Each April and October our church holds a semi-annual General Conference. The leaders of our church, through satellite broadcast throughout the world, speak to the members about subjects that they feel are important to our happiness and spiritual well-being. In May and November, these addresses are published in the church magazine, the Ensign. We have a subscription to the magazine and I LOVE getting these two special issues, so I can read the words that I heard again and try to apply them in my life. And our November issue just arrived. Yea!
They also make the addresses available online both in written and video/audio format at www.lds.org. I haven't had a chance to read many of the addresses yet, but one that I liked especially can be read here. It is titled "The Love of God," and it talks about the love that God has for us, and how we can become better disciples of Christ by increasing our love for Him. A quick quote: "We increase our love for our Heavenly Father and demonstrate that love by aligning our thoughts and actions with God’s word. His pure love directs and encourages us to become more pure and holy. It inspires us to walk in righteousness—not out of fear or obligation but out of an earnest desire to become even more like Him because we love Him."
Thinking about a way to explain General Conference to my family members who are not LDS, I decided on this analogy: It would be like, if you're Catholic, the Pope and the Cardinals and the Archbishops (you can correct me if I'm not getting the hierarchy correct--I don't know a lot about the Catholic leadership), all getting together, choosing a number of them to address the church, and then speaking to a body of the members about matters they see members struggling with. These addresses would be recorded, and then made available so that they could be shown instead of regular church services at any Catholic church in the world.
You can imagine how great it would be to be able to hear the leaders of your church directly every six months. And that's why I was excited to get the Conference issue of the Ensign. If you're interested, I hope you check it out.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
I must have busy friends...
...because only one person has done a book review for my other blog (THANKS! Nicole!). I know. I know. I have a busy life, too. I don't blame you. I'm just sad that it isn't going to pick up any steam--because if I'm the only one posting reviews, it may have enough reviews to help someone in about 20 years. But if that's the way it has to be, so be it! I'm not a quitter.
Also on my mind is my humorous daughter. Today was kind of a laid back Saturday. We didn't go out of town, I didn't have to teach Sunday School, no one came to visit, Steve didn't have a big school project to work on, I didn't have a photo shoot...you get the idea. The unfortunate part was that it got pretty boring for Miss Emi. After Steve came home from a quick tech support job, Emi ran into the kitchen (his computer is in the kitchen because our kitchen is huge and we didn't have anywhere else to put it) and kept yelling "Die! Die!" as she pointed at his computer. Steve likes to play Laura Croft: Tomb Raider or Jedi Academy with Emilia sitting on his lap using one of his controllers to "help" him play. Whenever he dies and has to respawn, he yells, "Oh no! I died!" So Emilia was trying to tell us that she wanted to play a computer game with her daddy by yelling "Die! Die!" and pointing at the computer. It's sweet and a little disturbing all at the same time.
Something else to share: I saw these cute fairy dresses online that this lady was charging almost $90 for and I thought, "Hmm. I could make that." So I did. I think it turned out pretty good. Since Emi throws a tantrum every time I try to put it on her because she hates the tulle, I got my neighbor to let me use her daughter as a model. I think I'm going to put them on my website.
If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the dress better. I'm trying to figure out how to make the wings, too. We'll see how that goes.
Also on my mind is my humorous daughter. Today was kind of a laid back Saturday. We didn't go out of town, I didn't have to teach Sunday School, no one came to visit, Steve didn't have a big school project to work on, I didn't have a photo shoot...you get the idea. The unfortunate part was that it got pretty boring for Miss Emi. After Steve came home from a quick tech support job, Emi ran into the kitchen (his computer is in the kitchen because our kitchen is huge and we didn't have anywhere else to put it) and kept yelling "Die! Die!" as she pointed at his computer. Steve likes to play Laura Croft: Tomb Raider or Jedi Academy with Emilia sitting on his lap using one of his controllers to "help" him play. Whenever he dies and has to respawn, he yells, "Oh no! I died!" So Emilia was trying to tell us that she wanted to play a computer game with her daddy by yelling "Die! Die!" and pointing at the computer. It's sweet and a little disturbing all at the same time.
Something else to share: I saw these cute fairy dresses online that this lady was charging almost $90 for and I thought, "Hmm. I could make that." So I did. I think it turned out pretty good. Since Emi throws a tantrum every time I try to put it on her because she hates the tulle, I got my neighbor to let me use her daughter as a model. I think I'm going to put them on my website.
If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the dress better. I'm trying to figure out how to make the wings, too. We'll see how that goes.Friday, November 6, 2009
My game
It would take a way more work than I want to put into it in order to get my game that I made to show up on my blog. So...I uploaded it to my website and you can go play/see it here. Let me know what you and YOUR KIDS think of it. Also, if there are any glitches, let me know and I will try to fix them. I wanted the game to be way cooler than it is, but it turned out to be WAY!!! harder than I thought it would be. Just this simple version probably took me over 20 hours to do. Oy.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
1st---err---2nd Halloween!
