Chapters

Tossed about 90% of the craft stuff, scrapbook stuff and sewing stuff in the downstairs closet today. Pretty much that chapter of me has past.  I like that life happens in chapters.  Sometimes the chapters are exhausting and overwhelming and I hope they are short.  Other times they are peaceful and bliss and I don't want a page to turn in case the chapter is over.
We've had up at night with babies chapters and potty training chapters and chapters and chapters (at least it felt like multiple chapters) and teenage chapters.  I had a crafty chapter and now I'm in a cooking chapter.  I'm not even too sad to see the chapters pass.  I'd love to revisit them for an hour or a day but I don't want to go back.  I'm wiser and nicer as the chapters go on.  Thank goodness for photos and video and diaries so that I can revisit those chapters and smile or cry and remember.  I love that Heavenly Father gave us memories that often sift the bad out and only hold tightly to the sweet.  It's nice that we live the reality of dirty diapers and total exhaustion, of heartbreak over children's choices and feelings of despair but we get to remember the sweet laughter of babies, those quiet rocking chair moments when you know you are doing what you were meant to do.  We get to remember those teenagers turning to amazing, wonderful adults and those feeling of despair turning to joy over righteous choices and the reality mostly fades to just leave the sweet.  Yes, I like chapters to let the sifting begin and to move on to the place of sweet memories.  I've tried very hard in my life to enjoy each chapter, to remember this will never happen again and I've loved every chapter.

"I wish I had her mirror"

Posted the following on facebook but I'm posting it here too, it goes along with "Wow I wish I had her mirror." 

and just so you all can laugh as hard as I did, mom posted the following on Alexis's post of I hit a raccoon, "think about the poor orphan kittens since the raccoon tore their mom apart." I laughed so hard and then I was thinking this is one of those "mom" sayings that I"m going to remember forever and when we are all old grannies and reminiscing about our mom I'm going to use this saying. It's my new favorite, in fact I might just randomly say "well think about the poor orphan kittens" Funny funny mom

You're Not Alone

I'm simply posting this so Tara doesn't feel all alone on our sister blog.  I looked at the last 3 posts and they were all Tara with no sister additions.  Nothing adventurous for me, I'm drowning at home because I"m still working. Today is my Friday, no more Pettingill's this week.  I love my job but canning, being a mom, baseball every Saturday and volleyball Tuesdays and Thursdays is totally kicking my butt.  So that' probably one reason (mine) that Tara's lonely here.  But I want you to know Tara, that as Micheal McLean so aptly sang, "You're Not Alone." (well you're mostly alone except for this wimpy post but mostly alone is not the same as alone)

Oh baby

Brad was out of town last night and today so last night I got the kids fed and ready for bed, put Spencer to bed, played basketball with Braden, did a core workout with Braden which was hard and fun! The kid can be a crack up! Then did my workout and got the house picked up before I finally went to bed. Got up at 6am this am with Spencer and then at 7am I was trying to get breakfast ready and pears and apples in the dryer and make lunches. I asked Ty to watch Spencer for a while and then when Braden came up I asked him to grab Spencer but neither one listened to me and the next thing I knew Spencer was rolling down the stairs. I freaked out and went running after him. After all the talks in conference about children dying I might be a little more paranoid. He seemed to be okay but it's been 4 hours and I'm still not calmed down inside. How do you know if they are okay? Later today I was taking his 9 month picture since I hadn't taken it yet and he went flying off the mini chair he was sitting on. Luckily I caught him but still I just thought are you kidding me? What is up with today. I told Spencer he's not allowed to get hurt or anything on Braden's birthday.
I took Braden to harmons today to pick up doughnuts for his class for school. He has 28 kids, that's a lot of doughnuts to take to school and a lot of kids for 1 teacher. Ty had a field trip today and unlike last year he actually brought his entire lunch and not just a half of a sandwich. He was reminding me of last years field trip where he brought half a sandwich in a bag and where he was supposed to go get a school lunch but didn't. It made me laugh and he was cracking up. Today he took a half a sandwich, an apple sliced, pretzels, and his favorite part a doughnut, and milk as well. I'm sure he'll come home with all of it except the doughnut. LOL
Planning to pick Braden up for lunch today and then take him shopping. It's crazy that I have a 12 year old but it's also nice to have more mature kids around.
Abby I hung your banner up, as soon as I load the pictures I'll post it on here. I LOVE it and you did such a good job.

