Healthy Routines

There are habits I have noticed, that help me feel closer to the Spirit in my life.

Not eating too much sugar is one.

So is not overeating anything.

Exercise helps me a lot, too.

And keeping my house clean.

Of course, reading the Book of Mormon and saying my prayers is the best way to feel the Spirit.


I came up with a plan for the next four weeks.

I'm calling it "Feel Closer to the Spirit - Healthy Routines"

Everyday I have 5 boxes to check off.

• 64 oz. water
• Track all food I eat
• 8000 steps
• Clean something
• Read scriptures/pray

(I'll skip the 8000 steps and cleaning on Sunday.)


I did something similar to this last summer.

Except I had a "no treats" box instead of  "cleaning".

(This time I'm already off treats because of a competition with my daughter.)


I'm hoping that by the time the holidays come around I will have more peace in my life, 
that my house will be clean and my soul will be calm.


Here is a link to a google doc that I created if anyone else is interested.

Gospel Learning in the Home

I'm going to try and update from time to time, what we do in our home to teach the gospel.

We are definitely not experts.

But, I always love to get ideas from others so, in a way, this is a way for me to pay it forward.


Last night for our family home evening, we played Conference Jeopardy: Parents vs. Kids.

I have 5 kids still at home participating in FHE, so I had them each write 2 questions.

The only rule was that they had to know the answer to the question before they could ask.

My husband and I wrote 5 questions each.

Each question was worth 10 points. And we had a couple of questions, that had "bonus" points at the end.

Unless stated, you were allowed to use whatever notes you took during conference.


Here are the questions the kids came up with:

What was the focus point of Elder Ronald A. Rasband's talk? (bonus - what was the opening question his daughter asked him?)

How many times did President Nelson speak? (bonus - what was his total speaking time? - this child had looked this up on lds.org and didn't think we'd get it, but his Dad did!!)

What was the closing hymn?

Elder Gerritt W. Gong showed a painting in his talk. What was this painting called?

Name 3 new temples announced (city and country) not in North America?

Elder Soares compared the tributaries of the Amazon river to what?

What revelation/section of the Doctrine & Covenants is it the 100th anniversary of? (bonus - what is that section about?)

We are not what of Mormon?

How does Elder Eyring describe a test?

President Eyring was once counseled to treat everyone he meets in what way?



Parent questions:

How many apostles spoke in the Saturday morning session? (bonus - name them without looking at your notes)

Which apostle talked about Mary Poppins? (bonus - why?)

Who asked Elder Gong to watercolor with him? 

Who received the revelation that it is the 100th anniversary of? (bonus - who talked about it?)

What are the 4 things President Nelson asked the women to do?

President Nelson invited us to become what kind of Latter-day Saints?

How many sisters spoke in all the sessions combined?

Name at least 3 people who talked about taking upon us the name of Jesus Christ.

Which apostle showed a graphic of a rope? (bonus - what did the rope symbolize)

Who's son had a stroke while serving a mission?


I was impressed with the questions the kids came up with and how many answers they knew.

We ended up tying, believe it or not with 120 points each.

I love my family!!

Running My Race

I ran a 10k in Boise on Saturday.

It was a beautiful race. 

The weather was great. 

We started at the capitol building, ran through a tree-lined neighborhood with old houses, a greenbelt along the river, through a couple of tunnels, up to an overlook part of the city and finished at a park.

I had a good race, too. 

One of my fastest pace times (which I know is still slow, but I'm over that.)

Anytime I would start worrying about my time, I would remind myself that I just want to "run my race". 

For me that meant doing a run/walk. 

And it included noticing the other runners around me and giving high-fives and encouragement to others. 

I was just able to run with JOY!!!

The thing that brings me the most joy in my life is working with and helping others.

And noticing all the beautiful things in the world!

I need to remind myself about this when I start to get bogged down in the details of my life. 

It's not about my speed or my performance. 

It's about gratitude and loving others and just being me.

Running my race.

Menu problems (2014)

***(Read previous blog post about posting old drafts)***

I've started a little bit of a new life.

Since July, I have been working (mostly part-time).

It's been a huge change to our family.

Thankfully, I know that is was the right thing to do.

But, one of the things that has really gotten me down is my menu planning.

I felt like I had become a master at it.

But, for some reason, since I started working, I just could not get it together when it came to planning/making dinner for my family.

And yes, I know that I have a lot of kids that I could have cook.

And yes, my husband is an amazing cook and picked up a lot of the slack.

But, it was like a weight on my shoulders.

Every night - "what are we having for dinner?"

And every other week, when it was my usual time to plan my two-week menu/shopping list, I just could not come up with anything.

I asked on facebook for recipe ideas.

I thought that maybe a new recipe blog would spark some interest or desire in my to cook again.

It didn't.

That is when I realized that I just don't have time to be creative in the kitchen.  What I needed was function.

