Our Divine Nature

"One of humankind’s greatest blessings is for righteous womanhood to hold “the highest place of honor in human life” and to be “the perfect workmanship of God.

I wonder if you sisters fully understand the greatness of your gifts and talents and how all of you can achieve the “highest place of honor” in the Church and in the world. One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity. Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.
One of your particular gifts is your feminine intuition. Do not limit yourselves. As you seek to know the will of our Heavenly Father in your life and become more spiritual, you will be far more attractive, even irresistible. You can use your smiling loveliness to bless those you love and all you meet, and spread great joy. Femininity is part of the God-given divinity within each of you. It is your incomparable power and influence to do good. You can, through your supernal gifts, bless the lives of children, women, and men. Be proud of your womanhood. Enhance it. Use it to serve others."

--taken from a talk given by James E. Faust and found in the May 2000 Ensign .

I would like to strive to attain all these lovely virtues of womanhood. I have a long way to go! :o)
Just as importantly, if not more so, I need to instill these concepts into my daughters' minds and lives.
I feel a Family Home Evening lesson coming on here. :o)

very interesting and funny

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.) If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!) The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!) A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (creepy) Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Don't try this at home, maybe at work) The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. (Honey, I'm home. What the...?!) The flea can jump 350 times its bod y length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. ( Can you imagine?) The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?) Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I say...quality over quantity) Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.) Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?) Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (Okay, so that would be a good thing) A cat's urine glows under a black light.. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?) An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.) Starfish have no brains (I know some people like that too.) Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

Open up and say aaaahhh

Jon caught this for me last night. It's my little cuties feeding each other. So sweet!!

(sorry for the picture quality, it's from his cell phone).

also, if you scroll down to the end and turn of my music, then turn up your speakers while your playing it, it's pretty cute to hear them giggling and towards the end, Jason's going "aaahhh". (of course, I'm a teensy bit partial.)

Silent Auction to benefit NieNie and her family

nie and her beautiful family

Information regarding this cause can be found in the links at the right side of this blog. All money raised goes directly to the fund.

Here is the scripture tote I made. It's made of a sturdy cotton fabric.

It measures 13.5" wide x 10.5" tall x 3" deep

I've lined the inside, and included a couple pockets for pens/pencils, cell phone and whatever else.
It will hold your scriptures plus church binders. It's pretty roomy. I have the large quad and it will fit in there along with my RS manual and a binder too.

So, if you're interested leave a comment with your bid. I'll start the bidding at $10, and if you want to participate, just increase each prior bid by $1, keep checking back to increase your bid if you want to. I will run this auction through Sunday. I wll announce the winner on Monday morning. You can then donate the amount directly to the fund, then email me the confirmation number at firelein6(at)cox(dot)net. I will then get this right out in the mail to you. I will cover the cost of shipping.
If this isn't your cup of tea, but you would like to donate, or check out other auctions--either click the donate button on the side bar over there, or you can visit design-mom's blog for more information on other auctions being held. There are a ton of them available!!
thanks for participating!!
If I've forgotten anything, just let me know in your comments.

Nie nie day

Tomorrow has been declared nie nie day for a special sister who lives in Arizona who, along with her husband was in a horrible plane accident a couple weeks ago. I have links to their website there on the sidebar, also to her sister's website. Her sister is updating as to their condition, and has also taken on the responsibility of caring for their children in their absence. They will be undergoing many months of treatment. They need your prayers. Also, if you would like to, you can click on the donate button to help them out financially. All donations will go to their care and recovery, as well as towards their living expenses.
There are a lot of blogs out there holding silent auctions tomorrow, with the proceeds being donated to this fund. I would very much like to participate. So today, I will be putting together something to auction off tomorrow. Please stop by, and participate if you'd like to.
Thanks,

Girls night out

So, I cooked supper, bathed and fed the boys. Ashley got her homework out of the way. Haley did her reading, then we slipped out..... (Jon was so sweet to let us go do something while he stayed home with the babies.) Where did we go? What did we do?
I've been dying to go see it. So has Ashley. Haley also thought it would be fun.

We loved it. Meryl Streep did such a great job. Now I've just got to pull out my ABBA cd's and blast them in the morning while the girls are getting ready for school.

I went to the mailbox, and what did I see?

A fabulous package looking ba-ack at me!!

This came to me from Lemon Annie, who's fabulous blog giveaway I won a week or so ago.
Look what cute packaging!! I'm so excited. Look how cute....



Isn't it adorable. It's a pumpkin decorated picture frame. I can't wait 'till Halloween now to put it out on display. I think I'll find a really cute picture of a jack-o-lantern to put inside.

whoa-whoa, I gotta' go...back to school

Time to start another school year. I just can't believe it. Seems like we were just doing this yesterday.