Abby- I just barely read this. Poor Spencer. That stuff happens with all of them but it's scary every time. Can't believe he's 9 months already! You should post one of the pics you took. Glad the birthday banner was cute, where are the pics on here? And Braden passes the sacrament now huh? So weird! Love that kid.

Squash

I have never made squash in my life, wasn't sure I really liked it and so I never bought it.  Well the other week I got a butternut squash in my CSA basket so I asked friends on facebook for a recipe to cook it.  I got two recipes I wanted to try one was butternut squash soup and the other was a parmesan roasted acorn squash.  Well I never ended up using my butternut squash but when I was at the store I bought an acorn squash and tried the roasted recipe.  My kids apparently don't like squash but my baby loved it and I thought it was okay.  I guess I will be roasting the rest of the squash for him and him alone which means I probably won't need any parmesan on it or thyme for that matter.  Mellonee I was thinking maybe you would like this recipe and you could pick the thyme out of your garden instead of using powdered like I did.

Mellonee:  I don't really like thyme, even though I grow it.  :)  I really want to like squash and I do like it for the first couple bites and then blah.  I want to buy a bunch to decorate with and then I'll keep them and try to cook them so I would like the recipe, just to keep trying.    Spencer is a trooper, especially about food.

Tara: I added the link for the recipe, hopefully when you click on squash it will work, if not I'll find it for you.  I'm the same, I like the first few bites and then the texture is just gross.  Dacia told me about the soup so maybe it will be good.

Cooking

It's so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of when it comes to cooking healthy.  Today Mellonee called me to tell me she was so excited to actually have a second to cook something just for fun.  She had found a blog she loved and the recipe for no bake granola bars.  I was excited when she told me the ingredients and had her send me the blog.  I was in my car driving at the time but new I needed to go to the store so I grabbed a few things for the granola bars while I was there.  I found chocolate chips that are soy, nut, and dairy free and yum they taste good too (no GMOs baby).

Dairy, Nut, and Soy free chocolate chips

I also found this coconut and decided I had to try it.  It's pretty tasty!

Unsweetened coconut flakes

Finally the finished product and yum they are delicious.  I loved them and can't wait for my boys to try them in the morning.  The recipe can be found here

The finished product, yum!

Look what I've become

I never thought I'd get to this place.  This week I've pears, apples, and applesauce.  This fall I've dried tomatoes, peaches, and apples.  I've froze peaches and raspberries.  I still have the quart jars of applesauce, pears, and apples all sitting on my table  because I'm so proud of myself . . . . or wait is it because no one has bothered to take them down to the storage room.  :)  After I cleaned up the kitchen from canning I decided I would make the pumpkin muffins that Ty and I wanted to try.  The first batch was good but I thought it could be better so I quickly made another with a few changes.  I sat down and thought, wow how did I get here.  I was the girl that hated to cook, wanted to have a career not stay home with my kids (that was until they were born), struggled to be a "fun" mom, etc.  Now I love being a mom, I adore my boys, I love to listen to them chat away and hear about their day, I love their humor and find such joy in it.  I love going to their baseball games, track meets, and soccer games.  I love watching them play together and laugh together.  I don't really enjoy when they fight but luckily it's not that often.  I feel so lucky that I got to start over with Mr. Spencer and just enjoy him while the others are at school.  I don't love to make dinner every night but I do love having fruit for my family that I canned, knowing what's in it and where it came.  I enjoy finding healthy snacks for my boys and just all around health.  I love having their lunches packed and ready for them each morning, trying to figure out things to put in them so they aren't boring. 
I'm grateful for the examples I've had in my life of great mothers!

From Mellonee:  I agree, look at you!!  I think my sisters are amazing at all they learn to do. I think it's a Grandma Ma and Mom legacy to figure out how to do something when you know it's possible but don't know how to do it.  This also reminds me of that quote about how the more you do something the easier it gets, not that the nature of the thing has changed but our ability to do increases.  That's what happens when we become mother's, our ability to do increases and it's a good thing because there is a lot to do!

