The Funny Family Forsyth

Washington County Fair

2010-09-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

2010-08-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

The following was posted on the "Hurrah for Israel" Blog on July 31st, 2010, kept by Sister Howell, wife of Elder Forsyth's Mission President. Elder Forsyth shares many awesome stories in his letters home, but this was one we didn't hear about, so I thought I'd post it here. I believe it was written in a report by one of the AP's:

"Last night Elder Vang and Elder Forsyth were planning to find out where to tract a couple of hours the next day. In response to Zone Conference training, they prayed and picked out 5 streets or so a piece, comparing their choices and discerning through the spirit where they should go. Elder Birkel, an assistant to the president was with them, helping them find in the area: We had the distinct impression to tract at a street called Margaret the next day. The area proved to be too broad, so we prayed to focus on a smaller area and knocked on the first door that we knew was Hmong, explaining who we were, and that we were there to teach the gospel. The woman who answered responded, 'I'm a Christian. My ex-husband's friend was a Mormon and taught him about a boy ordained to be a prophet. You want to come inside? There were three of us, so we went inside, prayed and taught her the plan of salvation. 'Do you know where we came from before this life?' We asked her. 'Yes, I know we were with God through the scriptures --- 'before I formed thee in the belly; I knew thee,'' she responded quoting several scriptures. Hmong people are not familiar with this concept; we were surprised and excited. She also mentioned that Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights she usually goes to a bible study class, but she felt she needed to stay home that night. We responded that we, too, had been praying about where to contact and felt directed to her home."

"'Yes,' she said, 'I think God made this appointment for us!' She had a question about where those go who do not know about Christ; she had been taught by her pastor that you could only accept the gospel here on the earth. We explained how our Heavenly Father had a prepared a way for all to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, even after this life, and referred her to 1 Peter 3:18-20. She responded, 'I have read this scripture over and over and you have answered my question!' She set an appointment for next week to teach her, after identifying the spirit during our meeting by herself!! She's amazing and the Lord blesses us as we follow the counsel of our leaders!!"

Brandon is going on a mission

2010-07-30T23:32:00.001-07:00

Elder Brandon Forsyth has been called to labor in the

Singapore Mission speaking Mandarin Chinese.

He reports to the MTC in Provo on October 13, 2010.

We are all very excited... especially Brandon.

Dallen made Brandon a Singapore flag to decorate for...
Our Singapore CELEBRATION!

Uncle Charles & Aunt Darlene were visiting from Arizona and

heard about the festivities, so they came over with

Grandma & Grandpa Forsyth for some authentic Singapore food.

Aunt Donna & Aunt Kim came with her girls.

Dallen & Noah were really excited about the cool Asian food.

Grandpa & Grandma thought the food was yummy!

Cause it was...

Isn't that a BEAU-TIFUL dish!?!?

Its called Roasted Duck (chicken) and fruit salad.

I served it over rice. I am definitely making this

for his farewell dinner.

I also served Singapore noodles with beef. I've never

cooked with Oyster sauce before. It tastes much better than

it sounds. I also made teriyaki chicken wings.

It was a lot of work, especially since I had just returned from my LEMI training

at 10:45 p.m. on Saturday night and had to RUN to Wal-Mart to get the ingredients

before it was Sunday. Then I spent all day after church cooking. It was worth it, though.
Brandon really enjoyed it, and it was fun to celebrate his mission call!

Theater fun for the Forsyths

2010-06-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

The play's the thing...

The past six months has found us very busy with four different plays/musicals. In December, Emily & Dallen starred as Jo and Laurie in "A Little Women Christmas" along with the girls from Emily's book club. Tina wrote the script and directed the show. We performed for our family and friends and also at the "Beehive Homes", a senior retirement community, as a service project. It was a lot of fun and Beehive residents really enjoyed it.

Here is Dallen in his role of Sammy in "Revolt of Mother". He performed in March at the St. George Opera House. The show ran for two weeks. Dallen had been extremely ill in the weeks up to the performance, but got better just in time.

