Family Photos

Our good friend Jake took these photos for us! They turned out great!

Quotes by Mr. Rogers

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood."

"When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit. It's the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives."

More of Face to Face with Greatness

One of the most important and life changing things that I learned from this seminar was when we talked about how we define our children. So many times we as a society define our kids by their skills. You know this just by listening to how people talk. When we praise people in general, not just kids, we often times do so by things that are skills, like you are a great singer, dancer, reader, pianist, housekeeper, cook, etc. When someone asks what our talents are we tend to say the same kinds of things. We as a society think that our skills define who we are, and what kind of a person we are, because of those skills.

In the mid 1700's (and other times in our history) it was very different. Skills were not nearly as important as a persons values. When people would ask what George Washington was good at people would respond with "he is honest" "he is a leader" "he has preservation and determination". Apparently he was also a good dancer, but that is not what everybody acknowledged first about him. It was always about values. People would do things for other people that they had never met simply because they had heard of the values that they hold.

When I was a young women a had a low self esteem. Why did I? Because I thought I had no talents. I thought that because I don't have a fabulous voice, and I dance like Elaine from "Seinfield", and I cannot draw or write particularly well (which are all things that I tried to do and enjoy doing and just couldn't do well enough) that I must not have any talents. I wasn't as smart as others, I wasn't as fashionable as other girls (I still am not) or as athletic as some. It wasn't until I got my patriarchal blessing that I realized that my talents are different. My mom always told me that I was good at other things that were more spiritual and emotional in nature. She tried really hard to let me know that I did have talents. I kind of believed her, but the world all around me was telling me different.

Even young kids know that we talk about what we value, what is most important to us. If we as parents believe that our kids have good values, but we don't tell them that we think they are honest, brave, strong hearted, loyal, patient, responsible, polite etc., and instead focus on skills they will not know it or believe it. We need to make it a point to tell them and tell them often. It is not even enough to just tell them thoughs things, we need to teach them what thoughs values look like also. They need to understand what being tolerant means and then when we see them being tolerant we need to point that out to them, praise them for their efforts. Then they will know and cherish it.

It is also not enough to just do this in our own families. Like I said earlier, my mom tried her best on me, but the world around me was telling me different. Our extended families and communities need our help. I have been trying to base my compliments to others, especially my nieces and nephews, based on their values rather then how cute they are. That is a hard on for me, because I also think my nieces look so cute in their dresses. (I am a succor for a cute girl in a dress, because I don't have one of my own yet.) However, I want my nieces and nephews to know that I love them not just because they play the guitar or piano well, or because they are so cute, but because they are respectful, kind, sharing, or obedient. I want their self esteem to be based off things that are of character and eternal importance, not their looks. I want them to know that I appreciate the beautiful music they play because of the hard work they put into learning how to play it. Then they will know that they are hard workers and can accomplish anything they set their minds to, not just playing an instrument or being good at sports.

As we talked about this in the seminar I felt completely overwhelmed with the knowledge that I can change this for my boys. So overwhelmed that it brought me to tears. I do not have to define them by their skill set. I realized that especially for Jonah this has been terribly debilitating. I will no longer tell people that Jonah is doing better at reading when they ask how school is going. I will tell them that is was really helpful today, or that he was selfless in one of our service projects. I will tell them that Simon spoke nicely to his brothers that day, or that he was thoughtful of others in his prayers. I will tell people that Luke gave everybody lots of love and kisses to make us feel better when we were sad. I will talk about the values that I truely do cherish in them. What a wonderful gift I can give to them!

There is so much more I want to write, but this will have to do for today. Stay tuned for more from Face to Face.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Jonah changed his costume three times. At first he was Frodo. Then he wanted to wear his Frodo cape and a red mask and rubber hands that were scary that I bought to play a game with. Then he decided that he wanted to be a Jedi, so he wore his Frodo cape and borrowed a flashlight from my dad so that he would have a Lightsaber. He cracked me up. Jonah was the only one that went trick or treating because Luke didn't want to go and Simon had fallen asleep. Jonah was very kind and shared his candy with both of his brothers.

