We're all a little Nutty

I laughed yesterday (after teaching our church class full of 3 year olds) when I thought about the potential difference between what we taught vs. what they remembered when they got home.  As part of a lesson on prayer, we told the story of Daniel.  We explained that praying to someone other than the king was against the law, but Daniel knew that praying to Heavenly Father was the right thing to do, so he did it anyway.  Then, the king had to throw him in a pit with lions.  We explained that Daniel wasn't hurt by the lions because Heavenly Father protected him. I firmly believe that kids can learn more about spiritual things than we think they can, so I'm going to have to have faith that the right messages will sink in.  However, I can't help but wonder if any of them recounted a slightly skewed version of this story to their family after church, or perhaps went to bed last night fearful that if they didn't say their prayers they'd get eaten by lions. Wha...

I couldn't sleep last night...which was actually a cruel irony.  I lay awake thinking about service.  What a blessing it is to be trusted here on this earth to do our best to reach out to those around us, and hopefully make things a little better within our circle of influence. As I started thinking about some of the emotions of service and results of reaching out, I started drawing a parallel between Dance Dance Revolution and service, as I've experienced it. My favorite way to play Dance Dance Revolution these days is in "workout mode."  I let it select the music for me randomly and I get to select my own level of difficulty with each song.  The nice thing about this is you never know what you're going to get (as far as the type of music), but no matter what it is, you can push yourself as hard as you feel capable of at that point in the workout.  The other nice advantage to workout mode is that even if you are "failing" as far as your score is con...

As I was looking through my photos from Christmas, there were a few that really captured the moments of celebration.  Here are my favorites: Sam loved her art prints -- now she can decorate her room Mckay was pleased with his helmet -- he has been wearing the same one since he was about 12. Mckay's spices aren't as cool as mine, but I really included this photo because Dillon is such an expert photo bomber. Lizzie threw a major fit at the store when she wanted to buy herself fabric to make a blanket TWO days before Christmas and I wouldn't let her.  This was why I had to be the blanket bully. He is in heaven. Legos all day.  Also...now we know what really happened to the Trader Joe's Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels... All of this beautiful powder fell on Christmas Day. Beautiful Temple Square in Salt Lake City Our own "Elf on the Shelf" at our family party. We had a contest to see who could make the best Santa ...

Though in a worldly sense, it is nice that I didn't want anything tangible for Christmas, my husband might not agree...because he felt he had to come up with something that still made me smile. Here are the best smile-getting gifts given: My brother-in-law helped us re-install our kitchen sink over Thanksgiving break and Moen (thanks to their amazing lifetime warranty) provided the materials.  For the first time in years, I don't have a bucket under my kitchen sink!  And no corrosion and yuck around the faucet and sink!  Simple pleasures... Can't get too much of a lifetime warranty...so, I called Moen again and told them about the hole in my bathroom faucet and the crack in the handle.  So, they sent us a new faucet for one bathroom and new handle for the other one.  Shiny and new! I wanted to call Moen about the shower, too...but it was all fixable.  We took the hardware apart and cleaned it.  That was the easy part.  On Saturday, I spe...