This is Aubrey and Noah performing in "Under the Broadway Lights", an original musical revue written and directed by Tina. Aubrey was one of the stars of the show. She sang a solo "God Help the Outcasts" and sang a fun & sassy duet with Shannon called "Trouble to Spare", an original song by Tina.

This is Cody (right) & his friend, Moredecai. The number they chose to do for the show was "Who's On First?", the skit made famous by Abbott & Costello. They did a great job with the comedic timing.

One of the nice things about directing is being able to put your own kids in a show... so Ivie & Noah both got to be in the show with Aubrey & Cody, and Dallen helped out backstage.

Here is Ivie performing as "Sarah"

She didn't have any lines, but is pretty

sure she was the star, anyway.

Aubrey was the home-town girl made into a BIG Broadway star!

The next show was "A Comedy of Errors"

written by Mr. William Shakespeare...

Emily performed in two roles in "Comedy of Errors" as

Amelia and The Abbess!
She was awesome and very expressive.

Emily & her best friend Emma~

Emily as the Abbess

Unfortunately, the actor that introduced her wasn't as

savvy with the funny English and kept calling her

"The Abyss" instead of "The Abbess"

Who says pronunciation matters?

Emily as Amelia - the mother of twins
She did a great job with all of that funny

English vernacular

Lots of goings on since I last posted...

2010-06-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had to say some sad farewells to our Ragland cousins.

Ivie is going to MISS Mary Jane!!!!

Emily, Lily, Jaren & Cassi - cousins are the BEST!

Dallen at Halloween 2009 as a Naruto character

Ivie was a Princess... of course

This year she was "Ariel on land"

Basically, she wanted to be Ariel (her favorite princess),

but no flippers for her. She wanted to wear a pink dress.

I think it worked!

We always trick or treat with the cousins at Grandma's house.
Its always a fun house over there!
Besides - if you don't get enough candy from trick-or-treating,
there's plenty more in Grandma's cupboard
(or Grandpa's closet - SHHHHH)

Nathan would have NOTHING to do with dressing up for Halloween,

so he went as a "little Monster". It was a S-T-R-E-T-C-H,

but somehow he pulled it off. LOL

Reason #107 why HOMESCHOOL rocks...

field trip in a HELICOPTER!!!!!

No yellow busses for us....

The moms got to go, too. Tina (r) and her friend, Cathy.

We flew over our house (in the middle).
I sent a picture of this to Adam, who is on his mission.

It made him VERY homesick to see our house with

his CAR sitting out front. LOL

He said, "Don't send me pictures of my car..."

Blue & Gold Banquet!!!!

Scouting in America turns 100!!!!

Brandon didn't want a celebration for his Eagle Scout award,

but we did a small one at the house with just the family anyway.

Mom & Dad wanted to celebrate a decade of scouting

accomplishments, even though Brandon was just content to

have completed all the requirements.

"On my honor!" We are a scouting family...

(Don't ASK me what Cody has growing on his head!

Its definitely NOT Scout issue...)

Aubrey & Cody attended a formal dance with their Commonwealth friends.

Cody wore a tux for the first time, and Aubrey wore her first formal.

Don't they look great!? Wish the camera had behaved that day...

Dallen turned TEN and became a Webelos Scout.

He has a tendency to get very emotional on his birthdays.

He is a sweet boy who is very grateful for gifts large and small,

and often gets quite overcome and teary when he opens his gifts.

Hence the baby blanket over his head.

Showing some spiritual MUSCLE!

Noah was baptized and confirmed

a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

on August 22, 2009 by his father.

Birthdays

2009-08-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here's our little Nathan, checking out the birthday goods!
Yes! I AM the birthday boy!

Off to Laser Tag and Harry Potter movie! Birthday w/the bros!

Noah LOVE his Jar-Jar Binks doll. Brandon loved the Jar-Jar Binks kisses!

Checking out the loot they brought back from Laser Mania!

Brandon is an AWESOME big brother!

Whoot! It was an awesome day!

