HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!

Taylor turned 4 years old yesterday. He is such a sweet boy, and loves to play games, watch Diego and Backyardigans, loves to help mom and dad with whatever we are doing. He looks out for Jenna all the time to make sure she is safe or not getting into trouble :). He has brought so much joy to our lives and we love him so much!

We went and picked up his old buddy Lance Olsen who moved to Provo :( And we went to Cornbelly's...brrrr. It was a cold day for it, but luckily with all of the running around the kids were doing, they kept warm and laughed and had a wonderful time. Thanks so much Tara for letting Lance come! They had a blast! Here are some pics from Cornbellys...

The Birthday Cake!!! Taylor wanted a Lightning McQueen Cake, and I hate the taste of the Albertson's or Grocery Store Cakes, so I decided to buy a plain chocolate one at Costco and design it myself...hehehe. I've never done it before, but thanks to Amelia and Krysta donating some much needed items and icing recipe (yummy)!!! I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

New Member of the Family

I went to Good Earth a couple of weeks ago with the kids at night, and there was a cat outside the door meowing as we went in. It came up and rubbed against the kids and was so cute. I went about my shopping and we came out it was still there going underneath patrons cars right across Main St. So I scooped her up and brought her home. We had been thinking about getting a puppy or kitten, she's not a kitten, but not full grown yet either, and the great thing is she is super tame, tolerates the kids and is very playful. I'm too much of a softy, hate seeing animals left outside or dropped off especially with winter coming. So I guess she's staying!

A visit to the Unique Boutique...

There was a little boutique at the Clubhouse last night, so I thought I'd stop by and look at bows...Too much $$ later, I came out with bows, hats for Jenna and myself...sorry Taylor - nothing you would like there (nothing dad would let me put on you!) But the salesperson did a fabulous job in selling me by dressing Jenna up in the cutest flowers and headbands and hats...Here are the pics, she was very patient and does not enjoy posing as you can see by the cute little pouty face. I showed James and he looked at the first picture and said "who is that?" and he was serious! It just goes to show that I don't dress her up very often :) But now I have a new excuse! She's my angel!


Too Cute!

I love this hat!

K, now smile crinkle nose :)

Pumpkin Waffles with Raspberry Syrup...Yummy!!!

Perfect October Breakfast!!!

So I have never posted a recipe before, because I've never made anything worth writing about :) BUT, these waffles are not only healthy but if you like pumpkin cookies, you will love these, they are delicious! I picked up the recipe at the Sunflower Farmer's Market last night, and had to make them this morning. Mmmmm, perfect October Breakfast! The recipe called for cranberry syrup, I'm not a fan of cranberries, so I used Raspberries, Delicious so I had to share!

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves: 6

Waffles:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk

1 tsp orange peel

1/2 cup orange juice

1 cup cooked pumpkin puree (I used Libbys)

1/2 cup honey

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 Tbsp Canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Syrup:

1/2 cup Cran-Raspberry Juice

1/4 cup Orange Juice

1 cup Raspberry Pie filling

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. In large bowl whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice and ginger.

2. In medium bowl combine buttermilk, orange peel, juice, pumpkin, honey, eggs, oil and vanilla.

3. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until smooth. Let waffle batter stand 5 min.

4. Cook waffle batter in waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions. Keep waffles warm on baking sheet in oven (250 F)

5. For Raspberry Syrup: In small saucepan combine all ingredients, cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Serve warm syrup over waffles!

Listening to the Promptings of the Spirit

We have a Family Home Evening once a month with my extended family, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, and we went this Sunday after Conference to share thoughts on the Conference talks this weekend.

We got into a great discussion about heeding the promptings of the Spirit. One of the speakers talked about how if we don't hear and listen to the quiet voice and promptings of the spirit, it will withdraw and we will need to humble ourselves and ask forgiveness to prepare ourselves to be ready to hear the Lord's will again.

My mother shared an experience she had the other night which overwhelmed me with the Spirit. She was laying awake one night just pondering the things that are happening in the world and was overwhelmed with sadness of the trials ahead for her children and grandchildren what is going to happen to them, and just really started to miss her father and his counsel (my grandpa who died 10+ years ago). So she couldn't sleep and got up, and heard her cat meowing outside. The cat was out of food, so she went downstairs to get some more food in her food storage room (she had just cleaned spotless the week before - nothing was out of place or on the floor), and yet as she walked in the room, there on the floor was my grandpa's obituary of all things lying all by itself in the middle of the floor. She picked it up and said to herself, "Pop, I'm not going to read your obituary, I don't like remembering that you died, I want to remember you alive" and she felt pressed to read it anyway, so she looked down and read the first sentence which stated that he had died on October 3rd. And it just dawned on my mom that today was October 3rd. And she then knew that my grandpa was trying to remind her that even though he died, he is still alive.
Chills ran up my spine when she told us this and I was overcome with tears and I think why I love testimonies and when people share experiences such as this is that everyone needs a strengthening of faith and knowledge that life does not stop once our bodies die on this earth. That our spirits do live on and we will be reunited with our loved ones in the next life.

