Gratitude

Today was the Primary Program at church--my favorite Sunday of the year! The kids were so sweet and cute, and the Sunbeams were so entertaining :) As they sang the songs and said their parts I felt such a sense of gratitude for this young generation.  The future is in good hands. These kids are so valiant and want to do good and be good. We sang "Love Is Spoken Here" for the closing song and I felt the spirit so strongly. It is such a noble and humbling job we do as parents. We are shaping the future by teaching and leading our kids. And they are teaching and shaping us into better individuals as well. More patient and understanding, full of unconditional love. I know so many days I fall short of what I want to be as a parent, but I figure that as long as I am trying and never give up, then eventually, someday, eons from now, I'll be that parent.

So the kids today bore testimony by standing up, holding up their scriptures and saying, "I know the scriptures are true!" I want to add my testimony to theirs. I know the scriptures are true and I am so grateful for them. I'm grateful for those who sacrificed all to pave the way for the Bible to be translated into English and made available to the common man, and I'm grateful to the prophets of old who lived here in the Americas and understood how important it would be for us to have a second witness of our Savior. They took the great time and effort to record the gospel so that we could have it and read it everyday and find the strength to face our challenges and stand tall in the world today. And i'm grateful to Joseph Smith, having the faith and the courage to ask God and then be obedient in all things so the gospel could be restored to the earth again. I know we have a living prophet today, even Pres. Monson, and look forward to hearing from him in a few weeks at General Conference. I know that he speaks the words of Christ, and that I will be uplifted, encouraged and prompted to make changes in my life that will bring me closer to Christ. I know he is my Savior and the Savior of all the world. Such a humbling thought to know that he gave all, even his very life, for me. And for you.

And now for some pictures--totally unrelated to my ramblings today. This is our pitiful garden this year. In spite of our neglect, we were able to enjoy some delicious tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and peppers. I think if I spent some time with the garden watering and weeding it it would do a little better. Just a theory I have, but I think I'll have to try it next year :)

 Miya loved the eggplant

 Trying to get Miya to hold the cucumber--she didn't like the pokeys. Yes, this cucumber was left on the vine a BIT too long. And yes, it is bigger than the eggplant.

 My blonde girl

Hurrah for fresh produce! There is something so satisfying about picking food out of our garden right before dinner and knowing how fresh and good it is. Hopefully next year I will feel motivated to spend a little more time with the garden and we'll have a better harvest.

1st Day of School

The kids are back in school and loving it!

Too much togetherness...

 Yesterday was the last day of summer break, so in honor of the occasion I told the kids they could take the day off--no piano practicing or big jobs. Hurrah! I thought it was a great idea until they decided to fill their spare time with non-stop fighting. Maybe they were just trying to get me excited to send them back to school...

So I told Shayla and Ty that they had lost all priviledges (i.e. no football practice for Ty or gymnastics or friends for Shayla) until they wrote a letter to each other. They had to apologize and then tell each other 5 things they liked about each other. So...here are the letters. As you can see they did EXACTLY what was asked, no more, but still it did help them turn things around and be a LITTLE nicer to each other.

We did eventually make it on a bike ride (adventurous to say the least) to play at the park.

And Ty was able to go to football practice, so it wasn't all bad. Miya loves wearing Ty's pads around.