Valiant Faith

 I love this song:



At Girls Camp our Stake Camp Leader and her daughter sang this song. I fell in love with it and have listened to it over and over again! The more I listen to it the more I feel like it applies to me and my everyday life. I love the first line "Too many people are just sliding be and missing the meaning of life" HOW TRUE is this. I have told myself OVER AND OVER again that I need to relax a little. Life is too short to worry about the little things in life. Since I had kids I have tried to keep my house in a tidy order ALL of the time. Do you know how hard this is?? If you have kids I think it is possible... for a couple of minutes. I don't have time to clean all day or run around being the referee of the house. My kids will grown up too soon and I will soon wish they were little again!! If all I do is worry about me, I feel like I am missing the meaning of life!!! I want my family and my Savior to be the center of my life.

Another thing I have thought about is my own personal righteousness. I have asked myself many times if I feel like I am doing ALL I can do to please my Heavenly Father. I wonder if I have sufficient faith to make it through the rest of my life. I sometimes find excuses to not be the BEST me I can be. I have heard it said that if "we do not have time to read our scriptures and say our prayers everyday we are way more busy than God ever intended us to be." I am NOT busy and I still find that there are days when I haven't taken the time to converse with my Heavenly Father. Why give us that opportunity to grow closer to him and give our burdens to him???  I still forget or not take the time to search the scriptures. I know they can teach us so much.

I want to "follow him fearlessly all of my days" this is the end goal, this is the reason we are here and the REAL meaning in life. I don't want to be someone who lives the gospel "halfway"!! I want to be an example to my kids and know I did EVERYTHING I could do to teach them the ways of Christ!

 

Summer Fun Day #3

Because of the fire at the INL Ben had Wednesday off from work. We decided to spend that day as a family. We counted it as one of our Summer Fun Days. We went to the "Wolf to Woof" Display at the Idaho Museum. It was a lot of fun!! I really like the Discovery Kids Area, my kids had fun climbing through tubes, dressing up and just plain being kids.

The discovery kids area, the people there were so helpful and wanted us to have fun!

Ben thinks he is an elk..???

My little pioneer girl, isn't she so adorable!! I love the bonnet!

This is a pretend avalanche tunnel. The dog above is there to show what it would be like to be stuck in a tunnel and have an avalanche dog find you....my kids thought is was really cool!

The Temple--a MUST see, the pictures displayed there are amazing!

It is fun to see how my kids re-act to The Christus Statue. I believe that the more familiar they are with what we believe and what Christ did for us, the closer they will become to him. I can't wait for the day when I can be in the temple with all of my kids, what an amazing event that will be!

It was a great day!!! I am glad Ben was able to spend the day with us, we love spending time with Daddy and Grandma Sheri!!!

I am proud to be an American!!

I AM proud to be an American and to enjoy the freedoms I enjoy. I can think of so many things I am grateful for and the freedoms I enjoy because I live in America. Today I want to give a big shout out to my Brother-in-law Max. He left on Wednesday to serve in Afghanistan for the next 6 months. So while we are here enjoying our freedoms there are so many over there fighting to keep our freedoms. Max is in the Air force and recently graduated top in his class with a language degree. We are so proud of him and admire and love him. So not only THANK YOU to him, but to all of those men and women who are on Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq or wherever they may be. I know some of them haven't seen their families in months, maybe years, I know some of them are hurt badly, I know there are some who are missing or are prisoners of war and I know I could never bear to see the things the see and mostly I know MANY, MANY have died in their fight. We owe so much to them!!

Happy Independence Day!!

Summer Fun Day #2-Train Ride

For Summer Fun Day #2 we went on a Train Ride. We had to wait out in the cold wind for 30 minutes, but it was well worth the wait. We boarded the train around 9:30 am. We even got to sit by some friends of ours. It was a lot of fun...it really made me want to go on an Amtrak Vacation someday.

As Caleb would say "All aboard, let's Go!!"...

We were able to sit on the 2nd floor (or the double decker part) of the train and as we were going I saw SO many things that I had NEVER seen before. I have been down the old highway hundreds of times and I can't believe what I have been missing. I kinda had a bird's eye view of things being way up high, it was pretty cool! Now I know why people have always wished they had wings....

Caleb said "Hi" to every cow, fence, canal, train, big truck, he saw. He also loved the bird's eye view...all those cows he'd been missing out on!

Emily and her little friend Violet. They had fun sitting by each other.

 We were so sad when the ride was over. It was a bit bumpy and swayed in a few spots, but it was so much fun!!!

Ben's Mom and Grandma even made a cute train cake for a treat after our ride. It turned out really cute and the kids LOVED it! Emily decorated the front of the train...

***And for a fun little train fact: when a train blows the horn while going through town, long ago the people of the town knew it meant "The queen has arrived"...funny huh!

I also wanted to include this fun recipe. It is Key Lime Pie and I made it with the limes I got in my bountiful basket last week, it was DELISH! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 3 cups sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup key lime juice
• 1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

 

My hero, my helpmeet, my confidant, my BEST FRIEND!!!

Ben's Birthday was yesterday and I didn't get a chance to post about it. I am so lucky to have him for an eternity!!! He is one of the best people you will ever know and always makes me feel like I am the most important thing in his life! He is a great DAD!! My kids absolutely ADORE Daddy (as do I)!!! I love you Sweetie! 