Noah turned 8 years old on August 12th. We had a family birthday for him, then Brandon took all the boys out to see Harry Potter 6 and then to play Laser Tag. A friend gave the boys a TON of tickets, so Dallen & Noah came home with the mother lode of prizes. It was great day, and Noah got to go to Cub Scout camp two days later. What more could an 8 year old ask for????

Brandon also had a birthday a few weeks earlier.

Happy 18th Birthday, Brandon.

You're an adult now. Move out and get a job! hehe

Actually, Brandon is busy working at Laser Tag part-time and

looking for full-time employment in order to save for his mission. b

Summer Happiness is...

2009-07-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Elder Forsyth's District

Letters and pictures from our favorite missionary

Battling the forces of evil and darkness at the MTC

Recovering from the swine flu

Tres compadres (3 companions)

My GARDEN of goodness...

FHE at the Senior Center...

A Happy Family...

Nathan and his "Car-cars"
aka anything with wheels

Pinewood Derby Time...

Dallen's All-American racer on the left

A few of our "classic cars" from years past

Winning 1st place in Bear Den AND a Whittling Chip card!

What's better than awards and pocket knives????

Lining up the cars just right...

Our Awesome Daddy!

who really, REALLY loves his Father's Day ties!!!

REALLY!

Ivie blowing bubbles, with a little help from Mr. Wind.

THE BIGGEST and BEST Dinosaur Museum in the world~

Digging for fossils...

Way too much time in the car... trying to keep Nathan happy.

REALLY CREEPY CHILDREN'S EXHIBITS...

Teaching Nathan to read the Book of Mormon... LOL

Cub Scout Hikes with Mom

Playing in the yard in the best June weather we've ever had

Lots of time to think and ponder....

Learning to work with tools...

and finally...

R A I N B O W S !!!!

Which means it actually rains in St. George!

2009-06-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Our last fun family outing together before

Adam leaves on his mission.Ivie & Steve at Iceberg

Our BIG boys! Adam, Cody & Brandon

Sweet Nathan eating his sweets!

Aubrey and Emily

Dallen & Emily at the Medieval Faire

Watching the Jousting that never happened...

too much wind!!!

Other Goings-On around here...

2009-06-02T14:39:00.001-07:00

Brandon graduated from High School! May 21, 2009

Brandon Eves & Brittani Berstrom, some good friends from Adam's graduating class (2008), there to wish congratulations to all their friends.

Dad says, "Two down, seven to go!"

Two of Brandon's good friends... Mindy & Lindsay

The Happy Graduate! No more high school!

Brandon will begin Dixie State University in the Fall on a partial scholarship.

He'll also be working to save for his mission next year.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

2009-05-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

I directed "A Midsummer Night's Dream" this Spring. The cast was made up of my Shakespeare students with the addition of their younger siblings as fairies and mischievous wood elves (the boys didn't like being called fairies... and who can blame them?) I can't adequately express how amazed I am at the talents of such young people, except to say that they are all such incredible scholars, dedicated to knowledge, learning, truth, and developing their minds and talents. They are all homeschooled children (ages 12 - 15) who meet together once a week (and have parties every other day, it seems) for scholar projects. Shakespeare is only one of the projects... and I can say that my cast (students) was so well versed in their Shakespeare because of spending so much time in the Fall reading, listening to, and watching Shakespeare. Half of my students experienced at least 17 of Shakespeare's works during a 3 month period, which is amazing. All of my students experienced at least 7 of his works, and a few did upwards of 30! Anyway - here's some pics taken at a dress rehearsal. Unfortunately, the flash kills the lighting, but allows us to see the actors more clearly. The pictures don't do the staging justice. It was a beautiful set.

The Duke calls for plays & masques to be performed to celebrate his nuptials.

Thisbe didn't even need to speak in order to get laughs.

Puck & Oberon

My cute fairies & woodland sprites. My Dallen is far left, and Noah is far right.

Cody (Starveling) playing Moonshine. Know what happens when you say

you don't want a speaking part in MY play?

You get THREE speaking parts!

The cutest Snug the joiner/Lion EVER!

You should hear his ROAR!!!!!!!

