Harvest Festival

A couple of years ago the grade school stopped doing their Halloween carnival at the school. Instead the PTA teamed up with the city and they began having a Harvest festival in the city park on the Saturday before Halloween. I think the teachers at the school must be thrilled to no longer have that extra job on their shoulders. Each game and food booth is run by PTA volunteers. Since we're such great fans of Halloween around here (not) we have not ever attended it. But this year, the weather was wonderful and we thought it would be fun to take the little boys and Kami and see what it was all about. We had signed up to take some cookies for the cookie/cake walk so we plated and wrapped those up and off we went. The boys did not want to participate in the costume part so only Kami wore her costume. And I think she was probably melting, it was that warm. We bought tickets and let the kids choose how they wanted to use their tickets...

Charles chose to get his face painted…he wanted to be a cat.

Kami, the little cat, liked the sucker she got from one of the games.
She wasn't too interested in games after that, just liked the candy.

James trying to knock the pins down. See where his ball went? Not quite in the right direction.

But they let him pick a little prize anyway.

the boys loved the 'Plinko" game…
here's James watching his chip plink down

And Charles watching to see what prize he won

Kami did better at the bowling than James…she had a better spot to stand in ;)

They had this spot as a photo opp. Here are two of the cutest boys I know. And this picture perfectly shows their personalities. Charlie is a bit reserved and James is sassy. :)

Sadie's trip for Upward Bound

Sadie had the opportunity this week to go with the Upward Bound group from our district on a trip to visit some college options in Southern Utah. They visited SUU in Cedar City, DSU in St. George and Stevens-Henegar as well. 

While in St. George they were able to attend a show at Tuacahn. They saw Thriller. She took some photos at the show which are below...

The setting at Tuacahn is awesome. The stage is just out there in the desert with the red cliffs behind it. It is so fun to be able to watch a show there. Going in Oct meant they weren't melting to death so it was probably a really nice time for them.

one of the cast members in costume

Dancing, glowing skeletons

These dancers were masked (hard to see in photo)

This guy came out into the audience and she said he was 'freaky'

Sadie and some of her friends looking 'thrilling'...

Sadie is the blonde in the ghost position.

Upward Bound is a program for students with very good academic standing whose parents are not college graduates. The purpose of the program is to introduce these students to the idea of college, explore their options, and help them achieve that goal...They have summer programs and trips and actually give these students $ monthly for keeping up their GPA. 

Sadie is a great student, very self-motivated, and I have no doubt she could be anything she wants to be. It will be interesting to see what direction she goes in after high school. She had to be nominated to be accepted into this program and its just one more piece of evidence of the type of student and girl she is that she was accepted. Keep it up, Sadie!

Ponderize Oct 18-24 Alma 13:12

12. Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were may, exceedingly great may, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.

After a High Councilman spoke in church today, I decided I needed to further ponder the topic he spoke about and find a scripture to correlate. Bro. Keyes shared the story of Christ telling Nicodemus that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." John 3:3
He shared that many people in the world experience this change to become a disciple or follower of Christ and can "see" his kingdom, desire to be there and strive for it.
Christ then says, "Except a man be born of water & of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." John 3:5
The properly authorized priesthood covenant and ordinance of baptism & reception of the Holy Ghost is the key to the entrance of the Kingdom of Heaven. We must be baptized and given the 'gift' of the Holy Ghost to be able to 'enter' into the Kingdom of Heaven, not just 'see' it.
This was a very thought provoking idea for me. I had not seen these scriptures in this way before. So I began to study about what being born of the Spirit consisted of and why it's so important.

Here is a quote from Elder Bednar that I loved…

"We are commanded and instructed to so live that our fallen nature is changed through the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost. President Marion G. Romney taught that baptism of fire by the Holy Ghost "converts [us] from carnality to spirituality. It cleanses, heals, and purifies the soul….Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance and water baptism are all preliminary and prerequisite to it, but [the baptism of fire] is the consummation. To receive [this baptism of fire] is to have one's garments washed in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ."           Romney 1977-quoted by David A Bednar Oct 2007

This talk by Elder Bednar is a fabulous talk to study. It's on my to-do list!

Another quote I found in the Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual:

"To be 'born again' is to be quickened by the Spirit and receive a change of heart.."

