Twilight Fans

Jessica, along with many others, is a HUGE fan of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers. These are 2 of Jessica's most recent drawings:

Feliz Dia de Los Muertos

Last Saturday we attended Muertitos Fest 2008 sponsored by Jessica's art school. We were able to purchase one of her works, a graphic done in Adobe that was made into a greeting card. It's impressive. I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it.


There were also fun things to do for the family. The boys tried their hands at making prints, decorating sugar skeletons (a traditional celebration activity), making roses, and getting their faces painted.

Jessica took a friend and she was a delight to have with us. She is one of our neighbors and is just a sweetheart. It was tough to get a picture of these girls. Jessica is currently in that stage where she doesn't like her picture being taken. (But beware, Jessica, I am stalking you and will get a photo!)

Another beautiful smile

If you haven't been following the Ryan story, you may not understand just how wonderful it is to see this beautiful big smile from Ryan. For those of you who have been following the story, you know the extraordinary joy this smile represents.

The Promised Pictures

Ryan was quite irritated by the hat. But, he made a cute pumpkin!

Deborah really wasn't sure about dressing up in a costume, but once she got a piece of candy it was all worth while!

Isn't Johnathon the smartest (and cutest) Turtle ever?

David was the Joker. I wish I had recorded his mimicking of the Joker's rants. Creepy.

Jacob was a cute Mime ... not a quite one, but a dang cute one! Loved the black hair!

Jessica was Harlequinn. (If you're like me and not into comics, Harlequinn is a side kick in Batman.) I think Jessica just enjoys the creativity of dressing up.

All this for 6 1/2 pounds of candy! Hey, I want the Laffy Taffys!

Let them govern themselves? Really?

Today started off a bit frustrating. Both of our Tuesday co-ops were cancelled due to sickness. With the unscheduled time, I thought we'd do some fun, easy school things. But 15 minutes out of my room was enough to frustrate the plans. I quickly felt very overwhelmed and questioned my "career" choice.

Long story short, I decided to "run away" for the day. (Thanks, Dwight and Jessica, for making my day off possible.) At first, I felt a lot of guilt about taking the day off. But, 20 minutes of uninterrupted time talking to a good lady helped me to put things back into perspective.

While attending Time Out for Women, one of the speakers spoke of Joseph Smith's statement of "We teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." I knew/know it is a correct principle, but every time I hear that statement I think "but it just doesn't seem to work out so well for me." Pause ... let me acknowledge that I know I have good kids and I know that they really do a lot of good things. I recognize that in comparisons to a lot of homes I have very peaceful, extremely well-behaved kids. I don't mean to discount that in any way. Yet, we do have the spirit of contention and disobedience at times. And, lately, it seems that it is much more prevalent than it ought to be.

So... back to my thoughts ... "We teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." How do I apply this correct principle?

As I talked about this with my friend, I realized that I always hear the "let them govern themselves" and sort of just gloss over the first, perhaps the most important part: "We teach them correct principles." Notice that Joseph didn't say: "We teach them correct principles for the first 8 years or their lives." He didn't say: "We teach them correct principles on Sundays and during Family Home Evening." Nor did he say: "We teach them correct principles on Sundays, during FHE, mutual, scripture study, and any other time it is self-serving or convenient." He said, "We teach them correct principles."

Some parenting experts recommend that we should give our kids at least 10 positive comments for each negative comment in order to ensure success. Perhaps we really out to TEACH 10 righteous principles for each unrighteous thing they encounter. (If we were to teach at that ratio, we'd be so exhausted that we'd have no choice but let them govern themselves! :))

PS Thanks Tami for reminding me of correct principles!

My Friend

This is my friend, Tami. Isn't she pretty? She's also an amazing lady! I have been so blessed to know her and her family. She has been such a blessing inn my life. She's spiritual, and funny, and intelligent, and thoughtful. She sent me a note tonight that said:"I’m grateful for a friend like you. You have been such a blessing in my life. It’s just evidence that when the Lord has something hard for you to go through, He provides a way and friends to help you through it."

This isn't the first time she has sent me a thoughtful note. She's just amazing! Oh, and the best thing about her ...

She's a knitter!