My Emily made a beautiful fairy!

Aubrey had a lead role as Helena! She is a great little actress.

She'd have to be to turn down such a handsome Lysander~

Cody as Egeus! I'm sorry, but I laughed EVERY SINGLE TIME he walked on stage in this.

I even got him to say "Bah, Humbug!" once.

As you can see, we had a VERY fun time. I have a million more photos. I'll post more later. My kids are already begging me to direct another show. I'm thinking about doing something for the younger kids over the summer.

April and May Activities

2009-05-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

Not much time to blog right now, but here's a bit of what we've been up to...

Easter Morning Brunch!

Nathan & Noah getting in on the act.

Coloring Easter Eggs!

FHE food storage activity!

Adam & Brandon were workhorses.

Emily made sure we knew what was in each can!

Everybody helped~

We've been VERY, VERY busy with SO many things. I won't blog about them all because I have all of 10 minutes, but here's a few pictures and notes.

St. George Temple with Adam

2009-04-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

On April 2nd, Steven and I were blessed to accompany our oldest son, Adam, to the St. George temple where he received his endowments in preparation to serving a mission to the Hmong people in Minneapolis, MN. I can't express what a joy it was to witness my child make such sacred covenants with his Heavenly Father. To try to put it into words would somehow diminish the experience, but those of you who have had the great blessing of seeing your children walk in such faith and righteousness in such a sacred place know what I mean.

Adam is as well-prepared for his mission as he could possibly be. He is a true student of the gospel and a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ. He has not only read through the Book of Mormon with our family a few times, but he has personally read it 8 or 9 times, in addition to the New Testament, most of the Old Testament, and the Doctrine and Covenants (several times). He has been earnestly studying "Preach My Gospel" and is starting to read "Jesus the Christ". He's read most of the works by Skousen that relate to religious and world history, and loves to read and watch past Conference addresses by the prophet and apostles. Adam knows how to work hard, both physically and mentally, knows the meaning of sacrifice and obedience, and he loves to serve others.

Adam & I are hoping to take a temple "trip" together just before he leaves on his mission, and plan on going through as many temple sessions in as many temples as we possibly can. We definitely want to go through the Manti, Salt Lake, Draper, Bountiful, Mt. Timpanogos, and Jordan River temples. He'll be able to attend the Provo temple often while he's in the Missionary Training Center.

Happiness is reading together

2009-04-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Ah HAH~ Caught you both being good. AND - you're so nicely sharing my comfy reading chair. You are TOO cute!

The family that reads together... seeds together????
Bleeds together???? Well - they have a lot of fun - THAT's what, even if it doesn't rhyme.

Had to take these pictures of my two TEENAGE BOYS together. NO - they aren't playing computer games, Lasertag, or watching tv together. They are READING! Cody is finishing up the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series and Brandon is finally reading Brsingr. Don't they look like they are having such fun! Perhaps I'll just get rid of those nasty old computers after all...

Just a few more fun pictures of my garden

2009-04-05T19:41:00.001-07:00

Our green table grapes. I've been looking everywhere for Concord grapes, and just saw an ad for IFA that said they have grapes, so I'm going to look tomorrow. Also want to put in red table grapes. My fav!

Onions sets

Blueberries (are supposed to be more prolific if two varieties are planted, so I'm looking for another kind to companion plant).

I LOVE MY GARDEN

2009-04-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

Misc varieties of lettuce, and some wee little carrots in the bottom of the pic. As you can see, I'm doing square foot gardening, so plants are put in much closer together than they would be in a plot garden. You get a much higher yield per square foot than any other way. I still have some thinning to do, though.

Our raspberries we put in a shady location on the side of the house. I'm looking to get a few more varieties to plant elsewhere, and will be removing the railroad ties.

Noah is planting his strawberries. All the children help in the garden, and they all have the "favorite" things they like to grow and care for. Noah LOVES strawberries. You should have him do the strawberry dance for you sometime.