The View From Above

I drove through Sardine Canyon today.

The colors were so vivid and vibrant.
There's something amazing about green leaves turning red and orange and yellow as fall approaches. It's breathtakingly beautiful and incredible every year. Then I noticed there were also junipers in the mix. Then I thought, I'm like the juniper, green all year, no explosion of color, so plain amid the other hues, not nearly as splashy or impressive as a ravishing red or a golden orange. But as I continued driving I realized that the places where there weren't junipers weren't actually that striking or impressive. The sameness was dull and boring.

What created the beauty wasn't just the vibrant colors but the contrast between all the colors. The junipers looked a deep, jade green against the oranges and amber while the reds looked all the brighter when placed next to the dark of a juniper.

Some of Heavenly Father's daughters are like the vibrant orange, others a dazzling red, while some are like a quiet yellow and still others a steady juniper green, but each providing contrast and each looking more beautiful and shining brighter because of the contrast around her. There is no perfect color, each daughter is who she is meant to be, who He has created her to be. He sees the much larger picture and the beauty such contrast brings. So whether you're a splash of red, a tangy orange, or any of the colors in between, be your own kind of beautiful and enjoy the view!

airplanes

Flat piece of paper and an airplane. Throwing a flat piece of paper it doesn't go very far but if you prepare and plan and take the time you end up with an airplane that can fly.

