Workin in the yard!

Gardening!

I was so in love with the weather today! It was 75 degrees and gorgeous!! By 9:30 this morning I was outside working and hardly came inside until 4:30!!. Yesterday, someone from my ward in church who is very Vegas garden savy, came over to take a look at my yard & garden and he had so many pointers for me! My yard is ALL rock! Just small rock covering the entire thing! BLAH! So today, I was raking and shoveling rocks to make room for more creations, pulling weeds and placing stone in between my garden beds. I am feeling it already and I will be so sore tomorrow! But in my opinion, Id rather be sore from being outside in the yard then inside working out...thats just me!

Yesterday I did some work and all three of my boys were out working with me! It was so nice to just be outside spending time with them teaching them about gardening. I'm one of those crazies that truly believes at one point, we'll be needing to live off of our home garden so I wanna learn now. You never know what will happen with the economy and I wanna make sure I know what I'm doing when and if the time comes.

I needed to do some transplanting. One: because I am still learning what is good next to what. And two: to make room from my spring garden. I learned that for some reason, some herbs dont like growing around mint, but mint helps other veggies such as tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage and a few more so I decided to move my mint to a different box. My sister in law Amy told me a while back that mint is super invasive and will grow crazy roots....but I had NO idea they would be like this so soon! After only 5 months the root system was 2 feet long!!! This mint is so delicious smelling too! If anyone in my area needs any mint....please stop on by :-)



Las Vegas Garden

Yesterday in church, Jordans amazing sunbeams teacher gave a lesson to him and his class entitled "I am thankful for plants". She gave each of this little plastic containers with soil and a couple packets of seeds. So is so good with them!! Jordan was struggling with primary and having to leave me in general and the past 2 weeks he has done so good! This week, he just walk right in a waved bye to me!! It actually made me tear up! So anyway, when we got home, I made sure that he planted his seeds right away. He was so gental with his seeds and watered them so lovingly. We will show the growth soon!

Las Vegas Garden

Last week, I found a food grade 50 gallon drum on craigslist for $20. I've been wanting to build a compost tumbler for a while and that was the start! Andrew and I went over to Lowes and found all the extra things we needed to put it together and went home and finished building it! I forgot to take pictures of it during the day today, so I will take pictures today and hopefully give some measurements. All together we spent about $60 because we did everything stainless steal, but I think it'll be worth it and its still $50 cheaper than the cheapest at the store. Pics to come.....

The other thing I did with gardening today was create space for vines to grow up my wall. I have 3 column type things holding up the balcony in the backyard and eventually I want some sort of vines covering them. Any kind of plant life helps shade the house, keeps things cool and of course creates beauty and promotes birds and bees to help cross pollinate! I took thick fishing string up to my balcony, tied it to the top, and threw it down. Once I went back downstairs, I tied the string to some rebar that was conveniently sticking out of the ground at the base of the column. I repeated this 3 times going up in slightly different directions each time. This will give my vines something to grab on to when they first start growing! I love morning glories, but I'm also considering doing grapes so that they'll be beautiful and provide food! Again....pics to come.

I was gonna go one about different things, but I think I'll close with gardening too! I am so thankful for what I have learned about this. I want to be able to share with others and maybe one day, I'll have a strickly gardening blog.

Thanks for reading!

Bringing in the new year!

So here it is, 2012, and I am really ready to make some new big changes in my life. So far we are doing great! We've hardly missed a night this month of family scripture study, family prayer and we haven't missed doing one Family Home Evening! The reading is tremendously helping our kids learn how to be faster readers and even Jordan (age 3) wants to get in on it every night. They are comprehending so much and that makes me so happy! Since the beginning of the year, I have prayed and read a chapter in the scriptures each morning and wrote in my journal each night. For 2 weeks now, I have done a vigorous 10 minute workout each day of the week along with an extra 10 minutes of warm up, cool down and stretching.

I've always had a hard time finding out how to live a balanced life, as with all of us. I always make up excuses that there isn't enough time in the day. But I have really begun to grasp the idea that there are 24 hours in a day for a reason. I can honestly say that I highly doubt we'd do any better at accomplishing more if there were 34 hours in a day instead. We'd just have another 10 hours to goof off and procrastinate. My goal is to accomplish my life long goals every day before anything else and since I have began to practice this goal, life just seems easier.