My big first grader, Haley and ,

can you believe it..fourth grade for Ashley?

Ashley lucked out.

She has two of her best bud's in class with her again this year.

Haley is so excited to be going to school all day this year.

We packed a lunch for their first day. I think that's what she's looking forward to the most.
I wanted to get pictures with their teachers, at least with Haley's. But it was pretty crazy this morning. I'll try to get them after school.

More senseless rambling...

Does blogging count as appropriate Sabbath day activities I wonder? It's like I'm visiting with friends isn't it? Hmmmm....
I really like how several bloggers I've come across post Sabbath appropriate topics on Sunday's.
I think that's wonderful, and something I'd like to do. However, this isn't one of them. :o)
Today's topic is more random musings.
Tomorrow I am beginning the six week 100 Pushup Challenge. I came across this on the Diet Divas blog, (which I will probably join one day), and decided I am going to try this out. Hopefully in six weeks time, I will be able to do at least 25 push-ups in a row. Right now, I can do like one and a half. (pitiful no?) I took their little test the other day to see how many I could do in a row. Let me tell you, I felt it the next day in my arms and abs. So, I'm excited about this. I think it will tone many problem areas for me. So, wish me luck!
Tomorrow, the kids go back to school. Wow, I now have a fourth grader and a 1st grader. I'm looking forward to not having to go out in the middle of the day to pick Haley up after kindergarten. Seems like it usually landed at about naptime for the boys last year, so it will be a relief not to have to wake them up, and enjoy that sweet blogging time.
Tomorrow, I also get to start watching the sweet little boy of a friend from church while she attends a college course. I think he'll be a fun playmate for my guys. Hopefully they won't terrorize him. My only concern right now, is that my house is a disaster, as usual on Sunday. I'm going to be embarassed when she drops him off. Actually, she may not want to leave him in my care after she sees the way my house looks.
I had to work today, and now I have to work tomorrow too. :o( I really am lucky in that I have a pretty cushy part-time job. I get paid pretty well for the minimal amount of work required. It's fortunate too, because it allows me to work part-time for what feels like almost full time pay. Unfortunately, later this year, we will be relocating to another casino on the strip, and the company that runs the gift shop that I work for, will no longer be handling the gift shop at the new location. It's actually good that they'll be relocating, because the casino it's going to, will be a better location for the exhibit. But, I'll either be (a). out of a job, or (b). forced to take a pay cut, which will mean I'll have to work more hours for the same amount of pay. So, I guess this is good practice for me to remember what it feels like to work 5 days a week like most people.

Oh, how's this for stinky? Remember my fabulous first ever blog giveaway? Well, I sent out the prize like 2 weeks ago, and poor Tracy hasn't received it yet. What's up with that? I think it might have exploded in shipping. No really. See, when I went to ship it, I fibbed about there being flammable items in the carton (i.e. perfume) because I thought they wouldn't ship it if there was. Didn't occur to me that maybe they ask that question so that they store it in an appropriate location, like not next to a hot engine or something. So, I'm really beginning to wonder if maybe the perfume in the package didn't ignite and destroy the package. If that is the case, I just hope it didn't destroy anything else. Maybe I shouldn't be blogging about this. The FBI could be looking for me right now. LOL
So, what should I do? Poor Tracy. She probably thinks I kept the loot for myself.
Should I go out and select a few new things to send to her? What would you do?

Does anybody remember when they let their kids partake of the sacrament the first time? My girls have been bugging me to let the boys take it now that they're over a year old. I've done it the last two Sunday's, but it's not like they NEED it yet. When did you do it?

Well, I guess that's enough senseless rambling for now. Hope everyone out there has a fantastic week!!!

another funny email

1. Only in America ......can a pizza get to your house faster
than an ambulance.
2. Only in America .....are there handicap parking places in front
of a skating rink.
3. Only in America ......do drugstores make the sick walk all the
way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy
people can buy cigarettes at the front.
4. Only in America ......do people order double cheeseburgers,
large fries, and a diet coke.
5. Only in America ......do banks leave both doors open and
then chain the pens to the counters.
6. Only in America ......do we leave cars worth thousands of
dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
7. Only in America ......do we use answering machines to screen
calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we
didn't want to talk to in the first place.
8. Only in America ......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten
and buns in packages of eight.
9. Only in America ......do we use the word 'politics' to
describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics'
meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'
10. Only in America ......do they have drive-up ATM's with
Braille lettering.
EVER WONDER??
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made
with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
Why do cows fly on GoofyAuctions.com but the cheese is green?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?
Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff??
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
------------------
In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed
through stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer
goods:
On a Sears hairdryer: Do not use while sleeping. ( that's the only
time I have to work on my hair).