You can see that we have broccoli in pots (5 ) and also some in the bed. They were all planted at the same time, but the broccoli in the pots are far outgrowing the ones in the bed. They are even bigger now and growing their broccoli heads. This is our early season crop planting bed. It is 8' x 4' and is 12 inches deep.

What we've been doing in the garden...

We have plans to put in at least 5 more raised beds to accomodate all of the plants we have started in the greenhouse. We have about 7 varieties of heirloom tomatoes (including purple and yellow tomatoes), as well as "Stars and Moons" watermelon (has really cool yellow splotches on the green rind that look like stars and moons). I'm also growing quinoa this year. You can add the leaves to a salad or meatloaf or whatnot for Vitamin C, or allow the seed heads to dry, and it becomes a grain that you can eat like oatmeal. SO EXCITED! I'm SO weird, I know. We've planted multi-colored carrots, 2 kinds of peas, spinach, radishes, 3 kinds of onion, various types of lettuce, and a lot of broccoli. These are all in our early season box, which I'm including pictures of. In our greenhouse, waiting for the other garden boxes to be built, we have MANY varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, canteloupe, zucchini, crookneck, and of course... PUMPKIN! We've grown several dozen varieties of flowers from seed, as well.

We have put in grapes, black raspberries (from Grandma Fortune in CA), and blueberries (something new), and have started a new herb garden (echinacea, sage, basil, peppermint, so far). In addition, we have several semi-dwarf fruit trees in pots, and plan to add a few new ones. I still need to get my compost bin built and functioning. Adam now works for Wal-Mart in the gardening section, and he brought me home 8 tomato plants that they were going to throw out as they have a tiny bit of frostbite. These are their really expensive tomatoes, so I was giddy! No dozen roses for me... you can bring me vegetable plants ANY DAY! Okay - enough talk. These are pictures I took almost 2 weeks ago, so the garden is even bigger and better now, but its dark outside, so I'll post more pics later.

Adam's Mission Call

2009-03-11T23:50:00.001-07:00

Adam has been called to preach the gospel in the
Minneapolis, Minnesota mission,
Hmong speaking.

Adam was thrilled to be called to teach the Hmong people. They hail from parts of China, Laos, North Vietnam, and Thailand.

Adam was SOOO excited to get his long-awaited mission call that he made Steve & I come right home from lunch so he could open it. Actually, Steve was pretty happy to wrap up lunch as well, as I started blubbering in the restaurant when Adam called us. Yeah - I hold up REAL well. I'll have NO problem seeing him off at the MTC! He reports May 27, 2009 and will be gone for two years.

Steve's Birthday trip to CA

2009-03-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Noah & Dallen having fun at Knott's Berry Farm. I wanted to go to an education forum in SLC for the weekend... but NOOOOO, Steve wanted to go to Knott's for his birthday! hehe It was fun.

My sister, Ola, and Emily on the mine ride.

Ivie and Nathan being SOOOO cute and lovey!

Paying close attention to the presentation on the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Just look at that rapt attention. They'll watch ANYTHING now that we don't watch tv anymore!

Here's the silly birthday boy at Knott's.

Nathan laughed so hard at the ducks that he was drooling!

A replica of the inside of Independence Hall where the 2nd Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. This is outside of Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA.

This replica of the Liberty Bell is only 20 lbs lighter than the original, but is the same size. Its was so neat to see.

Outside of Independence Hall. It was an awesome little side trip when we went to CA. I had more fun there than at Knott's. I'm such a history nerd, I know. The kids and Steve really enjoyed it as well.

What can I say? The man is 44 and still acts like a goofball! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Honey!
Hope you had a great birthday!

Shakespeare Faire

2009-03-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

Two days after I hosted the Blue & Gold Banquet, I held a Shakespeare Faire for my students and their families. We had about 125 people there (or more) and it was a TON of fun. Each family provided an activity/booth for everyone to enjoy. We had blind dagger fights, archery, pastry shops, jousting, face painting, people put into stocks for drinking soda (LOL), etc. and my students did 4 Shakespeare scenes. Here are three of my students portraying the three witches in Macbeth.

Aubrey in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". She's becoming a terrific and expressive actor.

