she also does a most wonderful job of relating these women to our day, which brings me back to my earlier points and might be the reason this book resonates with me so much.

The last few weeks have been quite emotionally challenging for me. As someone who has dealt with mild depressive episodes in the past, I know my "warning signs" and can recognize when I need to switch gears to work through the darker periods that I can sense are coming. But the hard part is that sometimes the warning signs phase feels like the dark periods and I just don't know when it might end. I am doing fine, just trying to observe the waterfall of my thoughts from behind it instead of underneath, if that makes sense.  So the other day I was having a pretty rough day, just not feeling great about myself and really not wanting to do the dishes or shower or anything really. My younger kids were down for their naps and there was just a little while before it would be time to pick up the older kids at school. I sat down to continue my reading, even though I really just wanted to sleep and zone out for a bit. I pulled out this book and was so comforted by the passage about Mary Magdalene as soon as I read it. Heather writes, "The story of Mary Magdalene gives me great hope. She reminds me that there is no sickness--physical or mental--that Christ cannot heal." That was something I needed to read, right then. It lifted me up and I felt spiritual strength being poured into me that helped me get through the rest of that afternoon.

Reading about the daughter of Jairus also gave me great peace where the author likened physical death to spiritual death and reminded me that the phrase "she is not dead, but sleepeth" can be applied to people who may be wandering in spiritual darkness right now but who will someday return to the light.  There are sections here about barely mentioned-in-passing women in the scriptures like Paul's sister that remind us that righteous people we read about in the scriptures often had righteous examples to follow -- and maybe those examples came from their mothers, grandmothers or sisters.

We can learn from the women whose stories are in this beautiful book and I believe as we study their lives and experiences that we will truly feel like they are dear friends.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book to review from Cedar Fort Publishing in exchange for my honest review. 

October 2014

The month began with General Conference. It was so wonderful - I feel like it always comes at the best time for me. A little while after school starts again and things get scheduley and busy and then comes this great reminder of how important the Gospel is in our lives. Love that feeling of being re-centered and reminded! 

This little friend had her first birthday. She's my favorite one year-old in the whole world. 

On Hannah's birthday, Rebecca was running around in a fireman costume (see her hand there) AND Jeff brought home an adding machine he got at an antique store. The children were quite enthralled with it and are still mourning that the machine took its place in Jeff's office on campus instead of remaining in the garage. Several times I'd be looking for Jacob in the house before mealtime or something and I'd find him in the garage, calculating. Well, really, adding. It is pretty amazing. 

Jacob finished his soccer season. He had fun with his friends from school and their team played pretty well, very well for some of the games. I will confess to being glad to have our Saturday mornings free to do what we want now and no practice Tuesday nights, but it was a fun few weeks. 

Here are five of the six of us at the ward Halloween party for church. We snagged best group costume: fire truck, flame, firefighter, ladder, and dalmatian (minus her ears).  Jacob went as R2-D2 but people thought he was a fire hydrant. 

Kendall came to visit! My cousin came from Idaho and stayed with us for a few nights while he was looking for work and coming to a school orientation in Findlay, OH. So good to see him again, it had been a long time!

Taking out the pumpkin guts. She was very much wanting to plant the seeds right then but somehow I convinced her it wouldn't work unless we waited until Spring...

Jeff;s handiwork, stellar as usual!  Tinkerbell, Yoda, Butterfly and one we'll call Fun With Different Drill Bits. 

There are better pictures of them all looking but Hannah's face cracks me up in this one. Trick or treating was on the 30th so we got all that fun out of the way before the school parties. 

Trick or treating in effortless style...

Our school does a costume parade every year. So fun to see everyone!  And I thought it would be fun to count Elsas but in the end, keeping track of Sarah getting in and out of the stroller and there being at least 6 in just the kindergarten classes made me rethink that idea. Rebecca went as Fancy Nancy this day, a last minute decision. 

Jacob as R2-D2. His friend from class was "The Banana Lady," as he called it. 

Sometime around Halloween Hannah showed her ability to stack popcorn flavor containers. I think I snapped the picture just as she swiped the top one off the stack very quickly. 