I kept thinking all day on Saturday that this was Emilia's first Halloween and how exciting that was. Then I realized yesterday that it wasn't her first Halloween. She was born before October last year. Garr.
But...she was only 3 1/2 months old, so I say it didn't really count. This year she was big enough to dress up and carry a candy-gathering pumpkin basket and go to a Halloween party. It was pretty fun. :)
Our playgroup had a party that was poorly attended, but well planned. Since I was one of the two people that planned it, I threw a costume together, too. Grandma and Grandpa Watts came up and stayed for the whole day and we had a lot of fun just hanging out with them.
The businesses along Main Street in Logan every year hand out candy from 10 am to 6 pm. It's a great place to take little ones trick or treating. It was really nice that day, so it was great to get outside and walk down Main Street with our adorable daughter meandering around us. :)
Emi liked weaving in and out of the bike rack.
Me in my costume with Princess Leia. :) I was channeling my punk side with a fairy flair (I'm wearing wings, but they're hard to make out unless you're looking for them). haha
Emi at one of the businesses getting candy. She didn't know they were giving her candy, but she thought it was pretty cool that people would give her stuff to carry around in her basket.
Emi and her proud daddy. She was really ready for a nap at that point.
A good full view of her costume. Didn't it turn out great?
Our pumpkins. Steve's was a minotaur, Emi's was a pumpkin tatoo that Nana Frohlich gave us and mine is just your normal jack-o-lantern.
Emi has been big into "hats" lately, which is part of why I think she was so good about wearing her princess leia hat. Here are some others.
She has also discovered that if you wrap her blankie around her, it looks kind of like a dress. We tell her she looks very pretty and she struts around the house hauling her blankie everywhere.
If you haven't noticed, she also is big into being naked lately. Every time I change her diaper or her clothes, she wants to run around clothingless for as long as possible. The other night she was butt naked except for one of her bracelets, strutting around like she was the coolest thing ever. It was so cute! I got pictures, but I'm not going to post them here. Sorry.
I also realized today that Emi finds the noises I make while changing her poopy diaper REALLY funny. She giggles every time I say "Ew!" or "Gross!" or "Phew! That's stinky!" She tries to imitate the sounds and then I laugh because it's funny to hear her say, "Ew! row!" (Ew Gross).
Well, that's about all I have time for for now. Enjoy!
But...she was only 3 1/2 months old, so I say it didn't really count. This year she was big enough to dress up and carry a candy-gathering pumpkin basket and go to a Halloween party. It was pretty fun. :)
Our playgroup had a party that was poorly attended, but well planned. Since I was one of the two people that planned it, I threw a costume together, too. Grandma and Grandpa Watts came up and stayed for the whole day and we had a lot of fun just hanging out with them.
The businesses along Main Street in Logan every year hand out candy from 10 am to 6 pm. It's a great place to take little ones trick or treating. It was really nice that day, so it was great to get outside and walk down Main Street with our adorable daughter meandering around us. :)
Emi walking with Grandma and Grandpa Watts on Main Street
Emi liked weaving in and out of the bike rack.
Me in my costume with Princess Leia. :) I was channeling my punk side with a fairy flair (I'm wearing wings, but they're hard to make out unless you're looking for them). haha
Emi at one of the businesses getting candy. She didn't know they were giving her candy, but she thought it was pretty cool that people would give her stuff to carry around in her basket.
Emi and her proud daddy. She was really ready for a nap at that point.
A close up of her hat.
A good full view of her costume. Didn't it turn out great?
Our pumpkins. Steve's was a minotaur, Emi's was a pumpkin tatoo that Nana Frohlich gave us and mine is just your normal jack-o-lantern.
Emi has been big into "hats" lately, which is part of why I think she was so good about wearing her princess leia hat. Here are some others.
She has also discovered that if you wrap her blankie around her, it looks kind of like a dress. We tell her she looks very pretty and she struts around the house hauling her blankie everywhere.
If you haven't noticed, she also is big into being naked lately. Every time I change her diaper or her clothes, she wants to run around clothingless for as long as possible. The other night she was butt naked except for one of her bracelets, strutting around like she was the coolest thing ever. It was so cute! I got pictures, but I'm not going to post them here. Sorry.I also realized today that Emi finds the noises I make while changing her poopy diaper REALLY funny. She giggles every time I say "Ew!" or "Gross!" or "Phew! That's stinky!" She tries to imitate the sounds and then I laugh because it's funny to hear her say, "Ew! row!" (Ew Gross).
