Happy Birthday Don!

So it is a little late I know, but I did get to it. Don turned 26 on the 10th.
So I feel super bad that I didn't do anything grand or great. I made his a good dinner and tried to make a cake twice, but that ended up not working out either. I even still went to my institute class. But this is the very thing that makes me so thankful he is in my life. He honestly could care less if I don't do all the extra things. He doesn't expect me to bake a cake, or have a party. If I do things for him he appreciates them, but they are never expected. I expect enough out of myself I think and he realizes that more than me. We complement each other so well. I love the way he can make me laugh, no matter how mad I am. I love the way he tries so dang hard to please me! The greatest thing is he keeps trying even when I tell him he is a little short (not in height). He is slow at changing, but that only teaches me patience. He is so good with the boys and those few weeks that his knee was hurt I was really struggling since he couldn't play as much. We sure love you Don and wish you a late happy birthday!

D&C 76:72

Yet again I came home this Sunday searching for the answer. I really feel right now I am learning to be humble and still maintain confidence in myself. That is something I have always had a hard time with. How can you be both at the same time. I am slowly learning how that can work, it is great! So I didn't know something about the gospel again.
D&C 76:72 "Behold, these are they who died without law;" - referring to who will inherit the terrestrial kingdom. This posed the question in Relief Society; How then does temple work, work? Isn't this saying those without ordinances done (so baptism, endowment, marriage sealing) go to the terrestrial kingdom and have no chance of making it to the celestial? I Mormon Doctrine under Terrestrial Kingdom it states: "To the terrestrial kingdom will go: 1. Accountable persons who die without law (and who, of course, do not accept the gospel in the spirit world under those particular circumstances which would make them heirs of the celestial kingdom). So that answered it for me. The footnotes for the scripture also helped. So really all the scripture was saying is that you have to have made the covenants necessary to enter the celestial kingdom. I was also thinking that Section 137 (about redemption for the dead) had not yet been revealed. I don't know if this makes sense, but I wanted to write it down for me.

I Don't Know Everything

So first I have been feeling a lot lately like I often come off to other as if I know everything. So to those of you who feel like I think I know everything, or think I act like I do I want you to know I know I don't. Today's Relief Society lesson can prove that and I am grateful for these humbling moments that remind me, I am still learning.
In Lesson 17 of the Joseph Smith Manuel I was concerned about something, but only because I didn't understand. It said "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be." Okay so with that and next several paragraphs of the lesson left me feeling very uneasy. What I understood from what I heard and read was that we have no beginning or end. Then with that came the concern, but aren't I a spirit daughter of my Heavenly Father, who was actually born of him? If I have no beginning then how can he possibly have created me? Enter Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie. "All men in pre-existence were the spirit children of God our Father, . . . the offspring born to him in that primeval sphere had bodies of spirit element." So that only prefaced what I read under "Spirit Element," "There is no such thing as immaterial matter," You know how we learn that in science class, matter can neither be created nor destroyed. I love science and this only added to that. "All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; . . . This spirit element has always existed; it is co-eternal with God. It is also called intelligence or the light of truth. . ." So the spirit element has always existed it was just organized by our Heavenly Father to make spirit children. Anyway let me know what you think.

Keeping Busy

So as Bryson gets older I am getting the hang of having two kids more and more. I found myself not being busy all day and getting board. I get board fast with things, but that is another story in and of itself. Last time the answer to my boredom was another baby. But this time that IS NOT the answer.
As many of you know Don switched jobs and is now working for Canyon Rim Physical Therapy. That was a change much needed, but it does pay slightly less and he works less hours.
So skipping ahead, I decided to take up watching kids again. I will only watch McKinley for about 8-10 hours a week. But then another bigger thing I have taken up is helping my brother out around his house. I do that about 16 hours a week. So my life is super busy again. Don't forget I am on Resident Council as well which has a BIG event coming up this month with the Activity's R.C. member out with a baby most likely. Also this is the busy month for finances. So my 3 part-time jobs are really keeping me busy. I just wanted to jot down what I was up to, in case you wonder why I look sooo tired and worn out all the time. As if being a mother isn't enough to do that.

Bryson is 11 months old!