On a bag of Fritos:! ..You could be a winner! No purchase necessary.
Details inside. (the shoplifter special)?

On a bar of Dial soap: "Directions: Use like regular soap." (and
that would be how???....)

On some Swanson frozen dinners: "Serving suggestion: Defrost." (but,
it's "just" a suggestion).

On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom): "Do not turn upside
down." (well...duh, a bit late, huh)!

On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding: "Product will be hot after
heating." (...and you thought????...)

On packaging for a Rowenta iron: "Do not iron clothes on body." (but
wouldn't this save me more time?)

On Boot's Children Cough Medicine: "Do not drive a car or operate
machinery after taking this medication." (We could do a lot to reduce the rate
of construction accidents if we could just get those 5-year-olds with
head-colds off those forklifts.)

On Nytol Sleep Aid: "Warning: May cause drowsiness." (and. .I'm
taking this because???....)

On a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
(now, somebody out there, help me on this. I'm a bit curious.)

On Sunsbury's peanuts: "Warning: contains nuts." (talk about a news
flash)

On an American Airlines packet of nuts: "Instructions: Open packet,
eat nuts." (Step 3: maybe, uh..fly Delta?)

On a child's superman costume: "Wearing of this garment does not
enable you to fly." (I don't blame the company. I blame the parents for this
one.)

On a Swedish chainsaw: "Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands
or genitals." (..was there a lot of this happening somewhere?)

our place

Merrianne did a post the other day about what things look like in her kneck of the woods, and finished up by asking what things look like where we live. So, I'm finally getting around to posting some of those pictures.
so, here's the street I live on.....

And here it is from another angle....

This is my house

This is the school that's across the street from my house...

And this is our church, that's behind the school, that's across the street from my house.

The girls across the street in front of the school.

You can't really tell from the picture, but this is a little hill at the end of our street that we like to go for our walk on.

And here's the view from the top. If you look close you can see some casinos in the distant background, no you can't see them? Oh I guess all that funky haze is getting in the way.

This is just around the corner at the top of the hill. I like this street, if you keep walking, there's a good sized park just beyond the bend in the road.

And here are a few pics of some of the pretty fauna here in vegas.

And one more view of our church.

I really do like where we live. We are away from the strip. The girls' school is across the street-so nice, and church is also right there within walking distance. (you'd think I'd actually walk there huh'?).

So, there you have it. Las Vegas from a different perspective than you might normally see.

finished!

Yaay! I finished it. I didn't redo the lining. I made it work. I placed a piece of fabric around the rim and sort of tucked the outside part just a bit so it would work. Sorry if that makes no sense. Sister Boyd's comments gave me the idea to put a little pocket inside for holding pencils or whatnot.
I think it will make a cool scripture tote. I think that was a terrific idea. Thanks Sister Boyd.
so perhaps you'll see me sporting this to church on Sunday....actually, I probably won't carry it around until I get beyond using the diaper bag, or the boys start walking. It's too hard to carry one bag and two boys, forget about two bags and two boys.
So, I like the thought of creating cute scripture totes to sell. I just need to perfect the pattern. What do you think. Just one size--large and roomy for scriptures and church books, or a smaller size too, for just scriptures?

Random thoughts

Kids are too funny.
We were just watching news, and the local station did a quick update. They were talking about Olympic coverage, and the announcer mentioned something about one of the competitions being in a gym I guess- I kind of missed exactly what she said, but Haley says "Can we go to that cause it's in the gym?" I said, no because it's in China, which is like on the other side of the world. She gives me this funny look and says "That would be a long walk!"
Yup, Haley you're right about that.

How do you know when you're getting old, fat, or ugly? Or a combo of all three?
When you go to the trouble of holding a door open for 3 guys with their hands full and you don't even get a thank you. Sheesh. And they were grown men, so they should have known better.