"Give us this day our daily bread......" Matthew 6:11. As I read in January's issue of the Ensign my eyes were really open to the simplicity of life. It doesn't say...."Give us this month our monthly bread" or "yearly" or even "weekly", it says "daily". ONE STEP AT A TIME! Editing pictures, facebooking, mopping the floors, doing laundry, scrubbing toilets, grocery shopping, paying bills, etc are NOT daily tasks! They may be frequent tasks, but they aren't something I want to do everyday for the rest of my life. BUT there are a few things that I can say I'd like to do almost everyday if not everyday for the the rest of my life. Those things for me would be: Morning prayer, morning scriptures, making my bed, quick exercise, being of service to someone, nightly family scripture study, nightly family prayers, nightly journal writing & nightly personal prayers. For some reason when I focus on just completing these morning and nightly routines, everything else falls into place. My house stays cleaner, my work gets done, my errands get done, my social life is still active, my brain is more clear, I'm happier, I feel better all together, my marriage is stronger than ever and my kids are behaving better. Its pretty miraculous! My morning prayers are focused more on the day I have in front of me and my nightly prayer is focused more on giving thanks for the day I got through and asking for guidance on how to do things better tomorrow. Stress seems to be almost entirely alleviated because all I have to do is get through today.

The moral of my story today is that yes, we can and should plan for the future. Get those goals and tasks down on a paper. Know where you want to be in the future and have that in your head, but today, live as if you were being tested on today and today only. Past issues will begin to be resolved and the future will begin to smoothly unfold with the grace intended. I cant say that I will always be able to take this advise myself, but I CAN say with a surety from past experiences, that this is the best way to live.

Tony- 10, AJ- 7, Jordan- 3
Taken December 26th 2011

Dream Morning of March 16 2011- Finding Christ...

The past 5 mornings I have woken up around 6:30 am or before to study the scriptures. A wonderful friend of mine inspired me to do so....along with Heavenly Father obviously. After reading yesterday, I visited several other scriptures relating to riches and money. I often battle with this in my head because I don't ever want greed to be part of me, but during this day and age, saving, planning, living, etc. requires money. So how do I find the balance in desiring wealth and financial abundance while still maintaining my humility.

In Psalms 62:10 it reads: "Trust not in oppression and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your hearts upon them."
Ecclesiastes 5:19: Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God" 
And in the Book of Mormon...Jacob 2:18: "Before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom."


Trust me...this is leading into my dream, I promise!

So I can see here that yes, many times in the scriptures, money and riches caused a lot of problems, but they have also been used for good and have been given as gifts from God.

In my dream, I was taken to this underground excavation of what looked like a VERY wealthy ancient society that had been buried underground over time. It was the largest collection of gold ever found. there were golden statues and tons of other things made of pure gold. This women (I have no idea who) secretly led me to a path that had a secret, off limits gate at the end. We went in and it was like a shopping mall, but there was artwork everywhere. Most of this artwork was ancient and special drawings or paintings of Christ. I looked around in amazement and with a small but humble feeling of pride and honor to be in the presence of something so sacred. The collection of gold had left my mind as I entered into the presence of something worth more than anything else.

Preserved, more than the largest collections of fine gold & riches ever found, was Christ. He took first priority over all else.

When I woke up and was review and journalling this dream, I felt as if I had subliminally passed a test. I felt like Heavenly Father testes me in my weakest, most revealing, unhindered and truthful state.....(dream land). Was I going to be able to look past all the gold, and blindly follow someone I didn't even know to the real sacred treasure? Yes. I did. I truly know that God heard my question and revealed to me my own personal answer.

Don't give up on me!

Don't give up on me! I really promise that I have been continuing to read the scriptures! I haven't been very diligent about journalling everything and I know I need to.

My amazingly incredible husband set up an entire new computer system for me for my birthday coming up! Aint he the freakin bomb!!! Anywho...all of my word documents are on the other computer that seemed to have taken a dump the day after the new one was set up....Doesn't that just make you feel like....@$%&$%%&^$*%^&(*$%#^&^^&*^. :-). So Im hoping that we can get that back to "normal" so I can at least retrieve some of those things and get on a roll again.

xoxo

Scripture Journal

June 23, 2010
2nd Nephi Chapter 18- Chapter 33 (completing 2nd Nephi)

Today I read 30 pages from the Book of Mormon. My heart is so full of understanding right now. It blows my mind that I have waited this long to receive the fullest of what I have been taught since birth. I was overwhelmed with confusion once more when beginning to read today. I could hardly understand one word. I felt like giving up within 3 minutes. I even got up and took a break. I was pulled back to the book many times though. At one point I even lifted up my head and laugh as I said…”really? Is this supposed to be this hard to understand? Please help me understand so I have a desire to continue!” I was inspired to carry on reading and I would be given guidance.