• it begins at baptism and is complete when we receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost
• it is a continual process 

It seems that we usually think of sanctification in tandem with justification. That is a term I have not fully understood. So I also did some reading up on it.
Some quotes/ideas from the Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual:

"Justification is being forgiven by the Lord and set upon the path of righteousness."

• being born again justifies us - puts us on path to sanctification
• comes through faith in Christ and individual righteousness
• all pertinent ordinances must be entered into in righteousness & be justified and sealed by Holy Spirit of Promise.  

To help me understand justification a bit better I like to think of it like this: It's like being 'in line' with God's laws (which constitute justice) and His will. Like words on a page are left, center or right justified and are lined up a certain way, Justification puts us 'in line' and on the path to sanctification.

Sanctification is defined as : 'a state of saintliness and purity'-Doctrines of the Gospel Student manual

• we are commanded to become sanctified (D&C 43;9,11,16; 88:68; 133:4; 39;18
• is to become holy and without sin
• to obtain eternal life in the presence of God, one must be sanctified
• attainable because of the Atonement, ONLY IF we OBEY His commandments
• Comes by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Alma 13:12, 3 Nephi 27:20, 1 Peter 1:2)

Another quote I liked:

"Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, by which he who is justified is enabled to keep the commandments of God and grow in holiness."      Hyrum M. Smith, Janne M. Sjodahl, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary 1975-quoted by Elder Loren C. Dunn in June 1995 Ensign

So from all this I gathered that we must be 'born again' and become justified or set on the correct path. As we obey and live righteously we become sanctified through the companionship and guidance of the Holy Ghost(born of the Spirit, by fire), and we, through a continual process, become pure and clean and holy.
To be truly converted I have to experience that change in my heart…a mighty change that creates in me an abhorrence of sin, no more disposition to do evil.
Where am I today?…
What is my disposition to do evil?…
Do I abhor sin?….
Baptism by fire(Spirit) is more than just a cleansing by the Holy Spirit. It is a change, the making of a new person, an impetus to ACT, to convert or change… from carnal to spiritual.

I'm sure this is just scratching the surface, but isn't it fabulous that we can continue to learn and gain new insight, wisdom and understanding?

Ponderize (Oct 11-17) 2 Nephi 1:15

15: But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

Following General Conference and hearing the challenge from Elder Devin Durrant of the 70 to 'ponderize' a scripture a week, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. I found a Facebook group where we can share our scripture each week as well as tips to help with pondering and memorizing.

I also decided to write a post each Sunday about the previous week's scripture and what I learned through my study and pondering. It will be a good record for myself as well as my descendants. 

I decided to start with my favorite scripture. It has long been a favorite. I had a print of this painting because I loved it...

And when I came across this scripture it just tugged at me, and made me think of the painting. I so look forward to finding myself in this place some day in the future. I long to feel His arms around me and to hear, "Well done, though good and faithful servant." 

Over the last few months or year, I have gained a greater understanding of the incredible perfectness of the Plan of Salvation. I used to wonder why God put us here and allowed us to make so many mistakes. I have to admit that at times I wondered why Satan's plan was not the chosen plan. To have us all 'saved', with no baggage, sounded pretty good to me. But I can now see the perfect arrangement of all the elements of the Plan of Salvation. For God to accomplish his work (Moses 1:39) it has to be EXACTLY the way that it is. No other way would work. No other plan could come close. Because of this clarity I have been able to gain, I now view the Atonement with greater appreciation and awe. Jesus truly has redeemed me from hell, one of my own making. He has made it possible for me to have this time of testing and refining and learning from the mistakes I make, to every day be a little more like Him, and to be able to stand before the judgement bar and be found spotless, IF... I will honor the covenants I made to take His name upon me, keep his commandments and always remember Him. He will cover me with his mercy and his grace and be my advocate with the Father. What a gift! 

When we understand how and why 

this plan was conceived and enacted we can truly see how much the Father loves his children and has provided every resource to give them every possible chance to return to Him. If they do not, it's because they will have chosen not to. He will not force us, but every opportunity and His endless mercy invite us to choose to. It's a choice we make repeatedly. Over and over. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. Every choice. Come unto me. 

The Trip that Never Ends (and what I learned from it)

What started out at as a quick up-n-back trip to Idaho to get Cambria's car turned into the "trip that never ends, Yes, it goes on and on my friends...."