A few of my favorite Conference Talks

David A. Bednar - We just had his lesson by Ariana on "Ask in Faith" which I loved on how to be more effective in our prayers. So this conference, his talk was a continuation on how we can make our prayers more meaningful with 3 more principles:
#1 - Counsel with the Lord in all our doings. He spoke of how all things in this earth were created spiritually before they were created temporally, and so is the same with our day. Our morning prayer is like the spiritual creation of our day and determines how our day will manifest temporally. We should ask the Lord for guidance and direction and then keep Him in our thoughts throughout the day in all we do. Then our prayer at night is just a continuation from our morning prayer where we return and report, review our day and repent for where we could have done better, express gratitude for our blessings and express ways we can do better tomorrow.
#2 - We should express gratitude more often in our prayers & some prayers we should focus only on gratitude while asking for nothing. He told of a story of a funeral his wife was asked to say a prayer for the family and had planned to ask for help and blessings for the family but was told to only give gratitude and ask for nothing. She followed the counsel and gave a prayer of gratitude for the family and it was incredible. She covered everything she would have asked for but with thanks because they already have it. She thanked the Lord for his atonement and the ability to return to live with our loved ones, for the Holy Ghost who comforts us, etc. It was a great reminder that the Lord has given us everything we need in every trial we will face and by thanking Him for what we already have, we may find we already have the answers to our questions.
#3 - We should pray for others with real intent and a sincere heart. By doing this, we turn our focus away from what we want and instead give to others. It shows selflessness and brings us more in touch with charity and by doing so, we can more fully receive his blessings when we are sacrificing our needs and desires and focusing on helping someone else.

President Monson - Spoke of Change. Nothing is as constant as change. We need to find joy in the journey NOW. He said if you pile up enough tomorrows, you'll find you have collected a lot of empty yesterday's. Don't take other's for granted, laugh at the messes your children make, and don't wind up with regret for words unsaid or deeds left undone. We need to relish life as we live it and whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with thankful hands and reflect gratitude in all things.

Elder Holland - Gave a touching story about "Angels are among us". He told a story of a boy who disobeyed a father's warning and crossed a river during flood levels to gather cattle and was almost swept away by the river. As he sat on the opposite side in the dark, alone, wet and cold, he said a prayer. "I'm sorry, forgive me. I'm sorry, forgive me", when he got up, he saw a personage in white coming towards him. He thought, an angel, but why would the Lord send an angel to me when I deliberately disobeyed my father. Then a familiar voice called to him, it was his Father. He had stripped down to his white underwear and jumped in the river to find his son after he did not return home. The boy hugged his father and could not speak except to muttle the words "Darkness, afraid, river, alone". Elder Holland went on to say that angels are still among us today. The Lord sends angels from heaven and angels here on earth when we too find ourselves in "darkness, afraid, river, alone".

General Conference "A Spiritual Feast"

This Conference Weekend was different than any other I've listened to. I was listening to talk radio on Friday "Bob Lonsberry" had a woman call in, and before she hung up he asked her if she'd be watching conference this weekend. Her reply was oh yes, I'll have it on the radio as I have a lot of chores to get done. Bob in his humor replied "Oh fantastic, yah, the Lord asks his prophet to speak to us twice a year, I'm sure he doesn't care if you only pay 20% attention to Him. She responded no, I will listen to the radio, I just have a lot of errands to do, which Bob responded, Oh I totally understand and I'm sure the Lord doesn't mind if He is just "background noise". I laughed when I heard this, but it rang true to me as I often would do the same and take the opportunity to clean the house and do chores while keeping Conference on in the background. When I thought about this it hit me that these messengers are speaking the Lord's words to us, so it is really no different than the Lord standing in our room trying to speak to us. If the Lord was standing in front of me and said Sheri, I have something important to say to you, would I say, oh go ahead Lord, I'm just going to start cleaning the kitchen, but go ahead I'm listening as I turn my back to Him and begin cleaning. If I wouldn't treat the Lord standing next to me with such little respect, why should I do the same to the Lord's annointed who have studied and prepared His message for us to hear. The same goes with Stake Conference, Ward Conference and Church Meetings. I was given a new perspective this weekend, and a desire to try a little harder to give my full attention when the Lord and His annointed are sent to teach us His words. So this weekend, I made an extra effort to sit in front of the tv and actually watch conference while keeping my kids occupied with movies and activities, and I can't tell you what a wonderful experience it was. It was a spiritual feast to my soul. Every talk spoke to me and fed my spirit where I needed it. And I know that if I can apply this to Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, Relief Society, Primary, Nursery, just try a little harder to be 100% present and focused wherever I am, I will be ready to receive the teaching the Lord wants to give me. Although this seems impossible with children to receive inspiration from Sacrament meeting at times, there was some great counsel this weekend on Sacrament Meetings I'm going to work on with my children to be able to more fully feel the spirit.