Well, that's about all I have time for for now. Enjoy!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Crazy life
Life gets so crazy sometimes. Well, sometimes meaning I have a week that isn't crazy about every 4 weeks. ;)
Not last week, but the week before, I went to a teacher development class for two days. My amazing awsome wonderful parents babysat Emi for 8 hours each day so I could go. My dad even watched her for most of one day by himself! I was impressed. And grateful to both of them, of course. I think Emi and Pampa (that's how Grandpa comes out when she says it) bonded that day.
The course was on how to use Adobe Flash CS4. It counts toward keeping my teaching certificate valid, but the real reason I wanted to take it was because I want to do a flash website for my photography. I think I learned enough to do it, too. I'm really excited. I had to do some homework, though--a project that was related to teaching. So I decided to make a game for Emilia that would teach her her letter names. She's been pointing to letters on EVERYTHING lately and making up names for them until I say their real names. I mean, she points to bulletin boards, trucks advertising whatever, my t-shirts, real-estate signs, license plates, diaper boxes, etc. You get the picture. I've done through the letter J so far, but I'll put it up here when it's finished so you can see how cool I am. :)
I also had 3 photography jobs this month, so I've been working on those pictures, and Steve's boss's wife is starting a kids' clothing business and I'm going tomorrow to show her some of my bows and my fairy costume I made to see if she'll sell them at her store.
Oh, I also made Emilia's halloween costume. She's going to be Princess Leia. It's going to be so CUTE! I'll post pictures if I can get Emi to leave the hat on long enough to take one. Haha.
Here are some more pictures of the cuteness:
Emi in her warm PJs. The top part fits her pretty well, but the legs are way too long. haha
You can see her third tooth really well in this one, even though it's not a great picture of her.
A typical Emi face. Especially when Momma is telling her something she doesn' t like. It is usually followed by "No!" "Don!" (Don't) or "Dop!" (Stop).
The other night we had olives with our dinner, and Emi didn't want to try them until I put them on my fingers. Then she wanted to try it too and would eat them off her fingers. She didn't like daddy taking a picture of it though! :)
And last, but not least, we were at my parents' house yesterday to celebrate Alison's and Steve's birthdays, and Emi saw that Daddy got a sucker (from Ariana). She really wanted it, so we let her try it. It happened to be blue raspberry flavored. She loved it, if you can't tell.
Not last week, but the week before, I went to a teacher development class for two days. My amazing awsome wonderful parents babysat Emi for 8 hours each day so I could go. My dad even watched her for most of one day by himself! I was impressed. And grateful to both of them, of course. I think Emi and Pampa (that's how Grandpa comes out when she says it) bonded that day.
The course was on how to use Adobe Flash CS4. It counts toward keeping my teaching certificate valid, but the real reason I wanted to take it was because I want to do a flash website for my photography. I think I learned enough to do it, too. I'm really excited. I had to do some homework, though--a project that was related to teaching. So I decided to make a game for Emilia that would teach her her letter names. She's been pointing to letters on EVERYTHING lately and making up names for them until I say their real names. I mean, she points to bulletin boards, trucks advertising whatever, my t-shirts, real-estate signs, license plates, diaper boxes, etc. You get the picture. I've done through the letter J so far, but I'll put it up here when it's finished so you can see how cool I am. :)
I also had 3 photography jobs this month, so I've been working on those pictures, and Steve's boss's wife is starting a kids' clothing business and I'm going tomorrow to show her some of my bows and my fairy costume I made to see if she'll sell them at her store.
Oh, I also made Emilia's halloween costume. She's going to be Princess Leia. It's going to be so CUTE! I'll post pictures if I can get Emi to leave the hat on long enough to take one. Haha.
Here are some more pictures of the cuteness:
She loves her daddy! She crawled up and cuddled into his shoulder after I changed her diaper in the morning.
Emi in her warm PJs. The top part fits her pretty well, but the legs are way too long. haha
You can see her third tooth really well in this one, even though it's not a great picture of her.
A typical Emi face. Especially when Momma is telling her something she doesn' t like. It is usually followed by "No!" "Don!" (Don't) or "Dop!" (Stop).
The other night we had olives with our dinner, and Emi didn't want to try them until I put them on my fingers. Then she wanted to try it too and would eat them off her fingers. She didn't like daddy taking a picture of it though! :)
And last, but not least, we were at my parents' house yesterday to celebrate Alison's and Steve's birthdays, and Emi saw that Daddy got a sucker (from Ariana). She really wanted it, so we let her try it. It happened to be blue raspberry flavored. She loved it, if you can't tell.
Friday, October 9, 2009
I hereby proclaim us the League of Benevolent Goodness
Steve and I were discussing my book the other day and we decided that the good guys are going to be mockingly called the League of Benevolent Goodness. Haha. (I am giggling at my own humor because I am like my father.) The name came about mostly because of the show I mention below. Keep reading!!