I went to my spreadsheet and wrote down all of the meals I could think of that we eat on a somewhat regular basis or that at least were in the rotation sometime in the past year. Also, we are trying to eat less processed foods.

As I put them on my spreadsheet, I would also make a column for what category that dinner would fall into (ex, Chicken, Non-meat, Mexican, Hamburger, Pork, etc.).  Most of them had more than one category.

I came up with 63 different meals.

Then I totaled all of the categories and came up with themes.

Sunday - Big Meat
Monday - Non-meat/Soup
Tuesday - Chicken
Wednesday - Mexican
Thursday - Crockpot
Friday - Favorite
Saturday - Curry/Fish/Grill

Then I arranged my dinners into a logical order (like not putting fish dishes in a row),  I had to use a few dishes more than once to get it to even out. And a few of the dinners did not end up in their proper category (whatever).

12 weeks worth of dinners that I don't have to think about ever again.  It gets me to the end of the year!  And then I can just start over.

It seems silly to say that this was almost a spiritual experience for me.  But it is amazing the weight that feels lifted from me.  These are dinners that I know and love.  Dinners that my kids know and well, know.

And since this post is already too long.  I'll do another post about what I did next.

Writer's Block

I am feeling writer's block.


I want to write because it is good for my soul.

It helps me think things through.

And right now, I have a lot of things I'm trying to process.

It would be great to write it out.

It's just not happening.


I have 10 previous posts that are still "drafts".

I'm going to start with those.

Even though some of them are not relevant anymore.

I'm just going to try and break this block and start writing more.

Scraping Up the Browned Bits

See the title up there?

I read that in the recipe I made last night.

It's a common instruction when making meat with a bit of sauce.

Last night it was for a Thai Green Curry Meatball recipe.

I've done it when doing roast or stew or pork chops, also.

It's so delicious.

You take all that flavor and get to mix it in with the rest of the ingredients.

Sometimes, I have worried that the final food will end up tasting burned.

But, for the most part, it just adds this depth of flavor that you don't get by just "cooking".


There have been times in my life (and those I love) when it feels like I'm getting "burned".

I get stuck on questions I can't answer.

Life gets "hot" and uncomfortable.


What I need to understand is that God is going to "scrape up the browned bits" into something beautiful.

These bits will eventually add a depth to my life that can't come any other way.

God's purpose is to give me all the "flavor" He can.

It will be good.

Strengthening our Faith in Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and His Atonement by honoring the Sabbath Day

Here's the talk I gave in stake conference on Saturday night.

I wrote it all out before hand, but when it came time to actually speak, I didn't share this exactly.

I am much more comfortable in a teaching position than speaking, because then I can ask questions and be strengthened by others' testimonies.

I felt that I really needed to get my own personal testimony on this subject to be able to speak on it.

And I wasn't sure I had much of a testimony of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

I mean, I follow all the "rules" and I try and do what God wants me to do; but I try and do that every day, so I'm not sure how that makes Sunday different.

I was praying a lot for help to come up with what I should speak about.

I had a couple of scriptures that I found that were helpful and I thought I should share.

And then on Friday, when I was still struggling to focus my thoughts on this topic, I went to the temple.

There was a man in a wheelchair who couldn't speak clearly.

The woman next to me and I shared experiences of other times that people with disabilities had strengthened our faith.

And that was when I knew how honoring the Sabbath day had blessed me.

So, after that long introduction...here's the talk:

I am thankful for this opportunity to speak tonight. I would like to share my own personal testimony of how honoring the Sabbath day has strengthened my faith in Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

I first want to talk about what strengthening my faith in Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ and His Atonement means to me.

It took me a while to figure out what that means or how to do that. I feel that I have always believed. I just didn’t know how to make that belief or faith stronger. I couldn’t figure out how I could “believe” any more than what I did. How do I strengthen that?

In Matthew 6:27 it says, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature”. This was what I was trying to do with my faith. If I just “believe harder” or take more thought it would be “added to”. Reading in the same chapter, but vs. 33 it says, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added…” I realized that my faith is strengthened by obedience.

I may not have known how to believe more, but I could be more obedient. In fact, I even began to substitute the word obedience for the word faith in certain scriptures to help me understand faith better.

Alma 32:21 And now as I said concerning [obedience] —[obedience] is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have [obedience] ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. 
Ether 12:6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that [obedience] is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your [obedience].

I am obedient because I have hope in the blessings even if I don’t see them right away.

But obedience is not just following rules.

One of the commandments the Lord asks us to be obedient to is found in Ex. 20:8 , “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

But, if I am just going to church because it’s a rule I’m following, or if I am focusing on the activities I choose to do or not do on the Sabbath, then I am missing an important piece of obedience; of faith.

In Eph. 2:8-9 it says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

And in D&C 46:8 it says that we should “seek earnestly the best gifts”.

This tells me that being obedient (strengthening my faith) requires asking of God for this gift. We seek the gift of faith and strengthen it, by learning God’s will.