Testimony - A little like learning to ride a bike

Have you ever tried to teach a child to ride a bike? Sometimes it seems to the child that they’ll never be able to do it, that it’s just too difficult. Yet as parents we know that if they will listen to our instructions, it will eventually click and they’ll take off and find their balance.
Sometimes they take off and do fine until they realize what they are doing. Fear kicks in and their eyes go big and their feet hit the ground.
Sometimes it’s not about whether we can, but whether we believe we can.
As parents we know that if they will look forward and keep working the pedals they will be just fine, it’s when they look back, when they doubt or when they stop pedaling, that things go badly.
We are Heavenly Father’s daughters. He knows what we are capable of and even when it looks scary and completely impossible to us, sometimes we have to trust that he knows better than us.
When we face trials and when life seems difficult and hard to face. We need to trust him that if we press forward, looking ahead and not back and keep pedaling, we’ll be just fine and things will work out.
What are the things he has told us will help us in our ‘ride’ here? What testimony building things has he asked of us?
He has counseled over and over that we should study the scriptures – not just read but study them and try to learn from them.
He asks us to pray, to share our hearts with him and to listen to the council he has for us.
He wants us to make and keep covenants .
He wants us to repent, not to look back but to look forward with a brightness of hope.
One of our children struggled to learn to ride a bicycle because he wasn’t a fan of fast. And in order to keep a bicycle from toppling over the bike has to be moving somewhat fast. He would pedal and then slow down and when the bike tipped he would look at us as if to say, “See I told you this wouldn’t work!!” Daren would explain to him again that he had to keep pedaling in order to keep the bike up and we would try again. Same result. Sometimes he would get so frustrated that we would have to quit for the day and come back later. The information he needed to ride a bike was there but he wasn’t hearing it. When he finally trusted and kept pedaling he was off and riding a bike, just like his dad told him he would.
Do we ever do this with the Lord? Maybe we pay tithing a few times and then the transmission in the car breaks and we think, ‘I paid tithing, it didn’t work!” We make a half hearted attempt at visiting teaching and sit through someone’s testimony of visiting teaching wondering why ours isn’t as strong? Can you see how it’s like the child who is learning to ride a bike? Our fears sometimes cause us to be half hearted in our attempts or we aren’t fully committed so we want to do the bare minimum on our part and receive the full benefit from the Lord.
Just like our children on their bicycles, He knows what will work for us, but we must trust and be obedient. Do we do those things he asked us or are we letting fear hold us back? Are we giving half hearted effort so we can be right when we think ‘I’ll never make it. I’m not good enough.” Do we want to be right or do we want to be the righteous daughters he says we can be?
At some point we have to learn to trust the Lord and learn that his way is the way to true happiness.
We can begin to trust him and start ourselves on the path home. Of course there’s more to learning to ride a bike than just learning to point the bike forward and pedal. One of our children was so proud of learning and so excited that she could ride without her dad running behind that she came furiously pedaling down the culdesak toward home. But she wasn’t super skilled in braking or steering yet. She ran smack into the back of our van, spread eagle and then kind of slid to the ground.
Just because we’ve gotten on the bike to stay upright pointed straight down the street, doesn’t make us a bike rider. We need to learn to brake (never use just the front brakes!! Remember that council? And did you have to learn it the hard way? Some of us do but hopefully we learn from it and pick our selves up and head off again, never looking back!!) Once we’ve begun out testimony journey, we aren’t done, there’s still more to learn and do.
We need to learn to steer, to slow down around corners, how to shift and when to shift. When I was growing up and riding my 10 speed (anyone else have a 10 speed?) The thought makes me smile! I was so impressed with myself when I got a 10 speed bike, and I learned to shift gears!) Each fall the county would oil and gravel all the roads where we lived. This made biking treacherous for quite awhile afterwards. We had to go a little slower and pay a little better attention. Doesn’t that remind you of Elder Uchtdorf’s talk about slowing down for turbulence? “Therefore, it is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions.”
What are some of the gravel or adverse conditions we may face in our lives?
Death, children, job loss, divorce, health issues,
One of the things Pres. Uchtdorf shares is that we focus on the essentials. It’s easy when life gets stressed to lighten our load. It is critical that we don’t lighten it by skipping our personal or family prayers, scripture study, that we don’t take a Sunday off of church to rest. We need our covenants and the spirit most during times of turbulence or gravel. Those are the essential things we need to do to keep moving forward so we don’t tip over.
One of the things I wanted to do when I got a bike because I knew it was a skill of the coolest of the cool, was to learn to ride without hands. To sit up on my 10 speed and cruise down the road. We also loved to ride up the hill north of town and since we could see it was clear for miles we would coast down in the middle of the highway. Wind in our hair and flying!! Of course we didn’t usually try this after they graveled!!
Do we ever try to live the gospel ‘look ma, No hands!” Or do we try to coast along for awhile? The thing about no hands or coasting is that you can never do either one while going up hill.
Think of the words the scriptures use to describe our journey here: What are they?
Strive, diligent, press forward, work, steadfast, seek, study, earnestly, ask, knock
None of these are passive things, they are climbing, moving upward kinds of words. We cannot live the gospel no handed or feeling the wind whip through our hair as we coast along. We have to be moving forward. If life is tough, if things are hard, Pres. Uchtdorf has counseled us to slow down as we make our way through, but he does not counsel us to stop, to coast or to ride without hands. We need to steer our course, we need to keep pressing forward.
How is your ride going? Are you in first, climbing slowly and feeling the burn? Are you on a gradual incline but making steady progress? Have you fallen and you can’t get up? Are you coasting and gaining speed? We need to trust Heavenly Father, he knows his daughters. He understands what will make the journey easier for us and will help us return home. Coasting is fun and thrilling but it always takes us downward.
If we’ve fallen, we must pick ourselves up, make repairs and continue forward. We must focus on the future and not let ourselves be mired down in what’s past. That is what the atonement is for.
If we are in first and barely hanging on, we need to press forward trusting that the Savior is pulling with us, that we are not alone and if we continue to do as he has asked we will get through this. We may need to grab a friend to ‘tandem’ with us for a time. That’s what sisters are for!
If we are coasting it’s time to put on the brakes (the back ones first remember!) To turn ourselves around and begin the climb again, looking forward. Remember, coasting always takes us downward!
I have to tell you that I have felt great urgency as I prepared my talk this week. A cousin that I know and love, who has been an amazing wife and mother, who has made and kept covenants with Heavenly Father and built a Christ centered home, let a few of the basics slip and started to talk to someone who is against the church and this week she walked about from that Christ centered home she and her husband have created. I have felt urgency to study my scriptures more diligently, to pray more earnestly and to share with you sisters that we must be on guard. Heavenly Father isn’t the only one who knows who we are and what we are capable of. Satan is aware as well and he works overtime and daughters of God. He tempts us that coasting is fun and everyone is doing it. He tries to get us to rearrange our priorities so that we are out of balance. Have you ever tried to ride a bike while hauling a large weight? It can only be done if you maintain the perfect balance but if it slips to one side or the other we become out of balance and our forward progress stops as we meet the highway. Satan works hard to get us to give weight to good, but not essential things so that he can get us out of balance. Though worldly offers offer temporary entertainment and excitement, the cost is terrible and high.
Sisters, It is my testimony that Heavenly Father has given us the instructions that will help us succeed, we need to trust him. We need to remember who we are and whose we are. We need to do those things that will qualify us for the companionship of the spirit. Sister Beck has said, ““The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life.” We need that spirit in part because he is the master teacher. He is the voice that whispers as we approach a gravely corner, who cautions as we begin to thrill at our coasting speed, who holds our hand as we pick up the pieces and begin to go forward again.
One of our children didn’t really use training wheels. His dad told him he didn’t need them and he took off riding. He had the easiest time learning because he had the easiest time trusting. But each of our children did learn to ride a bike, in their own way and with the loving patience of their earthly father. Our Heavenly father is just patient with us, and wants to help each of us return home in the way that works best for us.
It is my prayer that these words of seek, diligent, press forward, steadfast, immoveable, will be etched on our hearts, that we will keep pedaling and moving forward and make sure our priorities are in order so that we don’t be come out of balance.
We are his Daughters and he sent us here to succeed and gave us the tools to do so. I love you and I testify that our Savior and our Heavenly Father love you.

