Grandma and Grandpa time

Jessica and Rachel and the kids came to Montana for a visit on the 16th of February :) Oh my we had so much fun.  David decided on Friday that he wanted to join us so he came to spend the rest of the weekend.  

Beautiful Miss Bynlie

Hailee helping Nana fix dinner

Hailee and Clay watching cartoons in Nana's room

 

Papa and Britnee

Little Miss Mae

Ice cream from the Carousel

 No trip to Montana is complete with a trip to the Carousel for Ice Cream!!

Just being silly

Hailee and Brynlie ~ Hailee has to work hard for
the curls that Brynlie naturally has

Rachel and Miss Mae

Not sure what to say about this one :) Love that son of mine!!

Papa and Miss Mae

The Youngest of the little people

Then on Monday we all headed south. Preston turned 5 on Monday the 21st so we went down for his birthday party and to visit for a couple of days.

Preston had a super hero's party :)

Preston got a nerve gun for his birthday.
Jeff thought it fun to shoot them and see if they
would stick to Lynn's head :)

Preston and Grandpa wrestling

Getting a horsey ride

 Tayci is in a little dance class and Preston plays soccer so they wanted us to come and watch them before they finished for the year.  We spent some time with Lynn's mom and dad and went to the temple and then watched the kids before heading for Bozeman on Wednesday so Lynn could work. It was a great way to spend a week in the winter!  Oh how I love our little people!!

Tayc dancing :) (In the blue and black)

 

Preston playing soccer (on the left in the maroon shirt)

Beautiful Miss Tayc

Miss Addie Addie

Lynn's Birthday

Lynn turned 51 on the 12th of February.  We had some friends, the Bangerter's and the Rencher's over for dinner and to play some MINUTE to WIN IT games.  We had a great time.

Seth

Shelly

Kevin

Seth

Carl

Marianne

Me and Kevin

Lynn

Carl

Katherine

Carl

Kevin

Happy Birthday sweetheart.  I love you!!!

Doctrine and Covenants 93

In my studies this morning I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants Section 93.  Even though I no longer teach Seminary I love to study personally with the Seminary lessons.  The insights and learning is incredible.  Section 93 is about prayer and light and truth given us by the Spirit and learning line upon line until the day when we shall see Jesus Christ face to face.  It is about obedience and worship. There were a couple of quotes that I read that I want to remember.

President Spencer W. Kimball said:

“I have learned that where there is a prayerful heart, a hungering after righteousness, a forsaking of sins, and obedience to the commandments of God, the Lord pours out more and more light until there is finally power to pierce the heavenly veil and to know more than man knows. A person of such righteousness has the priceless promise that one day he shall see the Lord’s face and know that he is (see D&C 93:1)” (“Give the Lord Your Loyalty,” Ensign, Mar. 1980, 4 )

An account by Bishop Orson F. Whitney, later a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, of a dream he had as a young missionary:

“I dreamed that I was in the garden of Gethsemane. I saw the Savior and three of His Apostles enter the garden through a little gate at my right. The Savior left these three in a group and told them to pray without ceasing, while He crossed over to my left and began to pray. As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, and His whole soul seemed rent with agony, as He asked the Father to let the cup pass from Him. . . .

“. . . I shall never forget the great effect His grief had upon me. I began to weep out of sheer sympathy with His sufferings. It seemed to me that my whole heart went out to Him; that I would have died for His sake or done anything else that He required of me. Presently a change came over the spirit of my dream. . . . Instead of being before the crucifixion, it was after that event, and the Redeemer . . . was about to ascend to heaven, to leave the earth. . . . I fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees and begged Him with all my soul that I . . . might go with Him. He bent down, took me in His arms, in the tenderest and gentlest manner possible, and with a smile of heavenly sweetness . . . He shook His head, as if grieved to deny my request, and said: ‘No, my son, you have not finished your work.’ . . . I clung to Him and said: ‘Well, promise me that when I have finished my career, after I have lived out my life, I shall then come to you.’ Again He smiled, sadly and sweetly, and said: ‘That will depend entirely upon yourself.’” (“Y.M.M.I.A. Annual Conference,” Contributor, Sept. 1895, 667–68)