Well, I haven't posted much of what's been going on around here lately. Mostly we've just been hangin' around inside the house. It's too hot outside to do much of anything. The boys' get a kick out of our shoe basket. It's really funny when they both are trying to get inside it at the same time. I got some water balloons at the dollar store. The girls had a blast with them one day last week. They didn't seem to pop too well when they threw them at each other though. So, they ended up resorting to trying to pop them over each others' head. Anything to get wet. :o)
That shoe basket again. I love this shot of Justin in it. Looks a little cocky I think. :op
And here's what I've been working on all day. I've been kicking around the idea of trying to make handbags to maybe try and sell. So, I thought I'd play around to day and see what I could come up with. I'm really pretty happy with the outside of this bag. It's got a few issues that I'll need to work on if I decide to do this (the squares don't all match up for starters).
My problem is that I get in a rush, (I have zero patience) and try to get it all done in one day. I am NOT happy with the lining. I don't think you can see it very well in the picture, but it's too small . The outer part and the lining aren't close enough in size to match up properly. This is what I get for working without a pattern.
So, I just need to decide if I'm going to redo the lining, or force it to work somehow. If I do that, it won't end up looking very nice. But, since it's mostly a practice run anyhow, I don't think I really care too much.
We have this week and then the girls start back to school. Friday we get to meet their teachers, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm supposed to give blood tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be too low in iron, which I usually am. I better go eat something iron fortified.

Honorable Mention

OK. Here's another blog I really wanted to include in my list of seven, but then it would have been eight. So, decided to do an "honorable mention". It goes to back and then.
She has been documenting her journey back to membership. Tomorrow is a big day for her. She is being re-babtized. Yay!! I'm very excited for her. So, swing by and wish her congats if you'd like.

I'd like to thank the academy..er..I mean Merrianne

Can you believe I've been awarded this sweet prize again? Merrianne honored me with it. She is soooo sweet. Thanks girl! She really is a wonderful person. Her blog keeps me smiling all the time. She's got a sweet hubby and two beautiful kids, and lives in the gorgeous countryside.

So, thanks again Merrianne!

So here's how this goes:

Pick 7 Blogs that you think deserve this award.

Link to them on your blog, then visit their blog and let them know you've given them an award.

Everybody else, please don't think I don't think you're worthy of this, because I do. There's just too many of you.

1. Lemon Annie this is a really pretty blog about pretty things. Plus I won a contest here. Check out her etsy page if you get a chance. She has some adorable frames and clipboards.

2. The Shabby Princess--an adorable girl, and a great writer. I love her blog.

3. In the Gutter-I'm enjoying reading about her adventures in jolly old England while her husband serves our country over there.

4. Sher the love--a lovely lady who is also very talented. Check out her beautiful music here, and leave her a comment if you can.

5. Tracy's Tree House--she won my giveaway, and now I'm enjoying learning more about her.

6. The Mama Hood--a pretty polynesian princess and her beautiful family.

7. Cheryl-Lynn used to live in our ward, we'd go walking together. I was so happy to find her blog so we could keep in touch. She is mom to two cute, cute little guys.

Since I'm only supposed to give this to 7 people, I'm also going to give this one:

to everyone who comments on my blog. This was designed by Merrianne. isn't it pretty? She's very talented.

I'm giving this to everyone who comments on my blog, because when you do, it really does bring me joy. Thank you for all your sweet words and encouragement. You can do with this whatever you want. Hopefully though, you'll post it on your blog and also send it on to those who bring you happiness.

Have a great weekend!

Bring on the hot fudge sauce!!

Found this on Merrianne's blog. Let me just add

that I'm a CHOCOLATE ice cream cake.

You Are an Ice Cream Cake

Surprising, unique, and high maintenance. You're one of a kind, and you don't want anyone to forget it. You're fun in small doses, but it's easy for people to overdose on you!

What Kind of Cake Are You?

I really am unsure of the high maintenance part though. I think I'm pretty low maintenance. (actually I'm not too sure about most of it. But I do love ice cream cakes)

one word tag

Got this from Merriannes blog. These are fun.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Where is your significant other? work

3. Your hair color? blonde

4. Your mother? helpful

5. Your father? teaser

6. Your favorite thing? shopping

7.Your dream last night? blogs!?

8. Your dream/goal? temple

9. The room you're in? living

10. Your hobby? sewing

11. Your fear? hmmm?

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? utah

13. Where were you last night? work

14.. What you're not? motivated

15. One of your wish list items? van

16. Where you grew up? utah

17. The last thing you did? nursed

18. What are you wearing? jammies

19. Your TV? news

20. Your pet? Friday

21. Your computer? on

22. Your mood? good

23. Missing someone? sister

24. Your car? small

25. Something you're not wearing? shoes

26. Favorite store? Target

27. Your summer? boring

28. Love someone? yes!!!!

29. Your favorite color? multiple

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? today

32. Who you want to Tag? EVERYONE!!

whoo hoo!!

Hooray! I have caught up with my piles of laundry. Finally.

May this day forever live in infamy. (or at least until the next time I catch up)