Post-Easter Post

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. As I reminded my children yesterday, Christmas is so special because it made the events of Easter possible. Its such a holy day and it was a good day. I really felt the spirit at church and was able to participate musically in every hour and that was good to be able to serve too. We went to my mom and dad's for dinner after church. It was lovely and we enjoyed staying and visiting afterwards for a while. Having them be here the past year and a half is All Good! SOOO love not having to fly to be together for special holidays!! And Mom and I will be together again today.

 This photo was taken over a year ago when we ate lunch inside of an airplane restaurant. Since I just downloaded the photos from my phone last week for the first time EVER  (I know - be shocked!) I thought I'd highlight this one today since I didn't bring my camera to take pictures of Easter. Sorry its not the best picture, but I love these two so much, they always look wonderful to me! 

 Did I tell you about our Stake's Holy Woman project? Probably. We were to choose something in our lives to make more holy, and I chose my first hour upon waking. I added reading an article or two to my to-do list each day. Well I'm almost finished reading the last Conference issue and what a great blessing that has been in my life. In all the other areas I'm working on, just having these talks to review and ponder each morning has blessed my entire day, every day. I've also added an 18 minute exercise program to my morning routine that's caused me to lose a full inch from my hips thus far. . . gonna keep that up. Anything helps!  I'm looking forward to hearing more counsel this weekend. They help me want to be more holy and keep those Christ-centered thoughts in the front of my mind.

 I also saw on Pinterest, about a month ago, that one woman was doing "testimony eggs." I didn't really read the whole blog post, but immediately knew that was something I wanted to do with my children this Easter. They didn't want their early morning photos posted, but this is the remains of the activity when we were done. I had asked different people who have been in our home in the past five years to send their testimonies to us. Then I printed them off, rolled them up and put them into these plastic eggs, which I hid on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the first thing they did was go on their egg hunt. I had my son open one of his first, and it was his Grandpa's testimony. The next one, as my daughter opened it up, and saw it was another rolled paper, exclaimed, "These are testimony eggs," and broke into a smile. She, too, had seen the idea on Pinterest and was excited to be experiencing it. It took us a while to read all of them, to discuss some of the things we read, and the last one read was Bigbuddy's. It just happened that way, yet I know there is Divine efforts going on all around us I'm not aware of. BigBuddy has had a challenging past year also yet his testimony is strong and powerful still. He also has a great influence on his younger two siblings. He is good to call them both every week and make a point to just talk to them and they love that. Then after we ate breakfast, I asked them to write down their own testimonies. I told them, its in the sharing of our testimonies of the Savior that they are strengthened, even if you are just sharing your own with yourself. Littlebuddy wrote both sides of a notebook paper, and I was grateful he knows what he knows. MyGirl hasn't shown me hers, but she did tell me last night that one thing she knows for sure is how holy the temple is and how much she loves it. I was grateful she shared that with me.

The night before I made Cream of Asparagus soup for dinner. Costco was having a great sale on it, and normally its so expensive, so I bought two packages. We used one for the soup on Sat. and I'll be using another one tonight. This time I'll roast it. . . sooo good!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

One package of asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into thirds.
Place into a pan with 2 cups chicken broth, one minced garlic glove, 1/2 tsp thyme, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, then cover the pan with a lid, and reduce heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
When asparagus pieces are tender, put into a blender, or use an immersion blender, and purify this mixture.
In another pan, make a roux with 2 T. butter, 1/4 cup flour, and 2 cups 1% milk. When thickened, add the asparagus mixture into it, and season well with salt and pepper. Add one lemon's zest to the pan right before serving. Serves 4. I loved it more than my family but they all ate it and said they'd eat it again.

 Leftover ham that we brought for Easter. The best part of the preparation of big dinners is how easy it makes life later, don't you agree? This also came from Costco and was delicious!

 I don't think I've posted this picture taken last December. We had beautiful 66 degree sunshine yesterday, nothing like the fake snow you see here. I wanted to share it because since that photo was taken life has just gotten more and more challenging for our family. In spite of the fun of the Aquarium, this week was really hard again. But, once again, MyMike and I went to church and came out better than we entered. We felt renewed and ready to face the next week with courage, strength, and joy. That, to me, is the Atonement in action. It brings goodness to our lives by just exhibiting our smallest efforts. The Savior enables us to walk in faith, with hope for his eternal plan, and trusting in His promises when we have no indication that anything has really changed, except for the feeling in our hearts that He gives us of peace. Everything will be all right whatever happens. We are still on His side, and we are still a forever family and that's really all that matters.

 In my trip to Costco this past week I had that one photo enlarged to go up on my photo wall downstairs. Those two are so cute together and I'm grateful that I can see one and talk to the other almost every day. Cowgirl had another big adventure this weekend, this time in San Diego. I love her adventurous spirit and her goodness. Littlebuddy had his first teenager party over at our house on Friday and it was a lot of fun for him. We even taught his friends how to play Dalmuti and they loved it. Still working on MyGirl's photo album. The pictures I printed this week are from five years ago. I'm still so behind, but its good to remember our real life. No matter what's going on, we can still make good memories and keep living life, trying new things, and experiencing it all as a family, even if there's a bunch of challenges thrown in there on top of it all.

 I'm also officially giving up being a Full Time Close To My Heart Consultant. I made last quarter's minimums but I won't do it any more. I may be a Junior or I may just quit all together but I'm really Finally DONE. I'd just rather spend my time quilting. Its not that I don't care anymore about scrapbooking. Its just that I have enough stuff, I don't want any more. I just want to use up what I have. All I ever buy anymore is adhesives and the occasional cute paper pack. I don't need more stuff.  But I do need to make more quilts. . . its become a need, yes, because its challenging me in a creative way and I do need that.

Here's the quilt I finished last week. Cuzco fabric from Kate Spade for Moda. A basic nine-patch, with a white center, and two inch sashings and four inch outside border in white, with an orange-pink polka dot binding.

 Its also my first all-over free motion quilting, done all on my mom's Bernina. I bought this gray fabric, not Kate Spade, for the backing, and then just followed the flowers to tell me where to free-motion. Sometimes I did squiggles between the flowers, and sometimes I added more to the insides of the flowers, and in all the centers I did a spiral, and then came out. Its hardly perfect. In fact, its so NOT perfect, I had to constantly keep talking to myself and tell myself it was okay. I am still learning, but by golly, I was having fun too.

I actually love the way it turned out on the front. Lots of flowers of different sizes with this fun modern fabric and this bright happy binding. Its a 46 inch square quilt and seems just right for a baby quilt. I've got plenty of jelly roll strips of Cuzco left, so another quilt is already in the beginning stages. . . I tell you creative projects feed my soul and I never work on them longer than two hours on any given day, and usually its more like 2 hours a week. 

I leave you with this somewhat lengthy quote by Pres. Uchtdorf from the 2008 General Women's Broadcast. His words spoke to me and have still resonated in my soul. There is nothing more worthwhile, in my mind, than the efforts I make for our eternal family unit but creative projects also have their place, as he reminds us, and I know they are part of the peace of my soul as I continue trying to serve my family.

Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.

If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.

Nearly a century and a half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. “There is a great work for the Saints to do,” he said. “Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ.” ⁶

The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you.