I am reminded again that the gospel is all about having a prayerful heart, hungering after righteousness, repentance on a daily basis and OBEDIENCE to the commandments.  The choice is mine whether or not I ever see the Savior.  Each day is a choice ~ will I be obedient or not ~ and because I choose to be obedient then I strive daily to have a prayerful heart and to hunger for the things of this world that are good and righteous and I strive to have a repentant heart.  What the Lord requires is a BROKEN HEART AND A CONTRITE SPIRIT ~ or in other words a REPENTANT HEART and an OBEDIENT SPIRIT.

What I become is entirely my choice.  I strive each day to become like the Savior.  I'm so grateful that every day as I do my part He does his and helps me.  I am far from perfect and some days I fall so short but I love my Savior and I want to be able to know Him when I see His face and be blessed to dwell in His presence.  And so I continue to strive for a repentant heart and an obedient spirit.

DIY in Texas

Joela and I went to Texas on the 27th of January.  We went to spend some time with Bradlee and Suzanne and see their new place and do some DIY (do it yourself) work.  This was supposed to be the trip that we took Mom on but she came with us in a different sort of way.  We felt her with us!  I could hear her voice more than once admiring what we were doing.

We did a LOT of shopping for home decor ~ did some painting ~ some sewing ~ and some picture hanging ~ some electrical work (moving lights from one room to another) ~ VERY LITTLE sleeping ~ some crying ~ some laughing and loving to be together! What we didn't get done was Bradlee's office repainted (sorry little brother) but we did get the paint for him and Suzanne promised to help him do it.  We did find a beautiful new picture to put on his wall.  We just didn't have time for the labor.

 So the first thing we did was to replace the nasty ugly counter top they had on the island in the kitchen.  We totally scored and got this slab of granite for $150!!  Bradlee and Joela, armed with liquid nails and a hammer took off the old and put on the new!  Suzanne wanted to sleep on it but we told her NO :) What a difference it made in the kitchen :)

Before

During

After

Then we worked on the back splash which had the same green tile - we sanded the tiles - primed them and then painted them a fun brown color ~ who would have thought that you could paint tile :)

Before

After

We put knobs on the cupboards and drawers...

Before

After

 We made new curtains and cushions for the window benches ~ trying to find the perfect fabric was a HUGE task but Suzanne held out until the very last store and it's a good thing because it is perfect!

Before (Ashlee in the window painting)

Before

After ~ happy windows :)

After

We added some decorations to the wall and cupboard tops and the kitchen was complete ~ well until next time when we redo the white tile floor :)

The colorful dishes (the round ones) are from Shelly Nash in Peru :)

Sitting on the new cushions :)

Ashlee and Joela

We then moved on to the family room where we added a little paint to the fireplace wall and put up a great big huge picture that transformed the room to HAPPY :)  Suzanne loved the new HAPPY feel in her home :)

Before

During

After :)

The rest of our DIY was decorating ~ the wall in the living room ~ the beautiful table Bradlee and Rebecca made Suzanne for Christmas ~ and Nathans room. I didn't get pictures of the light fixtures but Joela and Bradlee changed a couple of those as well.

He is a TOTAL Texan :)

The table (in the entry way)

Living Room wall

Entry way rug

It was so fun to transform their already beautiful home into as Suzanne would say "It's so HAPPY".  It is so fun to have a sister who eats, drinks, and sleeps DIY :)  And now the rest of the pictures...

Working on the new cushions

Ashlee and Joela

Ashlee, Nathan and Joela

DIY Sisters

DIY Siblings

The Happy family

Ashlee making us waffles on the new countertop!
On her SNOW DAY

We went from 80 degrees on Saturday to this ice storm on Tuesday and the coldest weather in 15 years in Dallas!
It was the craziest thing.
Texas doesn't know how to do snow and ice.  It shut the whole town down!

 Joela and I left on February 2nd ~ we thought for a minute that we would be snowed in but the airplanes were flying so off we went.  So where should we go for our next DIY adventure???  Maybe we will just go back to Texas to sightsee :)