Saturday, April 23, 2011

T-Ball

I am so excited that Jensyn and Jack are both playing T-Ball this spring.  They love it!  They have a darling team, and it makes if ever more fun since the moms and dads of the team are all my dear friends!  It is going to be a fun month!



One thing that I love, and I think is so true...cute Rochelle Collins (my friend on so many different levels), was watching John and Jack.  She said to me that she thinks John is one of the best guys. As an example, she mentioned that John had been out working earlier in the day (on a Saturday morning), stopped to watch the kids play their game, and  went  back to work right after.  She loved how he stopped what he was doing to be with his kids.  I know that is something John wouldn't want any other way.  I love John, and I love it when other people know him the way I do.






Lagoon

I was a total nerd this year and decided to use Grandma and Grandpa Shipp's Christmas money on Lagoon season passports.  They opened April 2nd, weekends only.  I braved taking the 4 kids myself last Saturday and we had so much fun!  Jensyn was finally brave and took a ride on Wicked, Colossus, and Wild Mouse.  She liked the latter the best that go-around.  It actually wasn't too bad taking all of them by myself!  The lines were short, and Logan was a tremendous help by taking Jensyn on all the rides.  Jack loves Dinosaur Drop, LadyBug Bop, Bombora,  and The Tidal Wave (or anything else he is tall enough to go on).  I'm pretty sure that Logan's favorite ride is Wicked.  

This week, a big job that John had scheduled was re-scheduled for another week.  We went down to Costco, and at about 2:00, we were eating at the food court there.  Out of the blue I asked John if we could all go to Lagoon.  (I had also purchased a season parking pass, so it would be free!)  He looked at his watch and mumbled a little bit because that would only leave us 4 hours, tops.  We headed home to drop of the groceries, picked up Logan from Sophie's, and away we went to Lagoon.  John, Logan, and Jensyn started off the day on Colossus.  The lines were all very quick and we were ready to leave by 6:00!  As always, Madden is a trooper, Jack just wishes that he was tall enough to ride the 'big' rides.  Logan even had more courage than she always has...she went on 'Re-entry' with John.  I don't know that she really knew what she was getting herself into!  She said that she couldn't believe that the ride just kept going up...and up...and up!  She was glad to come back down, but by the looks on her face, I think she really liked it!

I am so happy that the kids enjoy Lagoon, and that they are brave to try these big rides.  I think we will have a great summer!









Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Drive Home

We spent the last session of General Conference on the road, driving home from the cabin.  The snow was falling (yes, in April) and it was dreary.  I was so excited once 2 o'clock came and we could turn on the last session.  Not only did it help pass the time, but it also made the drive MUCH more pleasant!    at almost
2 o'clock, John put his hand over on my leg to hold my hand.  I love it when we hold hands...we do it lots in the car.  It is such an easy way to show love, and it makes me feel good!  Richard G. Scott gave a wonderful talk on   Marriage and Family.  Isn't this what the gospel is essentially made of?  Richard G. Scott told of his wonderful wife who has since passed on.  He talked about how she would often slip love notes in places he frequented (his scriptures) and how eventually, he would do the same.  Come to find out, she had saved each and every love note he had written to her.  I don't think finding the right person to marry for 'time and all eternity' is an easy thing to do.  I don't think I could have ever chosen someone so wonderful and perfect as John.  Elder Scott went on to tell a story about how he had been away on business for a few weeks...and a few hours later was scheduled to go to a meeting.   When he came home from that trip, his wife was washing the clothes by hand, as their washing machine had broken.  He was an engineer and naturally went to fix the machine.  She asked  him what he was doing, and he said 'fixing the washer so you don't have to wash the clothes by hand.'  She immediately told him to quit doing that and to go play with the children.  He did, and he was glad that he did.  He noted that he would have probably forgotten that experience, had the next experience not have happened.  At about 4a.m. the following morning, he recounts :  "I was awakened as I felt two little arms around my neck, a kiss on the cheek and these words whispered in my ear that I will never forget: 'Dad, I love you; you are my best friend." Richard G. Scott's other son who was  terminally sick with heart failure, died a few months later.  I just loved that talk, and I cried (surprise, surprise.)

He asked in his talk:

Are you having that kind of experience with your children?  If you are not, you are missing one of the supernal joys in life.

"Two of the vital pillars that sustain Father in Heaven's Plan of Happiness are the family and the home," Elder Scott said. "Their lofty significance is underscored by Satan's relentless efforts to splinter family relations and to undermine the significance of the temple ordinances which bind the family together for eternity. He does this by constant encouragement to promote promiscuity and to defile the sacred intimate expression of love between a husband and wife that results in the birth of children."


His talk was definitely food for thought!



General Conference

I always look forward to General Conference on so many different levels.  First, I love that my little family is together, usually at the cabin.  Second, I think that it is definitely sent from heaven.  The talks are so well presented , clearly with lots of prayer and revelation.  This year since Logan is being baptized, I wanted her to listen to conference.  All of it.  And she did!  It helps with the props, but she did.  I downloaded lots of General Conference packets, mixed and matched them for the kids, and then made a sort of my own.  The kids were way excited.  



This was seriously her 'perch' for much of Conference.




Jack didn't bring his tonsils with him this weekend, and relaxing up there seemed to aid in the recovery process.


It just doesn't look like he feels too well!

...but here it does!

Madden brought with him a stuffy nose which Logan was more than willing to remove.  Thanks, Logan.  He also brought his funny faces and poses for the camera.  He slept best by himself upstairs in his crib!  I was happy about that.

How funny is it that John is taking a snooze in the background?





Jensyn enjoyed the weekend, too.  She got her hair curled, posed, and loved the snow.



It seems like we always take a picture of this pose...on the snowmobile outside the cabin.



As for me, I loved conference.  There is so much to learn, to understand, and to apply to my life.  I choked up and cried a bit, too.  I don't think that I have a favorite, but several that affected me.  That is a good thing! Off of the top of my head, I loved Richard Maynes talk and the poem that he repeated.  Our stakes is one of 16 stakes in the church that is starting a program about 'Rescuing the Lost.'  It talks about the ninety and nine and how we should leave them to find the one sheep who is lost.  When he told his poem, I thought how fitting it was for our stake.


Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong;
They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong, it won’t take long
Til the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when sheep are lost, what a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay!

C. C. Miller

As I was 'googling' the poem, I found a lot of people (and their blogs) who felt the exact same that I did!  It was definitely a conference favorite.  What a powerful thought!  As a mom, I learned the POWERFUL influence we have on our children.  They DO follow us and they DO what we do.  If we stray, chances are, they will too.  If we believe, they will too.  They follow us.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are disciples of Christ!  We can life the heads of those who have their heads hung down.  We can teach them happiness.  Richard Maynes went on to say that parents must teach their children and that we must believe in the eternal nature of the family.  He mentions that Satan is leading an attack on the family, right now.  How true that is.  He urged us to culture a spirit in our homes so that the Spirit can dwell in our homes. I was glad to have watched conference for this talk!
There are so many more powerful messages delivered this weekend, and I can't wait to read them again in the Ensign.