We're Famous!

Just kidding! It was all very flukie!

Check it out.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8639418

Boston Tea Party

I heard this story from Glenn Rawson yesterday and it really touched me. I thought I would share.

It was a cold rainy December night in Boston, Massachusetts when a crowd of some 7000 people responded to the ringing bells in Old South Church. They came spilling out into the streets, and listened to Samuel Adams and others speak about British tea and taxes. At that very moment, three ships laden with East India tea lay anchored in Boston Harbor. In just a few hours that tea would be forced on the citizens of Boston, taxes and all.

With adamant finality, Samuel Adams said, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country. "

Just then, fifty of Boston's more prominent men came out of the back room of the church disguised as Mohawk Indians. With the crowd following the ‘Indians,’ they made their way to Griffin’s Wharf, where they split into three companies and boarded the tea ships. While the British crews watched, the men of Boston dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor, effectively turning Boston Harbor into a saltwater teapot – about 90,000 pounds worth. That tea amounted to about 26 million cups and a small fortune .

Well, as they left, British Admiral Montagu called out, "Well, boys, you have [you’ve] had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind [you], you have [you’ve] got to pay the fiddler yet! "

Oh, and pay they did! The British instantly retaliated closing Boston Harbor, and cutting off all trade. Among other things, they disfranchised the city government and took steps to strangle the city of Boston completely out of existence.

That tea party was followed by Lexington and Concord, which led to the American Revolution – which led to American freedom.

Now, I learned that story as a child, and I pondered it. What was it that was at the heart of that tea party? Did the colonists not like British tea? – No, they loved tea! Well then, was the issue taxes; was it money? - No, because even with the tax on the British tea, it was still cheaper to buy that tea than the Dutch tea they were smuggling in. So why then did the people of Boston tweak the nose of the most powerful bear on earth – the British military?

Listen – remember this? "Taxation without representation is tyranny." That’s what they chanted. The meaning of that is: If they could have no voice in government, and no vote, they wanted no part!

Boston went to war for a voice in government, the right to vote. Now my friends, the right to vote is a fundamental expression of man's God-given agency.

Sadly, in the last presidential election, less than 50% of Americans voted. Or in other words, they surrendered the governing of their lives to someone else – which is exactly what Lucifer wanted in the first place.

Glenn Rawson – October 26, 2004

Halloween Fun!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Playing in the leaves

So yesterday we went to Jonah's counciling appointment and Simon didn't want to stay in the office while we were waiting so we decided to go outside and play in the leaves. There is a huge tree just outside the office door and beautiful golden leaves were everywhere. We have no trees in Eagle Mountain that are that big, let alone in our yard, so this was such a treat for us. We started to make a big pile of them and then Simon wanted to jump into them. Luke joined in as well. They just laughed and laughed! Then we had to pile them up again. As we were piling them up I started to throw them up into the air and it was so fun! I cannot remember the last time I felt like a child as much as I did at that moment. This week has been stressful to say the least and it was such a relaxing moment that made the stress just slip away.
Simon wanted to be buried in the leaves and so we did that time after time until Jonah came out. Then we played more in the leaves with Jonah. Jonah loved it as much as me and the other boys. It is such a joy to see my kids with true joy in their lives. It is such a simple thing to play in the leaves. It doesn't cost money, it doesn't take effort or much time. And somehow it will be a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It was the joy in my kids faces that created the memory.

Disneyland give away!

I just entered to win a trip to Disneyland! Check out the links to see how you can enter as well!

www.sweetlifeinthevalley.com and www.outandaboutwiththefamily.com

Face to Face

Last weekend I attended a seminar called Face to Face with Greatness. It was FABULOUS! I learned so much. I will probably be slowly adding different things that I learned from it on here. Today I just wanted to add one of my favorite things that was said.

"Children don't follow parents because parents don't provide much to follow". Dr. Shannon Brooks