In Mosiah 2:22 it reads, “And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.”

So, how do we be obedient and honor the Sabbath day?

In Prov. 15:33 it says, “the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.”

It’s not just following a rule that strengthens me. It is being humble and learning from the Lord.

Elder Bednar in this last conference said, “The Sabbath is God’s time, a sacred time specifically set apart for worshipping Him and for receiving and remembering His great and precious promises.”

My faith in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and His Atonement has been strengthened as I have honored the Sabbath day, by attending my church meetings; specifically sacrament meeting and all that I have learned and experienced by doing so.

I can say as Nephi said, “Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.” 2 Ne. 4:16

Allow me for a minute to share some of the “great and precious promises” I remember and have received as I have attended my meetings.

Bro. McCurdy was the man who always passed out the programs as we came into sacrament meeting, when I was a young. I remember when he passed the sacrament for the first time in 1978 after receiving the priesthood. I was barely old enough to understand the importance of blacks receiving the priesthood. But I have never forgotten the outpouring of the Spirit that I felt that day.

I remember the time when a young man with severe speech difficulties blessed the sacrament in one of my wards. And the knowledge that came to me of how Christ’s Atonement works in my life to make up for my weaknesses.

I remember being in the hospital one Sunday and having a couple come knock on my door and ask if I’d like to have the sacrament. And seeing this older gentleman kneel on my hospital floor and bless the sacrament just for me. Heavenly Father is aware of me and Jesus Christ would have died even if it was just for me.

I am humbled as I remember the many times I have sung in a ward choir and felt angels joining in.

I delight in the chatter of the women before Relief Society starts because of the love and friendship that is happening.

My heart is full when I seeing many who come to church even when they don’t feel they fit in or haven’t been for a while. Knowing they are there seeking God’s will blesses me.

I am blessed by the answers that I have received directly or indirectly from the speakers, teachers or music on Sunday.

And I am blessed by the revelation that has come to me unexpectedly while sitting on a bench listening to prelude music. 

“…my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord” (including the Lord’s day).

All these experiences and many more, have strengthened my faith in my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and in His Atonement. I have been “blessed and prospered” from keeping God’s commandment to honor the Sabbath day, by attending my church meetings and by taking the sacrament.

I testify that God lives and knows us individually. And He loves us. I know that the Lord sends the blessings you need as you keep His commandments. The Sabbath day is the Lords’ day and it is a time set aside for us to ponder on the love He has shown and continues to show us. And I believe He wants to bless us and strengthen us even more as we make the choice to honor His day.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Son

We have had a very mild winter this year.

But the temperature does not always tell the full story.


I walked into church this morning without my coat buttoned up.

Then, I realized I should feel colder because it was only 13 degrees.

I felt warmer than I had the day before when it was 36.


The difference was the sun.


The sun makes all the difference in whether I feel cold or warm.


When I am going through a hard or dark time in my life, the only way to get through it is with the Son.

He makes the cold days seem better even if they aren't.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalms 27:1

Just Write

Some time back before Christmas I decided to give up social media.

I recently had given up sugar. 

Not because it's "bad", but because I had noticed some effects it had on me that I didn't like. 

So, it was also a bit of an experiment to see if it changed some of these physical things.

It did.

I feel 100% better not eating sugar. 

And I don't even crave it so much because I know what it does to me.

When I started, I wrote down some things that I wanted to replace the sugar with. 

Eat an apple, a handful of nuts, drink some water.


I don't think that social media is bad, but I did feel that I was spending too much time on it.

I had also been thinking about all the books I used to read and wondering why I didn't read anymore.

Was it just because I had gotten busy?

But, really I stopped reading when I got a smart phone and when Facebook came out.

--Sidetrack --

I love Facebook!!

I love being "in touch" with old college roommates and old friends and knowing what is going on in people's lives.

How did I ever live without it?

I guess I had to be more diligent about keeping in touch.

I wasn't.

And I actually had to write letters or make phone calls.

I didn't.

Who has time for that? 

Well, I guess people who aren't spending time looking at their phone at the hundreds of people they're keeping in touch with.

Anyway, my main point was that I wanted to free up some time. 

Or at least experiment and see if it freed up some of my time.

So, I wrote down some things that I would like to replace that time with.

READ
CLEAN
VISIT
WRITE

I've gotten good at replacing social media with reading. 

(In some ways, it's not that different!)

I've already finished 3 books!

My house is cleaner.

And I've been able to make visits to neighbors and friends that I haven't in the past.


But, what about writing?

Why do I want to write?

When I write, I just put all kinds of jumbled thoughts down.

And as I do that, things become clearer.

I'm not saying that I'm a good writer.

But, I'm not bad at editing.

I spend less time writing all the jumbled thoughts than thinking about what I've written and getting it just right.

So, that's what I'm going to do.

Just write.