Listen...listen

 This is what we(Chad) taught in our marriage and parenting class tonight.  

Listening, listening, listening.  

Listen to understand. 

Listen so that your spouse and children feel loved.  

Listen actively so they know we are paying attention.

This is what we are supposed to practice this week.  

Why will I be listening?  

Because Samuel wants to know if the liquid inside a glow stick is poisonous or not.

Because Lexi thinks Bo is really, really cute.

Because Eden and Hailey may or may not be friends today.  

Because if I listen today, maybe they will know how to listen when I have something important to say tomorrow.

Because when they have something extra important to say, they will know they have someone here to just

listen.

What do you call a girl with a frog on her head?

 From birthday breakfast,

to bedtime birthday cake, 

I've been thinking all day 

about how much I love my Lily.  

You bring fun and laughter to our home.  

You are cheerfully helpful, and kind and thoughtful.

I so enjoyed the day we spent in St. G shopping for your birthday.

I learned things about you that day:  

that you love to smell good, 

that orange chicken trumps arcade games, 

and as you chit-chatted with your new toy "Weemo" all the way home, 

I learned that you are still my little girl, 

even though you are turning 11.  

And I'm glad about that.

Love you the most,

my Lily-girl,

Mom

More Bang for Your Buck. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

 I took Samuel to soccer practice tonight.  

There was an amazing lightening storm going on to the south.  

I tried throughout his whole practice to catch pictures of it.

These are the best ones.

 Samuel said that in this picture it is dancing.

 Cool huh!  This was my very last picture of the night.  

I decided it was a good one to end on. 

No, it's not striking that light poor pole over and over.  

It was so far away, we couldn't even hear it.

 While Samuel and I were at practice, 

our home was deer-processing central.

Paul and Chad and Grandpa Gary cleaned.

(Grandpa left before I got out the camera.)

 Lexi ground.

Lily and Samuel weighed and packaged.  

We will turn it all into jerky tomorrow.

My kids, amazingly, had a ball doing this.  

I guess, what kid wouldn't?

  You get to play with stuff that's slimy and gross, 

and at the end of the day (well, two days, to be precise) 

you get to eat something TASTY. 

At least, we hope it will be tasty.  

Wish us luck!

Help

Chad has gone hunting, and my appliances know it!  Yesterday, the latch on my front-loading clothes washer wouldn't work.  This morning I awoke to my fridge spewing water from the ice dispenser.  The garage door will not close, and there is a little light on my dashboard that says nothing more, and nothing less than, "needs maintenance". 

Hurry home, oh hero of my heart and rescue me!

This is what we've been doing this week:

Playin' Soccer

 Stylin' our hair,

Huntin' deer,

 

Playin' games,

And, singin' to the flowers.

Conference Quotes

My Top 10 Conference Quotes from Today:

(Not perfectly quoted, as they are just from my notes)

10

A teacher's attitude isn't taught, it's caught -- David M McConkie

9

Life is a stewardship of time.-- D. Todd Christofferson

8

Integrity is not naivete.  

What is naive is to suppose that we are not accountable to God. 

-- D. Todd Christofferson

7

You may be thinking, that's all good and well, but what does that have to do with flying an airplane?

-- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

6

Quoting DaVinci:  "Simplicity is the most elegant sophistication."  

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

5

We would do well to slow down a little, look up and see the things that matter most.

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

4

To strengthen our relationship with Christ, 

we need to spend more time alone with Him.

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

(Can you tell, I really liked his talk)

and yet one more...

3

In family relationships, "love" is spelled T-I-M-E.

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

2

Sometimes God allows you to struggle for a long time for an answer.  

This allows your faith and character to grow.

--Richard G. Scott

And Number 1

In the announcement of places where new temples will be built soon...

drum roll please...

Indianapolis, Indiana!!!

More conference tomorrow!  I love it!  I feel so uplifted, loved, and inspired to be better.  

If you don't already make it a habit to watch every April and October, try watching here, tomorrow, at 10AM and 2 PM, mountain daylight time.  You'll be so glad you did!