Happy 27th!!!

Bountiful Baskets.....Love them!!!

Recently I heard of this company who sell baskets of fresh fruits and veggies. Go here to read more about them. It is a volunteer, non-profit company. So this morning at 8:30 I went and volunteered and then received my basket. It was really amazing to see how many people showed up to help, what a great way to bring a community together. I wanted to take a picture of my basket of items. I received a conventional fruits and veggies basket and a Mexican basket and only paid $24.00. The produce was all really fresh, authentic and just wonderful! I am so excited to get cooking. I am determined to use every bit of it....I'll post recipes as I go along.

 Here is my basket:

Looks Yummy Huh!!! I can't wait, tonight I am making Key Lime pie with those plump key limes!!!

"Summer Fun Days" #1-Spud Museum

When Ben was little his family always did summer fun days. They picked a day each week and did something special. They all had so much fun and make so many precious memories. So along with Ben's Mom and Grandma we put together a list of some fun things to do this summer. 

Our first days we decided to go to the Spud Museum (believe it or not I have never been, or at least don't remember it, if I have). It was really interesting. I love that it used to be the old Oregon Short Line Railroad Depot. They even had some of the old railroad benches throughout the museum. Ben's Great Grandpa Earl Tanner (he was the original owner of E.M. Tanner and Sons Welding Co., who makes potato machinery) is in the Potato Hall of Fame, so his name was displayed on a plaque and one of his first machines is also in the museum. Fun for my kids to see...

Love the painted potatoes how appropriate! :)

One of the First machines Ben's Grandpa made for Milestone.

Ben's Grandpa's name on the plaque

Future Potato Farmer

I thought this was funny...

Afterward we went back and had lunch. Our lunch included: POTATO chips, Tater tots, Mini Idaho Spuds (not really made out of potatoes...I don't think), fudge/truffles made to look like a baked potato (featured on the Food Network--Woot woot!) We had a lot of fun!!!!

Coming Next Week......Train Ride, this will be a first for me and my kids.

I have been attacked by a skunk.....

Okay okay well maybe not, but PRACTICALLY....

For the past 2 nights as the evening closes and I cozy on down into my 500 thread count sheets (maybe that is not a high thread count for some, like Oprah, but for me it is luxury!) and I lay my head on my soft, COMFORTABLE pillow and enjoy the FRESH air coming through the window RIGHT by my head, close my eyes....sigh and drift off to a peaceful slumber (Can you feel the peace?) ONLY to be woke up minutes later by the smell of SKUNK coming through MY window!!! Ugh!! 

I then fly into a rage of madness by the foul smell, get out of bed complain and wake up Ben (I have to have him smell it too-of course) close the window and start the journey back into bed. The 2nd time is never as pleasant as the first, so instead of climbing nicely into bed, I begrudgingly throw myself onto the bed and slam my head down on my pillow and pout....

So Dear Mr. Skunk,

You have shared your lovely aroma with us for the last 2 nights, now it is time to pack your bags and leave. We (okay maybe just I) would sure appreciate it!! Or else you might catch me running around in the middle of the night looking something like this...

So watch out !!! 

 P.S If anyone else has this problem and are interested in a scare away the skunks costume, please let me know, you can borrow mine, it may not smell that great but it works!   

Memorial Day 2010

We were busy, busy on memorial day! We woke up at 6:00am and headed for Idaho Falls. We went to the Veteran Memorial and then to Rose Hill Cemetery to see the 21 Gun salute and see as they raised the flags and place the Memorial wreath. It was a really touching experience.

 This was such a cute picture of Emily. She was so good all day and really enjoyed spending time with us.....I think...hahaha

 

After the memorial we went to Tauphus Park. It was bright and early in the morning, all the animals were wide awake and wanting food. The weather cooperated and I snapped some fun photos. I wanted to share them, so warning this may be boring to some....

I really didn't care for the look this Lion was giving me...I am sure his thought bubble was something like......"Food, must eat....she looks nice and plump!!"

The famous "Lion's Mouth" fountain....

This Tiger kept growling and growling. The more we told him to the more he growled, my kids loved it. In the picture below as we were turning the corner we saw the statue and told Emily the Tiget had gotten out, I wished I would have captured the look on her face. We are mean I know!

Look at the size of those paws!

 

The camels are hideous!! BUT I had to have a picture.....

Not that we compare to the camels....Well hopefully not........I think the parents had as much fun as the kids.

While looking at the Tiger Ben's Aunt Shiela came around the corner, it was a nice surprise.

WE LOVED THE OTTERS!!! They are so funny, Caleb laughed every time they came by the window. It was cute!

After the zoo we went and put flowers on headstones. It is fun to hear stories about my relatives and get to know a little about them. Sometimes thinking about someone who was born in the 1800's isn't realistic, but seeing their place of burial makes me realize they were someone special and they were very real. I have an Grandma named Ann Zoolie Taylor and she died middle aged of hard work. How sad is that??

After that we went to Lucy's Pizzeria with my family--it was pretty good. After that we went to Sam's Club and bought our kids a trampoline. WE LOVE IT, it has become a permanent babysitter. We all have so much fun on it. We play on it every night for about and hour.

Sweet face of sheer joy!