Dallen got locked up for non-compliance.

Cody portraying Macbeth in a scene with the witches.

Aubrey got to play the harp!

February Blue and Gold Dinner

2009-03-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

Noah (with cheetos in his teeth) was a special guest of honor as he'll be a new Cub Scout in August.

Cubmaster Tina preparing for Pack Meeting.

Dallen is a Bear Scout.

Cody and some other Scouts came and did a great flag ceremony for the Cub at our Blue & Gold dinner.

Family times

2009-03-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

One of our crazy FHE activities. Each kid chose an important principle or doctrine of Christ's church (scriptures, baptism, prophets, missionary work, etc) and we built our tower like the organized church. When the apostasy came, the church fell (and so did all the kids with lots of giggles), then each went and sat down in their own place to show how each religion that came along chose which principles of the true church they would adhere to. No one religion had ALL the truth. Then we built the tower back up and learned about the Restoration. Brandon's friend (in yellow) came over that night for FHE and he said our Family Home Evenings were a blast compared to his. (You can see little Nathan in the background, looking like he'd love to climb to the top of that mountain!) He's a climber

I had to add this picture of Steve, because I have hundreds just like this, and this is to teach him a lesson about making so many faces when I try to take his picture. Say, cheese, please~!

Steve was complaining that it was too dark in the living to read during scripture time, so for a joke I went and got him the BIG Book of Mormon that I use to teach the younger children to read from. He LOVED, and now he uses it everytime we read the scriptures. He's getting to be an old fogey!

More pics of Ola & kids

2009-03-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

Ola and her children came to celebrate her birthday.

Cousins are CRAZY - FUN!

Riding in the car to California.

Ola's birthday

2009-03-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

My sister, Ola, turned 38, so we threw her a little birthday party when we were in CA. I LOVE my sis!

Kim and Jared's wedding

2009-03-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

Way too long since I've blogged! What's been going on in our family? Everything. We went to San Diego over Valentine's Day to see Steve's sister, Kim, married in the temple to Jared. What a wonderful day that was, and so great to be in the temple with so much family.

Dry Pack Canning

2009-01-27T23:56:00.000-08:00

Aunt Donna canning her rice. Cody was there, too, but was shy of the camera. He was our muscle.

Dallen helped with the labels, and put the oxygen packets in the cans.

Emily enjoyed helping Grandma can her 25# of candy. We all know where we're going when they drop the big one. We've got macaroni, wheat, and jam (and a little more), but Grandma has CHOCOLATE!

It's always more fun when Aunt Donna and Grandma are there canning with us. Those two sure work fast.

I love my food storage room

2009-01-27T23:51:00.001-08:00

Our new food storage room is filling up quite nicely~ This is just one small part of our food storage room. At the end of the row, you can see the last of our jars of pears that Aubrey & Adam canned in the Fall of '07. We have been enjoying them for a long time. We definitely have no problem rotating our storage. One of my goals over this next few months is to get in there and get the room organized by long-term, short-term storage, and separate the grains, sugars, vegis, fruits, etc.

Homeschool Home Economics

2009-01-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

One of the best parts of homeschooling is getting to do anything and everything we want. FREEDOM! An important part of our homeschooling is learning Home Economics. We go to the cannery almost every month (sometimes twice per month) to preserve and can food for our family's use and storage, and everyone but the two littlest help. Two weeks ago, Adam, Brandon, and I (Tina) went and canned jam for 6 hours. The boys weren't 'thrilled' about going as they have put in a lot of time over the years in the garden, in the kitchen, and in the cannery, but they ended up having a good time and provided some great entertainment for the mostly older crowd. Those two can make fun of, and fun for, any occasion. We ended up bringing home 99 jars of jam... strawberry, raspberry, and marionberry (blackberry). They make a beautiful addition to our food storage, and they taste like summer.

The Legend of the Fourth Wiseman

2009-01-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

Ahhh - what would Christmas be without new holiday "legends". Well, this one is sure to go down in the annals of history, at least in the Forsyth household.

