Thornton Mom

JD near the pond with his "walking stick" that he carried all over the property.  Saturday we went to Hope Reins and volunteered.  We began by picking up sticks around the property.  It is so beautiful there.  Michael loved finding a big pile of previously gathered sticks and taking them to the fire pit.  He was a hard worker and didn't want to stop.  Then we began our pooper scooper job.   Doing this job really laid to rest any desires of my children to own their own horse.     All the kids worked really hard.  It was good to go out and get some service done. Maddie would bring me an empty rake.  I would hand her the one that I had loaded and she would haul it to the wheelbarrow and then return for the next one.  Michael would come to me and ask for "meatballs" to put in his shovel.   Learning from General Confer...

Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting, where the congregation is encouraged to fast and to stand and express their feelings about the Savior.  I felt the need to stand and talk about how loved I have felt of the Savior lately.  That He has been so kind to me.  As I went up I put Michael on Derek's lap.  Then as I began to speak Maddie ran up to also sit on his lap.  I could see everyone watching what was going on behind me and I couldn't really feel the Spirit so I closed my testimony, took the kids, and sat down.  The whole meeting was centered around the Love of God.  Everyone who stood talked about how He knows us individually.  How He is not only watching over us but He is watching over all those we care about.  That we don't always have to fix everyone's problems because He already has a plan in place to help them.  I taught Relief Society later that day, a class for just women in our church.  As I stood to teach I felt ...

Many times as I am trying to get dinner ready I put Michael in his high chair and give him some measuring cups and several marbles (pebbles pictured above.)  This has been a great way to keep him quiet and allows me to make dinner.  The other day I did this while Annelise was visiting us.  She noticed that he was putting the marbles in his mouth so I gave him the pacifier so that he would stop.   Finally he was ready to get down so I gathered the marbles and noticed several missing but assumed they had fallen on the floor and did not give it another thought until the next day when after a restless night I changed his diaper and found 7 marbles in his diaper,  I did not even dig through it they were just laying there on top.  The next diaper produced 8 more again, without even looking hard so there may have been more.  Elizabeth said, "Well aren't you going to wash them off so we can use them again?"  I told her if she wanted to go throug...

Last night we watched the new Superman Movie--Man of Steel.  I really liked it.  I have always liked Superman.  When Derek and I were first married we had a man in our Church come up to us and tell us that his son saw Derek and turned to his dad and said, "Dad, It's Superman!"  It was then that I realized that I had married Superman and I still feel that way today.  He is such an amazing man and I feel so blessed to be his wife. Today I read a talk by David M. McConkie, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  ( click here to watch/read/listen to this talk) His talk was directed towards teachers.  I do a lot of teaching with my children and found some ways that I can improve.  “The most important part of your service will be your own daily spiritual preparation, including prayer, scripture study, and obedience to the commandments. We encourage you to dedicate yourself to...