Who am I....really?

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am a daughter of God. I KNOW my Savior, Jesus Christ lives! I know he knows me personally, by name, and he LOVES me! I know he suffered excruciating pain and died for ME...not just me but every single person who has ever lived or will ever live on this earth! His love is endless, limitless, unconditional and eternal.
Does this mean that because I have a testimony, my challenges in life will end? I believe it is almost the opposite. Because I know my Savior lives and he loves me, Satan wants to try and confuse me and convince me that I am worthless. He wants me to believe there is no HOPE in this life and so when I feel down, I should just stay down. I am choosing right now....TODAY to try my very hardest not to listen or be confused by his lies anymore!!!
Forgiveness is available to ALL those who seek it. Repentance is possible. The Atonement can bring us peace even in the most painful situations we experience but we have to ASK! Christ is waiting for us to accept His love in our life. I realize I cannot succed without His help. I am imperfect every single day. Accepting ALL He has to offer me is the only way to truly come unto Him.
I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have and I hope to learn from hard experiences so that I can become stronger.

A Shout Out

I just wanted to make you all aware of an amazing, uplifting blog to follow. My good friend (from a million years ago) Shanna has a blog that makes me smile, everyday! She is so very honest about her feelings but still has a way of bringing the love of our Savior into every aspect of her life. She is truly an inspiration to me for so very many reasons! I love you Shanna!

www.myotherglassslipper.blogspot.com

A New Day

The sun came up today. Even though it's freezing outside, the Lord knows how much I need The Son! It is so easy in this world of reality to become bitter over things we can't control. To wonder, how do these things happen and where do I go from here. I have had many of these experiences in my life and sadly the older I get I am less accepting of them. Why do our bodies not work the way they should......over and over...why do our hearts get broken, why must we see our children cry, why must we grow and become stronger? All these questions have no answer for me but for some reason I get up each day, breathe in and out, resolve to do better and be better, try to find a purpose and keep going. Father in Heaven, thank you for the sun today to lift my spirits and for Thy Son to attain everlasting life.

What is going on?

Could someone please tell me.....Can this world become any more corrupt? Can there be any more justifications? Will our families, our leaders, out teachers, our politicians and our government ever take responsibility for their actions? Where do we go from here and how do we protect our families? Is it ever possible to escape this world entirely? Just asking

Prayer of Thanks

Thank you Lord for thy tender mercies and keeping me ever in thy care. Thank you for friends who have no idea the impact they have on my life. Thank you for the 3 beautiful, amazing, perfect children you have entrusted in my care, they mean more to me than the air I breathe. Thank you for parents whose love is unconditional and show me through all they've done and continue to do for me. May I be worthy of your love and tenderness always, Amen.

Give me Strength

Wow, this is so unusual for me. Not only is this a post without a picture but its a reflective post.

With the New Year always comes new challenges it seems. This year of course is no different. Why does the Lord ask so much of us? Why does he seem to push us to our limit over and over again. Am I not learning my lesson? Am I not growing as He would have me do? Or is it just so I will remember how much I am loved by Him and trusted with difficult things? Whatever the reason, I don't accept it very well.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Another day to strengthen myself. Another day to feel the Spirit in my life. Another day to renew to be better, to try harder to be Christlike. I just LOVE Sundays!

Christmas Day

Yay, new pajamas

Kids got everything they wanted and the best part of the whole holidays was having Grandpa and Grandma Grover here.

That is one very happy Grandpa!!!

First Real Snow

Who would've thought we'd get this much snow in one storm and before Thanksgiving. Luckily for the kids the storm made a week-long Thanksgiving break and they made the most of every snowflake!

Conner's Sandbox

So, this is Conner's Sandbox. I was so excited when we moved into our house to have a completely finished yard with no dirt for the kids to get messy in. You see, I HATE DIRT! I hate messes of anykind but especially the ones that require washing and hosing of kids.

Conner and his buddies Hailey and Valerie discovered HEAVEN! Behind our church is a volleyball pit filled with sand. For days he would come home from school telling me he was going to the church yard to play. He finally wised up and took his sand bucket one time and brought some sand HOME!

Oh boy, yes he is a total boy and loves his dirt! I really missed the mark with this boy. He loves to color, play playdough, play legos and video games but dirt is his true love!

OOOPS!!!! Watch out for the noggin!

Just a warning, shoes and a trampoline plus two rambuncious boys are not a good combination. I swear Kaden doesn't need to play football to have a constant injury to his head. Somehow it just always gets in the way!

I don't know if you can tell from the picture but he had some pretty bad swelling on one side of his head, I was pretty worried about a concussion but I'll never know if he had one or not......I just kept him awake, gave him some Motrin and kept asking him questions till he totally crashed about 3 hours later. I sure do love this kid....injuries and all!!