Every Christmas Eve since I can remember, Steven and I have gathered our children together to celebrate our Savior's birth through scripture, song, stories, and a live nativity. We always read from Luke, and we sing EVERY verse of the hymns and carols (even though everyone else is rolling their eyes at Mom). Some years, each individual shares their testimony of the Savior through a talent (writing a poem, singing a song, playing a carol on the guitar, piano, etc.). Its always a deeply spiritual time for us. Some years we have guests, some years its just us.

This past Christmas (2008) was no exception. We had both sets of Grandparents here (a first), and a few other relatives. Emily (in her mother's footsteps as always) directed the other children all week in their roles and costuming for their parts in the Nativity. Dallen was all 3 Wisemen as Adam, Brandon, and Cody are all no longer fit for the parts, but they served nicely as our 3 Wise Guys. Ivie reprised her role (from church) as the ever-devoted and loving mother, Mary. Ivie's beloved, Dollar-Store baby doll, Sarah, went through a slight metamorphosis to be the newborn babe in the manger (which we always keep by our Christmas tree). Our seven year old, Noah, took on the supporting role of Joseph. Nathan didn't actually have a part, but practiced his improvisational skills as the "little lost lamb", meandering throughout the Nativity scene as it progressed.

The stage was set, the actors were prepared, and the audience was awaiting this wonderful scene. We opened with strains of "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" (my favorite carol, in case you were wondering), and as we sang and read from the book of Luke, our little actors met their cues. Mary came in riding on the donkey (and really, anyone of us could have played that part). Emily had cast herself in this cameo, however. Noah guided his "betrothed" in. We had to say that they were "betrothed" because Noah had it written into his SAG contract that he would play "no married parts". So, "betrothed" it was. The baby was placed gently in the manger... and may I just say here that after 8 natural child-births of my own... Mary is my all-time hero. There was no screaming, pain, blood, NOTHING.

After singing "With Wondering Awe" (all verses again), our Wiseman came in bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I'm being really silly here, but it truly was sweet and touching. We finished our little scene and our devotional. It was great.

Well - in order to have enough memory on my camera card for Christmas morning pictures, I uploaded my previously taken pictures onto my computer, including the Nativity pics. Well - lo and behold. That's when I saw the Christmas miracle. What had not been seen in the play was now clearly visible on the big screen computer monitor. Not only had the Wiseman brought gold, frankinscense and myrrh to the manger, but Joseph, himself, had brought a gift for the newborn. He had brought jewels, as in the FAMILY kind. Yep, one of the pictures showing Joseph half-kneeling was quite "revealing". Talk about a prime-time wardrobe malfuntion. (No, I'm not posting it here). I brought Noah (Joseph) in and said, "Do you know how I'm always telling you how important it is to have on underwear?" He says, "Uh-huh." "Well - this is WHY -------" and I point to the computer screen. Noah laughed himself silly, and the next morning when he opened his package of underwear... he was actually so happy he kissed them.

This Christmas will always be remembered as the year that The Fourth Wiseman brought gifts of jewels. (P.S. I'm holding onto the pictures, just for insurance purposes....)

Hidden Treasures from the past

2009-01-07T00:47:00.001-08:00

Tonight as I was unpacking yet another box of books... too many to count, I came across an old journal. Now, for a person who loves to write, I have been an utter failure at keeping a regular journal. This particular journal was from 1996. As I was browsing through the (few) pages, I came across some funny things I had written about my older kids when they were little, so I started to read some of them outloud to them, which they really enjoyed, as did the younger children. Frankly, I had the rapt attention of everyone.

I can't believe how many things I have forgotten... really important things that may seem insignificant to the world, but are priceless treasures to my family. Why, oh why, have I not kept a better journal? It was WONDERFUL to sit around with my DH and kids and laugh (and cry) about the old times. We all laughed when I was reading about our sweet little Emily being born, and then turned the page and she was two! We laughed, but its really not so funny. How much did I miss during those two years that I can never remember?

We also cried (well, I did big time) when I read the following, dated April 13, 1997, when we were expecting our fifth child...