Jacob at his class party on Halloween. They had early dismissal that day (end of the quarter) so it was fun and fun and more fun. Then they came home and we had some more fun!

The Kindergarten party was pretty happenin', too. She told me she wanted to be Fancy for the picture, because Fancy Nancy.

Hannah turns 1!

A month ago on October 11th, Hannah Gale had her first birthday. I think a year ago there were days I was sure I, or someone else, might not really survive us adding another child to the family so soon after Sarah made her appearance in 2012. But survive we did, and Hannah really just fits right in. We love her so!

Jeff was flying back from Utah that day to be back for our little celebration. Rebecca was pretty excited to help with the apple party. I made a banana-based refined-sugar-free cake with not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting for Hannah's cake and cut it in the shape of an apple. Rebecca helped with the sprinkles when I left the cake unattended for a few moments. And the two older kids cried their eyes out when we let her smash the cake, worried there wouldn't be any for them because she wasn't sharing. Silly kids.

We bobbed for apples or got really soggy trying! Rebecca asked me about 57 times if it was time to put the apples in the water after she filled up the bin with the hose. Finally I let her do it; she is a persistent little thing.

We played pin the leaf on the apple and apple tic-tac-toe.

And we had a great time.

Hannah has such a fun disposition. She has cute dimples, bright blue eyes, a hair color that remains mysterious (is it brown? is it red? is it auburn?), she is patient, she notices things really quickly, she already loves books, and she even likes to sing.



I remember before I had children our stake president at church talked about how charity, the pure love of Christ, was something we could be blessed with. He shared that after each of his children was born (and they have 6 children) he wasn't sure how he could possibly love anyone so much, but somehow his heart was able to keep expanding and he was able to love the other children more because he loved the new child now, too. I have really seen this in my own life, too, and will always be grateful for that description. So here is to expanding hearts and this happy little girl who fills our world with so much light!

Book Review: Amazing Hairstyles by Becky Porter

I grew up in a family of three girls. I felt like I knew a lot about girls and then, I had a son. I was a little surprised when Jacob was born - how on earth would I ever learn all about boys?  I am still learning and luckily I have Jeff to help me understand all things boy. But it turns out that having 3 girls myself now doesn't mean I feel like I know what I'm doing with girls, either!  Case in point: cute hairstyles. I love seeing them but somehow lack the fine motor skills to actually do what I want to do. So my 1 year old has pretty auburn-ish hair that never has bows in it because they just get lost. And my 2 year old has a pretty even but also un-accessorized baby mullet she is sporting. Sometimes we do a ponytail, but not very often. And my 5 year old has lovely, wavy reddish hair. And most days I am frantically pulling ponytails or braids back while she eats her oatmeal or eggs. So I was excited to see Becky Porter's new book, Amazing Hairstyles. It came in the mail a little smooshed but we smoothed it out a bit under some heavy books and Rebecca thumbed through it with me, admiring all of the "lovely hairdos," as she called them.

We decided to stick with the easy selections, because see above, and had some fun. I like how the book is divided into sections and it's easy to see how to finish off the look. Plus, Becky gives great tips about good supplies to have on hand and how to make little changes if you want to. Here are a couple pictures we took of Rebecca's hair:

First we did a linked ponytail with a scarf. This was pretty fun. I added the braid on the right side just for fun. We liked how each step of the hairstyle had a picture to go with it. Easy for me to follow, and fun for Rebecca to see how much we had left until we were done!

This hairstyle also worked well for the occasion of pumpkin seed extraction, as you can see above!  

The other hairstyle we've tried successfully, 3 or 4 times now, is a twisted pullback. This was at the end of the day on a Sunday and it still looks pretty cute!  We like how easy this one is, and if we're feeling courageous maybe I will curl the bottom of her hair sometime to soften this up a bit. 

