Some Thoughts for the Day

My kids are sick so I'm home from church and thought catching up on blogs would be a good use of my time. I've actually found some good stuff, like this quote:

"You are a child of God. He is the Father of your spirit. Spiritually, you are of noble birth, the offspring of the King of Heaven. Fix that in your mind, and hold to it. However many generations your mortal ancestry, no matter what race or people you represent, the pedigree of your spirit can be written on a single line: You are a child of God." Boyd K. Packer, “A Few Simple Lessons,” New Era, Aug 2002, 4

And this one (that I remind myself of frequently =o):

"If you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn’t appreciate that time of life as much as you should have. Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly. (emphasis added)

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.”3 We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us."

Thomas S. Monson, “Finding Joy in the Journey,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 84–87

Words to Live By

I found this quote on another blog and thought it was worth sharing. My mom has it printed out somewhere in our house, and it was a good reminder to see it again.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." Jenkin Lloyd Jones (Deseret News, 12 June 1973, p. A4)

President Hinckley quotes part of this in a great article about marriage: “What God Hath Joined Together,” Ensign, May 1991, 71

Cool Commercial

My mom sent me this in an email--it's so cute!

My Punny Child

I set Anne Marie in the high chair for a few minutes to get something done, and she got bored, so she reached over to the bag of walnuts sitting next to her, and of course the nuts spilled. She thought this was great fun, and the sound of the nuts hitting the floor and the rustle of the bag was cool, so she kept playing with it until the whole bag was empty. At this point Brook walks into the kitchen and says,

"Aww, nuts!"

It took a while for me to stop laughing. Okay, I'm still laughing.

Draper Temple

So we all went to the Draper Temple open house today and it was awesome! It's a beautiful temple, and it was neat to take the kids since they're so little. It's one of the great blessing of living in Utah--all the temples! The conversation when we got in the car went like this:

"Dad," said Alex, "that was fun."
"Seeing the temple?" Jason.
"Yeah." Alex
"I liked all the chandeliers," Brook pitched in.