"Things have been very tight financially for us. At times, I've wondered how we've managed to keep a roof over our heads. I do know it is the Lord's blessings. I returned yesterday from an overnight Youth Leadership retreat in Deer Valley, UT. After arriving home, found that we only had $20.00 left. I knew already that this Monday's paycheck had already been delegated to pay our rent and there would be no money for groceries, except a few for diapers for Cody. On Thursday, I had gone through what food storage we have left and made up a 10 day menu. Upon doing so, I found that we didn't have enough food to make 10 meals. We would have had enough rice, macaroni and flour for bread and enough powdered milk, but there would not be enough meat and cheese, etc. to be able to make healthy, palatable meals that the kids would probably eat. It would be quite difficult for the kids to eat plain noodles several days straight. To say the least, I have been greatly troubled by the situation. How am I to feed my little ones?

As I said, we had twenty dollars left for the next ten days, which I could have stretched and been able to buy the food I needed for my family. It really wasn't a hard decision to make. We knew that today would be Fast Sunday, and we knew we needed to pay our fast offerings. So, we wrote out a tithing & donation slip and put the money inside.

Just a short while later there came a knock at the door. It was brother Roskelley from the Bishopric. He was there with an igloo full of meat, cheese, hamburger buns, and chips (and soda). It was the leftover food from the Youth Retreat I had just returned from, which we were planning to freeze for an upcoming dinner the the youth were doing for the new move-ins from the ward. Bro. Roskelley said he and the Bishop felt that we needed it and wanted us to have it instead.

I have been asking for a stronger testimony on the importance of paying our tithes and offerings and I sure got one. I know the Lord is mindful of us and our needs and I am so grateful for His blessings. If we keep the commandments, the Lord will bless us and keep His promises.

We now have enough meat and cheese for me to fix well-balanced meals."

Prior to reading my journal entry, I had no recollection of this incredible spiritual experience. Even now, it is vague, but my children will have this testimony for the rest of their lives because I wrote it down. I am determined not to kick myself for the many other testimonies of faith that I missed writing down, but rather am resigned to not miss any more. No matter what else is going on, I will MAKE time. This lesson has shown me how vital it is, and perhaps one day my children will read my experiences and testimony during a time in their lives when they need strength and help and I'm not there.

Our New Home

2009-01-01T01:12:00.000-08:00

Well, we moved into our new home over the Thanksgiving holiday so that we would have a full four days to get completely unpacked and set up in our new house. I am STILL laughing at that idea, and I'm still not completely unpacked. We didn't count on a week with no running water OR toilets. It will suffice for me to say that we easily go through a 24 pack of TP each week, so I'll ljust let you do the math regarding the number of bathroom trips our crew makes. Well - we spent the week trekking every few hours to the local Wal-Mart (about 8 minutes away) to use the restroom, and to Grandma's (not nearly so often) to shower and do a few loads of laundry. After six days it was finally determined that the sewage backing up into our basement was due to tree roots that had grown into the sewer line. Once those were removed, things were finally flowing, thank goodness. It would have been very helpful had Mom remembered that she had purchased a porta-potty for such emergency occasions. My brain's a steel-trap, I tell you.

We are happily moved in and LOVE our new (older) place with the huge trees and beautiful brick fireplaces. We live in an established section of Bloomington, UT (St. George), which is quite different from where we lived on the other side of town. We love our new ward. Everyone is so kind and welcoming. There are a lot of older couples that live in our ward, but there are some families as well, though ours is certainly the biggest. We also have two former Utah Governors and a recently released General Authority living in our ward.

Family Blog

2009-01-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

I previously attempted a blog, but it failed miserably. Its no wonder given the subject matter... MOI! I attempted to blog about my own life, but never really got around to writing much. Well, any good writer will tell you that in order to be successful, a writer must be passionate about her subject matter. Well... hello... not even I am excited about MOI! (Okay, I'm starting to sound a little like Miss Piggy here). What I AM passionate about is my family, so I begin anew to write about the things and people I love. I hope you will enjoy our journey!