Happy Mother's Day

I have a great mom. She is creative, supportive, and has a wealth of experience & knowledge. She has taught me how to learn, how to sew, and how to cook. From her we learned to appreciate city life, fine restaurants and art. I appreciate having her involved in my children's lives on a frequent basis.

Nathan has a great mother. She taught him how to work and helped him become an excellent father for our children.  She also taught him how to sew--which is a skill that has benefited both of us. She is a master at using her resources wisely. She is passionate about our country and her family.

We both have wonderful grandmothers. They've lived exemplary lives and brought our parents to the gospel. We are deeply indebted to these wonderful women.

There have been other mothers: teachers, mission companions, friends, visiting teachers & teachees, and supporters who have nurtured our growth at many points in our journeys. We appreciate the righteous influence of women who go about doing good in the world. 

Happy Mother's day!

The following is a transcript from a speech given by Ezra Taft Benson titled " To the Mothers in Zion." It is not easy to find, but this section was quoted HERE. I try to remember to read it each mother's day.

“1. Take time to always be at the crossroads in the lives of your children, whether they be six or sixteen.

"2. Take time to be a real friend to your children.

“3. Take time to read to your children. …

“4. Take time to pray with your children.

“5. Take time to have a meaningful weekly home evening. Make this one of your great family traditions.

“6. Take time to be together at mealtimes as often as possible.

“7. Take time daily to read the scriptures together as a family.

“8. Take time to do things together as a family.

“9. Take time to teach your children.

“10. Take the time to truly love your children.”
Ezra Taft Benson
To the Mothers in Zion

Big Brain Club

Last Friday Nathan and I went to an assembly at school. Follow the links below if you want to know what it was about.

http://prestonmiddleschool.org/pumas-published-big-brain-club/

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/05/02/big-brain-club-says-smart-is-cool/8643565/

We were very surprised about what a big deal this was. We didn't realize it was going to be as big as it was. Pretty great opportunity to be published this early.

Top of the class

Bryn worked on this poster for her math class. The topic was scale factor. She blew up a pack of Extra to be 8 times the regular size. At school they added sides and a back. Of 3 classes work, her was voted into the top 5 to stay in the classroom as samples for next year.

German Chocolate Cake Cookies

What Nathan and the kids baked while I made dinner.

German Chocolate Cake Cookies

I am trying to cut down on storebought sweets by making something awesome about once a week. This is awesome & will be repeated.

General Conference Favorites

Pretty sure this will go down as one of everyone's favorites this time:

"It was the Load!"
David A. Bednar



"To my Grandchildren"
Linda S. Reeves

My favorite part is a little bit after 7 minutes:
" . . . . the things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening." 
Amen!

I also loved the Sunday morning session talk by Gary Stevenson about the members of the church who were Olympians, as well as Saturday morning Elder Rasband's talk about being with the survivors of the Oklahoma tornado.
Which were your favorites?

Run, don't walk

To the store and get any ingredients you are missing to make these:
Blueberry Lemon Rolls

They are so very good. I found my Spring General Conference Breakfast tradition.
Something about lemon zest & blueberries.
First time I've let dough sit in the fridge overnight. What was I waiting for?

General Women's Conference Trip with Bryn

Airplane selfie

  

(Long ago in Texas, Nathan and I made a few plans for the future. One of them was to take each of our kids to UT when they were 12 years old to attend a Priesthood session of General Conference or a Young Women's meeting. We wanted them to experience it firsthand and feel strength from the numbers gathered there. We also wanted them to have one on one time with us at a transitional time in their life).

Bryn recently celebrated her 12th b-day and we made our plans to attend the General YW meeting. Then, it changed to the General Women's meeting and was going to include all females, age 8 and up. We decided to stick with the plan and keep it at age 12 and have it be alone, even though Caitlin would have been able to come as well.
 

Bryn's view of the SLC temple from the car

We bought plane tickets. We booked a room at my sister's house in SLC and we were off.

We arrived early FR afternoon. Laura taught Bryn how to make a scarf out of Sashsay yarn. I napped and we spent the rest of the day at their home--enjoying a walk outside and playing in their backyard.

Saturday morning we shopping for clothes & shoes. Our first stop was Down East, a clothing line we don't have easy access to. Then, we hit a shoe store and Old Navy.

After lunch we changed clothes and went downtown. We parked at City Creek Mall and went in West Elm for me and Forever 21 for Bryn. After seeing the $575 and $675 shoes in Nordstrom, we quickly left.
We headed to Temple Square and saw many of the sights there. Our next appointment was the Clinique Makeup Counter in Macy's where we picked out some of Bryn's first makeup.

Temple selfie

Bryn's photog skills

Spring Flowers at Temple Square never disappoint

We realized we left our Conference Center tickets in the car, so stopped back to grab them. We found our way to our seats in the conference center. We were in section 8, the highest balcony section, but we were in the second row, so a pretty good view. The best part is that we sat next to some Neuffers from Oregon, who are related to our favorite Neuffers in Chicago. Small world.

Blurry . . . but it gives you an idea of where we sat

It was lovely.

Along with hundreds of other women and their daughters, we wanted Cheesecake Factory after. A 50 minute wait was not for us, so we opted for Chick Fil A instead and drove home.

After church Sunday morning we spent the day at Laura's. Baking, resting, playing games, prepping dinner.

Monday morning was a tour at BYU, followed by a visit to the the Museum of Arts' display Sacred Gifts, (which we loved), and finishing with a tour to the Creamery.

My favorite university

My sister and her husband were excellent hosts and we appreciate their support of this little goal of ours. Two down, three to go.
Love this tradition & recommend it to you and yours.