This morning Emilia and I played Frogg Rocket at Cartoon Network. Our high score was 305,400. Beat that Ah-ahahahah! Have I mentioned that League of Super Evil is a stinkin hilarious cartoon? You should check it out. They have episodes for free online.
Emilia and I also figured out our DJ names the other day. Steve's box of Reeses Cereal had a DJ name mixer on the back. Emi was Megatron J and I was Division Jack.
Also, I finally have a new video of my amazing daughter. Here you go:
This morning Emilia and I played Frogg Rocket at Cartoon Network. Our high score was 305,400. Beat that Ah-ahahahah! Have I mentioned that League of Super Evil is a stinkin hilarious cartoon? You should check it out. They have episodes for free online.
Emilia and I also figured out our DJ names the other day. Steve's box of Reeses Cereal had a DJ name mixer on the back. Emi was Megatron J and I was Division Jack.
Also, I finally have a new video of my amazing daughter. Here you go:
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Apparently ducks like Cheerios
As I think I've told you before, there is a canal that runs in front of our house that has a number of ducks that live in it. This spring, we got to see at least three families of ducks with the tiny little ducklings swimming in the water. It was amazing.
Well those little ducklings are all grown up now and we can't tell the difference between them and their mother. And now that they're big, they're not nearly as afraid of us as they once were. They saw us (Emi and me) as they were swimming by the other day, and they got out of the canal and walked over to us expecting us to feed them something tasty. I didn't have any bread heels at the time, so I grabbed a box of Cheerios to feed them. They loved them! And Emi liked eating them, too.
Let me just say, that I found it a little forward of the ducks to come to us demanding food! Sheesh.
Steve's parents were nice enough to give us tickets to the BYU/CSU football game last Saturday, PLUS they offered to babysit, so we hightailed our butts down there and watched some football. It was definitely warmer down there than up here. We roasted during the first half of the game. I get heat exhaustion easily, and I was feeling pretty ill by half-time. Some time spend under the bleachers (haha! there were about 40,000 other people under the bleachers with us too, so you just do what you want with that one.) in the shade and on the cold pavement helped, and after that the sun was going down. My gallant husband (and tall!) also let me stand in his shadow, so the rest of the game was much better. We won ( :p to Aunt Amy), so the game was way better than last week's, thank goodness!
Sometime during the rest of the weekend, Wilda mentioned to me that she had a whole bunch of extra tulle from one of Nicoletta's old prom dresses that she wanted to make into a tutu. Coincidentally, I had been doing some research on how to make those, so I decided to make it for her while Emi was napping on Sunday. It was really cute!
Other than that, not much new going on. Steve is working the same job and teaching one section of sophomore writing as well as taking one class. I have a few photography jobs lined up. I had one today and one last Saturday for the same person (bridals and wedding), and I have a family shoot and an individual next week and the first week of November. Things are pretty swell at the moment. :0)
Love you all!
Brina
Well those little ducklings are all grown up now and we can't tell the difference between them and their mother. And now that they're big, they're not nearly as afraid of us as they once were. They saw us (Emi and me) as they were swimming by the other day, and they got out of the canal and walked over to us expecting us to feed them something tasty. I didn't have any bread heels at the time, so I grabbed a box of Cheerios to feed them. They loved them! And Emi liked eating them, too.
Let me just say, that I found it a little forward of the ducks to come to us demanding food! Sheesh.
Steve's parents were nice enough to give us tickets to the BYU/CSU football game last Saturday, PLUS they offered to babysit, so we hightailed our butts down there and watched some football. It was definitely warmer down there than up here. We roasted during the first half of the game. I get heat exhaustion easily, and I was feeling pretty ill by half-time. Some time spend under the bleachers (haha! there were about 40,000 other people under the bleachers with us too, so you just do what you want with that one.) in the shade and on the cold pavement helped, and after that the sun was going down. My gallant husband (and tall!) also let me stand in his shadow, so the rest of the game was much better. We won ( :p to Aunt Amy), so the game was way better than last week's, thank goodness!Sometime during the rest of the weekend, Wilda mentioned to me that she had a whole bunch of extra tulle from one of Nicoletta's old prom dresses that she wanted to make into a tutu. Coincidentally, I had been doing some research on how to make those, so I decided to make it for her while Emi was napping on Sunday. It was really cute!
Other than that, not much new going on. Steve is working the same job and teaching one section of sophomore writing as well as taking one class. I have a few photography jobs lined up. I had one today and one last Saturday for the same person (bridals and wedding), and I have a family shoot and an individual next week and the first week of November. Things are pretty swell at the moment. :0)Love you all!
Brina
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