The next chapter began and I continued reading. 2nd Nephi 21:2-3. “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of council and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord; and shall not judge after the sight of his eyes neither after the hearing of his ears.” That was enough to keep me going for a while longer J

Nephi speaks with such plainness (as he says). He is so calm and collected with his words. Every word he speaks has such strength yet can sooth you at the same time. Again I say that so much of this has to do with what is going on in the present day. A couple more that stood out to me. 2nd Nephi 28. Saying that the day will come that people will say that God’s work is done and has given the power to men. They will deny the Power of the Holy Ghost. People will begin to say that they have received enough of God’s teachings and that they need no more. Just as I can never know enough about photography…I am always learning new things according to the changing of times, we can also never learn enough about the teachings of our Heavenly Father.

I love the end of 2nd Nephi. I was balling my eyes out for the last 3 pages. He says in Chapter 33:10 “…hearken unto these words and believe in Christ, and if ye believe not in these words, believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ, ye shall believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.“

I can’t wait to start reading again!


June 22, 2010
2nd Nephi Chapter 9- 2nd Nephi Chapter 17
Today I read 16 pages from the Book of Mormon! These chapters had a lot to do with explaining what was to happen to the wicked and proud. Nephi and Jacob talk a lot about those who think they are wise and learned. One scripture that stood out to me was 2nd Nephi 9:28-29. It’s amazing how much this pertains to the latter days. The scripture says “O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness and the frailties and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise and they hearken not unto the counsels of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not and they shall parish.” “But to be learned is good if they hearken until the counsels of God”. Just as my last scripture journal talks about not putting our trust in flesh of men, this talks about not putting trust into ourselves alone. Being vain, being a “no-it-all” will not get us to where we need to be. We are constantly in a place of learning. We do not have all the answers yet.

I think Heavenly Father tries to teach me this lesson often. I forget that the best teachers are those who lead by example. I want to be more like that. I want people to learn from me even if nothing comes out of my mouth. It’s hard not to get caught up in what I am learning and how I am growing, and get frustrated when others are not trying to learn too. Heavenly Father always brings me back to the same answer when I pray…lead by example if you want to make a difference.


June 21, 2010
1st Nephi Chapter 20- 2nd Nephi Chapter 8
I am very proud of myself today because I read 26 pages of the Book of Mormon. I made a decision recently that I would read as much as possible, but at least 12 pages a day so that I could finish by my birthday July 30th. I was already a little bit into it so this is where I am starting from.

It started off a little shaky. I had a hard time following, but I prayed that I would be able to understand the words I was reading. Interestingly enough…the next chapter was Nephi giving a summary of the previous chapter. I love when that happens!

A few scriptures in particular really stood out to me. 2nd Nephi 3:24 & 2nd Nephi 4:17-35. Nephi was a man with thoughts just like ours. He had temptation just as we do. But he says how God is our support and He leads us through our afflictions. He explains that we can NOT put our trust in flesh (meaning any man or ourselves alone). We must put all of our trust in Him and ask Him and no one else when we are looking for answers.

At church yesterday, one of the councilors of our stake presidency told a story of a man that met President Hinkley. This man was asking President Hinkley some questions about the gospel and scriptures and this was the Prophets response: “If you will forgive me for not answering your question, I will forgive you for asking.” Our Prophet knows that God wants us to think for ourselves and ask Him when we need help. We can be given direction, but it is only in honest prayer that we will find the truth of that direction we have been given.

I am hoping to do a scripture journal daily. Most likely not this long since I kinda had to preface it, but I am looking forward to doing this. Thanks for reading!

The Book of Ely (Movie)...

My heart is filled with inspiration and faith after watching a movie called The Book of Ely. There was violence and bad language, but the story was so amazing. I had chills from head to toe during the entire movie. My eyes were filled with tears of understanding and my heart was filled with the passion of knowing that we hold such a sacred and true book.

It is a privilege to have the scriptures and to know what we know. There are many that don’t have the chance to read these words. Others have been willing to sacrifice their own life so that we could carry it forth. I have the scriptures in front of me. I know how to read. No one has ever stopped me from reading it. I have always had the free will to take from it all of the knowledge that He has given to me. Yet I let so many chances slip away.

I prayed before posting this, because I know that this movie is rated R. I know that many will not choose to watch it and that is perfectly fine. But please take what I learned from it. Would you remember enough of the teachings and stories of the scriptures if it were taken off the earth? Would you be able to hold it in your heart so close that you could convey the message fully to others? At this point in time, I could not. But...it is never too late to start (again). I am still on this earth and there is so much I still don’t know. I believe that I was put here for a purpose much greater than I can even comprehend. Each day I am ready to be an instrument in His hands.

Bring it on...