Animal Story Time, Tacos & Colors!

Yesterday after school these girls did Story Time with animals.

We had a scrumptious dinner of watermelon and Navajo tacos!

I spent 2 hours on the phone today trying to figure out pump sensors supplies. Urg.

After grocery shopping and putting everything awa I categorized colors and started the driving Course.

Red Bluff Bound

Friday night we drove to the Days Inn motel in Red Bluff. We saw a gorgeous sunset through a nasty windshield. The kids watched the end of Coco and then Herbie Goes Bananas!

Sweet! We made it to our Suite!

And then the kids dared each other to get in the freezing pool and swim. haha.

It's nice to end of the motel of August in a new place!

Cute Hair & Seer Sucker Suit

I taught Abby how to diffuse hair. She looked cute this morning while drinking her smoothie.

And it's seersucker suit day at work. Ross sent this picture from lunch!

This morning after dropping Jill I went to a doctor appointment. I'm going to start on Sym med again. I walked around the mall, picked up a photo at Walgreens, had a full salad for lunch, worked on the computer, indexed and watched two Hallmark movies. Heading to pick up the kids soon.

Mr & Mrs Monkey

Mr. and Mrs. Monkey all mended and washed!

We were a minute late to practice but Abby was still picked for soccer practice MVP. She was super excited about that!! Her attitude on soccer is starting to change in a positive light.

When we pulled up after two soccer practices, this is the cute guy that met us. He was ready to head off for an EQ visit.

I found Emma's Family Home Evening plan on Sunday that I scribed for her.

This is me sorting embroidery floss and starting a new project at soccer practice.

SMOOTH day and Excellence Night

It's a Smooth morning!

Stopped at the church to make copies and pull things out of the closet, dropped Jill to Kindergarten and met leaders back at the church to set up tables and chairs for our Excellence Meeting. Then I went to the temple.

The temple is a LIGHT my life. ✨

Ready for "Be a LIGHT" YW in Excellence.

These ladies are so much fun to work with! The Mia Maid class and leaders did awesome organizing this! It was a wonderful Excellence meeting with mood lighting (going with the theme), a slideshow, displays, the Young Women singing, some of them shared thoughts, I gave a talk (one story I told was when I got lost twice trying to find a lighthouse while on land--haha!), the Bishop spoke, some "most excellent" Personal Progress awards were given, and we enjoyed yummy light 🍋 refreshments and value-colored jelly beans! 😋 I❤️the YW!!

The girls each wrote ways they can be a LIGHT and their testimonies. They are strung along with little lights.

Here's a video we showed:


Here are notes from my talk:

I love you girls and leaders. I love working with you. It's fun to have your parents here and see a little if what we do. And we're thankful our stake yw president is here and our Bishop and bishopric. 

I was at the temple earlier today and some of you already commented on my Instagram post of "The Temple is a light in my life". As we just watched that video, I saw many pictures of us on a temple trip. We are lucky it's nearby and we can go a few times a year as a group. Some of you tell me that one of your favorite activities that we do is visiting the temple. As I was reading New Era a few minutes back this quote stood out:

NE "the Temple of place of holiness" Feb 2018. It's easy to feel holiness of the temple when you're there but how do you keep that holiness once you leave? In the world there many influences swirling around you. Look closely at the influences you can control, and make sure you have as much good as you can in your life. Evaluate your choices about media entertainment friends the places you go and the activities you do. Then "chase darkness from among you" (D&C 50:25) by eliminating anything that is leaving a bad impact. -Elder Larry Wilson. Quorum of the Seventy.

Light and dark are opposite and they can't occupy the same space. And when you have limited light is amazing how much any light can make a huge difference. Think of camping with a fire, lantern or flashlight. These make a big difference in the dark.

Some of you remember a night walk we did as a ward at camp. The girls were divided into three groups and only the person in front had a flashlight. The others grabbed shoulders of the one in front and they used each other as their guide. We can be a light to others.

The lighthouse is another symbol for light, representing peace and safety. A few years ago I had a "lighthouse summer". Our future was unknown as far as work and moving and we felt to just wait even though I was ready to pack again. To distract my mind and anxiety I needed to focus my energy on something. I got out a puzzle and it gave me something to focus on, interesting it was a lighthouse. And I love the concept of a puzzle where things are bits of things we don't understand but we look for patterns, shapes and colors and we can start putting the picture together, focusing on what we do know.

I want to share another story about a lighthouse. My husband is from VA and we've seen many of the East coast and since we've lived here we've seen many on the west coast. They so have different designs and history but their purpose is the same. Bringing safety and providing direction song a jagged coast or rigid water. 

We recently visited Tybee island in Georgia. A place I've never been but wanted excited to explore it. Each morning I had been going on walks and I wanted to walk the lighthouse. The night before I had looked at maps and taken a screenshot with my phone (because I didn't know if I'd have cell service) and I set out. It was earlier in the morning, especially since I was on Pacific Time, really humid and the bugs were really loud. I passed some landmarks I remembered from the map. Soon I was right near the lighthouse but I couldn't get to it because I was in a neighborhood with trees, fences and no trespassing signs. So I turned around and tried a different road. I saw the lighthouse again but the road started curving and I was going in a different direction of a lighthouse and closer to a water tower. So I completely stopped and looked at the map on my phone and studied it out, trying to figure out where I messed up so I could make a correction. I realized there first time I turned around I hadn't gone back far enough. So I examined it closely and make it to the lighthouse. (How funny to get lost on land twice trying to find a lighthouse!) I sat on a bench in front and pulled out my phone to read a conference talk. My summer goal was part of the theme of "listening to my words" so I wanted to study the words of our prophet going back to read all of his talks. The particular talk that morning was called "Scriptural Guidance" and as I read it I felt Pres Nelson was sitting in that bench talking to me because he described exactly what had just happened to me. He started his talk with a story of him and his wife visiting Denmark and getting lost and having to study their map. Here's a little bit from his talk:

I want to bear Testimony that the Savior is our light. And we have all the resources we need to light our way back home. He had given us the scriptures, our prophet, the standards. Or camp theme was I can do hard things and our symbol was a rock and in our t-shirts we had cairns, stacked rocks that mark the way on a hike. We have similar things to help us on our journey back home. The Savior is our light. And the cool thing is that we can be His light too for others. When we are baptized we make a covenant with him and take his name upon us and become a witness of Him. Some of you wear that yw torch necklace (I showed mine) and that torch represents the light of Christ and helping others Come Into Christ. That we can focus on the light and let out Light shine for others is my prayer, in the name Jesus Christ amen.

Opposite. Camp night walk.

Lighthouse puzzle

Lighthouse walk....

QUOTE...Oct 2000...NELSON When trouble comes, guidance is needed most. In our journey in Denmark, we met an unexpected detour that led us astray. In order to get back on course, we stopped the car. We studied the map with great care. Then we made the necessary course correction. 

What if you are lost and have no map? Suppose you are alone. You do not know where you are. What can you do? (You call for help! You call home! Call the Church! Pray!)... You may have to go back to the beginning in order to be certain that you can get where you want to go.

I remember the summer when we didn't know what we were doing. I was super anxious about packing... Did a lighthouse puzzle! Taped it up and put it on the wall to remind me to focus on the light and everything would be okay.

Last month we visited an island and went to a lighthouse. We climbed the stairs and enjoyed the view from the top. I had the thought to walk to the lighthouse (it was about a mile away) but I wanted to be familiar with the roads. I conserve my data so the night before I looked up my route and took a few screenshots of the map. I studied the street names and so if be prepared on my walk. And I headed out. I usually read when I walk but since I was walking in new neighborhoods I kept my eyes looking about and was alert. It was a more wooded area and I kept watch out as I headed in the right direction. Even though I had studied the map and paid attention to the street names I had gotten on the wrong road. I thought maybe I could cut through so I didn't have to back track so far but I read all the signs around and decided it was better to go further back to the original road and be safe than be sorry. I got back in the main road and continued on but realized I was getting closer to the 2nd water tower then the lighthouse. I completely stopped and looked at the maps again, not going by memory or what I had thought but what the map showed. I thought I had gotten on the original road, but I had gotten on the wrong road again and was going the opposite direction. It was hard to tell because streets near the North Beach were windy and more wooded. I backtracked about five minutes (super humid!! Super loud with cicadas!!), Said hello to everyone passing (keeping eye contact) And got on the correct street. But it wasn't right there. It was still a ways to go. Morning walk was about 2x as long because I had gotten lost twice. When I had made it to the lighthouse I sat on a bench in front and read my Nelson conference talk for the day about Scriptural Guidance. He was totally talking to me when he said:

(Quote. Moved up)

Sometimes in life we get on the wrong path. And we might not realize it at first. The longer we stay on it the harder it is to turn back, but we can always turn around because of our Savior. I noticed the today started curving the other direction and u had walked farther than I thought I should have because I was keeping a watch out and know what to expect because of the map. But I had to reexamine the map!! There are signs (street) and people around (walkers or leaders/parents/prophet) and a map (scriptures, patriarchal blessing) to help us. Our camp theme was "I can do hard things" and we had the symbol of rocks and the Cairns to mark the way. Light is also a symbol that Christ uses. He is the light, life and hope of the world. Many of you might remember our camp night walk. For those that weren't there let me explain-- our ward was divided into three groups and each group had a leader with one light. The girls had to walk with one hand over the shoulder of the person in front of them. They stopped three times to hear stories and testimonies from their leaders. Relying on others as their guide is important and having limited light remind you how much we rely on light. The Savior is our light. When we are baptized we covenant to be a witness of Him. The YW touch necklace has the emblem to remind us to"Come To Christ" and be the light for others to see... Be an example. Be a witness. I encourage you to be a light and when you get lost remember the principles of the Gospel (prayer, scriptures, holy ghost, parents, leaders) will help you focus so yo can reach your destination. Don't be afraid to just stop until to have more information. It's ironic I was looking for the lighthouse on land and got lost twice.

Berenstain Bear Set

Makes my heart happy when I see this set-up from yesterday. This was my playset as a kid. Love Berenstain Bears!!

Smoothie morning! Yes, I bought our own paper goods so kids felt like it was from a restaurant.

My oldest reading to my youngest! LOVE!

"Mom, I have a hard time taking you seriously when you're wearing sneaker!" haha!

I sat at two soccer practices and did "operations" on two stuffed monkeys.

Family Quilt for Family Meeting

The Young Women signed a pillowcase for one of the laurels heading to BYU.

Ross made dinner. This is the chicken rice veggie dish without the sauce and french fried onions.

Found this picture in my scrapbook to post for Patrick's 20th birthday!

Emma was in charge of FHE. She wanted us to do journals and she taught about the Word of Wisdom with a goal for everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Abby whittled a guinea pig in her apple chunk.