We are excited to try some more new hairdos on Rebecca. We both recommend this book because it is user-friendly and good for the hairstyle-challenged mommas out there like me!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review from Cedar Fort Publishers. All opinions are my own. I have some more reviews coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Trip to England

Jeff and I got to take a grownups-only trip to England a couple months ago. Our kids were in good hands with my mom here to tend to them.  I really recommend taking trips as a couple. It always seems to be stressful to me beforehand but then once I am there or when I am coming back I realize it was exactly what I needed!

Jeff had a conference to present at at Oxford so we spent a few days in London first and then a day in Oxford before I flew home and before the conference for Jeff.

After we flew into Heathrow we rode a bus to Windsor to take a tour of the castle there. Also, we ate lunch at McDonald's. :)  The grounds were just as lovely as I imagined and the inside decor was just as ornate as you can imagine. "Let's hang 200 swords and guns on the wall in a cool pattern!"  Pretty amazing stuff!

One of the kings added more height to the Round Tower in the 19th century to make it seem more imposing. Luckily I wasn't to scared by it and could smile for a picture!

After Windsor we rode in to Paddington Station (no sign of the bear, sadly, but they did have a store named after him!) and then to our hotel in the King's Cross area of London. Here are some more pictures of our adventures!

We saw the London Eye a few times while we walked along the Thames. It is a bit newer than most things in this part of town...

Jeff had gone to London last year and we saw most of the same things he saw then, including the Tower of London. Of course it is much more than a tower and it was quite exciting to learn about so many things in one place. They kept animals here, criminals/traitors were imprisoned (or worse) here, this is where visitors were greeted after they got off their boats, they made money here, they keep the crown jewels here and more. I'm glad Jeff took me here!  

Tower Bridge

The Shard

Me with the Elizabeth Tower in the background. And also Big Ben up on top.

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We visited the British Museum and thought that Jacob especially would have loved all the artifacts and statues.

We took a walk through St. James Park. We got lots of pictures of birds to show the kids and we found these lovely blue flowers. I love blue flowers!

We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, kind of by chance since we thought we'd missed it. Later we went back there to take some more pictures. Here is Jeff looking very stately and regal.

We saw Westminster Abbey one day also. No pictures inside, of course, but it was amazing. Jeff's comment when we walked in was, "And remember, it's not well-known just for its size." But boy was it big and beautiful and old. It is really amazing how many people are buried there.

Sunday after church at the Hyde Park single's ward we went to an organ recital at St. Paul's. We took a nice montage of hilarious pictures of me for our yearly video but I like this one of Jeff & I together also:

 Since our hotel was near King's Cross, I realized that I should take this picture, perhaps to Jeff's chagrin. Unfortunately, this is not actually where the train to Hogwarts came in the films but if we really tried to take a picture there, I would have fallen on the tracks. Safety!

Monday morning we rode a bus to Oxford and we had a walking tour of some of the university and city. Again, I marveled at just how old everything is. I think as an American it is easy to forget just how long history was going on before our country existed. It was a good reminder!  Here I am in a room at Christchurch (a college at Oxford) that was the infirmary in the Harry Potter movies.  I got a little cough while I was there...

We thought this ceiling at Christchurch was quite intricate, and similar to the ceilings in the cathedrals we couldn't take pictures in.

Almost time for dinner at the Christchurch dining hall.  We ate dinner at a little Thai place that night, but it was fun to imagine sitting down to eat a formal dinner with college friends. This dining hall was an inspiration for the one they made for the HP movies, though they couldn't use it because it wasn't large enough.

 We climbed up the steps to see Oxford from the top of the Carfax tower after our visit at Christchurch. There was a time several years ago where I would have been so fearful of being up here (and it wasn't all that high up, really). It was a nice view of the city and I didn't get too scared this time. :)

And here's Jeff in front of Oxford's business school. In the middle of our trip was Jeff's birthday. We celebrated with the kids before and after the trip but on his actual day I was probably failing at trying to keep up with him as we walked all over the city together. We talked about and learned about many things together on this trip and in addition to all of that and perhaps even more importantly I really just kept thinking how grateful I am for him and all he does. He didn't get cake on his birthday but we did get some ice cream cones from McDonald's and I sang to him as we walked back to our hotel. Sure glad I get to spend forever with him!