Curtis, Cambria and I loaded up the trailer and headed off to Idaho on Friday. We went by way of Logan because Cambria had a tour set up at the Paul Mitchell School in Logan and she wanted to see Mary, her Bullfrog roomie and bestie. She thought she might be interested in the Aesthetician program at Paul Mitchell but after being there she decided it wasn't for her. We went to Mary's apartment and then we all went to a yogurt place to get a treat and visit for a bit. That put us getting to Rexburg kind of late, but we finally got there. 

On Saturday, we loaded up the Subaru and said goodbye to Jordan, Lindsey and Emerson and headed back down the road. Curtis noticed a light about the brakes as we were getting to the freeway in Rexburg. He pulled over and checked everything he could think of to check and it all looked ok, so we pulled onto the freeway and headed south. We only made it halfway to Idaho Falls before he could tell there were real issues with our brakes so we slowly made our way into IF to have it looked at. (Walmart does not do brakes. Just an FYI ;) ) We called Jordan for a shop recommendation because he has a job driving parts for an auto parts store. We ended up at the Big-O Tire in Idaho Falls. We unhitched the trailer, locked up the Subaru, and went to get a bite to eat while they looked at it. When we got back they explained what it was and that they could not fix it until Monday because they didn't have the parts and there was no way to get them on Saturday. So we called Jordan and he came to IF to get us. 

**Here's where the lesson learned part is. I had only packed a clean shirt and socks and overnight bag. I didn't even have a change of underwear. We were just going to be in the car! I didn't need to shower just to ride another 8 hrs in the car! UGH!!  So we went shopping. Thankfully, there is a Deseret Book in Rexburg with a distribution in it and I was able to get some more underwear. And then Nina and I went shopping for something to wear to church. We found some things at DownEast and Shoes at Payless. Curtis found what he needed also. Whew! 

So we spent an unexpected weekend with Jordan and Lindsey. It was fun to get to know Emerson. We went to a laundromat to wash our few clothes, we watched a lot of TV. We couldn't really go anywhere because we couldn't all fit in Jordan's car. We even had to do two trips to the church to get us all there...

On Monday, we found out that the parts could not be found locally. The problem was one that they had never encountered before and the parts were not ones they generally have on hand. They had to be ordered and overnighted and that put us leaving on Tuesday. More lounging around at Jordan's apartment. 

On Tuesday, we found that only one of the needed parts was delivered. The other one just disappeared. It was put on the truck in SLC, but it wasn't there to be delivered in IF. ugh! It had to be ordered and overnighted again. This time we had already had Jordan drop us off in IF because we were sure it would be ready, so we just got a hotel and stayed in IF for the night. Fish and unexpected company starts to stink after 3 days. It was nice to sleep in a bed, and not on a blow-up mattress. 

On Wednesday, the car was finally ready to go and we were able to get on the road again. What a difference good brakes make. We are so thankful that we were able to learn about the problem at a place where we could still get it looked at and not be down the road hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere, having caused a wreck when they went out. Especially pulling a car on a trailer. We could have really had a bad situation and I truly feel like Heavenly Father was looking out for us. Even though it was a crazy trip and cost a lot of $ unexpectedly, it was fun to have this 'adventure' with Curtis and Cambria. 

Thanks to Jordan and Lindsey for housing and feeding us.

Thanks to Ford and Shiala for taking care of the other kids for us. I felt so bad every day when I had to text Shiala and say "won't be home today."

Cambria found a railcar behind BigO with her initials on it

Emerson is such a cute boy! He eventually got used to us. That was another great perk of this trip.
More time getting to know him.

He was kind of fascinated by Grandpa's beard...

He was starting to get the walking thing down...

But crawling was still his faster method of travel.

Have to share a tip...stop at the Flying J truckstop near McCammon Idaho when you head up I15 to Pocatello. It's a big truck stop, but the best part of it is the Cinnabon shop right in the middle of it! I got a yummy thing that was all cinnamon roll middles with extra frosting. Oh. My.

We decided that it's a must stop on the Idaho trip. It's like stopping at Farson for ice cream when you go to Cowley and Cody, Wyoming. MMMmmmmmm.

bowl of yummy sweetness

not sure what this plant was but the yellow blossoms were pretty

We are finally good to go! 

Thanks Big O. The guys there were great to work with and gave us very good service, including dropping us off and picking us up at our hotel.
If you're ever in Idaho Falls and need car work done, this is the place to go!
It's on the old Yellowstone Highway.