The Race of Life

I ran a 10K on Saturday.  I was really nervous going into it because I have been dealing with a hip injury for the past few weeks.  I think knowing that I might have to deal with that, I set pretty low expectations for myself.  I ran the race but definitely struggled a bit and had to walk a couple of times for a few seconds.  When I finished the race, I was happy that I had gotten through it and glad to be done and proud of myself for being able to just finish.  Later on when they were handing out awards I happened to be paying attention because I knew a friend of mine had finished first in our age group.  What I wasn't expecting was my name to be called for the third place medal.  I was shocked as I accepted it.  I didn't expect to finish well at all because I had to walk a couple times and because I was sure that I had seen many people go past me or be ahead of me during the race.  Throughout the day as I reflected back on the race, I began to question whether I gave it my all.  Knowing where I ended up in the race, I thought back through each mile of it wondering if I had just pushed a little harder if I could have done even better, come in second maybe.  I was a little annoyed at myself.    I got to thinking that there are a lot of parallels to life in this.  The first one I thought of was that when we finish this race of life, how disappointed we will be if we look back and think did I give it my all and realize that we probably could have pushed a little harder, given a little more and ended up a little better off.  So at each mile, a.k.a. day of our race, we should ask ourselves, can I do better, give more?  I think about the expectations I set for myself because of my injury, because of how I viewed myself at the time as broken or not worth much as a runner because my body wasn't functioning as well as I thought it should.  Do we also deem ourselves unworthy of doing well in this life?  Do we forget our worth because of a few setbacks and give ourselves low expectations?  Do we decide that because we have had to "walk" for a bit, that we've sinned, that we've had trials, that there is no way we can do well or finish at the top?  And do we look at others around us and wonder and assume that they must be ahead of us, faster, better than us?  On the same day of  my 10k there was also a 5k and I realized later that some of the people I thought were in front of me, were, in fact finishing up a race half the distance of mine.  Perhaps in life the same is true.  So I realized just like in a running race, in life, I can't worry about who I think is ahead of me, I can't worry about past trials or mistakes that I've since overcome.   What I can do is remember that I am as worthy to return to my Heavenly Father and recieve his first place award as anyone I see around me and that if everyday I give everything I have to give, I'll end up being proud of my performance.  There are probably even more parallels to draw here but these are the things I've had running through my head the past two days.

Wow we are good!

Took a look at this empty blog. ha ha
So I'm just going to post the most recent thing we talked about because I want to use it in a future lesson for my yw.
You said a lady showed a video of a girl getting a car (youtube - spoiled girl gets car - wrong color) for her 16th birthday or something, she came out and when she looked at it she had a fit, it wasn't the right car, the right color, etc.
The speaker went on to talk about how Heavenly Father has given us amazing bodies and we do the same thing. We pick them apart. We aren't happy with them or amazed at what they do.