Thankful Thursday

I'm oh-so-thankful today for the opportunity to be home with my boys. Yesterday I was trying to teach Al some more signs. We were working on "Mommy" at this particular time. He was concentrating very hard, pointing to his chin and saying, "muh. muh. muh." Then it became a game. He could tell that I was excited at what he was doing. He'd point to his chin, say, "muh," and laugh at his hilariousness. And then he stopped playing, looked right in my eyes, and in the sweetest little voice said, "mama," followed by a big smile.

Thankfully, I was able to clean up my melted heart before anyone slipped.

Moments like that just about make me explode with joy. Being able to be home with them exponentially increases my odds of experience such moments. I am lucky lucky lucky and incredibly blessed!

Ahhhhhhhh.....

Last night was spectacular. I live in such a beautiful city. It was wonderful to walk out of the temple and see the awesome lights. And the air even smelled like rain and spring mixed together. Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Spring is here!!!! We're supposed to have near 70 degree weather today. You can bet we're going to get out and enjoy it.

Congratulations on making it through the winter! Oddly enough, this winter seemed much shorter than the last one. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm quite ready to let go of winter. And yet, spring is so beautiful that I think I'll come out alright:)

Happy Spring everyone!

Thankful Thursday

Just a couple weeks ago, I told myself that I was going to blog more often. Every time I make a goal fate combines its forces against me. One of my boys was uber sick and that threw life into an upheaval. Now he's almost back to normal and life is getting to a normal level of craziness. Maybe I'll be able to blog more often...maybe:)

This being Thursday and all, I figure I should pause to be grateful. This fateful Thursday I am thankful for my husband. I get to go to the temple tonight and he's going to wrangle the kids (during the difficult hours of dinner and bedtime, no less!) whilst I'm gone. Granted, I'll be returning the favor so he can go tomorrow night. But as I sit here stressing about A not taking his nap and trying to get the house ready to host my brother-in-law tonight and getting dinner ready on time, a night in the peace and wonderfulness at the temple made possible by my fantastic husband makes me smile.

Not only does he willingly and happily take care of things at home so I can have a night out every so often, but he washes dishes, changes diapers, vacuums, and watches Pride and Prejudice with me. Oh, and that business of going to work every day, dealing with the world, and making it possible for me to be home with our boys. I pretty much married the best guy ever!

It's that day of the week again!

Welcome to this week's installment of Thankful Thursday!

Today I am mighty thankful to be a member of one of God's greatest gifts: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This lovely institution has been a medium for me to receive great joy in my life and I know it will continue to.

Why this extra gratitude for this lifelong blessing today? Why, because of all the drama in the world! This week's dose of drama is brought to you by HBO. If you haven't heard, HBO will be airing an episode of it's show Big Love that will show a ceremony based on some ordinances performed in LDS temples.

This upset me on a few levels. One, the general view of LDS members is that we're quirky weirdos and this wasn't going to do anything good for that image. Two, what goes on in the temples is serious, special, and sacred to me. It hurts to have people lessening it's sacredness to the general public in the name of entertainment.

Of course, before I'd even heard of this HBO disregard for other people's privacy and things they hold dear, the Church had already released a statement on the matter. Please take some time to read it. It helped me to remember that no matter what goes on in the world, no matter what other people do to try and tarnish the image of, or mock, the LDS church, the actions of the actual Church and it's individual members speak much louder to people. I know I'm not a weirdo-freak-bigot and I'm going to do what I can to be an example for Christ and help others to see the truth in His church. I am a member of a wonderful church full of wonderful people that will continue to build up the kingdom of God. And that's something to be happy about.

Here's a wonderful video about why Mormons build temples that I think you might like.
http://www.youtube.com/mormonmessages.
And a quote from Joseph Smith, to boot!:)

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

-Joseph Smith, Jr.

Branching out

I made hummus!

Or at least, I think I made hummus. I've never actually tasted or even seen the stuff so I'm not sure if what I made really truly counts. I don't know what it's supposed to taste like. I don't know what the proper texture is. I know I used the right ingredients, but not sure if I used the proper amounts for optimal taste and texture. But whatever I made, it tastes good:)

When I got it into my head that I wanted to make hummus, I was a bit blown away by the amount of recipes for it online. And online recipe sites are such a joke to me. I find a recipe that looks promising and look into the reviews to see if people actually liked how it turns out. That's where it all goes wrong. It seems that the only people who review recipes never follow one themselves.

A common review will read something like this: "Thanks for the recipe. It's great! My family raved over it. I liked that you thought to add ____; I put in ____ instead and it really added a kick. I didn't use the ____ that you did, I like ____ much better in these circumstances. Oh, and I think that you should use 2 C of ____ instead of 1 C; it really worked great for me when I made this dish. Thanks again!"

Okay.....

So, I decided to find the common ingredients and ranges of amounts and wing it. My first job of completely winging something I've never tasted before turned out pleasantly. Now I just need to find someone who knows what it's supposed to taste like to tell me if I'm on the right track or not.

Thaaaankful Thursday, the San Francisco treat!

What in the world?! It's Thursday and I'm actually posting for Thankful Thursday! Yippee-skippy.

This fateful Thursday I am thankful for the stage of life that I am in. It's often difficult to not think, "I can't wait until the boys are old enough to----" or "I wish ----- was over." For a couple of days I haven't thought any of that and it's been very liberating. Bret and I are not in school. I get to be home with our boys. And those boys: so much fun! So. Much. Work. But they are so sweet, so cute, and so able to give me joy! I love their smiles, giggles, gibberish from the little guys and nonsense sentences from J, their expressive faces, kisses and hugs, their ability to forgive so easily and love so much, their soft cheeks, their heads on my shoulder, and the way they bring novelty and discovery into our home every single day.

This is quite the time of life! I hope I can enjoy every minute possible because I know I'll miss this stage when it's over.

Feel free to hop on the Thankful Thursday train; it's an enjoyable ride:)