My baby was 11 months old on Sept. 2nd. I really can't believe it. Since he started crawling he has decided moving around is really fun after all. He started taking steps on August 20th. We have counted as many as 6 I think. He is always trying to take off. He remains an easy going little guy who lets his brother tackle him, until he get hurt of course. I spoil him a little too much by holding him, but he is just so dang cute!

Jaron's 2 1/2

Our little boy is 2 1/2 today. So I thought I would write about him today. He is always making me laugh even if it shouldn't be funny. Like when I tell him I don't want to play baseball with him and he asks me in a stern voice, "Do you need a spankin'?" or when he turns the chair in the kitchen to the microwave, puts his cat on the chair and tells me I need to set the timer because, "His cat is in timeout." He is watching, watching very closely, and learning, so watch out world.

This first video is of him being Mom/Dad. I guess we are a little too firm when we put him to bed sometimes?

He is learning the good stuff too though. He loves to go to nursery. Not so much sacrament yet, but that is even getting better. So most days of the week he gets ready to go to church himself and sometimes even leaves the house in his attempt. I recorded our conversation one evening.



He loves to sing. When asked his favorite song he says "I Am a Child of God and He has Sent Me Here." That is what the song is called. He also likes to sing ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I could continue on with what he likes to sing, but that could take a while.



As you can tell by the above performance he has a lot of energy and has a hard time holding still! His new thing is the Move it, Move it song from the end of Madagascar. He often changes the words to things such as "I like to eat it, eat it," or something of the sort.



He is really smart, I bet every mother thinks her child is but in any case. He knows his letters (struggles with a few lower case ones), shapes (we are working on the not so common ones such as rhombus . . .) , numbers (working on counting to twenty), colors (his favorite is pink) and is currently working on spelling his name. Here is that work in progress.



So that is what he is up to these days. We sure love him!

Raging Waters

The Resident Council sponsored Raging Waters day was a lot of fun. Too bad Don couldn't come : ( Jaron spent 3 hours in the water a new record for him. The picture of him folding his arms is because I wouldn't let him get in the hot pool. Such a mean mom I am.

Discovery Gateway

For our anniversary gift Don's parents did something a little different, but fun. We went to Discovery Gateway and out to lunch. Jaron has such a good time! He played with the balls, and water those were his two favorite things. His little mind is just a sponge right now and it was a great place to go for that.

Poor Don

So yet again Don has hurt his knee. Last night while playing church ball his left knee was dislocated. It is not the same knee that he had ACL surgery on. I just want to say what a great job he did through the whole thing at staying calm and keeping it together.
The guys that were there with him had to come and bang on my door to wake me up. They were going to try and get him into the back of one of their trucks and take him to the ER. The boys there were unable to get pop it back in for him. When they tried to move him he started to go into shock. His fingers wouldn't bend and the whole works. Don had training in what to do in these situations so was yelling out orders for the guys so that he wouldn't get deeper into shock. At this point they realized with who was there they would not be able to take care of the situation. They called and ambulance & gave him a blessing.
I tried to call our home teachers to come be with the boys so I could go over. No luck there so I called Heather Miller to come up from down stairs to be with the boys until I could get family there. I also called Don's mom since their family is somewhat experienced in this area, two of his sisters have had this happen twice each. I also called her to come be with the boys so I could go to the ER. At the first of the month Don no longer had insurance, so we really couldn't afford for the ambulance to come and take him to the hospital. Luckily his mother was thinking straight and called Aunt Cathy, who was just 5 minutes away at the U hospital still working. She said she meant to be out of there by 7 or so, but for some reason just stayed. She is a nurse and was able to be an answer to our prayers. She came sent the EMT's away, put his knee back in, and then helped get Don home. Since she was able to get the knee back in there was no reason to go to the ER now. We put his leg in his straight leg brace, iced it, and had a fitful night.
This morning Don went into where he works and they took a look at it. For right now he will just keep it in the brace, do PT, and be careful. He will go back to work next week, they said too since we need that money so bad they will make things work. We will evaluate it later to see if more needs to be done. Since it was out so long there might be some problems, but that has yet to be seen.
Thanks to everyone that was an answer to our prayers and there for us when we need you.