What a beautiful Fall!

I just love these 3! They make everyday worth it!

I have to be the luckiest girl in the world to have this amazing man to spend eternity with! Now if we could just relax and enjoy life a little more.....you know, let the work slide a little.

I'm Back!!!

I feel like I can never write a post without a picture so I never say anything, well that's gonna change. It's been since JUNE since I last posted and a lot has happened since then. I'm not going to try and catch up but just hit the high points.

Kenzie is a Sophomore at Burley High School, in the marching band and jazz band and she LOVES them both so much!!! She has grown into such an amazing, beautiful young lady! I'm so proud of her. Kaden is in 7th grade at Burley Jr. High. He is doing great in school as usual except one particular class....drama! What? He's very dramatic! :) I think it has a lot to do with the new teacher they had to hire last minute for this school year. He loves to read, read, and read some more! I am running out of books for him to read. I think he's read every fantasy fiction series ever made. He is such a great kid and Loves to hang with his friends every chance he gets. Conner is in the 1st grade this year! He loves recess and school lunch! Who likes school lunch? He starting to read and although he doesn't love it yet.....his big brother is a great example. Wow, all my kids are in school, I never thought I'd see this day. It does get pretty quiet around the house during the day but I am able to get a lot done AND grab a nap almost every day.

Jeff is busy as usual but he did make time for some fun this summer. We got a boat and we took it out every opportunity we got.

Life is good! We are all healthy and looking forward to a Wonderful Holiday Season this year......snow and all!

My easily entertained child!

I think since, and because of my illness, Conner has learned to really entertain himself. Of course he loves to have friends around but if not, he's okay with that too. He will draw for hours, on ANY piece of paper he finds especially his homework. What a doodler! Loves Legos! Loves video games! Loves playdough! Only problem, he doesn't love cleaning up! He just makes me smile!

Are you kidding me?

This kid can fall asleep ANYWHERE, and has! You name it, while sitting reading, on the stairs, in the bathtub, while brushing his teeth and this one....within about 10 minutes after leaving our house....just on our way to dinner!

Kaden's Special Day!

What a special day for our family and Kaden especially! He's been anxiously waiting for this day for a long time. On May 2, 12 days after his 12th birthday at approximately 12:00 pm, he received the priesthood! It was so neat to have his dad ordain him and have both of his grandpas there. Definitely a day we will all remember! Congrats Kaden!

Temple Square

Makenzie and Kaden are very familiar with Temple Square because we went there so often when we lived in Utah. Conner on the other hand hasn't been there much. Since we were already in Utah we decided to go spend Sunday on Temple Square and show him around. During Conference he asked us if it was "real" if the people were real and the place that they were. What better way to show him how "real" it is than a tour of the Conference Center. Wow, that building is so beautiful and so amazing!

This is one of my favorite ways to signify our Eternal Family! Wrapped in the arms of our Saviors love! How blessed we are to have these amazing opportunities so close to us and so available to our children!

Our first Lagoon trip of the season!

What better activity can there be to do after Tax Season ends? Why head to Lagoon of course! This will be the 3rd year that we have had season passes and the best part about this year is that cousins got them too!!! My kids just love to be with their Boehlen cousins and they are super excited to be able to go to Lagoon with them all summer (because the cousins live in Farmington)!

The weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was an absolutely gorgeous day to spend outside! That was some great luck!

Remember the Days!

While Kenzie was gone to dance competition in Boise, her best buddies Camille and Sierra, decorated her room! She was very shocked and very happy when she came home to her surprise.
It makes me reflect WAY back when I was in high school. I remember doing fun things like this whether to celebrate something fun with friends or asking out "that special boy" for a dance. Why does life have to become such a responsibility? The spontenaity and fun of that time of life is so short lived! I hope my kids enjoy every single minute of it!

Elder Carey, we'll miss you!

Elder Christopher Carey (my nephew)

Stephanie Carey (my neice) and her boyfriend Bobby

My nephew Christopher has been called to serve in the China, Hong Kong mission. We had my whole family (my parents and four girls) together up in Seattle for his farewell. What a great weekend, the Carey's sure know how to put on a party!!!! Chris will be an amazing missionary and already had his first baptism when he was a senior in High School. The people in China will be amazed by his height too, like 6 ft. 6!!! Good luck Elder Carey, we'll miss you!

Kitchen Mini-Remodel

When we bought our house I knew the kitchen was one of the first changes I wanted to make! The large, inefective light box, the small island and dark, dated countertops had to go. I absolutely LOVE the finished result! Recessed lighting and pendants over the bar! Unercabinet lighting! New granite sink and beautiful faucet! Fabulous new giant island and new countertops! We still need to finish the tile backsplash and change out appliances to stainless steel as they quit working (that may be a while) but I am loving cooking in my new space!